NEWS From the RAS Archives This photograph came to light inthe Library recently, stuck into the Society’s copy of Berthon’s autobiography, A Retrospect of Eight Decades. The Reverend

was of Huguenot descent and was one of those multitalented Victorian clergymen who contributed to many different fields. One some-times wonders how they fitted in their pastoral duties! Originally intended for a surgeon, he also studied engineering, and took Holy Orders in 1845. He served as a curate at Lymington and then held livings in Fareham and later Romsey Abbey. He made numerous inventions including a patent log for measuring the speed of ships, an early version of the screw propeller and, most famously, a collapsible lifeboat for ships. This device could be folded for storage, but unlike some of its competitors would refrain from collapsing when the hour of its need arose. In many ways it can be regarded as a distant ancestor of the modern inflatable life-raft. Having had various dis-couragements with his inventions he abandoned many of them, but on the urging of Samuel Plimsoll MP (of “Plimsoll line ” fame) he resumed his efforts in 1873 and set up a factory to manufacture these vessels, employing nearly 100 men. Clergymen, especially in coastal areas, were at the forefront of efforts throughout the 19th century to reduce the dreadful toll of lives lost in shipwrecks in those days of mainly sailing vessels, not only from humanitarian feelings but also because they often had the unpleasant task of burying the bod-ies washed ashore. It is recorded that the eccentric Parson Hawker of Morwenstow, Cornwall, had to pay the funeral bearers out of his own pocket and also to ply them with large quantities of gin before they could face the grim task of carrying the decayed victims to their last rest. A diagram of the Berthon lifeboat can be found in the English Mechanic for 9 May 1873, page 194. Berthon’s factory also supplied collapsible pontoons to the Royal Engineers and portable field hospitals. Using his engineering and timber manufacturing skills and factory, Berthon also manufactured obser-vatories and telescopes on a fair scale. Under the trade name of the “Romsey Observatory ” he devised a sectional timber building, oval in plan, which could be shipped easily and assembled on site. Many of them were provided with optics b