Alexander MacFarlane (astronomer)

Alexander MacFarlane FRS
Portrait by John Vanderbank
Born	c. 1702 Scotland
Died	23 August 1755 (aged 52–53) Jamaica
Occupations	Merchant judge politician planter
Parent(s)	John MacFarlane and Lady Helen Arbuthnot

Alexander MacFarlane, FRS (c. 1702 – 23 August 1755) was a Scottish merchant, planter and astronomer. After graduating from the University of Glasgow in 1728, he emigrated to the British colony of Jamaica and became a prominent landowner and political figure. MacFarlane was appointed the colony's first Postmaster General in 1735 and elected to the House of Assembly of Jamaica for Saint Elizabeth Parish in 1754. At the time of his death, he owned multiple sugar plantations and nearly 800 slaves.

MacFarlane was also an amateur astronomer who constructed observatories in Port Royal and Kingston, equipped with a variety of instruments purchased from fellow astronomer Colin Campbell. His astronomical observations, though limited in scope, resulted in MacFarlane being elected as a fellow of the Royal Society in 1746. Upon his death, he bequeathed his scientific instruments to the University of Glasgow, where they formed the basis of the Macfarlane Observatory, the first of its kind in Britain. In the 21st century, his legacy has come under scrutiny due to MacFarlane's ownership of slaves.

Early life

The University of Glasgow in 1650

Alexander MacFarlane was born in Scotland c. 1702. His parents were John MacFarlane, who died in 1705, and Lady Helen Arbuthnot, a noblewoman who was the daughter of Robert Arbuthnot, 2nd Viscount of Arbuthnott; the Arbuthnot family's motto was Astra castra, Numen lumen (the stars my camp, the Lord my light). The youngest of four sons, MacFarlane studied at the University of Glasgow, graduating from the university with a Master of Arts degree in 1728. He subsequently immigrated to the British colony of Jamaica.

Career in Jamaica and death

In Jamaica, MacFarlane began working as a merchant and gradually accumulated substantial landholdings. By 1735, he had become a prosperous businessman and assistant judge, owning several sugar plantations. In November of that year, MacFarlane was appointed the first Postmaster General of Jamaica. Twelve years later, in 1747, he purchased the "Biscany" plantation in Saint Elizabeth Parish. In 1754, MacFarlane was elected to the House of Assembly of Jamaica representing the parish.

Alongside his commercial and political pursuits, MacFarlane developed a keen amateur interest in astronomy and mathematics. At a residence of his in Port Royal, he commissioned the construction of a private observatory, outfitted with instruments purchased from Colin Campbell, a fellow planter and astronomer who was an associate of Edmond Halley. Campbell, a fellow of the Royal Society, had established his own observatory in Jamaica in 1731 to study and catalogue the southern celestial hemisphere.

In the 1740s, MacFarlane oversaw the construction of a new observatory in Kingston, having acquired all of Campbell’s astronomical equipment by 1743 for such a purpose. The facility was equipped with a four-foot mural arch, a five-foot transit telescope, a one-month regulator clock, and a five-foot zenith sector. Finding the zenith sector cumbersome to use, MacFarlane designed a new horizontal reflecting sector and in 1755 commissioned Swiss instrument maker Pierre Martel, who maintained his equipment, to build it.

In November 1743, MacFarlane sent a letter detailing his astronomical observations to Scottish telescope maker James Short. Short subsequently travelled to London and read the letter to his fellow members at the Royal Society, nominating MacFarlane for fellowship. Although his scientific contributions were "fairly minimal in modern terms", MacFarlane was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society on 20 November 1746. He continued to send reports to the society until his death on 23 August 1755. At the time of his death, MacFarlane owned 791 slaves across six sugar plantations.

Legacy

After his death, MacFarlane's observatory in Kingston was eventually converted by the colonial authorities into the Surrey County jail after the county was established in 1758. As he never married, the majority of MacFarlane's estate was left in his will and testament to his two brothers, Walter and William, including the "Serge Island", "Biscany", "Bog Pen", "Glen Goff", "Lennox Castle" and "Windsor" plantations. The will also stipulated that the following would be donated to the University of Glasgow:

All my mathematickal instruments: a four-foot mural arch made of brass, a five foot meridian transit, a five foot astronomical sector, a small clock and an instrument of four foot equal altitude and likewise object, and other globes for three telescopes and three micrometers, also some variation needles and some other small things.

The equipment was transported from Jamaica to Scotland on board the British merchantman Casar, and the university received them on 29 October 1756. As they had been damaged during the voyage due to exposure to the ocean air, university officials contracted James Watt to repair the equipment. In the next year, the university established an observatory using MacFarlane's instruments, naming it Macfarlane Observatory in his honour. This was the first such observatory of its type in Great Britain.

In the 21st century, MacFarlane's ownership of slaves has come under greater scrutiny. The University of Glasgow published a report titled "Slavery, Abolition and The University of Glasgow" in 2018 as part of a "programme of education and reparative justice." In the report, which detailed the university's relationship with slavery and abolitionism, academics Stephen Mullen and Simon Newman noted "[without] doubt" that MacFarlane's bequest "helped facilitate the founding of the Regius Professor of Astronomy in 1760".

References

Bibliography

Books

• Clarke, David (2013). Reflections on the Astronomy of Glasgow. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-7891-4.
• Dickinson, H. W. (2010) [1936]. James Watt: Craftsman and Engineer. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-1080-1223-2.
• MacFarlane, James (2021) [1922]. History of Clan MacFarlane. Legare Street Press. ISBN 978-1-0137-1668-3.
• Mullen, Stephen (2020). Archer, Caroline; Dick, Malcolm (eds.). James Watt (1736-1819): Culture, Innovation and Enlightenment. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-7896-2082-5.
• MacKechnie, Aonghus (2020). Humm, Louisa (ed.). Architecture of Scotland, 1660-1750. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-5528-2.
• Nelson, Louis P. (2016). Architecture and Empire in Jamaica. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-3002-1100-9.
• Stearns, Raymond Phineas (1970). Science in the British Colonies of America. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-2520-0120-8.

Websites

• "Alexander Macfarlane". Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
• Mullen, Stephen; Newman, Simon (2018). "Slavery, Abolition and the University of Glasgow" (PDF). University of Glasgow. Retrieved 17 January 2023.