Scientific Societies and Institutions in Bath

The Bath Chronicle for 28th August 1777 carried a notice addressed to "The Nobility and Gentry in the counties of Somerset, Gloucester, Wiltshire and Dorset in general, and the Cities of Bath and Bristol in particular". This was a proposal for the "Institution of a Society in this City, for the encouragement of Agriculture, Planting, Manufactures, Commerce, and the Fine Arts...".
Interested individuals concerned with forming such a society are invited to attend a meeting at 11 a.m. on September 8th at York House (now the Royal York Hotel). Twenty-two people responded to the notice and the first of Bath's scientific societies was inaugurated. It was to continue its close associations with Bath until 1974, when its administration moved to a new, permanent home at Shepton Mallet.

The idea of a society. The idea of a society was the brain-child of Edmund Rack, the son of a Norfolk labouring weaver. A draper by trade, Rack had also cultivated a taste for literature. During his earlier life in Norfolk he had become very interested in agriculture and, in particular, in the application of modern methods and when, in 1775, he settled in Bath, his attention was immediately drawn to the poor standard of agricultural practice in the West Country. He was responsible for a series of letters to the Farming Magazine and the Bath Chronicle, pointing out that it was in the interest of the farmer, the landowner and the nation in general that the agricultural resources of the country should be increased and by August 1777 he must have felt that the time was ripe for more specific proposals, hence the advertisement.

At the inaugural meeting the Chair was taken by John Ford. The attendance was as follows:

John Ford Esq. in the chair,

Revd. Dr. Wilson Phillip Stephens, Esq.

Revd. Mr Ford Paul Newman Esq.

Dr. Wm Falconer Mr. John Newman

Dr. Patrick Henley William Street Esq.

Wm. Brereton Esq. Mr. Symons, Surgeon

Mr. Saml. Virgin Mr. Crutwell, Surgeon

Mr. Richard Crutwell Mr. Arden

Mr. Foster, Apothecary Mr. Wm Matthews

Mr. Cam Gyde Mr. Parsons

Mr. Benj. Axford Mr. Edm. Rack

Mr. Bull

Several resolutions were passed among them the unanimous request that Edmund Rack, then 42 years of age, should be appointed Secretary of the Society.

The first edition of Aims, Rules and Orders of the Society, published in 1777, lists several important objectives. These include the aim to improve husbandry through the award of premiums (prizes) and the encouragement of experimentation in those spheres most needing it.The first General Meeting on 9th December 1777 considered 49 recommendations for premiums ranging from 1 guinea to 30 for projects as varied as the raising of the principal farm crops, the rearing of agricultural stock , improving farm implements, softening hard water and even the manufacture by a woman of the greatest quantity of black lace. Each subsequent year brought new projects for premiums, some of them decidedly unexpected. In the 1809 list, for example, there is the offer of an award for the best treatise either in defence or refutation of the theory of the Rev. Mr. Malthus concerning population; the prize-winning essay was published the following year. Unlikely though this topic sounds in its particular context, it of especial interest because Malthus himself had strong connections with Bath. One source actually states that he spent the last four years of his life at Bath, though this is uncertain. It is known, however, that he died there in 1834 at 17, Portland Place, the home of his father-in-law, John Eckersall. He is believed to have been buried at Claverton. At a later date a tablet was erected to his memory just inside the West Door of the Abbey Church.

By the spring of 1780 a site had been found and approved by Edmund Rack and ten acres of land at Weston, Bath, was taken over for experiments in agriculture. The land itself which presented a variety of soils and situations, was part of a farm occupied by a Mr. Bethel, who agreed to conduct the experiments himself, under the supervision of a committee.This was the very first experimental farm in Britain and a worthy precursor to Woburn and Rothamstead. Even so, after about ten years the scheme petered out, probably as a result of defective management.

Beside Edmund Rack, there were other interesting individuals among the earlier members of the Society. William Falconer, a Doctor of Medicine of both Edinburgh and Leyden Universities, came to Bath in 1770, taking up residence in the Circus. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1773 and later became a physician at the Bath General Hospital. One of his particular interests was the medical applications of the Bath hot mineral spring water, a subject on which he wrote several works. William Matthews, another founder member, and later to succeed Rack as Secretary, was the son of an Oxfordshire Quaker shoemaker. He came to Bath in 1777, first setting up a brewery, then a coal yard and then a seed and implement business at Hetling House (now Abbey Church House). He published several books, all of them on theological or moral issues.

Soon after the Society's inauguration, Thomas Curtis became a member. The original founder of the first Bath Philosophical Society in 1779, Curtis was a greatly respected figure. In an obituary Edmund Rack said of him "he was well read in men as well as books; yet he rather sought to be useful rather than popular; to merit rather than court applause".

More important historically was Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen. It is perhaps surprising to find Priestley associated with Bath; he is almost invariably linked with Birmingham where his house and laboratory were once pillaged by a mob in an orgy of political violence. Between the years 1773 - 1780, however, he was a library companion to Lord Shelburne, afterwards First Marquis of Lansdowne and in 1782, Prime Minister. Priestley lived near Lord Shelburne's seat at Bowood near Calne, Wiltshire. In fact it was at Calne that he discovered oxygen, a momentous event in the development of chemistry. In 1777 we find Priestley as Honorary and Corresponding member of the Society. In 1778 he was Vice-President and in 1780, on the Committee of Correspondence and Enquiry.

It is clear from a number of sources that Priestley was active in both the social and the scientific life of Bath. His introduction to its scientific life was probably through William Watson, with whom he was already acquainted. In the preface to Watson's only book, A Treatise on Time, published in 1785, tribute is paid to "that eminent philosopher, Dr. Priestley (who thought it [the book] not unworthy of the public eye)".

Priestley also knew Herschel. At one stage he assisted Herschel in making the acquaintance of John Mitchell of Derbyshire, who was also engaged in the construction of large astronomical

telescopes.

On the social side, Priestley was friendly with the Linleys of Bath and at one time lodged with them.

In 1780 came the first volume of Letters and Papers of the Society; these appeared irregularly and terminated with Vol. XV in 1829. They provide an invaluable source of information on the startlingly wide range of activities carried on within the Society. On reflection this is not really surprising. The era of specialised national journals was still to come and local society journals, with their wide spread of information, formed a necessary step in the evolution of the present-day serial. Articles in Letters and Papers, and later in the Journal, produce such topics as meteorology, the exhibiting of livestock, hay steaming, the chemical analysis of soils and later on, even steam engine trials.

A recurring theme in the Society's earlier publications was the application of chemistry to agriculture, especially chemical analysis of soils and fertilisers. As early as 1805 the Bath Society had voted funds to establish a chemical laboratory.

In the same year, Dr. Clement Archer, a Bath physician, offered to lecture without fee, on this same topic of chemistry's applications to agriculture. He also offered his services in superintending the operation of the analytical laboratory - an offer which was promptly accepted "and the Doctor was immediately appointed Chemical Professor to the Society, with the unanimous thanks of the Meeting". The laboratory was set up in the vaults of Hetling House; £100 was to be spent by Dr. Archer, presumably on equipment and chemicals, and £50 per annum to be paid to Mr. Cadwallader Boyd, as assistant. The following spring, Dr. Archer gave a course of lectures "which were attended as well by many Ladies and Gentlemen who had a taste for science, as by most of the members who remained in town".

Unfortunately, Dr. Archer died after a few months but the Institution continued in the hands of Boyd, " a very ingenious and intelligent chemist whose real knowledge and acquaintance with the science is accompanied by that unassuming modesty generally attendant on true merit".

Referring to the quality of Boyd's analytical work, we read in Letters and Papers " of the accuracy of the results of these analyses as delivered by Mr Boyd, the Society entertains not the least doubt". Clearly the Society had great faith in Boyd! A present-day assessment of his methods would provoke considerably less optimism. The methods he used were those of Humphrey Davy, as published in his Elements of Agricultural Chemistry. Davy, later Count Rumford, was, as we all recall, the man who first isolated sodium and potassium, an event recalled in the clerihew by Edmund Bentley:

Sir Humphrey Davy

Abominated gravy

He lived in the odium

Of having discovered sodium

Great chemist he may have been, but his analytical methods were not particularly reliable.

As might have been expected, the first half of the 19th century saw tremendous developments in the science of agriculture. Chemistry and physics were undergoing rapid changes and it was only natural that the newly acquired knowledge should be applied to biology, which, after all, depended on the same basic mechanisms.

Probably the single most important step taken by the Society was the appointment of Dr. Augustus Voelcker as its consultant chemist in 1855. His influence was strongly felt in several areas. Through the Society's Journal he brought the new agricultural science directly to its membership; he travelled extensively through the entire area covered by the Society, giving lectures and taking part in discussions; he analysed soil and fertiliser samples given to him by farmers and he was able to advise them on their particular needs, as well as the value of their fertilisers. As he put it, "any good analytical chemist can ascertain the exact amount of the different constituents of the manure, and, knowing the market price at which they can be obtained separately, he is enabled to calculate with tolerable accuracy its commercial value". There was certainly need for such information for at this time the adulteration of foodstuffs had reached extreme proportions.

A parallel situation existed in the sale of fertilisers. Voelcker drove ham the basic point that these should be analysed and that "the presentation of a chemical analysis by the dealer is in itself no guarantee of the genuiness or value of the manure".

Voelcker had been educated in Germany, where he studied under Liebig. In 1849 he was appointed the first Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. Despite his German origins, he appears to have been popular with English farmers. His emphasis on checking fertilisers by analysis paid off; within a few years the Society noted a marked improvement in the quality of fertilisers offered for sale. In 1863 he resigned his post at Cirencester and set up in private practice in London but he still maintained his association with the Bath Agricultural Society.

Another side of agriculture which interested Voelcker was cheese making. Here too, he stressed the scientific approach - "All that is mysterious about it is purely accidental". Improvement in the quality of cheese and butter was a matter which concerned the Society increasingly in the latter part of the 19th century. In 1889 its first Cheese School was set up in Wells, with the complete course lasting four weeks and costing 8 guineas. Later it moved to Frome with F.J. Lloyd, an agricultural chemist in attendance. In spite of these praiseworthy efforts, reports in the Journalistic pointed to the superior quality of foreign produce. The reason was claimed to be insufficient agricultural education and research.

In 1852 a decision was taken to move the Annual Meetings away from Bath and to hold them each year in a different town within the Society's area. Each meeting was combined with an Agricultural Show. The mid-20th century saw the far-reaching decision to seek a permanent site for the Annual Show and, accordingly, a 200 acre site was acquired at Shepton Mallet. In 1974 the Society's administration too, left its permanent home in Bath and moved to Shepton Mallet. After 197 years the connection with Bath was almost, but not quite severed. All that remained to the City were the Society's Library, now housed in the University of Bath, and its archives, which were given into the care of Bath City Council. Very likely Edmund Rack would have approved!

The formation of the Bath Agricultural Society in 1777 was by no means an isolated incident. By the middle of the 18th century similar societies were being formed throughout the country. In some respects they highlighted the isolation felt by the intellectual or, more particularly, the scientifically inclined. They became meeting places for the sharing of mutual interests As well as the agricultural societies there were others which leaned rather more towards the newly emerging science than towards technology. By far the most important was the Royal Society of London founded in 1660; another significant one was the Lunar Society of Birmingham (c 1765 - 1791), so called because it met monthly around the time of the full moon, in order that members could have some light on their way home. These institutions were often known as Philosophical Societies and the Bath Philosophical Society was one of the earliest; its foundation can be attributed to Thomas Curtis.

Curtis, a Governor of the Bath General Hospital was already a member of the Agricultural Society. On 27th December 1779 he suggested to Edmund Rack "the Establishment of a select Literary Society for the purpose of discussing scientific and Phylosophical subjects and making experiments to illustrate them." As early as the 28th December 1779 the Society was formally established and within days a set of rules had been agreed upon. These included the schedule of meetings - on Friday evenings, once a week in winter and once a fortnight in summer. One interesting feature was the restricted membership; the maximum number of members was fixed at 25, with election by ballot only. Members were at liberty to discuss "the Arts and Sciences, Natural History, the History of Nations or any branch of Polite Literature", but not "Law, Physic, Divinity and Politics". Edmund Rack, already Secretary to the Agricultural Society was also elected Secretary to the Philosophical Society.

Like the Agricultural Society, the Philosophical Society was concerned to build up a collection of books. In addition, the rules stipulated that, when funds were available, instruments should be purchased for experimental work house in Milsom Street was subsequently used for this purpose.

Hugh Torrens has compiled a list of the original members which is reproduced below:

Members of Bath Philosophical Society (1779 - 1787)

1. Hon. Hugh Acland (1728-1805)

2. John Arden (1702-1791)

3. Mr. Atwood

4. Charles Blagden (1748-1820)

5. John B.Bryant (fl 1779-1792)

6. James Collings (c 1721-1788)

7. Thomas Curtis (c 1739-1784)

8. William Falconer (1744-1824)

9. John Henderson (1757-1788)

10. William Herschel (1738-1822)

11. John Coakley Lettsom (1744-1815)

12. John Lloyd (1749-1815)

13. Mathew Martin (1748-1838)

14. William Matthews (1747-1816)

15. Constantine John Phipps (Lord Mulgrave) (1744-1792)

16. Caleb Hillier Parry (1755-1822)

17. Thomas Parsons (1744-1813)

18. Joseph Priestley (1733-1804)

19. Samuel Pye

20. Edmund Rack (1735-1787)

21. Rev. Samuel Rogers (1731-1790)

22. Benjamin Smith (fl 1779-1807)

23. John Staker (c 1731-1784)

24. John Symons (died 1811)

25. John Walcott (1755-1831)

26. John Walsh (1726-1795)

27. William Watson (1744-1824)

It is noted that the list is in excess of the maximum number of 25. Comparison with the list of founder members of the Agricultural Society shows that several people were members of both. A remarkable feature of the list is that no fewer than eleven members were, or became, Fellows of the Royal Society, London and ten featured in the Dictionary of National Biography.

There are few printed records of the Society and it published no papers or journals, but we can glean some indication of its activities from several sources. One of these is Edmund Rack's journal A Disultory Journal of events at Bath. This notes the attendance of Dr. Priestley on 22nd March 1780.

On 31st December 1780 Rack comments,

"this institution promises much rational improvement and instruction; and has a much more favourable beginning than the Royal Society in London had 100 years ago - there being only five members for more than two years: and those 5 not superior in learning and genius to most of our members".

On another occasion he reports the presence of Mr.Herschel - "optical instrument maker and mathematician".

Not all members of the Society lived in Bath; for example, Messrs Blagden, Lettsom, Walsh Phipps and Priestley were none of them strictly "local ". A number of members were medical men by training but who widened their interests to include a much broader range of activities.

John Arden was the roving populariser of science, always ready to lecture on scientific topics for a fee. Product of the age, he was responding to the sudden outburst of scientific and technological activity which started in the 17th century and which we now recognise as the beginnings of the modern scientific revolution. The public imagination had been caught by this new subject. Scientific and technological encyclopaedias, popular books and public lectures abounded and it was in the latter sphere that Arden really came into his own.

William Watson, as we mention elsewhere, had a considerable influence on Herschel. Although he did not live in Bath, Charles Blagden F.R.S. was an important member of the Society, submitting papers and forming an important link with the main stream of British Scientific work. As Secretary to the Royal Society, London and a former personal assistant to the great chemist Henry Cavendish (who discovered hydrogen), Blagden was an influential man in the world of science.

The Bath Philosophical Society came to an end in 1787, the year of Edmund Rack's death. Hugh Torrens speculating on the reasons for its demise concludes that a major cause was fragmentation due to members leaving the neighbourhood. Herschel, one of its most active members, (he contributed 31 papers, one of them on the discovery of Uranus) moved to Datchet in 1782; Priestley moved from Calne to Birmingham in 1780. Two of the original members, Curtis and Staker,died in 1784. An attempt was made to reconstitute the Society in 1799 - Watson and Herschel were elected members - but the new Society soon petered out. In 1815 there was a third attempt to form a Bath Philosophical Society, this time under the inspiration of Charles Hunnings Wilkinson, a geologist and friend of William Smith. Like its predecessors, it too failed. The fourth society, the Bath Literary and Scientific Institution, was the most successful; its origins were more complex and its aims were more broadly based.

The first stirrings of a movement towards the foundation of a literary association were felt, naturally enough, among the educated members of the community. Bath cannot be said to have played a pioneering role, possibly because the existence of the assembly rooms, clubs and booksellers went a long way to disguise the city's need for a library of classics and a cultural centre for the studious. However January 1801 saw the birth of a plan to found a "Bath Publick Library" of learned books not usually found in circulating libraries or private collections. The president of the proposed library was Sir George Colebrooke, its treasurer, Mr. William Matthews, its secretary Dr. George Gibbes and its librarian Mr. John Browne; the committee of 20 was dominated by the Church and the medical profession. The scheme was doomed to failure; Bath did not number sufficient wealthy permanent residents to subscribe to such a library and the project sank, almost without trace.

In 1812 the Rev. Joseph Hunter, remarking that he found it necessary to journey to Bristol for his books, produced a further plan for a "better public library than any then existing", but this too met with no success.

In 1819 a Bath physician Dr. Edward Barlow, produced a circular letter and inserted notices in the local press inviting interest in an institution offering facilities for a library and reading room, a botanic garden, a museum of natural history, a cabinet of mineralogy, a cabinet of antiquities, a cabinet of coins and medals, a hall for lectures and a gallery to exhibit paintings and sculpture. To build this would need £30,000, to be raised in £50 share units. The Rev. Hunter expressed misgivings about such a sum being raised but purchased his share and was elected "member of the Board of Directors of the Bath Institution". The Board met monthly and added several new members but the money did not appear and they had to rethink their scheme radically. By 1820 less than £4,000 had been subscribed and both Dr. Barlow and the Rev. Hunter proposed greatly reduced alternative schemes.

It was a disastrous fire in the Lower Assembly Rooms on 21st December 1820 which finally got the scheme on its way. The Lower Assembly Rooms had belonged to Earl Manvers, who generously offered to erect a new building on the site and to rent it to the Institution. In 1823 money was still short but plans went ahead; a trust deed was prepared and a lease of the premises was granted by Earl Manvers to a committee of "friends", one of the most noteworthy being Mr. Francis Ellis. On 19th January 1825 the rooms were opened to subscribers and the Bath Literary and Scientific Institution was in being. The first annual report, published in 1826, named Henry Woods F.L.S. - a zoologist, who also published papers on Bath fossils - as secretary and William Lonsdale, a geologist, as curator.

The Institution's chief activity for the first 15-20 years of its existence was in offering a series of lectures at £1 for a series of 8 or 3/- for a single lecture (prices which in those days would have excluded all but the comparatively wealthy). Enthusiasm waned and after 1840 the lectures from visiting celebrities were changed to fund-raising events given by members. By 1848 it was clear that the members would either have to increase their income somehow or give up their premises. In 1852 there was an attempt to form a genuine public library in the City and there were suggestions that the Institution should either transfer its books to this or even transform itself into a rate-supported body. A letter in the Bath Herald of 26th February 1853 asserted that the Institution had fallen down on its aims, that its reference collection was moribund and that its lecture rooms were empty; if it would open its doors to the public and accept rate support, it would be doing the city a favour. In spite of its dire financial straits, still a motion that the Institution should combine with other bodies was defeated. Once again it was saved by the generosity of an individual, Mr. William Tite, M.P. for Bath from 1855 until his death in 1873. Through him the Institution was enabled to buy its premises outright and during the 1860's it enjoyed a slight improvement in its affairs

The year 1899 saw an amalgamation with the Bath Athenaeum which had been set up as the Mechanics Institute in 1825 but had changed its name twenty years later.

In 1932 the Institution moved to new premises in Queen Square. These were requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1940 and occupied until 1959, by which time the Institution was considered defunct and, in accordance with the Trust Deed of 1859, the building and other assets were transferred to Bath City Council "for the advancement of Literature, Science and the Arts in the City of Bath" The buildings were used to house the City Reference Library, the Geology Museum and a Reading Room. In 1968 the Institution was registered as an educational charity.

In 1974 with local government re-organisation Avon County Council took over control of the assets causing local concern about their future. This led a group of people to consult the Charity Commissioners; the BRSLI Steering Committee was set up in November 1987 ands the Friends of the BRSLI in February 1988. In April 1992, on the Charity Commission's advice, Shadow Trustees were appointed (3 from the Friends, 3 from the Bath Society working party, and 3 from the University of Bath), and in 1993 Avon County Council approved their Forward Plan and the transfer of the Trusteeship them. A Relaunch Exhibition was held in May 1993 at which the first new members for more then fifty years were enrolled.

A Company, Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution Trustees was incorporated and in September 1993 the Trusteeship of the charity and the ownership of the buildings was transferred to them. Part of the building was leased to Bath Training Services in return for a substantial contribution towards its restoration and by March 1995, the Institution was able to return to its own premises.

Mostly taken from: Bath Some Encounters with Science (Chapter Four: Societies and Institutions), W J Williams and D M Stoddart, Kingsmead Press, 1974.

Additional material and Editing, Joy Whalley, Ruth Abbott. Also used: The Revival of the Institution, Jane Coates and Michael King, BRLSI Annual Report,1996.

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