Society in 1861, and held the office until his resignation in 1871. In 1864 he moved the government of India to undertake at various stations of the great trigonometrical survey, from the sea-level at Cape Cormorin to the lofty tablelands of the Himalayas, the series of pendulum observations which have thrown so much light on the constitution of the earth's crust and local variations of gravity.
On 9 Feb. 1865 Sabine was made a colonel-commandant of the royal artillery, and on 20 Sept. of the same year was promoted to be lieutenant-general. In 1869 he was made a civil knight-commander of the Bath, and on 7 Feb. 1870 was promoted to be general. In 1876 his scientific activity came to an end, and he retired from the army on full pay on 1 Oct. 1877. During his later years his mental faculties failed. He died at Richmond on 26 June 1883, and was buried in the family vault at Tewin, Hertfordshire, beside the remains of his wife.
Sabine was created D.C.L. of Oxford on 20 June 1855, and LL.D. of Cambridge. He was a fellow of the Linnean and the Royal Astronomical societies and many other learned bodies. He held the foreign orders of Pour le Mérite of Prussia, SS. Maurice and Lazarus of Italy, and the Rose of Brazil. He contributed more than one hundred papers to the ‘Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society,’ besides many others to the ‘Philosophical Magazine,’ ‘Journal of Science,’ and kindred publications (see Royal Society's Cat. of Scientific Papers). His scientific capacity was combined with an attractive personality. His grace of manner and invincible cheerfulness rendered him universally popular.
There is an oil portrait of Sabine by S. Pearce in the rooms of the Royal Society, presented by Lady Sabine in 1866. There is also a marble bust of him by J. Durham, presented by P. J. Gassiot, esq., F.R.S., in 1860. In the mess-room of the royal artillery at Woolwich there is a portrait of him by G. F. Watts, R.A., dated 1876.
Sabine married, in 1826, Elizabeth Juliana (1807–1879), daughter of William Leeves, esq., of Tortington, Sussex. She was an accomplished woman, who aided him for more than half a century in his scientific investigations. Her translation of Humboldt's ‘Cosmos,’ in four volumes, was published 1849–58. She also translated ‘The Aspects of Nature’ (1849, 2 vols.) by the same author, Arago's meteorological essays, and ‘Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea’ (1840; 2nd ed. 1844) commanded by Admiral Ferdinand von Wrangel, which were published under the superintendence of her husband. There was no issue of the marriage. Sabine's only surviving nephew on the male side was Admiral Sir Thomas Sabine-Pasley [q. v.]
The following is a list of some of the more important of Sabine's contributions to the Royal Society ‘Philosophical Transactions’ that have not been mentioned: 1. ‘Irregularities observed in the Direction of the Compass Needles of H.M.S. Isabella and Alexander in their late Voyage of Discovery, and caused by the Attraction of the Iron contained in the Ships,’ 1819. 2. ‘On the Dip and Variation of the Magnetic Needle, and on the Intensity of the Magnetic Force, made during the late Voyage in search of a North-West Passage,’ 1819. 3. ‘An Account of Experiments to determine the Acceleration of the Pendulum in different Latitudes,’ 1821. 4. ‘On the Temperature at considerable Depths of the Caribbean Sea,’ 1823. 5. ‘A Comparison of Barometrical Measurement with the Trigonometrical Determination of a Height at Spitzbergen,’ 1826. 6. ‘Experiments to determine the Difference in the Number of Vibrations made by an Invariable Pendulum in the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and in the House in London in which Captain Kater's Experiments were made,’ 1829. 7. ‘Experiments to ascertain the Ratio of the Magnetic Forces acting on a Needle suspended horizontally in Paris and London,’ 1828. 8. ‘Experiments to determine the Difference in the Length of the Seconds Pendulum in London and Paris,’ 1828. 9. ‘An Account of Experiments to determine the Amount of the Dip of the Magnetic Needle in London in August 1821, with Remarks on the Instruments which are usually employed in such Determinations,’ 1822, being the Bakerian lecture. 10. ‘On the Dip of the Magnetic Needle in London in August 1828 = 1829.’ 11. ‘On the Reduction to a Vacuum of the Vibration of an Invariable Pendulum,’ 1829. 12. ‘Experiments to determine the Difference in the Number of Vibrations made by an Invariable Pendulum in the Royal Observatories, Greenwich and Altona,’ 1830. 13. ‘Experiments on the Length of the Seconds Pendulum, made at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,’ 1831. 14. ‘Report on a Paper by the late Mr. Douglas, entitled “Observations taken on the Western Coast of North America,”’ 1837. 15. ‘On Magnetical Observations in Germany, Norway, and Russia,’ 1840. 16. ‘On the Lunar Atmospheric Tide at St. Helena,’ 1847. 17. ‘On the Diurnal Variation of the Magnetic Declination of St. Helena,’ 1847. 18. ‘On the Means adopted in the British Colonial Magnetic Observatories for determining the Absolute Values, Secular Changes, and Annual Variation of the Magnetic Force,’
