William Cary
William Cary (1759–16 November 1825) was an English scientific-instrument maker. Trained under Jesse Ramsden, he produced numerous scientific instruments including mechanical calculators, measuring instruments, telescopes, microscopes, navigation and survey equipment. Born to George and Mary Cary.
William Cary
William Cary · This file originated on the York Museums Trust Online Collection. YMT hosted a GLAMwiki partnership in 2013/14. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyrigh · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Born
- 1759
- Died
- 1825
- Nationality
- Kingdom of Great Britain · United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Occupation
- instrument maker · cartographer
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
William Cary (1759–16 November 1825) was an English scientific-instrument maker. Trained under Jesse Ramsden, he produced numerous scientific instruments including mechanical calculators, measuring instruments, telescopes, microscopes, navigation and survey equipment. Born to George and Mary Cary.
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gnd · 118766717X · wikidata · Q18390172
In this article
Identity
Identity
He had three brothers, the eldest George (ca. 1753–1830) was a haberdasher while the second brother John, was a mapmaker who also worked with William and the last, Francis (ca. 1756–1836) was an engraver. Cary learnt the skills for producing instruments as an apprentice of Jesse Ramsden (1735–1800). The instruments made by William Cary were used around the world including Russia and India. He also made instruments for the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. After his death in 1825, the firm was taken over by Charles Gould who may have trained briefly under William Cary.
William Cary is recorded as instrument maker and cartographer.
Microscope in the Golub Collection of Antique Microscopes, exhibited at the University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley, California, USA. This microscope is old enough so that its design is in the public domain. Photography was permitted without restriction.
Daderot
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1759
William Cary born.
1825
William Cary died.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 118766717X, Renfrow, William Cary.
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q18390172: William Cary
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.William Cary auf ras.ac.uk
- 2.Rudolf Wolf. Geschichte der Astronomie. 1877.
- 3.Agnes Mary Clerke. Cary, William. 253.
- 4.Brian Stevenson: The Cary-Gould-Porter optical businesses auf microscopist.net
- 5.Anita McConnell: Jesse Ramsden (1735–1800). Londons leading scientific instrument maker. 2. Auflage. Routledge, Milton Park / New York 2016, ISBN 978-1-351-92536-5 ( )
- 6.Johann Adolf Repsold. Zur Geschichte der astronomischen Messwerkzeuge. 1908.
- 7.Charles Gould: The Companion of the Microscope. London 1826, 1829 ( )
References
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authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 118766717X, Renfrow, William Cary.Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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