On the appointment of William Airy to Essex Collection, the family removed to Colchester on April 5th 1810.  Here George Biddell was first sent to a large school in Sir Isaac’s Walk, then kept by Mr Byatt Walker, and was soon noted for his correctness in orthography, geography, and arithmetic.  He evidently made rapid progress, for on one occasion Mr Walker said openly in the schoolroom how remarkable it was that a boy 10 years old should be the first in the school.  At this school he stayed till the end of 1813 and thoroughly learned arithmetic (from Walkingame’s book), book-keeping by double entry (on which knowledge throughout his life he set a special value), the use of the sliding rule (which knowledge also was specially useful to him in after life), mensuration and algebra (from Bonnycastle’s books).  He also studied grammar in all its branches, and geography, and acquired some knowledge of English literature, beginning with that admirable book The Speaker, but it does not appear that Latin and Greek were attended to at this school.  He records that at this time he learned an infinity of snatches of songs, small romances, &c., which his powerful memory retained most accurately throughout his life.  He was no hand at active play:  but was notorious for his skill in constructing guns for shooting peas and arrows, and other mechanical contrivances.  At home he relates that he picked up a wonderful quantity of learning from his father’s books.  He read and remembered much poetry from such standard authors as Milton, Pope, Gay, Gray, Swift, &c., which was destined to prove in after life an invaluable relaxation for his mind.  But he also studied deeply an excellent Cyclopaedia called a Dictionary of Arts and Sciences in three volumes folio, and learned from it much about ship-building, navigation, fortification, and many other subjects.

During this period his valuable friendship with his uncle Arthur Biddell commenced.  Arthur Biddell was a prosperous farmer and valuer at Playford near Ipswich.  He was a well-informed and able man, of powerful and original mind, extremely kind and good-natured, and greatly respected throughout the county.  In the Autobiography of George Biddell Airy he states as follows: 

“I do not remember precisely when it was that I first visited my uncle Arthur Biddell.  I think it was in a winter:  certainly as early as the winter of 1812—­13.  Here I found a friend whose society I could enjoy, and I entirely appreciated and enjoyed the practical, mechanical, and at the same time speculative and enquiring talents of Arthur Biddell.  He had a library which, for a person in middle life, may be called excellent, and his historical and antiquarian knowledge was not small.  After spending one winter holiday with him, it easily came to pass that I spent the next summer holiday with him:  and at the next winter holiday, finding that there was no precise arrangement for my movements, I secretly wrote him a letter begging him to come with