    the reverend dr nevil maskelyne frs (6 october 1732 â 9 february 1811) was the fifth english astronomer royal. he held the office from 1765 to 1811. ==biography== maskelyne was born in london, the third son of edmund maskelyne of purton, wiltshire. maskelyne's father died when he was 12, leaving the family in reduced circumstances. maskelyne attended westminster school and was still a pupil there when his mother died in 1748. his interest in astronomy had begun while at westminster school, shortly after the eclipse of 25 july 1748. maskelyne entered st catharine's college, cambridge in 1749, graduating as seventh wrangler in 1754. ordained as a minister in 1755, he became a fellow of trinity college, cambridge in 1756. about 1785 maskelyne married sophia rose of cotterstock, northamptonshire. their only child, margaret (1786â1858), was the mother of mervyn herbert nevil story-maskelyne (1823â1911) professor of mineralogy at oxford (1856â95). maskelyne's sister, margaret, married robert clive. nevil maskelyne is buried in the churchyard of st mary the virgin, the parish church of the village of purton, wiltshire, england.maskelyne's grave can be seen by going through the church gates and veering to the right, against the right outside wall of the church. ==career== ===measurement of longitude=== in 1758 maskelyne was admitted to the royal society, which in 1761 despatched him to the island of st. helena to observe the transit of venus. this was an important observation since accurate measurements would allow the accurate calculation of earth's distance from the sun, which would in turn allow the scale of the solar system to be calculated. bad weather prevented any useful observations; however, maskelyne used his journey to develop a method of determining longitude using the position of the moon, which became known as the lunar distance method. he returned to england, resuming his position as curate at 
1732_births 1811_deaths 18th-century_English_people 18th-century_astronomers 19th-century_English_people 19th-century_astronomers Alumni_of_St_Catharine\'s_College,_Cambridge Astronomers_Royal English_astronomers English_clergy Fellows_of_Trinity_College,_Cambridge Fellows_of_the_American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Sciences Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society_of_Edinburgh People_educated_at_Westminster_School,_London People_from_London Recipients_of_the_Copley_Medal