William Scott (astronomer and clergyman)
William Scott (8 October 1825 – 29 March 1917), was a Church of England clergyman and became the colonial astronomer for New South Wales.
Background
Scott was born at Hartland, Devon, brought up at Braunton near Barnstaple, and educated at Blundell's School, Tiverton. In 1844 he went up as a scholar to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
After a college fellowship Scott was given a mathematical lectureship in 1850. Made a deacon in 1849, he was ordained as a priest in 1850 by Bishop Turton of Ely and worked as a curate in the Cambridge slums of Barnwell.
Scott married a widow Elizabeth Anne Yonge, née Roberts on 8 November 1851. She had three sons by her first husband and the family responsibilities resulted in Scott becoming a mathematics coach (his first interest had always been in mathematics). He built up a useful connections at the university and later published a small textbook on plane co-ordinate geometry.
Australia
In April 1856 Scott took the position of colonial astronomer in New South Wales. Scott arrived with his family in Sydney in October 1856 to find the astronomical works were somewhat neglected. He supervised the building of the Sydney Observatory at Dawes Point, ensured the appointment of an observatory board and established the keeping of meteorological records throughout the colony.
