Greenwich
Greenwich names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Greenwich gren'ij, a village on the southern bank of the Thames
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
gren'ij, a village on the southern bank of the Thames, six miles below London Bridge . It may be reached by train or boat. The hotels are famous for fish dinners. When Parliament closes for the season it is customary for the cabinet officers and prominent members to repair to Greenwich for a whitebait dinner. It was formerly a place of royal residence. Greenwich Hospital for aged and disabled sailors now occupies the site of the old royal palace. Henry VIII and his daughters Mary and Elizabeth were born here. Greenwich Park, laid out during the reign of Charles II, occupies 174 acres. It is clothed with fine old chestnuts in which a herd of tame deer may be seen. It is a favorite place of resort for Londoners. A hill in the center, 180 feet in height, is crowned with the famous Greenwich Royal Observatory, from the meridian of which English astronomers make their calculations. The meridian of Greenwich is, in fact, accepted by geographers of all countries as the prime or first meridian . The correct time for England is indicated here every day at 1:00 P. M. by the descent of a large colored ball. The time is telegraphed to the most important cities throughout the United Kingdom . Admission to the observatory is permitted only to scientists of renown. At the gate, however, a clock shows the correct time to all callers. Brass standards of measure are also let into the walls. They are noted with interest by many callers. An adjacent moor, called Black-heath, was the place of assembly made famous by Watt Tyler and Jack Cade.
Greenwich a borough of the city of London
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a borough of the city of London, England, on the right bank of the Thames, 6 miles S. E. of London bridge. It contains a magnificent hospital for invalid seamen, built by Sir Christopher Wren (1696). The Royal Observatory, erected by Charles II., is under the charge of the Astronomer Royal, a position that has been filled by Flamsted, Halley, Bradley, Bliss, Maskelyne, Pond, Airy, etc. The longitude of all English charts and maps is reckoned from this observatory, and the captains of ships take their time, as given at 1 P. M. Pop. of borough about 96,000.
Greenwich a borough of Connecticut
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a borough of Connecticut, in a town of the same name, in Fairfield co. It is entirely a residential place and contains many beautiful private residences. Pop. borough, (1910) 3,886; (1920) 5,939. Pop. town, (1910) 16,463; (1920) 22,123.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 note that "admission to the observatory is permitted only to scientists of renown" has been overturned twice over: London's smoke and lights drove the working observatory out to Herstmonceux in Sussex from 1948 and then to Cambridge, the Royal Greenwich Observatory closing as an institution in 1998, while the hill-top buildings became a public museum that anyone may pay to enter. The Royal Hospital for seamen that both accounts describe had in fact already ceased to house pensioners in 1869; Wren's buildings served as the Royal Naval College until 1998 and now hold the University of Greenwich and Trinity Laban Conservatoire, the whole riverside ensemble made a UNESCO World Heritage Site as "Maritime Greenwich" in 1997. The prime meridian still runs through the site in name, but satellite geodesy has shifted the modern reference meridian roughly 100 metres east of Airy's transit circle, and Greenwich Mean Time was replaced as the world's time standard by atomic-based UTC in 1972. The 1 p.m. time ball, however, still drops daily, the deer are still in the park, and Greenwich, Connecticut has grown from a quiet place of "beautiful private residences" of 22,000 people into a wealthy town of some 63,000 known as a centre of the hedge-fund industry.
Written for this edition, 2026.