Dawes was born at Christ's Hospital[1] then in the City of London (it moved to Horsham, West Sussex in 1902),[2] the son of William Dawes, also an astronomer, and Judith Rutter.[3] He qualified as a doctor in 1825. On 29 October 1828 he was ordained pastor at an Independent chapel in Burscough Street, Ormskirk, Lancashire,[4] formerly part of a silk factory.[4] A new chapel, in Chapel Street, was opened in 1834.[4] Dawes resigned as pastor in December 1837 due to ill health.[4] When, in 1843, the chapel got into financial difficulties due to the debt owing after its construction, Dawes came to their aid.[4]
A Chart of Mars Laid down on the Stereographic Projection by R A Proctor. From: Other Worlds Than Ours, 1896.
He made extensive drawings of Mars during its 1864 opposition. In 1867, Richard Anthony Proctor made a map of Mars based on these drawings. Proctor named two features after Dawes.[8]
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1830 and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1865, for his astronomical work.[9] Proposers for his Royal Society Fellowship included G B Airy and J F W Herschel.[9]
Dawes married twice. His first wife was Mary Scott née Egerton (1764-1840). They married on 13 January 1824 at Haddenham, Buckinghamshire.[15] She was the widow of his tutor, Thomas Scott.[16] On 28 July 1842 Dawes married Ann Welsby née Coupland (1805-1860).[16] She was the widow of Ormskirk solicitor John Welsby (1800-1839)[16] whom she had married on 16 January 1824.[17]
William Rutter Dawes' grave, St Mary's Church, Haddenham, Buckinghamshire.
REV DR WILLIAM RUTTER DAWES FRAS FRS
BORN 19 MAR 1799 DIED 15 FEB 1868
ASTRONOMER
HE MARRIED TWO WIDOWS MRS THOMAS SCOTT AND MRS JOHN WELSBY AND SURVIVED THEM BOTH
HE BUILT HOPEFIELD IN 1857 AND LIVED THERE UNTIL HIS DEATH
^ abcdeNightingale, Benjamin, Lancashire nonconformity, or, Sketches, historical & descriptive, of the Congregational and old Presbyterian churches in the county. John Heywood, 1890-1893, p200-2
^Proctor, R A, "Canals on the Planet Mars", The Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 14 April, 1882, p7, column 7.
^Sharp, Steve, with Wellby, Michael, "Hopefield House, Station Rd and the Rev Dr WR Dawes", The Haddenham Chronicles, No 2, Autumn 2006, Haddenham Museum Trust, pp40-2
^Nicholson, Philip D. et al, (October 2014) "Noncircular features in Saturn’s rings II: The C ring", Icarus, Volume 241, p383 ("8. Dawes gap and embedded ringlet")
^Buckinghamshire Marriage Index, findmypast (subscription required)
Ashbrook, Joseph (1984). The Astronomical Scrapbook. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Sky Publishing. pp. 360–365. (Adapted from Sky & Telescope, July 1973, page 27)
McKim, R., Marriott, R. A., "Dawes' Observations Of Mars, 1864-65", Journal of the British Astronomical Association, vol.98, no.6, p.294-300, October 1988.
