BORN September 18, 1852, at Stourbridge, Worcestershire. His parents died during his infancy, and he was taken to Oakamoor, a village in the romantic and lovely valley of the River Churnet, in North Staffordshire, and the family home, where he was reared by his grandmother, to whose memory he owes a continual debt of gratitude. As his father, a solicitor, was a Staffordshire man, he regards himself as of Staffordshire extraction. During childhood, amid the wild scenery of the moorlands and Churnet valley, he acquired a strong love for the beauties of nature, so much so that by the time he had reached his tenth year he had a small museum of natural history and geology, containing many objects of his own collecting. His early education was at Uttoxeter Grammar School, Staffordshire; and, after completing it, he removed to London, where he was educated for his father's profession. His keen love for geography and travel, fostered trebly by all the surroundings, proved too strong for his sedentary occupation in the dingy chambers of Lincoln's Inn; and so powerful did this become after vacations abroad that, having private means, he gave up the law, with the intention of visiting every country of the world; following, however, humbly in the footsteps of Humboldt, and devoting himself to a comprehensive study of scientific geography, of which, in its many branches, he was passionately fond. During his earlier travels he gave his attention mainly to ethnographical and zoological observation, and made extensive collections, sending home treasures from time to time. He has thrice been in the colonies, and travelled, apart from vacations spent on the continent, in Syria, through Palestine, Egypt, and North America, and has also visited India, Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope, and other places en route to and from Australia. He came to Adelaide in 1876, and whilst here was engaged in the Surveyor-General's department on surveys in the Flinders Ranges and Murray Scrub. Whilst thus employed he added largely to his museum, studied and gained information of the customs of the natives, aided considerably by the kindness and experience of Mr. Jno. Ewens, of Morgan, and the late Mr. Taplin, of Point Macleay. This enabled him to take home a fine collection of their weapons, &c. He also, through his valued friend, the late Mr. Jno. Howard Clark, obtained specimens of nearly every shell found on the South Australian coasts. So extensive had his museum become that, after returning to England by the "Hesperus" in 1878, he offered it to the town of Stafford. It was accepted, and later a fine building was erected for its reception, adjoining the Borough Hall. The corporation of Stafford hold the "Wragge Museum" on lease for twenty-one years, Mr. Wragge subscribing towards its maintenance, and being honorary curator; and if during that time due care is taken of the collection, it is to become the
Mr. Robt. Whinham.
property of the town and county of Stafford, Mr. Wragge being life trustee. It has been classified by him (on Cuvier's method, as regards the Zoological department), and he has illustrated Sir Chas. Lyell's "Students' Elements of Geology." The Ethnographical division he has arranged to illustrate ethnographically Mercator's Chart of the World. During his voyages he made numerous zoological and meteorological notes, and obtained valuable and curious results relative to ocean currents from his practice of casting adrift bottle-papers. For instance, in the case of Renners current, which sets from the Bay of Biscay to the Irish coast, his bottles, cast adrift at various positions and at different seasons, have invariably drifted to, and been' picked up on, the coast of France; seeming to indicate that Maury did not attach sufficient importance to the influence of the winds on current bottles. On the other hand, papers cast adrift by Mr. Wragge in the region of the Sargossa Sea have followed the current into the main equatorial stream, and been found at Hayti and on the northern shores of the Gulf of Mexico. After returning from his second visit to Australia, Mr. Wragge devoted his attention specially to meteorology, and established three observatories at different heights in the Churnet valley and moorlands of North Staffordshire, chiefly to investigate problems in climatology. Very valuable results were obtained as to the problem of the increase of temperature with altitude. One instance may be cited. During the famous frost of January, 1881, at his station on Beacon Stoop, 1,216 feet above sea temperature, at 9 a.m., it was 20·7; at his Farley observatory, on the watershed, 640 feet above the sea, 16·4; and at Oakamoor, in the valley, 350 feet above the sea, 3·6, simultaneously. In 1881 Mr. Wragge established and worked, mainly with his own instruments, under the auspices of the Scottish Meteorological Society, during summer and autumn, the first observatory on the summit of Ben Nevis, 4,406 feet high, and a station in connection at Fort William. There was then no house on the summit, and so this involved climbing the mountain daily in all weathers. Many a battle he fought with the storms and snow-drifts of the Ben, and the work was continued with the addition of six intermediate stations in 1882, and carried on until the storms of winter absolutely compelled him, at much risk to life, to desist from his arduous ascents. Very important information was obtained relative to the vertical distribution of atmospheric pressure, and its bearing on the cyclonic and anti-cyclonic types of weather, and his work was rewarded by a special gold medal given by the Society, and high commendation by Sir William Thomson. In 1877 Mr. Wragge had married, in Adelaide, a South Australian lady, daughter of the late Edward Thornton, Esq., solicitor, of Kensington, and in consequence of his wife's failing health, he returned to the colony, with his family, in 1883, by the "Maranoa," having first arranged his museum and re-organised the work at Ben Nevis, which he left in assistant's hands. An observatory-house now crowns the summit of that mountain, to the erection of which nearly every class subscribed, from the Queen downwards, and his work is permanently continued by the Scottish Meteorological Society. He made many observations during his voyage out in the "Maranoa," and shortly after arrival here established the Torrens Observatory at Walkerville (Jan. 1, 1884), purchased the land on which it stands, and settled his family thereon. This observatory is equipped with the best observing instruments, including barograph and thermograph, which constantly record by clock-work every variation of atmospheric pressure and temperature. A new form of hygrometer, registering by electricity, is a great feature in this observatory. There is also a fine astronomical equatorially-mounted telescope, with object glass of best quality, by Wray, of London, besides a small altazimuth, and numerous other instruments and appliances. Valuahle records have been obtained bearingupon meteorological problems, and in the climatic details prevailing on the Adelaide plains. On Oct. 1, 1884, he established a meteorological observatory on the summit of Mount Lofty, and placed self-registering and self-recording instruments there in connection with the Torrens Observatory. As at Ben Nevis, so here results have been obtained which throw much light on vertical barometric gradients, and especially on the local climatology of the Mount Lofty ranges and Adelaide plains. Some of these have been published in the Adelaide papers, and the full details are sent to England. In 1875, on the recommendation of Mr. Clements Markham, C.B., and the late Sir Bartle Frere, K.C.M.G., Mr. Wragge was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, and of the Royal Society of South Australia. Mr. Wragge considers that life on this beautiful planet is an inestimable privilege, and one that should be turned to the very best account. To give a full description of all that he has accomplished in the cause of science would in these pages be simply impossible; but sufficient has been educed to show that Mr. Wragge is no ordinary man, and one ever ready to impart to others the outcome of his experiences, gained often under the most untoward circumstances, without fee or reward. He is just the class of men we want in South Australia, and though at present visiting Queensland, it is hoped that he will ultimately return to make this colony his permanent home.
William Bowen Chinner,
BORN in Adelaide, in 1850. Educated at St. Peter's College, under Canon Farr, M.A., LL.D., and earned distinction by gaining a scholarship for classics, given by the late Bishop Short. Received his first musical instruction from his father, the late G. W. Chinner, who was well known
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