Henry Wynne Henry Wynne was a highly esteemed mathematical instrument maker of his time.[1] In 1654, he was apprenticed to Ralph Greatorex of the Clockmaker’s Company, and in 1662, he was made a Free Brother of that guild. He worked his way up the ranks of the Company, and in 1692, was appointed as its Master. From the 1670s, Wynne was producing the finest and largest double-horizontal sundials known in Britain. Not many of this type of sundial were made, because their construction required a high degree of mathematical knowledge, as well as considerable skill in the accurate engraving of the planispheric projection. Wynne worked near the Sugar Loaf in Chancery Lane. Among his apprentices were Thomas Tuttell and Richard Glynne. Glynne’s apprenticeship to Wynne began in 1696. He followed in the footsteps of his mentor, eventually becoming a renowned instrument maker himself. Well known to members of the, Wynne was certainly part of the wider endeavour to reliably determine longitude at sea. In 1677, he made the magnetic dip needles with which Henry Bond’s longitude solution was tested at the Royal Society in London.[2] In 1673, Bond had claimed that he could determine longitude from the dip of a compass needle. Ultimately, Bond’s test failed, and the Board of Longitude remained unconvinced. In 1678, one of Wynne’s standard dials was supplied to King Charles II. This bronze horizontal sundial on a limestone pedestal is now part of the Royal Collection Trust (RCOM 30901). Wynne’s signature, Henricus Wynne Londini fecit, is engraved on its large horizontal plate. Its limestone, baluster-shaped pedestal is carved in high relief with vine leaves, garlands and acanthus. This carving has been attributed to Grinling Gibbons, an Anglo-Dutch sculptor and woodcarver known for his work in England. In 1682, Wynne published a book entitled The Description and Uses of the General Horological-ring, which explained how to set a horizontal sundial and provided a table of the latitudes ‘of the principal places’ in the shires of England and Wales. Wynne also designed two instruments that are coming soon to Clocktime. The first is the Complex Trigonometric Aide, made around 1680.[3] This small silver volvelle disc is a technical aide-mémoire that provides different examples of calculations useful for navigation. It specifically represents Napier’s rules for right spherical triangles: (i) the sine of any part of the triangle is equal to the product of the tangents of the adjacent parts, and (ii) the sine of any part of the triangle is equal to the product of the cosines of the opposite parts. These rules were published in Edinburgh in 1614 by the Scottish mathematician and theological writer John Napier, in his book Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio. Wynne’s volvelle could have been used for maritime navigation. When he made this trigonometric device, it was still widely assumed that the solution to the longitude problem would be an astronomical one, a view that was championed by astronomers such as the first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed. Astronomers believed that a solution could be achieved by measuring the position of the navigator relative to celestial bodies, such as Jupiter’s moons, which had been discovered by the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1610.[4] Perhaps Wynne's device was intended for use in aid of this approach. Only a few other examples of trigonometric aids are known.[5] Wynne’s design is identical to those of John Sellar, published around 1681. Sellar was a London-based mathematical practitioner, a person who had expertise in a range of mathematical applications, such as navigation, surveying, ballistics and fortification. There are two examples of Sellar’s devices in the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge (Accession No 2316). Both are made of brass. The second Wynne instrument coming soon to Clocktime is the Portland Sundial, which is also known as the Cornwallis Wynne Sundial. It was commissioned around 1690 by Lord Charles, 3rd Baron Cornwallis of Brome Hall, Suffolk.[6] This very large double-horizontal bronze sundial is a dual instrument, indicating both time and the direction of the sun. It is inscribed and constructed for the latitude of 52° 24′ North. On its dial, the shadow of the gnomon intersects the present solar time line on the inscribed graticule. This intersection was used to read the position of sun in the zodiac, times of sunrise and sunset, and other astronomical data. This sundial also bears the arms and motto of the Cornwallis family. Although commissioned by Charles Cornwallis, the arms on the dial are those of his ancestor, Sir John Cornwallis, who died in 1544. The plinth upon which the Portland Sundial sits is in the style of the famed decorative designer Daniel Marot, who was King William III's Master of Works. Little else of Wynne's life is known. After a fruitful career, he died in 1709. End Notes [1] Carter 2021, 118. [2] Bryden 1993. [3] Carter 2021, 92, Catalogue No. 18. [4] Wooten 2010, 124. [5] Bryden 1996. [6] Carter 2021, 116–119, Catalogue No. 24; Garnier and Hollis 2018, 346. References Bryden, D. J. 1993. ‘Magnetic inclinatory needles: Approved by the Royal Society?’ in Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 47(1): 17–31. Bryden, D. J. 1996. ‘The medal as a technical aide memoire: An example from Restoration England’ in The Medal 29: 139–147. Carter, J. 2021. The John C Taylor Collection: Part I (Selling Exhibition Catalogue, Carter Marsh & Co.). Winchester: Carter Marsh & Co. Garnier, R. and L. Hollis. 2018. Innovation & Collaboration: The early development of the pendulum clock in London. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. Napier, J. 1614. Mirifici logarithmorum canonis descriptio (1st edition). Edinburgh: Ex officinâ Andrew Hart (digitising sponsor, Smithsonian Libraries). Wooten, D. 2010. Galileo: Watcher of the skies. New Haven: Yale University Press. Wynne, H. 1682. The Description and Uses of the General Horological-ring: Or universal ring-dyal being the invention of the late reverend Mr. W. Oughtred, as it is usually made of a portable pocket size. With a large and correct table of the latitudes of the principal places in every shire throughout England and Wales, &c. And several ways to find a meridian-line for the setting a horizontal dyal. By Henry Wynne, maker of mathematical instruments near the Sugar-loaf in Chancery-lane. London: printed by A. Godbid and J. Playford, for the author. Further Reading Clifton, G. and G. L’Estrange Turner. 1995. Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550–1851. London: National Maritime Museum. Taylor, E. G. R. 1954. The Mathematical Practitioners of Tudor and Stuart England, 1485–1714. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press–Institute of Navigation.
