Private Olveston, Nr. Bristol | 18 June 1855
Dear Sir,
An examination is to be held in July or the beginning of August1 under the Board of Ordnance for appointments to Cadetships in the Royal Artillery.2 Will you allow me to ask you whether in the event of an application being made to you from Lord Panmure you would be willing to undertake the office of Examiner in Physics?
The remuneration of the Examiners will depend on the number of candidates he will have to examine but will not be less than £50. I apprehend that the duties of the Examiner in Physics will not be heavy. Will you oblige me by an answer if possible by return of post addressed as below, and believe me
Yours faithfully | Henry Moseley
RI MS JT/1/3/884
LT Typescript Only
held in July or the beginning of August: The examination was originally planned to start on 11 July but was postponed until 1 August 1855.
An examination … Royal Artillery: Entry to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich had traditionally been by patronage. However, after much controversy Parliament accepted the need for an open competition, the first such examination being held in August 1855. ‘The object of the examination was to select twenty candidates between the ages of 19 and 21, to be appointed to Provisional Commissions, and forty between the ages of 17 and 19, to be admitted to the Senior Practical Class at Woolwich.’ (Report on the Examination for Appointments in the Royal Artillery and Engineers, Held at King’s College, London, on the First of August, 1855 (London: Harrison, 1855), p. 4.) All candidates had to sit the examination in mathematics and also be examined in at least two other subjects from a list of nine, one of which was ‘Natural Sciences’.
Please cite as “Tyndall1098,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on