JOHN DALTON'S GRAVE T. LENTON ELLIOTT Widnes, Lancashire, England
DALTON,the pioneer of the atomic theory in chemistry, was born at the village of Eaglesfield, near Cockermouth, in Cumberland, England, on the 5th of September, 1766. His family were members of the Society of Friends and are known to have resided on their small estate for a t least three previous generations. Dalton was largely self-taught and worked as a school tearher in his own locality from the early age of twelve. I n 1793 he settled in Manchester, which city became his home and the place of his wide scientific studies. Most of his discoveries and researches were announced and his original papers read to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Soriety, whose premises he used almost as a club, when he was not working in his laboratory or conducting his classes in chemistry. He was president of this society for 28 years and a member for half a century, and his executors gave most of his original manuscripts and apparatus to its members for exhibition and safe keeping. Unfortunately the premises in George Street, Manchester, were completely destroyed by enemy action in the winter of 1940, and the contents were entirely lost. A couple of boxes of material collected from other sources are reported to be lodged in the cellars of the Christie Library at Manchester University, but thelr contents are understood to he of little interest or value.' The citizens of Manchester, though slowly developing an interest in matters scientific, were even slower in recognizing the eminence of Dalton in the world of science, although his work became recognized early in
France and Germany as being highly important. It is worthy of note that Dalton was honored by the French Academy of Science in Paris before he n-as elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in London. Dalton died on the 27th of July, 1844. He had become partially paralyzed in April, 1837, and was an invaIid from that time, but able to get about with the aid of a stick. To make amends for tardy recognition of hi$ attainments the municipality of Manchester decided to give Dalton a public funeral which took place on ~Monday, the 12th of August, 1844. The coffin was placed in a room in the Town Hall for three days previously, and contemporary records state that it was visited by over forty thousand persons. The funeral cortege vas made up of nearly one hundred carriages, and four hundred police were on duty along the route to Ardnick Cemetery. All the public bodies in Manchester and Salford were repre~ented.~ The cemetery is now surrounded by buildings and obscured. It has been unused for several years. Few Mancunians know of its existence, and i t is not even marked on recent maps of the city. There is a t present (1952) a movement to schedule the cemetery as an "ancient monument" under Government control. Dalton's grave is a large ~ ~ a ucovered lt with heavy flagstones. The enclosure is about twenty feet square with a boundary of heavy iron railings painted a bronzegreen. The monumental tomb is of red polished granite; the name "John Dalton" in five-inch capitals is on the top flat slab. The dates of birth and death appear in smaller lettering on either side. All letters are deeply carved. There is no other embellishment. Owing to the war no publir relebration of the centenary of his death was held in 1944, but a few years ago the members of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society had the grave cleaned and the rails painted as their contribution to his m e m ~ r y . ~
JOHN
Communicated privately to the present author b y the Joint Honmnry Secretary of the Literary and Philosophical Society, Manchesber.
% T h eprincipal source of information on .John Dalton is in "Memoirs of the Life and Sr,i~ntifio Researches of .John Dalton," print,rd fov the Cnvondish Society, by Harriby W. C. HENRY, son & Sons, London, 1854. Dr. I1enl.y was a lifclong friend of Ddton and his official biographer He assisted st the pose mortem, and has much to say on the Formation of the bmin. The book has intimate details of D:dton's life. wit,h facsimiles of his hand-writing, ete., ns Appendix. a Recent references to Dalton arising fl.om the oentcnary of his death llrc to bc found in the following.:
POLANYI, M.,"Reflections on John Dalton," Manchenfer Gtrardian, July 22, 1944. "Dalton and his Atoms," editorial, Chemislq &Industry, Aug. 5, 1944. john D
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IG .~~ .~, ~ ~~irdwisk ~. o ~ . cemetery, ~ a n c h ~~ t ~ ~ ~.
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"John ~ n Ddton d Centenary," ibid., 1944,376 (Oct. 28).
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