astronomy

Richard Hugh Stotherd

Richard Hugh Stotherd is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Richard Hugh Stotherd rather than just read about it. In short: Richard Hugh Stotherd (1828–1895) was a British Army officer, a major-general in the Royal Engineers and the director-general of the Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom, Life The son of General Richard J. Stotherd (1796–1879), colonel commandant Royal Engineers, by his first wife, Elizabeth Sydney (died 1853), daughter of Hugh Boyle, of Dungiven, County Londonderry, he was born at Angler Castle, County Tyrone, on…

Key takeaways

Richard Hugh Stotherd belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Richard Hugh Stotherd to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Richard Hugh Stotherd from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Richard Hugh Stotherd (1828–1895) was a British Army officer, a major-general in the Royal Engineers and the director-general of the Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom,

Life The son of General Richard J. Stotherd (1796–1879), colonel commandant Royal Engineers, by his first wife, Elizabeth Sydney (died 1853), daughter of Hugh Boyle, of Dungiven, County Londonderry, he was born at Angler Castle, County Tyrone, on 25 November 1828. His father, who came of a Lincolnshire family, worked on the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, and was promoted general 19 June 1872. Educated at University College school, and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Stotherd received a commission as second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 2 May 1847, and first lieutenant on 28 October. He went through the usual course of professional study at Chatham, and then served at Woolwich and at Gibraltar. On his return home he was posted to the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain and sent to Dumfries. He was promoted to be second captain on 21 May 1855, and first captain on 17 May 1860. Leaving the Ordnance Survey in 1861, Stotherd went to Weymouth, and then, at time of the Trent affair, to North America, where he acted as brigade major and assistant to the commanding Royal Engineer, serving four years in Canada and New Brunswick. On Stotherd's return to England on 13 February 1866 he was appointed instructor in electricity, chemistry, and photography at the school of military engineering at Chatham. There he was an early investigator of the application of electricity to mining and naval mines, and he also organised the first field telegraph. He was sent to the 1867 Paris Exhibition to report on military telegraphs. In 1868 Prince Arthur was under his instruction. While at Chatham, Stotherd advocated Morse code for army signalling. He was promoted to be brevet major on 22 November 1870, regimental major on 5 July 1872, and regimental lieutenant-colonel on 3 August 1872. In 1871 Stotherd accompanied Colonel Charles Cornwallis Chesney to report on the Franco-Prussian War, the siege of Paris and the operations against the Paris Commune. In April 1873 he was appointed to the War Office in London, to advise on the subject of submarine mines and of military telegraphs. He was from 1873 to 1876 president of the first war office torpedo committee. In 1876 Stotherd was appointed commanding Royal Engineer of the Belfast military district, where he remained for five years. He was promoted to be brevet colonel on 3 August 1877, and regimental colonel on 26 April 1882. In September 1881 he was appointed to the charge of the Ordnance Survey in Ireland, residing at the Mountjoy Barracks, Phoenix Park, Dublin. After the assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish, Stotherd acted as a military justice of the peace for the city of Dublin, in charge of troops in aid of the civil power. On 1 April 1883 Stotherd was appointed director-general of the Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom, and went to its headquarters at Southampton. The staff had grown under his predecessor, Lieutenant-General Anthony Charles Cooke. A parliamentary select committee of 1878 had recommended that the original large-scale surveys should be completed in 1890, instead of 1900. Stotherd urged a systematic revision on the government. In 1884 he saw to maps for the Redistribution of Seats Bill, and was officially thanked by being made CB On 25 November 1886 Stotherd was compelled by the age rule to retire from the army and from his appointment, receiving the honorary rank of major-general. He died suddenly, from heart disease, on 1 May 1895 at Camberley, Surrey, where he resided.

Works Stotherd contributed articles to The Professional Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers, vols. xvii. and xviii., and was the author of the first text-book published in England on its subject, Notes on Defence by Submarine Mines, Brompton, Kent; the second edition was dated 1873.

Family Stotherd was first married on 11 June 1861, at St. George's, Hanover Square, London, to Caroline Frances Wood (died 17 February 1872), by whom he had a large family; and secondly, on 29 September 1875, at Edinburgh, Elizabeth Janet Melville, who survived him. His eldest son Major Sydney Boyle Stotherd (1862-19/10/1915) died of wounds in France Another son Lt. Col. Edward A W Stotherd b:c. 1864 in Canada also fought in WW1. He died aged 75 in 1939 Lynette Saunders (Fallon) born Walton hospital England on 8 December 1966 is 3rd great granddaughter and resides in Australia with her children Emma, Daniel, Joshuah Parr and husband Tank commander Lcpl Paul Saunders of 1st Armoured regiment.

Notes

Attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Stotherd, Richard Hugh". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 54. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard Hugh Stotherd

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard Hugh Stotherd claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Richard Hugh Stotherd before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Richard Hugh Stotherd ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Richard Hugh Stotherd

In research: Richard Hugh Stotherd appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Richard Hugh Stotherd in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Richard Hugh Stotherd is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1828 births, 1895 deaths, 19th-century British cartographers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard Hugh Stotherd outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Richard Hugh Stotherd in 20 minutes

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Frequently asked questions

What is Richard Hugh Stotherd in simple terms?

Richard Hugh Stotherd (1828–1895) was a British Army officer, a major-general in the Royal Engineers and the director-general of the Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom, Life The son of General Richard J. Stotherd (1796–1879), colonel commandant Royal Engineers, by his first wife, Elizabeth Sydne…

Why does Richard Hugh Stotherd matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Richard Hugh Stotherd?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Richard Hugh Stotherd.