en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hall_(lighthouse_keeper)
2 corrections found
Rudyerd's Tower of 1706
The year is wrong. Standard histories date Rudyerd's lighthouse to 1709, not 1706.
Full reasoning
Reliable historical accounts of the second Eddystone lighthouse date John Rudyerd's tower to 1709. A Royal Society history article says the second lighthouse "lasted from 1709 to 1755," and a standard retelling of Smeaton's work says "Rudyerd completed his work in 1709." So describing it here as "Rudyerd's Tower of 1706" is incorrect.
2 sources
- Smeaton's beacons | Royal Society
The second, by John Rudyard, lasted from 1709 to 1755 before succumbing to a five-day inferno.
- The Story of John Smeaton and the Eddystone Lighthouse
Rudyerd completed his work in 1709.
Dr. Henry Spry (a surgeon at Plymouth)
The doctor's first name is wrong. The original Royal Society records identify him as Edward Spry, not Henry Spry.
Full reasoning
The physician/surgeon who treated Hall and authored the Royal Society account was Edward Spry. The Royal Society catalogue entry for the manuscript is explicitly titled as a letter "from Edward Spry to George Parker," and the Society's own historical write-up likewise refers to "Dr Edward Spry." I could not find a comparable authoritative source naming the doctor as Henry Spry in connection with the Eddystone case.
2 sources
- Royal Society catalogue record L&P/3/100
Title Letter, 'Of the case of a man who died after swallowing molten lead at the Eddystone fire' from Edward Spry to George Parker Date 19 December 1755.
- Smeaton's beacons | Royal Society
'An account of the case of a man who died of the effects of the fire at Eddy-stone Light-house' tells the story of Dr Edward Spry's discovery of a piece of lead weighing over seven ounces in the stomach of Henry Hall.