Letter to George F. FitzGerald from Ettrick W. Creak
Title
Letter to George F. FitzGerald from Ettrick W. Creak
Date
Publisher
Identifier
GFF 5/17
Subject
Description
Handwritten letter from Ettrick W. Creak to George F. Fitzgerald, dated 14 October 1886. Creak asks Fitzgerald for help in obtaining research and informs him of his latest publication. 4 pp.
Transcription:
"Dear Professor Fitzgerald,
I am desirous of getting some recent observations of the three magnetic elements in Ireland and I write to ask if you can help me in doing so. When I say recent I mean since 1880 and if I could obtain any continuous observations for secular change it would be of great value to me. The Declination is the more important Element to me at present and that more likely to be observed. Mean Annual Values in the neighborhood of Dublin and each single observations in any part of the country would be very acceptable. I was sorry that I was unable to be present at the B. A. meeting this year but often work quite prevented me. I sent you a copy of a Memorandum which I wrote on the subject of Antarctic research in Terrestrial Magnetism reprinted from the B. A. report by the Scottish Geographical Society. Last Saturday I saw in the printed list of Articles in the forthcoming edition of the Admiralty Manual Sci. Enq. that for every contributor entitled to F. R. S. after his name it was duly recorded except myself. I wrote to Sir R. Ball a note pointing out the omission and telling him that I had no idea that it was intentional but asking him to have it corrected. Perhaps you will smile at my [action?] in the matter but as the book is largely intended for naval officers supplied & survey ship where the distinction of F. RS. is exceedingly rare I felt bound to write.
Hoping you are quite well.
Believe me.
Yours very truly
Ettrick W. Creak"
Transcription:
"Dear Professor Fitzgerald,
I am desirous of getting some recent observations of the three magnetic elements in Ireland and I write to ask if you can help me in doing so. When I say recent I mean since 1880 and if I could obtain any continuous observations for secular change it would be of great value to me. The Declination is the more important Element to me at present and that more likely to be observed. Mean Annual Values in the neighborhood of Dublin and each single observations in any part of the country would be very acceptable. I was sorry that I was unable to be present at the B. A. meeting this year but often work quite prevented me. I sent you a copy of a Memorandum which I wrote on the subject of Antarctic research in Terrestrial Magnetism reprinted from the B. A. report by the Scottish Geographical Society. Last Saturday I saw in the printed list of Articles in the forthcoming edition of the Admiralty Manual Sci. Enq. that for every contributor entitled to F. R. S. after his name it was duly recorded except myself. I wrote to Sir R. Ball a note pointing out the omission and telling him that I had no idea that it was intentional but asking him to have it corrected. Perhaps you will smile at my [action?] in the matter but as the book is largely intended for naval officers supplied & survey ship where the distinction of F. RS. is exceedingly rare I felt bound to write.
Hoping you are quite well.
Believe me.
Yours very truly
Ettrick W. Creak"
Source
RDS Library & Archives GFF collection of letters
Rights
Copyright RDS Library & Archives. Publication, transmission or display is prohibited without formal written approval of the RDS Library & Archives.
Relation
RDS Science Archive
Format
Manuscript
Language
English
Type
Coverage
1870-1901
Collection
Citation
Creak, E. W. (Ettrick William), 1835-1920, “Letter to George F. FitzGerald from Ettrick W. Creak,” RDS Digital Archive, accessed December 6, 2025, https://digitalarchive.rds.ie/items/show/1925.