"James Bradley, the third Astronomer Royal of Greenwich, was born at Sherbourn, in Gloucestershire, in the year 1692. In 1711 he entered Baliol College, Oxford, where he completed his education. Having qualified himself for the church, he was presented to a living in the year 1719. His predilection for astronomical pursuits, which evinced itself at an early age, was fostered by his uncle, the Rev. . with whom he resided for several years at Wanstead, in Essex. In 1721 he was appointed to the Savilian chair of astronomy in the University of Oxford, which had then become vacant by the death of Keill. His nomination by the Government, as successor to Halley in the Observatory of Greenwich, is dated February 2, 1742. His reputation as an astronomer was already well established in Europe by observations of a miscellaneous nature, and more especially by his immortal discovery of the Aberration of Light, and at the time of his appointment he was actually engaged in those researches which resulted in his discovery of the Nutation of the Earth's axis."