Sir Robert Mond and the History of The Norman Lockyer Telescope

Fathers and Sons
The Lockyer/Mond Connection

Sir Norman Lockyer 1836 – 1920 Dr Ludwig Mond 1839 – 1909
Dr James Lockyer 1868 – 1936 Sir Robert Mond 1867 - 1936


Contents

Introduction
Ludwig Mond – The Early Years
Father and Sons
The Expanding Mond Family
Robert and Alfred - Brothers of Contrast
Robert, Eminent Scientific Benefactor and Egyptologist 12
The Continuing Mond Legacy
Postscript 1
Postscript 2
Bibliography
Introduction
Visitors to this Observatory will immediately see tangible evidence of the influence of the Mond family in the form of the telescope dome attached to the South West corner of the main observatory building. So how did this come about?
That is what I will try to explain this evening. I will describe the historical connection between the Lockyer and Mond families which covers two generations.
Most of us know quite a lot about Lockyer's life so this evening I want to concentrate more on the Mond family and show how the Monds, in particular father Ludwig and son Robert, interacted with Norman Lockyer and his son, James. In so doing, it should become apparent the remarkable influence the different generations of the Mond family have had, and continue to have, on this, their adopted, country in such diverse fields as science (particularly chemistry), politics, industry, farming, banking and the arts.
I have been greatly helped in preparing this talk by my long-standing academic colleague and friend Professor Eddie Abel, who is an authority on the life of Ludwig Mond, and I am delighted that he is with us this evening!

Ludwig Mond – The Early Years
The family tree (Figure 1) covers seven generations from Meyer Mond (d. 1820) to Peter Robert Henry Mond (4th Lord Melchett, b. 1948).
Ludwig was the second of seven children of Henrietta Levinsohn and Meyer Bar Mond and was born on 7 March 1839 in Cassel, Germany. Ludwig's mother was the daughter of Aaron Levinsohn, a wealthy silk merchant into whose business Ludwig's father, Meyer Bär Mond (Moritz) was an apprentice. Ludwig was a gentle and affectionate child but with a determined wilfulness and a precocious intelligence. He was brought up in an orthodox Jewish family where there was much discussion of politics, current affairs and the arts.
When aged 14 Ludwig went to the local Polytechnic in Cassel where he studied a wide range of scientific and technical subjects (higher mathematics, physics, theoretical and technical chemistry, mineralogy and geology, botany and zoology, engineering, architecture, machinery and mechanical drawing). His appetite to learn was very great, with his knowledge of chemistry being particularly thorough. At 16 he entered Marburg University to study chemistry with Professor Hermann Kolbe, the distinguished organic chemist. He then moved to Heidelberg to work under the great chemist Professor Robert Wilhelm Bunsen. Under Bunsen he gained a great love of chemical science and the habit of precise quantitative investigation, and became one of Bunsen’s favourite students. Nevertheless at the start of his second year at Heidelberg he decided to cut short his studies for a doctorate and join his Uncle Rudolf (Lowenthal) in Cologne who ran an electroplating business. He later admitted that his reasons for leaving were not academic but pragmatic in that he had run up considerable debts through his flamboyant lifestyle particularly involving duelling!
He had vague ideas of acquiring a financial interest in his uncle’s business, but his enthusiasm soon waned. He was, however, very interested in his first cousin, Frida Lowenthal, whom he eventually married in 1866. Prior to that however, Ludwig moved around a succession of companies in Germany and Holland, building up a reputation as a chemical engineer. He became particularly involved in the Leblanc process for manufacturing soda (sodium carbonate), where he developed his own method of recovery of sulphur from the evil smelling CaS (calcium sulphide) waste.
[ Leblanc process (1783)
2 NaCl + H2SO4 = Na2SO4 + 2HCl
Na2SO4 + 2C + CaCO3 = Na2CO3 + CaS + 2CO2 ]
However, he became frustrated in his ambitions to establish a factory in Utrecht (he didn't get on with the Dutch people!) and eventually decided to follow his mother’s advice and go to England.
So on 13 September 1862 he boarded a cattle-boat bound for Tilbury with £100 in his pocket and addresses of one friend and one relative. On arriving in London he visited the Great Exhibition in South Kensington, which impressed him greatly. He then moved to Manchester, where his second cousin, Hermione, lived. She was married to Philip Goldschmidt, a future Lord Mayor of Manchester. Ludwig soon became employed as a research scientist with the firm of John Hutchinson and Sons, Widnes, which had the largest soda works in Merseyside. Here he met the process manager Henry Brunner and his brother, John, the head clerk. They both acted as calming influences on the ebullient German! He continued to work on improvements to the soda manufacturing process, but he also had high ambitions to be a public benefactor by improving manufacturing processes generally, saving waste, and reducing pollution.
In October 1866 Ludwig and Frida were married in Cologne. During the wedding reception numerous telegraph messages were received through the innovation of Herr Julius Reuter, a brother of a friend of the bride’s father and a founder of the famous London telegraph office! In July 1867 Ludwig brought Frida, who was 7 months pregnant, to England where they settled into a house in Farnworth near Widnes he had recently bought and furnished.
Their first child, Robert Ludwig, was born on 9 September 1867, and the following year their second child, Alfred Moritz, was born. Ludwig was not particularly close to his young children, and Frida began to feel somewhat isolated. However, she and Ludwig persuaded Frida's girlhood friend, Henriette Herz, to come over and and stay. She had a very lively mind and was highly cultured in the arts, and became a life-long friend to both of them.
Meanwhile, Ludwig learned that a Belgian chemist, Ernest Solvay, was making soda commercially by a simpler alternative to the Leblanc process. This new process involved treating salt solutions with ammonia and carbon dioxide to produce sodium bicarbonate which on heating converted to sodium carbonate (soda).
[Solvay process (1861):
CaCO3 + heat → CaO + CO2
CO2+ H2O + NaCl(aq) + NH3(aq) = NaHCO3 + NH4Cl(aq)
NaHCO3 + heat → Na2CO3 + CO2
NH4Cl(aq) is then heated with CaO (from stage 1) to regenerate the NH3(aq).]
Scaling up the process, however, was not easy but Ludwig was confident he could make it more economical. After much discussion the Solvay family granted Mond the licence to develop the process and signed a contract allowing a complete exchange of technical information at all stages of research.
Accordingly, Ludwig Mond and John Brunner set up in partnership and in 1873 bought Winnington Hall and Lord Stanley’s estate in Cheshire for the construction of their plant. The Hall, which was a beautiful building with associations with Charles Hallé, Burne-Jones and John Ruskin, was shared between the Mond and Brunner families, with a small wing devoted to Mond’s research laboratories. The early days of the Brunner-Mond company were not easy and Ludwig was continually being required to deal personally with problems on the plant.
However, the economics of the company gradually improved and in 1881 it became a limited company. By 1883 the so-called Mond Solvay process was supplying a quarter of the world’s soda!

Father and Sons
The period 1867 – 1883 represented the formative years of Ludwig’s two sons, Robert and Alfred. Both boys were mischievous and their father was a strict disciplinarian who contributed to their social life only at mealtime discussions on worthwhile topics such as theology, philosophy, fine arts and science, and during family walks on Sunday afternoons! The boys were sent to a weekly boarding school run by a strict Prussian schoolmaster. Robert was a gifted scholar who thrived on the severe demands made on him by the school and his parents. However, Alfred was a late developer and was inclined to be gauche and rather unattractive in appearance and personality. He hid his sensitivity and shyness behind a morose manner. Ludwig regarded Alfred as the fool of the family and made little attempt to understand his younger son! The boys received no religious instruction at home and had seen little of the English way of life until at 13 they both went to Cheltenham College. Here Alfred experienced a world in which he felt excluded. His guttural accent and German upbringing made it difficult for him to be accepted by the other boys. Additionally, his poor physical coordination made him weak at sporting activities. He excelled only at essay writing! Robert, on the other hand, was far more settled and socially adjusted at school and it was during this time he became friendly with young William Lockyer!
In 1884 Robert entered Peterhouse, Cambridge, to take the first part of the Natural Science Tripos as a start to following in his father’s footsteps. After 3 years at Cambridge he then continued his education at the Zurich Polytechnicum, Edinburgh University, and at Glasgow University under Lord Kelvin.
Alfred, in contrast, failed his science Tripos at St. John’s College, Cambridge, but by then had become much more self confident and determined to succeed and, with a view to political career, went to Edinburgh University to read law. When questioned by Ludwig as to which political party, he answered ‘Liberal’. ‘Why?’ asked Ludwig. ‘Because I have examined all the parties and I find there are less clever men among the Liberals than among the others.’
Meanwhile the Brunner-Mond company was prospering greatly and in 1884 the company had increased its capital to £1.5 million and bought another large area along the River Weaver in Cheshire. This was the forerunner of several subsequent land purchases made to ensure an adequate and constant supply of brine for their Mond-Solvay process.
In the same year the Mond family moved to London and bought an ornate early 19th century mansion, The Poplars, which once belonged to an exiled French nobleman. It was set in extensive grounds, had huge rooms for entertaining, bedroom accommodation for many guests and was conveniently situated near to Euston Station where Ludwig’s private coach could be attached to one of the express trains running between London and Cheshire!
Around this time Ludwig and Frida started their art collection. The Monds were officially ‘At Home’ every Sunday afternoon, but scientists visiting Ludwig could stay there at any time. The stable block was converted to a laboratory. Robert and Alfred enjoyed their time there, Robert pursuing his academic and musical interests, (he was a talented singer), and Alfred employing his natural knack and luck at poker!
Robert, after completing his education, joined the research team at Winnington, by which time he had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
The family was now hugely wealthy, and while they were very happy in their beautiful London home, they were Europeans at heart, and liked to spend part of each year in Italy. They fell in love with the Palazzo Zuccari near the top of the Spanish Steps in Rome, built by Federico Zuccari, a court painter to Elizabeth I, and the former home of Queen Maria of Portugal! They purchased it in the name of Henriette Hertz, whose collection of art books formed the nucleus of a fine art library on the ground floor. Ludwig turned this palazzo into a veritable temple of the arts, filling it with fine pieces of Renaissance furniture and buying art masterpieces of Titian, Tintoretto, Corregio and Filippo Lippi amongst others.
Back in England the search for a cheap source of ammonia for his soda works led Ludwig to explore ways of obtaining ammonia from coal. In 1889 he devised a system that burned coal in gas producers using a mixture of air and steam. In addition to ammonia the system yielded a cheap gas mixture of carbon monoxide and nitrogen suitable for most industrial heating purposes. To promote use of this ‘producer gas’ the South Staffordshire Mond Gas Company was formed, and, to develop the process overseas, Ludwig founded the Power Gas Corporation.
Meanwhile Ludwig had become interested in a new process for refining nickel, a metal for which there was a growing industrial demand. In 1889 he and his Austrian assistant Carl Langer made the very unexpected discovery that carbon monoxide reacted with nickel to form a gaseous nickel carbonyl compound which on thermal decomposition yielded pure nickel! This was the first time it had been shown that a metal could exist in the form of a gas and marked the start of organometallic chemistry! Ludwig, however, realised that here was a way of making very pure nickel and he set about developing the method on an industrial scale. He set up a nickel extraction plant in Clydach in South Wales and bought two nickel deposits in Canada. This led to the creation of the Mond Nickel Company in 1889.
(When the company was floated on the stock exchange in 1900 with Ludwig as chairman, supported by his sons, Robert and Alfred, Carl Langer, and a German mining engineer, Dr Mohr, the chairman had spent £0.24m in experiments to develop the process and had obtained 70 patents and properties!)

The Expanding Mond Family
In 1892 Alfred married Violet Goetze, a high spirited, fun-loving member of a Huguenot family that had lived in England for several generations.
Meanwhile Robert, as works chemist in Ludwig’s laboratories in Winnington and at The Poplars, continued to experiment with various electrochemical processes and took out several patents. He also turned his attention to recovering chlorine and ammonia from the soda manufacturing process. When in London he lived at home and pursued his quiet, studious pursuits of music and chess, but he did have a somewhat ‘wilder’ side to him which was known to his colleagues at Winnington!
Robert, however, did not share his father’s industrial ambitions, although he did hold directorships in his father’s companies, and was more dedicated to pure chemical research which he pursued, both at Winnington and at Clydach, on the chemistry of carbonyls of other metals, notably cobalt, ruthenium and molybdenum.
Ludwig, in addition to being an outstanding business man, was now fully recognised as an original research chemist, by being appointed FRS in 1891, President of the Society of Chemical Industry (twice), a Fellow and Vice-President of The Chemical Society, and received honorary doctorates from the universities of Padua, Manchester, Oxford and Heidelberg. The degree from the last mentioned university gave him particular pleasure as it served to partly exonerate him from leaving Heidelberg as a student without completing a degree!
At the end of the 19th century England was poorly equipped for pure research compared to Europe and America and to redress this and to express his gratitude to his adopted country Ludwig founded and endowed the Davy-Faraday Laboratory and presented it to the Royal Society in 1896. He purchased Lord Albemarle's London house adjoining the Royal Society's offices in Albemarle street, converted and equipped it at a cost of £45 000 and then endowed it with £62 000. Robert toured European and American laboratories to find the most up-to-date apparatus in the hope that the latest facilities would attract research workers from all over the world, and became the laboratory's Honorary Secretary for life. The laboratory was opened by the Prince of Wales in 1896. Even though this was a very generous benefaction, Norman Lockyer, in his article in Nature felt it still did not fully meet the need for the national encouragement of science!
In 1898 Robert, at the age of 31, married Edith Levis, from a wealthy Manchester Jewish family of German origin. She had spent many years in Paris studying art and music and had converted to Christianity. The young married couple lived in a beautifully furnished house in Berkeley Square in London.
The year 1898 marked the 25th anniversary of the Brunner Mond Company, by then the largest alkali works in the world, with 4000 employees. Over 12 000 people connected with the firm attended a series of dinners and fetes. (A special presentation photograph of Brunner and Mond was taken.)

Two letters exist from Ludwig to Norman Lockyer around this time. Both are somewhat inconsequential but they indicate the friendship between the two men.


Letter 1
The Poplars
20 Avenue Road, Regents Park, N.W.
1 Nov 1898
Dear Prof Lockyer
I beg to enclose cheque for £6.7.1 and to thank you specially for the care and trouble you have taken, and the excellent way in which you have managed the Dinner which was given by the English delegates to the foreign delegates at the Reform Club.
Yours very truly
Ludwig Mond

Letter 2
The Poplars, etc.
17 Oct 1901
Dear Sir Norman
I had looked forward with great pleasure to come last night to your hospitable house, and have been very greatly disappointed that unforeseen circumstances have made it impossible for me to do so. I hope to have better luck another time. I remain,
Yours sincerely
Ludwig Mond

At Christmas Ludwig and Frida usually went to Rome, but in December 1900 they changed their usual custom and the entire family, including several cousins and their wives and many friends, took over most of the Lansdown Grove Hotel in Bath. No detail was overlooked. Ludwig’s French chef came from The Poplars to supervise the special continental dishes and make the elaborate Italian-style Christmas cake such as they always had in Rome. On Christmas Eve presents were handed out in accordance with German custom, carollers sang round the giant tree and guests listened to the band which had been engaged by Ludwig. Conversation round the huge dining-table was witty, profound and very cosmopolitan, and fine wines flowed. Norman Lockyer was one of the guests and there was animated discussion, on space, time, the stars and the nature of the universe, subjects on which Ludwig, and also Henriette Herz, loved to converse.
Another of the guests happened to be the eminent chemist, Sir James Dewar, the first director of the Davy-Faraday laboratory and an expert on noble gases (or inert gases as they were then called). This prompted Ludwig to speculate on Bath’s spa water and, having found out that no proper analysis of the thermal gases and water in the baths had been carried out since Roman times, suggested that Dewar might undertake such an analysis! This was agreed but it involved putting a canvas roof over the Roman bath, and fixing a gas holder on the top to collect the thermal gases! The results showed that the waters did contain various rare gases including helium, and were slightly radioactive! The investigation added some £6 000 to Ludwig’s Christmas bill!
While 1898 had been a good year for the Mond family, 1902 was just the reverse.
Robert contracted a serious illness soon after his second daughter was born. (A first daughter, Frieda, had been born the previous year). He was advised to spend the next few winters in Egypt, and from this regular sojourn came his life-long passion for Egyptology, in which subject he was to achieve international recognition.
In November of that same year three workmen were poisoned by an escape of gas at the Clydach plant, an incident that Ludwig took very personally, and in December Ludwig had a heart attack. He was confined to bed for two weeks, but he gradually recovered and had no thought of retiring! In the Autumn of 1905 he attended a number of functions in London at one of which he presented to the Royal Institution a large picture showing a lecture being given by Sir James Dewar during a Friday evening discourse.
However, in 1905 another family tragedy struck when Robert’s wife, Frieda, died from an accidental overdose of pills taken to cure a headache. Robert and Ludwig grieved heavily and Frida had to look after Robert’s young daughters, Helene Frieda and Irene Henrietta, aged 2 and 4.
Ludwig continued to work as hard as ever despite his delicate health, but in 1909 after another heavy and stressful year his heart problem re-emerged more seriously.
He died on 11 December 1909 and was buried in Finchley Cemetery. After his death Robert built a mausoleum in his memory. This impressive building is modelled on an Egyptian Temple and today is a listed building.
Ludwig's death was reported in the 23 December issue of Nature as follows:
'By the death of Dr Ludwig Mond this country has lost one of the most eminent of her chemical technologists, and the world is the poorer by the passing away of one who, himself a man of science of no mean attainments, gave liberally of the wealth which his knowledge and skill as a technologist brought him in order to promote the dignity and usefulness of science.'
Ludwig left a relatively modest fortune of £1.5m, but during his life he had been an extremely generous benefactor, the largest beneficiaries being the Davy-Faraday Laboratory (£125 000), The Royal Society (£50 000), The London Children’s Hospital, the Lister Institute, the Cannizzaro Institute in Rome, the Science Academy in Munich, the University of Heidelberg, the Chemical Institute of Berlin, and the Royal Institution of Great Britain. £15 000 of his bequest to the Royal Society was later used to build and equip a Mond Laboratory at Cambridge for the outstanding low-temperature physicist Dr Peter Kapitza, who later became a Nobel Laureate, but who was forced to pursue his later researches in Russia!
Ludwig Mond was without doubt one of the great thinking benefactors of his day, but he steadfastly refused a peerage! His outstanding art collection, mainly of early Italian paintings was bequeathed to the National Gallery. The 42 paintings include masterpieces by Bartolommeo, Bellini, Botticelli, Correggio, Ghirlandaio, Raphael, Titian, and Signorelli. They were displayed originally in a grand purpose-built Mond Room in the National Gallery, which is still in regular use, but now his paintings are displayed in historical precedence in numerous rooms, mainly in the Sainsbury Wing of the Gallery, with the Raphael Crucifixion being a magnificent centrepiece.

Robert and Alfred - Brothers of Contrast
The two brothers’ future aspirations were very different. Alfred was set on a political career, and some years earlier in 1906 had been elected as a liberal MP for Chester with the direct help and encouragement of David Lloyd George. His wife, Violet, was also very supportive and most ambitious for him. On entering parliament he resigned his Chairmanship of the Mond Nickel Company in favour of his brother.
Robert, meanwhile, still grieving for his wife, continued his chemical researches. In memory of his wife he decided to build a hospital in Vincent’s Square, London for the study of malnutrition in infants (now the Westminster Children’s Hospital).
In 1907, two years before his death, Ludwig had bought a large estate at Combe Bank near Sevenoaks primarily for Robert and his daughters. It was staffed by more than 50 servants, and had a laboratory installed. For a time Robert applied scientific methods to farming at Combe Bank where he became a pioneer in the production of pure milk from a selected herd of dairy cows. Some of this special milk was supplied to the Infant’s Hospital he had established in London. He also developed what became the best known stud of Shire horses in the country! Everything he pursued was with a thoroughness associated with a scientific mind.
Meanwhile Alfred’s political reputation grew. In 1910 he was elected MP for Swansea, a seat he was to hold until 1923. In 1913 he acquired Melchet Court, a country estate in Hampshire in 1000 acres of farm and parkland near the New Forest. His wife, Violet, gradually transformed the house to a replica of a Renaissance palazzo, suitable to accommodate Alfred’s growing collection of art treasures from Greece and Rome, and paintings from Ludwig’s collection. There was non-stop entertainment provided for their guests ( golf, riding or shooting during the winter, plus tennis or sailing in the summer) and lavish dinner parties held.
Robert continued to divide his time between his scientific and archaeological interests, and, like his brother, played a leading part in the rescue of the Jewish population of Germany. The year 1916 marked the start of his first involvement with the Norman Lockyer Observatory when he was one of the 7 original subscribers to the Articles of Association of the Observatory. (The other subscribers were Francis Kennedy McClean, Sir Norman Lockyer, T. Mary Lockyer, Lauder Brunton (physician), Francis J. Fry (Chard, JP, DL), and George Mitchell Seabroke (Rugby, solicitor)).
On 13 September 1920 there is a report of a British Association party visiting the NLO which included Mr Robert Mond.
Sir Norman Lockyer died on 16 August 1920, and on 22 July 1922 a portrait medallion of Sir Norman was unveiled by the Astronomer Royal, Sir Frank Dyson. An account of the occasion reads: ‘The guests numbering about 100 were received on the terrace by Sir Richard Gregory, Chairman of the Council and by Mr. Robert Mond, Chairman of the Corporation, and by Lady Lockyer. There was a pleasing variety in the dress, not unlike the Eton and Harrow match, as the London guests wore top-hats and black coats, looking a little quaint on the heathered hill but setting off the colours of the ladies’dresses. The Maharajah of Jhalawar added a touch of the East. Tea, and visits to the Frank McClean and Kensington telescopes, occupied the time before the unveiling, and the modern photographer flitted from group to group.’
Robert was continuing to live at Combe Bank near Sevenoaks where he lavishly entertained the eminenti in politics, the arts and society. However, in 1921 he decided to sell some of the estate. His reasons for selling were manifold. His daughters were now grown up, his own health was causing some anxiety, and most particularly, he was shortly to remarry, and his new wife-to-be had a great preference for living in France and felt that this would be better for Robert’s health.
In the following year, 1922, 17 years after the death of Frieda, Robert married ‘the colourful’ Marie Louise le Manach of Brittany, widow of John Simon Guggenheim, son of the former US senator, Simon Guggenheim. She had previously been married to a Spanish Prince who had left her a chateau at Belle-Isle-en-Terre, which Robert eventually bought back for her. From then on he spent most of his leisure time in France, where he and his wife had houses at Dinard (Castel Mond), Paris and on the Cote d’Azur. France also benefited from Robert’s philanthropy by his generous contributions towards the acquisition of the Maison de la Chimie in Paris for meetings of French Chemical Societies and for documentation of chemical literature. He was subsequently elected ‘Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur’ for his benefactions.
Meanwhile by 1922 brother Alfred had become Minister of Health in Lloyd George’s government and was third ranking leader of the Liberal Party after Lloyd George and Asquith! However, his political career took an unexpected turn when he was defeated in the 1923 election, but managed to get back as MP for Carmarthen in a by-election the following year. His son, Henry, had by then entered politics and was Liberal MP for the Isle of Ely. However, in 1926 both father and son resigned from the Liberal Party primarily because of Lloyd George’s Land Policy and converted to conservatism! Alfred now threw all his energies into the Mond businesses. He became Chairman of Brunner Mond, the company now being made up of 10 separate businesses! He then very skilfully steered through one of the largest business amalgamations when he brought together British Dyestuffs Corporation, United Alkali Ltd (a group of 40 small companies still using the old Leblanc process for making soda ash), Nobel Industries and Brunner Mond to form Imperial Chemical Industries! The name was chosen by his wife, Violet, to reflect the Mond family’s continuing belief that Britain’s economic salvation lay in her Empire. Alfred Mond was the first Chairman of ICI and Sir Harry McGowan, Deputy Chairman and President.
The following year (1927) Alfred accepted a peerage and in 1928 became Baron Melchett of Lanford, taking the name from Melchet Court, his home. In the same year he was elected FRS, a rare accolade for a politician and industrialist.
During all these events and for the remainder of his life until his death on 27 December 1930, he, and his brother Robert, continued to fight strongly for the Zionist cause alongside Chaim Weizmann, a leading industrial chemist who was to become the first President of Israel.

Robert, Generous Scientific Benefactor and Eminent Egyptologist
During this period Robert continued to act as a most generous benefactor of scientific causes on the one hand, and as worker and generous fund provider for archaeological expeditions on the other. He explored the mortuary temples at Thebes, working personally with such eminent archaeologists as Howard Carter and Sir Alan Gardiner. The Theban Necropolis was restored and protected at his own expense, and he supported a large staff for work on the famous tomb of the vizier Ramose and the cemeteries of Armant. He was responsible in many cases for the publication of results which ran to many volumes.
In 1924 Robert and Marie Louise, having disposed of some of the estate at Combe Bank, decided to sell the splendid house and the remaining estate. It was subsequently bought by the Catholic organisation, The Society of the Holy Child Jesus, as a school for girls.
Meanwhile, Robert continued his support of the Norman Lockyer Corporation as its Chairman, and at a Council Meeting of the Corporation on 13 December 1928 the Director put forward a suggestion of the requirement of a new mounting and dome to utilise some of the Zeiss triplet lenses which had been previously obtained by the Observatory. To quote the Minutes of the Meeting ‘Mr Robert Mond then offered to pay the whole cost, and Sir Richard Gregory expressed on behalf of all present their gratitude at this happy and generous action.’ Soon after the meeting on 8/9 January 1929 the lenses were given a thorough optical examination by Dr W. H. Steavenson, FRAS, and pronounced of excellent quality. The lenses had come from various sources, namely, Capt. W. N. McClean, The Air Ministry, and Miss Annie Leigh Browne. The aim was to build a purely photographic telescope for photographing relatively large regions of the sky on small or moderate scales. The instrument was intended for photography of meteors, comets, large nebulosities, variable stars and novae.
There exists correspondence between Jim Lockyer and Robert Mond regarding the cost of the telescope and dome.

Letter 1
On 24 May 1929 Jim informs him that the estimates are 3 times higher than expected! A reply from Robert on 27 May from Castel Mond, Dinard says ‘[...] I am not frightened of the amount, but I am wondering whether, if we choose to spend this money, we could not put it to better use [...] Please write me your unvarnished opinion. I have had Mrs Mond extremely ill, and she is only very slowly recovering, so it is very unlikely that I shall be able to be in London except by accident, for any portion of this summer [...].’
There is an undated reply from Jim Lockyer suggesting that the plans for the telescope remain unchanged.
Letter 2
Robert replied on 6 June 1929 from Castel Mond, Dinard
‘Many thanks for your letter which arrived on a fortuitous day, inasmuch as, after 2 months of the most terrible anxieties, I think I can say that my dear wife is out of danger. The tenor of your letter is very much what I anticipated it would be from the very short conversation we had on the subject. What attracted me to the proposition was a kind of astronomical Sherlock Holmes which kept track of errant comets without undue attention to his own personal behaviour. Such a robot must be carefully constructed if one wants to put any reliance on his observations, and so I think you had better get the one which will most fulfil this condition.
I leave it to you whether you will ‘Cooke the Grubb or Grubb up the Cooke’.
With kind regards to your stepmother and your wife,
Yours sincerely
Robert Mond.
The contract for the telescope was subsequently given to Messrs. Cooke, Troughton & Simms of York, and the building of the dome and annex to Messrs. G. E. Wallis & Sons of London.

Letter 3
The contract for the telescope was given to Messrs. Cooke, Troughton & Simms of York, and the building of the dome and annex to Messrs. G. E. Wallis & Sons of London.
By July 1931 the work was almost complete and Robert Mond wrote to Jim Lockyer (from Cavendish Square, London) as follows:
[...] I note the final cost of the instrument, erected and in working order, will be £1875, plus £120 (for erection) as compared to their estimate of £1735, (which I approve).
I note with gratification that the Corporation are paying the extra £260. I do not know how much of the money is due now, and how much you would like to retain until completion. Personally I should propose paying them about two-thirds now. Let me have your opinion. I will send a cheque when I hear further from you in this respect.
Yours sincerely
R Mond
P.S. I leave for Dinard on the 18th.


Letter 4
At the conclusion of the contract (Dec. 1931) and just before the official opening, Robert Mond wrote to Jim Lockyer again (from Rue de Rivoli, Paris?).
‘I am pleased to learn from your letter of the 3rd (Dec) that the new building and the telescope have been successfully installed, and I am sending the cheques for the builders and Cooke Ltd. The wide slit in the dome will, I hope, not disoblige by sticking. I hope this new installation will produce the maximum of information with the minimum of effort, and that we shall continue to be satisfied with it in the future as we are at the present moment. With kind regards to yourself and Lady Lockyer,
Yours sincerely
Robert Mond

Robert Mond paid a total of £ 2171-5-9 for the telescope and dome.
It should be mentioned that in the same year he also contributed generously to the reconstruction of the Royal Institution premises in London!
Early in 1932 Robert was knighted for his services to science, industry and archaeology, and so it was as Sir Robert Mond that he presided over the Inauguration Ceremony of the Mond Dome and Equatorial telescope on 28 May 1932 at Sidmouth.
It was reported that on that day 72 persons signed the visitors book but many more were present. Owing to the wet weather Sir Frank Dyson, the Astronomer Royal, gave his address in Room No. 1 of the offices, other speakers being Sir Richard Gregory, Sir Robert Mond, Dr. R. G. Aitken (Director of the Lick Observatory, California) and Sir Stanley Dewey. The inauguration itself took place afterwards at the Mond Dome, preceded by a short address by the Astronomer Royal. The splendid brass ornamental door with Zodiac plate was draped in the Union Jack, which was then removed by Sir Frank Dyson. Tea was afterwards served on the terrace by several lady volunteers, and an inauguration dinner took place in the evening at the Fortfield Hotel, there being 32 persons present. Price 6s 6d (excl. wines)!
The first published observation made using the Mond telescope was in the March 1932 Edition of the Monthly Notices of the RAS (MNRAS) and was a photographic record of 'A Bright Meteor Passing the Pleiades'. Other photographs taken around that time included some of the Orion Nebula, the North America Nebula in Cygnus and a record of the North Polar Sequence. A summary of the work of the Mond Instrument appeared each year in the Observatory's annual report in the MNRAS. In 1935 when the second Edition of the NLO Handbook was printed, 92 glass plate negatives had been taken with the telescope.
In 1936 Sir Robert received the Messel Medal, the Society of Chemical Industry’s senior award. It is significant that the title of his Messel Address, ‘Works as I have seen them grow’, relates modestly to his role as scientific benefactor rather than as an eminent researcher himself.
He continued his active archaeological interests, publishing major volumes of explorations during 1934-1938, and being the chief financial supporter of the British School of Archaeology in Palestine, under Professor John Garstang. In his London house he fitted up a ‘Pharaoh Room’ to display treasures he had acquired, but many were also given to museums and universities.
In 1938 his own contributions to science were recognised by his election as FRS. On 16 July of that year Sir Robert was supporting the NLO again when he was present at the unveiling ceremony of a memorial panel and cabinet for ‘Jim’ Lockyer who had died suddenly on 15 July 1936. Sir Robert also donated half the cost of a microphotometer which also formed part of the memorial. Sir Francis McClean, a joint founder of the Observatory with Sir Norman Lockyer, performed the unveiling, with Sir Richard Gregory (Chairman of the Observatory Council) also being present.
However, just 3 months later, on 22 October, Sir Robert himself died in Paris.
During his life he had received honorary degrees from the Universities of Liverpool and Toronto. His catholic scientific interests are recognised by the fact that he was President of the Faraday Society, Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, The Society of Antiquaries, The Physical Society, The Chemical Society, The Geological Society and The Institute of Physics!
He had a 25 year connection with the NLO, being Chairman of the Corporation for 21 of these years. Over that period his donations to the Observatory amounted to nearly £8000.
Where antiquities were concerned the Mond name was immortalised by Sir Robert, who, on his death, left the British Museum the largest and most important collection of Egyptian antiquities of all periods to be donated for the past 50 years! The 260 objects included jewellery, bronzes, scarabs, pottery and Roman portraits, and filled gaps in every section of Egyptian art.
His particular support for Jewish scientists followed the family tradition, and is well illustrated by a letter of condolence sent to Sir Robert’s widow from Frederick Lindemann, (1st Viscount Cherwell, Director of the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford, Scientific Adviser to Churchill during the war, and whose family lived at Sidholme in Sidmouth!):

Dear Lady Mond,
[...] When the Nazi persecutions began he (Sir Robert Mond) immediately took steps of the most practical kind to help at once the suffering Jews and the science he loved so well. I feel a particular debt of gratitude to him because for several years now he has been paying £300 a year to Mendelssohn (subsequently Dr Kurt Mendelssohn FRS), one of the most distinguished of the émigré scientists, who has been working in my laboratory. His researches on the properties of matter near the absolute zero have been of exceptional importance and I am sure it must have been a great source of satisfaction to Sir Robert to know how brilliantly his judgement was vindicated in this case [...].
Nowadays one of Sir Robert’s most lasting legacies is the Westminster Children’s Hospital that he built in memory of his first wife. His strong social concerns are also recognised by the Sir Robert Mond Memorial Trust Fund that was founded in 1997 for the relief of patients suffering from mental illness.


Postscript
The Mond telescope was operated by Jim Lockyer until his death in 1936 and also by Professor F. I. Blumbach, a research assistant of Russian origin, an expert observer whose research work at the Observatory had been supported financially by Sir Robert Mond since 1931. In 1938 Prof. Blumbach wrote a detailed article in the Bulletin of the NLO on the comet Finsler, photographs of which required exposures of up to 8 hours in length! After Sir Robert's death in that same year the telescope was in regular use and reports exist of a survey of open galactic clusters, comet Jurlof Achmarof-Hassel, and an investigation into the photometric fogging of negatives of regions with a high density of bright stars.
With the onset of World War II the work of the observatory was curtailed. By the end of the war the funds of the Corporation were running low and the University College of the South-West of England (later the University of Exeter) took over the running of the site. However, the College had no direct interest in astronomy and the only significant additional work recorded by the Mond telescope was of the two bright comets Arend-Roland and Mrkos in 1956 and 1957 respectively, and some filtered light photography of the nebulae near ?-Casseiopiea plus some photoelectric work.
During the 1970s and 1980s the Mond dome and telescope gradually fell into dereliction. In January 1988 the NLO Corporation, who had assumed responsibility for the whole of the observatory site, agreed to allow the removal of the upper section of the telescope mounting to pass into amateur hands on the understanding that it would be used for serious astronomical work in the future. Accordingly, the various parts of the instrument were removed to the private observatory of Denis Buczynski at Conder Brow, Lancaster. Unfortunately, the largest of the Zeiss triplet lenses and some other important components were missing when the transfer to the North took place. The heavy base of the telescope could not be transferred and this was broken up for scrap. At about the same time the Mond Dome itself was refurbished and this was subsequently to house Sir Norman Lockyer's original 6 inch Cooke refractor telescope.
The formidable task of refurbishing the Mond telescope and mounting it on a substantial base was passed on to Dr Glyn Marsh who spent over 3 years in bringing the instrument to a usable condition again. It is now the main instrument of the Catforth Observatory near Preston.

Bibliography
The Mond Family (1867-1973), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, Vol. 38, pp. 614-619.
J. M. Cohen, The Life of Ludwig Mond, Methuen & Co. 1956.
J. Goodman, The Mond Legacy – A Family Saga, Weidenfield and Nicholson, 1982.
R. Hornsby, The Foundations of Industry – Ludwig Mond F.R.S. Brunner Mond, 1997.
Combe Bank, Sundridge, Kent – A History, 1986.
The Norman Lockyer Observatory Handbook, 2nd Edition, 1935 (and Supplement).
The Norman Lockyer Archive, Exeter University Library, MS 72.
G. Marsh, private communication.

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The line of Mond descendants came to an end in influence with untimely death of Derek Mond himself a chemist and influential Zionist. Both Derek and Eva Mond declared themselves Jews at the outbreak of the war although they had not been brought up in any faith as a gesture of solidarity with the Jews of Europe. Both helped Jews to flee Nazi Germany. Julian Mond assumed the title after Derek’s death and led the life of a playboy dying young while on holiday in Majorca. It was at this time that the name Mond became disassociated as one of the leading Jewish families in this country.


Condolences

This letter of condolence from the Norman Lockyer Observatory to Lady Mond goes as follows;

Dear Lady Mond,
At the Council meeting of the observatory on November 15, the Council desired me to express their deep sympathy to you on your great loss.

'Sir Robert has not only been a most generous benefactor of the Observatory and its chairman for 25 years, but in so many ways he has been a great friend to us all’

Yours sincerely

N.W. Mc Clean


Also at his death the words of M. Behal – Vice –president de L’acadamie des Sciences, President du Conseil D’ Admininstration de la Maison de la Chimie

Monsieur le Ministre
Mesdames
Messieurs

C’est avec une emotion profunde et une peine immense que j’evoque en cet instant la figure de celui qui fut mon collegue et mon ami.
La disparition de Sir Robert Mond est une irrerable perte, non seulement pour l’institution qui j’ai l’honneur de presider, mais pour la science et industrie tout entieries.


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There is a book privately printed by Lady Mond that contains hundred of letters of condolence, from distinguished scientific organisations all over the world as well as personal one’s and they all echo the same theme of kindness diligence, and above all generosity and friendship. His philanthropy was totally without any expectation of reward or favour.