A coloured lithograph three-quarter length portrait of Sir Henry Thompson by P. Frenzeny. The print is taken from the periodical Man of the World, 1889.

Sir Henry Thompson (1820-1904) was a rich amateur astronomer who donated a number of telescopes to the Observatory. He is a significant figure within the social history of the ROG. In the later 19th and early 20th centuries, the work of the ROG was supported by wealthy individuals, who donated instruments and equipment. Thompson gave a number of objects, which were used for long periods in the Observatory’s work.

Thompson gave the ROG a 9-inch photoheliograph made by Howard Grubb in 1891 and this was used continually at Greenwich between 1891 and 1939 except when taken away on eclipse expeditions. In 1894 he gave the ROG £5000 to build a large photographic refractor to complement the 28 inch visual refractor just completed (AST0932). This photographic refractor was known as the Thompson 26-inch. Two years later he presented the ROG with a 30-inch photographic refractor and the two were used together at Greenwich between 1897 and 1947.