Longitude prizewinning bid

Added: (Thu Jun 26 2003)

Pressbox (Press Release) - A small archive of contemporary manuscript items relating to John Harrison and the Longitude prize made £11,500 at auction in Swindon yesterday, The lot was bought on behalf of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich against intense telephone bidding from both sides of the Atlantic. Cataloguer Chris Albury said "the small archive sold here gave a tangible sense of the history of the prize and some of the main political players during the time of Harrison's invention of the chronometer (known as H4) now on display in the National Maritime Museum. We are delighted that these important papers will be added to their collection on the subject."

The archive included a rare printed pamphlet on the Proceedings relative to the Discovery of the Longitude at sea, published in 1765 and the whole collection of twelve contemporary items were originally among the papers of William Wildman Barrington (1717-93), Treasurer of the Navy between 1762 and 1765, and so repsonsible for payments authorised by the Board of Longitude in connection with the infamous prize.

The archive also contained the notes of a speech by Barrington about John Harrison, plus sundry accounts and notes and fair copies of related materials including a note to Lord Barrington from Nevil Maskelyne [Astronomer Royal and leading opponent against Harrison]. Some copy accounts for the 1740s show awards of £500 made to John Harrison, William Whiston and others in connection with the Longitude prize.

Since Dava Sobel's bestselling book on the subject, and a subsequent film, the life of John Harrison (1693-1776), and his hard-fought and bitter battle with the Board of Longitude to claim the prize, this story has captured the public's imagination worldwide. It was only an Act of Parliament passed by King George III in 1772 that finally Harrison was paid his due in honour of the prize.

[See lot 534 full description on the Dominic Winter Book Auction website]