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Lunar Society of Birmingham

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This article is about the historical club. For society on the moon, see Colonization of the Moon.
Soho House in Handsworth, Birmingham, a regular venue for meetings of the Lunar Society

The Lunar Society was a dinner club and informal learned society of prominent industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 in Birmingham, England. At first called the Lunar Circle, "Lunar Society" became the formal name by 1775. The name arose because the society would meet during the full moon, as the extra light made the journey home easier and safer (in the absence of street lighting). The members cheerfully referred to themselves as "lunaticks", a pun on lunatics. Venues included Erasmus Darwin's home in Lichfield, Matthew Boulton's home, Soho House, and Great Barr Hall.

Members

Erasmus Darwin, one of the founders of the Lunar Society

The members of the Lunar Society were very influential in Britain. Amongst those who attended meetings more or less regularly were Matthew Boulton, Erasmus Darwin, Samuel Galton Junior, James Keir, Joseph Priestley, Jonathan Stokes, Josiah Wedgwood, James Watt,[1] John Whitehurst and William Withering.

More peripheral characters and correspondents included Sir Richard Arkwright, John Baskerville, Thomas Beddoes, Thomas Day, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Michell, William Murdoch, Anna Seward, William Small, John Smeaton, William Strutt, Thomas Wedgwood, John Wilkinson, Joseph Wright, James Wyatt, Samuel Wyatt, and Staffordshire member of parliament and investor John Levett.[2]

The Lunar Society would often meet at Erasmus Darwin House in lichfield which is now open to the public as a museum.

Antoine Lavoisier frequently corresponded with various members of the group, as did Benjamin Franklin, who also visited them in Birmingham on several occasions.

As the members grew older and died, the Lunar Society ceased to be very active and was closed in 1813. Most former members had died by 1820.

Both of naturalist Charles Darwin's grandfathers (Erasmus Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood) were members of the Lunar Society.

Among memorials to the Society and its members are the Moonstones; two statues of Watt and a statue of Boulton, Watt and Murdoch, by William Bloye; and the museum at Soho House – all in Birmingham, England.

Modern Lunar Society

In more recent times a new Lunar Society[3] was formed in Birmingham, England, by a group led by Dame Rachel Waterhouse. Its aim is to play a leading part in the development of the city and the wider region.[4] In Italy, the Lunar Society Italia was formed to communicate science and astronomy.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Chapter 8: The Record of the Steam Engine". www.history.rochester.edu. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
  2. ^ Letter from Erasmus Darwin to Matthew Boulton, 1766, Revolutionary Players
  3. ^ The Lunar Society
  4. ^ Lunar Society award to Rachel Waterhouse
  5. ^ The Lunar Society Italia

Further reading

Reprint: Schofield, Robert E. (1972). Hrsg.: A. E. Musson: (ed.). Science, Technology and Economic Growth in the Eighteenth Century. London: Methuen & Co. pp. 139ff. ISBN 0416080006.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) ISBN 0416080103
  • Uglow, Jenny (2002), The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World, London: Faber & Faber, ISBN 0374194408
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