Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 49.djvu/210

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presented later by Mr. Latimer Clark to the General Post Office. The fragments are now in the science galleries of the South Kensington Museum, with documents attesting them. W. Walker's ‘Memoirs of Distinguished Men of Science living in 1807–8’ contains a portrait of Ronalds. There is a fine marble bust of him by Mr. Edward Davis in the library of the Institution of Electrical Engineers; a portrait in oils, by Mr. Hugh Carter, is in the possession of his sister, Mrs. Samuel Carter (of this an autotype reproduction is given in Sime's ‘Sir Francis Ronalds’); and a good likeness was published by the ‘Illustrated London News,’ 30 April 1870.

[Besides the sources quoted, see Ronalds's Scientific Papers; Catalogue of the Ronalds Library, compiled by Sir F. Ronalds, and edited by A. J. Frost, with a biographical memoir by the latter (this memoir is fairly complete; the catalogue, intended as a general bibliography of electricity, enumerates many books not in the library); Dod's Peerage, 1871; Ann. Reg. 1873, p. 149; Obituary in the Athenæum, 23 Aug. 1873; Manuscripts and various Collections of Pamphlets and Newspaper-cuttings relating to his Inventions, made by Ronalds, in the Ronalds Library; Sime's Sir Francis Ronalds … and … Electric Telegraphy; Silliman's Principles of Physics, 2nd edit. p. 617; Wheatstone's Reply to Mr. (William Fothergill) Cooke's … The Electric Telegraph, p. 17, passim; Thomas Fothergill Cooke's Authorship of the Practical Electric Telegraph, p. xxiii, passim; Robert Sabine's Electric Telegraph, pp. 10, 36, passim; Cornhill Magazine, 1860, ii. 61 et seq.; Hoppe's Gesch. d. Elektricität, p. 575, passim; Albrecht's Gesch. d. Elektricität, p. 118, passim; Moigno's Télégraphie Electrique, pp. 62, 352; R. H. Scott's ‘History of the Kew Observatory’ in Proceedings of the Royal Society, xxxix. 37 et seq. (also published separately); Brooke's paper on ‘Automatic Registration,’ &c. (Phil. Trans. 1847, pp. 59, 69); Charles V. Walker in his translation of Kaemtz's Meteorology (1845), passim; Letter from Airy in Athenæum, 12 July 1851, p. 784; Report by Professor Wheatstone and others on the Kew Observatory, in the British Association Report for 1843, p. xxxix; Reports of the Council of the British Association, 1844–51, and for 1855 (pp. xxx et seq.); information kindly given by Mr. Latimer Clark, F.R.S., Sir C. Purcell Taylor, bart., and Dr. Charles Chree, superintendent of the Kew Observatory.]

P. J. H.

RONAYNE, JOSEPH PHILIP (1822–1876), civil engineer, youngest son of Edmond Ronayne, a glass-maker of Cork, was born at Cork in 1822. After an education under Messrs. Porter and Hamblin at a school in Cork, and instruction from Mr. O'Neill in practical surveying, he entered the office of Sir John Benjamin McNeill [q. v.], civil engineer of London and Glasgow. He was first engaged in the design and construction of the main arterial lines of railway in Ireland, and then on one half of the Cork and Bandon railway, a work which he successfully accomplished. In 1853 he proposed furnishing Cork with water by the construction of a lake near Blarney, but this, a gravitation scheme of great simplicity, was not carried out. On 4 March 1856 he became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. From 1854 to 1859 he was in California, where he superintended hydraulic works, bringing down the waters of the Sierra Nevada to the goldfields by means of canals and aqueducts. Soon after returning to Ireland he became a contractor, and executed the Queenstown branch of the Cork and Youghal railway. On the completion of that work he laid out the Cork and Macroon railway. He took payment in shares, and thus occupied the unusual position of engineer, contractor, and the largest proprietor, a combination which led to the line being designed with economy, efficiency, and careful management. He subsequently suggested to the government the construction of a dock in a bay near Monkstown, a plan looked upon with favour by some engineer officers, but the Haulbowline site was finally adopted. On 10 Dec. 1872 he was elected to represent Cork in parliament, in succession to John Francis Maguire [q. v.], and retained the seat till his death. He was a leading member of the home-rule party. Clear-sighted and of the strictest integrity, he was as much respected by his political adversaries as by his supporters. He died at Rinn Ronain, Queenstown, on 7 May 1876, and was buried in Father Mathew's cemetery, Cork, on 11 May. He married, in 1859, Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Stace Wright, commander R.N.

[Minutes of Proceedings of Institution of Civil Engineers, 1876, xlvi. 274–6; Cork Constitution, 8 May 1876 p. 2, 12 May p. 2.]

G. C. B.

ROOKE, Sir GEORGE (1650–1709), admiral of the fleet, born in 1650, was second son of Sir William Rooke (1624–1691) of St. Laurence, Canterbury, sheriff of Kent (1685–1688), and nephew of Lawrence Rooke [q. v.] He is said to have served as a volunteer through the second Dutch war. In 1672 he was lieutenant of the London, flagship of Sir Edward Spragge [q. v.], in the battle of Solebay. In 1673 he was again with Spragge, as lieutenant of the Royal Prince, in the action of 4 June. When the ship was disabled and Spragge shifted his flag to the St. George, Rooke was left in command, and—well supported by the gunner, Richard Leake [q. v.]—succeeded in repelling the attempt