Extract from 200 Years of The Plymouth Athenaeum:
The Royal Visit
“William Snow Harris was an early member of The Plymouth Institution and was to become President in 1847 – 1848. He is a man to whom thousands upon thousands of sailors should be grateful.
He was born in Plymouth in 1791 and attended Plymouth Grammar School. In 1812, after one year at Edinburgh University, he matriculated in ‘Materia Medica’, ‘Chemistry’ and ‘Practise of Medicine’. He worked in the field of medicine, returning to Plymouth in 1818 as a practising surgeon.
Making a financially secure marriage helped him to spend time studying his major interest – electricity. He realised that ships could suffer badly when struck by lightning and set out to discover why and to invent a means of combating the results.
The solution that he came up with was to insert pure copper strips in the masts and to lead the power of the strikes safely into the sea.
That, maybe, was the easy part, as he now faced the stupidity of political wrangling and the inertia of the Royal Navy.
He did, however, have some influential champions, one of whom was the Duke of Clarence, later to become the Sailor King, William IV. In July 1827, the Duke, in his role as Lord High Admiral, came to Devon to inspect the Royal Dockyard at Devonport.
Henry Woollcombe, The Athenaeum’s founding father, was deeply involved with this visit due to his civic position. This may have helped Snow Harris to have another opportunity to further his case for the adoption of his invention.
On 17th July 1827, the Duke and his entourage came to the Athenæum to hear Snow Harris on the subject of ‘Lightning Conductors for Ships’. Woollcombe entered in his Journal at the end of some very busy days: –
“The visit to the Athenæum on Tuesday last was very gratifying, Harris performed his experiments as usual with great clearness and dexterity and spoke unembarrassedingly, unaffectedly. The Duke was attentive and understood the subject and I doubt not will have it tried in the Navy. Sir Edward Owen and Mr. Barrow both came in and held some discussion with Harris but I think Harris made good and presented all his statements”.
Mr Barrow was to become Sir John. He was also to be the major obstacle for Snow Harris. Barrow was a senior civil servant and Permanent Secretary at the Admiralty. During the 22 years that it took Snow Harris to have his life saving invention adopted by the Royal Navy, Barrow wielded his great power. In the meantime the Russian Navy had noted the faltering steps to carry out half hearted trials in Britain and moved forward on its own. The Czar was so impressed that he gave Snow Harris a massive vase and a ring. The vase was lost in the destruction of 1941.
Eventually fame and fortune was to come to the genial and patient Snow Harris. After being awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society he was granted a government pension and, following the personal intervention of Queen Victoria, he was knighted in 1847. (For much greater detail on the subject see Hugh Cannell’s book ‘Lightning Strikes’).
The Lounge Picture
Not surprisingly the Society was proud of the Royal Visit. To commemorate the day, Henry Woollcombe commissioned John Ball to paint a picture of the event. The painting was finished in 1832 and first shown in the Athenæum in 1833. It remained in the possession of Woollcombe, who passed it on to his nephew at Hemerdon. In 1965 it was given by the Woollcombe family to the Society. It now graces the east wall of the Athenæum Lounge.
John Ball, the artist, a member of the Society, produced a unique record of a unique occasion. Unfortunately he used bitumen in his paint which has left, despite cleaning, several of those represented with black eyes!
The picture shows Snow Harris addressing the Duke, suitably attired in a special Naval Uniform and a pink sash and surrounded by the most prominent members of the Plymouth Institution. It also has the advantage of recording features of the Lecture Room, including the President’s Chair and the frieze.”
© 2012 The Plymouth Athenaeum