Among other organic products, legumine and vitelline also formed materials for his investigations. In 1847 he was appointed to the chair of chemistry in the medical school of St. George's Hospital, which he held till his death. About 1849 he obtained the degree of doctor of physics from the university of Giessen, and in 1850–1 conducted, conjointly with Henry Gray, an inquiry into the composition and functions of the spleen. The essay resulting from this investigation gained the Astley Cooper prize of 1852. He next experimented on the chemistry of iron, and in 1860 contributed the article ‘Iron’ to Robert Hunt's edition of ‘Ure's Dictionary.’ This led to his appointment as consulting chemist to the Ebbw Vale Iron Company, the Cwm Celyn and Blaina, the Aberdare and Plymouth, and other ironworks in South Wales. In 1866 he became examiner of malt liquors to the India office, and in 1872 an examiner in chemistry and physics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. When the Panopticon of Science and Arts in Leicester Square was opened in 1854, he was appointed instructor in chemistry there. On 5 June 1856 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
In 1839 he published ‘A Course of Eight Lectures on Electricity, Galvanism, Magnetism, and Electro-Magnetism,’ which became a recognised text-book, passing through four editions; in 1857 it gave place to ‘A Manual of Electricity’ in two volumes, which was long a standard book. In 1848 he wrote a valuable treatise on ‘Chemical Manipulation and Analysis, Qualitative and Quantitative,’ for the Library of Useful Knowledge, and re-wrote in 1875 ‘A Normandy's Commercial Handbook of Chemical Analysis,’ a volume which meets the wants of the analyst while discharging his duties under the Adulteration Act.
He died at his son's residence in High Street, Lower Norwood, Surrey, on 23 July 1877. Charlotte Jane, his widow, died on 25 March 1882, aged 67.
Besides the works already mentioned, Noad was the author of:
- ‘Lectures on Chemistry, including its Applications in the Arts, and the Analysis of Organic and Inorganic Compounds,’ 1843.
- ‘The Improved Induction Coil, being a Popular Explanation of the Electrical Principles on which it is constructed,’ 1861; 3rd edit. 1868.
- ‘A Manual of Chemical Analysis, Qualitative and Quantitative,’ 1863–4.
- ‘The Students' Text-Book of Electricity, with four hundred illustrations,’ 1867, new edit. 1879. He also issued a revised and enlarged edition of Sir W. S. Harris's ‘Rudimentary Magnetism’ in 1872, and wrote many papers in scientific journals.
[Medical Times, 4 Aug. 1877, p. 130; Engineer, 3 Aug. 1877, pp. 70, 76–77; information kindly supplied by his son, Henry Carden Noad, L.R.C.P. London.]
NOAKE, JOHN (1816–1894), antiquary, son of Thomas and Ann Noake, was born at Sherborne, Dorset, on 29 Nov. 1816, but came to Worcester in 1838 to work on ‘Berrow's Worcester Journal,’ and lived in that city until his death. He was afterwards engaged on the ‘Worcestershire Chronicle,’ and his last appointment was as sub-editor of the ‘Worcester Herald.’ About 1874 he severed his connection with the newspapers of the city, and devoted his energies to its municipal life and to the management of its principal institutions. He was in turn sheriff (1878), mayor and alderman (1879), and magistrate (1882) for Worcester. As mayor it fell to his lot to reopen the old Guildhall originally erected in 1721–3, which had been restored and enlarged at a cost of about 20,000l. For many years he was one of the honorary secretaries of the Worcester Diocesan Architectural and Archæological Society, and on his retirement in July 1892 he was presented with a handsome testimonial. He died at Worcester on 12 Sept. 1894, and was buried at the cemetery in Astwood Road on 15 Sept. He married, first, Miss Woodyatt of Ashperton, Herefordshire, by whom he had a son Charles, and a daughter, now Mrs. Badham; secondly, Miss Brown of Shrewsbury; thirdly, in 1873, Mrs. Stephens (d. 1893), widow of a Worcester merchant.
All the works of Noake related to his adopted county. They comprised:
- ‘The Rambler in Worcestershire; or Stray Notes on Churches and Congregations,’ 1848. It was followed by similar volumes in 1851 and 1854.
- ‘Worcester in Olden Times,’ 1849.
- ‘Notes and Queries for Worcestershire,’ 1856.
- ‘Monastery and Cathedral of Worcester,’ 1866.
- ‘Worcester Sects: a History of its Roman Catholics and Dissenters,’ 1861.
- ‘Guide to Worcestershire,’ 1868.
- ‘Worcestershire Relics,’ 1877.
- ‘Worcestershire Nuggets,’ 1889.
He contributed many papers on subjects of local interest to the ‘Transactions’ of the Worcester Architectural and Archæological Society, and of the Associated Architectural Societies. A careful examination and analysis of a mass of documents found by him in a chest in the tower of St. Swithin's Church at Worcester revealed much information on the history of the city.
[Berrow's Worcester Journal, 15 Sept. 1894; information from Mr. Charles Noake.]
