Alexander MacFarlane (astronomer)

Alexander MacFarlane, FRS (c. 1702 – 23 August 1755) was a Scottish merchant, planter and astronomer. Born into an aristocratic family, MacFarlane graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1728 and subsequently immigrated to the British colony of Jamaica, where he worked as a merchant and acquired several sugar plantations operated with slave labour.

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

In addition to stints as a judge and politician, MacFarlane also pursued an amateur career in astronomy in Port Royal and Kingston, using equipment purchased from fellow astronomer Colin Campbell. After his death in 1755, MacFarlane bequeathed his plantations to his brothers and his astronomical equipment to the University of Glasgow, which used it to establish an observatory, naming it Macfarlane Observatory in his honour.

Early life

The University of Glasgow in 1650

Alexander MacFarlane was born in Scotland c. 1702.^[1] 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).^[2][3] 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.^[4]

Career in Jamaica and death

In Jamaica, MacFarlane started working as a merchant and gradually acquired several landholdings in the colony.^[4] By 1735, he had established himself as a prosperous businessman and assistant judge who owned several sugar plantations, and in November of that year MacFarlane was appointed as the first Postmaster General of Jamaica. 12 years later, he purchased the "Biscany" plantation in Saint Elizabeth Parish from Benjamin Allan.^[3] In 1754, MacFarlane was elected to the House of Assembly of Jamaica, representing Saint Elizabeth Parish.^[2]

MacFarlane also developed an amateur interest in astronomy and mathematics in addition to his professional careers.^[3] At a house he acquired in Port Royal, MacFarlane ordered the construction of an observatory, purchasing astronomy equipment from Colin Campbell, a fellow planter and astronomer who was an acquaintance of Sir Edmond Halley.^[5] Campbell, a fellow of the Royal Society, had ordered the construction of an observatory in Jamaica in 1731 to observe and catalogue the southern celestial hemisphere.^[4]

In the 1740s, MacFarlane arranged for the construction of an observatory at Kingston, Jamaica, having purchased all of Campbell's astronomy equipment by 1743 for such a purpose. This observatory included a four-foot mural arch, a five-foot transit telescope, a one-month regulator clock and a five-foot zenith sector. As he found the zenith sector difficult to use, MacFarlane designed a new horizontal reflecting sector and in 1755 contracted Swiss instrument maker Pierre Martel, who regularly took care of his equipment, to build it for him.^[4]

MacFarlane sent a letter to Scottish telescope manufacturer James Short in November 1743, reporting on astronomical observations he had made in Jamaica. After receiving the letter, Short travelled to London and read it to his fellow members at the Royal Society, moving to nominate MacFarlane as a fellow of the society. Though his astronomical work was "fairly minimal in modern terms", he was made a fellow by the Royal Society on 20 November 1746. MacFarlane continued to send reports of his observations to the Royal Society until his death on 23 August 1755.^[4] At the time of his death, he owned 791 slaves spread across six sugar plantations.^[3]

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.^[2][3] 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.^[6][7]

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.^[8] In the next year, the university established an observatory using MacFarlane's instruments, naming it Macfarlane Observatory in his honour.^[9] This was the first such observatory of its type in Great Britain.^[7]

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."^[10] 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".^[7]