Thomas Cooke
Encyclopedia
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Thomas Cooke
This page is about the instrument maker. For other persons named Thomas Cooke, see Thomas CookeThomas Cooke was a British instrument maker based on York. He founded T. Cooke & Sons, the instrument company-Life:...
Thomas Cooke
(March 8, 1807 – October 19, 1868) was a British instrument maker
Instrument maker
Instrument maker can refer to:*A maker of scientific instruments*A maker of musical instruments**A luthier is a maker of stringed instruments...
based on York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
. He founded T. Cooke & Sons
T. Cooke & Sons
T. Cooke & Sons was a British instrument-making firm, founded by Thomas Cooke.The firm built the clock face on the Darlington clock tower.In 1922 it merged with Troughton & Simms to form Cooke, Troughton & Simms.-References:* *...
, the instrument company
Life
Allerthorpe
Allerthorpe is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately south west of the town of Pocklington.The civil parish is formed by the village of Allerthorpe and the hamlet of Waplington....
, near Pocklington
Pocklington
Pocklington is a small market town and civil parish situated at the foot of the Yorkshire Wolds in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, approximately east of York....
, East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...
, the son of James Cook (shoemakerhttp://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ERY/Allerthorpe/Allerthorpe23.html). His formal education consisted of two years at an elementary school (possibly the school of John Whitaker, also of Allerthorpe http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ERY/Allerthorpe/Allerthorpe23.html.), but he continued learning after this and he taught himself navigation
Navigation
Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
and astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
with the intention of becoming a sailor. His mother dissuaded him from that career and in 1829 he moved to York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
and worked as a mathematics
Mathematics education
In contemporary education, mathematics education is the practice of teaching and learning mathematics, along with the associated scholarly research....
schoolmaster
Schoolmaster
A schoolmaster, or simply master, once referred to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British public schools, but is generally obsolete elsewhere.The teacher in charge of a school is the headmaster...
at the Rev. Schackley’s School
Archbishop Holgate's School
Archbishop Holgate's School is a voluntary aided Church of England, coeducational secondary school in York, England.-Admissions:The school has two main specialist statuses - Science College and Leading Edge. The current headmaster is Andrew Daly...
in Ogleforth, near York Minster
York Minster
York Minster is a Gothic cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York; it is run by...
. He also taught in various ladies' schools
Single-sex education
Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education, is the practice of conducting education where male and female students attend separate classes or in separate buildings or schools. The practice was predominant before the mid-twentieth century, particularly in secondary education and...
to increase his income.
His marriage to Hannah was to produce seven children, five of whom were boys. Two of these Charles Frederick (1836 - 98) and Thomas (1839 - 1919) subsequently joined him in the business he founded in 1836 at number 50 (now renumbered to 18) Stonegate, close to York Minster
York Minster
York Minster is a Gothic cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York; it is run by...
with the assistance of a loan of £100 from his wife’s uncle.
Cooke studied optics
Optics
Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
and became interested in making telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
s, the first of which was a refracting telescope
Refracting telescope
A refracting or refractor telescope is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image . The refracting telescope design was originally used in spy glasses and astronomical telescopes but is also used for long focus camera lenses...
with the base of a tumbler
Glassware
This list of glassware includes drinking vessels , tableware, such as dishes, and flatware used to set a table for eating a meal, general glass items such as vases, and glasses used in the catering industry whether made of glass or plastics such as polystyrene and...
shaped to form its lens
Lens (optics)
A lens is an optical device with perfect or approximate axial symmetry which transmits and refracts light, converging or diverging the beam. A simple lens consists of a single optical element...
. This led to his friends including John Phillips
John Phillips (geologist)
John Phillips FRS was an English geologist.- Life and work :Philips was born at Marden in Wiltshire...
encouraging him to make telescopes and other optical devices commercially.
Work
In 1837 he established his first optical business in a small shop at 50 Stonegate, York, and later moved to larger premises in Coney Street. He built his first telescope for William Gray. At that time, the excise tax on glassGlass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
discouraged the making of refracting telescope
Refracting telescope
A refracting or refractor telescope is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image . The refracting telescope design was originally used in spy glasses and astronomical telescopes but is also used for long focus camera lenses...
s, which were usually imported from abroad. Cooke was thus one of the pioneers of making such telescopes in Britain.
He made more instruments and built his reputation. He was not only an optician but had mechanical abilities as well, and among other things, manufactured turret clocks for church towers. He founded the firm T. Cooke & Sons
T. Cooke & Sons
T. Cooke & Sons was a British instrument-making firm, founded by Thomas Cooke.The firm built the clock face on the Darlington clock tower.In 1922 it merged with Troughton & Simms to form Cooke, Troughton & Simms.-References:* *...
. In 1855 he moved to bigger premises, the Buckingham Works at Bishophill in York, where factory
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
methods of production were first applied to optical instruments.
One of his finest achievements was the construction of the 25 inch 'Newall' refractor for Robert Stirling Newall
Robert Stirling Newall
Robert Stirling Newall FRS was a Scottish engineer and astronomer.Born in Dundee, he was befriended by civil engineer L.D.B. Gordon. In 1838, whilst studying at the Freiburg School of Mines, Germany, Gordon visited the mines at Clausthal, and met Wilhelm Albert...
; sadly, Thomas died before seeing it completed. For some years the Newall was the largest refracting telescope in the world. On Newall's death it was donated to the Cambridge Observatory
Cambridge Observatory
Cambridge Observatory is an astronomical observatory at the University of Cambridge in the East of England. It was first established in 1823 and is now part of the site of the Institute of Astronomy...
and finally moved in 1959 to Mount Penteli observatory in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. He made a telescope for the Royal Observatory, also Greenwich and another for Prince Albert. The firm amalgamated with Troughton & Simms (London) to become Cooke, Troughton & Simms in 1922 and this later became part of Vickers
Vickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...
, but still run by his sons Thomas & Frederick.
Thomas Cooke was succeeded by his sons, Thomas and Frederick. He is buried in York Cemetery
York Cemetery, York
York Cemetery is a cemetery located in the city of York, England. Founded in 1837, it now encompasses 24 acres and is owned and administered by The York Cemetery Trust with support of the Friends of York Cemetery. It is situated on Cemetery Road in the Fishergate area of York. It has approximately...
.
Telescopes in use today
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Carter Observatory
The Carter Observatory stands at the top of the Botanic Gardens in Wellington, New Zealand. It re-opened in March 2010 following a NZ$5 million refurbishment, with a new exhibition and digital planetarium celebrating the culture, heritage and science of the Southern Skies.- History :The name...
- The National Observatory of New Zealand, delivering excellent results.
At the observatory in the Museum Gardens, York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
there is a working 4-inch telescope, built for the Yorkshire Philosophical Society
Yorkshire Philosophical Society
The Yorkshire Philosophical Society is a charitable learned society aimed at promoting the natural sciences, archaeology and history. The society was formed in York in December 1822 by James Atkinson, William Salmond, Anthony Thorpe and William Vernon....
in 1850. A second unit of the same construction was purchased and installed in the observatory at Bootham School
Bootham School
Bootham School is an independent Quaker boarding school in the city of York in North Yorkshire, England. It was founded by the Religious Society of Friends in 1823. It is close to York Minster. The current headmaster is Jonathan Taylor. The school's motto Membra Sumus Corporis Magni means "We...
, York in 1854. A third matching instrument, dating from the same period, was donated to Friendsʼ School, Hobart
The Friends' School, Hobart
The Friends' School, Hobart is an independent, co-educational, Quaker, day and boarding school, located in North Hobart, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia....
in 1974 by the grandson of Jonathan Backhouse Hodgkin
Michael Pease
Michael Stewart Pease OBE was a British classical geneticist at Cambridge University.Pease was the son of Edward Reynolds Pease, writer and a founding member of the Fabian Society, of the Pease family of Quakers...
. All three instruments remain in active service.
A 5" refractor dating from 1883 is still in use at Coats Observatory, Paisley
Coats Observatory, Paisley
Coats Observatory is one of four public observatories operating in the UK, all of which are sited in Scotland.Coats Observatory is located in Oakshaw Street West, Paisley and was designed by Glasgow architect John Honeyman, with funding coming from local thread manufacturer Thomas Coats...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
A 5" refractor dating from 1880 is still in regular use at Clanfield Observatory, Hampshire
There is a 6" Cooke telescope in the Airdrie Public Observatory
Airdrie Public Observatory
Airdrie Public Observatory is in the town of Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The observatory is open to the public by request, and is housed in Airdrie Public Library...
, Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland run by Airdrie Astronomical Association ([AAA]http://www.airdrieobservatory.com)
A 6.5" refractor manufactured in 1870 is in use at the Assheton Observatory at Rossall School
Rossall School
Rossall School is a British, co-educational, independent school, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St. Vincent Beechey as a sister school to Marlborough College which had been founded the previous year...
.
A 6.5" refractor manufactured in 1876 is in use at the Astronomic Observatory of Odessa National University
Odessa University
The I. I. Mechnikov Odessa National University , located in Odessa, Ukraine, is one of the country's major universities. It was founded in 1865, by an edict of Czar Alexander II of Russia, reorganizing the Richelieu Lyceum of Odessa into the new Imperial Novorossiya University. In the Soviet...
in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, Ukraine.
A 8" refractor dating from 1864, known as the Thorrowgood Telescope belongs to the Royal Astronomical Society
Royal Astronomical Society
The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research . It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV...
and is operated at the Cambridge Observatory
Cambridge Observatory
Cambridge Observatory is an astronomical observatory at the University of Cambridge in the East of England. It was first established in 1823 and is now part of the site of the Institute of Astronomy...
.
A 10" refractor from 1860 is in use at the Blackett Observatory, Wiltshire
A 10" refractor from 1871, which was purchased by St. Andrews
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
in 1938 and used as a training telescope, has been in use since 1951 at Mills Observatory
Mills Observatory
The Mills Observatory in Dundee, Scotland, is the only full-time public astronomical observatory in the UK . Built in 1935, the observatory is classically styled in sandstone and has a distinctive 7 m dome, which houses a Victorian refracting telescope, a small planetarium, and display areas...
, Dundee, Scotland.
A 25" Newall Telescope in Penteli Mount in Greece (National Observatory of Athens)