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THIS OBJECT IS PART OF THE PROJECT 'A HISTORY OF CORNWALL IN 100 OBJECTS'.

LAWRENCE HOUSE MUSEUM, LAUNCESTON. This striking bust shows the young astronomer John Couch Adams, who was jointly credited with the discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846. He predicted its position by mathematical calculation and went on to become the director of the Cambridge Observatory in 1861. Born to a farming family at Laneast, near Launceston, Couch Adams frequently visited Cornwall. He was a friend of Caroline and Anna Maria Fox of Falmouth, the foundresses of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society.

Neville Northey Burnard, the sculptor, became famous when he carved a bust of the six year old Prince of Wales, later Edward VII in 1847. He was born at Altarnun, near Launceston, in 1818 and made busts of many famous Cornish men and women including Richard Trevithick, Richard Lander and Mary Kelynack. The last of these was an elderly Newlyn fishwife who walked to London to see the Great Exhibition in 1851.

Photo: Bernie Pettersen