Abstract
The total solar eclipse that took place on 6 April 1875 had a path of totality that passed through Siam, seven years after the famous 1868 total solar eclipse predicted by King Mongkut (Rama IV). The new King (Rama V) invited astronomers to his Kingdom to commemorate his father. In response, the Royal Society in Great Britain sent an eclipse expedition to Siam led by Dr (later Sir) Arthur Schuster. Expedition members met with the King and many influential personalities in Bangkok before traveling to the observatory site at Bang Thalu near Chulai Point in order to prepare for the eclipse. With help from officers and crew of H.M.S. Lapwing, as well as Europeans and Siamese from Bangkok and Phetchaburi, the observations were successful. Expedition members then went to Phetchaburi as guests of the Governor before returning for a longer stay in Bangkok. A second meeting with the King probably took place there. In this chapter, my recent search for the location of the 1875 observing site is also discussed.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to the Thai Astronomical Society for trusting the author, in 2004, to translate into Thai Lockyer and Schuster’s Report on the Total Solar Eclipse of April 6, 1875 allowing a better understanding of the event; the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) for trusting the author with writing a chapter in Thai on the 1875 total solar eclipse; the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), London for allowing the NARIT research team access to, and to make photographic duplications of, items in their Schuster Papers and Photographs Archive; and Dr Sian Prosser, RAS Librarian and Archivist, for information regarding their Schuster Archive and for generous assistance during the visit by the NARIT research team.
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Euarchukiati, V. (2021). The 1875 British Solar Eclipse Expedition to Siam Led by Dr Arthur Schuster. In: Orchiston, W., Vahia, M.N. (eds) Exploring the History of Southeast Asian Astronomy. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62777-5_8
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