TY - JOUR
AU1 - Edmunds, Michael
AB - This well-connected businessman, Turner's stockbroker, was a diligent collector of art, fossils, minerals and curios, writes Mike Edmunds, and possibly served as Treasurer of the Astronomical Society. Charles Stokes (1784–1853) was a successful stockbroker. There is evidence that he travelled to Paris in 1815 with fellow RAS founder, also a stockbroker, Francis Baily (Edmunds 2017). His clients included Charles Darwin – who regarded him as a businessman of repute and a friend – and the artist J W M Turner. Stokes was an art collector and acquired a considerable number of Turner's works; he was probably the last person Turner wrote to (on his financial matters, which Stokes seems to have overseen) just before the artist's death in 1851. Turner may also have benefited from Stokes's scientific interests, which were mainly in geology, mineralogy and fossils. Stokes was an early member of the Geological Society (founded 1809) and saw service on its council, including as secretary and vice-president. Although he obviously must have had an interest in astronomy, there is little indication of active involvement. Petrified wood was a speciality, as were trilobites and zoophytes. He was involved in publications on such subjects as lead ores in Derbyshire, Mediterranean limestones with corals, and the delightfully entitled “Some fossilised vegetables of the Tilgate forest in Sussex”. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1821. An echinoderm (a marine animal related to sea urchins) was named after him: Hemicidaris stokesii. 1 View largeDownload slide Charles Stokes, 1821 etching by Mary Dawson Turner, after Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey. (National Portrait Gallery, London) 1 View largeDownload slide Charles Stokes, 1821 etching by Mary Dawson Turner, after Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey. (National Portrait Gallery, London) Correspondents He had a wide range of correspondents, including the great and the good of the geological world, often buying specimens himself and then making them available for study. His obituary records that no expedition started for foreign parts but that “he was in at the commencement to advise and direct the natural history arrangements”. In 1826, the explorer Captain John Franklin named Stokes Point in the Yukon after him – it is near Herschel Island. Of Stokes's origins we seem to know nothing until he appears as a member of the Geological Society in 1811. For at least the last 30 years of his life he resided in Gray's Inn, London. Verulam Buildings, a mixture of residential dwellings and professional chambers, had been erected in 1803–11. It still exists, and Stokes lived at number four. Charles Dickens wrote in 1860 of “the scowling iron-barred prison-like passage into Verulam Buildings”, but it was probably a prestigious address in Stokes's time. Of his family life, again nothing much is known. The following description by a visitor in 1845 hints at a bachelor existence: “His rooms exhibit a most picturesque confusion of learned wealth, literary, scientific and artistical – books, portfolios, fossils, dried plants, stuffed birds, animals preserved in spirits, pictures, busts, casts, coins, grotesque figures from India or Japan, snuff-boxes, and nearly everything that can be conceived.” Music and antiquarian studies were also interests, and he was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society. He was not above enjoying “high jinx” at dining clubs, or of betting bottles of champagne with his Geological Society colleague Mr Taylor on how many years toads would survive when isolated in rock cavities. He was an initial trustee of the Astronomical Society, and RAS officers' lists for the decade after 1820 suggest that he may have acted as a temporary Treasurer. He remained a Fellow until his death at the end of December 1853, having reached his 70th year. It was not a happy end. In a letter, Darwin records that “poor old Mr Stokes has lately had a very suffering ending to his life”. His friends missed his “pleasant and wise presence”. THE RAS BICENTENARY In 2020, the RAS celebrates 200 years since its founding as “the Astronomical Society of London”. It began at a meeting on 20 January 1820, with 14 men aged 24 to 65. Who were they? What was their astronomical world like? Why start a society then? This series of short articles running up to 2020 aims to sketch both the men and their times. FURTHER READING Burn C R 2013 Arctic 66 4 : 459 . A brief account of John Franklin's naming of topographical features after worthies including Stokes, Charles Babbage and the three Herschels – William, John and Caroline CrossRef Search ADS Edmunds M 2017 Astron. & Geophys. 58 1.11 CrossRef Search ADS Obituary 1854 Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 10 xxvi Woodward H B 1908 The History of the Geological Society of London ( Longmans , London ). A useful volume which contains much of the sparse information on Stokes © 2018 Royal Astronomical Society
TI - Founders of the RAS: Charles Stokes
JF - Astronomy & Geophysics
DO - 10.1093/astrogeo/aty142
DA - 2018-06-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/founders-of-the-ras-charles-stokes-OlWr0iQjBV
SP - 1
EP - 13
VL - Advance Article
IS - 3
DP - DeepDyve