Binocular Testing and Bomb Drops: The Philip Laurie War Diaries and Records on the History of the Royal Greenwich Observatory
On 15th October 1940, the Royal Observatory Greenwich was rocked by a German bomb blast which destroyed the main entrance gates. It was the first of many air raids which caused substantial damage at Greenwich during the Blitz. A first-hand account survives in a newly catalogued war diary. It is one of two kept by Philip Laurie of the Royal Observatory’s Solar Department, whose papers on RGO History have now been catalogued online.
Philip Stevenson Laurie worked at the ROG from 1935 to 1977, beginning as a ‘Temporary Computer’ and going on to become Head of the Solar Department. Laurie had a passion for the Observatory’s history, and became increasingly involved with the RGO Archives, collecting and compiling records relating to many aspects of its history. In 1974, he became a full-time archivist for the Royal Observatory, a position he held until his retirement. His papers give a fascinating insight into the history of the Observatory, particular during World War 2, and are now available to the public for the first time.
During World War 2, the staff of the Solar Department remained on active service at Greenwich, taking continuous solar observations throughout the war. On 8th July 1940, a Local Defence Volunteer (L.D.V.) unit or Home Guard was established to defend the Observatory. There were 18 volunteers, including Philip Laurie and H.W. Newton, then head of the Solar Department, with the Astronomer Royal as O.C. After some brief training with, as Laurie puts it, “rifles of ancient vintage”, and the establishment of a range for firing practice on the Observatory’s lower lawn, patrols began and a rota for Air Raid Precaution (A.R.P.) duties was established.
On Friday 13th September 1940, it was announced that the Observatory was to be evacuated. The evacuation was completed by 27th September, with the Nautical Almanac Office relocated to Bath, and the Chronometer Department to Bristol, and later, Bradford-upon-Avon. The Astronomer Royal moved to the safety of Abinger, where an emergency station was established. With only the Solar Department remaining at Greenwich, the original L.D.V unit was disbanded, and Laurie and Wells continued to provide “some sort of guard”, before eventually joining the Greenwich Park Section.
Laurie kept two journals recording his work for the Observatory’s Home Guard. The first, titled ‘Scientia pro Patria’, covers the Royal Observatory from the outbreak of war in September 1939 to the end of the year 1940. The second, titled ‘The Beleaguered Garrison or the Military War Effort of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich’, is an account of the L.D.V. unit, from its formation until its disbanding, with accounts of D-Day and the flying bomb attack.
Laurie’s vivid and witty accounts of this tumultuous time are peppered with gallows-humour and brought to life with drawings and photographs of Observatory buildings and staff. The photos feature ‘Dinky’ the Observatory cat, who helped keep watch, and of course, the Home Guard, which included members from different ranks of the Observatory, from the Astronomer Royal to J. Church (the cook) and C. Thurlow (the gardener, most of whose produce, Laurie laments, was sent to the Observatory staff at Abinger).
On the night of 15th October 1940, a H.E. bomb hit the Observatory grounds. According to the bomb report, the entrance gates to the Observatory were ‘entirely demolished’. Laurie’s account of the event includes a hand-drawn illustration of the ensuing damage, titled ‘Morning -16th October 1940’.[1]
Further destruction followed on the nights of 19th and 21 October 1940. Laurie’s diary includes dramatic photographs of the damage and the shredded dome.[2] Thankfully no staff were injured, ‘the guard escaping into the post near Wolfe’s statue just in time’, but there was much damage to the Altazimuth building and instrument. A hastily written note from H.W. Newton to the Astronomer Royal on 22nd October 1940, reads,
‘Altazimuth building hit last night, instrument wrecked. Main building damaged over north attic 150 feet of fencing down much glass smashed in Main Building. Staff safe. Newton.’[3]
Alongside the diaries, Laurie kept a file of bomb damage reports, which also describe minor damage to the Observatory in December 1940, and an air raid on the night of 19-20 March 1941 which damaged six of the windows in Flamsteed House.[4] Another file includes rotas for A.R.P. duties, tea, milk and sugar ration lists, circulars on what to do in the event of a gas attack or flying bomb attack, and a target practice card for Newton – who was clearly a good shot! There is also a handwritten Klaxon warning notice, giving orders for dome watchers in the event of flying bombs. These wartime records collated by Laurie provide an invaluable insight into life at the Observatory during World War 2.
The Laurie Papers include a wide range of records on RGO History. His ‘First World War’ file records a lesser-known aspect of Observatory work at that time, in binocular testing. Despite losses of staff, essential astronomical observations continued at the Observatory from 1914-1918, but additional work, such as the reduction of observations, was instead replaced by work for the war effort – namely the cleaning and adjustment of binoculars. At the outbreak of the Great War, a shortage of binoculars resulted in a national appeal. The varied collection of binoculars which resulted (including many completely unsuitable for fieldwork), were tested, cleaned and adjusted at the Royal Observatory. All in all, about 3,050 binoculars were received and improved by about twelve Observatory staff members as part of the war effort, along with c.25 monoculars.[5]
Laurie’s papers also include an eclectic range of photographs, press cuttings, early manuscripts, notes and inventories. The historical works he collected for the archive include an inventory of ROG instruments in 1775, rare early tracts on Venus and the Board of Longitude, and a manuscript by Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne on ‘The Meteors called Fire-balls’. Laurie wrote many articles on little-known aspects of the Observatory’s work and kept research files on topics ranging from Flamsteed and Halley to time-balls and comets. He compiled extensive lists of former staff, as well as detailed inventories of buildings, instruments and movable property. Tick marks on some of the latter suggest that they were also used for internal audits.
As RGO Archivist, Laurie collected numerous potted histories and publications on Observatory history, including some by former RGO staff. Significant is the memoir by Clarice Chapman, who was also employed in the Solar Department. In a vivid entry, she recalls a memorable tea-break during the war, when Laurie suddenly threw her to the ground. ‘I was about to defend my honour’, she recalls, ‘when there was a rata-tat-tat of machine gun fire, and the window shattered into a million fragments … I do not remember that I ever thanked Mr Laurie, though he probably saved my life.’[6]
As the current RGO Archivist, I also wish I could thank Philip Laurie for creating this wonderful collection for the RGO Archives.
The full catalogue for RGO 107: Philip Laurie Papers is available on Archive Search. The collection can be consulted in the Manuscripts Reading Room of Cambridge University Library.
[1] RGO 107/1/1, featured as the first image in this blogpost.
[2] Original negatives of many of the photographs in Laurie’s diaries are preserved in the RGO Archives at RGO 118.
[3] RGO 107/1/8: Note from H.W. Newton to the Astronomer Royal, 22nd October 1940.
[4] That the RGO Archives remained unscathed through all of this is something of a miracle. One bomb damage report mentions the upper record room, which suffered smashed windows but thankfully, ‘little other damage’ (RGO 107/1/7).
[5] RGO 107/1/6.
[6] RGO 107/7/3/15: ‘Seven Years and Seven Days: Living and Working with the Solar Department, Royal Observatory. A Mini Autobiography’, by Clarice Chapman.