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==Interests==
==Interests==
In 1864 Drayson assisted the medium Mrs. Mary Marshall at a [[seance]] attended by [[John Ruskin]]. It was held at the home of Mrs Makdougal Gregory, widow of [[William Gregory (chemist)|William Gregory]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Timothy Hilton|title=John Ruskin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YlWAUfTpRZoC&pg=PA350|year=2002|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-09099-4|page=350}}</ref> In 1882 he was living in [[Southsea]], and in subsequent years investigated [[psychic phenomena]] there, with Conan Doyle.<ref>{{cite book|author=M. C. Rintoul|title=Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OxcCAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA373|date=5 March 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-11932-3|page=373}}</ref> He also introduced Conan Doyle to [[theosophy (Blavatskian)|theosophy]].<ref name="Norman2010">{{cite book|author=Andrew Norman|title=Arthur Conan Doyle: The Man Behind Sherlock Holmes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRk7AwAAQBAJ&pg=PP14|date=26 December 2010|publisher=History Press|isbn=978-0-7524-6253-0|page=14}}</ref>
In 1864 Drayson assisted the medium Mrs. Mary Marshall at a [[seance]] attended by [[John Ruskin]]. It was held at the home of Mrs Makdougal Gregory, widow of [[William Gregory (chemist)|William Gregory]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Timothy Hilton|title=John Ruskin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YlWAUfTpRZoC&pg=PA350|year=2002|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-09099-4|page=350}}</ref> In 1882 he was living in [[Southsea]], and in subsequent years investigated [[psychic phenomena]] there, with Conan Doyle.<ref>{{cite book|author=M. C. Rintoul|title=Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OxcCAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA373|date=5 March 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-11932-3|page=373}}</ref> He also introduced Conan Doyle to [[theosophy (Blavatskian)|theosophy]].<ref name="Norman2010">{{cite book|author=Andrew Norman|title=Arthur Conan Doyle: The Man Behind Sherlock Holmes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRk7AwAAQBAJ&pg=PP14|date=26 December 2010|publisher=History Press|isbn=978-0-7524-6253-0|page=14}}</ref> Drayson was a member of the [[Society for Psychical Research]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Sabine Vanacker|author2=Catherine Wynne|title=Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle: Multi-Media Afterlives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tcnRk7v7SooC&pg=PA142|date=13 November 2012|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-230-30050-7|page=142}}</ref>


Drayson published astronomical theories, not accepted by later authors. These included discussion of the [[obliquity of the ecliptic]]. He was elected Fellow of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]] in 1868.<ref name="O'Brien2013"/>
Drayson published astronomical theories, not accepted by later authors. These included discussion of the [[obliquity of the ecliptic]]. He was elected Fellow of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]] in 1868.<ref name="O'Brien2013"/>

Revision as of 18:37, 7 May 2017

Alfred Wilks Drayson (also Wilkes) (1827–1901) was an English army officer, author and astronomer. He was a personal friend of Arthur Conan Doyle, who dedicated to him the short story collection The Captain of the Polestar.[1]

Career

He was a younger brother of the novelist Caroline Agnes Drayson, and brother-in-law of the novelist John Richardson, and was born at Waltham Abbey.[2][3][4] He graduated in 1846 at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.[1] Commissioned, he then served in the Seventh Xhosa War.[4] He was also posted to North America and India.[1]

Drayson was later at the Royal Military Academy as Professor of Surveying and Topographical Drawing.[5] He retired from the army as a major-general in 1883, and became president of the Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society.[4][6]

Interests

In 1864 Drayson assisted the medium Mrs. Mary Marshall at a seance attended by John Ruskin. It was held at the home of Mrs Makdougal Gregory, widow of William Gregory.[7] In 1882 he was living in Southsea, and in subsequent years investigated psychic phenomena there, with Conan Doyle.[8] He also introduced Conan Doyle to theosophy.[9] Drayson was a member of the Society for Psychical Research.[10]

Drayson published astronomical theories, not accepted by later authors. These included discussion of the obliquity of the ecliptic. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1868.[1]

Works

Illustration by Harrison Weir from Sporting Scenes amongst the Kaffirs of South Africa (1858)
  • Sporting Scenes amongst the Kaffirs of South Africa (1858)[11]
  • The Earth We Inhabit: its past, present, and probable future (1859), put forward an expanding Earth theory[12][13]
  • The Young Dragoon; or, Every day life of a soldier, by one who has served (1870, anonymous)[14][15]
  • Tales at the Outspan (1862)[16]
  • The Gentleman Cadet: His Career and Adventures at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich (1875)[17]
  • Among the Zulus: The Adventures of Hans Sterk, South African Hunter and Pioneer (1879)[16]
  • The Art of Practical Whist (1886)[18]
  • The Diamond Hunters of South Africa (1889)[16]

Patents

Drayson was granted, with Charles Richard Benney, an 1858 patent for improvements to underwater telegraph tables.[19][20]

In literature

Conan Doyle's villain Professor Moriarty has been considered a compound of Drayson, Adam Worth and the forger James Seward.[21]

Family

Drayson's elder daughter Ellen Mary Isabel married in 1881 Alfred Edward Wrottesley, son of Edward Bennet Wrottesley, and grandson of Sir John Wrottesley, 1st Baron Wrottesley.[22]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d James O'Brien (28 February 2013). The Scientific Sherlock Holmes: Cracking the Case with Science and Forensics. OUP USA. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-19-979496-6.
  2. ^ "Caroline Agnes Drayson , Author Information At the Circulating Library". Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  3. ^ David R. Beasley (2004). The Canadian Don Quixote: The Life and Works of Major John Richardson, Canada's First Novelist. David Beasley. p. 313 note 15. ISBN 978-0-915317-18-9.
  4. ^ a b c "1902MNRAS..62R.241. Page 241". Harvard University. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  5. ^ Karen Hunger Parshall (29 March 2006). James Joseph Sylvester: Jewish Mathematician in a Victorian World. JHU Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-8018-8291-3.
  6. ^ Christopher Redmond (19 December 2016). Lives Beyond Baker Street: A Biographical Dictionary of Sherlock Holmes's Contemporaries. Andrews UK Limited. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-78092-908-8.
  7. ^ Timothy Hilton (2002). John Ruskin. Yale University Press. p. 350. ISBN 978-0-300-09099-4.
  8. ^ M. C. Rintoul (5 March 2014). Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction. Routledge. p. 373. ISBN 978-1-136-11932-3.
  9. ^ Andrew Norman (26 December 2010). Arthur Conan Doyle: The Man Behind Sherlock Holmes. History Press. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-7524-6253-0.
  10. ^ Sabine Vanacker; Catherine Wynne (13 November 2012). Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle: Multi-Media Afterlives. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-230-30050-7.
  11. ^ Best Books on (1940). Hampton Institute: Hampton, VA a Classified Catalog of the Negro Collection in the Collis P. Huntington Library. Best Books on. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-62376-066-3.
  12. ^ Alfred Wilks Drayson (1859). The Earth We Inhabit: its past, present, and probable future.
  13. ^ Samuel Warren Carey (1988). Theories of the Earth and Universe: A History of Dogma in the Earth Sciences. Stanford University Press. pp. 137–8. ISBN 978-0-8047-1364-1.
  14. ^ The Young Dragoon; or, Every day life of a soldier, by one who has served (capt. Drayson). 1870.
  15. ^ Alfred Drayson (21 April 2017). The Young Dragoon: Every Day Life of a Soldier. ЛитРес. ISBN 978-5-04-051891-3.
  16. ^ a b c Gareth Cornwell; Dirk Klopper; Craig MacKenzie (2010). The Columbia Guide to South African Literature in English Since 1945. Columbia University Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-231-13046-2.
  17. ^ Alfred Wilks Drayson (1875). The Gentleman Cadet: His Career and Adventures at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich : a Tale of the Past. Griffith and Farran.
  18. ^ "Drayson, Alfred Wilkes, 1827–1901, The Online Books Page". Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  19. ^ "Alfred Wilks Drayson - Graces Guide". Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  20. ^ Alfred Wilks Drayson; Charles Richard Binney (1858). Description of the patent Elongating Tunnel Telegraph Cable ... with reasons for the failure of the present Atlantic Cable ... Illustrated with a chromo-lithograph.
  21. ^ Molly Carr (22 November 2011). In Search of Dr Watson. Andrews UK Limited. pp. 16–7. ISBN 978-1-78092-033-7.
  22. ^ Burke, Bernard (1903). Ashworth P. Burke (ed.). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage (65th ed.). London: Harrison and Sons. p. 1623.
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