The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade

Annie Maunder with the solar camera she invented at a 1900 eclipse in Algiers, taken by her stepdaughter Edith – and her photograph of the sun’s corona taken during a 1901 eclipse in Mauritius. 

Today is astronomer Annie Maunder’s Birthday. 

Born as Annie Scott Dill Russell in 1868 in Strabane, County Tyrone – now part of Northern Ireland – she’s one of our main characters in “The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade”.

She’s also a Girton graduate, professional Computer, eclipse chaser, legend of solar photography and an astronomer who is finally getting the recognition she deserves. We’ve spent the last 18 months researching her real life to help us create our own version of Annie on stage. 

I’m in the middle of writing about our research journey for Popular Astronomy magazine, but Annie Maunder Day seems like the perfect moment to write a quick blog about my favourite archive find so far. 

It’s in one of the letters that she wrote to Captain Molesworth, a mutual friend of Annie and her husband, astronomer Walter Maunder. Walter was 17 years older than Annie when they married. He was also a widower with 5 children, and her boss at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. That part of Annie’s story deserves its own blog some day…  

But back to the correspondence between Molesworth and the Maunders. Dozens of their letters are held at the Royal Astronomical Society archives in central London. As a set, they offer a fascinating insight into their everyday conversations about astronomy, family life, international travel plans and more. 

One section particularly stood out to me. On 28th December 1900, Annie takes a moment to poke fun at her husband, as he attempts to get to grips with the latest technological craze: the Typewriter!    

“Typing is great fun and a most fascinating amusement… Even my husband will sometimes now write one of his own letters… (!) 

After my husband has sat down and got the paper adjusted, I begin to hear various sounds of distress… 

    “CONFOUND THE THING!”

    ”I WON’T BE LAUGHED AT” 

    “YOU WRITE!” 

And then find that the date appears as “QOPP” and perhaps all the body of the note is in figures. Certainly a typewriter tends to produce force and vigour of expression on the part of the novice.”  

To my 21st Century ears, this sounds more like a stand-up routine about a Baby Boomer trying to get a wireless printer working than a letter about a late Victorian man wrangling with a typewriter. It confirms to us that Annie wasn’t just a brilliant, curious, kind and incredibly practical woman, she was also hilarious – and loved to make her friends laugh. 

This side of her personality never truly comes across in all the lofty obituaries and academic articles that have been written about her. It’s archive finds like this which let us see the real Annie and bring her to the stage, complete with that sharp wit and killer observational comedy skills.

If you want to read my full article in Popular Astronomy, you can join the Society for Popular Astronomy now and get your hands on the July-August 2026 issue as soon as it comes up. Sign up here! 

You can also join me, Jenni, Brian and our cast for several productions and concert performances across May, June and July 2026 in London, Cheltenham, Lincoln and Oxfordshire. Booking links for every show are over here.

Annie Maunder photographing the eclipse with her fellow astronomers in Algiers, 1900