DEATH AT THE DEVIL’S JUMP
Richard Carrington might have contributed far more to solar astronomy if his career – and his life – had not been cut short by an infamous scandal.
The heir of a Deptford brewery magnate, Carrington disposed of the business to devote himself to astronomy and had little apparent interest in earthly, let alone family, matters. But in 1868, when he was 42, Carrington became infatuated with 23-year-old Rosa Rodway, an attractive but illiterate woman who lived with her brother William in London.
Rodway may have been uneducated, but she was calculating; she was only persuaded to marry Carrington after she had seen legal proofs of his wealth. Even then she declined to live at his home in Surrey, claiming she needed to stay in London to gain an education worthy of an astronomer’s wife.
After a year of this, Carrington lost patience and ceased paying his wife’s rent in London, so she was forced to live with him at his house and observatory at the ominouslynamed Middle Devil’s Jump.
Villagers noted a tall, handsome man paying visits when Carrington was absent. This quietly scandalous behaviour continued until one day the visitor stabbed first Rosa Carrington and then himself in what looks like an attempted murder-suicide.
The visitor was the supposed ‘William Rodway’ – not in fact Rosa’s brother, but her lover. Apparently, she had tried to end things between them and he felt betrayed. The man’s true identify was never discovered. All that was known was that he was a former dragoon and circus worker, and had been on intimate terms with Rosa for some years before and during her relationship with Carrington.
Neither of them was seriously injured. ‘William Rodway’ was arrested and sentenced to 20 years hard labour. He died in prison.
While recovering from her injuries, Rosa Carrington became addicted to chloral hydrate, a popular sedative which was only edged out by barbiturates in the 20th century. A year after the assault, she died of an overdose. The coroner criticised Richard Carrington for not taking better care of her; he too was taking chloral hydrate by this time.
Two weeks after the inquest, Carrington himself was found dead in his empty house, the servants having left when his wife died. Supposedly he died of natural causes – stated as a brain hæmorrhage – although it was suspected an overdose was involved.
Brilliant as he was as a solar observer, Carrington seems to have been a very poor judge of people, and the world of astronomy was robbed of his talents.
Richard Carrington had requested he be buried in an unmarked grave. However, he was placed alongside his wife in the Carrington family vault in the grand Victorian cemetery at West Norwood, with the epitaph “Sic Itur Ad Astra” – “Thus, we go to the stars.” This is a quote from Virgil’s Aeneid, appropriately spoken by the sun-god Apollo.