French Drum Microscope with rack and pinion focusing, c.1850
The microscope of the Scottish naturalist, geologist, and archaeologist George Tate (1805-1871)
The microscope is
unsigned, but is typically of French manufacture. It
focuses by push tube and by a rack and pinion movement
of the limb.
On the inside lid of the
wood case, it is written in ink "George Tate,
Alnwick" with the date 1851. George Tate
(1805-1871) was an accomplished Scottish naturalist,
geologist, and archaeologist.
The
Obituary of George Tate
(1805-1871)
We regret to record the
death of George Tate, Esq., F.G.S., of Alnwick, Hon.
Secretary of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, who
died on Wednesday, the 7th of June, 1871, aged 66
years., George Tate was born in 1805 at Alnwick. More
than forty years since he became connected with the
Mechanics' Institution of his native town, and for
upwards of thirty years he filled the post of Hon.
Secretary. During that long period the Institution
enjoyed a course of uninterrupted and increasing
prosperity, and to him more than to any single
individual is it owing that it has been the means of
conferring such incalculable benefit on the
town.
He was thoroughly imbued
with the enlightened and progressive spirit of the age,
and always held broad and liberal views on the great
questions of the day, and as a member of the Common
Council, and other public bodies in Alnwick, he never
failed to take an honourable, active, and distinguished
part in the affairs of the town.
Penetrated with an ardent
love of the sciences, he made Geology his particular
study, and became the expositor of the geological
structure of the Border-country. With equal ardour he
gave his mind to Archaeology. His learned and
interesting treatise on the "Ancient British
Sculptured. Rocks of Northumberland and the Eastern
Borders," and the excellent papers on Geology and
Archaeology which he has contributed to the
"Transactions of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club,"
in which society he held the post of Hon. Secretary,
must be well known to many of our readers.
But it is as the
historian of his native town that he has achieved his
chief claim to distinction. The "History of the
Borough, Castle, and Barony of Alnwick," the fruit of
many years of study and preparation, was completed in
1869, in commemoration of which he was presented with
an address, a silver tea and coffee service, and a
purse containing 100 guineas, by his fellow-townsmen,
aided by many gentlemen connected with the district,
and who might be regarded as the representatives of the
science of the Border-counties, and also by some few
men of high eminence in other parts of the
country.
No candid critic will
deny the right of this work to take rank amongst the
best local histories extant, and as a standard
authority that must be resorted to on all subsequent
occasions. It is characterized by vast research,
conscientious labour, and a sound critical judgment in
the weighing of facts and evidence. Its greatest merit
is the nobility and independence of soul which is
displayed throughout.
Mr. Tate was not only
remarkable for versatility of mind, but was gifted with
great powers of oratory, and as a lecturer few men were
his equal. A man without ambition, happy in public
esteem, and imbued with a love for his own native
district, having no claim upon it for rank, wealth, or
power, he was content to live in it all his life, and
to devote himself to the illustration of its
history.
In appreciation of his
eminent literary and scientific attainments, several
learned societies had accorded to him the honorary
distinction of Corresponding Member. He joined the
Geological Society of London in 1843.