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THE  HI  STORY  OF 
THE  ROYAL  SOCIETY 

OF  ARTS        I 


A    HISTORY    OF 
THE   ROYAL   SOCIETY    OF   ARTS 


I.Tftvlcr  Sc. 


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JtOJi&MY  • 


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A  HISTORY  OF 

THE  ROYAL  SOCIETY 
OF  ARTS 


BY  SIR  HENRY  TRUEMAN  WOOD 

SECRETARY  OF  THE  SOCIETY 


WITH  A   PREFACE   BY 

LORD    SANDERSON,   G.C.B. 

CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  COUNCIL 


WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS 


LONDON: 

JOHN    MURRAY,   ALBEMARLE   STREET,  W. 
1913 


-Tl 


Navigia  atque  agri  culturas  moenia  leges 
arma  vias  vestes  et  cetera  de  genere  horum, 
praemia,  delicias  quoque  vitae  funditus  omnis, 
carmina  picturas,  et  daedala  signa  polire, 
usus  et  impigrae  simul  experientia  mentis 
paulatim  docuit  pedetemtim  progredientis. 
sic  unumquicquid  paulatim  protrahit  aetas 
in  medium  ratioque  in  luminis  erigit  oras. 
namque  alid  ex  alio  clarescere  et  ordine  debet 
artibus,  ad  sum  mum  donee  venere  cacumen. 

LUCRETIUS,  De  Rerum  Natura,  v.   1448. 


DEDICATED    BY   PERMISSION 
TO 

HIS   MAJESTY   KING   GEORGE   V. 

FOR   NINE   YEARS   PRESIDENT  OF  THE   SOCIETY 
AND   NOW   ITS   PATRON 


295419 


Ail  rights  reserved 


PREFACE 

(By  LORD  SANDERSON,  G.C.B.,  K.C.M.G.,  Chairman  of 
the  Council  of  the  Society  for  the  years  1911—13) 

IT  is  perhaps  at  first  sight  rather  remarkable  that  the 
Royal  Society  of  Arts  should  have  been  approaching  the 
i6oth  year  of  its  existence  before  any  attempt  was  made 
to  write  its  history.  One  reason  may  be  assigned  for  the 
omission  which  is  of  a  re-assuring  character.  Retro- 
spection is  the  proverbial  consolation  of  old  age  and 
declining  strength.  We  may  take  it  as  no  unhealthy 
symptom,  but  rather  as  an  indication  that  a  Society  is 
still  in  the  prime  of  life,  when  it  is  so  much  absorbed  in  its 
actual  work  as  to  be  content  with  a  very  misty  knowledge 
of  its  origin  and  early  history. 

Such  certainly  was  the  mental  condition  of  a  large 
proportion  of  the  Members  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts 
(not  excepting  the  Council)  before  the  appearance  in  the 
Journal  of  the  series  of  articles  which  are  now  presented 
in  a  collected  shape.  We  were  fully  occupied  with  the 
various  activities  of  the  Society — its  meetings  and  papers, 
its  examinations,  and  the  distribution  of  its  medals.  As 
regards  the  past,  most  of  us  were  conscious  that  the 
Society  had  done  much  good  work  under  the  beneficent 
presidency  of  the  Prince  Consort,  and  could  claim  to  have 
taken  a  leading  part  in  the  promotion  of  the  great  Inter- 
national Exhibitions  of  1851  and  1862.  But  it  came  upon 
us  as  a  revelation  that  the  names  of  the  elder  Pitt,  Lord 
North,  Lord  Rockingham,  Lord  Bute,  and  other  historic 
Ministers  of  the  time  of  George  in.,  were  enrolled  among 
its  earliest  members  in  somewhat  uncongenial  company 
with  John  Wilkes  and  Woodfall,  the  printer  of  the  Letters 
of  Junius ;  that  Dr.  Johnson  is  believed  to  have  made,  at 


viii  PREFACE 

one  of  its  meetings,  the  only  speech  which  he  is  known  to 
have  delivered  on  his  legs  ;  that  Oliver  Goldsmith  was 
anxious  to  offer  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  post  of 
Secretary,  but  was  deterred  by  the  refusal  of  Garrick  to 
support  him ;  and  that  the  Society's  efforts  to  introduce 
the  bread-fruit  tree  into  the  West  Indies  led  to  Captain 
Bligh's  expedition,  which  terminated  in  the  mutiny  of  the 
Bounty  and  the  colonisation  of  Pitcairn  Island. 

An  illustrious  past  may,  however,  be  reckoned  in  the 
balance-sheet  of  a  Society  as  an  asset  of  no  inconsiderable 
value,  whether  it  be  regarded  as  establishing  a  prima  facie 
claim  to  continued  support,  or  as  an  incitement  to  further 
achievements.  In  both  these  respects  it  may  fairly  be 
claimed  that  the  Society's  records  afford  material  for 
stimulating  thought,  and  it  was  a  happy  inspiration 
which  prompted  its  present  Secretary  to  add  the  prepara- 
tion of  this  volume  to  the  many  services  which  he  has 
rendered  during  more  than  thirty  years  of  office.  It 
has  been  a  somewhat  laborious  undertaking,  for  which  the 
Society  owes  him  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude. 

From  the  short  note  appended  to  this  Preface  it  will 
be  seen  that  although  materials  were  not  lacking,  much 
research  was  required  to  fill  up  gaps  and  put  the  whole  into 
complete  shape. 

The  Society's  origin  is  an  instance  of  evolution,  very 
typical  of  British  methods.  Nothing  can  have  been  less 
ostentatious  than  its  entry  into  the  world.  The  scheme 
was  devised  by  a  drawing-master  of  no  great  eminence, 
and  was  put  into  concrete  shape  at  a  meeting  of  eleven 
persons,  of  whom  the  most  important  in  social  position 
were  two  peers,  Viscount  Folkestone  and  Lord  Romney, 
and  three  members  of  the  Royal  Society,  Dr.  Hales  and  Mr. 
Baker,  both  naturalists,  and  Mr.  Brander,  an  antiquary 
and  a  Director  of  the  Bank  of  England.  Once  started,  the 
Society  was  found  to  conform  to  the  needs  of  the  time. 
It  waxed  and  prospered,  affording  one  among  many  illus- 
trations of  the  proposition  that  the  permanence  of  in- 
stitutions is  best  assured  by  a  process  of  steady  growth. 
The  doctrine  described  some  years  ago  in  the  graphic 
words  that  "  there  is  nothing  like  beginning  with  a  bang  " 


PREFACE  k 

may  be  excellent  from  a  party  point  of  view,  but  finds  little 
confirmation  in  history. 

The  first  impression,  on  a  survey  of  the  Society's  work, 
is  one  of  some  bewilderment  at  the  multiplicity  and  diver- 
sity of  the  subjects  with  which  it  has  dealt  in  rapid 
succession  or  even  simultaneously.  Nothing  seems  to 
have  been  regarded  as  too  homely  for  its  attention.  Side 
by  side  with  the  account  of  efforts  to  encourage  improved 
systems  of  industrial  hygiene,  of  saving  life  at  sea,  of  the 
ventilation  of  mines,  of  producing  coal  gas,  we  find  the 
notice  of  a  gold  medal  awarded  for  the  invention  of  the 
transparent  slate  which  was  the  delight  or  torment  of  our 
childhood.  In  1851,  unexhausted  by  its  efforts  in  connec- 
tion with  the  First  International  Exhibition,  the  Society 
was  offering  a  medal  for  the  production  of  a  shilling  box 
of  colours.  The  box  which  carried  off  the  prize  had  an 
unexampled  success,  and  I  well  remember  being  myself 
the  happy  possessor  of  one  of  the  eleven  millions  which 
were  sold.  At  one  moment  the  Society  is  endeavouring 
to  further  the  improvement  of  labourers'  cottages,  at 
another  it  is  proposing  a  reform  in  the  standard  pitch  of 
musical  instruments.  It  encourages  with  equal  energy 
the  planting  of  osiers  for  basket-making,  the  development 
of  the  fish  supply  of  London  and  the  introduction  of  the 
Dutch  system  of  curing  herrings,  the  use  of  machines  for 
sweeping  chimneys  in  substitution  for  boy  chimney- 
sweeps, the  introduction  of  artistic  designs  in  household 
crockery,  and  the  placing  of  memorial  tablets  on  London 
houses  connected  in  the  past  with  eminent  men. 

Such  ubiquitous  energy  presents  obvious  difficulties 
to  the  historian,  who  finds  himself  confronted  with  the 
task  of  arranging  a  patchwork  quilt  into  some  kind  of 
ordered  pattern.  The  author  has  dealt  with  it  by  a  system 
partly  chronological,  but  in  the  main  of  classification 
into  subjects.  This  has  necessitated  some  repetitions  and 
numerous  cross-references,  but  it  was  the  only  practicable 
method  of  making  the  story  clear  and  consecutive  in  its 
various  portions. 

Another  notable  feature  of  the  Society's  work  is  the 
frequency  with  which  it  originated,  or  led  the  way  in, 


x  PREFACE 

movements  which  were  taken  up  with  general  favour  and 
gave  occasion  for  the  formation  of  independent  associa- 
tions. Thus  in  the  first  half-century  or  more  of  its 
existence  it  devoted  itself  largely  to  endeavours  for  the 
development  of  various  branches  of  agriculture  and  in- 
dustry in  the  Colonies — a  work  which  the  Colonial  and 
Imperial  Institutes  would  now  regard  as  their  peculiar 
province.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  Royal 
Agricultural  Society  in  1838,  the  Society  of  Arts  was  the 
prime  mover  in  the  development  of  agriculture  in  this 
country  also,  receiving  in  this  respect  much  assistance 
from  the  advice  of  the  well-known  agriculturist,  Arthur 
Young.  It  seems  to  have  done  a  good  deal  towards  the 
adoption  of  improved  methods  of  cultivation,  and  we  are 
largely  indebted  to  it  for  the  introduction  of  the  swede 
turnip  and  the  mangel-wurzel.  It  offered  many  prizes 
for  the  invention  and  improvement  of  agricultural 
machines,  and  can  claim  to  have  been  instrumental  in  the 
planting  of  some  fifty  millions  of  forest  trees.  In  1760 
it  made  the  first  attempt  at  a  public  exhibition  of  the  works 
of  artists,  and  the  success  of  this  experiment  led  to  the 
foundation  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Arts.  By  drawing 
attention  to  the  need  for  changes  in  the  Patent  Laws,  it 
contributed  to  the  passing  of  the  great  Patent  Law 
Reform  Act  of  1852.  In  1852  it  held  the  first  exhibition  of 
photographic  pictures.  In  1858  it  took  a  prominent  part 
in  the  demand  for  legislation  to  protect  copyright  in 
works  of  art.  From  1857  onwards  it  was  busy  in  advo- 
cating various  Postal  reforms,  including  the  purchase 
of  the  telegraphs  by  the  State.  Between  1867  and  1873 
it  took  a  leading  part  in  promoting  the  establishment 
of  the  National  Training  School  for  Music.  It  worked 
strenuously  in  aid  of  the  formation  of  Mechanics'  Institutes 
throughout  the  country,  and  in  1867  it  organised  a  con- 
ference on  the  means  of  promoting  technical  education  ; 
at  the  end  of  1886,  it  started  a  movement  for  encouraging 
drill  in  schools.  Among  various  other  subjects  which  it 
took  up  at  different  times  may  be  mentioned  the  production 
of  county  maps,  the  question  of  our  food  supplies,  sanita- 
tion and  water  supply,  economy  in  the  consumption  of 


PREFACE 


XI 


coal,  increased  comfort  in  the  passage  across  the  Channel, 
improvement  of  London  cabs,  and  the  development  of 
mechanical  road  traction.  The  organisation  and  promo- 
tion of  the  scheme  for  the  International  Exhibition  of 
1851,  with  all  the  results  that  flowed  from  it,  including  the 
creation  of  a  Government  Department  of  Science  and 
Art,  must,  however,  no  doubt  be  considered  the  Society's 
greatest  achievement  in  this  field  of  starting  enterprises 
which  have  had  an  independent  development. 

As  regards  the  efforts  of  the  Society  for  the  advance- 
ment of  Art  pure  and  simple  and  their  success,  ample 
evidence  is  given  by  the  distinguished  names  which  will 
be  found  in  the  list  of  Medallists.  It  is  interesting  to 
notice  how  many  eminent  painters,  engravers,  and  sculp- 
tors, including  several  Presidents  of  the  Royal  Academy, 
received  in  early  youth  perhaps  their  first  encouragement 
to  persevere  in  an  artistic  career  by  the  award  of  one  of  the 
Society's  Medals. 

Among  a  host  of  less  well-known  names,  we  find  those 
of  Bewick,  Hablot  Browne,  C.  W.  Cope,  Cosway,  Cousins, 
Sir  C.  Eastlake,  Flaxman,  Frith,  Goodall,  Hook,  Sir  E. 
Landseer,  Sir  T.  Lawrence,  Sir  J.  Millais,  Mulready, 
Nollekens,  Romney,  Sir  W.  Ross,  some  of  whom  obtained 
their  first  medal  at  the  age  of  ten  or  eleven. 

The  development  of  Industrial  Art  and  Commercial 
Industry  has,  however,  naturally  been  the  principal 
object  of  the  Society's  attention,  and  in  this  field  of  labour 
it  has  shown  such  a  catholicity  of  interest  that  the  present 
volume  has  become  a  sketch  of  the  whole  industrial  pro- 
gress of  the  country,  incomplete,  no  doubt  (for  complete- 
ness could  only  have  been  attained  by  a  work  of  encyclopae- 
dic dimensions),  but  still  eminently  suggestive  and  useful 
as  a  starting-point  for  further  research  in  regard  to  any 
particular  branch  of  industry.  In  this  respect  Sir  Henry 
Wood  has  rendered  an  important  service  not  merely  to 
those  who  are  interested  in  the  Society,  but  to  the  much 
larger  class  who  may  wish  to  study  the  subjects  with  which 
it  has  dealt. 

There  is  a  saying  often  quoted,  though  not  always 
with  assent,  that  history  repeats  itself.  Those  who 


xii  PREFACE 

contest  it  ignore  the  qualification  added  by  some  sagacious 
observer,  that  history  repeats  itself,  but  always  with  a 
difference.  The  work  of  the  Society  follows  the  general 
rule.  Like  many  other  British  institutions,  the  Society 
owes  its  permanence  to  the  power  which  it  has  shown  of 
adapting  itself  to  altered  conditions  and  circumstances, 
it  repeats  its  history  with  a  difference  ;  its  objects  and 
principles  are  in  the  main  the  same,  though  in  many 
respects  it  has  altered  its  methods.  It  leaves  to  other 
Associations,  more  recently  formed,  various  branches  of 
work  which  it  was  itself  the  first  to  undertake ;  it  has 
changed  in  character  from  an  Institution  offering  premiums 
for  specified  inventions  and  improvements,  to  one  having 
for  its  main  object  the  dissemination  of  information  on 
all  branches  of  Art  and  Industry,  affording  facilities  for 
the  publication  of  particulars  as  to  the  most  recent  in- 
ventions, and  thus  making  publicity  the  substitute  for 
encouragement  by  the  award  of  prizes.  For  this  purpose 
it  has  adopted  in  recent  times  the  practice  of  holding  weekly 
meetings  during  a  considerable  portion  of  the  year  for  the 
reading  and  discussion  of  papers,  and  it  is  provided  with 
the  means  of  arranging  for  courses  of  lectures.  The 
proceedings  at  all  these  meetings,  with  much  other  in- 
formation, are  published  in  its  weekly  Journal.  But  the 
Society's  medals  are  still  awarded  for  the  more  remarkable 
papers  contributed,  and  occasionally  for  some  special 
invention  in  regard  to  which  competition  has  been  invited. 
Since  1863  it  has  annually  awarded  the  gold  medal  in- 
stituted in  commemoration  of  the  Prince  Consort,  to  some 
person  selected  for  eminent  merit  in  the  promotion  of 
arts,  manufactures,  and  commerce.  In  another  field  of 
work  it  has  during  the  last  half-century  instituted  a  system 
of  examinations,  which  are  now  held  not  only  in  London, 
but  in  all  the  more  important  commercial  and  manu- 
facturing centres  in  the  provinces,  and  in  which  the 
candidates  have  increased  from  an  initial  figure  of  62  to  a 
yearly  average  of  28,000. 

It  may  be  claimed  for  the  Society  that  it  is  a  striking 
example  of  the  useful  work  which  may  be  done  by  a 
voluntary  association,  formed  for  the  advancement  of 


PREFACE 


Xlll 


public  objects,  dependent  on  public  support,  but  free  to 
enter  upon  new  fields  of  work  and  inquiry,  and  to  make 
experiments,  unhampered  by  the  trammels  which  beset 
a  Department  of  State,  the  restrictions  of  hard-and-fast 
rules,  and  the  constant  ordeal  of  Parliamentary  questions 
and  criticisms.  The  Empress  Catherine's  compassion  for 
the  unfortunate  savants  who  might  not  say,  "  I  don't 
know,"  might  be  extended  to  those  who  must  not  embark 
on  fresh  ventures  because  under  a  system  of  party  Govern- 
ment they  may  not  confess  to  a  failure. 

The  increased  share  now  taken  by  the  State  in  the 
active  promotion  of  social  progress  does  not  diminish 
the  need  for  such  voluntary  associations,  though  it  may 
in  some  degree  affect  the  nature  of  their  work.  They 
are  still  required  as  the  cavalry  of  intellectual  advance, 
scouting  in  front,  extending  its  flanks,  procuring  supplies 
and  information,  and  performing  various  indispensable 
services  for  which  the  infantry  and  heavy  artillery  of 
Public  Departments  are  little  adapted. 

The  present  volume  is  a  record  of  change  and  adaptation 
from  the  foundation  of  the  Society  in  1754  to  1880,  the 
year  when  the  Author  commenced  his  duties  as  Secretary. 
At  that  point,  for  obvious  reasons,  he  has  preferred  to  lay 
down  his  pen.  Since  that  date  there  have  been  further 
changes,  and  we  may  no  doubt  look  forward  to  others  in 
the  future.  But  of  the  spirit  which  led  to  the  Society's 
formation,  and  maintains  it  in  unabated  vigour  after  a 
century  and  a  half  of  existence — the  spirit  which  underlies 
so  many  British  institutions — the  desire  to  give  voluntary 
and  unremunerated  service  for  the  advancement  of  the 
community,  to  work  strenuously  for  the  general  increase 
of  knowledge,  refined  taste,  and  useful  industry — there  is 
no  one  who  will  not  say  Esto  perpetua. 

S. 


Nothing  like  a  history  of  the  Society  has  ever  been  written.  A 
great  deal  of  information  is  contained  in  a  lengthy  paper  read 
in  1868  (see  Journal,  vol.  xvii.  p.  10,  et  seq.^by  S.  T.  Davenport, 
who  was  Financial  Officer  of  the  Society  from  1853  till  his 
death  in  1876.  The  best  account  of  the  Society  is  to  be  found 
in  a  series  of  articles  contributed  to  Engineering  in  July  and 
August  1891,  by  H.  B.  Wheatley  (Assistant  Secretary,  1879  to 
1909).  A  short  but  brightly  written  sketch  of  the  Society  is 
given  in  Scientific  London  (B.  H.  Becker),  1874.  The  Micro- 
cosm of  London,  published  by  R.  Ackermann  in  1811,  gives  a 
good  account  of  the  Society  as  it  existed  at  that  date,  and 
contains  an  interesting  picture  of  the  Great  Room,  showing 
the  arrangement  of  the  room  before  the  modern  alterations. 
Charles  Knight's  London,  vol.  v.  (1843),  a^so  contains  an 
illustrated  chapter  on  the  Society.  The  Penny  Cyclopaedia 
(1842),  under  the  heading  "  Society  of  Arts,"  gives  an  excellent 
short  history  of  the  Society  up  to  that  date.  Some  other 
accounts  might  be  mentioned,  but  on  the  whole,  outside  of  its 
own  publications,  the  history  of  the  Society  must  be  sought 
in  the  magazines  and  newspapers  of  the  last  two  centuries, 
from  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  and  the  Public  Advertiser 
down  to  the  periodicals  and  journals  of  our  own  time. 

H.  T.  W. 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I.  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY      .            .  .  .         i 

II.  THE  EARLIEST  LISTS  OF  MEMBERS          .  .  .26 

III.  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES    .            .            .  .  -53 

IV.  THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES            .  .  -83 
V.  THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE  (1754-1830)  .  .114 

VI.  THE  SOCIETY  AND  FORESTRY  (1758-1835)          .            .  143 
VII.  THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS  (1755-1851)             .  151 
VIII.  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS  (1755-1849)      .            .  162 
IX.  THE  SOCIETY  AND   THE   FINE  ARTS   (1755-1851) — Con- 
tinued    .......  213 

X.  THE  SOCIETY'S  EARLY  ART  EXHIBITIONS            .            .  226 

XI.  THE  PREMIUMS  (1754-1851)         ....  235 

XII.  THE  PREMIUMS  (1754-1851) — Continued.            .             .  257 

XIII.  THE  PREMIUMS  (1754-1851) — Concluded.            .            .  286 

XIV.  THE  SOCIETY'S  MEDALS    .  .  .  .  .314 
XV.  THE  OFFICIALS.     THE  "  TRANSACTIONS."     THE  COUNCIL. 

THE  CHARTER  (1761-1847)    .  .  .  .321 

XVI.  THE  PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT  (1843-1861)     353 

XVII.  THE  1851  EXHIBITION      .....    401 

XVIII.  THE  1862  EXHIBITION       .  .  .  .  .416 

XIX.  THE  SOCIETY'S  EXAMINATIONS     ....     425 

XX.  THE  PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII.  (1862-1880)    .     442 

XXI.  THE  PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII.  (1862-1880) — 

Continued — CONCLUSION        ....     474 

APPENDIX      I.  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICIALS  (1754-1913)    .  .     509 

APPENDIX    II.  THE  ALBERT  MEDAL  (1864-1913)  .  .512 

APPENDIX  III.  PORTRAITS  IN  THE  SOCIETY'S  POSSESSION  .     518 

INDEX         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .521 

b 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING   PAGE 

ELEVATION    OF    THE    SOCIETY'S    HOUSE.     BY    ROBERT    ADAM 

(Original  Copper-plate)          ....      Frontispiece 

PORTRAIT    OF    WILLIAM    SHIPLEY,    THE    FOUNDER    (Original 

Copper-plate)  .  .  .  .  .  .10 

PORTRAIT  OF  LORD  FOLKESTONE,  THE  FIRST  PRESIDENT  (Original 

Copper-plate)  .  .  .  .  .  .12 

PORTRAIT  OF  LORD  ROMNEY,  THE  SECOND  PRESIDENT  (Original 

Copper-plate)  .  .  .  .  .  .16 

PORTRAIT  OF  DR.  TEMPLEMAN,  SECRETARY  (Original  Copper- 
plate  ........         22 

FACSIMILES  OF  SIGNATURES  OF  EARLY  MEMBERS          .   47,  48,  49,  50 

REPRODUCTION  FROM  OLD  MAP,  SHOWING  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 

OPPOSITE  BEAUFORT  BUILDINGS       .  .  .  .54 

PORTRAIT  OF  ROBERT  ADAM         .  .  .  .  .58 

Photograph  from  a  Medallion  by  TASSIE. 

THE  SOCIETY'S  HOUSE  IN  1911  .  .  \         _.  .         60 

THE  SOCIETY'S  REPOSITORY  IN  1843  AND  AN  EARLY  VIEW  OF 

THE  ADELPHI  ......         64 

THE  COUNCIL-ROOM  IN  1911        .             .  .             .  .         66 

THE  SOCIETY'S  MEETING-ROOM  IN  1804  .             .  .70 

BARRY'S  PICTURE  OF  "  THE  SOCIETY  "  .  .             .  .76 

MAP  OF  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  COLONIES  .             .  .84 
SHERWIN'S  FRONTISPIECE  TO  VOL.  I.  OF  THE  "TRANSACTIONS"       151 

THE  SOCIETY'S  PRIZE  PALETTE   .             .  .             .  .160 

COMMEMORATIVE  MEDALS  REWARDED  BY  THE  SOCIETY  .       220 

THE  SOCIETY'S  EARLY  MEDALS   .             .  .             .  .314 

THE  SOCIETY'S  LATER  MEDALS    .             .  .  .318 

THE  LATEST  MEDALS  OF  THE  SOCIETY  .  .             .  .320 

PORTRAIT  OF  SAMUEL  MORE,  SECRETARY  .  .326 

From  SHARP'S  Engraving  after  the  Portrait  by  WEST. 

PORTRAIT  OF  ARTHUR  AIKIN,  SECRETARY  .  .  336 

From  a  Daguerreotype 


xviii  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING   PAGE 

THE  SOCIETY'S  "  HONORARY  TESTIMONIAL  "  (Original  Copper- 
plate) .  .  .  -354 

PORTRAIT  OF  SIR  HENRY  COLE,  CHAIRMAN  OF  COUNCIL  .       358 

From  a  Photograph  by  Mrs.  CAMEROK. 

INVITATION  CARD  TO  THE  SOCIETY'S  FIRST  DINNER  (Original 

Copper-plate)  .  .  .  .  .  396 

THE  SOCIETY'S  SEALS       ......       398 

PORTRAIT  OF  SIR  FREDERICK  BRAMWELL,  CHAIRMAN  OF  COUNCIL 

AND  PRESIDENT          ......       474 

From  a  Photograph. 

A  MEETING  OF  THE  COUNCIL  IN  1900    .  .  ..  .       500 

From  a  Picture  in  The  Graphic. 

IN  THE  TEXT 

PAGE 

PLAN  OF  HENRIETTA  STREET,  SHOWING  SITE  OF  RAWTHMELL'S 

COFFEE-HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .13 

PLAN  SHOWING  POSITION  OF  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES,  OPPOSITE 

BEAUFORT  BUILDINGS  .  .  .  .  .         56 

DESIGN  BY  BARRY  FOR  A  MEDAL  .  .  .  .         82 

THE  BREAD-FRUIT  .  .  .  .  .  .113 

EARLY  CHAFF-CUTTER       .  »  .  .  .  .142 

FRONTISPIECE  TO  THE  PREMIUM  LIST  (1803)      .  .  .156 

THE  SOCIETY'S  ORIGINAL  BOOK-PLATE  .  .  .  .161 

"ARTS,  MANUFACTURES,  AND  COMMERCE,"  FROM  AN  OLD  DIE.       212 
STAGHOLD'S  GUN-HARPOON  .  .  .  .  .       225 

ALMOND'S  LOOM    .......       256 

STURGEON'S  ELECTRO -MAGNET     .  .  .  .  .285 

SIGNALLING  BY  HAND  (1809)       .  .  .  .  .313 

BARRY'S  DESIGN  FOR  THE  SOCIETY'S  MEDAL    .  .  .317 

THE  FELIX  SUMMERLY  TEA-SERVICE       ....       406 

THE  1851  EXHIBITION      .  .  .  .  .  .415 

THE  1862  EXHIBITION     ......      424 

THE  SWINEY  CUP  ......       441 

TABLET  TO  PETER  THE  GREAT    .  .  .  .  .470 

JOHNSON'S  HOUSE  AND  MEMORIAL  TABLET         .  .  .473 


HISTORY  OF  THE  ROYAL 
SOCIETY  OF  ARTS 

CHAPTER    I 
THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

Early  Technical  Societies  :  Royal  Dublin  Society — American  Philo- 
sophical Society — Select  Society  of  Edinburgh — Anti-Gallican 
Society — Economical  Society  of  St.  Petersburg,  etc. — Early 
proposal  for  a  "  Chamber  of  Arts  "  for  London — Shipley  publishes 
proposals  for  Premiums  to  promote  Arts  and  Manufactures — Some 
account  of  Shipley  and  his  Academy — Meeting  at  Rawthmell's 
Coffee-House  and  Foundation  of  Society — Names  of  the  Founders — 
Determination  of  Site  of  Rawthmell's  House — Decision  to  offer 
Premiums  —  Further  Meetings  —  First  Annual  Meeting- — Lord 
Folkestone  elected  the  first  President — Four  Vice-Presidents — 
Shipley  first  Secretary — Title,  Constitution,  and  Character  of  the 
Society — Finance — Shipley  becomes  Registrar  and  Box  Secretary — 
Decision  to  appoint  new  Secretary — Templeman  elected — Duties 
of  the  Officials. 

AMONG  the  results  of  the  revival  of  learning  in  Italy 
in  the  fourteenth  century  was  the  establishment  of 
Academies — associations  of  men  interested  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  humanities  or  the  advancement  of  natural 
knowledge,  with  the  purpose  of  mutual  improvement, 
or  the  promotion  of  common  objects. 

These  Institutions,  most  numerous  and  most  successful 
in  Italy,  were  soon  imitated  in  other  countries.  In 
England  the  attempts  under  the  earlier  Stuart  Kings  to 
establish  an  Academy  came  to  nothing.  But  after  the 
Restoration,  the  Royal  Society,  which  had  a  somewhat 
precarious  existence  during  the  later  and  troublous  days 
of  the  Commonwealth,  was  definitely  established  under 


2  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

the  patronage  of  the  second  Charles.  The  Royal  Society, 
though  it  enjoyed  court  favour,  was,  unlike  the  French 
Academy,  independent  of  court  influence,  and  this  position 
it  has  maintained  until  the  present  day.  Instituted  for  the 
general  promotion  of  natural  knowledge,  it  included  within 
its  scope  all  branches  of  science,  both  pure  and  applied, 
and  among  its  earlier  Transactions  are  many  papers  dealing 
with  purely  technical  and  industrial  subjects. 

For  more  than  half  a  century  it  had  the  field  to  itself, 
and  for  more  than  a  century  its  control  of  purely  scientific 
matters  was  undisputed.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century  the  advance  of  Science  led  to  the 
establishment  of  subsidiary  Societies  devoted  to  particular 
branches  of  knowledge.  Their  establishment,  at  first 
strenuously  opposed  by  the  members  of  the  Royal  Society, 
was  before  long  accepted  as  inevitable,  and  the  Royal 
Society  became  the  parent  of  numerous  daughter  Societies, 
each  devoted  to  a  special  branch  of  natural  knowledge, 
while  the  main  supervision  and  control  of  scientific  re- 

.  search  was  still  retained  in  her  own  hands. 

At  an  earlier  date  however — a  date  which  we  might 
fix  as  a  little  before  the  middle  of  the  century — the  growth 
of  Trade  and  Industry,  and  the  progress  which  the  in- 
dustrial arts  were  already  beginning  to  make,  had  led  to 
the  institution  of  various  technical  Societies,  the  object 

rof  which  was  the  promotion  of  the  Arts,  Industries,  and 
Commerce  of  the  kingdom.  The  oldest  of  these  is 
the  Royal  Society  of  Dublin.  This  was  founded  in  1731, 
under  the  title  of  the  Dublin  Society  for  Improving 
Husbandry,  Manufactures,  and  other  Useful  Arts.  Previous 
to  this,  in  1683,  a  Philosophical  Society,  on  the  model  of 

I  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  had  been  formed.  This  had 
rather  a  chequered  existence,  and  seems  to  have  come 
to  an  end  before  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
The  second  Dublin  Society  was  established  mainly  by 
Dr.  S.  Madden,  who  himself  provided  prizes  for  useful 
inventions  and  for  proficiency  in  the  Fine  Arts. 

In  1 749  this  Society  was  incorporated  under  the  name 
of  the  Royal  Dublin  Society,  in  which  name  it  has  ever 
since  carried  on  much  valuable  work.  It  had  the  advantage 


EARLY  TECHNICAL  SOCIETIES  3 

of  Government  aid,  and  between  1761  and  1767  it  distri- 
buted Government  grants  to  the  amount  of  £42,000  in 
the  promotion  of  agriculture  and  manufactures. 

The  London  Society  of  Arts,  therefore,  dating  as  it  does 
from  1754,  though  the  oldest  association  of  the  sort  in 
Great  Britain,  is  younger  by  some  twenty-three  years  than 
the  sister  society  in  Ireland.  j 

Two  other  technical  societies  founded  in  the  eighteenth 
century  still  survive,  the  Highland  and  Agricultural 
Society  of  Scotland  (1784)  and  the  Bath  and  West  of 
England  Agricultural  Society  (1774). 

In  America,  before  the  foundation  of  the  Society  of  Arts, 
Benjamin  Franklin  had  already  published  ( 1 743)  a  Proposal 
for  Promoting  Useful  Knowledge  among  the  British  Planta- 
tions, and  this  led  to  the  formation  of  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society,  which  still  flourishes,  but  devotes  itself 
exclusively  to  pure  science.  In  1765,  after  the  establish- 
ment of  the  London  Society  of  Arts,  a  similar  society  was 
formed  in  New  York,  and  a  number  of  prizes  were  offered 
for  industrial  advances  in  the  Province  of  New  York.  The 
first  list  of  such  prizes,  which  varied  in  amounts  from  £30 
to  £2,  was  sent  to  the  London  Society,  and  is  still  in  exist- 
ence. Many  other  societies,  some  of  an  industrial  character, 
were  started  in  America  later,  after  the  independence  of 
the  United  States. 

All  the  other  technical  societies  established  about  this 
time  had  but  a  brief  existence,  and  few  of  them  have  left 
any  records  behind  them.  A  Society  of  Improvers  in 
the  Knowledge  of  Agriculture  in  Scotland  was  established 
in  1723.  Twenty  years  later,  in  1743,  the  Select  Trans- 
actions of  this  Society  were  collected  and  published  by 
Maxwell.1  In  1754  there  was  founded  the  Select  Society 
of  Edinburgh  for  encouraging  the  Arts  and  Manufactures 
of  Scotland .  The  principal  promoter  of  this  was  Elizabeth, 
Duchess  of  Hamilton — one  of  the  beautiful  Miss  Gunnings. 
Mrs.  Palliser  refers  to  this  society  in  her  history  of  lace, 
and  mentions  the  award  of  prizes  for  Scottish  lace  for 
some  few  years.  At  one  time  this  institution  was  in 

1  Lecky,  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  ii.  p.  318  (Edition 
1909);  Encycl.  Brit.,  s.v.  "  Agriculture." 


4  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

correspondence  with  the  Society  of  Arts  in  London.  It 
appears  to  have  continued  for  about  eight  years,  for  Sir 
A.  Dick,  writing  in  1774,  says  that  "  for  these  twelve 
years  past  "  there  has  been  no  Society  of  the  sort  in  Scot- 
land. This  would  give  about  1762  as  the  date  when  the 
^  Scottish  Society  came  to  an  end.1 

In  1743  there  seems  to  have  existed  in  Edinburgh  a 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Natural  Knowledge,  but 
the  only  evidence  of  such  existence  of  which  I  am  aware 
is  to  be  found  in  an  advertisement  in  the  Caledonian 
Mercury,  23rd  August  1743.  This  advertisement  asks 
for  information  about  the  discovery  of  new  minerals,  and 
offers  to  analyse  samples  of  such  minerals  if  they  are 
sent  to  the  offices  of  the  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Society. 
We  may  therefore  conclude  that  it  was  associated  with 
but  distinct  from  this  last-named  Society,  which  was 
founded  in  1731,  and  afterwards  developed  into  the 
Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh. 

Perhaps  the  most  curious  of  these  institutions  was  the 
Anti-Gallican  Society,  which  was  established  in  London  in 
1 750  or  1751,  for  the  protection  of  native  industries  and  the 
discouragement  of  French  imports.  This  Society  seems, 
by  reports  which  appeared  from  time  to  time  in  the  Gentle- 
man's Magazine,  to  have  held  quarterly  meetings  up  to 
1754  or  thereabouts,  at  which  meetings  small  prizes  were 
awarded  for  English  lace,  needlework,  etc.  In  1753  a 
medal  was  presented  to  one  Captain  John  Mead,  "  for 
having  caught  the  greatest  number  of  whales  last  season, " 
and  another  medal  to  Captain  Cockburne  "  for  his  gallant 
behaviour  to  the  commander  of  the  French  squadron  at 
Annamobar ,  on  the  coast  of  Guinea ."  On  another  occasion 
the  Society  made  a  grant  of  five  guineas  to  "an  honest, 
industrious  old  couple,"  whose  cow  had  died  from  "  the  dis- 
temper." For  some  time  there  is  no  further  available  in- 
formation about  their  proceedings ;  but  in  1759  they  appear 

1  Dossie,  Memoirs  of  Agriculture  and  other  (Economical  Arts ,  vol.  iii.  p. 
208.  This  book  really  constitutes  the  earliest  Transactions  of  the  Society, 
and  numerous  references  to  it  will  be  found  in  the  following  pages. 
An  account  of  the  book  and  its  connection  with  the  Society,  together 
with  such  information  as  I  have  been  able  to  collect  about  Dossie 
himself,  will  be  found  in  Chapter  XV,  p.  330. 


EARLY  TECHNICAL  SOCIETIES  5 

to  have  taken  more  strenuous  action  by  starting  the  "  Anti- 
Gallican  "  privateer.  This  ship  captured  a  French  India- 
man  in  Spanish  waters,  whence  arose  considerable  difficulty; 
eventually  the  prize  was  declared  illegal,  and  had  to  be 
given  up.  It  looks  as  if  this  last  effort  for  the  promotion 
of  British  industries  brought  this  Society  to  an  end,  for  no 
further  record  of  their  proceedings  appears. 

There  may  have  been  other  precursors  of  the  Society 
of  Arts,  but  research  has  failed  to  find  evidence  of  their 
existence.  After  the  Society  was  founded  it  had  a  certain 
number  of  imitators.  The  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1755, 
p.  505,  contains  an  account  of  a  society  established  that 
year  in  Breconshire  on  the  model  of  the  Society  of  Arts, 
for  the  encouragement  of  local  agriculture  and  manufactures 
by  the  offer  of  prizes,  and  the  suggestion  is  put  forward 
that  other  like  societies  might  usefully  be  established  in  all 
the  counties.  After  1768,  when,  as  hereafter  mentioned, 
Shipley,  the  Society's  founder,  had  retired  to  Maidstone, 
he  founded  a  local  society  there  which  for  some  years  did 
useful  work. 

A  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Industry  in  the 
Southern  District  of  the  parts  of  Lindsey  in  the  county  of 
Lincoln,  was  established  in  1783,  and  was  carried  on  for  at 
least  six  years.  It  is  mentioned  by  Archdeacon  Cunning- 
ham in  his  well-known  work,1  but  he  gives  no  further 
information  about  it.  From  an  account  of  the  proceedings 
of  this  Institution,  published  in  or  after  1790,  it  appears 
that  it  was  intended  to  encourage  industry  among  the 
poor.  For  several  years  it  gave  small  prizes,  consisting 
generally  of  garments,  to  women  and  young  people  for 
spinning  wool  and  for  knitting.  It  also  made  small  grants 
of  money  to  young  people  on  their  apprenticeship.  It 
thus  appears  that  there  was  little  in  common  between  this 
Society  and  the  Society  of  Arts,  except  a  certain  similarity 
in  the  titles.2  It  was  really  a  charitable  Society,  and  its 
object  was  rather  the  reduction  of  the  Rates  than  the 

1  English  Industry  and  Commerce,  vol.  ii.  p.  993  (Edition  1907). 

2  There  is  a  copy  of  the  book  in  the  London  Library.     It  contains 
a  good  deal  of  curious  information  about  the  conditions  under  which 
the  spinning  industry  was  carried  on  in  the  east  of  England  at  the  time. 


6  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

promotion  of  Industry.  Arthur  Young  mentions  an 
attempt  to  found  a  similar  Society  in  Rutlandshire 
about  ten  years  later.1 

In  the  Society's  minutes  before  1775  there  are  references 
to  Societies  for  the  promotion  of  Agriculture  in  Norfolk, 
Pembroke,  Carmarthen,  and  Cardigan.  Other  similar 
county  associations  were  formed  a  little  later.  In  1791  a 
Society  for  the  Improvement  of  British  Wool  was  started 
in  Edinburgh.2  Sir  John  Sinclair,  afterwards  President  of 
the  Board  of  Agriculture,  was  associated  with  this  Society, 
and  delivered  an  address  at  its  first  meeting.  A  Society 
of  Arts  was  established  in  Barbados  in  1781,  and  con- 
tinued to  publish  proceedings  till  1784.  Its  publications 
are  mentioned  in  Cundall's  Supplement  to  Biographia 
Jamaicensis. 

On  the  Continent  the  Society  had  at  least  one  direct 
imitator,  for  it  is  recorded  that  the  Empress  Catharine  n. 
of  Russia  was  so  much  pleased  with  the  account  of  the 
premiums  offered  by  the  Society  of  Arts,  that  in  1766  she 
established  in  her  own  dominions  the  Free  Economical 
Society  of  St.  Petersburg,  with  objects  similar  to  those 
of  the  English  Society.  Arthur  Young  was  elected  a 
member  of  this  Society  about  I78o.3 

Later  on  there  were  many  societies  founded,  both  at 
home  and  abroad,  with  similar  objects  to  those  of  the 
Society  of  Arts,  but  all  these  were  started  after  1800. 
The  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  saw  many 
more  scientific,  philosophical,  and  literary  institutions 
founded,  but  none  of  these  were  of  the  same  character 
as,  or  had  similar  aims  or  objects  with,  the  Society  of  Arts. 
The  earliest  proposal  of  which  any  record  exists  for 
the  foundation  of  a  Society  of  Arts  in  London  goes  as 
far  back  as  1721,  when  it  is  said  that  a  pamphlet  was 
published,  entitled,  Three  Letters  concerning  the  forming 
of  a  Society  to  be  called  the  Chamber  of  Arts,  for  the  pre- 
serving of  Operative  Knowledge,  Mechanical  Arts,  Inven- 

1  Annals  of  Agriculture,  vol.  xxii.  p.  421,  1794. 

8  An  account  of  this  Society  and  of  its  objects  is  given  in  The  Bee, 
a  weekly  magazine  started  in  Edinburgh  in  1791  by  Dr.  James 
Anderson,  vol.  i.  pp.  116  and  266. 

3  Autobiography  (Edition  1898,  by  M.  Betham  Edwards),  p.  85. 


FIRST  PROPOSALS  FOR  A  SOCIETY  OF  ARTS     7 

tions  q,nd  Manufactures.1  Probably  the  time  of  the  South 
Sea  Bubble  was  not  a  fortunate  one  for  the  exploitation 
of  such  schemes  ;  certainly  nothing  came  of  the  proposal. 

In  1753,  William  Shipley2  published  in  Northampton, 
where  it  is  said  he  was  established  as  a  drawing-master, 
certain  "  proposals  for  raising  by  subscription  a  fund  to  be 
distributed  in  premiums  for  the  promoting  of  improve- 
ments in  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences,  manufactures,  etc." 
This  was  followed  a  little  later  in  the  same  year  by  "  a 
scheme  for  putting  the  proposals  into  execution,"  published 
in  London. 

Shipley  was  a  portrait  and  landscape  painter  of  no 
great  merit.  According  to  Redgrave  3  he  was  "  better 
known  as  the  founder  of  the  St.  Martin's  Lane  Academy, 
known  as  Shipley's  School,  where  the  best  artists  of  a 
whole  generation  studied."  Where  Redgrave  got  his  in- 
formation from  is  unknown,  and  he  is  certainly  mistaken. 

1  Short  Account  of  .  .  .  the  Society,  etc.,  by  a  member  (Edward 
Bridgen),  1765.     A  scarce  pamphlet,  giving  an  account  of  the  Society 
of  Arts'  origin. 

Another  rather  similar  pamphlet,  A  Concise  Account  .  .  .  of  the 
Society,  was  published  two  years  earlier,  in  1763.  It  also  was  anony- 
mous, but  was  written  by  Thomas  Mortimer.  The  information  it 
contains  is  rather  fuller. 

2  The  materials  for  a  life  of  Shipley  are  scanty.     A  certain  amount 
of  information  is  to  be  found  in  the  Society's  minute  books  and  ac- 
count books.     The  writer  of  the  Concise  Account  of  the  Society,  above 
referred  to,  states  that  an  account  of  Shipley's  proceedings  in  connec- 
tion with  the  foundation  of  the  Society  was  drawn  up,  and  a  copy  pre- 
sented to  "  the  Antiquarian  Society,"  by  James  Theobald,  one  of  the 
Society's  first  Vice-Presidents.     No  such  document,  however,  either 
in  print  or  MS.,  is  now  to  be  found  in  the  library  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries.     The  author  of  the  Concise  Account,  however,  extracted 
a  good  deal  from  Theobald's  narrative,  and  it  is  from  this  source  that 
most  of  what  we  know  about  Shipley  and  his  efforts  to  start  a  society 
is  derived.      A  short  life  of  Shipley  is  given  in  Russell's  History  of 
Maidstone  (1881),  and  this  gives  some  particulars  of  his  later  years. 
This  information  was  reproduced  in  a  short  article  in  the  Journal  (vol. 
xxx.  p.  933),  written  by  H.  B.  Wheatley.     The  account  in  the  Dictionary 
of  National  Biography  is  based  on  this  article,  though  other  references 
are  given.     One  or  two   mistakes  appear  in   this   account.     Shipley 
was  in  all  probability  born  in  London,  not  in   Maidstone,   and   he 
certainly  died  in  Maidstone,  and  not  in  Manchester. 

3  Dictionary  of  A  rtists  of  the  English  School. 


8  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

No  evidence  can  be  found  to  prove  that  Shipley's  Academy 
was  in  St.  Martin's  Lane,  though  the  Academy  founded  by 
Sir  William  Thornhill  in  the  Piazza,  Covent  Garden,  was 
transferred  there  after  his  death  by  his  son-in-law, 
Hogarth.1  Later  on,  in  1763,  we  find  that  special  prizes 
were  awarded  by  the  Society  to  the  pupils  in  this  school, 
and  also  to  the  pupils  of  the  school 2  established  by  the 
Duke  of  Richmond  in  Whitehall. 

There  really  does  not  appear  to  be  any  satisfactory 
evidence  that  Shipley  had  any  Academy  in  London  before 
1754,  or  indeed  that  he  lived  in  London  before  that  date. 
At  the  time  of  the  foundation  of  the  Society  he  was  staying 
with  his  friend  Messiter  the  surgeon  in  Great  Pulteney 
Street,  and  Messiter 's  house  was  given  as  his  address  till 
he  moved  into  Craig's  Court.  The  earliest  reference  to 
the  Academy  that  I  have  been  able  to  find  locates  it  in 
Castle  Court,3  whither  the  Society's  offices  were  moved 

1  The  St.  Martin's  Lane  Academy  was  in  Peter's  Court,  between  no 
and    in    St.   Martin's  Lane.     Hogarth,  "thinking  that  an  academy 
conducted  on  proper  and  moderate  principles  had  some  use,  proposed 
that  a  number  of  artists  should  enter  into  a  subscription  for  the  hire 
of  a  place  large  enough  to  admit  thirty  or  forty  people  to  draw  after 
a  naked  figure  "  (William  Hogarth,  by  Austin  Dobson,  1907,  p.  48). 
The  room  was  originally  a  dancing-school,  afterwards   the  studio  of 
Roubiliac.     Later  still,  the  place  was  rebuilt  and  turned  into  a  Friend's 
Meeting-House.     Messrs.  Chatto  &  Windus's  premises  now  occupy  the 
site.     The  school  was  extremely  successful  and  nourished  for  some 
thirty-four  years,  till  the  foundation  of  the  Royal  Academy  in  1768, 
when  its  "  anatomical  figures,  busts,  statues,  etc."  were  handed  over  to 
it.     Hogarth's  painting  of  the  Life  School  was  purchased  by  the  Royal 
Academy  and  is  now  in  their  possession. 

2  A  note  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  March  1758,  p.  141,  records  the 
opening  of  this  school.     A  room  was  supplied  with  busts  and  pictures 
for  the  use  of  art  students.     Wilton  and  Cipriani  were  engaged  to  attend 
at  certain  times  and  examine  the  students'  work.     Robert  Drummond, 
Archbishop  of  York  (1761-76),  was  a  patron  and  supporter  of  the  school. 

3  "  My  late  father,  Nathaniel  Smith,  and  Joseph  Nollekens  were 
playfellows,  and  both  learned  drawing  together  at  Shipley's  School, 
then  kept  in  the  Strand,  at  the  eastern  corner  of  Castle  Court  ;    the 
house,  now  No.   229,  is  at  present  occupied  by  Mr.   Helps.     What 
renders  the  building  the  more  interesting  is  that  it  was  not  only  in  this 
house  that  the  Society  of  Arts  had  its  first  meetings,  but  it  was  subse- 
quently inhabited  by  Rawle,  the  antiquary,  and  friend  of  Captain 
Grose  "  (J.  T.  Smith,  Nollekens  and  His  Times,  1828,  vol.  i.  p.  3). 


WILLIAM  SHIPLEY  9 

in  1756.  It  may  have  been  started  in  the  house  taken 
by  Shipley  for  the  Society  in  Craig's  Court  in  1755,  and 
it  is  possible  that  when,  as  hereafter  described,  the  Society 
moved  to  the  house  opposite  Beaufort  Buildings,  Shipley's 
Academy  may  have  been  accommodated  in  part  of  the 
premises. 

After  this,  when  Shipley's  official  connection  with  the 
Society  had  ceased,  it  appears  to  be  certain  that  his 
Academy  was  moved  to  the  house  at  the  corner  of  Beaufort 
Buildings  (afterwards  No.  96  Strand),  which  later  on  be- 
came Ackerman's  Fine  Art  Repository,  and  later  still 
Rimmel's  well-known  perfumery  shop.  After  Shipley  left 
London,  the  School  was  carried  on  for  some  time  by  Henry 
Pars,  the  brother  of  William  Pars,  A.R.A.,  and  its  pupils 
took  many  of  the  Society 's  prizes  -1  Beaufort  Buildings  dis- 
appeared about  1902-4,  when  the  new  Savoy  Hotel  build- 
ings were  erected,  and  the  Strand  frontage  was  set  back. 

Not  very  much  is  really  known  about  Shipley's  life. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  born  in  London  in  1714?  His 
father  was  Jonathan  Shipley,  "  Citizen  and  Stationer  "  of 
London.  He  was  a  native  of  Leeds,  who  afterwards 
lived  in  Walbrook.  William's  mother  was  Martha  Davies. 
Her  family  owned  Twyford  House,  near  Winchester, 
and  the  property  was  inherited  by  Shipley's  brother 
Jonathan,  the  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph.  He  was  a  liberal- 
minded  divine,  and  a  friend  of  Franklin.  It  was  said, 
probably  without  truth,  that  he  might  have  been  appointed 

1  Shipley  "  erected  the  Academy  in  the  Strand,  opposite  Exeter 
'Change,  where,  by  his  zealous  assiduity,  and  the  diligent  attention  of 
Mr.  Henry  Pars,  his  successor  and  the  present  conductor  of  the  School, 
the  greatest  number  of  Contendants  for  the  Rewards  of  this  Institution 
were  formed  "  (Dossie,  Memoirs  of  Agriculture,  vol.  iii.  p.  394). 

2  This  is  the  date  given  in  all  the  biographical  dictionaries.     The 
same  year  is  given  as  the  date  of  the  birth  of  his  brother  Jonathan, 
and  in  his  case  correctly,  as  is  shown  by  his  monument  in  the  church- 
yard at  Twyford,  near  Winchester.     On  William's  tombstone  in  All 
Saints'  Churchyard,  Maidstone,  which  was  renovated  at  the  Society's 
cost  in  191 1,  it  is  stated  that  he  died  on  the  28th  December  1803,  set.  89. 
This  is  so  far  vague  that  it  might  equally  well  mean  that  Shipley  was 
over  eighty-nine,  or  in  his  eighty-ninth  year.     It  looks  as  if  the  correct 
date  of  his  birth  might  be  1715.     Probably  Jonathan  was  the  elder 
brother.     He  inherited  his  mother's  property  at  Twyford. 


io  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

Archbishop  of  Canterbury  but  for  his  strongly-expressed 
opposition  to  the  American  War. 

William  Shipley  appears  to  have  been  an  active- 
minded  man,  full  of  ideas,  and  with  some  capacity 
for  organisation,  but  perhaps  devoid  of  ambition,  for 
he  never  seems  to  have  troubled  himself  to  obtain 
either  credit  or  profit  out  of  the  successful  realisation  of 
his  ideas.  According  to  a  Maidstone  tradition  he  was  an 
absent-minded  man,  so  much  so,  that  on  his  way  to  church 
to  be  married  he  was  led  away  by  the  sight  of  a  rare 
butterfly  to  start  on  its  pursuit,  and  consequently  he 
arrived  late  for  the  ceremony.  At  all  events,  as  soon  as 
the  Society  he  suggested  was  successfully  established 
and  flourishing,  he  retired  from  its  concerns,  though  for 
some  four  years  he  seems  to  have  devoted  himself  ener- 
getically and  without  much  pecuniary  reward  to  its  estab- 
lishment. For  the  first  year  after  the  Society  was  formed 
he  acted  as  secretary  without  pay.  When  the  Society 
was  formally  constituted  in  1755  he  was  appointed  secre- 
tary, and  this  post  was  afterwards,  in  1757,  changed  to 
that  of  registrar. 

In  October  1760,  at  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Society, 
a  letter  from  Shipley  was  read  "  acquainting  the  Society 
of  his  having  lately  engaged  in  business  of  such  importance 
as  to  render  him  incapable  of  discharging  his  duty  to  the 
Society  as  their  register  without  very  much  injuring 
his  own  affairs."  What  this  business  was  does  not  appear. 
It  may  have  been  the  development  of  his  Academy.  At 
all  events,  his  resignation  was  accepted  with  thanks  for 
his  past  services.  That  his  retirement  was  not  due  to 
lack  of  appreciation  of  those  services  may  be  assumed 
from  the  fact  that  he  was  made  a  "  perpetual  member  " 
of  the  Society  in  1755,  was  presented  with  its  gold  medal 
in  1756,  and  had  his  portrait  painted  for  the  Society  by 
Cosway,  his  former  pupil.  The  portrait  of  Shipley  which 
faces  this  page  is  not  from  Cosway 's  painting,  but  from  a 
miniature  by  W.  Hincks.  It  is  printed  from  the  original 
copper  plate  engraved  by  Hincks  for  the  frontispiece  of 
Volume  vi.  of  the  Transactions.  The  miniature  itself  is 
now  in  the  Maidstone  Museum,  having  been  presented  to 


MR  ~W™    SHI   P  L  E  Y, 

"/^,-  J^//,;-     ^;,/,/  ,,^v  yv/,-^ 
Society  Inftituted  at  London, 


-/f  / sty /' ////'///  0r'*^rt&  ^/sTsf  // ////s  c//s ;'t 

(„,„>/'"<""•»•>•• 


FIRST  MEETING  OF  SOCIETY— THE  FOUNDERS    1 1 

the  Museum  by  the  person  into  whose  hands  it  passed 
after  Shipley's  death.  How  it  came  into  Shipley's  posses- 
sion is  not  known.1 

It  may  be  that  Shipley's  capacity  lay  rather  in  the 
direction  of  origination  than  of  administration.  At 
all  events,  we  hear  little  more  of  him  in  connection 
with  the  Society  after  1760.  He  occasionally  attended 
meetings  of  the  Society,  and  of  its  committees,  and  in 
1776  he  was  awarded  a  silver  medal  for  a  life-saving 
appliance  of  no  great  merit.2  When  the  date  of  the 
Society's  jubilee  (1804)  was  approaching,  some  sugges- 
tions were  made  that  this  would  be  a  fitting  occasion  for 
doing  honour  to  its  founder,  but  his  death  in  1803  put  a 
stop  to  all  proposals  of  the  sort.  In  1768  he  went  to  live 
at  Maidstone,  where  he  was  married,  and  remained  until 
his  death  in  1803.  He  was  buried  in  the  churchyard 
of  All  Saints'  Church.  All  that  is  known  of  his  life  at 
Maidstone  is  that  he  established  a  local  Society  on  the 
same  lines  as  the  Society  of  Arts,  and  busied  himself  in 
philanthropic  work. 

Shipley,  having  published  his  scheme,  set  to  work  to 
secure  the  help  of  influential  people,  and  succeeded  in 
interesting,  amongst  others,  Lord  Folkestone  and  Lord 
Romney,  to  whom,  with  Shipley  himself,  must  be  given 
the  credit  of  founding  the  Society  of  Arts.  Indeed,  it 
appears  that  if  Shipley  originated  the  idea,  Lord  Folkestone 
carried  it  into  execution  ;  and,  in  all  probability,  without 
his  practical  help  and  his  influence  there  never  would  have 
been  a  Society  of  Arts. 

On  22nd  March  1754  there  was  held  at  Rawthmell's 
Coffee- House,  Henrietta  Street,  Covent  Garden,  "  a 
meeting  of  some  Noblemen,  Clergy,  Gentlemen,  and 

1  "The  picture  from  which  this  print  is  taken  was  painted  from  the 
life  by  Mr.   Wm.   Hincks,   who  also  engraved  the  copper-plate,  and 
presented  them  both  to  the  Society  for  the  purpose  of  perpetuating 
the  memory,   and  recording   the  likeness   of  Mr.    William   Shipley" 
(Transactions,  vol.   iv.    p.    xviii,    Preface).     According    to   Redgrave, 
Hincks  was  an  engraver  and  painter  of  moderate  merit,  who  exhibited 
occasionally  at  the  Royal  Academy  from  1781  to  1797. 

2  See  Chapter  XIII,  p.  298. 


12  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

Merchants  in  order  to  form  a  Society  for  the  Encourage- 
ment of  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce  in  Great 
Britain."  Eleven  in  all  attended  :  Viscount  Folkestone  ; J 
Lord  Romney  ; 2  Dr.  Stephen  Hales,  F.R.S.  (the  eminent 
physiologist,  botanist,  and  inventor,  a  friend  of  Pope)  ; 
Henry  Baker,  F.R.S.3  (naturalist  and  author;  he  married 
Defoe's  youngest  daughter)  ;  Gustavus  Brander,  F.R.S. 
(merchant  and  antiquary,  a  director  of  the  Bank  of 
England)  ;  James  Short,  F.R.S.  (optician  and  astronomer) ; 
John  Goodchild  (afterwards  treasurer  to  the  Society)  ; 
Nicholas  Crisp  (watchmaker,  of  Bow  Churchyard)  ; 
Charles  Lawrence  ;  Husband  Messiter  (a  surgeon,  then 
resident  in  Great  Pulteney  Street,  with  whom  Shipley 
was  living  at  the  time)  ;  William  Shipley. 

The  exact  position  of  the  house  where  the  meeting 
was  held  was  for  long  a  matter  of  doubt.  It  was  known 
to  have  been  Rawthmell's  Coffee-House  in  Henrietta  Street, 
Covent  Garden  ;  but  the  precise  position  in  Henrietta 
Street  of  the  house  had  never  been  accurately  ascertained, 
until,  at  the  request  of  the  writer,  Sir  Laurence  Gomme, 
the  Clerk  of  the  London  County  Council,  very  kindly  caused 
an  inquiry  to  be  made  among  the  records  of  the  Council, 
and  by  means  of  the  old  sewer-rate  books  he  was  able  to 
identify  the  house  as  the  fourth  on  the  north  side  of  the 
street,  at  the  western,  or  Bedford  Street,  end. 

Armed  with  this  information,  the  writer  applied  to  the 

1  Sir  Jacob  des  Bouveries  (afterwards  Bouverie)  was  created  Vis- 
count  Folkestone  in    1747.     His  father  and   grandfather  were  well- 
known  Turkey  merchants  in   London.     His  ancestor,   Laurence  des 
Bouveries,  a  native  of  Flanders,  and  a  silk-weaver,  settled  in  Canter- 
bury in  1568,  about  the  time  when  so  many  Flemish  immigrants  came 
to  England  to  escape  the  persecutions  of  Alva.     The  title  was  merged 
in  that  of  Radnor  when  the  second  Viscount  Folkestone  was  created 
Earl  of  Radnor  in  1765. 

2  Robert,  Lord  Romney,  was  the  second  Baron.     He  was  a  brother- 
in-law  of  Lord  Folkestone,  who  had  married  his  sister,  the  Hon.  Eliza- 
beth Marsham. 

3  He  was   the  founder  of  the  Royal  Society's   Bakerian  Lecture. 
He  took  a  very  active  part  in  the  formation  of  the  Society  and  in  its 
early  work.     In  Nichols's  Literary  Anecdotes,  vol.  v.  p.  275,  it  is  stated 
that  he  "all  along  took  the  minutes,  though  Mr.  Shipley's  name  ap- 
peared as  the  nominal  Secretary  of  the  Society." 


JACOB.  L.ORB  VISCOUNT  FOGLKESTONE, 


**w 


RAWTHMELL'S  COFFEE-HOUSE 


Duke  of  Bedford's  office,1  and  he  was  at  once  supplied  with 
a  full  history  of  the  premises.  It  appears  that  in  March 
1729  a  building  lease  was  granted  by  the  then  Duke  of 
Bedford  to  "  John  Rawthmell,  of  the  Parish  of  St.  Paul, 
Covent  Garden,  in  the  County  of  Middlesex,  Coffeeman,"  of 
a  house  on  the  north  side  of  Henrietta  Street,  the  third 
(or  the  fourth  counting  the  corner  house,  which  is  reckoned 
in  Bedford  Street)  from  the  western  end  of  the  street. 
The  lease  was  for  sixty-one  years  from  Lady  Day  1729,  and 


Il"ue4dy     ::;skin       Peter's     Hospital 

3       •      ,,24        ;     25  26  . 


Bedford 
Mansionsv 
31    32    33 


HENRIETTA 


STREET 


Scale  81  feet  =  i  inch 
1050    ID  20    30  40   50  60   70   80   go  100 


•%$$!$&The  hatched  portion  represents  the  old  Site  of  No.2& 
Plan  of  Henrietta  Street,  showing  site  of  Rawthmell's  Coffee-House. 


the  rent  was  £12  a  year.  On  the  expiration  of  that  lease, 
leases  for  varying  periods,  mostly  for  twenty-one  years  each, 
were  granted  up  to  1880.  In  that  year  the  whole  block  of 
houses  on  the  north  side  of  Henrietta  Street,  except  the 
westernmost  one  at  the  corner  of  Bedford  Street, was  pulled 
down  in  connection  with  a  local  improvement  scheme.  The 
original  houses  had  abutted  directly  on  the  churchyard  of 

1  He  has  to  express  his  thanks  for  the  trouble  which  Mr.  Rowland 
E.  Prothero,  M.V.O.,  Mr.  Alfred  R.  O.  Stutfield,  and  Mr. f James  W. 
Marchant  all  took  in  hunting  up  detailed  particulars  about  the  history 
of  the  old  house. 


14  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

St.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden,  with  the  result  that  the  drainage 
of  the  churchyard  passed  into  the  basements,  and  the 
whole  block  was  in  a  somewhat  insanitary  condition. 

The  new  houses  constructed  on  the  site  do  not  coincide 
with  the  old  buildings.  The  space  to  the  west  of  the  site 
of  the  old  coffee-house  is  now  occupied  by  Macready  House, 
the  ground  floor  being  in  the  occupation  of  The  Family 
Herald  newspaper.  The  actual  site  of  Rawthmell's  Coffee- 
House  is  now  occupied  by  No.  25,  the  ground  floor  of  which 
is  in  the  occupation  of  Messrs.  Stuart  &  Company,  seed 
merchants,  the  present  house  extending  some  six  feet 
farther  east  than  the  old  one.  This  is  clearly  shown  in  the 
accompanying  map,  the  materials  for  which  were  supplied 
by  the  Duke  of  Bedford's  office.  The  upper  part  of  No.  25 
forms  part  of  St.  Peter's  Hospital.  The  block  of  buildings 
was  erected  for  the  hospital,  the  ground  floors  being  let 
off  as  shops.  It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  the  site  of  the 
old  coffee-house  has  been  identified  with  perfect  certainty. 
Before  1743  the  original  John  Rawthmell  must  have  died, 
as  in  that  year  the  house  was  in  the  occupation  of  Sarah 
Rawthmell,  widow. 

The  coffee-house  was  one  of  the  favourite  resorts  of 
the  well-known  Dr.  Richard  Mead,1  and  amongst  the  dis- 
tinguished frequenters  of  the  place  were  many  Fellows  of 
the  Royal  Society.  Daniel  Wray,  F.R.S.,  addressed  an 
amusing  poem  to  his  friend,  Mr.  Wollaston,  of  Charterhouse 
Square  ( 1 738),  in  which  he  refers  to  his  literary  and  scientific 
friends,  and  specially  mentions  Rawthmell's.  John  Nichols, 
who  published  extracts  from  this  poem  in  his  Literary 
Illustrations  (vol.  i.,  1817,  p.  31),  specially  notes  that  there 
exists  a  very  scarce  satirical  portrait  of  Rawthmell  "  in 
the  character  of  Pan,  by  Vertue,  engraved  at  the  expense 
of  some  of  the  members  of  the  Royal  Society  who  frequented 
the  coffee-house." 

At  the  meeting  above  mentionedaverymodest  beginning 
was  made  by  considering  a  suggestion  by  Shipley  that  two 
prizes  should  be  offered,  one  for  the  discovery  of  cobalt,  and 

1  Dr.  Mead  was  physician  to  King  George  n.  and  to  St.  Thomas's 
Hospital.  He  was  the  author  of  ' '  Suggestions  for  the  Prevention  of  the 
Plague,"  and  successfully  inoculated  seven  condemned  criminals. 


THE  SOCIETY  ESTABLISHED  15 

the  other  for  the  growth  of  madder,1  in  the  kingdom.  It 
was  determined  to  make  further  inquiries  and  a  decision 
was  postponed.  The  meeting  also  resolved  "  to  bestow 
premiums  on  a  certain  number  of  boys  or  girls  under  the 
age  of  sixteen  who  shall  produce  the  best  piece  of  drawing, 
and  show  themselves  most  capable  when  properly  ex- 
amined," "  it  being  the  opinion  of  all  present  that  the  Art 
of  Drawing  is  absolutely  necessary  in  many  employments, 
trades,  and  manufactures."  This  early  anticipation  of 
views  which  in  our  own  time  were  put  forward  as  novel  by 
the  advocates  of  technical  education  is  interesting.  That 
they  were  really  Shipley's  ideas,  and  that  his  intention  in 
proposing  the  formation  of  the  Society  was  not  merely  to 
extend  or  improve  his  own  "  drawing  academy  "  is  shown 
by  a  letter  written  a  couple  of  years  later  by  him  in  the 
Gentleman 's  Magazine?  in  which  he  combats  vigorously 
the  suggestion  that  the  Society  was  merely  occupied  in 
training  young  people  to  become  artists,  and  announces 
as  one  of  the  chief  objects  of  the  Society  the  training  of  both 
boys  and  girls  in  the  industrial  arts.  Thus  it  can  be  truth- 
fully said  that  from  its  first  foundation  the  Society  has  taken 
an  active  part  in  the  promotion  of  technical  education,  j 

A  fortnight  after  the  inaugural  meeting  a  second 
meeting  was  held  (29th  March),  and  at  this  further  progress 
was  made.  A  definite  decision  was  arrived  at  to  offer  the 
cobalt  and  madder  premiums,  and  a  subscription  list  was 
opened.  Lords  Folkestone  and  Romney  headed  the  list  with 
a  donation  of  ten  guineas  apiece,  and  also  promised  to 
guarantee  whatever  further  sums  might  be  required,  so 
that  an  announcement  might  be  made  of  the  offer  of  prizes. 
The  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  also  sent  ten  guineas,  and  four 
others  gave  two  guineas  each.  Funds  being  thus  available, 

1  Few  better  selections  than  madder  could  have  been  made.  The 
plant  was  not  grown  in  England  on  a  commercial  scale,  though  a 
great  deal  was  imported  from  the  East  and  from  the  Low  Countries, 
where  its  cultivation  had  been  established.  The  fact  that  it  was 
grown  in  large  quantities  in  Flanders  was  one  of  the  reasons  why 
cloth,  made  in  England,  was  still  sent  over  there  to  be  dyed.  Until 
the  introduction  of  the  coal-tar  colours,  more  than  a  century  later, 
madder  was  of  course  the  principal  source  of  all  red  dyes. 

8  z8th  January  1756,  p.  61. 


16  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

an  advertisement  was  inserted  in  the  Daily  Advertiser, 
offering  prizes  of  £30  each  for  specified  amounts  of  cobalt 
and  madder,  and  two  sets  of  prizes  amounting  each  to 
£15  for  drawings  by  boys  and  girls  below  fourteen  and 
between  fourteen  and  seventeen.  The  competitive  drawings 
were  to  be  sent  in  on  isth  January  1755,  and  the  prizes 
were  to  be  awarded  a  fortnight  later.  Thus  the  practical 
work  of  the  Society  was  begun. 

Six  more  meetings  were  held  during  the  year  in  a 
circulating  library  in  Crane  Court,  Fleet  Street,  in  which 
court  was  the  house  then  occupied  (from  1710  to  1780)  by 
the  Royal  Society.  These  were  all  small  meetings,  of  the 
nature  really  of  committees,  and  at  them  the  organisation 
of  the  Society  was  worked  out,  subjects  for  premiums 
discussed,  and  a  general  plan  of  action  decided  upon. 
Amongst  other  things  it  was  decided  to  have  a  regular 
meeting  on  the  second  Wednesday  in  each  month,  and  a 
committee  on  each  fourth  Wednesday. 

By  the  end  of  the  }rear  all  preliminaries  seem  to  have 
been  arranged,  and  it  was  decided  to  organise  the  Society 
on  a  more  regular  basis  with  a  .president  and  officers. 
This  decision  was  arrived  at  at  a  meeting  held  in  January 
1755,  at  Peele's  Coffee- House  at  the  corner  of  Fetter  Lane 
and  Fleet  Street. 

At  the  same  meeting  the  prizes  offered  for  drawings 
were  adjudged.  The  only  name  amongst  those  of  the  prize- 
winners which  is  still  generally  known  is  that  of  Richard 
Cosway,  who  took  the  first  of  the  five  prizes  offered  for 
drawings  by  young  people  under  the  age  of  fourteen. 
J.  T.  Smith,  in  his  Life  of  Nollekens,  tells  us  that  Cosway 
was  then  employed  as  a  waiting  lad  at  Shipley's  Academy, 
but  as  the  fact  is  recorded  in  the  Society's  minutes  that 
he  was  brought  up  to  London  from  Tiverton  at  the 
instance  of  the  Society,  it  must  have  been  at  a  later 
date  that  he  was  taken  into  service  by  Shipley.1  He 

1  Minutes  of  the  meeting  of  2/th  November  1754.  "  Specimens  of 
Drawings  done  by  Richard  Cosway  of  Tiverton  were  produced,  it  was 
thought  proper  his  Parents  be  writ  to  to  know  what  will  be  the  expence 
of  his  coming  to  Town."  At  the  next  meeting  (i8th  December)  Shipley 
reported  "  that  he  had  wrote  about  the  boy,  and  he  is  coming  up  to 


ROBERT, 


THE  FIRST  OFFICES— THE  SOCIETY'S  TITLE     17 

was  afterwards  a  Royal  Academician  and  an  eminent 
portrait  painter  and  miniaturist.  John  Smart,  who  took 
the  second  prize  in  the  same  class  as  Cosway,  afterwards 
obtained  considerable  success  as  a  painter  of  miniatures, 
and  exhibited  miniatures  and  oil  portraits  at  the  Royal 
Academy  up  to  the  time  of  his  death  in  1 8 1 1 .  The  third 
prize  went  to  John  Alexander  Gresse,  afterwards  a  painter 
of  reputation  ;  and  the  fourth  to  Barbara  Marsden,  who 
became  a  flower  painter,  and  married  Jeremiah  Meyer, 
R.A.  None  of  the  candidates  in  the  senior  class  appear 
to  have  achieved  any  artistic  success  in  after  life.1 

In  the  following  month  (5th  February)  Viscount  Folke- 
stone 2  was  elected  the  first  president,  with  Lord  Romney. 
Charles  Whitworth,  James  Theobald,  and  Stephen  Hales, 
vice-presidents.  John  Goodchild  was  made  treasurer,  and 
William  Shipley  secretary.  At  the  same  meeting  Shipley 
and  Henry  Baker  were  elected  "  perpetual  members." 
The  Society  was  thus  formally  constituted,  and  from  that 
date  forward  meetings  were  regularly  held  for  the  election 
of  new  members  and  the  transaction  of  business. 

The  title  of  the  Society  has  always  remained  that  which 
Shipley  suggested  in  his  original  scheme,  "  The  Society 
for  the  Encouragement  of  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Com- 
merce," but  this  soon  proved  too  long  and  cumbrous,  and 
very  soon  after  its  foundation  the  shorter  name,  "  Society 
of  Arts,"  was  adopted.  In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  of  j 
July  1755,  it  is  so  called,  and  this  soon  became  the  name 
by  which  it  was  popularly  known.  Sometimes  it  is  referred 

town."  Smith's  version  of  the  story  (vol.  ii.  1829,  p.  401)  is  as  follows  : 
"  The  students,  among  whom  were  Nollekens  and  my  father,  good- 
temperedly  gave  Dick,  for  so  he  was  called,  instructions  in  drawing, 
and  also  advised  him,  finding  him  to  have  some  talent,  to  try  for  a  prize 
in  the  Society  of  Arts  ;  and  in  1755  he  obtained  a  premium  of  5!.  55. 
for  a  drawing."  It  is  quite  clear  that  our  gossipy  chronicler's  memory 
was  in  this  case  untrustworthy. 

1  The  names  of  all  the  prize-winners,  and  such  information  as  has 
been  discovered  about  their  after-careers  will  be  found  in  the  list  of  the 
Fine  Art  Awards,  Chapter  VIII,  p.  162,  et  seq. 

2  The  portrait  of  Lord  Folkestone  which  faces  p.  12   was  engraved 
by  Sherwin  from  the  full-length  portrait  by  Gainsborough.     It  served 
as  the  frontispiece  for  Volume  n.  of  the  Transactions,  and  is  from  the 
original  copper-plate. 

3 


iS  tHE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

to  as  the  "  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences,"  l  and  in  its 
own  early  books  of  accounts  it  is  called  "  The  Premium 
Society/'  though  this  title  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
used  elsewhere.  The  earliest  known  official  use  of  the 
shorter  name  appears  in  the  minutes  in  February  1811, 
and  from  that  time  onwards  it  is  constantly  found.  The 
full  title  was  rather  unfortunately  adopted  in  the  Charter 
in  1847,  and  the  two  names  have  always  been  used.  In 
1908  King  Edward  vn.  granted  the  Society  permission  to 
add  the  word  "  Royal  "  to  its  title. 

/  The  constitution  of  the  Society,  at  first  and  for  very 
many  years,  was  on  a  purely  democratic  basis.2  It  had 
no  governing  body.  There  were  certain  standing  com- 
mittees and  others  appointed  from  time  to  time  for  special 
purposes,  but  their  duty  was  merely  to  prepare  the  work 
for  the  general  body  of  members,  by  whom  all  the  business 
^was  transacted.  The  "  ordinary  meetings  "  were  held 
first  on  alternate  Wednesdays,  and  afterwards  on  every 
Wednesday  from  November  to  May,  with  less  frequent 
meetings  from  May  to  November.  The  ordinary  meetings 
were  not  competent  to  alter  the  "  rules  and  orders."  This 
could  only  be  done  at  "  general  meetings,"  the  number  of 
which  seems  to  have  varied  from  time  to  time.  At  the 
ordinary  meetings  all  the  regular  business  of  the  Society 

1  Boswell  sometimes  refers  to  the  Society  by  this  name,  and  Horace 
Walpole  in  one  of  his  letters  uses  the  same  title.     There  was  at  one 
time  some  correspondence  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  on  the  subject. 

2  Curiously  enough,  this  characteristic  of  the  Society  was  commented 
on  by  Smollett,  who,  though  never  a  member,  had  a  great  admiration 
for  it,  as  is  shown  by  the  passage  from  his  history  quoted  on  p.  5 1 .    In 
Humphrey   Clinker  (published    1771,  the  year  of  Smollett's  death)  he 
makes  Melford,  the  nephew  of  old  Squire  Bramble,  write  as  follows  to 
his  friend  and  constant  correspondent,  Sir  Watkin  Phillips.     Melford 
is  by  way  of  describing  his  adventures  on  his  visit  to  London  with  his 
uncle,  his  aunt  Miss  Tabitha,  and  his  sister  Lydia.      His  letter  bears 
the  date  5th  June  (Collected  Works,  1872,  vol.  vii.  p.  161)  :    "  We  are 
become  members  of  the  Society  for  the  encouragement  of  the  Arts, 
and  have  assisted  at  some  of  their  deliberations,  which  were  conducted 
with  equal  spirit  and  sagacity.     My  uncle  is  extremely  fond  of  the 
Institution,  which  will  certainly  be  productive  of  great  advantages 
to  the  public,  if  from  its  democratical  form,  it   does  not  degenerate 
into  cabal  and  corruption."     As  will  be  seen  later  on,  Smollett's  fears 
were  not  without  justification. 


THE  SYSTEM  OF  PREMIUMS  19 

was  transacted,  members  were  proposed,  balloted  for,  and 
elected,  bills  were  ordered  for  payment,  and  expenditure 
was  discussed.  Above  all,  subjects  for  the  award  of 
prizes  were  considered  and  voted  upon. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  sole  object  of  the 
Society  was  to  award  premiums  for  meritorious  discoveries 
and  inventions,  and  for  advances  of  any  kind  in  arts,  manu- 
factures, and  commerce.  The  meetings  had  before  them  j 
descriptions  of  such  advances,  reports  upon  them,  sug- 
gestions for  new  premiums,  applications  from  inventors, 
but  all  these  were  merely  intended  to  assist  in  the  selection 
of  suitable  subjects  for  awards.  The  Society  of  Arts  did^ 
not,  like  the  Royal  Society,  welcome  the  description  of  new 
branches  of  knowledge  (even  of  practical  or  applied 
knowledge)  ;  it  did  not  invite  its  members  to  contri- 
bute essays  or  read  memoirs  or  give  lectures — all  that  came 
later.  It  simply  hoped  to  encourage  industry  and  art 
by  rewarding  those  who  helped  in  the  promotion  of  art 
and  industry,  and  to  give  them  either  substantial  money 
gifts,  or  honorary  rewards  in  the  nature  of  medals.  Later,  | 
when  the  Society  came  to  publish  transactions,  it  received 
suitable  information  readily  enough,  gave  the  author  a 
medal,  and  printed  his  communication.  Eventually  the 
publication  became  more  important  than  the  award  ;  but 
this  was  not  so  at  first,  or  for  very  many  years  after  the 
Society's  foundation. 

It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  the  one  idea  of  the  founders 
of  the  Society  was  to  encourage  arts  and  industries  by  the 
offer  of  prizes.  It  appeared  possible  to  them  that  a  com- 
mittee of  gentleman,  sitting  in  London,  would  be  able  to 
ascertain  what  the  pressing  needs  of  the  public  were,  to 
foresee  the  course  \vhich  industrial  development  could 
most  wisely  take,  to  select  those  inventions  which  could 
most  usefully  be  encouraged,  and  generally  to  direct,  by 
the  judicious  apportionment  of  medals  and  money  prizes, 
the  development  of  industry  and  the  progress  of  art.  To 
us,  nowadays,  the  whole  scheme  seems  impracticable,  and 
at  the  best,  Utopian,  but  at  the  time  it  was  perfectly 
reasonable,  and  it  commended  itself  to  the  shrewdest 
economists.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  obtained  a  very  con- 


20  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

siderable  measure  of  success,  and  that  it  was  extremely 
popular  is  shown  by  the  support  it  received  from  the  most 
influential  people  of  the  time. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  by  the  writer  in  a  previous 
volume  x  to  indicate  the  industrial  conditions  of  the  era. 
Here  it  may  suffice  to  remind  the  reader  that  the  time  was 
essentially  one  of  industrial  change.  The  old  conditions 
of  regulance  and  support  had  long  since  disappeared.  The 
new  conditions  of  competition  and  the  absence  of  restriction 
were  not  yet  conceived,  let  alone  formulated.  The  various 
young  industries,  textile,  metallurgical,  chemical,  ceramic, 
and  the  rest,  all  wanted  patronage  and  help.  They  wanted, 
too,  advertisement  and  notoriety.  All  this  they  got  from 
the  newly-formed  Society,  and  it  may  fairly  be  said  that, 
having  due  regard  to  the  then  existing  conditions,  and  to 
the  state  of  public  knowledge,  it  would  be  very  difficult 
indeed  to  suggest  any  scheme  better  adapted  for  its 
purpose  than  that  of  Shipley  and  his  patrons. 

The  annual  subscription  to  the  Society  was  fixed  at 
11  not  less  than  "  two  guineas,  and  for  a  long  time  it 
was  the  practice  of  the  more  wealthy  or  more  liberal 
members  to  pay  three  guineas.  This  excellent  custom, 
however,  has  for  many  years  been  abandoned,  though 
the  wording  of  the  old  rule  has  been  preserved.  Peers 
were  expected  to  pay  five  guineas,  and  for  the  most  part 
did  so.  In  a  single  instance  this  practice  survived  into 
our  own  time.  The  late  Marquis  of  Ripon  (who  was 
elected  in  1856  and  died  in  1909)  always  subscribed  five 
guineas  annually.  The  composition  for  life  membership 
was  settled  at  twenty  guineas,  and  has  never  been  altered, 
though  occasionally  larger  contributions  were  made.  The 
great  Earl  of  Bute,  Prime  Minister  to  George  in.,  not  by 
reputation  a  liberal  or  extravagant  donor,  gave  forty 
pounds  for  his  "  perpetual  membership." 

/  The  Society  has  never  received  any  official  aid.  Less 
fortunate  than  the  sister  institution  in  Dublin,  or  than  many 

>£>f  the  great  London  societies  which  have  taken  over  much 
1  Industrial  England  in  the  Middle  of  the  Eighteenth  Century.  Murray, 
1910. 


THE  SOCIETY'S  FINANCES  21 

of  its  original  work,  it  has  never  been  supported  or  helped  / 
in  any  way  by  Government.     Lecky,  in  his  History  of  \ 
the  Eighteenth  Century,1  says  that  it  received  a  grant  of 
£500  from  the  Corporation  of  London,  but  a  careful  search 
through  the  early  account  books  has  produced  no  con- 
firmation of  this  statement.2     In  1765  the  Society  received 
a  donation  of  £100  from  the  Corporation  of  Liverpool,  and 
this  appears  to  have  been  the  only  contribution  of  the  sort. 

The  Society  was  soon  in  a  very  satisfactory  financial 
position.  In  1755,  the  first  year  after  its  formal  con- 
stitution, its  income  was  £360.  In  the  following  year  it 
was  £632,  and  in  1757  it  was  £1203.  In  the  next  six  years 
it  mounted  steadily,  £1731  in  1758,  £2001  in  1759,  £3482 
in  1760,  £3656  in  1761,  £4533  in  1762,  £4614  in  1763. 
Then  in  1764  there  was  a  drop  to  £4131. 

At  first  all  the  Society's  cash  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
treasurer,  who  was  subject  only  to  the  control  of  a  finance 
committee,  which  audited  and  reported  on  his  accounts 
at  intervals.  The  first  treasurer  was  John  Goodchild,  one 
of  the  founders.  He  was  elected  in  1755,  and  held  office 
until  his  death  at  the  end  of  1756,  when  he  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  also  John.  A  year  later  we  find  a  committee 
reporting  on  the  treasurer's  accounts  "  that  the  receipts  and 
disbursements  are  right,  but  kept  in  rather  a  perplexed 
method."  Probably  the  younger  Goodchild  was  a  bad 
accountant,  for  in  1759  he  was  in  difficulties,  and  had  to 
compound  with  his  creditors,  the  Society  in  consequence 
suffering  some  small  loss.  The  office  of  treasurer  was 
thereupon  declared  vacant,  and  subsequently  abolished. 
Careful  regulations  were  then  laid  down  as  to  finance,  and 
it  was  ordered  that  all  the  Society's  funds  were  to  be  kept 
in  an  account  at  the  Bank  of  England  in  the  names  of  the 
President  and  Vice-Presidents. 

In  an  appendix  to   the  premium  list  issued  by  the 
Society   in    1764,   there   is   a   tabular   statement   of   the 

1  Vol.  vii.  p.  207  (Edition  1907). 

2  The  books  commence  with  1755,  the  first  entry  being  dated  April 
of  that  year.     If  such  a  grant  had  been  made  in  1754,  it  could  hardly 
have  escaped  notice  in  the  minutes  which  record  all  the  meetings,  from 
the  first  at  Rawthmell's  onward. 


22  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

"  Receipts  and  Disbursements  "  for  the  nine  years  1755  to 
1763.  The  total  receipts  were  £22,295,  and  the  total 
expenditure  was  £18,756.  Of  this,  £8496  was  spent  in 
money  prizes  and  medals,  £3507  on  a  special  grant  for  a 
system  of  land  carriage  for  fish,  £291  on  the  Society's 
exhibitions,  and  the  balance  of  £6462  on  general  ad- 
ministration, including  rent,  salaries,  advertising,  printing, 
etc.  It  is  clear  from  this  that  the  affairs  of  the  Society 
were  carefully  and  economically  managed,  for  the  cost  of 
management  as  compared  with  the  amount  of  the  funds 
expended  is  quite  reasonable. 

A  later  statement,  issued  in  1778  in  the  form  of  a 
"  Register  of  the  Premiums  and  Bounties  given  by  the 
Society  "  up  to  the  end  of  1776,  showed  that  the  total 
amount  given  away  by  the  Society  was  then  £24,616,  of 
which  £23,552  had  been  money  prizes,  and  £1064  the 
value  of  the  medals  awarded.  It  may  be  noted  that 
"  premiums  "  were  awards  to  "  candidates  who  claim  under 
the  terms  of  the  annual  advertisements  of  the  Society," 
and  that  "  bounties  "  were  "  bestowed  on  merits  that  have 
not  been  previously  called  for  by  the  Society,  or  that  do 
not  precisely  come  within  the  terms  of  the  annual  ad- 
vertisements." It  is  added  that  "  these  amounts  have  been 
distributed  all  over  Great  Britain,  Europe,  and  America  " — 
a  good  general  statement,  which  perhaps  was  not  intended 
to  be  taken  as  minutely  accurate. 

As  previously  mentioned,  during  the  first  year  of  the 
Society's  existence,  Shipley  acted  as  secretary,  at  first 
unpaid.  When  the  Society  was  formally  organised  in 
February  1755,  Shipley  was  appointed  secretary.  He 
appears  to  have  had  some  clerical  assistance  provided  for 
him,  and  in  January  1756,  George  Box  was  appointed 
assistant  secretary.  In  March  1757,  Shipley  was  elected 
registrar,  and  Box  was  made  secretary.  The  registrar 
was  apparently  the  more  important  officer  of  the  two,  but 
the  secretary  did  most  of  the  work.  It  looks  as  if  it  had 
been  desired  to  make  his  duties  a  little  easier  for  Shipley, 
and  to  find  somebody  who  was  more  methodical  and 
businesslike  to  carry  on  all  the  routine  business.  Not 
very  much  is  recorded  of  George  Box,  though  it  is  evident 


, PETER  TEMPLEMA^T,MJ>, 


THE  FIRST  OFFICIALS  23 

that  he  was  a  most  efficient  and  competent  official.  He 
served  the  Society  faithfully  for  twenty-five  years,  and  such 
records  of  him  as  appear  from  time  to  time  in  the  minutes 
show  that  he  was  entirely  trustworthy  and  possessed  the 
regard  and  confidence  of  the  members. 

In  1760,  soon  after  the  Society,  as  will  be  hereafter  re- 
lated, had  established  itself  in  the  house  opposite  Beaufort 
Buildings  in  the  Strand,  where  it  remained  until  it  moved 
to  the  Adelphi,  it  was  decided  that  a  more  competent  and 
better-qualified  secretary  was  required.  A  committee 
reported  in  February  1760,  that  the  proper  conduct  of 
the  Society's  work  required  a  man  of  "  general  and 
technical  knowledge,"  able  to  deal  with  scientific  questions 
and  conversant  with  foreign  languages.  "  He  ought  to  be 
a  man  of  character  and  a  man  of  learning,"  and  such  a  man 
the  committee  thought  might  well  deserve  a  salary  of  £200 
a  year.  The  general  body  of  members  approved  the 
qualifications,  but  set  a  lower  estimate  on  their  value,  and 
considered  that  the  required  person  might  be  obtained  for 
£150.  The  committee  went  on  to  recommend  the  appoint- 
ment of  an  assistant  secretary  with  a  salary  of  £50,  and  a 
commission  of  6d.  in  the  pound  on  subscriptions,  which  at 
the  time  must  have  meant  another  £75  a  year,  so  that  the 
pay  of  the  two  officials  was  not  very  different.  It  is 
evident  that  the  committee  wished  to  do  the  best  they 
could  for  Box,  though  they  felt  that  he  was  not  quite  quali- 
fied for  the  more  important  post,  since  they  add  that  they 
"  take  the  liberty  from  the  long  experience  of  the  diligence 
and  integrity  of  your  present  secretary  to  recommend 
him  to  the  office  of  assistant  secretary  and  receiver." 
Later  resolutions  decided  that  the  names  of  both  officials 
were  to  appear  in  the  Society's  lists  and  other  publications. 

It  was  finally  decided  to  appoint  Box  assistant,  and  to 
advertise  for  a  secretary.  As  regards  the  office  of  registrar, 
the  committee  considered  "  the  present  register  a  very 
proper  person  to  be  continued  in  that  office,  and  that  he 
should  do  the  business  as  usual  "  ;  that  he  should  "  have 
the  salary  and  appartments  now  allowed  him,"  and  that 
he  should  be  "  allowed  £10  a  year  more  for  taking  care  of 
the  rooms,  cleaning  them  and  the  furniture^  and  keeping 


24  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

all  things  in  proper  order  for  the  reception  of  the  Society." 
This  looks  as  if  the  Society  desired  to  provide  a  home 
and  an  easy  post  for  Shipley  without  expecting  from 
him  very  much  useful  work. 

In  response  to  the  advertisement  four  candidates  ap- 
plied— Dr.  Peter  Templeman,  Dr.  Maty,  Dr.  Mitchell,  and 
Mr.  Robert  Dossie.  It  has  often  been  said  that  Oliver  Gold- 
smith was  a  candidate,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  though 
he  thought  of  sending  in  his  name,  and  applied  to  Garrick 
for  a  testimonial,  he  never  actually  went  so  far  as  to  make 
formal  application.  The  authority  for  the  statement  is 
Thomas  Davies,  who,  in  his  Life  of  Garrick, *  tells  us 
that  Goldsmith  asked  Garrick  to  recommend  him,  but 
that  Garrick  had  been  annoyed  by  Goldsmith's  criticisms, 
and  rather  curtly  refused.  Forster,  in  his  Life  of  Golds- 
smith,  adopted  Davies 's  story  : — 

"  Thomas  Davies  tells  us  that  when,  somewhere  about 
the  time  of  his  connection  with  the  Bee,  Goldsmith  sought 
to  obtain,  what  a  struggling  man  of  letters  was  thought 
to  have  some  claim  to,  the  vacant  secretaryship  of  the 
Society  of  Arts,  Garrick  made  answer  to  a  personal  ap- 
plication for  his  vote,  that  Mr.  Goldsmith,  having  '  taken 
pains  to  deprive  himself  of  his  assistance  by  an  unprovoked 
attack  upon  his  management  of  the  theatre  in  his  "  Present 
State  of  Learning,"  '  it  was  '  impossible  he  could  lay  claim 
to  any  recommendation  from  him.'  ' 

The  compiler  of  this  chronicle  would  like  to  think 
that  Oliver  Goldsmith  had  been  an  occupant  of  the  post 
he  now  holds,  though  he  realises  that  the  talents  of  that 
charming  writer  were  better  employed  in  producing  the 
Vicar  of  Wakefield,  She  Stoops  to  Conquer,  and  The  Deserted 
Village,  than  in  discharging  the  routine  duties  of  an  office 
which  no  doubt  was  better  filled  by  the  successful  com- 
petitor, Dr.  Templeman.  Still,  the  name  of  Goldsmith  on 
the  list  of  the  Society's  officials  would  have  added  not  a 
little  distinction  to  that  list,  even  if,  as  would  probably 
have  been  the  case,  he  had  not  held  an  uncongenial  office 
for  very  long. 

Of  the  four  candidates  who  actually  did  enter,  Temple- 

*  Vol.  ii.  p.  149.  2  Forster's  Life  of  Goldsmith ,  vol.  i.  p.  239, 


DR.  TEMPLEMAN  25 

man  was  elected  by  a  considerable  majority.  Box  was 
appointed  assistant  secretary,  in  accordance  with  the 
recommendation  of  the  committee.  Later  in  the  year 
Shipley,  as  previously  mentioned,  resigned  his  office  of 
registrar,  perhaps  not  liking  the  new  conditions,  or  perhaps, 
as  he  said,  on  account  of  his  other  occupations. 

Templeman  was  a  man  thoroughly  well  qualified  for 
the  post  of  secretary  to  a  young  and  growing  society.  He 
had  had  a  distinguished  career  at  Cambridge,  where  he 
graduated  from  Trinity  in  1731.  He  studied  medicine  in 
Germany,  and  in  1737  he  obtained  the  degree  of  M.D.  at 
the  University  of  Leyden.  After  this  he  started  practice 
in  London,  but  being  fairly  well  off  he  devoted  himself  to 
literature  rather  than  to  the  duties  of  his  profession.  In 
1758  he  was  appointed  Keeper  of  the  Reading-Room  at 
the  newly-established  British  Museum,  and  he  gave  up 
this  post  for  the  secretaryship  of  the  Society.  He  was  the 
author  of  numerous  medical  books,  and  in  1762  he  was 
elected  a  Corresponding  Member  of  the  Royal  Academy 
of  Science  of  Paris.  He  was  a  fine  scholar,  a  good  linguist, 
and  an  accomplished  man,  well  fitted  for  the  post  to  which 
he  was  elected,  and  which  he  held  until  his  death  in  I769-1 
The  portrait  of  Templeman  which  faces  page  22  is  from  the 
original  plate  engraved  by  Evans  after  Cosway's  portrait, 
which  was  published  as  a  frontispiece  to  Volume  xvn. 
of  the  Transactions. 

The  duties  of  the  three  principal  officers  were  laid 
down  with  great  precision  in  the  Society's  "  Rules  and 
Orders."  The  secretary  was  generally  responsible  for  the 
proper  conduct  of  the  Society's  business  and  the  due 
keeping  of  its  records.  The  assistant  secretary  had  to  do 
all  the  clerical  work,  and  the  registrar  had  charge  of  the 
Society's  property,  and  was  required  to  look  after  the 
premises.  In  addition,  there  was  a  collector,  who  had  to 
collect  subscriptions  and  to  pay  them  into  the  bank.  He 
was  paid  by  commission  and  had  to  give  security. 

1  There  is  a  good  account  of  Templeman  in  the  Dictionary  of 
National  Biography.  It  was  written  by  Thompson  Cooper,  who  also 
contributed  a  note  about  him  to  Notes  and  Queries,  9th  S.  i,  i2th 
February  1898.  I  have  been  able  to  find  little  further  about  him,  and 
nothing  of  any  importance. 


CHAPTER    II 
THE  EARLIEST  LISTS  OF  MEMBERS 

The  Society's  original  Signature- Book — First  List  of  Members  and 
other  Early  Lists — Selection  from  these  Lists:  (i.)  Peers,  (ii.) 
Commoners. 

IT  was  some  little  time  before  the  ideas  started  by  Shipley 
and  his  patrons  really  got  hold  of  the  public.  At  first  no 
special  efforts  seem  to  have  been  made  to  obtain  subscrip- 
tions and  attract  public  support.  From  the  date  of  the 
first  meeting  till  the  constitution  of  the  Society,  nearly  a 
year  later,  only  seventeen  members  were  enlisted.  In  the 
first  two  months  after  the  election  of  officers  in  February 
1755,  the  number  was  raised  to  eighty-one,  and  after  that 
the  increase  was  fairly  rapid. 

The  most  interesting  record  of  these  early  days  is  an 
ancient  signature-book,  which,  according  to  its  title-page, 
was  a  "  List  of  the  Nobility,  Clergy,  Gentry,  Merchants, 
etc.,  who  have  subscribed  towards  raising  a  Fund  for  the 
Encouragement  of  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce, 
1754."  The  signatories  of  the  book  bound  themselves  by 
the  undertaking  :  "  We  promise  to  pay  annually  during 
pleasure  the  several  sums  to  which  our  names  are  respect- 
ively prefixed." 

This  seems  to  have  been  the  original  form  of  the  list  of 
members,  and  as  it  contains  the  autographs  of  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  distinguished  persons  who  from  the  first 
supported  the  young  Society,  it  is  really  a  document  of 
very  great  value,  even  though  a  considerable  proportion 
of  the  members  never  signed  it  at  all.  Some  of  the  more 
interesting  signatures  have  been  reproduced  in  facsimile, 
and  a  selection  from  these  is  given  on  pages  47-50.  The 

book  remained  in  use  as  a  signature-book  for  about  ten 

26 


THE  ORIGINAL  SIGNATURE-BOOK  27 

years,  but  in  1775  a  regular  register  was  started,  with  the 
names  and  addresses  of  members,  the  amounts  of  their 
subscriptions,  the  .dates  when  they  became  due,  and  the 
dates  of  their  deaths  or  resignations.  The  first  volume  of 
this  register  contains  the  elections  from  1755  to  1767,  and 
it  has  been  continued,  almost  in  the  same  form,  up  to  the 
present  date.  Then,  as  now,  the  book  lasted  for  about 
ten  years,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  a  fresh  book  had  to  be 
opened,  the  names  of  surviving  members  being  transferred, 
and  space  provided  for  the  receipt  of  new  entries. 

The  first  printed  list  of  members  was  issued  in  October 
1755.  It  is  a  mere  broadside,  and  contains  no  names. 
The  next  list  which  has  been  preserved  is  dated  1758,  in 
which  year  the  numbers  had  increased  to  708,  and  in  the 
next  following  to  1760.  From  that  date  the  lists  were 
produced  regularly  at  short  intervals,  until  their  regular 
annual  publication.  A  careful  examination  of  these  lists 
affords  very  remarkable  evidence  of  the  popularity  of  the 
Society,  of  the  way  in  which  it  rapidly  attracted  public 
support,  and  of  the  esteem  in  which  it  was  held.  A  very 
large  proportion  of  the  peerage  supported  the  Society  with 
contributions  and  patronage.  Men  of  distinction  in  every 
class  of  life  subscribed,  and  there  is  hardly  any  class  or 
rank  without  eminent  representatives.  When  it  is  borne 
in  mind  that  the  whole  object  of  the  Society  was  the  pro- 
motion of  public  welfare,  and  that  not  the  slightest  advan- 
tage or  benefit  was  offered  to  individual  members,  the 
character  of  the  list  seems  still  more  remarkable. 

"  As  the  condition  of  England  in  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century  brought  about  the  foundation  of  the 
Royal  Society  and  the  popular  and  widely-spread  interest" 
in  the  investigation  of  science,  so  the  condition  of  the 
country  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  brought 
about  the  formation  of  the  Society  of  Arts  for  the  en- 
couragement of  the  applications  of  science  for  the  general 
good.  As  Dry  den,  Waller,  Evelyn,  and  the  literary^ 
coterie  of  the  Restoration  period  largely  supported  the 
Royal  Society,  so  the  circle  that  surrounded  Dr.  Johnson 
took  a  lively  interest  in  the  success  of  the  Society  of  Arts. 
The  lines  upon  which  the  Royal  Society  was  founded  were 


28          THE  EARLIEST  LISTS  OF  MEMBERS 

not  followed  by  the  founders  of  the  Society  of  Arts.  The 
latter  made  an  entirely  new  departure  and  were  strictly 
original  in  their  scheme.  Their  objects  were  national,  and 
the  members  gave  their  money  and  their  time  not  for  their 
own  private  advantage,  nor  for  the  increase  of  their 
personal  knowledge,  but  in  an  attempt  to  raise  the  produc- 
tive powers  of  the  nation  itself."  * 

To  justify  these  statements  it  seems  worth  while  to  give 
a  selection  of  the  most  eminent  names  which  are  to  be 
found  in  the  lists  of  the  Society's  members  for  the  first  ten 
years  of  its  existence.  The  latest  list  examined  is  that 
dated  March  1764. 


The  following  may  be  taken  to  be  a  fairly  complete  list 
of  the  Peers  whose  names  are  given  in  one  or  other  of  the 
lists  above  mentioned.  Many  of  the  Peerages  are  extinct 
or  have  passed  to  the  holders  of  other  titles,  and  no  doubt 
some  may  have  been  overlooked.  The  holders  of  courtesy 
titles  have  not  been  included,  and  it  would  be  too  much  to 
hope  that  some  mistakes  have  not  been  made  in  identifying 
individuals  : — 

Peregrine  Bertie,  3rd  Duke  of  Ancaster.  Raised  a  regi- 
ment of  foot  in  the  1745  rebellion.  Lord  Great 
Chamberlain  of  England.  The  Dukedom  became 
extinct  on  the  death  of  his  brother,  the  5th  Duke. 

John,  4th  Duke  of  Argyll.  He  married  the  beautiful  and 
witty  Mary  Bellenden. 

John,  4th  Duke  of  Bedford.  English  Minister-Pleni- 
potentiary at  negotiations  for  Peace  of  Paris,  1763. 

William,  4th  Duke  of  Devonshire.  First  Lord  of  the 
Treasury,  1756-7. 

Augustus,  3rd  Duke  of  Grafton.  He  held  various  offices, 
and  was  the  nominal  head  of  the  Chatham  Adminis- 
tration, 1766. 

Evelyn,  2nd  Duke  of  Kingston.  He  married  the  notorious 
Elizabeth  Chudleigh,  Countess  of  Bristol,  who  was 
afterwards  convicted  of  bigamy. 

1  H.   B.  Wheatley's  account  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  Engineering, 
24th  July  1891, 


SELECTED  NAMES  29 

George,  4th  Duke  of  Manchester.  He  was  elected  in  1 761 , 
when  he  was  Viscount  Mandeville.  He  became  Duke 
in  1762. 

George,  4th  Duke  of  Marlborough. 

William,  2nd  Duke  of  Portland.  When  he  died  in  1762 
his  successor,  William  (the  3rd  Duke),  became  a 
member.  The  latter  was  twice  Prime  Minister  in  the 
reign  of  George  in. 

Charles,  3rd  Duke  of  Queensberry.  This  was  the  cousin 
and  predecessor  of  "  Old  Q." 

Charles,  3rd  Duke  of  Richmond.  Ambassador  at  Paris, 
and  subsequently  Secretary  of  State  in  the  Cabinet 
of  the  younger  Pitt.  Vice-President  of  the  Society. 
His  portrait  appears  in  Barry's  Picture. 


James,  Marquis  of  Carnarvon.     Eldest  son  of  the  2nd  Duke 

of  Chandos.     He  afterwards  became  the  3rd  Duke, 

and  the  title  died  with  him  in  1 789. 
Charles,   2nd  Marquis  of  Rockingham.     Prime  Minister, 

and  head  of  the  Rockingham  Administration,  of  which 

Fox  and  Burke  formed  part. 


James,  8th  Earl  of  Abercorn. 

Arthur,  7th  Earl  of  Anglesey.     His  title  to  the  English 

Peerage  was  pronounced  invalid. 
John,  2nd  Earl  of  Ashburnham. 
William,  2nd  Earl  of  Bessborough.     Postmaster-General, 

etc. 
John,  3rd  Earl  of  Bute.     Prime  Minister.     He  paid  £40 

as  a  "  perpetual  member." 
George,  4th  Earl  of  Cardigan,  afterwards  (1766)  created 

Duke  of  Montagu. 
Robert,  ist  Earl  of  Catherlough. 
Philip,   4th    Earl   of  Chesterfield.     The   celebrated   Lord 

Chesterfield. 

Smith,  i  ith  Earl  of  Clanricarde. 
William,  2nd  Earl  of  Dartmouth. 
John,  2nd  Earl  of  Egmont. 


30          THE  EARLIEST  LISTS  OF  MEMBERS 

Charles,  2nd  Earl  of  Egremont. 

Brownlow,  9th  Earl  of  Exeter. 

Robert,  Earl  of  Farnham.  He  was  the  2nd  Baron  Farn- 
ham,  and  was  created  Earl  of  Farnham  in  1763,  but 
died  without  male  issue,  so  the  earldom  lapsed. 

Washington,  5th  Earl  Ferrers,  younger  brother  of  the 
notorious  Earl  Ferrers,  who  was  executed  in  1 760. 

John,  7th  Earl  of  Galloway.  Elected  in  1761  as  Lord 
Garlies. 

Charles,  ist  Earl  Grey.  General.  Commander-in-Chief 
in  America  and  the  West  Indies. 

George  Montagu,  3rd  and  last  Earl  of  Halifax,  First 
Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
etc. 

Simon,  ist  Earl  Harcourt.  Ambassador  at  Paris,  and 
Viceroy  of  Ireland.  His  eldest  son,  George  Simon 
Viscount  Nuneham,  was  also  a  member.  He  suc- 
ceeded his  father  as  2nd  Earl  Harcourt  in  1777. 

Philip,  2nd  Earl  of  Hardwicke.  Elected  when  he  was 
Viscount  Royston.  Vice-President  of  the  Society. 

Wills  Hill,  ist  Earl  of  Hillsborough,  afterwards  (1789) 
Marquis  of  Downshire.  Statesman. 

Robert,  4th  Earl  of  Holdernesse.  Ambassador  and 
Secretary  of  State. 

Francis,  loth  Earl  of  Huntingdon. 

George,  3rd  Earl  Lichfield.  Chancellor  of  the  University 
of  Oxford ,  1762.  Vice-President  of  the  Society . 

John,  ist  Earl  Ligonier.  Field-Marshal.  He  served 
under  Marlborough  in  Flanders,  and  received  several 
steps  in  the  Peerage,  becoming  Earl  in  1766.  He 
died  in  1770  at  the  great  age  of  ninety-one  and  was 
buried  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

Henry,  9th  Earl  of  Lincoln,  afterwards  2nd  Duke  of 
Newcastle. 

George  Parker,  2nd  Earl  of  Macclesfield,  P.R.S.  He  took 
an  active  part  in  the  introduction  of  the  New  Style 
in  1751.  Thomas,  the  3rd  Earl,  was  also  a  member. 
He  was  elected  in  1 75  7  as  Viscount  Parker. 

Charles  Henry,  7th  Earl  of  Montrath. 

James,  8th  Earl  of  Moray. 


SELECTED  NAMES  31 

Charles,  7th  Earl  of  Northampton. 

Spencer,  8th  Earl  of  Northampton. 

Hugh,  Earl  of  Northumberland.  Elected  under  that  title 
in  1757.  He  was  in  1766  created  the  ist  Duke  of 
Northumberland . 

Henry  Herbert,  loth  Earl  of  Pembroke. 

Other,  4th  Earl  of  Plymouth. 

George,  2nd  Earl  of  Pomfret. 

Henry  Arthur,  Earl  of  Powis  (Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury). 
The  Extinct  earldom,  after  the  death  of  his  son,  was 
conferred  on  the  eldest  son  of  Lord  Clive. 

Neil,  3rd  Earl  of  Rosebery. 

John,  4th  Earl  of  Sandwich.  The  famous  First  Lord 
of  the  Admiralty,  the  inventor  of  the  sandwich,  which 
he  ate  when  too  busy  for  a  meal.  Known  as  "  Jemmy 
Twitcher,"  from  the  character  in  the  Beggar's  Opera, 
in  consequence  of  his  attack  upon  Wilkes,  his  former 
friend  and  associate  at  Medmenham  Abbey. 

Antony,  4th  Earl  of  Shaftesbury.  He  married  a  daughter 
of  Lord  Folkestone,  and  was  one  of  the  first  sub- 
scribers, having  given  ten  guineas  to  the  original  fund 
started  in  1754  to  provide  prizes. 

William,  2nd  Earl  of  Shelburne.  Prime  Minister  in 
George  m.'s  reign,  afterwards  ist  Marquis  of  Lans- 
downe. 

Harry,  4th  Earl  of  Stamford. 

Philip,  2nd  Earl  Stanhope,  the  father  of  the  Earl  Stanhope 
who  improved  the  printing-press. 

William  Alexander,  Earl  of  Stirling.  This  was  the  "  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  of  the  American  forces,"  who  claimed 
and  bore  the  title  after  the  death  of  the  5th  Earl  in 
1739.  He  died  in  1795. 

William,  i8th  Earl  of  Sutherland.  His  daughter  married 
Earl  Gower,  afterwards  Duke  of  Sutherland. 

Richard,  ist  Earl  Temple,  brother  of  the  Prime  Minister, 
George  Grenville. 

Percy,  ist  Earl  of  Thomond. 

John,  2nd  Earl  Tylney .  He  was  the  grandson  of  Sir  Josiah 
Child,  the  great  merchant  and  economist,  chairman 
and  for  long  absolute  ruler  of  the  East  India  Company. 


32          THE  EARLIEST   LISTS  OF  MEMBERS 

Ralph,  2nd  Earl  Verney,  F.R.S.     At  his  death,  in  1791, 

the  title  became  extinct. 

James,  2nd  Earl  Waldegrave.     First  Lord  of  the  Treasury. 
Francis  Greville,  ist  Earl  of  Warwick.     He  was  the  8th 

Baron,  and  first  Earl  Brooke. 
Thomas,  8th  Earl  of  Westmorland.     His  eldest  son,  John, 

Lord  Burghersh,  was  also  a  member.     He  succeeded 

his  father  in  1771  as  9th  Earl  of  Westmorland. 


William,  2nd  Viscount  Barrington.  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  etc. 

John,  2nd  Viscount  Bateman. 

Frederick,  2nd  Viscount  Bolingbroke. 

James,  3rd  Viscount  Charlemont,  afterwards  Earl  of 
Charlemont. 

Henry,  ist  Viscount  Conyngham. 

William,  2nd  Viscount  Courtenay.  The  title  became 
extinct  with  his  son,  who,  however,  had  established 
his  title  to  the  Earldom  of  Devon. 

John,  4th  Viscount  Downe. 

John,  ist  Viscount  Dudley. 

Lucius,  7th  Viscount  Falkland. 

Richard,  6th  Viscount  Fitzwilliam. 

Jacob,  ist  Viscount  Folkestone.  Founder  and  First 
President  of  the  Society.  His  portrait  by  Gains- 
borough is  in  the  possession  of  the  Society,  and 
Barry  also  included  his  portrait  in  his  painting  of 
"  The  Society." 

Richard,  4th  Viscount  Howe.  The  celebrated  Admiral 
Howe,  afterwards  Earl  Howe. 

Charles,  9th  Viscount  Irvine. 

Thomas,  4th  Viscount  Kenmare. 

George,  3rd  Viscount  Midleton. 

Henry,  2nd  Viscount  Palmerston,  father  of  the  well- 
known  statesman. 

Edward,  2nd  Viscount  Powerscourt. 

John,  ist  Viscount  Spencer,  afterwards  (1765)  Earl 
Spencer.  His  son  was  the  founder  of  "  the  finest 


SELECTED  NAMES  33 

private    library    in    Europe,"    and    the    well-known 

statesman. 
George,  Viscount  Townshend,  the  4th  Viscount  and   ist 

Marquis.     Field-Marshal,  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 

Brigadier-General  under  Wolfe  in  Quebec  Expedition. 

He  was  elected  in  1757  as  General  Townshend,  before 

his  accession  to  the  Peerage. 
Thomas,  2nd  Viscount  Wentworth.     His  father,  the  ist 

Viscount,  was  elected  a  member  before  his  promotion, 

and  his  name  appears  in  the  list  as  Baron  Wentworth. 
Thomas,    3rd    Viscount    Weymouth,    afterwards    (1789) 

created  Marquis  of   Bath.     Secretary    of  State  and 

Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland. 


George,  ist  Baron  Anson.  The  great  Admiral,  First 
Lord  of  the  Admiralty.  Celebrated  for  his  voyage 
round  the  world.  He  had  no  children,  so  his  title 
died  with  him. 

Frederick,  7th  Baron  Baltimore.  At  his  death  the  title 
became  extinct.  The  first  Lord  Baltimore  was  the 
coloniser  of  Maryland  in  the  reign  of  James  i.,  and  it 
was  from  him  that  the  city  of  Baltimore  took  its 
name.  Barry  heard  of  Baltimore's  charter  to  the 
Indians  after  he  had  finished  the  picture  in  the 
meeting-room.  So  in  his  etching  he  made  Baltimore  a 
prominent  figure,  and  thrust  William  Penn  into  the 
background. 

Charles,  3rd  Baron  Cadogan,  afterwards  (1800)  created 
Earl  Cadogan. 

John,  ist  Baron  Carysfort.     Lord  of  the  Admiralty. 

Robert,  ist  Baron  Clive  of  Plassy.  The  great  Indian 
statesman  and  General. 

Gabriel,  ist  Baron  Coleraine. 

Richard,  2nd  Baron  Edgcumbe.  He  died  in  the  year 
following  his  election,  1761,  when  his  brother  and 
successor  became  a  member. 

George,  3rd  Baron  Edgcumbe,  created  Earl  of  Mount- 
Edgcumbe  in  1789. 

Thomas,  ist  Baron  Foley. 

4 


34          THE  EARLIEST  LISTS  OF  MEMBERS 

George,  ist  Baron  Lyttelton,  scholar  and  author. 

Thomas,  2nd  Baron  Montfort. 

Frederick,   Lord   North,   afterwards   (1790)    2nd    Earl   of 

Guilford.     The  eminent  statesman  ;    Prime  Minister, 

1770  to  1782. 
Francis,    ist   Baron   Orwell,   afterwards   (1776)   Viscount 

Orwell  and  (1777)  Earl  of  Shipbrook. 
John,    ist    Baron    Pollington,    afterwards    Earl    of   Mex- 

borough. 
George,  ist  Baron  Rodney,  the  great  Admiral.     He  was 

elected  in   1757  as  Admiral  Rodney,  and  was  made  a 

peer  in  1782. 

Robert,  2nd  Baron  Romney.      Founder,  first  Vice- Presi- 
dent,   and    second    President    of   the    Society.     His 

portrait   by   Reynolds   is   in   the   possession   of  the 

Society. 

John,  i  ith  Baron  St.  John  of  Bletsoe. 
Nathaniel,  ist  Baron  Scarsdale. 
Thomas,  3rd  Baron  Southwell,  created  Viscount  Southwell 

in  1776. 

John,  ist  Baron  Waltham. 
John,  6th  Baron  Ward,  afterwards  (1763)  Viscount  Dudley 

and  Ward. 
Edward,  Baron  Wentworth,  afterwards  (1762)  ist  Viscount 

Wentworth.     His  son  was  also  a  member,  and  his 

name  is  included  among  the  Viscounts. 
John,  6th  Baron  Willoughby  de  Broke. 
Hugh,  1 5th  Baron  Willoughby  de  Parham.    P.S.A.,  F.R  S., 

Vice-President  of  the  Society. 
Edward,    ist   Baron   Winterton,   afterwards   (1766)    Earl 

Winterton. 


We  may  now  leave  the  Peerage,  and  attempt  a  selection 
from  the  general  body  of  members,  dealing  as  before  with 
the  lists  previous  to,  and  including  that  of,  1764.  The 
task  of  picking  out  the  names  of  persons  eminent  at  the 
time  or  afterwards  distinguished  has  proved  rather  difficult . 
Without  the  help  of  that  admirable  work,  the  Dictionary 
of  National  Biography,  it  would  have  been  hopeless .  Wider 


SELECTED  NAMES  35 

historical  knowledge,  and  a  greater  familiarity  with  the 
records  of  the  time  would  no  doubt  have  rendered  the 
task  easier  and  the  results  more  complete.  In  many 
cases,  also,  the  information  given  is  too  slight  to  render 
identification  certain.  The  list,  therefore,  must  be  taken 
as  representative  rather  than  exhaustive,  though  probably 
there  are  not  many  names  of  real  eminence  that  have  been 
overlooked.  At  all  events,  the  following  list  is  so  long 
that  perhaps  no  apology  is  needed  for  not  making  it 
longer : — 

Robert  Adam  (elected  in  1758),  William  Adam  (elected 
in  1762),  and  James  Adam  (elected  in  1764),  the 
architects  of  the  Adelphi. 

Anthony  Addington,  M.D.,  physician  to  the  great  Lord 
Chatham  and  father  of  the  Prime  Minister,  who  was 
nicknamed  "  The  Doctor,"  in  allusion  to  his  parentage. 

Ralph  Allen,  philanthropist,  improver  of  the  Post  Office, 
friend  of  Pope,  Fielding,  and  others. 

William  Almack,  founder  of  Almack's  Assembly  Rooms 
and  of  the  gaming  club  in  Pall  Mall  which  afterwards 
changed  hands  and  developed  into  Brooks 's  Club. 

John  Julius  Angerstein,  whose  fine  collection  of  pictures 
formed  the  nucleus  of  the  National  Gallery. 

Thomas  Arne,  the  well-known  musician  ;  composer  of 
"  Rule  Britannia." 

Robert  Arthur,  St.  James's  Street,  proprietor  of  Arthur's 
and  White's  Clubs. 

Thomas  Astle,  antiquary,  Keeper  of  the  Records,  author 
of  Origin  of  Writing. 

John  Astley,  portrait  painter,  and  friend  of  Horace 
Walpole. 

David  Erskine  Baker,  author  of  Companion  to  the  Play- 
house, enlarged  to  Biographia  Dramatica. 

Henry  Baker,  F.R.S.,  naturalist  and  author.  Defoe's 
son-in-law.  Founder  of  the  Bakerian  Lecture  of  the 
Royal  Society.  He  took  a  very  active  part  in  the 
foundation  and  early  organisation  of  the  Society. 
He  was  elected  a  "  perpetual  member  "  in  1755  for 
his  services. 


36          THE  EARLIEST  LISTS  OF  MEMBERS 

Samuel  Baker,  founder  of  Sotheby's  Auction  Rooms. 

Sir  Joseph  Banks,  for  forty-one  years  the  autocratic 
President  of  the  Royal  Society. 

Sir  Francis  Baring,  founder  of  Baring  Brothers  and  Chair- 
man of  the  East  India  Company. 

Robert  Barker,  the  reputed  inventor  of  panoramas. 

Sir  Edward  Barry,  physician,  medical  writer. 

John  Baskerville,  the  eminent  printer. 

Topham  Beauclerk,  the  fashionable  friend  of  Dr.  Johnson. 

William  Beckford,  Lord  Mayor  1762  and  1769,  the  staunch 
supporter  of  Wilkes. 

Jeremiah  Bentham,  the  father  of  Jeremy  Bentham, 
the  great  utilitarian  philosopher.  He  was  elected  in 
1755,  when  his  son  Jeremy  was  sixteen. 

James  Boswell,  elected  in  1760  when  he  was  twenty,  on  his 
first  visit  to  London  and  before  he  knew  Dr.  Johnson. 

Alderman  John  Boydell,  the  reviver  of  English  engraving 
by  his  munificent  patronage. 

Gustavus  Brander,  F.R.S.,  antiquary,  director  of  Bank  of 
England,  benefactor  to  British  Museum.  One  of  the 
Society's  founders. 

Owen  Salusbury  Brereton,  antiquary,  Recorder  of  Liver- 
pool, Bencher  of  Lincoln's  Inn.  Vice- President  of 
the  Society.  His  portrait  is  in  Barry's  picture. 

Jacob  Bryant,  classical  scholar. 

Charles  Burney,  the  well-known  author  of  the  History  of 
Music,  and  the  father  of  Fanny  Burney  the  authoress. 
He  was  elected  in  1 764,  when  he  was  living  in  Poland 
Street,  and  before  he  took  the  degree  of  Mus. 
Doc.  His  portrait  appears  in  Barry's  picture,  "The 
Thames,"  amongst  the  sea-nymphs. 
William  Cadogan,  M.D.,  physician  to  the  Foundling 

Hospital. 

William  Caslon,  the  famous  typefounder. 
The  Hon.  Henry  Cavendish,  the  great  philosopher  and 

experimentalist. 
Sir  Robert  Chambers,  one  of  the  judges  in  the  trial  of 

Nuncomar. 

Sir  William  Chambers,  the  architect  of  Somerset  House. 
He    acted    as    architect    to    the    Society    when    it 


SELECTED  NAMES  37 

moved  into  new  premises  in  Little  Denmark  Court, 

1759- 

Samuel  Chandler,  D.D.,  Nonconformist  minister  and 
bookseller. 

Charles  Chauncey,  physician  and  collector. 

Sir  Henry  Cheere,  statuary,  patron  of  Roubiliac. 

Thomas  Chippendale,  the  famous  furniture  maker. 

Giovanni  Cipriani,  R.A.,  historical  painter  and  engraver. 

George  Colman  the  elder,  dramatist. 

Sir  Eyre  Coote,  the  famous  Indian  General  and  conqueror 
of  Hyder  Ali.  At  the  time  of  his  election  he  was 
Colonel  Coote. 

Richard  Cosway,  R.A.,  the  celebrated  miniature  and 
portrait  painter.  One  of  the  first  of  the  Society's 
prize-winners. 

James,  Thomas,  and  Patrick  Coutts.  James  at  the  time  of 
his  election  was  already  a  partner  in  the  great  banking 
firm,  then  in  the  "  New  Exchange,"  and  carrying  on 
business  as  "  Campbell  &  Coutts."  Thomas  was 
elected  in  1762,  the  year  after  he  had  been  taken  into 
partnership,  after  the  death  of  Campbell.  Patrick 
was  at  the  time  of  his  election  (1767)  a  partner  in 
the  bank  in  St.  Mary  Axe,  first  started  by  the  Coutts 
brothers. 

Sir  John  Cust,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  1761 
and  1768-70. 

George  Dance,  the  elder  of  the  two  architects,  father  and 
son.  He  designed  the  Mansion  House. 

Sir  Francis  Dashwood  (Baron  le  Despencer),  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer,  and  leading  member  of  the  Dilettanti 
Society  ;  founder  of  the  "  Hell  Fire  Club  "  at  Med- 
menham. 

Captain  (afterwards  Colonel)  Thomas  Desaguliers,  F.R.S., 
son  of  J.  T.  Desaguliers,  author  of  various  books  on 
mechanical  and  experimental  philosophy. 

Sir  Alexander  Dick,  president  of  the  Edinburgh  College  of 
Physicians  and  friend  of  Dr.  Johnson. 

Robert  and  James  Dodsley,  the  well-known  book- 
sellers. 

John  Dollond,  the  eminent  optician,  Copley  Medallist. 


38          THE  EARLIEST  LISTS  OF  MEMBERS 

Robert  Dossie,  the  editor  of  the  Memoirs  of  Agriculture, 
etc.,  in  which  the  Society's  early  Proceedings  were  re- 
corded. Some  record  of  him  will  be  found  in  Chapter 
XV,  p.  331.  His  Memoirs  are  constantly  referred  to 
in  these  pages. 

Robert  and  John  Drummond,  the  bankers,  whose  bank 
was  then,  as  now,  at  Charing  Cross,  were  both  members. 
The  former  was  elected  in  1757  and  the  latter  in  1762. 
Robert  was  the  son  of  Viscount  Strathallan,  who 
was  killed  at  Culloden  and  was  attainted,  as  was  also 
his  eldest  son.  John  married  a  granddaughter  of  the 
first  Duke  of  St.  Albans  (Nell  Gwynne's  son),  and  it 
was  through  this  connection  that  the  Adelphi  estate, 
acquired  by  the  second  Duke  of  St.  Albans  on  his 
marriage  with  the  daughter  of  Sir  John  Werden, 
whose  trustees  had  purchased  it,  came  into  the 
possession  of  the  Drummond  family.  The  Drum- 
monds  have  ever  since  been  connected  with  the 
Society  ;  and  Mr.  George  James  Drummond,  the 
owner  of  the  Adelphi,  is  now  (1913)  the  Society's 
landlord.  The  bank  was  founded  in  1707  by  Andrew 
Drummond,  the  father  of  John,  above-mentioned. 

Sir  John  Fielding,  the  magistrate,  half-brother  to  the 
novelist. 

Sir  Samuel  Fludyer,  Lord  Mayor  in  1761.  Fludyer 
Street,  Westminster,  was  called  after  him. 

John  Fothergill,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  botanist  and  physician, 
associated  with  Franklin. 

Benjamin  Franklin,  the  great  American  philosopher  and 
politician.  He  was  elected  a  corresponding  member 
in  1756,  but  paid  the  amount  of  a  Life  Subscription, 
and  his  name  afterwards  appears  among  the  ordinary 
members.  He  kept  up  a  correspondence  with  the 
Society,  and  in  1761,  while  in  England,  he  accepted 
the  office  of  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  British 
Colonies  and  Trade. 

David  Garrick,  the  great  actor. 

Edward  Gibbon,  the  historian. 

Thomas  Gisborne,  M.D.,  President  of  the  College  of 
Physicians. 


, 


SELECTED  NAMES  39 

Oliver  Goldsmith,  whose  address  when  he  was  elected  in 
1763  was  the  Chapter  Coffee- House. 

Major-General  Sir  John  Griffin,  afterwards  Field-Marshal, 
and  (1784)  9th  Baron  Howard  de  Walden. 

Admiral  Thomas  Griffin,  served  in  the  West  Indies  and 
elsewhere,  but  left  an  unfortunate  reputation  for  lack 
of  intrepidity  and  for  unpopularity. 

Thomas  Grignion,  the  clockmaker,  who  presented  to  the 
Society  the  clock  in  the  meeting-room. 

Francis  Grose,  antiquary  and  author. 

Stephen  Hales,  D.D.,  F.R.S.,  Copley  Medallist,  physio- 
logist, botanist,  and  inventor.  One  of  the  Society's 
founders.  His  portrait  is  in  Barry's  picture  of  "  The 
Society." 

Jonas  Hanway,  the  historian  of  commerce  and  the  intro- 
ducer of  umbrellas. 

Sir  Charles  Hardy,  Admiral,  Governor  of  NewT  York ; 
served  in  command  under  Hawke  at  Brest  and 
Quiberon  Bay,  M.P.  for  Portsmouth 

The  Hon.  Thomas  Harley,  afterwards  Lord  Mayor  (1767), 
opponent  of  Wilkes. 

Sir  Edward  Hawke,  the  distinguished  Admiral,  after- 
wards (1776)  ist  Baron  Hawke. 

John  Hawkesworth,  LL.D.,  friend  of  Dr.  Johnson,  and  his 
successor  as  compiler  of  the  Parliamentary  reports 
in  the  Gentleman1  s  Magazine. 

Sir  Caesar  Hawkins,  the  eminent  surgeon. 

Sir  George  Hay,  lawyer  and  politician. 

Francis  Hayman,  original  R.A. ;  friend  of  Hogarth  and 
Garrick. 

William  Heberden  (the  elder),  physician  and  scholar  ; 
attended  Johnson,  Cowper,  and  Warburton.  He,  like 
Caesar,  wrote  his  Commentaries,  and  a  bookseller  is 
said  to  have  recommended  one  as  a  substitute  for  the 
other. 

William  Hoare,  of  Bath,  original  R.A.;  distinguished 
portrait-painter . 

William  Hogarth.  His  signature  is  crossed  out  in  the 
signature-book  ;  why,  there  is  no  saying.  He  was 
duly  elected  in  December  1755,  and  subscribed  for 


40          THE  EARLIEST  LISTS  OF  MEMBERS 

two  years.     His  name  appears  on  committees  in  1757. 
He  died  in  1764. 

Thomas  Hollis,  republican  and  author.  Presented  por- 
trait of  Newton  to  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and 
portrait  of  Cromwell  to  Sidney  Sussex  College. 

John  Howard,  the  philanthropist. 

Richard  Huck,  army  surgeon  and  physician  of  reputation. 
In  1 777  he  took  the  additional  name  of  Saunders. 

Dr.  William  Hunter,  the  physician,  who  was  as  well  known 
in  his  day  as  his  younger  brother  John. 

Dr.  Robert  James,  the  inventor  of  James's  Powder. 

Richard  Jebb,  M.D.,  afterwards  (1778)  baronet.  Friend 
of  Wilkes  and  Churchill. 

Soame  Jenyns,  a  great  man  in  his  day,  but  now  best 
known  as  having  had  his  Nature  and  Origin  of  Evil 
unfavourably  reviewed  by  Dr.  Johnson. 

Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D.  He  took  a  great  deal  of  interest 
in  the  Society,  attended  its  meetings,  and  took  part 
in  its  deliberations,  though  by  his  own  account  he 
was  no  orator.  He  told  Boswell  that  he  had  "  several 
times  tried  to  speak  at  the  Society  of  Arts  and 
Sciences,  but  had  found  that  he  could  not  get  on." 
Also  he  "  acknowledged  that  he  rose  in  that  Society 
to  deliver  a  speech  which  he  had  prepared ;  '  but 
(said  he)  all  my  flowers  of  oratory  forsook  me.'  ' 
Boswell  (Edit.  G.  Birkbeck  Hill,  1887),  vol.  ii.  page 

139- 
Hugh  Kelly,  a  playwright  who  considered  himself  a  rival 

of  Goldsmith. 
Admiral    Augustus    Keppel,    afterwards    (1782)    created 

Viscount  Keppel. 
Gowin  Knight,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  Principal  Librarian  of  the 

British  Museum. 
Sir  Charles  Knowles,  Admiral,  Governor  of  Louisburg  and 

of  Jamaica. 

Abraham  Langford,  auctioneer  and  playwright. 
Colonel   Stringer   Lawrence,   called   the   "  father   of  the 

Indian  Army/'     He  left  India  in  1 759. 
Thomas  Lawrence,  friend  and  physician  of  Dr.  Johnson. 
Sir  Wilfrid  Lawson,  the  8th  Baronet. 


SELECTED  NAMES  41 

Henry  Bilson-Legge,  financier,  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer, etc. 

James  M'Ardel,one  of  the  best  English  mezzotint  engravers. 

Robert  Mackreth,  the  well-known  waiter  at  Arthur's 
Chocolate- House,  known  as  "  Bob,"  afterwards  M.P., 
and  knighted. 

Sir  Richard  Manningham,  known  as  a  great  "  man-mid- 
wife/1 

William  Markham,  D.D.,  headmaster  of  Westminster 
School  ;  afterwards  (1777)  Archbishop  of  York. 

Matthew  Maty,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  secretary  R.S.,  Principal 
Librarian  of  the  British  Museum.  He  was  a  candidate 
for  the  secretaryship  of  the  Society  in  1760,  when  Dr. 
Templeman  was  elected. 

Israel  Mauduit,  F.R.S.,  political  pamphleteer  and  preacher, 
Agent  in  England  for  Massachusetts. 

John  Mitchell,  F.R.S.,  botanist,  made  a  map  of  the  British 
and  French  Dominions  in  North  America. 

Sir  Henry  Moore,  Bart.,  Governor  of  Jamaica  and  of 
New  York. 

Robert  More,  F.R.S.,  botanist. 

Charles  Morton,  M.D.,  Principal  Librarian  of  the  British 
Museum. 

George  Michael  Moser,  chaser  and  enameller,  first  keeper 
R.A.  Engraved  George  m.'s  first  Great  Seal.  Father 
of  Mary  Moser,  R.A. 

Lieut  .-General  Lord  John  Murray,  M.P.  for  Perth. 

Robert  Mylne,  F.R.S.,  constructed  Blackfriars  Bridge, 
engineer  to  the  New  River  Company. 

John  Newbery,  publisher  and  bookseller.  He  employed 
Johnson  and  Goldsmith. 

Frank  Nicholls,  F.R.S.,  physician. 

Lieut  .-General  Oglethorpe,  M.P.,  founder  of  Georgia. 
Dr.  Johnson  offered  to  write  his  life.  Austin  Dobson 
calls  him  a  "  Paladin  of  Philanthropy." 

James  Paine,  a  successful  and  industrious  architect.  He 
built  numerous  country  houses  and  several  in  London. 
He  was  President  of  the  Society  of  Artists,  1771.  He 
rebuilt  Salisbury  Street  in  1783.  There  is  a  good 
account  of  him  in  Chancellor's  British  Architects,  1909. 


• 


42          THE  EARLIEST  LISTS  OF  MEMBERS 

Sir  Robert  Palk,  Bart.,  Governor  of  Madras.  Palk  Strait, 
between  Ceylon  and  India,  is  called  after  him. 

James  Parsons,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  physician  and  antiquary. 

Sir  Lucas  Pepys,  Bart.,  M.D.,  President  of  the  Royal  College 
of  Physicians,  physician  to  George  in.  Attended  the 
King  in  his  insanity.  He  was  elected  in  1764,  when 
twenty- two  years  of  age. 

John  Lewis  Petit,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  physician. 

Constantine  John  Phipps,  commanded  the  Racehorse  in 
expedition  of  1773  to  discover  a  north-eastern  route 
to  India,  and  attained  a  high  latitude  to  north 
of  Spitzbergen.  Afterwards  2nd  Baron  Mulgave, 
M.P.,  and  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  etc. 

Christopher  Pinchbeck,  son  of  the  inventor  of  copper 
and  zinc  alloy  named  after  him. 

Charles  Pinfold,  Governor  of  Barbados, 

Thomas  Pingo,  medallist,  assistant  engraver  to  the  Mint. 

William  Pitcairn,  M.D.,  President  of  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians, 1775-85.  A  ward  in  St.  Bartholomew's 
Hospital  is  named  after  him. 

George  Pitt,  afterwards  Baron  Rivers,  author  of  Letters 
to  a  Young  Nobleman,  etc. 

William  Pitt,  the  great  statesman,  afterwards  Earl  of 
Chatham. 

Admiral  Sir  George  Pocock.     He  took  Havana  in  1762. 

Sir  James  Porter,  F.R.S.,  Ambassador  at  Constantinople. 

Governor  Pownall,  politician.  His  work  on  The  Ad- 
ministration of  the  Colonies  went  through  several 
editions.  He  was  elected  in  1760,  and  his  name  in 
the  List  is  altered  from  "  Governor  "  to  "  Thos.,  Esq." 

Sir  Charles  Pratt,  afterwards  created  Earl  Camden,  Lord 
Chancellor  and  Chief  Justice  ;  decided  in  the  case  of 
John  Wilkes  that  general  warrants  were  illegal,  and 
thereby  gained  immense  popularity. 

William,  Viscount  Pulteney,  the  son  of  the  well-known  poli- 
tician who  was  made  Earl  of  Bath  by  Walpole.  He 
died  before  his  father,  and  the  earldom  became  extinct. 

Sir  Thomas  Pye,  Admiral.  "  A  man  of  slender  ability, 
thrust  into  office  by  the  Bathurst  influence " 
(Diet.  Nat.  Biog.). 


SELECTED  NAMES  43 

Allan  Ramsay,  portrait  painter  to  George  in.,  acquaintance 

of  Dr.  Johnson. 

»    Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  first  President  of  the  Royal  Academy. 
Elected  in  1756  before  he  was  knighted. 

General  Robert  Rich  (afterwards  5th  Baronet),  wounded 
at  Culloden. 

Samuel  Richardson,  the  novelist. 

Sir  Thomas  Robinson,  Governor  of  Barbados  and  Com- 
missioner of  Excise. 

John  Robison,  went  to  Jamaica  for  the  test  of  Harrison's 
chronometer. 

Francis  Louis  Roubiliac,  the  sculptor. 

Sir  John  St.  Aubyn,  5th  Baronet,  M.P.,  F.R.S. 

Lord  George  Sackville,  afterwards  Viscount  Sackville,  of 
unhappy  reputation  for  his  behaviour  at  the  battle  of 
Minden  in  1759. 

Paul  Sandby,  R.A.,  water-colour  painter  and  engraver. 

Sir  Charles  Saunders,  Admiral,  served  on  Newfoundland 
station,  and  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty. 

Sir  George  Savile,  Bart.,  M.P.,  F.R.S. ,  well-known 
independent  politician,  and  Vice-President  of  the 
Society. 

Gregory  Sharpe,  D.D.,  F.R.S.,  Master  of  the  Temple. 

Peter  Shaw,  physician  and  author. 

Thomas  Sheridan,  author  and  actor  (father  of  Richard 
Brinsley).  Proposed  by  Garrick. 

The  Rev.  Laurence  Sterne,  author  of  Tristram  Shandy. 

John  Stock,  painter  to  His  Majesty's  dockyards.  He  died 
in  1781,  leaving  the  bulk  of  his  property,  upwards  of 
£60,000,  to  the  Painters'  Company,  with  instructions 
that  the  interest  should  be  distributed  to  the  aged 
blind,  the  poor  of  the  Company,  and  others.  He  left 
£ i  oo  to  the  Society,  with  the  condition  that  the  interest 
should  be  applied  for  the  promotion  of  drawing, 
sculpture,  and  architecture. 

Sir  Robert  Strange,  the  eminent  English  engraver. 

General  William  Strode.  It  was  he  who  erected  the  statue 
of  Queen  Charlotte  in  the  centre  of  Queen's  Square, 
and  that  of  William,  Duke  of  Cumberland,  in  Cavendish 
Square. 


. 


44         THE  EARLIEST  LISTS  OF  MEMBERS 

James  Stuart,  author,  member  of  the  Dilettanti  Society, 
generally  known  as  "  Athenian  "  Stuart.  Designed 
the  Society's  first  medal  (see  Chapter  XIV,  p.  316). 

George  Stubbs,  the  well-known  animal  painter. 

Robert  Taylor,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  a  well-known  physician. 

James  Theobald,  F.R.S.,  F.S.A.  One  of  the  first  Vice- 
Presidents  of  the  Society.  He  took  an  active  part  in 
the  movement  for  obtaining  a  charter  for  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries,  of  which  Society  he  became  the 
Secretary  in  January  1727-8.  Afterwards  he  became 
a  member  of  its  Council  and  one  of  its  Vice-Presidents, 
He  made  many  communications  to  that  Society,  and 
there  are  frequent  references  to  him  in  its  minutes. 
He  died  in  1759.  He  is  mentioned  several  times  in 
Nichols's  Literary  Anecdotes,  but  is  ignored  by  the 
Diet.  Nat.  Biog. 

Sir  Noah  Thomas,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  physician. 

Bonnell  Thornton,  well-known  wit  and  writer,  member  of 
the  "  Nonsense  Club,"  which  organised  an  "  Exhibition 
of  the  Society  of  Sign- Painters,"  in  ridicule  of  the 
Society  of  Arts  Exhibition  (see  Diet.  Nat.  Biog.). 
He  only  subscribed  for  one  year,  so  perhaps  the 
Society's  methods  did  not  commend  themselves 
to  him. 

John  Thornton,  one  of  the  first  of  the  well-known  Clapham 
family,  the  great  evangelicals. 

Henry  Thrale,  the  brewer,  Dr.  Johnson's  friend. 

Jacob  Tonson,  great- nephew  of  Jacob  Tonson,  Dry  den's 
first  publisher,  employed  Warburton  and  Johnson 
among  others. 

Rev.  James  Townley,  headmaster  of  Merchant  Taylors' 
School,  author  of  High  Life  below  Stairs ;  friend  of 
Hogarth. 

Charles  Townshend,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  etc., 
and  brilliant  wit. 

Jonathan  Tyers,  proprietor  of  Vauxhall  Gardens. 

Robert  Vansittart,  Regius  Professor  of  Civil  Law,  Oxford. 

Horace  Walpole,  the  great  connoisseur  and  well-known 
author  and  collector.  Afterwards  (1791)  4th  Earl  of 
Orford. 


SELECTED  NAMES  45 

Joshua  Ward,  "  Spot  "  Ward,  the  well-known  quack  and 
nostrum-monger,  whose  statue  by  Agostino  Carlini 
decorates  the  Society's  Hall.  He  acquired  a  fortune 
by  the  sale  of  pills  and  potions,  and  a  reputation  by 
his  introduction  of  improved  methods  of  making 
sulphuric  acid. 

Richard  Warren,  M.D.,  a  well-known  physician. 

Sir  William  Watson,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  physician  and  man  of 
science.  Physician  to  Foundling  Hospital. 

Philip  Carteret  Webb,  F.R.S.,  M.P.  He  was  joint  solicitor 
to  the  Treasury  and  a  leading  official  in  prosecution  of 
John  Wilkes. 

Alexander  Wedderburn,  Lincoln's  Inn,  afterwards  Lord 
Loughborough  and  Earl  of  Rosslyn. 

Saunders  Welch,  a  magistrate  of  Westminster,  friend  of 
Fielding  and  Dr.  Johnson. 

Benjamin  West,  R.A.,  the  painter.  President  of  the 
Royal  Academy. 

Samuel  Whitbread,  brewer,  father  of  the  better-known 
politician. 

Caleb  Whitefoord ,  wit  and  diplomatist .  Friend  of  Franklin, 
Johnson,  Goldsmith,  and  Horace  Walpole.  He  was  a 
Vice- President  of  the  Society,  and  a  very  active  member 
of  it.  He  was  instrumental  in  obtaining  the  portraits 
of  Shipley  and  Templeman.  The  Society  possesses 
his  portrait  by  an  unknown  painter. 

Charles  Whitworth,  M.P.,  Chairman  of  Ways  and  Means, 
1774-78.  Knighted  in  1768.  One  of  the  first  Vice- 
Presidents  of  the  Society. 

John  Wilkes,  the  notorious  politician,  elected  1758,  when 
thirty-one  years  of  age.  He  was  proposed  by  his 
brother,  Israel  Wilkes,  who  joined  the  Society  in 
1757,  and  was  a  very  active  member,  constantly 
taking  the  chair  at  committee  meetings. 

Sir  Edward  Wilmot,  Bart,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  Physician- 
General  to  the  Army. 

Sir  John  Eardley- Wilmot,  Chief  Justice,  Common  Pleas. 
Educated  with  Johnson  at  Lichfield. 

Joseph  Wilton,  sculptor,  foundation  member  of  R.A., 
associated  with  Sir  William  Chambers,  the  architect. 


46          THE  EARLIEST  LISTS  OF  MEMBERS 

Henry  Sampson  Woodfall,  the  printer  of  the  Letters  of 
Juniusy  and  conductor  of  the  Public  Advertiser. 

Sir  George  Yonge,  Bart.,  Governor  of  the  Cape. 

Christian  Friedrich  Zincke,  enamel  painter ;  produced 
many  portraits  in  enamel. 


In  addition  to  the  subscribing  members,  the  Society 
had  also  a  number  of  corresponding  members,  men  dis- 
tinguished in  various  capacities,  or  who  had  rendered  ser- 
vices to  the  Society.  They  were  for  the  most  part  foreigners 
or  resident  abroad.  The  greatest  name  on  the  earlier 
lists  is  that  of  Linnaeus,  which  appears  for  the  first  time 
in  the  list  of  1770. 

/  Amongst  the  names  which  came  up  for  election  there 
were  very  few  rejected,  as  would  naturally  be  the  case 
when  the  object  of  the  Society  was  to  collect  subscriptions 
for  a  certain  purpose.  However,  one  was  that  notorious 
free-lance,  Dr.  John  Hill,  or  Sir  John  Hill,  as  he  called 
himself  after  he  had  been  made  a  knight  of  the  Order  of 
Vasa  by  the  King  of  Sweden.  He  was  proposed  for  election, 
but  was  unsuccessful,  as  he  also  was  when  he  tried  to  get 
into  the  Royal  Society,  so  that  he  might  put  F.R.S.  after 
his  name  in  the  title-page  of  one  of  his  books .  TheDictionary 
of  National  Biography  describes  Hill  as  "  a  versatile  man 
of  unscrupulous  character,  with  considerable  abilities,  great 
perseverance,  and  unlimited  impudence."  He  appears 
to  have  been  at  loggerheads  with  all  his  contemporaries. 
He  paid  out  the  Royal  Society  for  not  admitting  him  by 
an  attack  upon  them  which  certainly  found  out  some  of 
the  weak  joints  in  the  armour  of  that  distinguished  body. 
He  tackled  Fielding  and  got  rather  the  worst  of  it.  When 
Garrick  spoke  slightingly  of  a  play  written  by  him,  he 
attacked  him  also.  Garrick  retaliated  by  the  well-known 
epigram  : — 

"  For  physic  and  farces  his  equal  there  scarce  is, 
His  farces  are  physic,  his  physic  a  farce  is." 

He  does  not  appear  to  have  been  much  affected  by  his 


i  t//a 


/ 


LADY  MEMBERS  51 

rejection  by  the  Society  of  Arts,  though  he  wrote  what  was 
for  him  a  temperate  letter  of  protest. 


From  the  first  foundation  of  the  Society  ladies 
been  eligible  for  membership,  and  the  Lists  of  Members 
have  always  contained  a  certain  number  of  women's  names./ 
The  first  list  of  October  1755  contains  the  names  of  Miss 
Elizabeth  Vaughan  and  Lady  Betty  Germain,  daughter 
of  the  Earl  of  Berkeley,  and  wife  of  Sir  John  Germain,  who 
came  with  William  the  Third  to  England  and  served  under 
him.  She  inherited  a  large  fortune  from  her  husband, 
and  bequeathed  it,  in  accordance  with  his  desire,  to  Lord 
George  Sackville,  who  took  the  name  of  Germain.  She 
was  a  friend  of  Swift  and  other  literary  men.  Miss  Mary 
Cook  —  who,  like  Miss  Vaughan,  is  now  but  an  unknown 
name  to  us  —  was  elected  a  little  later  in  the  same  year 
(I7$$)t  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Montagu  —  whose  name  is 
spelt  Mountague  in  the  list  —  the  earliest  "  blue  stocking  " 
and  the  well-known  authoress  and  leader  of  intellectual 
society,  became  a  member  in  1758.  Her  portrait  appears 
in  Barry's  picture  of  the  Society.  Later  lists  include  the 
names  of  the  Countess  of  Denbigh,  the  Countess  of  Maccles- 
field,  the  Countess  of  Northumberland,  and  Viscountess 
Falmouth. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  list  from  which  the 
above  names  have  been  selected  was  a  very  remarkable 
one,  and  one  which  may  challenge  comparison  with  that 
of  any  other  society,  however  distinguished.  Statesmen, 
philosophers,  philanthropists,  painters,  lawyers,  divines, 
physicians,  authors,  dramatists,  actors,  musicians,  bankers, 
soldiers,  sailors,  architects,  historians,  mechanicians,  mer- 
chants, all  are  to  be  found,  and  many  of  them  are  the 
most  eminent  of  the  time.  Besides  these,  there  is  a  crowd 
of  peers  and  wealthy  men  who  seem  to  have  been  quite 
ready  to  support,  with  their  purses  and  their  influence, 
a  scheme  which  commended  itself  as  likely  to  promote 
the  growing  industrial  and  commercial  interests  of  the 
kingdom. 

Other  evidence  as  to  the  early  popularity  of  the  Society, 


52          THE  EARLIEST  LISTS  OF  MEMBERS 

and  of  the  public  esteem  in  which  it  was  held,  is  to  be  found 
in  contemporary  literature.  Smollett,  in  his  History? 
gives  a  full  and  laudatory  account  of  the  institution  and 
proceedings  of  the  Society  :  "  The  protection,  countenance, 
and  gratification  secured  in  other  countries  by  the  in- 
stitution of  academies,  and  the  liberalities  of  Princes,  the 
ingenious  in  England  derived  from  the  generosity  of  a 
publick,  endued  with  taste  and  sensibility,  eager  for 
improvement,  and  proud  of  patronizing  extraordinary 
merit.  ...  In  a  word,  the  Society  is  so  numerous,  the 
contributions  so  considerable,  the  plan  so  judiciously  laid, 
and  executed  with  such  discretion  and  spirit,  as  to  promise 
much  more  effectual  and  extensive  advantage  to  the  publick 
than  ever  accrued  from  all  the  boasted  academies  of 
Christendom." 

Anderson,  in  his  History  of  Commerce?  speaks  of  the 
Society  as  "  One  of  the  noblest  designs  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  Commerce  of  Great  Britain  which  could  possibly 
have  been  devised."  Perhaps  in  both  cases  the  laudation 
is  a  little  exaggerated,  but  the  quotations  may  serve  to 
show  the  estimation  in  which  the  early  efforts  of  the 
Society  were  held. 

1  Book  iii.  chap.  x.  §  iv.  *  Vol.  iii.  p.  298. 


CHAPTER    III 

THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 

First  Offices  of  Society  in  Craig's  Court — Moved  to  Castle  Court — 
Proposal  to  rent  Exeter  Change — House  taken  in  Little  Denmark 
Court,  opposite  Beaufort  Buildings — Exhibition  Room  built — 
Agreement  with  the  Brothers  Adam  for  Premises  in  the  Adelphi — 
The  Adams  and  the  Adelphi — The  Society's  House  in  the  Adelphi — 
The  Meeting-Room — Its  Decoration — Changes  in  the  Building — 
Lighting  and  Warming — Barry's  Pictures — Barry  and  his  Aspira- 
tions— His  History — Devotion  to  his  Ideas — Description  of  the 
Pictures — Portraits  of  Lords  Folkestone  and  Romney — Barry 
wishes  to  substitute  Portraits  of  George  in.  and  Queen  Charlotte 
— Portraits  of  Queen  Victoria  and  Prince  Albert. 

THE  first  permanent  offices  of  the  Society  were  in  Craig's 
Court,  Charing  Cross.  At  a  meeting  held  on  iQth  February 
1755,  at  Peele's  Coffee- House,  arrangements  were  finally 
made  with  Shipley  that  he  should  take  a  house  in  Craig's 
Court,  and  sublet  a  portion  to  the  Society.  Whether  the 
rest  of  the  house  was  used  by  Shipley  for  his  Academy  or 
not,  there  is  nothing  in  the  Minutes  to  indicate.  The 
rent  paid  was  £20  a  year,  including  coals  and  candles. 
The  first  meeting  at  Craig's  Court  was  held  on  ist  March 
1755.  Here  the  Society  remained  for  a  year,  but  the  rooms 
were  too  small,  so  they  moved  to  a  house  at  the  corner  of 
Castle  Court  on  the  east  side,  "  opposite  the  New  Ex- 
change," on  2nd  June  1756.  For  this  they  paid  to  John 
Fielding  a  rent  of  thirty-five  guineas  for  the  first  floor 
and  some  other  part  of  the  house.  Castle  Court  was  a 
narrow  alley  leading  from  the  Strand  to  Chandos  Street. 
It  disappeared  when  the  district  was  rebuilt  in  the  reign 
of  William  iv.,  the  date  being  commemorated  by  the 
names  of  King  William  Street  and  Adelaide  Street.  The 
ground  on  which  the  house  containing  the  Society's  offices 

53 


54  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 

stood  now  forms  part  of  the  site  of  the  British  Medical 
Journal  office . 

The  accommodation,  however,  soon  proved  insufficient 
for  the  growing  needs  of  the  Society.  It  was  increasing 
rapidly  in  numbers  and  in  wealth,  and  it  soon  seems  to 
have  felt  the  need  of  more  spacious  quarters.  Two  years 
after  it  was  established  in  Castle  Court  we  find  in  the 
Minutes  that  inquiries  were  being  made  for  new  premises. 
Several  localities  were  suggested  and  rejected.  In  May 
1758  a  committee  reported  favourably  on  a  proposal  to 
acquire  Exeter  Change.  It  appeared  that  a  total  outlay 
of  £2500  would  have  been  required  for  necessary  repairs 
and  alterations,  and  that  Lord  Exeter  was  willing  to  grant 
a  lease  for  about  sixty  years  at  a  rent  of  £200  a  year.  As  a 
set-off  against  this,  there  was  the  rent  of  certain  shops 
forming  part  of  the  building,  and  to  be  sub-let  by  the 
Society.  The  outlay,  however,  was  considered  too  great, 
and  the  proposal  was  declined. 

Eventually  the  Society  came  to  terms  with  Messrs. 
Williams  &  Woodin,  who  carried  on  the  business  of  up- 
holsterers and  carpenters  in  premises  opposite  Beaufort 
Buildings  in  the  Strand.  These  premises  included  the 
house  afterwards  No.  380  and  381  Strand,  and  a  ware- 
house and  yard  behind.  Messrs.  Williams  &  Woodin 
agreed  to  build  a  Great  Room  for  the  Society  on  the  site 
of  their  warehouse,  and  to  let  this  room,  with  another  good- 
sized  room  on  the  ground  floor,  together  with  a  certain 
part  of  the  house,  for  a  payment  of  £200  and  a  rent  of  £120 
a  year  for  three  years,  and  £100  afterwards,  for  a  term  of 
fifteen  years  from  Midsummer  1759.  The  first  meeting 
in  the  new  rooms  was  held  on  i8th  July  in  that  year. 
The  various  alterations  in,  and  additions  to,  the  buildings 
were  made  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  (afterwards 
Sir  William)  Chambers,  who  acted  as  the  Society's 
architect.  He  later  achieved  a  great  reputation,  his  best- 
known  work  being  Somerset  House. 

The  house  stood  on  ground  which  was  then  part  of  the 
property  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  and  the  plan  on  page 
56  has  been  prepared  from  records  still  preserved  in  the 
office  of  the  Bedford  estate.  The  area,  which,  so  far  as 


THE  HOUSE  OPPOSITE  BEAUFORT  BUILDINGS  55 

can  be  made  out,  was  occupied  by  the  Society's  premises, 
is  indicated  by  dark  shading.  A  is  the  Great  Room,  B  is 
the  smaller  room  on  the  ground  level,  used  for  the  Society's 
collection  of  models,  and  C  shows  the  offices  with  an 
entrance  to  the  Strand.  D  is  the  house  taken  a  year  and 
a  half  later,  in  January  1761,  for  a  residence  for  Dr. 
Templeman,  the  newly  appointed  secretary.  The  descrip- 
tion in  the  lease  is  rather  vague,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether 
the  whole,  or  only  a  portion  of  the  shaded  part,  was  in- 
cluded. This  house  was  leased  from  Woodin,  Williams 
having  died  in  1 760,  and  his  interest  having  been  acquired 
by  Woodin.  The  position  of  the  present  Exeter  Street 
is  shown  in  dotted  lines  on  the  plan,  and  it  will  be  seen 
that  nearly  the  whole  of  the  area  occupied  by  the  Society's 
area  is  now  covered  by  the  modern  extension  of  that 
street,  the  rest  of  it  being  now  occupied  by  the  recently 
erected  building  of  the  Strand  Hotel.  Exeter  Street 
originally  extended  only  from  Catherine  Street  to  Burleigh 
Street.  The  L-shaped  extension  leading  southwards  into 
the  Strand  was  a  later  enlargement  of  Denmark  Court 
(which,  as  shown  in  Horwood's  map,  circa  1800,  was  an 
extension  of  Exeter  Street)  and  of  Little  Denmark  Court, 
which  led  from  the  end  of  Denmark  Court,  at  right  angles, 
down  to  the  Strand.  Little  Denmark  Court  was  a  narrow 
alley  for  foot-passengers  only,  and  probably  its  entrance 
to  the  Strand  was  an  arcrrway  under  the  first-floors  of 
the  adjacent  houses. 

It  has  not  been  found  possible  to  make  out  precisely 
how  much  of  the  Strand  frontage  was  occupied  by  the 
Society.  It  certainly  had  an  entrance  on  the  Strand, 
and  perhaps  it  had  the  whole  or  part  of  the  first  floor. 
Or  the  original  house  may  have  been  divided  into  two, 
and  this  idea  is  suggested  by  a  comparison  of  the  entries 
in  the  sewer-rate  book  for  1763  and  subsequent  years. 
The  earliest  entry  shows  one  house,  in  the  occupation  of 
Thos.  Wooden  [sic]  ;  the  entry  for  1765  shows  the  same 
house  as  occupied  by  Geo.  Box  (in  whose  name  the  lease 
to  the  Society  had  been  taken  out)  and  formerly  by  Price, 
while  subsequent  entries  show  two  houses.  It  was  cer- 
tainly for  long  in  the  joint  occupation  of  the  Society  and 


56  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 

the  landlords,  for  both  Williams  and  Woodin,  who  were 
members,  have  their  addresses  recorded  in  the  lists  as 
"  Society's  Offices." 

The  original  house  and  buildings  had  been  leased  by 
the  Duke  of  Bedford  in  1753  to  John  Price,  by  whom  it 


The  present  course  of  Exeter  Street  la 
shown  by  thich  dotted  lines 


Emery  Walker  sc. 

Plan  showing  position  of  the  Society's  Offices,  opposite  Beaufort  Buildings. 

was  demised  to  Williams  &  Woodin.  It  was,  when  let  to 
Price,  the  Greyhound  Tavern,  but  presumably  Price  or  his 
successors  gave  up  the  tavern  and  used  the  premises  for 
other  purposes.  The  district  extending  a  certain  way 
eastwards  from  Southampton  Street  is  designated  in  the 
rent-books  of  the  Bedford  estate  "  Fryers'  Pyes,"  but  up  to 


THE  HOUSE  OPPOSITE  BEAUFORT  BUILDINGS  57 

the  present  it  has  not  been  found  possible  to  ascertain 
the  meaning  of  this  curious  title  or  to  find  any  explana- 
tion of  it.1 

For  the  information  which  has  enabled  the  site  of  the 
Society's  old  offices  to  be  identified  the  writer  is  entirely 
indebted  to  Sir  Laurence  Gomme,  the  accomplished  Clerk 
of  the  London  County  Council,  and  to  Mr.  A.  R.  O.  Stut- 
field,  the  steward  of  the  Bedford  estate.  The  writer 
has  much  pleasure  in  acknowledging  the  valuable  and 
ready  help  they  have  given.  It  has  always  been 
known  that  the  Society  occupied  offices  "  opposite 
Beaufort  Buildings"  from  1759  to  1774,  but  it  had 
been  assumed  that  these  offices  were  at  the  north-east 
corner  of  Beaufort  Buildings,  in  the  house  afterwards 
No.  96  Strand,  long  well  known  as  Rimmers,  the  per- 
fumer's. The  fact  that  Shipley's  Academy  was,  as 
previously  mentioned,  established  in  this  house,  probably 
led  to  the  mistake.  The  solution  of  the  problem,  and  the 
identification  of  the  Society's  old  premises,  had  been  the 
cause  of  considerable  gratification  to  the  present  writer, 
because  it  completes  the  history  of  the  Society's  migra- 
tions before  it  found  a  permanent  home  in  its  present 
buildings  in  the  Adelphi. 

The  position  of  the  Society's  house  is  also  indicated  in 
the  old  map  of  this  part  of  London,  a  portion  of  which  is 
reproduced  in  the  plate  facing  page  54.  In  the  narrow 
street  opposite  Beaufort  Buildings,  which  is  not  named,  but 
is  really  Little  Denmark  Court,  the  square  block  with  the 
reference  letter  "  c  "  is,  as  stated  in  the  margin  of  the  map, 
'  The  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Strand."  The  map  was 
published  by  Thomas  Jeiferys,  and  the  date  on  it  is  1766. 
The  copy  from  which  the  reproduction  was  made  is  in  the 
possession  of  the  Athenaeum  Club.  Jefferys  was  a  well- 
known  cartographer,  and  would  probably  have  received  a 
prize  from  the  Society  for  his  map  of  Yorkshire  but  for 
his  death  in  1771. 2  It  is  clear  that  the  building  shown 
on  the  map  is  merely  the  "  Great  Room  "  where  the 

1  Hare  in  his  Walks  in  London  (vol.  i.  p.  31,  2nd  edition,  1894)  says 
that  Covent  Garden  was  in  1222  known  as  Frere  Pye  Garden. 

2  See  Chapter  XIII,  p.  299. 


58  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 

exhibitions  were  held,  the  Society's  offices  being,  as  above 
stated,  between  this  building  and  the  Strand. 

All  this  district  was  altered  under  the  Act  (7  Geo.  iv. 
cap.  77)  passed  in  1826  for  the  widening  of  the  Strand,1 
and  in  the  various  improvements  carried  out  Exeter 
Change  itself  disappeared.  The  principal  building  erected 
on  its  site  was  Exeter  Hall,  long  a  well-known  concert 
room,  opened  in  1831.  Now  it  too  has  followed  its  prede- 
cessor, and  its  place  is  occupied  by  a  big  hotel.  Beaufort 
Buildings  remained  until  1902,  when  the  extension  of  the 
Savoy  Hotel  swallowed  it  up,  and  all  the  old  buildings  on 
this  part  of  the  south  side  of  the  Strand  were  demolished. 
The  courtyard  of  the  hotel  now  occupies  the  ground  which 
was  formerly  the  roadway  of  Beaufort  Buildings. 

If  the  conclusions  drawn  from  an  examination  of 
the  plans  and  documents  in  the  Bedford  estate  offices 
are  correct,  the  "  Great  Room  "  was  worthy  of  its  name, 
being  an  apartment  80  ft.  long  by  40  ft.  broad,  almost 
identical  in  dimensions  with  the  large  Gallery  of  the 
Royal  Academy  in  Burlington  House,  which  is  82  ft.  by 
42.  It  was  here  that  the  first  exhibition  of  pictures  by 
British  artists  was  held  in  1760.  The  smaller  room  on 
the  ground  level  was  40  ft.  by  20  ft.  In  this  the  first 
exhibition  of  models  and  machines  was  held  in  1761. 

A  considerable  amount  was  expended  in  fitting  and 
furnishing  the  rooms  and  offices,  besides  the  cost  of  struc- 
tural alterations.  Among  other  improvements  it  was 
found  necessary  to  make  a  "  crossing  "  in  the  Strand, 
at  a  cost  of  three  and  a  half  guineas,  to  facilitate  the 
access  to  the  Society's  entrance  door. 

In  1770  the  lease  of  the  Society's  premises  having 
nearly  expired,  and  the  accommodation  being  again 
found  insufficient,  it  was  decided  to  advertise  for  new 
premises,  and  accordingly  an  announcement  was  inserted 
in  some  of  the  daily  papers  inviting  any  person  who  had 

1  The  Act  authorised  the  widening  of  the  Strand  "  on  the  north 
side  thereof  opposite  Cecil  Street  in  an  easterly  direction  to  the  East 
end  of  Exeter  Change."  The  sewer-rate  book  for  1830  shows  that 
the  demolition  had  then  began.  A  note  in  a  subsequent  rate  book 
states  that  sixteen  houses  had  been  pulled  down.  Among  these  were 
Nos.  380  and  381, 


ROBERT  ADAM. 

From  a  Medallion  by  Tassie. 


To  face  page  58. 


THE  ADELPHI  59 

proposals  to  make  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Society 
to  communicate  with  the  secretary. 

The  result  of  this  advertisement  was  that  the  Brothers 
Adam,1  who  were  then  occupied  with  their  scheme  for  the 
construction  of  the  Adelphi,  offered  to  include  in  that 
scheme  a  suitable  house  for  the  Society's  purposes. 

The  history  of  the  Adelphi  has  often  been  written.1 
The  site  was  long  occupied  by  the  historic  buildings  of 
Durham  House,  the  residence  of  the  Prince-Bishops  of 
the  northern  See.  The  house  and  grounds  originally 
occupied  the  area  between  Adam  Street  and  Buckingham 
Street,  from  the  Strand  to  the  river.  The  New  Exchange 
was  built  in  1608  by  Lord  Salisbury  on  the  site  of  the 
Durham  House  stables,  and  extended  from  George  Court 
to  what  used  to  be  Durham  Yard,  but  is  now  Durham 
House  Street.  It  thus  included  the  site  of  Coutts's 
Bank.3  It  was  pulled  down  in  1737,  when  shops  and 
houses  were  erected  along  the  present  line  of  the  Strand. 
In  the  space  between  these  buildings  and  the  river,  where 
old  Durham  House  once  stood,  fronting  the  river,  with 
its  gardens  reaching  to  the  Strand,  were  "  a  number  of 
small  low-lying  houses,  coal-sheds,  and  lay-stalls,  washed 
by  the  muddy  waters  of  the  Thames."  The  ground  sloped 
down  from  the  Strand  level  to  the  brink  of  the  river, 
which  must  have  been,  at  high  water,  somewhere  about 
the  inner  edge  of  the  Embankment  Gardens. 

On  this  slope  the  Brothers  Adam  (Robert,  William, 
James,  and  John)  proposed  to  build  a  great  terrace, 
level  with  the  Strand,  the  idea  being  taken  from  the 
arched  terrace  or  gallery  in  the  Palace  of  Diocletian  at 

1  The  head  of  Robert  Adam,  facing  page  58,  is  a  reproduction  from 
a  fine  medallion  by  Tassie,  now  in  the  collection  of  the  Edinburgh 
Board  of  Manufactures. 

2  The  fullest  history  of  the  Adelphi  is  contained  in  three  articles 
by  Mr.  H.  B.  Wheatley  in  the  Antiquary  magazine  for  June,  July,  and 
September  1884.     In  these  a  great  deal  of  information  will  be  found 
which  it  has  not  been  thought  needful  to  include  here,  as  it  has  no 
special  connection  with  the  Society  of  Arts.     Mr.  Austin  Brereton's 
Literary  History  of  the  Adelphi  (1907)  is  the  most  recent  book  on  the 
subject.     Mr.  Percy  Fitzgerald  devotes  the  best  part  of  a  chapter  of 
his  Picturesque  London  (1890)  to  the  Adelphi. 

3  The  bank  was  moved  in  1904  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  Strand. 


6o  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 

Spalatro,1  which  Robert  Adam  studied  with  great  care,  and 
described  in  a  monumental  folio.2  The  ground  was  in  the 
possession  of  the  spendthrift  Duke  of  St.  Albans,  or  rather 
of  his  trustees.  By  the  year  1642  the  estate  had  finally 
passed  out  of  the  possession  of  the  Bishops  of  Durham,  and 
under  the  provisions  of  an  Act  of  Parliament  it  became 
the  property  of  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  and  Montgomery, 
a  rent-charge  only  of  £200  a  year  being  reserved  to  the 
See  of  Durham.  This  rent-charge,  it  may  be  interesting 
to  mention,  is  still  paid  by  the  present  owner  to  the 
Ecclesiastical  Commissioners.  In  1677  the  estate  was 
sold  by  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  to  Sir  Thomas  Monpesson, 
and  in  1716  it  was  again  sold  by  the  representatives  of 
Sir  Thomas  Monpesson  to  the  trustees  of  the  will  of  Sir 
John  Werden,  whose  daughter  Lucy  married  Charles, 
the  second  Duke  of  St.  Albans.  Their  son  George,  the 
third  Duke,  brought  the  estate  into  settlement,  and  in 
1767  a  private  Act  of  Parliament  was  passed  for  vesting 
part  of  his  estates  in  trustees  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
money  to  pay  his  debts. 

These  trustees,  Lord  Charles  Spencer  and  Sir  Philip 
Musgrove,  in  1768  granted  a  lease  to  the  Brothers  Adam 
for  ninety-nine  years  at  a  rent  of  £1200  a  year.  It  has 
seemed  worth  while  to  record  these  details  because  they 
have  never  been  accurately  stated  in  previous  accounts  of 
the  Adelphi,  and  it  is  only  by  the  obliging  assistance  of 
Mr.  George  Drummond,  the  owner  of  the  Adelphi,  and  of 
Messrs.  Fladgate,  the  solicitors  to  the  estate,  that  it  has  been 
possible  to  trace  out  the  manner  in  which  this  historic  bit  of 
London  passed  into  the  possession  of  its  present  owner. 

The  design  proposed  by  the  Brothers  Adam  was  duly 
carried  into  effect,  the  requisite  height  on  the  river  side 
being  obtained  by  the  construction  of  tiers  of  super- 
imposed arches.3  Some  of  these  arches  formed  public 

1  Fitzgerald,  Picturesque  London,  p.  39. 

*  Ruins  of  the  Palace  of  the  Emperor  Diocletian  at  Spalatro  in 
Dalmatia,  by  R.  Adam,  F.R.S.,  F.S.A.,  1764. 

3  The  view  of  the  Adelphi  (facing  page  64)  shows  the  terrace  with  the 
houses  as  originally  built,  and  justifies  Horace  Walpole's  criticism 
(quoted  by  Mr.  Wheatley)  that  the  Adelphi  buildings  resembled  "  ware- 
houses laced  down  the  seams,  like  a  soldier's  trull  in  a  regimental  old 


The  Society's  House  in  1911. 


THE  ADAMS  63 

thoroughfares,  and  later  gained  an  unenviable  reputation 
on  account  of  their  nocturnal  frequenters.  Others  were 
let  as  storehouses  ;  at  one  time  a  number  of  cows  were 
stabled  in  some  of  the  arches,  and  supplied  milk  to  a  large 
part  of  the  West  End.  Others,  again,  served  as  cellars 
for  the  houses  built  on  the  substructure.  The  Society's 
house  has  two  stories  of  cellars  below  the  south-western 
part  of  the  building,  while  the  foundations  of  the  north- 
east corner  are  in  the  original  ground.  The  house  has 
undergone  a  certain  amount  of  repair,  but  it  seems  now 
as  sound  as  when  it  was  first  built.1 

When  the  Thames  Embankment  was  made,2  the  build- 
ings on  the  south  side  of  the  estate,  near  the  river,  were 
affected,  and  some  reconstruction  work  had  to  be  carried 
out  on  the  arches,  but  the  ground  on  which  the  Society's 
house  stands  does  not  seem  to  have  been  at  all  disturbed. 

The  work,  commenced  in  July  1768,  was  practically 
completed  in  about  six  years,  but  before  it  was  finished 
the  Adams  were  in  financial  difficulties.  In  the  course  of 
their  operations  they  encroached  on  the  foreshore  of  the 
Thames,  and  thereby  involved  themselves  in  a  dispute 
with  the  Corporation,  their  difficulties  being  increased  by 
the  political  circumstances  of  the  time,  as  the  Corporation 
were  strongly  Wilkesite,  while  the  Adams  enjoyed  Court 
favour.  Eventually  they  succeeded  in  obtaining  an  Act 
of  Parliament  to  authorise  their  proceedings.  In  this 
they  were  assisted  by  their  patron,  the  Earl  of  Bute. 
Their  pecuniary  difficulties  were  set  right  by  means  of  a 
second  Act,  which  empowered  them  to  organise  a  lottery, 
the  chief  prizes  in  which  were  the  houses  then  in  course 
of  building  on  the  estate.  In  many  cases  the  prize- 
winners sold  their  rights,  and  thus  the  sub-leases  became 
the  property  of  various  owners.  Their  tenures  expired 

coat."  There  are  still  two  or  three  houses  in  the  Adelphi  which 
preserve  this  old  form  of  decoration — long  vertical  mouldings  extending 
from  the  ground  to  the  uppermost  story.  The  illustration  is  from  a 
contemporary  print. 

1  The  view  of  the  front  of  the  building  opposite  page  60  is  from  a 
drawing  by  Mr.  Howard  Penton.  It  shows  no  changes  since  the  house 
was  built. 

*The  Embankment  was  commenced  in  1862  and  opened  in  1870. 


64  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 

at  the  termination  of  the  principal  lease  in  1867,  long 
before  which  time  (in  1787)  the  property  had  come  into 
the  possession  of  the  Drummond  family.  George,  the 
third  Duke  of  St.  Albans,  had  no  son,  and  was  succeeded 
as  fourth  Duke  by  George  Beauclerk,  the  grandson  of 
Lord  William  Beauclerk,  the  second  son  of  the  first  Duke, 
who  had  married  (in  1744)  Charlotte,  the  other  daughter 
of  Sir  John  Werden  above  mentioned.  Lord  William 
Beauclerk 's  daughter  Charlotte  married  John  Drummond, 
the  son  and  successor  of  the  Hon.  Andrew  Drummond, 
the  founder  of  Drummond's  Bank,  and  to  her  the  Adelphi 
estate  was  devised  by  her  nephew,  the  fourth  Duke.  From 
her  son  George  the  estate  passed  to  his  son,  his  grandson, 
and  his  great-grandson,  George  James  Drummond,  the 
present  owner  of  the  estate  and  the  Society's  landlord. 

John  Drummond  and  his  cousin  Robert  were  among 
the  earliest  members  of  the  Society,1  and  the  connection 
of  the  family  with  the  Society  has  since  continued. 

Negotiations,  the  progress  of  which  is  described, 
though  not  very  fully,  in  the  old  Minute-books  of  the 
Society,  went  on  for  some  time,  and  eventually  the  Adams 
undertook  to  build  a  house  such  as  was  required  for  a 
premium  of  £i  170,  and  a  rent  which  was  finally  settled  at 
£200  a  year.  The  plans,  after  much  discussion,  were 
finally  approved,  the  foundation-stone  was  laid  by  Lord 
Romney  in  1772,  and  the  Society  entered  into  possession 
in  1774,  though  the  lease  only  dates  from  1775.  It  was 
for  91 1  years,  from  Midsummer  1775,  ending  at  Christmas 
1866 — a  quarter  before  the  end  of  the  landlord's  lease. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  historic  building  in  which  the 
Society  has  carried  on  its  work  for  139  years.  It  really 
consists  of  two  houses,  one  of  which  was  intended  for  the 
private  residence  of  the  secretary.  There  has  always  been 
a  communication  between  the  nouses  on  the  ground  and 
first  floors  (as  well  as  in  the  basement),  and  a  few  years  ago 
a  third  one  was  constructed  on  the  second  floor.  Other- 
wise the  two  houses  are  separate  and  distinct.  The  last 
secretary  to  live  on  the  premises  was  Sir  George  Grove. 

No   structural    alterations   of   any   importance   seem 

1  See  Chapter  II,  p.  38. 


THE  SOCIETY'S  "REPOSITORY,"  A.D.  1843. 


THE  ADELPHI. 

From  an  old  Print. 


To  face  page  64. 


DECORATIONS  OF  THE  MEETING-ROOM       65 

ever  to  have  been  made  in  it.  Such  changes  as  have 
been  made  were  for  the  most  part  in  the  meeting-room 
and  in  the  "  Model  Room,"  now  the  Library.  In 
1815  the  old  skylight  in  the  meeting-room  was  altered, 
the  existing  lantern  being  substituted  for  the  original 
oval  light.  In  1846  the  room  was  re-decorated  by 
D.  R.  Hay  of  Edinburgh.  A  full  account  of  his  scheme 
of  decoration  is  given  by  Hay  in  a  paper  he  read  after  the 
work  was  completed.1  Originally  the  treatment  of  the 
room  had  been  extremely  simple,  and  indeed  there  had 
been  little  attempt  at  decoration.  According  to  the  short 
description  given  by  Hay  in  his  paper  :  "  The  wall  termin- 
ates in  a  narrow  and  lightly  enriched  cornice  surrounded  by 
a  plain  cove  of  8  ft.  4  in.  wide  ;  this  cove  is  terminated  by 
a  narrow  border  of  stucco  work,  between  which  and  the 
aperture  for  the  cupola  light  there  is  a  flat  space,  also 
quite  plain.  The  aperture  towards  the  cupola  light  is 
thrown  into  eight  panels  by  a  plain  narrow  moulding,  and 
this  completes  the  architectural  decoration."  The  lower 
part  of  the  ceiling  with  the  cornice  is  shown  in  the  picture 
facing  page  70,  and  the  whole  upper  part  of  the  room  is  to 
be  seen  in  a  coloured  print  in  the  Microcosm  of  London.2 

In  place  of  this  Hay  introduced  a  somewhat  elaborate 
scheme  of  colour.  The  walls  above  and  below  the  pictures 
were  covered  with  purple  cloth,  in  order  to  set  off  the  effect 
of  the  pictures.  The  cornice  was  coloured  "  Etruscan 
brown  or  deep  terra  cotta  hue,"  and  the  cove  and  span 
above  it  enriched  with  coloured  mosaic.  For  further 
details,  the  reader  may  be  referred  to  Hay's  paper. 

When  the  original  lease  of  the  premises  had  to  be 
renewed,  a  new  lease  for  thirty  years  from  Lady  Day 
1867  was  obtained.  In  additional  to  the  renewal  fine, 
which  together  with  other  charges  amounted  to  £2361,  the 
Society  had  to  incur  an  expenditure  of  £2800  for  repairs. 
A  good  deal  of  work  was  done  in  1863,  and  considerable 
changes  were  made  in  the  arrangements  of  the  Great  Room. 

The  position  of  the  platform  and  the  chairman's  seat 
in  the  meeting-room  was  altered.  Originally  they  were 

1  Transactions,  vol.  Ivi.  (Supplemental  volume,  1852),  p.  13. 
z  Vol.  iii.  p.  67. 
6 


66  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 

on  the  north  side  of  the  room,  facing  the  entrance.  They 
are  now  on  the  east  side.  The  object  of  the  change  was 
to  give  greater  facility  of  access  from  the  offices  to  the 
officials'  seats.  The  old  arrangement  was  inconvenient  in 
this  respect,  but  in  all  other  respects  it  was  certainly 
better.1  The  present  decorations  of  the  ceiling,  which 
were  designed  and  executed  by  Messrs.  Crace,  are  of  the 
same  date.  At  the  same  time  the  existing  glass  cases  in 
the  lo\ver  room — which  was  originally  designed  for  the 
"  Repository  "  of  the  Society's  collection  of  mechanical 
inventions — were  substituted  for  the  pillars  which  previ- 
ously gave  apparent  support  to  the  ceiling  and  to  the  floor 
of  the  room  above.  This  change  had  nothing  to  recom- 
mend it,  and  should  never  have  been  made.  The  appear- 
ance of  the  room  as  it  was  originally  designed  was  much 
better,  and  the  present  cases  are  at  once  ugly  and  useless.2 

In  1 847  the  mosaic  pavement  in  the  entrance  hall  was 
presented  by  Messrs.  Minton  (then  Minton  &  Blashfield)  ; 
it  is  interesting  as  being  one  of  the  earliest  examples  of  the 
application  of  mechanically  produced  tesserae  under 
Prosser's  patent,  afterwards  the  foundation  of  an  extensive 
industry.  The  glass  mosaic  on  the  staircase  was  laid  down 
in  1874  by  Messrs.  Powell.  This,  again,  was  one  of  the 
first  uses  of  a  novel  and  ingenious  method  of  manufacture, 
though  it  had  previously  been  utilised  in  one  of  the  stair- 
cases of  the  South  Kensington  Museum. 

When  the  house  was  first  built,  the  meeting-room  was 
warmed  by  two  large  fireplaces,  one  at  each  end  of  the 

1  The  illustration  opposite  page  70  shows  the  arrangement  of  the 
room  in  1 804.     It  is  copied  from  a  print  in  the  Crace  Collection,  now 
in  the  British  Museum. 

2  The  picture  of  the  "  Model  Room  "  or  "  Repository  "  (facing  page  64) 
is  copied  from  a  print  in  Knight's  London  (1843),  an^  shows  very  well 
the  difference  between  the  room  as  it  now  is  and  as  it  was  originally 
built.     The  Act  for  the  establishment  of  the  British  Museum  (26  Geo.  n. 
cap.  22,  1753)  is  entituled  "  An  Act  for  the  Purchase  of  the  Museum 
or  Collection  of  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  and  of  the  Harleian  Collection  of 
Manuscripts,  and  for  providing  one  general  Repository  for  the  better 
reception  and  more  convenient  use  of  the  said  Collections,"  etc.     So  it 
would  appear  that  what  is  now  called  a  Museum  was  then  termed  a 
Repository,  while  the  word  Museum  was  applied  to  its  contents, 


THE  LIGHTING  OF  THE  GREAT  ROOM        69 

room.  Later  a  furnace  was  fitted  in  the  basement,  and 
the  heated  air  from  it  passed  up  through  gratings  into  the 
present  library,  and  thence  by  other  gratings  into  the  Great 
Room.  This  arrangement  was  naturally  very  inefficient. 
The  existing  system  of  heating  by  hot-water  pipes  was 
introduced  in  1877. 

At  first  the  Great  Room  seems  to  have  been  lighted 
by  candles,  though  I  have  never  been  quite  able  to  satisfy 
myself  whether  the  six  chandeliers  or  "  branches  "  brought 
from  the  old  house,  and  placed  in  the  corners  and  the 
middle  of  the  room,  were  for  candles  or  oil.  At  all  events 
oil  lamps  were  not  long  afterwrards  employed,  and  their 
use  was  continued  up  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century. 
There  were  five  chandeliers,  one  in  the  centre  of  the 
room,  and  one  at  each  corner  of  the  skylight.  These 
were  suspended  by  chains,  and  were  pulled  up  and 
down  for  cleaning  and  lighting.  They  seem  to  have 
given  a  great  deal  of  trouble  and  to  have  caused  a 
great  deal  of  complaint.  The  Society  had  in  1796  a 
contract  with  a  lamplighter,  one  George,  who  was  paid 
4|-d.  per  lamp  per  night,  and  on  one  occasion  when  fault 
was  found  with  the  badness  of  the  light,  George  attri- 
buted it  to  "  the  villainy  of  his  servant,  who  defrauded 
him  of  the  oil."  Seven  years  later  the  contract  price  was 
raised  to  6d.  on  the  ground  of  the  increased  cost  of  oil, 
and  nine  years  later  still,  in  1 8 1 2,  it  was  raised  to  7d.  The 
annual  charge  for  lighting  in  the  last  few  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  the  first  few  of  the  nineteenth,  was 
about  £33 .  In  1 8 19  the  lamplighter  having  again  failed  in 
his  duties,  Miss  Cockings,  the  energetic  housekeeper,  volun- 
teered to  undertake  them,  and  from  that  time  forward  the 
lighting  appears  to  have  been  both  better  and  cheaper. 

The  first  use  of  gas  by  the  Society  seems  to  have  been 
about  1815,  when  a  proposal  to  have  a  gas-light  over  the 
entrance  was  approved  and  apparently  carried  out.  The 
imperfectly  purified  gas  of  that  date  was  not  considered 
fit  for  indoor  lighting,  and  it  was  not  for  some  time  later 
that  gas  was  introduced  inside  the  house.  In  1835  a  pro- 
posal to  light  the  meeting-room  with  gas  was  considered, 
but  rejected  as  "  inexpedient."  In  1847  the  stairs  were 


70  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 

lighted  by  gas  at  a  cost  for  installation  of  £7,  55.  In  the 
following  year  it  was  introduced  into  the  model-room,  and 
a  single  central  light  was  fitted  in  the  Great  Room.  In 
1 849  it  was  brought  into  the  Hall  and  the  committee-room. 
In  1853  the  four  hanging  chandeliers  in  the  meeting-room 
were  ordered  to  be  altered  to  gas,  and  in  1854  a  central 
sunlight  was  fitted  in  the  room. 

In  1882  electric  light  was  first  installed,  the  installation 
being  one  of  the  first  in  London.  The  current  was  obtained 
from  a  Siemens  dynamo  driven  by  a  gas-engine,  both  being 
placed  in  one  of  the  cellars.  Later  a  storage  battery 
(E.P.S.)  was  added.  The  cost  of  the  installation  was  met 
by  a  subscription  from  past  and  present  members  of  the 
Council.  In  1899  this  private  installation  was  given  up, 
and  the  current  was  taken  from  the  then  newly-established 
street  mains. 

In  1774,  when  the  Society  was  about  to  move  into  its 
new  house  in  the  Adelphi,  the  question  of  the  decoration 
of  the  Great  Room  naturally  gave  rise  to  a  good  deal  of 
discussion.  It  was  determined  that  it  would  be  desirable 
to  procure  "  proper  historical  or  allegorical  pictures,"  to 
be  painted  by  the  most  eminent  artists.  Further,  it  was 
decided  that  there  ought  to  be  eight  historical  and  two 
allegorical  pictures  ;  that  the  subjects  of  the  historical 
pictures  should  be  taken  from  English  history,  and  that 
the  allegorical  pictures  should  be  "  emblematick  designs 
relative  to  the  Institution  and  views  of  the  Society." 
A  proposal  was  accordingly  made  to  eight  artists,  that  they 
should  paint  each  a  historical  picture,  and  to  two  others 
that  they  should  paint  allegorical  pictures,  the  conditions 
being  that  they  should  not  be  paid,  but  should  receive  the 
profits  arising  from  an  exhibition  of  the  pictures,  to  be  held 
for  four  months.  The  historical  painters  were  Angelica 
Kauffmann,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  West,  Cipriani,  Dance, 
Mortimer,  Barry,  and  Wright  ;  the  allegorical  painters, 
Romney  and  Penny.  Valentine  Green,  the  engraver, 
was  requested  to  communicate  with  the  selected  artists, 
and  to  report  their  answer.  Unfortunately,  the  answer — 
mainly,  it  appears,  owing  to  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds — was  a 


BARRY  AND  HIS  PICTURES  71 

refusal.  The  portraits  of  the  first  two  presidents  of  the 
Society,  Lord  Folkestone  and  Lord  Romney — the  first  by 
Gainsborough  and  the  second  by  Sir  Joshua — were  placed 
over  the  two  chimney-pieces,  and  there  the  matter  rested 
for  a  while. 

Three  years  afterwards,  viz.  in  1777,  Barry  authorised 
the  same  Mr.  Green — a  member  of  the  Society  who  took 
a  very  active  interest  in  its  welfare,  and  who  afterwards 
received  a  gold  medal  on  that  account — to  inform  the 
members  that  one  of  the  Royal  Academicians  they  had 
applied  to  was  willing  to  take  the  whole  work  upon  himself, 
and  to  decorate  the  Great  Room  "  with  a  series  of  pictures 
analogous  to  the  views  of  the  Institution."  It  was  esti- 
mated that  the  canvas,  frames,  and  colours  would  cost 
£100,  and  there  was  a  further  expense  of  £30  for  models, 
which  the  artist  offered  to  discharge,  but  which  was  eventu- 
ally paid  by  the  Society.  The  proposal,  made  at  an 
ordinary  meeting  of  the  Society,  was  referred  to  the 
committee  of  "  Polite  Arts."  The  committee  considered 
and  accepted  it  before  it  was  known  who  the  artist  was  to 
be,  and  thereupon  the  chairman  produced  a  letter  from 
Barry,  stating  that  the  offer  was  his.  Barry  was  then 
young  and  little  known,  full  of  confidence  in  his  own  powers, 
and  assured  that  nothing  but  opportunity  was  wanting 
for  him  to  make  a  reputation.  Nor  were  his  objects  wholly 
personal.  He  was  impressed — as  well  he  might  be — with 
the  degraded  condition  of  English  Art,  "  fitted  for  nothing 
greater  than  portraits,  and  other  low  matters,  from  whence 
no  honour  could  be  derived  either  to  the  artist  or  the 
country,"  x  and  he  believed  that  the  production  of  "  some 
great  work  of  historical  painting  "  would  refute  the 
assertions  of  those  foreign  critics  who  declared  English 
painters  to  be  incapable  of  any  permanent  work,  and  would 
also  serve  as  an  example  to  his  countrymen.  Feeling  at 
once  the  necessity  of  the  work,  and  the  capacity  within 
himself  for  executing  it,  he  set  himself  to  do  it,  without, 

1  An  Account  of  a  Series  of  Pictures  in  the  Great  Room  of  the  Society 
of  Arts  ...  By  James  Barry,  R.A.,  Professor  of  Painting  to  the 
Royal  Academy.  London :  Printed  for  the  Author,  by  William 
Adlard,  Printer  to  the  Society.  .  .  ."  1783  (Introd.). 


72  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 

as  it  seems,  considering  or  caring  even  how  he  was  to  live 
during  the  years  so  long  a  task  must  occupy. 

On  the  whole,  his  hopes  of  fame  were  realised,  for  such 
reputation  as  Barry  now  possesses  rests  entirely  on  the 
great  pictures  he  painted  for  the  Society.  The  man 
himself  was  of  a  strange  character,  his  life  was  by  no  means 
happy.  An  artist  of  considerable  power,  his  talents  were 
yet  not  equal  to  his  own  estimation  of  them  ;  and  his  life, 
like  that  of  Haydon,  a  few  years  later,  was  embittered  by 
what  he  considered  a  lack  of  appreciation  of  his  deserts. 

He  was  born  at  Cork  in  1741.  The  ability  he  showed 
in  various  early  pictures  gained  him  the  notice  of  Burke, 
who  assisted  him  in  various  ways,  and  gave  him  an  allow- 
ance of  £50  a  year  to  visit  Rome.  In  1770  he  returned  to 
London,  and  in  1771  he  exhibited  his  first  picture  at  the 
Royal  Academy — the  "  Adam  and  Eve  "  now  belonging  to 
the  Society.  It  was  in  1 777  that  he  began  his  great  work, 
the  pictures  in  the  Society's  meeting-room.  In  1 782,  after 
they  were  completed,  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Paint- 
ing to  the  Royal  Academy.  His  career  in  this  office  was 
by  no  means  happy.  He  seems  to  have  been  afflicted  with 
an  irritable,  cross-grained  temper,  and  this  led  him  into 
disputes  with  everybody  with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 
He  quarrelled  with  the  artists  at  Rome  ;  with  anybody 
who  criticised  his  pictures  ;  with  his  pupils  ;  and  with 
many  influential  friends  who  tried  to  assist  him.  Finally, 
he  quarrelled  with  the  Royal  Academy  itself,  so  that  he  was 
expelled  from  it  in  1799.  He  grumbled  at  the  Society, 
which  seems  to  have  treated  him  with  sufficient  liberality, 
for  it  had  either  given  him,  or  assisted  him  to  procure  by 
exhibitions,  a  sum  amounting  altogether  to  £700,  while 
the  members  of  the  Society  raised  £1000  for  him,  and 
purchased  an  annuity  of  £120  ;  but,  unfortunately,  only  a 
month  before  his  death. 

He  died  under  very  miserable  conditions.  After  his 
expulsion  from  the  Academy  he  seems  to  have  supported 
himself  mainly  by  the  sale  of  his  etchings  from  his  own 
works.  He  was  taken  ill  in  an  eating-house  near  his 
home  in  Castle  Street,  Oxford  Street  ;  and,  his  own  house 
being  locked  up,  he  wras  carried  to  that  of  a  neighbour, 


BARRY  AND  HIS  PICTURES  73 

where  he  expired  on  22nd  February  1806.  Even  in  his 
death  his  morose  nature  was  shown,  for  he  locked  himself 
in  for  forty-eight  hours,  refusing  medical  aid  ;  and  this, 
when  it  did  come,  came  too  late.  When  his  works  were 
sold  at  Christie's  in  1807,  they  fetched  very  fair  prices,  the 
"  Adam  and  Eve"  being  purchased  for  100  guineas.  One 
of  them,  however,  the  "  Pandora/'  which  brought,  though 
unfinished,  230  guineas,  when  resold  in  1846,  to  pay  the 
expense  of  warehouse  room,  only  fetched  nj  guineas. 
His  body  was  placed  in  the  Society's  Great  Room  for  a  day 
before  it  was  carried  to  St.  Paul's,  to  be  laid  beside  that  of 
Reynolds.1 

When  Barry  began  his  task  he  had,  it  is  said,  only 
sixteen  shillings  in  his  pocket,  and  he  supported  himself 
while  it  was  in  progress  by  etching.  He  applied  to  patrons, 
principally  members  of  the  Society,  for  a  loan  to  assist 
him  while  he  was  at  work,  but  it  does  not  appear  whether 
his  applications  were  successful  or  not.  The  exact  date  at 
which  the  work  was  commenced  is  not  stated  in  the  Society's 
Minutes,  but  the  pictures  were  well  advanced  by  the  recess 
of  1778,  when  the  key  of  the  Great  Room  was  entrusted 
to  Barry  in  order  that  he  might  work  without  interrup- 
tion ;  and  the  work  was  continued  until  October  1781. 
During  its  progress  the  Society's  meetings  were  at  first 
held  in  the  Great  Room,  the  pictures  being  covered  up 
with  canvas  ;  but  in  1781  the  meetings  were  held  in  the 
committee-room  —  i.e.  the  present  council-room  —  the 
Great  Room  being  given  up  entirely  to  the  artist.  In 
the  same  year,  frames,  designed  by  Barry  himself,  were 
procured  from  Mr.  Adrian  Maskens,  of  Compton  Street, 
Soho,  at  the  expense  of  £100,  175.  These  frames  are 
those  in  which  the  pictures  now  are,  though  they  have,  of 
course,  been  regilt  since  they  were  first  put  up.  Not 
much  information  as  to  the  progress  of  the  pictures  is 

1  Further  information  about  Barry's  life  is  given  in  S.  Redgrave's 
Dictionary  of  Artists  of  the  English  School.  A  longer  life,  written  by  the 
late  S.  T.  Davenport,  for  a  Dictionary  of  Painters,  was  printed  in  the 
Society's  Journal,  vol.  xviii.  p.  803.  There  is  also  a  life  in  the  Dictionary 
of  National  Biography.  In  1 880,  Mr.  J.  Comyns  Carr  read  a  paper  before 
the  Society  on  "  The  Influence  of  Barry  upon  English  Art "  (Journal, 
vol.  xxix.  p.  20). 


74  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 

given  in  the  Society's  Minutes.  There  are  occasional 
references  to  the  work,  and  payments  on  account  of 
expenses  incurred  are  authorised  from  time  to  time. 

A  suggestion  made  by  the  painter,  that  some  portraits 
of  members  of  the  Society  should  be  introduced,  gave  rise 
to  considerable  discussion,  and  seems  to  have  exercised 
the  minds  of  the  committee  of  "  Polite  Arts  "  for  some 
time,  but  eventually  a  selection  was  made.  As  soon  as 
the  work  was  finished,  a  public  exhibition  of  the  pictures 
was  held  for  the  painter's  benefit.  They  were  shown  for 
two  months  during  1783,  and  for  the  same  time  during 
1784.  The  cost  of  these  two  exhibitions  was  defrayed 
by  the  Society,  and  amounted  to  £174.  About  6500 
persons  attended  the  first  exhibition,  and  about  3500 
the  second,  among  them  being  Jonas  Hanway  —  the 
introducer  of  umbrellas — who  was  so  pleased  with  the 
pictures  that  he  showed  his  gratification  by  the  very 
practical  step  of  changing  the  shilling  he  had  paid  for 
a  guinea  as  he  left.  The  exhibitions  produced  £503,  125. 
Congratulations  poured  in  upon  the  artist,  accompanied 
in  some  few  cases  at  least  by  subscriptions  or  orders  for 
paintings.  But  the  measure  of  praise  his  pictures  received 
was  by  no  means  equal  to  the  artist's  estimate  of  their 
deserts.  In  a  letter,  dated  October  1784,  to  the  president 
and  members  of  the  Society,  we  find  him  complaining 
bitterly  of  this  want  of  taste  on  the  part  of  the  public. 
Sixteen  or  eighteen  thousand  pounds  had,  he  says,  been 
squandered  that  year  at  Westminster  upon  a  "  Jubilee  of 
hackney'd  German  musick,"  "  an  empty  hubbub  of 
hundreds  of  fiddles  and  drums,  which  was  dissipated  in 
the  air  as  soon  as  performed."  This,  too,  had  been 
attended  by  "  well-dressed  people  of  the  first  rank  and 
condition,  great  Lords  and  Ladies  with  white  wands,  blue 
ribbans,  and  medals."  Meanwhile  his  pictures,  which 
were  to  have  revolutionised  English  art,  were  being 
neglected  in  the  Adelphi. 

A  full  account  of  the  pictures  is  given  in  Barry's  own 
work,  above  referred  to.  A  shorter  account  was  printed 
in  the  third  volume  of  the  Society's  Transactions  (1785), 
and  this  has  been  since  republished  in  the  Journal,  with 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PICTURES  75 

alterations  (vol.  xvi.  p.  604).  Various  other  descriptions 
have  been  printed  at  different  times,  but  they  all  seem 
to  be  derived,  either  directly  or  at  second  hand,  from 
Barry's  book.  The  whole  series  of  pictures  was  intended 
"  to  illustrate  this  great  maxim  or  moral  truth,  viz. 
that  the  obtaining  happiness,  as  well  individual  as  public, 
depends  on  cultivating  the  human  faculties.  To  prove 
the  truth  of  this  doctrine,  the  first  picture  exhibits  man- 
kind in  a  savage  state,  full  of  imperfection,  inconvenience, 
and  misery.  The  second  represents  a  Harvest  Home,  or 
Thanksgiving  to  Ceres  and  Bacchus.  The  third,  The 
Victors  at  Olympia.  The  fourth,  Navigation,  or  the 
Triumph  of  the  Thames.  The  fifth,  the  Distribution  of 
Rewards  by  the  Society.  And  the  sixth,  Elysium,  or  the 
State  of  Final  Retribution.  Three  of  these  subjects  are 
truly  poetical,  the  others  historical."  l 

The  height  of  all  the  pictures  is  the  same,  1 1  ft.  10  ins. 
The  first,  second,  fourth  and  fifth,  being  those  at  the 
ends  of  the  room,  are  each  15  ft.  2  ins.  long  ;  the  third 
and  sixth,  which  occupy  the  north  and  south  sides  of  the 
room,  are  each  42  ft.  long.  They  take  up  all  the  upper 
portion  of  the  wall,  leaving  a  space  beneath  them  of  10  ft. 
6  ins.  down  to  the  ground. 

The  description  of  the  pictures  is  too  long  for  repetition, 
though  its  quaintly  serious  style  makes  it  worth  consulta- 
tion. It  may,  however,  be  desirable  to  try  to  give  a  very 
brief  explanation  of  the  meaning  of  the  pictures,  for  the 
use  of  those  who  care  to  follow  out  the  story  they  are 
meant  to  tell.  The  first  picture,  the  "  Orpheus,"  is  on 
the  left-hand  side  of  a  person  entering  the  room,  and 
occupies  the  southern  half  of  the  west  wall.  It  is  intended 
to  represent  a  savage  people,  living  in  a  wild  and  desert 
country,  while  Orpheus  is  explaining  to  them  the  advan- 
tages of  culture. 

In  the  second  picture,  "  A  Grecian  Harvest  Home," 
we  have  the  second,  or  agricultural,  stage  of  civilisa- 
tion. 

The  third  picture,  "  The  Victors  at  Olympia,"  which 
faces  the  visitor  as  he  enters,  is  typical  of  the  most  advanced 
1  Transactions,  vol.  iii.  p.  no. 


76  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 

culture.  At  the  right  l  of  the  picture  the  conquerors 
in  the  games  are  receiving  the  prizes  at  the  hands  of  the 
judges.  Two  of  the  athletes  are  carrying  their  father, 
Diagoras,  a  former  victor.  Near  this  group  is  another, 
the  chief  person  in  which  is  Pericles,  who  has  borrowed 
the  face  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham.  The  personage  in  the 
chariot  is  Hiero  of  Syracuse  ;  the  leader  of  the  chorus  is 
supposed  to  be  Pindar  ;  the  statue  at  the  right  end  of  the 
picture  is  Minerva  ;  that  at  the  other  end  is  Hercules. 
The  figure  seated  at  the  base  of  the  statue  of  Hercules 
represents  Barry  himself. 

The  fourth  picture,  "  The  Thames,"  is  emblematical 
of  the  triumphs  of  modern  commerce.  The  central 
figure  represents  Father  Thames  sitting  in  a  triumphal 
car,  steering  with  one  hand,  and  holding  in  the  other  the 
mariner's  compass.  The  car  is  borne  along  by  Sir  Francis 
Drake,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  Sebastian  Cabot,  and  "  the 
late  Captain  Cook,  of  amiable  memory."  In  the  front 
of  the  car  are  four  figures,  representing  Europe,  Asia, 
Africa,  and  America.  Mercury,  "  the  emblem  of  com- 
merce," is  represented  at  the  top  of  the  picture  as  sum- 
moning the  nations,  and  the  Nereids  following  the  car 
carry  several  articles  of  the  principal  manufactures  of 
Great  Britain.  "  The  sportive  appearance  of  some  of 
these  Nereids  gives  a  variety  to  the  picture,  and  is  intended 
to  show  that  an  extensive  commerce  is  sometimes  found 
subversive  of  the  foundation  of  virtue."  In  order  to  intro- 
duce the  personification  of  music  into  "  this  scene  of 
triumph  and  joy,"  the  artist  has  placed  amongst  the  sea- 
nymphs  "  his  friend  Dr.  Burney,  whose  abilities  in  that 
line  are  universally  acknowledged."  '  This,"  remarks 
a  writer  in  the  Microcosm  of  London  (1809),  was  "  a 
whim  equally  absurd  and  incomprehensible  which  no 
raillery  or  good  counsel  could  induce  him  to  dismiss  from 
his  canvas." 

The  fifth  picture,  "  The  Society,"2  represents  a  dis- 

1  In  every  case  right  and  left  mean  right  and  left  of  the  spectator. 

2  The   illustration   is   taken   from   Barry's   etching,   not   from   the 
painting,  and  the  two  vary  considerably.     The  description  in  the  text 
corresponds  with  the  painting. 


THE  PICTURE  OF  "THE  SOCIETY1'  77 

tribution  of  the  rewards  in  the  Society.  The  figure  near 
the  left  in  nobleman's  robes  is  Lord  Romney,  who  was 
president  when  the  picture  was  painted  ;  near  him  is 
the  Prince  of  Wales  (George  iv.)  ;  sitting  at  the  corner  of 
the  picture,  with  a  manuscript  in  his  hand,  is  William 
Shipley,  the  originator  of  the  Society  ;  one  of  the  farmers 
carrying  specimens  of  grain  is  Arthur  Young  ;  the  figure 
near  him,  holding  a  pen,  is  Mr.  More,  the  then  secretary. 
On  the  right  of  Lord  Romney  is  the  Hon.  Charles  Marsham, 
one  of  the  Society's  vice-presidents  ;  on  the  left  is  another 
vice-president,  Mr.  Owen  Salusbury  Brereton.  About  the 
centre  of  the  picture  is  "  that  distinguished  example  of 
female  excellence,  Mrs.  Montague,  who  long  honoured 
the  Society  with  her  name  and  subscription."  Near 
her  are  the  Duchess  of  Northumberland,  Earl  Percy, 
Joshua  Steele,  Sir  George  Savile,  Dr.  Hurd,  Bishop  of 
Worcester,  Soame  Jenyns,  James  Harris,  and  the  two 
Duchesses  of  Rutland  and  Devonshire.  Between  these 
ladies  "  the  late  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  seems  pointing  out 
this  example  of  Mrs.  Montague  to  their  graces'  attention 
and  imitation."  Further  to  the  left  is  the  Duke  of  Rich- 
mond, and  near  him  Edmund  Burke  ;  still  nearer  the  right 
side  of  the  picture  are  Edward  Hooper  and  Keane  Fitz- 
gerald. The  Duke  of  Northumberland,  the  Earl  of  Radnor 
(the  second  Earl),  William  Locke,  and  Dr.  Hunter  are 
examining  some  drawings  by  a  youth.  Near  the  right  side 
of  the  picture  are  Lord  Folkestone,  first  president  of  the 
Society,  his  son,  the  first  Earl  of  Radnor,  and  Dr.  Stephen 
Hales.  The  introduction  of  Somerset  House  and  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral  is  intended  to  show  that  the  Society  is  in 
London  ;  the  picture  (Barry's  "  Fall  of  Satan  ")  and  the 
medallion  represent  the  arts  of  Painting  and  Sculpture. 

The  sixth  picture  represents  "  Elysium,  or  the  State  of 
Final  Retribution."  In  it  are  "  brought  together  those 
great  and  good  men  of  all  ages  and  nations,  who  have 
acted  as  the  cultivators  of  mankind." 

According  to  the  account  in  the  Transactions,  the  first 
group  on  the  left  consists  of  Roger  Bacon,  Archimedes, 
Descartes,  and  Thales  ;  behind  them  stand  Sir  Francis 
Bacon,  Copernicus,  Galileo,  and  Sir  Isaac  Newton  ;  near 


78  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 

these  is  Columbus  with  a  chart  of  his  voyage  ;  and  close 
to  him,  Epaminondas  with  his  shield,  Socrates,  Cato  the 
younger,  the  elder  Brutus,  and  Sir  Thomas  More.  Behind 
Brutus  is  William  Molyneux,  holding  "  his  book  of  the 
Case  of  Ireland  "  ;  near  Columbus  are  Lord  Shaftesbury, 
John  Locke,  Zeno,  Aristotle,  and  Plato  ;  and  in  the  open- 
ing between  this  group  and  the  next  are  Dr.  William 
Harvey,  the  discoverer  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  and 
Robert  Boyle.  King  Alfred  is  leaning  on  the  shoulder  of 
William  Penn,  who  is  showing  his  code  of  laws  to  Lycurgus  ; 
standing  round  them  are  Minos,  Trajan,  Antoninus,  Peter 
the  Great  of  Russia,  Edward  the  Black  Prince,  Henry  the 
Fourth  of  France,  and  Andrea  Doria  of  Genoa.  Then 
come  patrons  of  genius,  Lorenzo  de  Medici,  Louis  the 
Fourteenth,  Alexander  the  Great,  Charles  the  First, 
Colbert,  Leo  the  Tenth,  Francis  the  First,  the  Earl  of 
Arundel,  and  "  the  illustrious  Monk  Cassiodorus  "  ;  behind 
the  archangel  are  Pascal  and  Bishop  Butler,  behind 
whom  again  is  Bossuet,  his  hand  resting  on  the  shoulder 
of  Origen.  Behind  Francis  the  First  and  Lord  Arundel 
are  Hugo  Grotius,  Father  Paul,  and  Pope  Adrian. 

"  Near  the  centre,  towards  the  top  of  the  picture, 
sits  Homer,  on  his  right  hand  Milton,  next  him  Shakespeare, 
Spenser,  Chaucer,  and  Sappho  ;  behind  her  sits  Alcaeus, 
who  is  talking  with  Ossian  ;  near  him  are  Menander, 
Moliere,  Congreve,  Brahma,  Confucius,  Mango  Capac,  etc. 
Next  Homer,  on  the  other  side,  is  the  Arch  Bishop  of 
Cambray,  with  Virgil  leaning  on  his  shoulder  ;  and  near 
them  Tasso,  Ariosto,  and  Dante.  Behind  Dante,  Petrarch, 
Laura,  Giovanni,  and  Boccaccio.  In  the  second  range  of 
figures,  over  Edward  the  Black  Prince  and  Peter  the  Great, 
are  Swift,  Erasmus,  and  Cervantes  ;  near  them  Pope, 
Dryden,  Addison,  and  Richardson.  Behind  Dryden  and 
Pope  are  Sterne,  Gray,  Goldsmith,  Thompson,  and  Field- 
ing ;  and  near  Richardson,  Inigo  Jones,  Sir  Christopher 
Wren,  and  Vandyck.  Next  Vandyck  is  Rubens,  with  his 
hand  on  the  shoulder  of  Le  Sueur  ;  behind  him  is  Le 
Brun  ;  next  are  Giulio  Romano,  Domenichino,  and  Anni- 
bale  Carracci,  who  are  in  conversation  with  Phidias, 


THE  PORTRAITS  IN  THE  GREAT  ROOM       79 

behind  whom  is  Giles  Hussey.  Nicolas  Poussin  and  the 
Sicyonian  maid  are  near  them,  with  Callimachus  and 
Pamphilus  ;  near  Apelles  is  Correggio  ;  behind  Raphael 
stand  Michael  Angelo  and  Leonardo  da  Vinci  ;  and  behind 
them  Ghiberti,  Donatello,  Masaccio,  Brunelleschi,  Albert 
Durer,  Giotto,  Cimabue,  and  Hogarth.  In  the  other  corner 
of  the  picture  the  artist  has  represented  Tartarus,  where, 
among  cataracts  of  fire  and  clouds  of  smoke,  two  large 
hands  are  seen  ;  one  of  them  holding  a  fire-fork,  the  other 
pulling  down  a  number  of  figures  bound  together  by 
serpents,  representing  War,  Gluttony,  Extravagance, 
Detraction,  Parsimony,  and  Ambition  ;  and  floating  down 
the  fiery  gulph  are  Tyranny,  Hypocrisy,  and  Cruelty, 
with  their  proper  attributes."  x 

It  is  stated  in  the  Transactions,  vol.  xxiii.  p.  18,  that 
on  the  death  of  Lord  Nelson  in  1 805  "  the  Society  proposed 
to  commemorate  that  hero  by  introducing  his  portrait 
in  one  of  the  pictures  which  decorate  the  Great  Room," 
and  Barry  undertook  to  execute  the  work,  but  his  death 
prevented  the  design  from  being  carried  into  execution. 

The  six  pictures  did  not  occupy  the  whole  wall  of  the 
room,  the  spaces  over  the  chimney-pieces  at  either  end 
being  filled  by  the  portraits  of  Lords  Folkestone  and 
Romney,  before  referred  to.  It  does  not  appear  that 
Barry's  original  design  included  pictures  for  these  spaces, 
but  we  find  him,  in  1801,  expressing  a  wish  that  these  two 
portraits  should  be  placed  in  some  other  room  of  the 
Society,  and  that  he  should  be  allowed  to  execute  pictures 
which  might  fill  the  vacant  places.  This  he  was  willing 
to  do  without  charge,  and  without  interruption  to  the 
business  of  the  Society.  The  cost  of  them  would  not,  he 
said,  exceed  £10  for  canvas  and  stretchers.  It  may  be 
supposed,  and  indeed  it  appears  from  the  style  of  the 
letter,  that  he  was  at  that  time  perfectly  well  satisfied 
with  the  treatment  he  had  received  from  the  Society,  for 

1  Transactions,  vol.  iii.  p.  128.  I  have  ventured  to  rectify  the 
spelling  of  some  of  the  names.  Brahma  appears  in  the  Transactions 
as  Bruma,  which  I  take  to  be  a  misprint  for  Brama,  the  name  given  in 
pne  edition  of  Barry's  boolv 


8o  THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 

he  expresses  himself  as  being  "  both  gratified  and  flattered 
with  the  publick  reputation  of  the  pictures."  Permission 
was  given  to  Barry  to  carry  out  his  scheme,  and  it  may 
be  presumed  that  it  was  upon  the  receipt  of  such  permis- 
sion that  he  prepared  the  two  designs  which  are  still  pre- 
served amongst  his  etchings,  representing  George  in.  and 
Queen  Charlotte.  But,  although  the  proposal  was  at  first 
readily  accepted,  it  seems  to  have  given  rise  to  some 
difference  of  opinion,  for  the  then  president,  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  notified  his  intention  of  moving  to  rescind  the 
resolution  of  the  Society  for  the  removal  of  the  portraits. 
Under  these  circumstances  Barry  at  once  withdrew  his 
offer,  at  the  same  time  disclaiming  any  intention  to  show 
disrespect  to  the  memory  of  the  first  two  presidents  of  the 
Society.  He  urges  very  fairly  that  another  position  might 
be  found  for  the  pictures,  which  would  be  in  no  way 
injured,  and  that  his  design  could  then  be  harmoniously 
completed.  Coming  from  a  man  of  his  temper,  it  must  be 
allowed  that  his  second  letter  is  most  dignified,  and  in 
excellent  taste.  The  portraits  consequently  remained  in 
their  places  until  1864,  when  they  were  removed  to  make 
way  for  the  portraits  of  the  Prince  Consort  and  Queen 
Victoria,  by  J.  C.  Horsley,  R.A.,  and  C.  W.  Cope,  R.A. 
These,  with  the  bust  of  Prince  Albert  now  standing  in  the 
ante-room,  form  the  memorial  which  was  provided  in 
1863  by  subscriptions  from  members  of  the  Society  in 
memory  of  their  President.1 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  Barry's  celebrated  pictures  have 
always  been  an  object  of  great  care  to  the  Society.  Look- 
ing through  the  Minutes  since  the  commencement  of  the 
last  century,  we  find  constant  references  to  the  attention 
bestowed  upon  them.  In  one  place,  instructions  are  given 
to  the  housekeeper  that  they  should  be  carefully  wiped 
down  every  year  ;  in  another  we  find  West,  and  later  on 
Mulready,  reporting  on  their  condition.  The  frames  were 
regilt  several  times,  and  so  on.  The  pictures  have  been 
cleaned  at  various  times  ;  about  1834  it  is  said  that  a 
thick  coat  of  olive  oil,  which  had  been  applied  to  them 
under  some  mistaken  notion  of  preserving  them,  was 
1  Chapter  XVI,  p.  400,  and  Appendix  III, 


BARRY'S  ETCHINGS  81 

removed.  In  1846,  when  the  room  was  redecorated  by 
Hay,  of  Edinburgh,  the  way  in  which  the  pictures  had 
been  treated  called  forth  a  good  deal  of  adverse  criticism, 
and  it  was  then  that  Mulready  was  called  in  to  report  upon 
them.  His  report  was  that  they  were  in  excellent  condi- 
tion,* and  that  nothing  appeared  to  have  been  done  to  them 
which  had  inflicted  the  slightest  injury.  This  opinion  was 
confirmed  by  the  opinion  of  Seguier,  the  picture  restorer. 
"  The  Orpheus  "  had,  either  then  or  at  some  previous  time, 
been  badly  varnished,  and  stains  from  this  treatment  are 
still  perceptible.  In  1861  (Sir)  John  Robinson  l  was  asked 
to  report  upon  them,  and  this  he  did  at  some  length.2 
In  accordance  with  his  advice  they  were  relined  and 
stretched  upon  new  frames  by  Merritt,  a  well-known 
picture  cleaner,  at  a  cost  of  £220.  This  work  was  com- 
pleted in  1863.  In  1880  they  had  got  to  be  extremely 
dirty,  and  they  again  underwent  a  thorough  cleaning. 
Since  that  date  they  have  been  cleaned  every  year. 

Besides  the  pictures  in  the  Great  Room,  the  Society 
possesses  the  plates  of  a  number  of  etchings  by  Barry, 
most  of  which  were  presented  to  the  Society  in  1851  by 
Miss  Barnett.  Some  of  these  may  have  been  done  while 
he  was  at  work  upon  the  pictures,  but  most  of  them  prob- 
ably during  his  later  years.  Six  of  them  represent  the 
six  pictures.  They  were  etched  after  the  completion  of 
the  pictures,  and  were  copied  from  the  originals  by  the 
artist  himself,  yet,  curiously  enough,  they  differ  in  many 
of  the  details  from  the  paintings.  It  is  true  that  some 
slight  alterations  were  made  by  Barry  in  the  pictures 
after  they  were  first  painted,  but  this  does  not  seem 
sufficient  to  account  for  all  the  variations.  The  other 
etchings  are  nearly  all  from  pictures  of  the  artist,  most  of 
which  are  no  longer  extant.  The  Society  also  possesses 
Barry's  "  Adam  and  Eve,"  one  of  his  more  important 
works,  which,  as  above  mentioned,  was  sold  after  Barry's 
death  at  Christie's.  It  was  presented  to  them  by  Mr. 

1  Sir  J.  C.  Robinson  was  superintendent   of   the  Art  Collections  of 
South  Kensington  Museum,  and  surveyor  of  Pictures  to  Queen  Victoria. 
He  died  in  April  of  the  present  year  (1913). 

2  Council  Minutes,  27 th  November  1861. 

7 


82 


THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICES 


R.  H.  Solly.  This  picture  has  been  for  some  years  on  loan 
at  the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum.  There  is  also  a 
portrait  of  Barry,  painted  by  himself,  which  is  hung  up  in 
the  ante-room,  and  an  oil  painting  which  is  said,  it  is  not 
known  on  what  authority,  to  be  a  portrait  by  him  of  his 
mother.  The  former  was  presented  to  the  Society  by  Mr. 
W.  Moffat.  There  seems  to  be  no  record  in  the  Society's 
Minutes  of  the  way  in  which  the  latter  picture  came  into 
the  Society's  possession,  and  there  is  some  doubt  as  to  its 
authenticity. 


Design  by  Barry  for  a  Medal. 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

(1754-1847) 

The  Colonies  in  1754 — The  NORTH  AMERICAN  COLONIES — Silk  in 
Georgia — Ben j amin  Franklin — Wine — Potash — Saltpetre — Iron — 
Hemp  —  Sturgeon  —  Isinglass — Myrtle  Wax — Pipe-Staves — Saw- 
mills— The  WEST  INDIES — Introduction  of  Economic  Plants  from 
the  East — Cochineal — Bread-Fruit — Mango  —  Cinnamon — Indigo 
— Cotton — Logwood — Botanic  Gardens  in  St.  Vincent  and  Jamaica 
— Results  of  Society's  Work  in  the  West  Indies — INDIA  and  the 
EAST — The  East  India  Company — Tin,  Cotton,  Cinnamon,  etc. — 
Roxburgh  and  the  Calcutta  Botanic  Gardens — Caoutchouc — Ramie 
— Gutta  Percha — Tea — Dr.  Wallich  and  his  Collection  of  Woods 
— Similar  Collection  by  Captain  Baker — CEYLON — Machine  for 
Decorticating  Rice — CANADA — Hemp — Mackenzie  and  his  Ex- 
plorations— Survey  of  Canada  —  AUSTRALIA  —  Wool — Wine  — 
Tanning  Materials — Other  Australian  Products— NEW  ZEALAND — 
Phormiumtenax — MINORCA— Silk — MAURITIUS— Silk— CAPE— Wine. 

IT  is  proposed  in  this  chapter  to  deal  with  the  efforts 
which,  during  the  first  century  of  its  existence — from 
its  foundation  in  1754  to  the  grant  of  its  Royal  Charter 
in  1847 — the  Society  made  to  encourage  and  develop 
the  resources  of  the  British  colonies. 

During  that  long  period  our  colonial  empire  underwent 
many  and  great  changes,  both  of  restriction  and  of  expan- 
sion. At  its  commencement  "  His  Majesty's  Colonies 
and  Plantations  abroad  "  meant,  with  some  insignificant 
exceptions,  only  the  North  American  colonies  l  and  the 
West  Indies.  Before  its  close  the  American  colonies  had 

1  The  original  from  which  the  map  facing  page  84  is  reproduced  is 
contained  in  Jefferys'  American  Atlas,  London,  1776.  It  is  in  the 
possession  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society.  In  the  original  the 
Mississippi  is  marked  as  indicating  the  western  limit  of  the  British 
possessions. 

8.1 


84          THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

developed  into  the  United  States,  Canada  had  become 
British,  Australia  had  been  partly  explored  and  settled, 
the  Cape  and  Ceylon  had  been  taken  from  the  Dutch, 
and  many  other  additions,  in  many  parts  of  the  world, 
had  been  made  to  the  British  possessions.  India  also — 
for  the  earlier  associations  of  the  Society  with  India  must 
be  included  in  our  review — had  during  this  period  definitely 
become  a  part  of  the  Empire,  which  it  assuredly  was  not 
in  1754. 

It  was  in  America,  and  before  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, that  during  the  first  twenty  years  of  its  exist- 
ence the  most  important  part  of  the  Society's  colonial  work 
was  done.  The  only  reference  to  the  West  African  settle- 
ments that  has  been  noticed  in  the  Society's  Minutes  or 
Transactions  about  this  time  relates  to  the  offer  of  a 
gold  medal  for  the  importation  of  cotton  from  Africa, 
and  though  the  Society  was  ready  to  extend  its  efforts 
to  the  East  Indies,  and  occasionally  did  so,  its  proposals 
do  not  appear  to  have  been  welcomed  by  the  East  India 
Company,  which  had  distinctly  monopolistic  views  as 
regarded  its  possessions.  For  example,  in  1758  it  was 
proposed  that  a  prize  should  be  offered  for  the  production 
of  cinnamon  in  "  our  own  Territories  in  the  Island  of 
Sumatra,"  but  the  court  of  directors  of  the  Company 
were  "  under  apprehensions  that  if  so  valuable  an  article 
should  be  produced  in  the  island,  the  Dutch  will  use  their 
best  endeavours  to  get  possession  of  it."  So  the  proposal 
was  dropped,  as  was  also  a  similar  one  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  the  production  of  cochineal. 

At  one  of  the  first  meetings  of  the  Society  after  it  had 
moved  into  its  rooms  in  Craig's  Court,  in  April  1755,  Lord 
Romney  informed  the  members  that  300  Ibs.  weight  of 
raw  silk  had  lately  been  brought  to  England  from  Georgia, 
and  that  the  silk  was  of  very  excellent  quality,  equal  to 
the  best  Piedmont.  He  therefore  suggested  that  the 
Society,  by  way  of  encouraging  the  production  of  silk  in 
the  colony,  should  offer  a  prize  for  planting  mulberry 
trees,  and  it  was  thereupon  resolved  that  a  premium  "  of 
£10  sterling  money  "  should  be  offered  to  the  person 
"  who  shall  plant,  and  properly  fence,  the  greatest  number 


MAP  OF  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  COLONIES. 


To  face  page  84. 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  COLONIES  85 

of  white  mulberry  trees  on  his  own  plantation  in  the 
province  of  Georgia  before  the  first  day  of  March  1756." 
Prizes  of  £5  and  £3  were  added  for  the  second  and  third 
largest  number.  An  announcement  of  this  prize  appears 
in  the  earliest  list  of  premiums,  dated  April  1756,  the  date 
being  extended  to  March  1757. 

In  1758  the  nature  of  the  offer  was  modified,  and  a 
payment  of  threepence  a  pound  was  offered  for  cocoons 
raised  in  Georgia,  and  two  shillings  and  sixpence  a  pound 
for  merchantable  raw  silk  produced  in  Connecticut, 
Pennsylvania  or  North  Carolina,  with  another  shilling 
per  pound  for  silk  imported  into  England.  Franklin  was 
interested  in  the  development  of  the  silk  industry,  and 
acted  as  one  of  the  Society's  referees  for  distributing  the 
awards.  Certain  of  the  colonial  governors  also  helped 
by  their  influence  and  interest.  The  British  Government 
gave  encouragement  and  a  bounty,  and  a  public  filature 
was  established  in  Georgia.  The  offer  of  premiums  was 
continued  up  to  1763,  by  which  time  a  sum  of  over  £i  100 
had  been  expended.  Although  at  one  time  the  promoters 
of  the  scheme  seem  to  have  been  sanguine  about  success, 
the  industry  was  never  established.  The  absence  of 
cheap  and  abundant  labour  may  have  been  one  reason 
for  this,  but  the  outbreak  of  the  War  of  Independence 
put  an  end  to  this  attempt  to  nurse  into  existence  what 
was  really  not  a  very  suitable  industry.1 

Much  the  same  fate  attended  the  efforts  made  to  start 
wine-making  in  some  of  the  colonies,  though  it,  too, 
promised  well  for  a  time,  and  vineyards  stocked  from 
European  sources  were  actually  established  in  -Virginia 
and  elsewhere.  The  first  offer  of  a  prize  for  wine  appears 
in  the  1758  list,  in  which  the  amount  of  £100  is  promised 
for  five  tuns  of  good  wine  made  at  a  plantation  in  any 
colony,  provided  that  one  tun  was  imported  to  London. 
In  1763,  Mr.  Charles  Carter  sent  a  dozen  bottles  of  two 

1  James  i.  had  long  before  endeavoured  to  introduce  the  silkworm 
into  his  American  Colonies,  and  had  urged  the  colonists  to  devote 
their  attention  to  the  mulberry  tree  instead  of  to  "  that  pernicious 
and  offensive  weed,"  tobacco.  Much  information  about  his  Majesty's 
proposals  will  be  found  in  Porter's  Treatise  on  the  Silk  Manufacture 
,  p.  32. 


86  THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

kinds  of  wine  from  grapes  which  grew  in  vineyards  of  his 
own  planting  in  Virginia.  One  of  these  samples  was  the 
product  of  vines  brought  from  Europe,  and  the  other  of 
American  wild  vines.  The  gold  medal  was  awarded  to 
Mr.  Carter  "  as  the  first  who  had  made  a  spirited  attempt 
towards  the  accomplishment  of  their  views  respecting 
wine  in  America." l  Amongst  other  awards  for  wine 
produced  in  the  North  American  colonies,  £200  was 
given  to  Mr.  Edward  Antill  in  1768,  for  vines  planted 
for  making  wine  near  Brunswick,  North  America  ;  the 
Earl  of  Stirling2  received  a  gold  medal  in  1769,  for 
planting  2100  sets  for  wine  ;  and  Mr.  Christopher  Sherb 
got  £50  in  1771,  for  planting  and  cultivating  vines  in 
South  Carolina,  and  producing  wine  from  them. 

Much  greater  success  attended  the  Society's  efforts  to 
encourage  the  production  of  potash  and  pearlash  (a  rather 
less  impure  form  of  potassium  carbonate  than  the  crude 
form  of  the  salt  then  sold  as  potash).  By  the  prizes 
offered,  and  still  more  by  the  information  supplied  as  to 
the  best  means  of  manufacture,  an  important  industry 
was  set  up,  and  one  very  suitable  for  a  country  abounding 
in  forests.  This  prize  was  offered  in  1758,  the  amount 
being  £100  for  fifty  tons  of  potash. 

There  was  a  large  and  growing  industrial  demand  for 
alkali,  especially  for  use  in  glass-making,  soap-making, 
and  dyeing.  Until  the  great  discovery  by  which  carbonate 
of  soda  was  manufactured  from  common  salt,  the  founda- 
tion of  modern  chemical  industry  (it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  the  Society's  premium  list  for  1783  includes  an  offer 
of  a  gold  medal  for  the  production  of  "  Fixt  Alkaline 
Salts'1  from  common  salt),  this  demand  could  only  be 
supplied  by  alkali  procured  from  the  ashes  of  plants, 
and  to  a  smaller  extent  by  imported  natural  saltpetre. 
When  such  ashes  are  treated  with  water  the  salts  of  potash 
are  dissolved,  and  on  the  evaporation  of  the  solution  they 
are  recovered .  Certain  plants  give  much  larger  proportions 

1  Dossie,  Memoirs  of  Agriculture,  vol.  i.  p.  242. 

2  This    was    William    Alexander,     "  Commander-in-Chief    of    the 
American  forces,"  who  claimed  and  bore  the  title  after  the  death  of  the 
5th  Earl  in  1739.     He  was  a  member  of  the  Society,  and  died  in  1795. 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  COLONIES  87 

of  alkaline  salts  than  others.  Plants  of  the  genus  Salicornia, 
or  glasswort  (the  Eastern  name  of  which,  "  kali/'  was  the 
origin  of  the  term  "  alkali  "),give  the  best  material,  and  it 
was  known  as  barilla.  In  England  large  amounts  of  alkali 
were  obtained  by  burning  kelp,  and  this  was  an  important 
industry  on  the  Scotch  and  Irish  coasts.  All  plants,  how- 
ever, contain  more  or  less  potash,  and  therefore  the  raw 
material  for  the  manufacture  was  abundant  in  America. 
There  were  some  difficulties  at  first  in  the  production  and 
purification  of  the  salts,  but  these  were  eventually  over- 
come by  the  full  and  detailed  instructions  sent  out  by  the 
Society  at  the  request  of  the  colonial  authorities. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  1766,  Robert  Dossie, 
the  able  and  accomplished  editor  of  what  was  practically 
the  first  series  of  the  Society's  Transactions,  was  presented 
with  a  gold  medal  for  "  effectually  aiding  to  establish  the 
manufacture  of  potash  in  North  America.'' 

The  result  of  the  attempt  to  encourage  the  production 
of  saltpetre  in  America  was  less  satisfactory.  It  seems 
that  the  prize  was  really  offered  (in  1 764)  in  the  hope  that 
it  might  lead  to  the  discovery  of  natural  sources  of  supply 
of  nitrate  of  potash  or  soda,  though  Dossie  tells  us  that 
the  Society  was  also  encouraged  by  reports  of  some  new 
method  of  manufacturing  the  salt  having  been  discovered 
in  America.  The  old  system  of  obtaining  nitre  from 
"  nitre-heaps,"  mixtures  of  animal  excreta  with  wood- 
ashes  and  lime,  was  obviously  not  well  suited  for  a  sparsely 
populated  country  like  America,  and  it  was  not  to  be 
expected  that  there  would  be  any  artificial  nitre  produced 
in  excess  of  the  requirements  for  home  consumption. 

But  the  hope  of  discovering  natural  sources  of  supply  of 
natron,1  the  neutral  carbonate  of  soda  (Na2O.CO2.io  Aq.), 

1  The  word  natron,  never  common,  is  now  practically  obsolete, 
though  Murray's  Dictionary  gives  an  authority  as  late  as  1876.  It  is, 
perhaps,  derived  from  the  Arabic  natrun,  the  Greek  equivalent  being 
virpov,  the  Latin  nitrum.  Our  words  nitre  is  now  only  used  as  the 
equivalent  of  saltpetre  (potassium  carbonate),  but  it  was  originally 
employed  as  identical  with  natron.  Skeat  suggests  that  the  sense  of 
the  word  has  been  changed,  but  it  is  probable  that  it  is  merely  a  case  of  a 
word,  originally  used  in  a  general  sense,  having  its  application  reduced, 
as  chemical  technology  became  more  accurate,  to  a  specific  substance. 


88  THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

was  perfectly  reasonable.  The  salt  existed  in  various 
forms,  sometimes  as  an  efflorescence  on  ground  or  rocks, 
sometimes  in  mineral  springs  or  lakes,  and  sometimes  as 
solid  deposits  in  "  pits,"  in  many  countries.  The  "  soda 
lakes  "  in  the  Libyan  desert  and  in  Upper  Egypt  were 
known  from  remote  antiquity.  Herodotus  (ii.  86)  describes 
the  use  of  the  nitron  obtained  from  them  in  embalming. 
The  natron  pits  of  Khaipur  in  Sind  have  long  been  a 
source  of  revenue  to  their  owners,  and  there  were  numerous 
other  places  in  the  Old  World  whence  the  material  was 
brought  to  England  before  the  secret  of  making  "  artificial 
saltpetre  "  was  purchased  from  the  German  Honrick  by 
Queen  Elizabeth.  There  was,  therefore,  every  reason  to 
believe  that  similar  deposits  might  be  found  in  the  New 
World.  Indeed,  in  our  own  days,  the  anticipations  of  the 
Society  have  been  justified  by  the  discovery  of  the  vast 
nitrate  fields  of  Chile,  from  which  nearly  all  the  world's 
supplies  of  nitrate  of  soda  are  now  derived. 

However,  the  hopes  were  not  realised  at  the  time,  and 
as  no  response  was  made  to  the  offer,  it  was  withdrawn 
after  a  few  years,  though  at  a  later  date  it  was  renewed,  and 
in  1786  a  silver  medal  was  actually  awarded  to  H.  Scott,  a 
surgeon  in  the  East  India  Company's  service  in  Bombay, 
for  a  sample  of  "native  Indian  fossil  alkali."  This  was  "a 
brown  earth  brought  from  Sindy."  It  was  stated  that  large 
amounts  of  the  earth  were  available,  and  on  analysis  it 
proved  very  rich  in  alkali.  Very  probably  this  was  the  first 
introduction  to  England  of  soda  carbonate  from  the  natron 
pits  of  Sind  above  mentioned,  though  it  may  indeed  have 
been  imported  without  its  source  of  origin  being  known. 

The  only  connection  between  the  Society  and  the 
manufacture  of  iron  in  America  seems  to  have  been  that 
a  prize  was  offered  for  making  iron  from  "  black  sand  " 
(magnetic  oxide  of  iron).  The  offer  was  a  reasonable  one, 
but  the  solution  of  the  problem  was  far  beyond  the  metal- 
lurgical knowledge  of  the  time,  and  indeed,  until  lately, 
it  has  never  been  possible  to  treat  this  ore  successfully. 
Still  a  certain  amount  of  success  was  attained,  for  a  gold 
medal  was  given  in  1763  to  Jared  Eliott  for  malleable  iron 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  COLONIES  89 

from  American  black  sand.  According  to  Scrivenor,1 
iron  was  first  made  in  America  in  1715,  and  the  amount 
made  steadily  increased,  until  about  1776  some  4000 
tons  were  exported.  Ten  years  later  the  amount  pro- 
duced in  England  and  Wales  was  only  13,000  tons,  the 
production  having  fallen  off  in  consequence  of  the 
diminished  supply  of  wood,  the  only  fuel  by  the  aid  of 
which  iron  could  at  that  time  be  produced. 

With  its  enormous  forests,  America  might  well  have 
supplied  the  English  market  for  iron,  and  from  time  to 
time  provisions  were  grudgingly  introduced  into  Acts  of 
Parliament  with  the  view  of  encouraging  the  industry, 
but  when  any  encouragement  was  given  it  was  either  so 
set  round  with  limitations  as  to  be  useless,  or  was  soon 
taken  away  at  the  appeal  of  the  English  iron-makers,  in 
spite  of  the  demands  urged  by  those  who  wanted  iron  but 
were  not  makers.  An  account  of  the  legislation  from  1719 
to  1769  is  given  by  Scrivenor,  and  it  is  as  little  creditable 
to  the  British  Government  as  were  most  of  the  dealings 
of  this  country  with  its  American  colonies. 

The  Colonial  Manufactures  Prohibition  Act,  1750, 
so  far  encouraged  the  production  of  raw  iron  that  it 
removed  the  duties  on  bar  or  pig  iron,  but  it  not  only 
forbade  the  working  up  of  such  iron,  but  prohibited  the 
establishment  in  America  of  furnaces,  tilt-hammers,  or 
slitting-mills  for  the  purpose.  England  at  this  time  was 
always  ready  to  help  the  colonies,  provided  only  they  did 
not  compete  with  her  own  manufacturers.  Raw  materials 
to  any  extent  they  were  encouraged  to  provide,  but 
manufactured  articles  of  any  sort  they  were  not  permitted 
to  export,  or  even,  in  most  cases,  to  produce. 

A  considerable  amount  of  hemp  has  always  been 
grown  in  England,  but  large  quantities  were  imported 
from  abroad,  especially  from  the  Baltic  ports.  It  was 
thought  that  the  North  American  colonies  might  become 
sources  of  supply,  and  a  prize  was  therefore  offered  for 
American  imported  hemp.  Soon,  however,  it  was  realised 
that,  as  there  was  a  great  local  demand  for  hemp  for  rope- 

1  History  of  the  Iron  Trade  (1854),  p.  69* 


90  THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

making,  and  the  price  was  consequently  higher  in  America 
than  in  England,  it  was  not  likely  that  the  fibre  would  be 
sent  over  here,  and  the  conditions  of  the  offer  were  changed, 
so  that  it  might  serve  to  encourage  the  actual  production 
of  the  fibre  without  calling  for  its  export.  The  scarcity  of 
labour,  however,  again  proved  an  obstacle,  and  though 
some  hemp  was  grown,  there  were  difficulties  in  obtaining 
labour  to  treat  the  stalks  for  the  production  of  the  fibre. 

As  regards  one  important  application  of  hemp  at  the 
time,  the  manufacture  of  sail-cloth,  it  soon  found  a  rival 
in  the  native  American  fibre,  cotton,  which  was  exten- 
sively applied  to  sail-making  in  America,  before  its  use  was 
ever  adopted  for  the  purpose  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
Later  on,  as  will  be  seen,  when  Canada  became  a  British 
possession,  the  cultivation  of  hemp  in  that  country  was 
successfully  established  by  the  Society's  efforts. 

The  Society  expended  a  good  deal  of  money  in  the 
attempt  to  organise  a  supply  of  pickled  sturgeon  from  the 
North  American  colonies.  It  appears  that  there  was  a 
considerable  import  of  this  fish  from  Russia,  and  that  which 
was  brought  over  from  the  colonies  was  nearly  as  good. 
The  attempt  seems  to  have  been  moderately  successful, 
but  the  demand  was  not  very  large,  and  no  doubt  the  trade 
was  a  small  one.  The  premium  was  first  offered  in  1760, 
and  was  continued  for  some  time,  various  sums  of  £50 
and  less  having  been  paid  for  importations  on  a  commercial 
scale  of  the  preserved  fish. 

The  offer,  made  in  1768,  of  a  reward  for  American 
isinglass,  might  seem  more  likely  to  have  had  good  results, 
but  it  was  dropped  on  an  appeal  from  the  owner  of  a 
patent l  for  making  isinglass  in  England,  who  hoped  to 
obtain  abundant  material  for  the  manufacture  from  the 
Newfoundland  cod  fisheries.  Dossie  2  tells  us  that  these 
hopes  were  not  realised,  though  the  Society  was  led  to 
abandon  its  offer. 

The  sturgeon  of  the  American  Great  Lakes  and  rivers 
(Acipenser  rubicundus)  is  a  different  species  from  the 

1  An  examination  of  the  lists  of  patent  grants  about  this  date  has 
not  afforded  any  clue  to  this  patent.  2  Vol.  i.  p.  276. 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  COLONIES  91 

Russian  sturgeon  (A.  stellatus),  and  is  less  abundant. 
Economically,  however,  it  is  equally  valuable,  and  it  is 
now  the  subject  of  a  considerable  industry.  The  flesh  is 
pickled,  while  caviar  and  oil  are  also  obtained  from  the  fish. 
The  offer,  therefore,  of  the  Society,  though  fruitless  at  the 
time,  was  reasonable  enough,  for  it  only  anticipated  by  a 
century  or  so  the  establishment  of  an  important  industry. 

Another  object  on  which  a  good  deal  of  trouble  and 
some  money  was  spent,  was  an  attempt  to  import  myrtle 
wax,  or,  as  it  is  now  commonly  called,  myrtleberry  wax, 
from  North  America.  This  is  a  well-known  vegetable 
wax,  the  produce  of  Myrica  cerifera  and  other  species  of 
Myrica,  which  are  found  in  North  and  South  America, 
Africa,  and  elsewhere.  The  plant  is  not  a  myrtle  at  all, 
but  is  allied  to  the  willow  tribe.1  The  British  representa- 
tive of  the  genus  is  Myrica  gale,  gale,  or  Scotch  or  Dutch 
myrtle,  also  "  bayberry  tallow,"  common  in  moist  heathy 
grounds.  A  kind  of  wax  can  be  obtained  from  this  plant 
when  it  is  boiled.  Some  foreign  species  supply  wax  in 
greater  abundance,  the  succulent  fruit  being  covered 
with  a  waxy  secretion.  The  product  of  the  American 
species,  known  as  bay  myrtle,  or  candleberry  bush,  had 
long  been  used,  in  combination  with  beeswax,  for  the  manu- 
facture of  wax  candles,  and  at  the  time  when  there  was 
a  great  demand  for  materials  for  candle-making,  it  was 
thought  that  the  importation  of  such  a  material  would  be 
valuable,  if  on  a  sufficiently  large  scale.  Accordingly,  a 
prize  of  £20  was  offered  in  1759  for  the  importation  of  the 
material  in  commercial  quantities.  Prizes  were  awarded 
in  1760,  but  after  that  they  were  dropped,  as  it  was  not 
considered  that  a  sufficient  amount  of  the  wax  was  likely 
to  be  imported  ;  in  fact,  as  Dossie  said,  the  only  applica- 

1  The  myrica  of  Virgil  (and  Pliny)  is  not  the  same  plant  at  all, 
but  a  tamarisk.  When  in  his  Eclogues  (viii.  54)  Virgil  includes  in  his 
list  of  portents  the  production  of  amber  by  the  tamarisk — 

"  Pinguia  corticibus  sudent  electra  myricae," 

he  was  perhaps  influenced  by  the  knowledge  that  the  tamarisk  really 
does  produce  a  secretion,  so-called  manna,  the  result  of  the  action  of 
a  coccus  inhabiting  the  tree.  Hence  the  botanical  name  of  one  species, 
Tamavix  mannifera. 


92  THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

tion  of  the  material  was  the  "  sophistication  of  plasters 
in  the  manufacture  of  them  by  some  wholesale  dealers  in 
medicinal  preparations." 

In  1776  an  application  was  made  to  the  Society  by 
certain  coopers  to  give  assistance  in  promoting  the  im- 
portation of  pipe  staves  from  America  in  place  of  those 
brought  from  Germany.1  The  committee  which  was 
appointed  to  consider  this  matter,  found  that  at  least 
£100,000  was  annually  paid  for  staves  imported  from 
Germany,  and  that  Quebec  oak  made  into  staves  would 
answer  all  the  purposes  of  the  German  ;  but  whether  any 
practical  result  came  of  the  suggestion  does  not  appear. 

Such  were  the  more  important  or  interesting  colonial 
products,  the  growth  or  importation  of  which  the  Society 
strove  to  promote.  Amongst  others  of  minor  value  may  be 
mentioned  olives,  raisins,  logwood,  cochineal,  scammony, 
opium,  safflower,  persimmon,  aloes,  and  sarsaparilla. 

Besides  encouraging  the  production  of  new  com- 
modities in  the  colonies,  the  Society  rendered  valuable 
service  on  occasion  by  sending  out  machinery.  As  will  be 
mentioned  in  a  future  chapter,2  the  Society  succeeded  in 
establishing  a  saw-mill  in  England,  and  the  result  of  this 
was  an  inquiry  from  America,  where  there  would  be  much 
greater  scope  for  the  use  of  such  machinery. 

Accordingly  the  Society  paid  Stansfield,  the  original 
constructor  (he  cannot  well  be  called  the  inventor,  for  the 
machinery  had  long  been  in  use  in  Holland  and  Germany), 
£60  for  a  model  of  his  apparatus,  and  sent  it  out  to  America. 
It  appears  to  have  been  useful,  for  "  the  good  effects  of  it 
have  been  acknowledged  in  the  strongest  terms  by  the 
governor  of  one  of  the  colonies  and  some  other  principal 
persons."  3  As  Dossie  remarks  that  from  this  model  the 
colonists  were  able  to  make  great  improvements  in  their 
saw-mills,  it  is  evident  that  such  mills  were  in  use  in 
America  before  they  had  been  established  in  England. 

1  Pipe  stave,  a  "stave  used  for  making  pipes  or  casks." — Murray, 
Engl.  Did. 

*  Chapter  XI,  p.  247.  3  Dossie,  vol.  i.  p.  126. 


THE  WEST  INDIES  93 

A  gold  medal  was  awarded  in  1766  to  Sam  Brown,  of 
Georgia,  "  For  his  useful  observations  in  China,  and 
industrious  application  of  them  in  Georgia."  No  record 
has  yet  been  found  of  these  observations,  so  it  is  not  known 
what  they  were.1 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  in  1774,  and  the 
resulting  separation  of  the  United  States  from  the  Mother 
Country,  of  course  put  an  end  to  the  attempts  of  the 
Society  to  develop  the  resources  of  the  North  American 
colonies,  and  from  that  date  till  the  end  of  the  century 
the  attention  of  the  Society  was  practically  confined  to  the 
West  Indies.  Here  a  considerable  amount  of  useful  work 
was  done.  Sometimes  the  offer  of  prizes  produced  immedi- 
ate practical  results,  sometimes  the  suggestions  originated 
experiments  and  inquiry,  so  that  ultimately  useful  in- 
dustries were  started,  and  valuable  imports  obtained. 

Among  the  vegetable  products,  for  the  growth  of  which 
in  the  West  Indies  prizes  were  specially  offered,  may  be 
mentioned  mango,  bread-fruit,  olive,  opium,  cinnamon, 
nutmeg,  sarsaparilla,  aloe,  safflower,  indigo,  cotton, 
anatta,  vanilla,  clove,  pepper,  mace,  camphor,  quinine, 
various  tinctorial  plants,  and  ornamental  woods.  For 
several  of  these  rewards  were  claimed  and  awarded,  but 
in  other  cases  the  offers  produced  no  practical  result. 

The  main  idea  which  directed  the  efforts  of  those  who 
were  trying  to  develop  the  West  Indies  was  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  known  and  tested  products  of  the  ancient  civilisa- 
tion of  the  East  into  the  new  lands  of  the  West.  Those 
who  in  the  eighteenth  century  were  working  with  this 
object  were  only  following  the  lead  of  the  earliest  colonisers 
of  America.  The  Spaniards  introduced  the  sugar-cane  into 
San  Domingo  before  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and 
it  flourished  as  it  had  never  done  in  the  Eastern  lands 
where  it  was  indigenous.  It  is  said  to  have  been  first 

1  According  to  a  letter  in  the  Museum  Rusticum,  vol.  i.  p.  442 
(1764),  tea  was  introduced  into  South  Carolina  by  a  Dutchman  who 
had  lived  in  China.  It  is  said  that  this  man  died  before  there  was 
any  practical  result  from  his  work,  except  that  the  tea  tree  was  culti- 
vated as  a  garden  plant.  The  letter  is  signed  "  Americanus." 


94  THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

cultivated  in  Jamaica  by  Sir  Thomas  Modyford  in  1660. ,1 
Coffee  was  introduced  by  the  French  into  either  Cayenne 
or  Martinique  about  1722,  and  it  soon  spread  to  the  other 
islands.2  By  1770  or  thereabouts  it  was  a  staple  product 
of  Jamaica.  The  insurrection  of  the  blacks  in  Haiti  at 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  drove  a  number  of 
coffee- planters  and  their  loyal  slaves  from  Haiti  to  Jamaica 
and  Cuba,  and  this  gave  an  impulse  to  coffee- growing  in 
both  those  islands.  The  Oriental  bamboo  is  believed 
to  have  been  artificially  planted  in  Hispaniola,  whence  it 
spread  to  Jamaica  and  the  other  islands.  Cotton  was 
indigenous  in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  though  the  species 
was  different  from  the  cotton  of  the  East  known  to  Hero- 
dotus, Theophrastus,  and  Pliny,  the  wild  tree  bearing 
fleeces  from  which  the  Indians  made  cloth.  The  cotton 
grown  in  the  islands  was  no  doubt  brought  from  the 
mainland.  The  orange  is  believed  to  have  been  introduced 
by  the  Spaniards  into  the  West  Indies,  and  to  have  been 
transplanted  thence  to  Florida.  Long,  in  his  History  of 
Jamaica  (i 774),  speaks  of  it  as  growing  wild  in  that  island, 
but  not  being  properly  cultivated,  as  it  was  in  South 
Carolina.  The  mango  is  said  to  have  been  first  introduced 
from  the  East  Indies  into  Brazil  by  the  Portuguese,  and 
to  have  been  transplanted  thence  to  the  islands,  but  of  this 
more  hereafter. 

In  continuation  of  these  importations,  the  English 
colonists  and  their  associates  at  home  hoped  to  transplant 
to  the  tropical  western  islands  the  economic  flora  of  India 
and  the  spice  islands,  especially  the  latter,  while  they  were 
also  not  unmindful  of  the  resources  placed  at  their  disposal 
by  the  recent  discovery  of  the  islands  of  the  South  Seas. 

1  Hortus  Jamaicensis,  vol.  ii.  p.  205,  quoted  in  an  article  in   the 
Jamaica  Handbook  for   1899  on  "  Public  Gardens  and  Plantations/' 
which  contains  a  great  deal  of  information  about  the  introduction  of 
numerous  economic  plants  into  the  West  Indies. 

2  In  a  little  History  of  Coffee,  by  W.  Law,  of  Edinburgh,  "  coffee 
merchant  to  the  Queen  "(1850),  it  is  stated  that  the  coffee  plant  was 
introduced  by  the  French  into  Cayenne  from  Surinam  in   1722,  and 
five  years  later  into  Martinique.     According  to  another  account  it  was 
sent  to  Martinique  direct  from  France,  a  coffee  tree  having  been  pre- 
sented to  Louis  xiv.  by  the  magistrates  of  Amsterdam. 


THE  WEST  INDIES 


95 


The  first  mention  of  the  West  Indies  occurs  in  the 
Premium  List  for  1760,  which  contains  a  special  offer  of 
£100  for  cochineal  from  Jamaica,  though  in  the  previous 
lists  various  prizes  were  included  which  were  open  to  the 
West  Indian  in  common  with  the  other  colonies. 

The  story  of  the  introduction  of  the  bread-fruit  (Arto- 
carpus  incisus],  with  its  incidents  of  the  mutiny  of  the 
Bounty  in  1789,  the  abandonment  of  Captain  Bligh, 
and  the  colonisation  of  Pitcairn  Island  by  the  mutineers, 
is  well  known. 

The  first  suggestion  that  the  bread-fruit  might  be 
introduced  into  the  West  Indies  is  said  1  to  have  come  from 
Valentine  Morris,  the  Captain-General  of  St.  Vincent,  who 
wrote  in  1772  on  the  subject  to  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  and  it 
was  no  doubt  as  the  result  of  this  letter  that  a  prize  was 
offered  in  1777  by  the  Society.  In  1786,  Sir  Joseph,  urged 
by  Mr.  Hinton  East,  of  Kingston,  Jamaica,2  who  was  then 
in  London,  brought  the  matter  before  George  in.,  and  the 
result  was  that  the  expedition  of  which  Captain  Bligh  was 
the  commander,  was  sent  to  the  South  Seas  in  the  Bounty 
to  collect  bread-fruit  trees  and  to  transport  them  to  the 
West  Indies.  The  fullest  instructions  were  drawn  up  by 
Banks,  the  ship  reached  Otaheite,  and  a  number  of  plants 
were  collected.  All  went  well  until  the  return  voyage  from 
Otaheite,  when  the  mutiny  took  place,  and  Bligh  was 
sent  adrift  in  the  ship's  launch.  A  second  expedition  was 
more  successful,  and  in  1793  a  cargo  of  bread-fruit  trees 
was  safely  conveyed  to  the  West  Indies  by  Captain  Bligh 
in  H.M.S.  Providence.  On  his  return,  Captain  Bligh  sent 
in  a  full  report  to  the  Society,3  from  which  it  appeared  that 
over  300  bread-fruit  plants  had  been  successfully  landed  in 
St.  Vincent,  and  a  like  number  in  Jamaica,  besides  a  large 
number  of  other  plants  from  the  Pacific  Islands.  Most 
of  these  are  only  described  by  their  native  names,  but  the 

1  E.  Smith,  Life  of  Sir  Joseph  Banks  (191 1),  p.  123. 

2  Hinton  East  was  Receiver-General  of  the  Colony  and  member  of 
the    Assembly    for    Kingston.     His   botanical    garden    is   referred    to 
later  on. 

3  Transactions,  vol.  xii.  p.  305. 


96  THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

list  includes  mango,  pomegranate,  coco-nut,  coffee,  almond, 
and  plaintain.  The  gold  medal  was,  on  this  report, 
awarded  to  Captain  Bligh. 

From  reports  made  to  the  Society  in  1795  by  General 
Melville  (St.  Vincent)  and  by  Dr.  Dancer  (Jamaica)  in 
I796,1  it  appears  that  the  trees  grew  and  flourished  in  the 
islands,  and  a  little  later  further  information  was  received 
from  St.  Vincent.  Dr.  Alexander  Anderson,  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  Botanic  Gardens  in  that  island,  reported 
fully  in  1798  on  the  condition  of  the  trees  there,  and  stated 
that  they  were  well  established  and  were  producing  an 
ample  supply  of  the  fruit.2  Later  reports  in  1802  and 
1803  were  equally  satisfactory,  and  in  1807  he  writes  that 
though  it  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  productions  sent  to 
the  West  Indies,  it  is  not  appreciated  at  its  proper  value. 
He  adds  that  it  was  said  that  the  negroes  did  not  like  it,  but 
that  he  did  not  believe  this.  Its  want  of  popularity  he 
attributes  to  the  apathy  of  the  planters.  It  may  be  added 
that  in  1799  a  gold  medal  was  awarded  to  S.  Mure  for  a 
plantation  of  bread-fruit  trees  in  Jamaica,  and  two  gold 
medals  were  given  in  1802  and  in  1803  to  the  Hon.  Joseph 
Robley,  the  Governor  of  Tobago,  for  his  plantation  of 
bread-fruit  trees  in  that  island. 

In  1760  a  gold  medal  was  offered  for  the  introduction  of 
the  mango  into  the  West  Indies,  but  after  three  years  the 
offer  was  dropped.  Twenty  years  after  this,  in  1784, 
Walter  Maynard,  of  Nevis,  wrote  to  the  Society  that  in 
1770  he  had  brought  some  young  mango  plants  from  the 
Island  of  Bourbon  to  St.  Vincent,  that  they  had  fruited 
there,  "  and  are  now  propagated  in  almost  all  the  West 
India  islands."  The  statement  was  supported  by  evidence, 
and  it  was  said  that  one  of  the  plants  had  been  given  to 
Dr.  Young,  the  superintendent  of  the  Botanic  Gardens  at 
St.  Vincent.3  It  appeared,  however,  that  this  was  not  the 

1  Transactions,  vol.  xii.  p.  xviii.,  and  vol.  xiv.  p.  xv. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  xvi.  pp.  xii.  and  327. 

3  In  his  report  on    the    Botanic    Gardens,   referred  to  on    p.   99, 
Young  mentions  the  "  East  India  mangoe  "  as  having  been  introduced 
into  St.  Vincent.     This  was  in  1773. 


THE  WEST  INDIES  97 

first  introduction  of  the  mango,  for  on  inquiry  being  made 
of  Mr.  Joshua  Steele,  a  member  of  the  Society,  and  the 
President  of  the  Barbados  Society  of  Arts,  that  gentleman 
sent  the  Secretary  an  account  of  an  ancient  mango  tree 
then  existing  in  a  plantation  in  Barbados,  called  "  The 
Guinea."1  This  tree  had,  it  was  believed,  been  imported 
and  planted  by  Edwin  Lascelles  in  1742  or  1743,  but  it 
bore  no  fruit  till  1761.  It  is  very  likely  that  this  was  the 
tree  mentioned  by  Dossie  2  as  having  been  brought  from 
the  Brazils,  where  the  mango  was  said  to  have  been  intro- 
duced from  the  East  Indies  by  the  Portuguese  missionaries. 
From  this  tree  others  had  been  propagated,  and  were 
growing  in  different  parts  of  the  island.  It  is  clear,  there- 
fore, that  the  mango  was  well  established  in  the  West 
Indies  in  1784.  It  has  been  said  that  Lord  Rodney  intro- 
duced the  fruit  in  1782,  but  this  is  not  quite  correct.  One 
of  Lord  Rodney's  captains  (Captain  Marshall,  of  the^Flora 
frigate)  certainly  captured  a  French  ship  carrying  some 
economic  plants  from  Bourbon  to  Hispaniola,  and  these 
plants  were  sent  to  Jamaica.  According  to  Bryan 
Edwards,3  some  mangoes  included  in  the  cargo  were 
planted  in  Hinton  East's  Botanic  Garden.  The  mango  is 
now  one  of  the  commonest  trees  in  the  island.  It  is  also 
possible,  and  by  no  means  unlikely,  that  the  French  may 
have  introduced  the  mango  into  Martinique,  with  other 
plants  they  sent  there,  before  it  was  established  in  any  of 
the  British  islands. 

Among  the  plants  whose  destination  was  thus  altered, 
were  some  young  cinnamon  trees,  and  this  appears  to  have 
been  the  first  introduction  of  the  Eastern  cinnamon  to 
Jamaica,  for  which  the  Society  had  offered  a  prize  as  far 
back  as  1760,  though  the  Guadaloupe  cinnamon  is  men- 
tioned by  Dr.  Young.  Dr.  Dancer,  the  superintendent  of 
the  Jamaica  Botanic  Gardens,  writing  in  1789  to  the 
Society,  gives  an  account  of  the  condition  of  the  cinnamon 
trees  then  growing  in  the  island,  and  describes  them  as 
flourishing,  but  not  very  numerous.4 

1  Transactions,  vol.  iv.  p.  219.  2  Vol.  i.  p.  286. 

3  History  of  the  British  West  Indies,  4th  ed.  (1807)  vol.  i.  p.  257. 

*  Transactions,  vol.  viii.  pp.  viii.  and  207.  See  also  vol.  iv.  p.  229. 
8 


e>&          THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

Indigo  was  at  one  time  largely  cultivated  in  Jamaica, 
but  heavy  import  duties  imposed  by  Parliament l  de- 
stroyed the  industry,  the  revival  of  which  seems  to  have 
been  stimulated  by  the  Society,  not  only  in  Jamaica,  but  in 
the  other  islands  ;  for  in  1778  a  gold  medal  was  awarded 
to  John  Robley  for  growing  and  manufacturing  indigo  in 
Tobago.  The  account  given  in  the  Transactions  2  states 
that  in  one  year  as  much  as  10,000  Ibs.  of  good  indigo  was 
raised  on  a  plantation  formerly  devoted  to  sugar-planting. 
The  indigo  was  presumably  the  indigenous  Mexican  and 
Guatemalan  variety,  /.  disperma,  not  the  East  Indian 
sort,  I.  tinctoria.  Four  years  previously,  in  1774,  a  gold 
medal  had  been  awarded  for  the  production  of  indigo  in 
East  Florida. 

A  gold  medal  was  offered  in  1768,  and  the  offer  was 
continued  till  1777,  for  the  best  specimen  of  cotton  equal 
to  "  the  best  Brazilian,"  produced  in  any  of  the  American 
colonies,  but  it  appears  not  to  have  attracted  any  claimants 
till  1778,  when  it  was  awarded  to  Andrew  Bennet,  of 
Tobago,  for  cotton  grown  in  that  island. 

A  prize  offered  for  logwood  from  British  colonies  was 
abandoned,  because  it  was  found  that  the  wood  produced 
in  Jamaica  was  inferior  to  native  Honduras  and  Cam- 
peachy  logwood,  and  besides  that  the  cultivation  of  log- 
wood in  the  sugar  islands  was  unnecessary  and  undesir- 
able, since  its  luxuriant  growth  sometimes  interfered  with 
the  cultivation  of  the  sugar-cane.  Perhaps  this  conclusion 
was  reached  on  insufficient  evidence.  Certainly  logwood 
was  for  long  a  valuable  product  of  Jamaica. 

A  great  deal  of  valuable  work  was  done  in  the  West 
Indies  by  the  establishment  of  Botanic  Gardens,  and  they 
were  aided  in  various  ways  by  the  Society.  In  one  of 
the  earliest  Premium  Lists,  that  for  1760,  it  is  suggested 
that  land  should  be  allotted  in  the  colonies  for  "  gardens 
or  nurseries  for  the  making  experiments  in  raising  such 
rare  and  useful  plants  as  are  not  the  spontaneous  growth 
of  the  kingdom  or  of  the  said  colonies,"  and  it  is  added 
1  Long,  History  of  Jamaica  (1774),  vol.  iii.  p.  680.  2  Vol.  ii.  p.  233. 


BOTANIC  GARDENS  99 

that  if  the  colonial  legislatures,  or  "  other  incorporate 
bodies,"  would  help  to  establish  such  gardens,  the  Society 
would  provide  "  proper  premiums  "  for  plants  raised 
in  them.  This  undertaking  was  liberally  and  fully  carried 
out.  The  suggestion  soon  bore  fruit.  The  first  of  these 
gardens  was  started  in  St.  Vincent  in  1765  by  General 
Melville,  the  Governor-General  of  the  "  Southern  Caribbee  " 
or  Windward  Islands,  a  member  of  the  Society  whose 
attention  was  attracted  by  the  notice.1 

Dr.  George  Young,  an  army  surgeon  in  the  island, 
took  charge  of  the  gardens.  He  was  acting  as  super- 
intendent of  them  in  1774,  and  in  that  year  sent  the 
Society  a  full  report 2  on  the  gardens,  for  which  he  received 
a  gold  medal.  For  a  time  the  island  was  in  possession  of 
the  French,  but  the  garden  was  kept  up.  In  1784,  St. 
Vincent  was  restored  to  Great  Britain,  and  Dr.  Alex- 
ander Anderson  took  charge  of  the  garden.  In  1798  he 
received  a  silver  medal  from  the  Society  for  an  account 
of  the  plants  cultivated  in  it,  and  in  1 802  he  was  awarded 
a  gold  medal  for  the  "  culture  of  cloves  and  cinnamon." 
He  was  a  corresponding  member  of  the  Society,  and  a 
constant  contributor  to  the  Transactions.  He  died  in 
i8u.3 

The  first  Botanic  Garden  in  Jamaica  was,  according  to 
a  letter  written  by  Dr.  Hope  (the  Professor  of  Botany  at 
Edinburgh)  to  Sir  Joseph  Banks,4  founded  in  1775.  This 
may  have  been  the  garden  of  Hinton  East  at  Liguanea 5 
(Gordon's  Town)  which  was  purchased  in  1792-3  by  the 
Government.  James  Wiles,  who  had  sailed  with  Captain 
Bligh,  was  made  superintendent  about  twenty  years  later. 
In  1 8 10  the  garden  was  sold,  and  the  site  is  now  private 
property. 

1  Dossie,  vol.  iii.  p.  460.  2  Dossie,  vol.  iii.  p.  196. 

3  In  1825  the  Rev.  Lansdown  Guilding  published  at  Glasgow  an 
account  of  the  St.  Vincent  Garden  from  its  establishment  to  1825.     The 
book  contains  a  good  deal  of  information  about  Anderson  and  his 
work.     A  copy  is  in  the  Society's  library. 

4  E.  Smith,  Life  of  Sir  Joseph  Banks  (191 1),  p.  122. 

6  Bryan  Edwards'  History,  before  quoted,  gives  as  an  appendix  a 
catalogue,  "  Hortus  Eastensis,"  of  the  plants  in  the  garden  at  the  time 
of  East's  death. 


ioo         THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

In  1777,  Dr.  Thomas  Clarke,  "  Practitioner  in  Physic 
and  Surgery/'  went  to  the  island  at  the  request  of  Sir 
Basil  Keith,  and  became  superintendent  of  a  second 
garden  established  at  Bath.  Both  the  gardens  were  of 
the  greatest  service  to  the  island.  Clarke  introduced  the 
camphor  tree,  and  the  sago  palm. 

Later,  Dr.  Dancer  had  charge  of  this  garden.  He 
received  the  Society's  silver  medal  in  1790  for  his  account 
of  the  cinnamon  tree  in  Jamaica  above  referred  to.  He 
was  a  valued  corresponding  member,  and,  like  Anderson, 
a  frequent  contributor  to  the  Transactions. 

In  the  year  1793  the  Society  offered  ioo  guineas  for  the 
establishment  of  a  Botanic  Garden  in  the  Bahamas.  This 
offer  was  repeated  annually  up  to  1802,  but  no  response 
having  been  made,  it  was  then  withdrawn. 

The  Society  does  not  seem  to  have  had  any  association 
with  the  Botanic  Garden  in  Trinidad,  but  in  1831,  David 
Lockhart,  "  Botanical  Gardener  to  the  Government  of 
Trinidad,"  received  a  gold  medal  for  the  successful  culture 
of  nutmegs  and  mace  in  that  island. 

In  the  case  of  the  West  Indies,  as  with  the  North 
American  colonies,  useful  service  was  rendered  by  the 
transmission  of  seeds,  samples,  etc.,  the  provision  of 
machinery  and  models,  and  the  supply  of  information. 

A  good  deal  of  correspondence  has  been  preserved  in 
the  old  guard-books  of  the  Societ}^  showing  the  anxiety 
of  the  colonial  officials  and  others  to  obtain  information, 
and  the  readiness  of  the  Society  to  collect  and  supply  it. 
It  appears  quite  certain  that  the  aid  thus  rendered  was 
fully  appreciated.  That  the  Society  was  so  successful  in 
this  branch  of  its  work  was  due  to  the  fact  that  it  was 
in  constant  communication  with  the  officials  on  the  spot, 
and  with  those  colonial  residents  who  took  an  interest 
in  the  economic  progress  of  the  islands,  and  could  supply 
information  as  to  local  requirements.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  had  the  command  of  the  best  advice  from  scientific 
men  at  home  who  could  provide  the  requisite  botanical 
and  chemical  knowledge  (so  far  as  such  knowledge  existed 
at  the  time),  and  from  manufacturers  and  traders  who 
knew  what  products  would  best  find  a  market  in  Europe. 


WEST  INDIAN  PRODUCTS  101 

The  staple  products  of  the  islands  were  not  considered 
to  need  encouragement  or  help,  and  so  we  read  little  in 
the  Society's  colonial  records  about  sugar  or  tobacco. 
The  object  was  to  discover  new  sources  of  revenue,  to 
introduce  fresh  industries  and  new  economic  plants,  and 
there  is  no  great  reason  for  surprise  if  we  find  that  many 
of  the  suggestions  bore  little  or  no  fruit.  On  the  whole, 
the  efforts  of  the  Society  to  aid  colonial  progress  during 
the  first  fifty  years  or  so  of  its  existence  were  well  applied, 
and  had  very  considerable  practical  results.1 

In  the  early  years  of  the  new  century  the  interest 
which  had  been  taken  in  the  West  Indies,  so  far  as  relates 
to  the  introduction  of  new  economic  plants,  grew  less. 
This  may  have  been  partly  due  to  the  death  of  those  men 
in  the  islands  who  had  devoted  themselves  to  the  work  ; 
for  when  Young,  Dancer,  and  Anderson  had  all  passed 
away,  the  Society  lost  its  most  important  correspondents, 
and  there  were  none  to  take  their  place.  But  beyond 
much  doubt  the  real  cause  was  the  dislike  of  the  planters 
to  anything  which  interfered  with  the  cultivation  of  the 
sugar-cane.  Sugar  was  firmly  established  as  the  staple 
industry  of  the  islands  ;  it  was  successful  and  profitable, 
and  the  planters  not  only  did  not  desire,  but  were  inclined 
to  oppose,  the  introduction  of  any  other  crop  which 
might  interfere  with  its  cultivation.  In  one  of  the  letters 
which  Anderson  wrote  to  the  Society  in  1807,  he  refers 
to  this  feeling.  The  result  was  that  the  efforts  of  those  on 
this  side  who  had  tried  to  encourage  the  introduction  of 
new  economic  plants  were  relaxed,  and  though  the  special 
offers  of  prizes  for  the  growth  of  West  Indian  products 
remained  in  the  Society's  lists,  the  awards  became  fewer, 
though  some  were  occasionally  claimed.  For  instance, 
in  1824  a  sum  of  fifty  guineas  was  presented  to  Francis 
Le  Cadre  for  his  plantation  of  clove  trees  in  Trinidad. 

1  From  the  account  published  in  1783  of  the  amounts  awarded  in 
premiums  up  to  that  date,  it  appears  that  £2785,  133.  8d.  had  been 
expended,  and  fourteen  gold  medals  awarded  by  the  Society  as  rewards 
in  the  colonies.  Of  this  amount,  £17$  was  spent  for  importing  earth  nuts, 
myrtle  wax,  sturgeon,  and  zebra  wood ;  ^50  for  making  indigo,  iron,  and 
saltpetre  ;  £1666  for  planting  vines  and  mulberry  trees,  and  producing 
silk  and  cotton  ;  and  ^895  for  the  manufacture  of  potash  and  pearlash 


102         THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

As  before  stated,  the  Society  in  its  early  years  had 
but  little  connection  with  India  and  the  East,  though  on 
occasion  it  was  consulted  by  the  East  India  Company,  and 
information  wras  supplied  to  it  by  the  Company.  A  few, 
but  not  many,  prizes  were  offered  for  the  productions  of 
the  British  possessions  in  the  East  Indies,  and  only  a  small 
proportion  of  these  were  claimed.  The  award  of  a  gold 
medal  in  1792  to  George  Unwin  "  for  reviving  the  trade  of 
tin  from  this  country  to  India  and  China,"  was  intended 
as  an  encouragement  to  British  rather  than  to  colonial  or 
Indian  industry,  but  it  is  curious,  because  it  was  after  the 
importation  of  Eastern  tin  to  Europe  had  begun.  It  was 
about  1787  that  the  first  samples  of  tin  from  Banca,  in 
Sumatra,  were  brought  over,  and  a  source  of  supply  of  the 
metal  made  known  which  soon  interfered  with  the  mono- 
poly possessed  by  the  Cornish  mines.  Before  many  more 
years  the  course  of  trade  was  in  the  other  direction,  and 
large  amounts  of  tin  were  being  brought  from  Banca  to 
England. 

From  1800  to  1821  a  prize  was  open  for  the  importation 
of"  Bhaugulpore  cotton  " — "  from  which  clothes  are  made 
in  imitation  of  nankeen,  without  dyeing  " — but  without 
any  effect.  This  offer  was  at  first  confined  to  the  "  British 
Settlements  in  the  East  Indies,"  but  it  was  afterwards 
extended  to  the  other  colonies.  In  1 792  a  silver  medal  was 
presented  to  Mrs.  Anstey,  of  Madras,  for  the  introduction 
of  cinnamon  in  1781.  In  1801,  Andrew  Stephens,  of 
Calcutta,  had  a  silver  medal  for  "  Lake  from  stick  lack." 
The  award  of  a  prize  for  Sind  natron  in  1786  has  been 
mentioned  previously  on  page  88.  About  the  end  of 
the  century,  however,  a  greater  interest  seems  to  have  been 
aroused  in  Indian  matters  on  the  part  of  the  Society,  and 
perhaps  the  Company  were  more  ready  to  avail  themselves 
of  such  advantages  in  the  way  of  technical  advice  and 
publicity  as  the  Society  was  able  to  supply. 

It  is  probable,  too,  that  the  new  interest  in  East  Indian 
matters  was  to  a  large  extent  due  to  Dr.  William  Rox- 
burgh, the  great  Indian  botanist,  who  was  superintendent 
of  the  Calcutta  Botanic  Gardens  from  1 793  to  1813.  Rox- 
burgh became  a  corresponding  member  of  the  Society 


INDIA  AND  THE  EAST  103 

in  1797,  and  from  that  date  until  the  time  of  his  death  in 
1815  he  was  constantly  forwarding  communications, 
most  of  them  of  considerable  interest  and  value,  to  the 
Society.  In  1798  he  sent  the  first  specimen  of  Malayan 
rubber  to  the  Society,  having  discovered  the  source  of 
the  rubber  in  the  tree  which  he  described  and  named 
Ficus  elastica.  Caoutchouc  had  been  known  since  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  but  only  as  a  curiosity, 
and  as  useful  for  rubbing  out  pencil  marks.  Priestley,  in 
his  book  on  Perspective  (1770),  refers  to  this  use,  and 
mentions  that  the  price  of  a  block  half  a  cubic  inch  in  size 
was  three  shillings.  The  sources  of  rubber  in  Para,  and 
the  method  of  collecting  it,  were  well  known  ;  samples 
frequently  reached  Europe,  and  the  gum  was  described 
to  the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences  by  La  Condamine,  who 
had  been  sent  out  by  the  Academy  in  1736  to  make 
certain  observations  near  Quito,  with  a  view  to  the  deter- 
mination of  the  figure  of  the  earth.  Its  properties  were 
afterwards  investigated  by  Fresnau,  who  submitted 
a  memoir  on  the  subject  to  the  French  Academy  in  1751. 
It  may  be  added  that  at  a  later  period  rewards  were  offered 
by  the  Society  for  caoutchouc  from  Africa,  the  West  Indies, 
and  elsewhere,  but  without  any  result. 

Roxburgh  was  also  the  first  to  introduce  to  Europe 
the  important  fibre  ramie  (now  classified  as  Boehmeria 
Nivea,  var.  tenacissima,  but  named  by  him  Urtica  tena- 
cissima).  He  reports  d  that  he  had  plants  growing  in  1804 
in  the  Botanic  Gardens,  Calcutta,  from  Malay  seed.  Nine 
years  later,  in  1815,  a  silver  medal  was  awarded  to  Captain 
Cotton  for  growing  ramie  (which  is  termed  "  calooee 
hemp  ")  in  Bengal,  apparently  from  plants  or  seed  obtained 
from  Sumatra  by  Dr.  Roxburgh.  Captain  Cotton's 
communication  to  the  Society  is  probably  the  first  account 
of  the  plant  and  its  treatment.2  From  that  date  up  to  the 
present  the  development  of  ramie  has  formed  a  constant 
topic  of  discussion  at  the  Society  of  Arts.  In  1860,  Dr. 
Forbes  Watson  prophesied  that  the  fibre  from  this  and 
other  plants  of  the  nettle  species  would  occupy  a  place 
second  only  to  that  of  Flax.  Dr.  Watson's  prophecy  has 

1  Transactions,  vol.  xxiv.  p.  148.  2  Ibid.  vol.  xxxiii.  p.  182. 


104         THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

perhaps  not  yet  been  quite  realised,  but  it  is  certainly  on 
the  way  to  realisation,  as  the  various  difficulties  of  manu- 
facture are  being  overcome. 

Various  other  communications  were  made  by  Dr. 
Roxburgh  to  the  Society,  but  none  of  them  have  quite  the 
same  present  interest  as  the  two  above  referred  to.  He 
received  a  gold  medal  in  1805,  and  another  in  1814  for  his 
communications  on  East  Indian  products,  and  on  many 
other  occasions  he  was  formally  thanked  by  the  Society 
for  the  valuable  information  he  supplied  to  its  Transactions. 
A  portrait  of  Dr.  Roxburgh  forms  the  frontispiece  to  Vol. 
xxxiii.  of  the  Transactions,  and  the  same  volume  contains 
a  memoir  of  him. 

In  the  year  1843,  Dr.  William  Montgomerie,  of  Singa- 
pore, sent  to  the  Society  some  samples  of  gutta-percha, 
and  in  the  same  year  Dr.  Jose  D' Almeida  presented  some 
specimens  to  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society.  Nothing  was 
done  with  D' Almeida's  specimens,  but  those  of  Mont- 
gomerie were  examined  by  the  Joint  Committee  of 
Chemistry,  Colonies,  and  Trade,  which  resolved  "  that  this 
substance  appears  to  be  a  very  valuable  article,  and  might 
be  employed  with  great  advantage  in  many  of  the  arts  and 
manufactures  of  the  country."  This  resolution  was 
passed  at  a  meeting  on  23rd  January  1845.  At  the 
ordinary  weekly  meeting  on  I9th  March,  the  Secretary, 
Francis  Whishaw,  described  the  specimens  and  showed 
a  piece  of  pipe  and  a  lathe-band  made  by  him,  which  were 
afterwards  exhibited  at  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1 85 1 .  He 
also  produced  some  good  impressions  of  medals.  It  was 
at  this  meeting  that  (Sir)  William  Siemens  became 
acquainted  with  the  new  material,  and  obtained  a 
sample  which  was  subsequently  sent  to  his  brother 
Werner  in  Berlin,  to  try  whether  it  was  suitable  for 
insulating  telegraph  wires.  In  June  of  the  same  year 
the  gold  medal  was  awarded  to  Dr.  Montgomerie  for 
his  discovery.  He  had  previously  (in  1842)  received  a 
gold  medal  from  the  Society  for  the  cultivation  of  nut- 
megs in  Singapore. 

Nothing  was  said  or  apparently  known  about  D 'Almeida, 
on  whose  behalf  a  claim  was  made  many  years  later,  in 


CAOUTCHOUC— INDIAN  TEA  105 

1 858,  by  his  son,  whose  letter  will  be  found  in  the  Journal.1 
Such  evidence  as  there  is  appears  to  show  that  in  point  of 
time  Montgomerie  was  the  first  to  realise  the  value  of  the 
gum,  because  in  March  1843  he  had  already  submitted 
samples  of  gutta-percha  to  the  Bengal  Medical  Board 
before  sending  the  samples  to  London.  But  whichever 
of  the  two  claimants  may  have  been  first  to  suggest  the 
practical  value  of  gutta-percha,  there  is  no  doubt  that  it 
was  Montgomerie's  action  which  first  introduced  it  to 
public  knowledge,  and  rendered  its  practical  applications 
available. 

The  subject  had  been  very  thoroughly  worked  out  by 
the  late  Dr.  Eugene  Obach  in  his  Cantor  Lectures  on 
"  Gutta-percha."  Many  further  details  will  be  found  in 
the  report  of  his  first  lecture,2  and  there  is  much  other 
information  about  the  early  history  of  the  gum  in  the 
appendixes  which  were  added  by  Dr.  Obach  when  the 
lectures  were  republished. 

As  far  back  as  1788,  Sir  Joseph  Banks  suggested  to  the 
court  of  directors  of  the  East  India  Company  the  practic- 
ability of  cultivating  the  tea  plant  in  British  India  ;  but 
nothing  came  of  the  suggestion,  probably  because  the 
H.E.I.C.  then  had  the  monopoly  of  the  China  tea  trade, 
and  saw  no  advantage  in  starting  a  competition.  In  the 
year  1822  a  gold  medal  was  offered  by  the  Society  to  the 
person  who  should  communicate,  from  information  ob- 
tained in  China,  the  best  and  most  authentic  account  of 
the  culture  of  the  plant  or  plants,  the  leaves  of  which 
furnish  the  different  kinds  of  tea,  together  with  the  method 
of  gathering,  drying,  and  otherwise  preparing  the  leaves. 
This  offer  was  supplemented  in  the  following  year  by  one 
of  a  gold  medal  or  fifty  guineas  to  the  person  who  should 
grow  and  prepare  the  greatest  quantity  of  China  tea  of 
good  quality,  not  being  less  than  20  Ibs.  weight,  in  the 
island  of  Jamaica,  or  in  any  other  British  West  Indian 
colony,  and  should  import  the  same  into  Great  Britain. 
The  same  premium  was  offered  for  the  colonies  of  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  Mauritius,  and  New  South  Wales.  These 
1  Vol.  vii.  p.  20.  2  Journal,  vol.  xlvi.  p.  98. 


106         THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

offers,  opportune  as  they  certainly  were,  seem  to  have  been 
in  advance  of  their  time,  for  they  produced  no  response. 

Twelve  years  later,  in  1834,  when  the  East  India  Com- 
pany's monopoly  had  expired,  and  there  was  no  longer  any 
objection  to  a  rival  to  the  China  trade,  it  was  realised  that 
it  was  not  safe  or  desirable  that  England  should  be  depend- 
ent on  China  for  its  supplies  of  tea,  and  steps  were  taken 
to  ascertain  the  possibilities  of  raising  tea  in  India.  A 
committee  was  appointed  by  the  Governor-General,  Lord 
William  Bentinck,  with  Dr.  N.  Wallich,  the  successor  to 
Dr.  Roxburgh  as  superintendent  of  the  Calcutta  Botanic 
Gardens,  as  its  secretary.  The  existence  of  wild  tea  in 
Assam  had  been  discovered  "  perhaps  originally  by  Major 
Bruce,  subsequently  in  Manipur  by  Mr.  Scott  "  (Watt) 
between  1821  and  1826,  but  no  attention  had  been  paid 
to  the  discovery,  and  China  plants  were  imported.  In  the 
meantime  the  Assam  tea  tree  had  been  rediscovered  by 
Captain  Charlton  and  Captain  Jenkins.  The  general 
belief  is  that  the  introduction  of  the  Chinese  plant  was  a 
mistake,  and  that  the  hybrids  which  were  produced  were 
inferior  to  the  native  Indian  shrub.  Eventually  tea  plan- 
tations were  established  in  Assam,  and  in  1836  Mr.  C.  A. 
Bruce  was  appointed  superintendent.  Samples  of  the  tea 
were  sent  to  England  in  1838,  and  were  presented  by  the 
H.E.I.C.  to  the  Society.  In  1839  a  Committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons  on  the  subject  reported  favourably 
on  Mr.  Bruce's  work,  and  in  consequence  of  this  the  gold 
medal  offered  seventeen  years  before  was  awarded  to  him 
in  the  session  1839-40,  "  for  his  meritorious  services  in 
discovering  the  indigenous  tea  tracts  and  cultivating  and 
preparing  tea  in  Assam."  There  seems  no  doubt  that 
Mr.  Bruce's  work  was  well  deserving  recognition,  but  it 
seems  equally  certain  that  he  was  in  no  sense  the  discoverer 
of  the  tea  plant  or  "  the  indigenous  tea  tracts."  1 

In  1831,  Dr.  Wallich,  the  superintendent  of  the  Calcutta 
Botanic  Gardens,  presented  through  the  court  of  directors 

1  Watt,  Commercial  Products  of  India,  s.v.  Camellia  Thea ;  Berry 
White,  "  Indian  Tea  Industry,"  Journal,  vol.  xxxv.  p.  734 ;  Transactions, 
vol.  lii.  p.  200  ;  vol.  liii.  p.  30. 


CEYLON— CANADA  107 

of  the  East  India  Company  a  very  fine  collection  of  Indian 
woods,  containing  456  specimens,1  and  for  this  in  the 
following  year  he  was  presented  with  a  gold  medal.  Dr. 
Wallich,  who  was  a  corresponding  member  of  the  Society, 
had  previously  sent  some  valuable  communications  on 
Indian  economic  plants,  which  appeared  in  the  Society's 
Transactions.  In  1834  another  collection  of  Indian  and 
other  woods  (comprising  452  specimens)  was  presented  by 
Captain  H.  C.  Baker  of  the  Bengal  Artillery.2 

Ceylon  was  not  a  British  colony  till  1802,  when  it  was 
ceded  to  Great  Britain  by  the  Treaty  of  Amiens.  It  seems 
to  have  received  but  a  small  share  of  the  Society's  atten- 
tion. In  1815  a  silver  medal  was  awarded  to  Thomas 
Hoblyn  for  the  introduction  of  coco-nut  oil  from  the 
island,  and  in  the  following  year  he  received  a  gold  medal 
for  inventing  and  introducing  into  Ceylon  a  machine  for 
decorticating  rice.  This  machine,  as  well  as  a  press  for  the 
production  of  the  coco-nut  oil,  is  described  in  the  Trans- 
actions? The  decorticating  machine  appears  to  be  the  first 
of  its  kind,  at  least  the  earliest  patent  for  such  apparatus 
is  dated  1819  ;  it  anticipates  in  many  of  its  details  the 
principles  on  which  later  machines  for  the  purpose  were 
based,  especially  the  application  of  adjustable  mill-stones 
for  husking  the  rice.  Before  this  invention  the  operation 
was  carried  out  with  a  pestle  and  mortar,  the  result  being 
that  the  grains  were,  to  a  large  extent,  broken  and  rendered 
useless. 

For  Canada  it  cannot  be  said  that  very  much  was  done 
by  the  Society.  When  the  Society  began  its  colonial  work, 
Canada  was  still  French  ;  it  was  only  partly  explored  and 
quite  undeveloped,  and  for  some  time  after  it  passed  under 
the  British  flag  there  were  few  industries  of  value  except 
the  exportation  of  furs.  Yet,  as  time  went  on,  and  the 
country  was  settled,  the  Society  endeavoured  to  do  its 
duty  to  what  was  then  the  greatest  colony,  or  group  of 

1  A  catalogue  is  printed  in  the  Transactions,  vol.  xlviii.  p.  441. 

2  Transactions,  vol.  1.  part  ii.  p.  173. 

3  Ibid.   vol.    xxxiii.    p.    60 ;     vol.    xxxiv.    p.    250.     The    press  was 
constructed  by  Bramah,  and  the  decorticating  apparatus  by  Maudsley. 


io8        THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

colonies,  belonging  to  Great  Britain,  and  much  of  interest 
about  Canada  is  to  be  found  in  the  Transactions.  In  the 
early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  a  strong  effort  was 
made,  and  with  a  good  deal  of  success,  to  encourage  the 
growth  of  hemp,  a  fibre  then  in  great  demand  for  naval 
purposes,  as  it  was  practically  the  only  material  available, 
not  only  for  ropes,  but  also  for  sails.  In  1801  various 
medals  and  prizes  were  offered  for  the  growth  of  hemp  in 
the  two  Canadas,  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  and 
these  were  continued  for  thirty  years.  Many  of  these  were 
awarded.  In  1804  a  gold  medal  was  awarded  to  J.  W. 
Clarke,  a  similar  medal  and  100  guineas  to  Jacob  Schneider, 
and  a  silver  medal  to  Daniel  Mosher.  In  1806  silver 
medals  were  awarded  to  Philemon  Wright,  Frederick 
Arnold,  and  Joshua  Cornwall,  also  a  prize  of  twenty  dollars 
to  G.  Ward.  In  1809  a  silver  medal  "  set  in  a  broad  gold 
border  "  was  given  to  C.  F.  Grece,  and  a  silver  medal  to  Mr. 
Durand.  All  the  above  were  Canadians.  It  is  stated  in 
the  Transactions  that,  as  a  result  of  the  attention  which 
had  been  drawn  to  the  subject  by  the  Society's  announce- 
ments, a  considerable  trade  in  hemp  had  been  set  up,  and  a 
large  amount  of  fibre  imported. 

The  offer  of  a  prize  for  the  growth  of  hemp  was  a  little 
later  extended  to  the  other  colonies,  and  there  was  added  a 
reward  for  the  discovery  of  a  good  substitute.  In  announc- 
ing this  award  in  1823  a  note  was  added,  drawing  special 
attention  to  the  Phormium  tenax,  or  New  Zealand  flax,  of 
which  specimens  had  lately  been  brought  to  England. 
The  importation  of  the  fibre  rapidly  extended,  and 
between  1828  and  1832  no  less  than  £50,000  worth  was 
shipped  to  Sydney  alone.1  The  present  annual  value  of 
the  export  from  New  Zealand  is  £307,000. 

It  does  not  appear  what  prompted  the  offer  in  1792 
of  a  gold  medal  for  the  discovery  of  a  "  North- West  Passage 
by  land  from  Canada  to  the  South  Sea."  It  is  possible 
that  the  disputes  between  Spain  and  England  about 
Nootka  (now  St.  George's)  Sound  (on  the  west  coast  of 
Vancouver)  and  the  adjacent  regions,  which  nearly  led 

1  Morris's  Cantor  Lectures  on  Commercial  Fibres  (1895).  Journal, 
vol.  xliii.  p.  923. 


CANADA  109 

to  war  but  were  settled  by  the  Treaty  of  the  Escurial  in 
1790,  may  have  directed  public  attention  to  those  little- 
known  lands.  More  probably  it  was  reported  that 
attempts  were  being  made  to  explore  the  north-west  of 
Canada,  and  the  Society  wished  to  encourage  them,  and 
to  identify  itself  with  them.  However,  soon  after  the 
offer  was  made,  Alexander  Mackenzie  completed  the 
adventurous  journey  which  brought  him  to  the  shores 
of  the  Pacific  near  the  present  boundary  between  Alaska 
and  British  Columbia.  After  exploring  much  of  the 
north-west,  and  discovering  the  great  river  which  now 
bears  his  name,  he  started  in  1789  from  Lake  Athabasca 
to  make  a  passage  to  the  coast,  which  he  reached  in  June 
J793-1  The  richly-deserved  gold  medal  was  awarded  to 
him  in  1800,  a  rare,  if  not  a  unique,  instance  of  a  reward 
made  by  the  Society  for  exploration  alone.  About  this  time 
Mackenzie  came  to  England,  and  in  1802  he  was  knighted 
by  George  in.  He  died  in  1820. 

In  1807  a  silver  medal  was  awarded  to  William  Bond 
for  a  communication  printed  in  the  Transactions  2  contain- 
ing information  about  Canadian  industries  and  resources. 

In  1816,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Joseph  Bouchette,  Govern- 
ment Surveyor  to  the  Commission  for  settling  the  boun- 
daries between  the  British  colonies  in  North  America  and 
the  United  States,  presented  an  extensive  survey  or  map 
of  Canada  to  the  Society,  for  which  he  received  the  gold 
medal. 

Mr.  William  Green,  secretary  of  the  Literary  and  His- 
torical Society  of  Quebec,  communicated  to  that  society 
in  1827  a  paper  on  colouring  materials  produced  in  Canada. 
The  paper  and  a  box  of  colours  prepared  from  these 
materials  were  sent  to  the  Society  of  Arts  at  the  instance 
of  the  Earl  of  Dalhousie,  Governor  of  Canada,  and  the 
Society  in  1828  awarded  a  gold  medal  to  Mr.  Green  for 
the  pigments,  which  consisted  of  certain  ochres  and  lakes, 
with  some  colours  of  vegetable  origin.  They  were  pro- 
nounced by  the  authorities  to  whom  they  were  referred 

1  A  brief  and  singularly  modest  report  of  his  journey  by  Mackenzie 
himself  appears  in  the  Transactions,  vol.  xviii.  p.  289. 

2  Vol.  xxv.  p.  147. 


i  io        THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

for  examination  to  be  good,  though  perhaps  the  influence 
of  the  Governor-General  had  as  much  to  do  with  the  award 
as  the  importance  of  the  products. 

The  first  reference  which  has  been  discovered  in  the 
Transactions  to  the  Australian  colonies  occurs  in  the 
volume  containing  the  list  of  premiums  for  1820,  when 
two  gold  medals  were  offered,  one  for  the  greatest  quantity 
of  fine  wool  imported  from  New  South  Wales,  and  one 
for  the  finest  sample  of  wool  from  the  same  colony.  It  is 
probable  that  the  offer  was  prompted  by  the  knowledge 
that  Australian  wool  was  being  shipped  to  England,  for 
in  1822  both  medals  were  claimed  by  John  M' Arthur, 
the  "  Father  of  New  South  Wales,"  and  the  founder  of 
the  Australian  wool  trade.  M* Arthur  had  imported 
merino  sheep  from  the  Cape  in  1795,  and  from  that  time 
he  had  devoted  himself  to  the  growth  of  wool  on  land 
near  Sydney,  which  had  been  granted  to  him  for  the 
purpose  by  the  Government.  Whether  this  was  his  first 
consignment  to  London  does  not  appear  from  the  account 
of  his  labours  given  in  the  Transactions,  but  it  amounted 
to  over  15,000  Ibs.,  and  so  complied  with  the  conditions 
of  the  Society's  offer.  It  is  clear  that  the  importation 
was  in  no  sense  the  result  of  the  offer,  but  the  award  of 
the  medals,  the  report  made  by  the  Society  on  the  high 
character  of  the  wool,  and  the  publicity  gained  by  the 
account  contained  in  the  Transactions,  appear  to  have 
helped  considerably  in  making  known  the  new  and  im- 
portant source  of  supply  thus  opened  up.  At  the  instance 
of  the  Society,  some  cloth  was  made  from  the  wool,  and  a 
silver  medal  was  given  to  the  manufacturers,  Starkey, 
Buckley  &  Co.,  of  Huddersfield.1 

In  the  same  year,  1821,  a  silver  medal  was  given  to 
John  Raine  for  the  importation  of  wool  from  Van  Diemen's 
Land. 

In   1824  a  second  gold  medal  was  awarded  to  John 

M' Arthur,  and  also  a  silver  medal  to  Hannibal  M' Arthur,  a 

nephew  of  John,  for  the  importation  of  the  next  greatest 

quantity  of  fine  wool .   Besides  these,  there  were  some  prizes 

1  Transactions,  vol.  xl.  pp.  xxxix.  and  230. 


AUSTRALIA  1 1 1 

to  manufacturers  for  cloth  made  from  the  wool,  and  after 
this  the  offer  of  rewards  was  dropped,  the  trade  in 
Australian  wool  being  established  on  a  firm  basis. 

In  1822  a  gold  medal  was  offered  for  the  importation 
of  "  the  finest  wine,  not  less  than  twenty  gallons,  of  good 
marketable  quality,  made  from  the  produce  of  vineyards 
in  New  South  Wales."  For  some  years  this  produced 
no  response,  but  in  1833  a  silver  medal  was  presented  to 
Mr.  Gregory  Blaxland  for  wine  the  produce  of  his  vine- 
yard at  Paramatta.  "  On  examination  by  the  Com- 
mittee, it  appeared  to  be  a  light  but  sound  wine,  with 
much  of  the  odour  and  flavour  of  ordinary  claret,  .  .  . 
though  the  present  sample,  from  the  inexpertness  of 
the  manufacture  and  the  youth  of  the  vine,  is  by  no 
means  of  a  superior  quality,  yet  it  affords  a  reasonable 
ground  of  expectation  that  by  care  and  time  it  may 
become  a  valuable  article  of  export." 

From  a  memorial  to  Governor  Macquarrie  from 
Mr.  Blaxland,  in  October  1818,  printed  in  the  Trans- 
actions,1 it  appears  that  he  was  preparing  his  land  for  a 
vineyard  in  September  1816.  He  had  really  been  antici- 
pated by  M' Arthur,  who  had  started  a  vineyard,  and 
had  also  planted  olive-trees  some  years  before. 

In  1828  a  second  medal,  this  time  a  gold  one,  was 
presented  to  Mr.  Blaxland  for  a  pipe  of  wine  the  produce 
of  his  vineyard  in  1827.  "  On  tasting  the  samples,  it 
was  the  general  opinion  that  both  of  them  are  decidedly 
better  than  the  wine  for  which,  in  1823,  Mr.  Blaxland 
obtained  the  large  silver  medal  of  the  Society,  and  that 
they  were  wholly  free  from  the  earthy  flavour  which 
unhappily  characterises  most  of  the  Cape  wines." 

Many  years  after  this,  in  1856,  a  silver  medal  was 
awarded  to  James  King  for  wine  from  New  South  Wales. 

In  1824  the  sum  of  thirty  guineas  was  given  to  Mr. 
T.  Kent,  for  preparing  and  importing  from  New  South 
Wales  extract  of  mimosa  bark  for  the  use  of  tanners, 
and  in  the  following  year  (1825)  a  gold  medal  was  awarded 
to  Messrs.  Petchey  &  Wood  for  similar  material  from 
Van  Diemen's  Land.  In  1824  the  thanks  of  the  Society 

1  Vol.  xli.  p.  286. 


ii2        THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  COLONIES 

were  accorded  to  Mr.  R.  W.  Horton,  M.P.,  Under- 
secretary for  the  Colonies  and  Vice-President  of  the 
Society,  for  sundry  articles  from  New  South  Wales  which 
he  had  presented. 

There  were  a  few,  but  not  very  many,  other  prizes  to 
Australia.  In  1830  a  gold  medal  was  voted  to  Sir  John 
Jamison,  President  of  the  Agricultural  Society  of  New 
South  Wales,  for  his  method  of  extirpating  the  stumps 
of  trees  in  order  to  clear  forest  land  for  cultivation  ; 
in  1834  a  silver  medal  was  awarded  to  James  King,  of 
Sydney,  for  his  discovery  of  a  sand  in  New  South  Wales, 
which  was  reported  upon  by  Apsley  Pellatt  as  being 
eminently  fitted  for  the  manufacture  of  the  finer  kinds  of 
glass  ;  and  in  1845  a  silver  medal  was  given  to  Mrs.  Allom 
for  the  "  Introduction  of  Bees  to  New  Zealand." 

The  award  in  1775  of  a  small  prize  (first  offered  in  1773) 
to  a  resident  in  Minorca  for  growing  silk  in  that  island 
is  of  interest,  as  reminding  us  that  at  various  times, 
including  a  period  from  1769  to  1782^  Minorca  was 
subject  to  this  country,  and  was  therefore  included 
in  the  list  of  British  colonies.  After  Malta  was  taken 
in  1800,  it  also  became  eligible]  for  the  Society's  awards, 
and  so  in  1 8 1 1  a  prize  of  a  gold  medal  or  fifty  guineas 
was  offered  for  Maltese  silk.  The  offer  was  extended 
in  1819  to  the  "Isle  of  France  "(Mauritius),  which 
had  been  taken  in  1810,  possession  being  confirmed 
to  England  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris  in  1814.  The  medal 
for  Mauritius  was  taken  in  1824  by  M.  de  Chayal,  who 
had  been  entrusted  in  1815  with  some  silkworms'  eggs  ob- 
tained from  Bengal  by  the  Governor  of  the  island,  Sir 
R.  T.  Farquhar.  The  silk  sent  to  London  was  reported 
on  as  being  of  good  quality,  but  not  first-class.  In  the 
Session  of  1825-6  a  gold  medal  was  awarded  to  M.  Barbe, 
of  Mauritius,  for  the  importation  of  coco-nut  oil. 

In  1822  an  attempt  was  made  to  foster  the  growth  of 
the  vine  at  the  Cape,  which  had  then  been  definitely 
British  about  eight  years,  and  a  gold  medal  was  offered 

1  Minorca  was  assigned  to  England  by  the  Peace  of  Utrecht,  1713  ; 
after  changing  hands  more  than  once,  it  was  finally  ceded  to  Spain  by 
the  Peace  of  Amiens  in  1803. 


CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE  113 

to  the  person  who  should  import  the  finest  wine  made  from 
the  produce  of  vineyards  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  or  the 
parts  adjacent.  It  was  announced  that  this  premium  was 
not  offered  for  the  sweet  or  Constantia  wine,  but  to  en- 
courage the  improvement  of  the  vineyards  more  recently 
established.  Viticulture  had  been  introduced  by  the 
Dutch  settlers  in  1653,  and  developed  by  the  Huguenot 
refugees  in  1688.  The  premium  was  awarded  in  1827  to 
Francis  Collison,  who  stated  that  about  three  hundred 
pipes  of  the  same  quality  had  been  sent  by  him  for  sale  in 
the  London  market.  "  The  wine  was  examined  at  the 
Committee  by  dealers  and  other  competent  judges,  and 
was  considered  by  them  to  be  far  superior  to  the  Cape 
wines  in  general.  It  is  free  from  the  unpleasant,  earthy 
flavour  by  which  such  wines  are  usually  characterised, 
and  was  considered  to  bear  a  near  resemblance  to  that 
made  at  Teneriffe."  l 

1  For  an  account  of  the  later  colonial  work  of  the  Society,  and  the 
formation  of  the  Colonial  Section,  reference  may  be  made  to  Chapter 

XX,  p.  453- 


The  Bread-fruit  (see  p.  95). 


CHAPTER   V 
THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 
(1754-1830) 

Condition  of  Agriculture  in  1754 — Work  of  the  Society's  Committee 
on  Agriculture — Value  of  the  Society's  operations — Arthur  Young's 
Opinion  of  them — Publication  of  Agricultural  Information — Food 
for  Stock — Winter  Fodder — Introduction  of  the  Turnip — Kohl-rabi 
— Swede — Mangel-wurzel — Agricultural  Implements,  Ploughs, 
Drills,  Horse-hoes — Reaping  Machines,  The  Origin  of  the  Reaping 
Machine,  Common's  Early  Machine,  Bell's  Reaper — Threshing 
Machines — Chaff-Cu  t  ters — Roo  t-Cu  t  ters — Manures — Raising  and 
Fattening  Stock — Land  Reclamation — The  Board  of  Agriculture 
— The  Royal  Agricultural  Society. 

WHEN  the  Society  of  Arts  first  included  agriculture  among 
its  objects,  but  little  real  advance  had  been  made  on 
mediaeval  methods.  Yet  new  ideas  were  in  the  air,  and  as 
far  back  as  the  very  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century 
the  commencement  of  the  change  can  be  discerned  which 
was  soon  to  abolish  the  old  order  of  things,  and  to  modify 
in  the  course  of  a  comparatively  short  period  the  ancient 
system  which  had  sufficed  for  so  many  generations.  The 
time  was  favourable  for  improvement,  and  some  central 
authority  was  badly  needed  to  co-ordinate  and  direct  the 
scattered  efforts  which  were  being  made  in  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland  to  bring  about  an  improved  system 
of  husbandry.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  side  by  side  with  the 
industrial  revolution,  an  agricultural  revolution  was  in 
progress,  and  the  two  great  movements  had  their  reciprocal 
influences  upon  each  other.  The  development  of  the 
factory  system  was  at  once  drawing  the  agricultural  popula- 
tion into  the  towns,  and  was  depriving  them  of  their  ancient 
means  of  livelihood  by  the  destruction  of  domestic  industry, 


AGRICULTURE  IN   1754  115 

while  the  growth  of  the  urban  population  demanded  more 
abundant  food  supplies  and  thus  necessitated  improved 
systems  of  cultivation,  by  which  alone  those  supplies  could 
be  provided.  The  old  open-field  system  had  by  no  means 
come  to  an  end  by  the  middle  of  the  century,  but  the 
system  of  enclosure  and  the  division  of  previously  common 
land  had  made  sufficient  progress  to  render  possible  the 
existence  of  those  large  farms  on  which  alone  any  attempt 
at  scientific  agriculture  could  be  made.  While  the  arable 
land  of  a  village  was  divided  up  afresh  every  year  among 
the  commoners  to  whom  it  belonged,  none  of  its  temporary 
owners  could  do  much,  if  anything,  for  its  permanent 
improvement,  or  even  for  its  systematic  cultivation 
to  the  best  advantage.  Again,  it  was  only  on  farms 
of  considerable  size  that  experiments  in  new  methods  of 
cultivation  could  be  made,  and  there  were  many  ready  to 
try  such  experiments,  for  scientific  agriculture  had  already 
made  some  advance.  The  system  of  a  proper  rotation 
of  crops  had  been  invented,  and  was  being  rapidly  ex- 
tended. New  crops  had  been  introduced,  which  alone 
made  rotation  possible.  Of  these,  the  most  important 
was  the  turnip,  but  clover  and  lucerne  had  also  not  long 
before  been  added  to  the  list.  The  new  ideas  promulgated 
by  Jethro  Tull,  of  the  highest  practical  value,  if  based  on 
erroneous  theory,  were  attracting  attention.  Bakewell 
had  just  commenced  his  experiments  in  stock-breeding 
by  the  help  of  careful  and  judicious  selection.  Such  were 
some  of  the  main  elements  of  the  agrarian  revolution 
in  the  successful  development  of  which  the  Society  of  Arts 
was  certainly  one  of  the  main  factors . 

In  the  original  scheme  of  the  Society  agriculture 
was  not  included,  and  when  the  suggestion  was  made  to 
Shipley  that  it  should  be  so  included,  he  met  it  with  the 
not  very  conclusive  objection  that  all  the  awards  would 
be  taken  in  those  districts  of  the  country  in  which  the 
greatest  progress  had  been  made.  Indeed,  in  the  first 
list  of  premiums,  that  of  1756,  there  is  no  prize  offered  for 
any  agricultural  subject,  unless,  indeed,  madder  be 
considered  as  such.  But  this  was  soon  altered.  In  the 
next  list  (1758)  there  are  a  number  of  prizes  offered  for 


n6          THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

agricultural  improvements,  and  from  that  date  onwards 
for  the  next  fifty  years  agriculture  occupied  an  important, 
indeed  the  most  important,  part  in  the  lists  of  premiums. 

In  fact,  the  Society  was  for  long  mainly  an  agricultural 
society,  and  by  far  the  most  important  one  in  the  kingdom. 
There  were  some  provincial  societies  in  existence  when  it 
was  founded,  and  others  were  soon  formed,  but  it  was  in 
communication  with  all  of  them,  and  it  was  the  centre  to 
which  information  was  sent,  and  from  which  it  was  dis 
tributed  to  the  various  parts  of  the  country. 

In  agriculture,  as  in  the  other  divisions  of  its  work, 
the  fundamental  idea  which  directed  the  Society's  efforts 
was  the  offering  of  rewards,  either  pecuniary  or  honorary, 
for  the  successful  carrying  out  of  its  objects.  These 
rewards  varied  greatly  in  value,  and  they  were  carried 
on  from  year  to  year  until  the  end  sought  for  appeared  to 
have  been  attained,  and  the  new  industry  or  method  of 
tillage,  or  crop,  or  whatever  it  might  be,  was  so  firmly 
established  as  not  to  require  further  assistance  or  pro- 
tection. The  scope  of  the  prizes  offered  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Committee  on  Agriculture  was  very  wide.  It 
included  the  successful  rearing  of  all  sorts  of  crops,  even  of 
such  well-known  crops  as  wheat,  barley,  oats,  and  rye  ;  the 
introduction  of  new  forage  plants  and  of  roots  for  cattle- 
feeding  ;  the  suggestion  of  new  methods  of  husbandry, 
their  discussion  and  the  supply  of  information  about  them  ; 
the  invention  of  new  implements  or  appliances  and  the 
improvement  of  old  ones  ;  information  on  the  use  and 
value  of  manures  ;  suggestions  on  soil  analysis  ;  the 
treatment  of  cattle  and  sheep,  and  in  fact  any  advance  or 
improvement  calculated  to  aid  the  progress  of  agricultural 
knowledge  and  practice.  An  annual  list  of  suggested 
subjects  was  published,  but  the  rewards  were  by  no  means 
confined  to  these  lists,  and  the  Society  was  quite  as  ready 
to  consider  and  reward  any  useful  proposal  submitted  to 
it  from  outside,  as  it  was  to  award  the  prizes  enumerated 
in  its  own  catalogues. 

The  lists  were  prepared  with  great  care,  and  modified 
from  year  to  year,  though  we  find  the  same  offer  repeated 
time  after  time,  sometimes  over  a  long  period,  even  though 


ARTHUR  YOUNG  117 

large  amounts  had  already  been  paid  away  among  success- 
ful competitors,  for  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  pre- 
miums were  not,  as  a  rule,  in  the  nature  of  prizes  to  be 
taken  once  for  all,  but  rather  as  grants-in-aid,  to  be  re- 
peated as  long  as  there  seemed  to  be  any  need  for  such 
assistance. 

The  value  of  the  help  thus  rendered  to  agricultural 
progress  is  made  evident  by  much  contemporary  testi- 
mony. In  such  a  matter  there  is  no  higher  authority  than 
Arthur  Young,  and  he,  in  his  Farmers'  Letters?  speaks  in 
terms  of  high  commendation  of  the  Society's  work,  and 
comments  on  the  premiums  offered  for  1766.  Arthur 
Young  was  a  member  of  the  Society  from  1769  till  his 
death  in  1820,  and  in  1774  he  became  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Agriculture.  He  was  therefore  thoroughly 
well  acquainted  with  the  Society's  work,  and  he  was  also 
a  very  outspoken  person,  and  very  candid  in  the  expression 
of  his  opinions,  so  that  any  laudatory  expressions  from  him 
are  likely  to  be  well  justified.  But,  while  on  the  whole  he 
appreciated  the  Society's  action,  he  thought  that  it  might 
be  improved  upon,  if,  instead  of  merely  offering  prizes  for 
successful  agricultural  experiments,  it  would  undertake  the 
direction  of  such  experiments  by  selecting  a  number 
of  intelligent  farmers  who  could  be  trusted  to  carry  out 
the  work,  and  itself  would  subsidise  them,  giving  them  also 
additional  premiums  in  proportion  to  the  manner  in  which 
the  work  was  carried  out. 

There  cannot  be  much  doubt  that  a  great  deal  of  useful 
information  might  have  been  accumulated  by  following 
out  Young's  suggestions,  though  it  might  have  been  diffi- 
cult to  carry  them  into  effect  without  more  expense  in  the 
way  of  supervision  than  he  contemplated.  If  the  Society 
could  have  secured  Young's  services  and  got  him  to  under- 
take the  supervision  of  a  scheme  such  as  he  suggested,  the 

1  Letter  VI.  vol.  i.  p.  214.  The  edition  to  which  reference  is  made  is 
the  third,  published  in  1771.  The  first  edition  was  published  in  1768, 
the  second  in  1769.  Some  sixteen  years  later,  in  his  Annals  of  Agri- 
culture, vol.  i.  (1784)  p.  65,  Young  comments  in  extremely  laudatory 
terms  on  the  work  of  the  Society  of  Arts  and  its  members.  "  It  is 
probable,"  he  says,  "  that  the  kingdom  has  been  benefited  a  thousand 
pounds  for  every  guinea  these  men  have  expended." 


n8         THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

difficulties  might  have  been  overcome,  but  in  the  absence 
of  a  thoroughly  competent  expert  to  control  the  whole 
working  of  such  experiments,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  they 
could  have  succeeded.  In  Mr.  Wynn  Baker  the  Dublin 
Society  had  such  an  expert,  and  they  wisely  placed  con- 
siderable funds  at  his  disposal,  with  very  satisfactory 
results.  It  may,  however,  be  observed  that  during  the 
many  years  while  Young  was  Secretary  to  the  Board  of 
Agriculture  after  1793,  he  never  seems  to  have  made  any 
attempt  to  carry  out  the  excellent  suggestions  he  prof- 
fered for  the  benefit  of  the  Society  of  Arts. 

But  while  the  distribution  of  rewards  for  successful 
experiment  or  invention  was  the  principal  device  by  which 
the  Society  endeavoured  to  attain  its  objects,  it  must  not 
be  thought  that  it  was  the  only  one.  The  diffusion  of 
information  by  means  of  its  publications  was  one  almost 
equally  important  method,  though  its  value  was  not 
recognised  for  some  time.  At  first  in  the  publications  in 
which  its  proceedings  were  reported,  to  begin  with  in  the 
Museum  Rusticum,  afterwards  in  Dossie's  Memoirs  of 
Agriculture ,x  and  eventually  in  its  regular  Transactions, 
it  recorded  and  disseminated  a  vast  deal  of  agricultural 
information,  and  in  this  way  aided  most  effectually  the 
progress  of  agricultural  science  and  practice.  Another 
important  agency  was  its  "  Repository  of  Inventions," 
which,  during  the  first  half  century  of  its  existence,  con- 
tained an  excellent  collection  of  models  of  agricultural 
implements.  This  was  opened  freely  to  the  public,  and  by 
its  means  an  opportunity  of  examining  the  latest  imple- 
ments and  appliances  was  afforded  to  all  who  cared  to  profit 
by  it.  On  occasion  also  the  Society  purchased  machines 
and  models  in  foreign  countries,  and  obtained  from  abroad 
plants  and  seeds,  which  were  distributed  to  the  members. 

When  the  Society  began  its  agricultural  operations  one 
of  the  greatest  difficulties  which  pressed  upon  the  farmer 
was  the  need  for  a  supply  of  winter  fodder.  He  was  then 
entirely  dependent  upon  a  meagre  provision  of  hay,  and 

1  Museum  Rusticum  et  Commercials  (6  vols.  8vo,  1764-66);  Memoirs 
of  Agriculture  and  other  (Economical  Arts,  by  Robert  Dossie  (3  vols. 
8vo,  1768-82). 


ROOTS  AND  FORAGE  119 

that  not  of  the  best  quality.  The  use  of  turnips  for  cattle 
food  was  only  gradually  making  way,  for  although  Arthur 
Young,1  writing  about  1769,  speaks  of  "  vast  fields  "  of 
turnips  in  Norfolk,  it  is  probable  that  the  epithet  was 
only  used  in  comparison  with  the  scanty  crops  grown  in 
other  counties,  and,  indeed,  the  remark  was  made  by  way 
of  drawing  attention  to  the  small  amount  of  the  root 
which  was  actually  being  cultivated.  The  use  of  oil-cake 
for  cattle  food  was  hardly  thought  of.  The  editor  of  the 
Museum  Rusticum?  in  a  note  on  a  correspondent's  article 
on  feeding  cattle,  says  that  in  Flanders  the  refuse  from  oil- 
mills  had  been  given  to  cattle  of  all  kinds,  and  in  another 
similar  note  in  the  same  volume,3  he  adds  that  oil-cake 
from  which  the  oil  has  been  expressed,  had  been  tried 
with  success  in  England  as  well  as  in  Flanders.  It  had 
not  really  come  into  use,  however,  by  that  time,  for  in  the 
first  volume  of  the  Society's  Transactions  (1783),  in  con- 
nection with  the  offer  of  a  prize  for  oil  from  cotton-seed,  it 
was  suggested  that  the  seed,  after  the  extraction  of  the  oil, 
might  form  a  useful  food  for  cattle.  Ten  years  later  its  use 
must  have  become  fairly  general,  for  in  1794  we  find 
Arthur  Young  in  his  Annals  of  Agriculture  referring  to 
cattle  being  fed  on  oil-cake  as  an  ordinary  thing.4 

One  of  the  first  things  taken  up  by  the  Society  was 
the  production  of  grass  seed,  and  Arthur  Young  thought 
this  a  matter  of  the  highest  importance.  Previously  the 
only  grass  seed  used  was  the  sweepings  of  the  hay-lofts, 
in  which  all  sorts  of  seeds  were  mixed  together,  with  a 
large  proportion  of  seeds  of  undesirable  weeds.  The 
Society  offered  in  1 762  several  prizes  for  clean  grass  seed, 
giving  instructions  as  to  the  way  in  which  grass  should 
be  specially  cultivated  for  seed,  and  promising  also  to 
find  a  market  in  London  for  any  parcels  of  seed  of  a 
suitable  character .  Prizes  were  also  offered  for  hand-picked 
grass  seed,  provided  the  seed  was  all  of  the  same  species. 

*Tour  through  the  Southern  Counties  (2nd  edition,  1769),  p.  25. 

2  Vol.  iv.  (1765),  p.  378.  3  Vol.  iv.  (1765),  p.  398. 

4  Mr.  R.  E.  Prothero  in  his  Pioneers  of  British  Farming  (1888)  attributes 
the  introduction  of  oil-cake  as  cattle-food  to  Coke  of  Holkham  (p.  80), 
but  does  not  suggest  any  precise  date. 


120         THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

Awards  were  also  offered  and  conferred  for  the 
growth  of  crops  considered  to  be  suitable  for  winter 
or  early  spring  food,  including  burnet,  borecole,  sainfoin, 
lucerne,  winter  clover,  buck-wheat,  cabbages,  beans, 
vetches,  etc.  These  crops  were  then  little  known  and 
sparsely  cultivated. 

The  ordinary  field  turnip  had  been  known  for  less  than 
a  century  ;  it  had  been  introduced  some  time — it  is  not 
really  known  by  whom — near  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Arthur  Young  gives  the  credit  of  its  intro- 
duction to  Jethro  Tull  (1674-1741),  the  father  of  scientific 
agriculture  in  England,  but  in  this  he  was  certainly  mis- 
taken. Both  sheep  and  cattle  were  folded  upon  turnips, 
which  were  used  to  a  very  limited  extent  for  winter  food. 
Carrots  and  also  parsnips  were  grown  for  cattle  food,  but 
their  growth  had  hardly  got  beyond  the  experimental 
stage.  Potatoes  were  only  to  be  found  in  gardens,  and 
were  not  used  for  cattle  l  until  some  time  in  the  early 
part  of  the  century.  In  1779,  Arthur  Young  received  a 
gold  medal  for  an  account  of  the  "  Clustered  Potatoe." 
This  was  one  of  the  two  medals  2  he  had  from  the  Society. 
For  the  cultivation  of  all  these  roots  and  for  information 
as  to  the  best  methods  of  cultivating  them,  the  Society 
offered  many  rewards,  extending  over  a  long  series  of 
years.  The  list  also,  at  a  later  date  (1805),  included 
beet,  on  account  of  its  use  for  cattle  food,  not  for  its 
sugar  -  producing  qualities,  which  were  a  much  later 
discovery. 

All  agricultural  authorities  are  agreed  as  to  the  great 

1  Although  the  potato  was  introduced  into  Ireland  by  John  Hawkins 
in  1565,  and  into  England  by  Sir  Francis  Drake  in  1585,  it  had  attracted 
so  little  attention  that  in  1663  the  Royal  Society  urged  such  of  its 
Fellows  as  possessed  land  to  plant  potatoes,  and  to  persuade  their 
friends  to  do  the  same,  in  order  to  alleviate  the  distress  that  would 
accompany  a  scarcity  of  food.     Nothing,   however,  seems   to   have 
come  of  this  recommendation,  and  so  little  was  thought  of  the  potato 
for  some  years  after  that  Bradley  (Historia  Plantarum  Succulentarum , 
1716-27)  speaks  of  it  as  of  little  note,  and  in  the  Complete  Gardener 
of  London  and  Wise  (1719)  it  is  not  mentioned  at  all. 

2  He  also  received  two  small  prizes  in  1765  and  1767  for  growing 
madder. 


THE  SWEDE  TURNIP  121 

part  played  by  the  introduction  of  the  turnip  into  British 
agriculture.  Without  it  any  proper  rotation  of  crops 
would  have  been  impossible,  and,  until  it  was  available 
for  the  purpose  of  feeding  stock  through  the  winter,  farmers 
and  graziers  were  in  bad  seasons  forced  to  kill  their  stock 
cattle  and  salt  the  .meat  down  for  winter  use.  Hence  for 
centuries  the  only  meat  generally  available  in  the  winter 
was  salt  meat.  The  extended  cultivation  of  the  turnip 
rendered  possible  the  supply  of  butchers'  meat  in  winter 
time  to  the  rapidly  increasing  population,  and  so  this 
modest  vegetable  was  not  only  a  prime  factor  in  the 
agrarian  revolution,  but  a  valuable  if  overlooked  agent 
in  the  progress  of  industrial  development,  and,  indeed,  of 
civilisation. 

In  encouraging  the  cultivation  of  the  turnip  the  Society 
did  its  full  share.  Many  pages  in  many  volumes  of  the 
Transactions  are  devoted  to  the  discussion  of  the  best 
methods  of  growing  it,  and  to  dissertations  upon  the  com- 
parative advantages  of  drill  and  broadcast  husbandry. 

But  besides  encouraging  the  growth  of  crops  already 
known,  if  not  extensively  cultivated,  the  Society  was 
directly  the  means  of  introducing  into  England  two  roots 
which  are  now  as  important  as  the  turnip  itself — the  swede 
and  the  mangel-wurzel. 

Among  the  forage  plants  which  had  been  introduced 
into  England  about  this  time  was  the  turnip-cabbage 
(Brassica  oleracea  caulorapa],  or  chou-rave,  now  known 
under  its  German  name  of  Kohl-rabi.  This  plant,  accord- 
ing to  Young,  was  brought  into  England  from  Carniola 
in  1749  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Haste,  Canon  of  Windsor,  well 
known  at  the  time  as  the  author  of  Essays  on  Husbandry. 
It  had  attracted  a  good  deal  of  attention,  and  was  to  some 
extent  being  cultivated.  It  was  the  subject  of  two  long 
articles  in  the  Museum  Rusticum  in  1 766, *  which  gives  two 
good  illustrations  of  the  plant.  It  appeared  to  the  Society 
that  this  little-known  plant  was  well  worth  further  atten- 
tion, and  amongst  the  premiums  for  1867  was  one  for  its 
cultivation.  The  offer  attracted  the  notice  of  John 
Reynolds,  a  farmer  of  Kent,  and  he,  being  unable  to  obtain 
1  Vol.  vi.  pp.  46,  220. 


122         THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

a  supply  of  the  seed  in  England,  sent  to  Holland  for  some. 
The  plants  grown  from  this  seed  proved  to  be  quite  differ- 
ent from  what  he  expected,  and  turned  out  to  have  large 
roots  resembling  that  of  the  turnip,  instead  of  the  succulent 
stem  of  the  Kohl-rabi. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  he  had  been  supplied  with  seeds 
of  the  Swedish  turnip  (Brassica  campestris  rutabaga)  ; 
and  this  was  the  first  introduction  of  the  now  well-known 
swede,  then  cultivated  to  some  extent  in  Sweden,  Russia, 
and  Northern  Germany,  but  absolutely  unknown  in 
England.  This  unknown  plant  he  christened  "  the  turnip- 
rooted  cabbage,"  a  not  very  suitable  title,  for  though  both 
it  and  the  field  turnip  (Brassica  rapa)  are  members  of  the 
cabbage  family  (Brassicacece)  the  swede  is  not  a  bit  more 
like  a  cabbage  than  is  the  ordinary  turnip.  He  grew 
a  small  crop  of  it  and  sent  specimens  to  the  Society.  The 
value  of  the  introduction  was  at  once  recognised,  and  a 
grant  was  made  to  Reynolds  of  £50.  Seed  from  his  plants 
was  also  distributed  among  the  members  for  trial,  and 
the  new  crop  was  recommended  for  its  hardy  nature  and 
its  capacity  for  withstanding  frost. 

A  full  account  of  his  experiments  is  given  by  Dossie,1 
and  this  is  supplemented  by  some  further  observations 
on  the  nature  and  character  of  the  plant,  apparently 
written  by  Dossie  himself.  The  full  information  on  the 
subject  first  published  by  the  Society  attracted  a  good  deal 
of  attention,  and  for  many  years  the  Society  continued 
to  offer  and  present  rewards  for  persons  growing  the 
"  turnip-rooted  cabbage  "  and  for  those  who  supplied 
information  as  to  the  best  methods  of  securing  large  crops 
of  it.  The  similarity  of  the  two  names  evidently  caused 
confusion,  for  appended  to  the  offer  of  one  of  the  prizes 
in  1769  is  a  note  :  "  The  plant  here  called  the  Turnep- 
rooted  cabbage  is  not  the  same  with  the  Turnep  Cabbage, 
but  that  kind  newly  introduced  into  this  country."  For 
a  long  time  it  is  only  mentioned  under  this  name  in  the 
Premium  lists  and  Transactions  (though  it  is  said  also  to 
have  been  known  as  "  Reynolds 's  Turnip  "),  but  eventually 
the  title  seems  to  have  been  dropped,  and  the  now  well* 

1  Vol.  i.  p.  421. 


MANGEL-WURZEL  123 

known  name  of  swede,1  applied  to  the  plant  from  the 
country  of  its  origin,  came  into  use. 

The  introduction  of  the  mangel-wurzel  came  a  little 
later.  In  1 786  some  seeds  of  the  Racine  de  disette,  or  "  root 
of  scarcity,"  were  given  by  Sir  Richard  Jebb  2 — a  very 
well-known  physician  at  the  time,  who  died  in  the  following 
year — to  the  Secretary  of  the  Society,  Dr.  More,  by  whom 
they  were  distributed  to  some  of  the  members.  This 
"  root  of  scarcity  " — soon  better  known  by  its  German 
name  "  mangold-wurzel  " 3 — according  to  a  statement 
made  by  Jebb's  executor,  Granville  Sharpe,  had  been 
discovered  by  a  French  cultivator  in  search  of  a  new 
forage  plant.  It  was  suggested  that  both  the  leaves 
and  the  roots  might  serve  as  a  table  vegetable. 

Amongst  the  members  who  received  samples  of  the 
seed  was  J.  C.  Lettsom.  He  grew  the  seeds,  and  tried  the 
leaves  cooked  like  a  cabbage  and  also  the  root,  but  does 
not  seem  to  have  greatly  appreciated  their  flavour,  though 
he  thought  that,  as  its  name  implied,  the  vegetable  might 
be  useful  in  times  of  scarcity.  He  was  much  interested 
in  the  new  plant,  which  he  considered  much  more  suitable 

1  In  Les  Plantes  Potageres  (Vilmorin-Andrieux  et  Cie,  Paris,  1883, 
p.  141)  the  authors,  tinder  the  heading  of  "  Choux-Navets,"  give  as 
synonyms  :    Chou-rave  en   terre,   chou   turnep.     Noms   etrangers : — 
Anglais  :    Turnip-rooted  cabbage,  swede,  Swedish  turnip  ;    Allemand  : 
Kohlrabe,  etc. 

The  Vegetable  Garden — a  translation  (1905)  by  W.  Robinson  of  the 
above — (p.  166),  under  the  heading  "  Turnip-rooted  cabbage  (Swedish 
turnip) ;  French,  chou-navet ;  German,  Kohlrabi,"  etc.,  says  :  "  The 
varieties  of  turnip-rooted  cabbages  differ  from  the  Kohlrabi  (chou-rave) 
in  that,  instead  of  having  the  stem  swollen  overground,  they  produce 
partially  buried  in  the  soil,  a  thick  root  which  is  about  as  long  as  it  is 
broad,  resembling  a  huge  turnip,  and  of  which  the  flesh  is  yellow  in  the 
Swedish  turnips  and  white  in  the  other  kinds.  The  characters  of  the 
leaves  and  flowers  of  these  plants  indicate  plainly  that  they  are  true 
cabbages.  .  .  .  The  Swedish  or  turnip-rooted  cabbage  is  an  excellent 
vegetable." 

In  vol.  xv.  of  the  Transactions  (1797)  it  is  mentioned  that  Lord 
Romney  had  presented  the  Society  with  "  a  quantity  of  Swedish 
Turnep-Seed." 

2  The  seeds  were  sent  to  Jebb  from  Metz  by  T.  B.  Parkyns.     See 
his  letter  in  the  Transactions,  vol.  v.  p.  52. 

2  Mangel-wurzel  is  a  beet,  its  botanical  name  being  Beta  hybrida. 
On  its  introduction  it  was  known  as  Beta  vulgaris  macrorhiza. 


I24         THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

as  a  food  for  cattle  than  for  human  beings,  and  translated 
a  treatise  on  it  by  the  Abbe  Commerell,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  London  in  1787  under  the  name  of  An  Account  of 
Mdngel-wurzel.  The  particulars  here  stated  are  taken 
from  the  preface  to  that  book.  The  value  of  the  plant 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  recognised  at  first,  and  it  was 
some  time  before  it  received  the  attention  it  deserved. 
In  1814  a  gold  medal  was  awarded  to  Leonard  Phillips, 
*'  Portsmouth  Road,  beyond  Vauxhall  Turnpike,"  for 
"  the  growth  of  mangel-wurzel." 

The  implements  then  available  for  the  farmer's  use 
were  very  few  and  of  a  very  inferior  sort.  For  tillage 
there  was  the  plough,  varying  in  character  in  different 
districts  of  England,  and  the  harrow.  The  horse-hoe l 
had  not  long  been  introduced,  and  the  drill  was  known  but 
rarely  used.  The  crops  were  all  got  in  by  hand,  the 
scythe,  the  sickle,  and  the  reaping-hook  being  the  only 
known  implements,  as  for  centuries  before.  When  the 
corn  was  harvested  the  only  means  for  separating  the  grain 
from  the  straw  was  by  the  use  of  the  flail. 

This  state  of  things,  however,  was  very  soon  to  be 
altered.  In  all  industrial  processes  the  substitution  of 
mechanical  power  for  hand  labour  was  making  rapid 
progress,  and  the  change  was  beginning  to  be  felt  in  agri- 
culture as  well  as  in  manufactures.  As  the  writer  of  the 
article  on  "Agriculture"  in  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica 
puts  it  :  "  The  quarter  of  a  century  immediately  following 
1 760  is  memorable  in  our  agricultural  annals  for  the  intro- 
duction of  various  important  improvements."  And  the 
introduction  of  these  improvements  was  mainly  due  to 
the  eiforts  of  the  Society  of  Arts.  As  evidence  of  this 
another  similar  authority  may  be  quoted,  for  in  Rees' 
Cyclopaedia  (edition  of  1819)  the  writer  of  the  correspond- 
ing article,  referring  to  the  work  of  the  Society,  tells  us 
that  "  a  vast  variety  of  different  machines  for  facilitating 

1  The  date  of  the  introduction  of  the  horse-hoe  into  this  country 
does  not  seem  to  be  known.  It  was  probably  first  employed  in  the 
vineyards  of  Italy  and  France,  and  that  long  before  it  was  known 
here. 


IMPLEMENTS  125 

the  practice  of  agriculture  have  been  invented  and  pre- 
sented to  the  public,  in  consequence  of  the  large  premiums 
and  bounties  which  have  been  offered  "  by  it. 

To  trace  in  detail  the  history  of  all  the  improvements 
in  agricultural  implements  and  machinery  which  were 
due,  in  whole  or  in  part,  to  the  rewards  paid  by  the  Society, 
to  the  suggestions  it  put  forward  or  to  the  information  it 
collected,  would  be  a  long  and  difficult  task  and  the  result 
would  not  be  either  interesting  or  valuable,  but  it  may 
safely  be  asserted  that  of  all  the  implements  new  and  old 
used  by  the  farmer  during  the  fifty  or  sixty  years  from 
1760  onwards  (not  including,  of  course,  ordinary  hand 
tools),  there  was  not  one  which  was  not  either  introduced 
or  improved  in  consequence  of  the  Society's  exertions  and 
influence. 

Even  the  ordinary  plough  underwent  a  larger  amount 
of  development  during  this  period  than  in  the  century 
or  more  preceding,  not  so  much  in  consequence  of  any 
direct  offer  of  premiums  for  improvements,  as  because  the 
Society  was  always  ready  to  take  up  and  reward  any 
ingenious  advance  in  this  or  any  other  implement.  Such 
changes  as  were  effected  were  mainly  in  detail.  The  frame 
was  made  lighter  and  better  balanced  ;  iron  was  sub- 
stituted for  wood  in  many  parts  of  the  frame,  etc. ;  the 
shape  of  the  share,  coulter,  mould-board,  and  other  details 
were  improved  ;  the  draught  was  lessened,  and — a  very 
important  matter — the  price  was  lowered,  so  that,  as  a 
general  result,  many  of  the  ploughs  commended  and  re- 
warded by  the  Society  became  popular,  and  are  said  to 
have  sold  well.  All  these  improvements,  however,  were 
the  result  of  rule-of-thumb  experiment,  and  it  was  not 
until  1839,  when  the  question  was  taken  up  by  the  Royal 
Agricultural  Society,  that  any  scientific  investigation  was 
really  made  into  the  principles  which  should  govern  the 
construction  of  ploughs.  In  that  year  Mr.  Philip  Pusey 
published,  in  the  first  volume  of  the  R.A.S.  Journal 
(p.  219),  the  results  of  an  experimental  inquiry  on  draught 
in  ploughing  made  by  him,  and  the  dynamometrical  tests 
which  he  conducted  upon  the  different  sorts  of  ploughs  had 
an  immediate  effect  in  improving  plough  construction. 


126         THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

The  Society  also,  besides  improving  the  character  of 
the  ordinary  plough,  did  much  to  introduce  ploughs  of 
special  types,  applicable  for  trenching,  draining  and  sub- 
soiling,  paring  and  scarifying,  etc. 

The  drill  had  been  invented  by  the  enthusiastic  and 
eccentric  Jethro  Tull  in  1707,  and  its  use  advocated  in 
his  remarkable  book,  Horse  hoeing  Husbandry,  in  1731, 
but  it  had  not  really  come  into  use  except  to  a  very  limited 
extent.  Dossie1  is  responsible  for  the  statement  that 
Tull  "  only  started  the  notion.  The  practice  was  very 
little  pursued  till  the  Society  awakened  the  public  atten- 
tion to  it  by  their  premiums."  That  this  statement  was 
correct  seems  indisputable.  The  offer  of  a  gold  medal  in 
1762  for  the  best  set  of  experiments  and  observations  on 
the  comparative  merits  of  drill  and  broadcast  husbandry 
produced  a  series  of  communications  from  Sir  Digby 
Legard,  extending  from  1763  to  1768,  and  giving  the  result 
of  a  very  careful  series  of  tests  carried  on  during  those 
and  previous  years  in  Yorkshire,  and  also  one  from  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Lowther,  giving  an  account  of  similar  experiments 
in  Cumberland  in  or  before  1 763 .  Both  these  gentlemen 
received  a  gold  medal,  and  their  papers  were  the  first  of  a 
long  series  of  communications  on  the  subject,  which  event- 
ually established  the  value  of  the  then  novel  system. 

Tull  himself,  in  the  various  editions  of  his  well-known 
book,2  describes  his  drill  in  full  detail  and  with  abundant 
illustration.  It  must  have  been  an  excellent  piece  of 
apparatus,  well  suited  for  its  work,  and  in  its  mechanical 
details  considerably  in  advance  of  most  contemporary 
machinery.  Very  probably  its  actual  construction  may 
have  been  deficient,  and  it  was  less  effective  in  operation 
than  appears  on  paper,  for  in  those  days  the  means  of 
accurate  machine  construction  were  sadly  lacking.  But 

1  Vol.  i.  p.  73. 

8  The  book  was  first  issued  in  an  incomplete  form  in  1731.  The 
first  complete  edition  appeared  in  1733.  A  further  edition,  with 
additions,  was  published  in  1739.  After  Tull's  death  in  1740,  other 
editions  were  issued,  1751,  etc.  Cobbett  published  an  edition,  with 
much  of  the  original  omitted,  in  1822.  An  interesting  account  of 
Tull  and  his  work,  by  the  late  Earl  Cathcart,  appears  in  the  Journal  of 
the  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  1891,  3rd  series,  vol.  ii.  p.  i. 


DRILLS,  HORSE-HOES  127 

by  all  accounts  it  was  a  good  practical   implement,  and 
quite  effective  in  operation. 

Sir  Digby  Legard  speaks  favourably  of  the  original 
machine,  though  he  suggests  certain  additions  and  seems 
to  have  made  some.  Still  it  was  not  considered  satisfactory, 
and  prizes  were  therefore  offered  in  1761  for  "  drill 
ploughs  which  should  cut  several  furrows,  deposit  the 
seed,  and  cover  the  seed  with  earth  at  one  operation." 
The  earliest  award  under  this  head  was  to  the  Rev.  H. 
Gainsborough,  a  brother  of  the  great  painter,  in  1766. 
He  received  £30  for  a  "  drill  plough."  Other  prizes 
followed  in  1770,  1771,  1775,  and  for  many  years  later.1 
The  earliest  patents  for  drills  are  those  granted  to  Proud 
(in  1781)  and  to  Cooke  (in  1783).  After  this  date  the 
patents  are  numerous  ;  there  were  about  ten  others  in 
the  next  eight  years. 

Cooke 's  patent  drill  was  submitted  to  the  Society  in 
1787,  and  was  commended,  not — as  the  subject  of  a 
patent — being  eligible  for  reward.  Two  reports,  speaking 
well  of  the  apparatus,  were  printed  in  the  Transactions. 2 

Still,  though  the  advantages  of  the  drill  were  recognised, 
and  the  machine  itself  became  well  known,  it  was  very 
many  years  before  its  use  became  general.  As  late  as 
1 839,  Mr.  Pusey,  in  his  inaugural  address  to  the  then  newly- 
founded  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  addressing  an  assembly 
of  farmers,  thought  it  necessary  to  describe  the  drill  as  a 
machine  "  by  which  the  seed  is  laid  in  regular  rows,"  and 
mentioned  that  "  it  was  not  very  much  used,  although 
it  had  lately  become  frequent." 

Another  implement  which,  though  not  invented  by 
Jethro  Tull,  was  the  subject  of  his  earnest  advocacy, 
was  the  horse-hoe.  A  clumsy-looking  implement  is 
figured  and  described  in  the  Museum  Rusticum?  and 
various  prizes  for  horse-hoes  were  awarded  at  different 

1  The  best,  among  the  early  inventions,  seem  to  have  been  those 
of  Gale  and  Craik,  both  Scotchmen,  to  whom  gold  medals  were  awarded 
in  1771. 

2  Vol.  v.'p.  71  et  seq.     A  description,  with  a  drawing,  will  be  found 
in  the  patent  specification. 

3  Vol.  vi.  (1766),  p.  402, 


128         THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

times  by  the  Society.     The  earliest  of  these  was  a  gold 
medal  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hewett  in  1771. 

Numerous  awards  were  also  made  for  harrows  and  for 
rollers,  including  a  "  spiky  roller  "  in  i?66.1  In  1801  a 
silver  medal  was  awarded  to  W.  Lester  for  an  implement 
"  named  by  him  a  cultivator."  The  implement,  as  de- 
scribed and  figured  in  the  Transactions,  is  typical  of  the 
older  form  of  cultivator  before  its  modern  improvements 
and  alterations.  It  has  vertical  tines,  slightly  curved  at 
the  points.  As  is  well  known,  the  modern  cultivator  has 
various  forms,  is  applied  to  many  purposes,  and  is  called 
by  several  names.  It  had,  as  originally  designed,  vertical 
coulters  or  tines,  and  was  used  for  breaking  up  unre- 
claimed or  fallow  land.  Probably  the  first  description  of 
it  is  that  contained  in  Lester's  communication  to  the 
Transactions.2 

In  its  efforts  to  encourage  the  invention  of  a  reaping 
machine,  the  Society  was  certainly  much  less  successful, 
and  this  chapter  of  the  Society's  history  is  decidedly  less 
satisfactory  to  its  historian  than  those  which  deal  with 
other  agricultural  implements. 

In  the  premium  list  for  1774  appears  the  first  offer 
of  a  reward  for  a  machine  capable  of  reaping  corn,  and 
this  offer  was  continued  with  certain  variations  up  to 
1820,  a  period  of  forty-six  years.  During  all  this  long 
period  not  a  single  award  appears  to  have  been  made, 
and  this  is  really  inexplicable,  because  a  number  of  inven- 
tions were  brought  out  during  this  period,  and  several 
were  at  different  times  submitted  to  the  Society.  Most 
of  these  were  impracticable  and  useless,  but  there  was 
certainly  one  which  was  beyond  much  question  the  origin 
of  the  modern  reaper.  In  the  year  1812,  Earl  Percy  sent 
to  the  Society  a  model  of  a  machine  made  by  John  Common 
of  Denwick,  Northumberland,  together  with  a  certificate 
from  John  Thew  and  Thomas  Appleby  that  the  machine 

1  Museum  Rusticum,  vol.  vi.  p.  371. 

2  Vol.  xix.  p.  142.     This,  however,  is  not  the  first  use  of  the  term, 
for  in  the  list  of  implements  in  the  Society's  Repertory  in   1783,  a 
"  cultivator  "  is  mentioned.     Murray's  Dictionary  gives  a  still  earlier  use 
in  a  translation  of  Puhamel's  Husbandry,  1762, 


REAPING  MACHINES  129 

had  successfully  cut  a  patch  of  ripe  oats.  The  apparatus 
is  described,  not  very  fully,  in  the  committee  minutes  of 
1 5th  April  ;  but  the  description  is  sufficient  to  show  that 
the  principal  feature  of  the  machine  was  a  set  of  angular 
knives  mounted  on  a  horizontal  bar,  to  which  reciprocating 
motion  was  given  by  a  crank,  the  corn  being  guided  to 
the  cutters  by  means  of  spikes  or  "  fingers."  This  is  pre- 
cisely the  mechanism  of  all  existing  reapers.  Previous 
inventions,  and  some  of  a  later  date,  used  reciprocating 
blades  or  revolving  scythes,  but  none  of  these  gave  the 
shearing  or  drawing  cut  which  alone  answers  for  cutting 
corn.  The  verdict  of  the  committee  was  that  the  inven- 
tion was  incomplete,  and  they  did  not  recommend  it  for 
an  award — a  verdict  which  simply  shows  that  the  com- 
mittee as  then  constituted  was  unfortunately  incapable  of 
appreciating  a  most  important  invention,  the  very  novelty 
of  which  was  probably  too  great  for  them  to  realise  its 
value. 

The  history  of  the  invention  is  given  in  full  detail  in 
an  article  and  some  letters  contained  in  the  Journal  of 
the  Society  for  1 878. *  From  these  it  appears  that  Common 
co-operated  with  Ogle,  who  was  the  inventor  of  an  unsuc- 
cessful reaping  machine  of  the  rotating  scythe  class,  and 
that  he  employed  one  Brown  to  make  certain  castings 
for  him,  the  patterns  for  which  Brown  in  1830  took  to 
America.  There  he  either  constructed  a  machine,  and 
disposed  of  it  to  McCormick,  or  gave  the  patterns  to 
McCormick,  and  provided  him  with  information  from 
which  McCormick  was  able  to  construct  a  machine.  At 
all  events  there  seems  no  doubt  whatever  that  Common's 
reaper  was  the  original  of  the  machine  brought  out  by 
McCormick,  and  exhibited  by  him  in  the  American  section 
of  the  1851  Exhibition  as  his  own.  In  consequence 
McCormick  had  for  long  the  credit  of  being  the  inventor 
of  the  modern  harvester  until  the  true  facts  were  brought 
out,  and  the  invention  attributed  to  its  real  author,  John 
Common.  At  the  same  time  it  should  not  be  forgotten 

1  Vol.  xxvi.  pp.  369,  419,  and  479.  The  information  contained  in 
these  papers,  with  some  further  additions,  was  republished  in  a  little 
book  in  1907  by  R.  F.  J.  Common,  the  grandson  of  the  inventor. 


130         THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

that  while  the  evidence  seems  to  disprove  McCormick's 
claim  to  be  an  original  inventor,  it  does  not  in  any  way 
diminish  the  value  of  his  public  services  in  the  intro- 
duction of  the  reaping  machine.  It  often  needs  two  men 
to  make  a  success  of  an  invention,  one  to  invent  and 
one  to  publish.  Generally  the  second  man  gets  the 
profit,  and  it  is  not  always  certain  that  he  may  not 
deserve  it  ;  he  does  not  generally  get  the  credit,  though 
there  seems  no  reason  why  he  should  not  fairly  claim  a 
share  of  it.  John  Common's  first  machine  appears  to 
have  been  made  about  the  year  1803,  and  to  have 
grown  out  of  a  suggestion  made  by  Ogle.  Two  other 
machines  were  made  by  him — one  about  1 8 1 1 ,  and  the 
third  in  1812. 

It  makes  it  the  more  remarkable  that  Common's 
reaping  machine  was  never  rewarded  by  the  Society,  that 
later,  in  1818,  he  received  a  gold  medal  for  a  turnip  drill, 
and  later  still,  in  1844,  a  silver  medal  for  a  plan  of  putting 
new  roots  to  old  trees,  neither  of  them  comparable  with 
his  really  great  invention  of  the  reaping  machine.  John 
Common  was  living  in  1860,  and  a  letter  of  his  of  that 
date  is  published  in  one  of  the  Journals  above  quoted. 
John  Thew,  one  of  the  witnesses  of  the  trial  above  men- 
tioned, was  living  in  1878,  and  was  able  at  that  date  to 
confirm  his  former  statements. 

Nor  was  the  Society  more  successful  with  another 
inventdr  of  an  original  reaper,  the  Rev.  Patrick  Bell, 
whose  machine  was  submitted  to  the  Society  in  1830, 
but  was  not  rewarded  on  the  ground  that  the  description 
of  the  machine,  which  was  an  excellent  one,  had  brought 
it  sufficiently  before  the  public,  and  that  it  did  not  there- 
fore require  the  Society's  aid  to  bring  it  into  notice.  Bell, 
who  was  then  a  young  man  studying  for  the  ministry 
at  the  University  of  St.  Andrews,  invented  his  reaper  in 
1827,  and  it  was  tried  the  following  year  on  a  farm  in 
Perthshire  belonging  to  his  brother,  George  Bell.  He 
appears  only  to  have  constructed  one  machine,  which 
worked  regularly  from  about  1828  to  1868,  when  it  was 
purchased  for  the  Museum  of  the  Patent  Office.  It  is 
now  in  the  Mechanical  Engineering  collection  of  the 


REAPING  MACHINES  131 

Victoria  and  Albert  Museum.1  A  full  account  of  his 
invention  was  given  by  Dr.  Bell  at  the  meeting  of  the 
British  Association  at  Dundee  in  1867,  but  unfortunately 
only  a  brief  report  of  the  paper  appears  in  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Association.  Bell's  machine  was  never 
patented,  but  later  on,  after  attention  had  been  drawn 
to  McCormick's  machine  in  the  1851  Exhibition,  many 
machines  were  made  after  his  model,  and  came  into 
extensive  use.2 

Unlike  most  of  the  new  agricultural  implements,  the 
reaping  machine,  when  once  attention  had  been  drawn 
to  it,  came  rapidly  into  use.  Morton,  in  his  Cyclopedia 
of  Agriculture,  writing  in  1851,  refers  briefly  in  his  article 
on  <(  Harvesting  Machines,"  to  Bell  and  McCormick,  and 
says  :  "  Notwithstanding  all  the  ingenuity,  however,  that 
has  hitherto  been  applied  to  the  subject,  reaping  has  been, 
and  no  doubt  for  many  years,  as  we  have  said,  will 
continue  to  be,  a  manual  operation."  In  the  same  work, 
in  a  later  article  on  "  Reaping  Machines,"  which  must 
have  been  written  in  or  before  1855,  he  recants  his  views 
of  four  years  before  and  describes  at  considerable  length, 
with  illustrations,  an  improved  form  of  Bell's  machine, 
and  also  those  made  by  Hussey  and  by  McCormick. 

The  earliest  reference  to  a  threshing  machine  must  cer- 
tainly be  contained  in  the  grant  of  Letters  Patent  in  1636 
to  Sir  John  Christopher  Berg,  for  an  "  invencion  to  be 
agitated  by  winde,  water  or  horses  for  the  cleane  threshing 
of  corne,"  but  about  this  no  further  information  exists, 
and  the  first  machine  which  is  known  to  have  been  used  for 

1  The  excellent  catalogue  of  this  collection  contains  (Part  ii.  p.  227, 
edition  1908)  a  brief  historical  note  on  harvesting  machines  and  (p.  232, 
Nos.  1515  and  1516)  a  description  of  Bell's  machine  (No.  1515  is  the 
original  machine  somewhat  altered,  and  No.  1516  is  a  model  of  the 
original).     There  are  also  models  and  descriptions  (pp.  232  and  233,  Nos. 
1517, 1 518,  and  1519)  of  McCormick's  reaper.     No  reference  is  made  to 
Common,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  omission  may  be  rectified  in 
any  future  reprints. 

2  Much  information  about  the  earliest  attempts  to  make  reaping 
machines  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Specifications  of  English 
Patents  for  Reaping  Machines,  by  B.   Woodcroft,  published  by  the 
Patent  Office.     This  work  is  now  seldom  to  be  met  with. 


132         THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

the  purpose  of  threshing  corn  was  that  patented  by  Michael 
Menzies  in  1734.  No  specification  was  filed,  and  the 
only  information  afforded  by  the  terms  of  the  grant  is 
that  the  machine  "  threshes  with  common  swipples."  l 
A  description,  however,  is  given  by  Maxwell  in  the  Trans- 
actions of  the  old  Scottish  Society  of  Improvers  in  the 
Knowledge  of  Agriculture,  which  he  published  in  1743. 
This  machine  appears  to  have  consisted  of  a  number  of 
flails,  probably  mounted  on  a  central  shaft  or  drum, 
which  was  either  operated  by  hand  or  "  by  means  of  a 
great  water-wheel  and  triddles."  Though  Maxwell  recom- 
mends it,  it  does  not  appear  that  Menzies'  machine  was 
ever  much  used,  and  the  first  practical  threshing  machine 
was  that  of  Andrew  Meikle,  patented  in  1788,  and  stated 
to  have  been  working  in  1 798  in  Clackmannanshire.  From 
the  description  in  the  patent  specification  it  is  evident  that 
this  machine  may  be  regarded  as  the  precursor  of  the 
modern  threshing  machines,  since  the  principle  on  which 
it  was  constructed  is  really  that  which  has  been  elaborated 
in  the  modern  machine — a  revolving  drum  with  what  he 
called  "  scutchers  "  working  under  a  curved  shield.  This 
apparatus  soon  came  into  practical  use,  and  it  was  later 
largely  improved  upon,  until  it  developed  into  the 
apparatus  now  in  common  use.2 

The  first  award  made  by  the  Society  for  a  threshing 
machine  was  in  1761,  when  £15  was  given  to  John  Lloyd. 
No  description  of  this  appears  to  be  extant.  A  machine 
"  for  threshing  and  winnowing  corn,"  for  which  fifty 
guineas  was  awarded  in  1769  to  John  Evers,  is  highly 
commended  by  Dossie,3  but  it  appears  to  have  been 
rather  a  clumsy  apparatus,  and  must  have  absorbed  a 

1  Swipple  is  a  north-country  name  for  a  flail,  or  the  head  of  a  flail. 

2  Young,  in  his  Annals  of  Agriculture,  vol.    xxii.    p.    426,  states 
that  Meikle's  (or  Mickle's)  machine  was  an  adaptation  of  one  which 
F.  Kinlock  had  brought  to  Meikle's  father's  mill  that  its  capacity  for 
being  driven  by  water  power  might  be  tested.     Young  gives  a  few 
details  about  the  apparatus,  and  says  that  in  1794  the  use  of  threshing 
machines  was  becoming  general  in  Northumberland,  where  they  had 
been  introduced  twenty  years  before  (i.e.  about  1774)  from  Scotland 
by  Edward  Gregson. 

8  Vol.  i.  p.  86. 


THRESHING  MACHINES— CHAFF-CUTTERS     133 

great  deal  of  power.  The  corn  was  spread  on  a  revolving 
floor,  and  thus  brought  under  the  action  of  "  a  row  of 
a  kind  of  flails."  This  anticipated  Meikle's  by  some 
twenty  years,  but  was  certainly  inferior  and  worked  on 
a  very  different  principle. 

Four  years  before  this,  in  1765,  a  bounty  of  £15  had 
been  awarded  to  a  Mr.  Harvey  for  a  threshing  machine 
"  used  in  Connecticut."  From  the  note  upon  it  in  the 
manuscript  minutes  of  the  Committee  on  Agriculture, 
it  consisted  of  a  cone  with  longitudinal  ribs  revolving  from 
a  fixed  centre  over  a  floor  on  which  the  corn  was  laid. 
Nothing  more  is  known  of  the  apparatus. 

After  this  the  subject  was  neglected  till  1801,  when 
a  gold  medal  was  offered  for  a  threshing  machine  which 
should  be  an  improvement  on  any  then  used.  This  was 
awarded  in  1810  to  H.  P.  Lee.  His  machine  consisted 
of  four  vanes  or  beaters  on  a  central  shaft  working  in  a 
concave.  Motion  was  given  by  a  horse-gear  through  spur 
gearing  to  the  shaft,  A  special  merit  of  the  apparatus  seems 
to  have  been  the  high  speed  at  which  it  could  be  driven. 

The  earliest  suggestion  of  the  use  of  apparatus  for 
cutting  or  chopping  straw  for  fodder  is  probably  contained 
in  the  first  volume  of  the  Museum  Rusticum  (1761),  p.  258, 
and  further  details  are  given  in  the  volumes  for  1765  and 
I766.1  In  the  first  of  these  a  "  cutting-box  "  for  fodder 
is  described  as  a  novelty,  and  in  the  second  a  fuller  account 
with  illustrations  is  given  of  a  machine  devised  by  Thomas 
Comber.  It  is  simply  the  old  form  of  chaff-cutter,  common 
enough  fifty  years  ago,  in  which  the  straw  or  straw  and 
hay  is  pushed  along  a  trough  by  hand,  and  cut  by  a  hinged 
blade  working  across  the  end  of  the  trough,  the  straw, 
etc.,  being  held  down,  while  the  cut  is  being  made,  by  a 
presser  worked  by  the  foot  or  otherwise.  The  machine  is 
spoken  of  as  something  quite  new  and  useful,  and  from  the 
description  it  appears  that  the  idea  of  using  chopped  straw 
for  the  food  of  cattle  and  horses  was  previously  unknown . 

This  machine  does  not  seem  to  have  been  submitted 
to  the  Society.     The  first  award  for  a  chaff-cutter  was 
one  of  twenty  guineas  in  1768  made  to  J.  Edgill.    This 
1  Vol.  v.  p.  208,  and  vol.  vi.  p.  8. 


134         THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

is  interesting  because  the  machine,  which  is  described  in 
Bailey's  Mechanical  Machines  (vol.  i.  p.  42 J,1  contains  in 
principle  all  the  elements  of  the  modern  chaff-cutter. 
A  single  blade,  curved  so  as  to  give  a  slicing  cut,  is  mounted 
on  a  horizontal  axle  fitted  by  the  side  of  a  trough.  A 
winch  handle,  also  on  the  end  of  the  axle,  gives  a  rotary 
motion  to  the  knife,  which  works  across  the  mouth  of 
the  trough,  in  which  the  straw  to  be  cut  is  placed.  The 
straw  is  fed  through  the  trough  by  means  of  a  block  carry- 
ing prongs,  which  is  mounted  to  slide  to  and  fro  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  trough.  An  intermittent  motion  is  given 
to  this  block  by  means  of  a  tappet  on  the  axle,  which 
engages  with  a  pin  rack  sliding  by  a  wheel  at  the  side  of 
the  trough,  and  connected  with  the  block.  When  the 
block  had  reached  the  front  of  the  trough  it  was  lifted 
and  moved  back  by  hand.  There  is  also  a  weight  to  keep 
the  straw  down.  It  will  be  seen  that  this  machine  there- 
fore anticipates  all  the  movements  of  a  modern  chaff-cutter. 

Two  years  later,  in  1770,  a  William  Bailey  received 
twenty  guineas  for  an  improved  straw-cutter,  but  of 
this  no  description  seems  to  be  extant.  In  1774  Stephen 
Smith  received  twenty  guineas  and  a  gold  medal  for 
a  machine  rather  resembling  Edgill's,  but  having  a 
double-bladed  knife,  so  that  there  were  two  cuts  in  each 
revolution.  The  feed  mechanism,  as  figured  and  described 
by  Bailey,  seems  to  be  of  a  somewhat  complicated 
character ;  but  an  intermittent  motion  appears  to  be 
given  to  a  sliding  board  on  the  bottom  of  the  trough  by 
worm  gearing  on  a  shaft  mounted  on  the  side  of  the 
trough.  Bailey's  drawings  are  all  in  perspective,  and 
therefore,  though  they  are  extremely  good,  it  is  sometimes 
difficult  to  follow  the  action  of  the  mechanism. 

The  next  award  was  in  1786,  when  twenty  guineas 
were  given  to  James  Pike,  a  watchmaker  of  Newton  Abbot, 
for  a  machine  in  which  the  chief  improvement  appears  to 
be  that  the  feed  was  effected  by  means  of  rollers  operated 
by  a  worm  and  spur  wheels  from  the  main  axle.  So  far 

1 W.  Bailey  was  registrar  to  the  Society.  Some  information 
about  him  and  his  book  will  be  found  in  Chapter  XI,  p.  239,  and  in 
Chapter  XV.  p.  329. 


CHAFF-CUTTERS  135 

as  can  be  judged  from  the  illustration  in  the  Transactions  l 
the  feed  in  this  way  was  continuous,  the  rollers  being 
simply  driven  by  spur  wheels  gearing  with  a  worm  on  the 
main  shaft.  He  also  mounted  his  knife  (he  only  used 
a  single  blade)  on  a  fly-wheel,  instead  of  using  one  or  two 
blades  fitted  radially  on  a  shaft,  and  this  was  an  obvious 
economy  of  power. 

In  1797  the  final  improvement  was  introduced  by 
Robert  Salmon,2  the  ingenious  land  agent  of  the  Duke  of 
Bedford,  who  made  the  feed  intermittent  by  driving  the 
feed  rollers  through  the  intervention  of  a  ratchet  wheel  oper- 
ated by  a  connecting  rod  from  the  main  shaft.  Salmon's 
machine,  however,  was  in  other  respects  inferior.  His 
cutters  were  carried  by  two  wheels  mounted  on  an  axle 
which  was  at  right  angles  to  the  trough  and  some  little 
distance  in  front  of  it,  so  that  as  the  wheels  revolved  the 
cutters  were  brought  successively  across  the  mouth  of  the 
trough.  It  is  evident  that  in  this  machine  the  power  was 
employed  at  much  less  advantage  than  in  those  in  which, 
as  in  the  modern  machine,  the  wheel  and  cutters  revolved 
across  the  line  of  the  trough. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  whole  evolution  of  the 
modern  chaff-cutter  may  be  traced  in  these  early  im- 
plements to  which  prizes  were  awarded  by  the  Society. 

A  little  later  on  great  improvements  in  the  mechanism 
were  effected.  The  first  patent  for  a  chaff-cutter,  taken 
out  by  James  Cook  in  1794,  was  of  the  same  character  as 
Edgill's  and  Pike's,  but  he  fitted  three  knives  on  his  fly- 

1  Vol.  v.  p.  62. 

2  Robert    Salmon  was  a  most    ingenious    inventor.     He    received 
numerous  medals  and  prizes  from  the  Society  for  the  most  diverse 
machines  and  appliances,  including  surgical  apparatus,  a  man  trap, 
a  canal  lock,  and  a  method  of  transferring  pictures  from  the  surfaces 
on  which  they  were  painted.     He  took  out  eleven  patents,  the  first 
in  1796  and  the  last  in  1821,  three  of  which  were  for  surgical  appliances. 
He  invented  one  of  the  earliest  reaping  machines  (1807),  but,  so  far 
as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  he  did  not  submit  it  to  the  Society.    A 
short  account  of  him  is  given  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural 
Society,  vol.  ii.  (3rd  series),  p.  132.     He  was  a  member  of  the  Society, 
and  his  name  appears  on  the  lists  from  1816  to  1820.     He  died  in  1821, 
at  the  age  of  eighty-nine. 


136         THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

wheel,  a  great  but  obvious  improvement.  He  also  added 
a  fixed  blade,  against  which  the  revolving  blades  acted. 
Later  inventors  made  the  feed  intermittent  by  means 
of  a  worm  of  varying  pitch,  or  by  driving  the  gearing 
through  a  wheel  with  only  one  tooth  on  each  side,  and 
improved  the  construction  generally,  but  the  chaff-cutter 
now  universally  known  is  only  an  improved  version  of 
those  of  Edgill  and  Pike. 

The  offer  of  a  prize  in  1766  for  a  machine  for  slicing 
turnips  was  condemned  by  Arthur  Young l  as  rather 
trivial,  but  the  apparatus  sent  in  in  answer  to  the  offer 
was  the  first  of  a  long  series  of  inventions  upon  which  a 
vast  amount  of  ingenuity  has  been  spent.  The  turnip- 
cutter  of  the  present  day  is  the  result  of  the  best  part  of 
a  century's  work,  and  it  is  not  very  long  since  the  apparatus 
has  been  brought  to  perfection,  so  that  it  will  not  only 
slice  the  roots  but  will  cut  them  into  "  fingers  "  of  a 
convenient  size  and  shape  for  the  food  of  cattle.  In  the 
following  year,  1767,  two  rewards  were  given,  £20  to 
James  Edgill,  and  ten  guineas  to  William  Bailey.  Dossie, 
who  speaks  well  of  Edgill 's  machine,  does  not  describe 
its  action,  but  Bailey  gives  some  figures  of  it.  A  circular 
tub  is  mounted  to  revolve  on  a  central  vertical  spindle. 
The  tub  has  no  bottom,  but  it  has  four  cutting  blades 
mounted  radially  in  place  of  its  bottom.  The  tub  is 
supported  by  friction  rollers  on  a  base  which  is  perforated 
at  intervals  to  allow  the  cut  roots  to  pass  through.  Rotary 
motion  is  given  to  the  tub  by  cross  handles.  The  tub 
being  filled  with  roots,  and  motion  being  given  to  it,  the 
roots  are  sliced  by  the  knives — the  size  of  the  slices  being 
determined  by  the  space  between  the  knives  and  the 
base,  which  is  adjustable. 

The  implement  would  no  doubt  work  perfectly  well, 
as  Dossie  said  it  did.  But  it  would  certainly  require  a 
good  deal  of  power,  and  the  whole  idea,  though  ingenious, 
is  a  little  clumsy.  Bailey  states  that  twro  men  could  work 
the  machine  with  ease  and  facility,  and  that  it  would  slice 
twelve  bushels  of  turnips  in  five  minutes.  The  award  to 
Bailey  was  for  improvements  on  Edgill's  machine. 

1  Farmers'  Letters,  vol.  i.  (2nd  edition,  1771),  p.  234.  ,  * 


ROOT-CUTTERS  137 

According  to  a  statement  made  by  Lovell  Edgeworth  in 
his  autobiography,  a  machine  of  his  was  tested  in  com- 
petition with  Edgill's.  From  his  own  account  it  appears 
to  have  been  inferior  to  the  apparatus  above  described, 
though  he  himself  did  not  think  so.  In  view  of  the  fact 
that  nothing  seems  to  be  known  of  these  early  attempts 
to  construct  what  eventually  proved  to  be  a  very  valuable 
agricultural  implement,  it  is  worth  while  to  quote  Edge- 
worth's  own  account.1 

11  I  sent  also  to  the  Society  of  Arts  a  machine  for 
cutting  turnips,  which  consisted  simply  of  a  circular 
trough  with  a  dropping  knife  moving  on  a  pin  in  the 
centre,  so  that  the  person  who  worked  it  had  nothing  to 
do  but  walk  round  the  circle,  and  to  lift  the  cutter  up  and 
down,  as  a  turner  works  his  paring  knife.  This  was  put 
in  competition  with  the  machine  for  cutting  turnips  which 
is  now  in  common  use,  and  for  which  the  Society  adjudged 
to  Mr.  Edgehill  the  premium.  Very  little  difference  was 
perceived  in  the  performance  of  our  machines,  and  I  still 
employ  my  own  because  it  can  be  made  anywhere,  of  any 
coarse  timber,  has  but  one  knife,  which  can  be  easily 
kept  from  rust  and  readily  sharpened  ;  in  short,  it  performs 
nearly  as  much  work  as  Mr.  Edgehill's  turnip-cutter,  and 
does  not  cost  one- fourth  part  as  much.  The  machine 
which  I  use  is  a  trough  on  three  legs,  about  five  feet  long, 
a  foot  wide,  and  a  segment  of  a  circle  of  six  feet  diameter." 

In  succeeding  years  other  machines  were  commended 
or  rewarded  by  the  Society,  but  to  judge  by  the  records 
of  the  Patent  Office  it  was  very  long  before  attention 
was  really  directed  to  this  class  of  apparatus.  The 
earliest  patent  for  a  turnip-cutter  was  granted  in  1 803,  and 
it  was  not  till  1834  that  Gardner's  machine,  which  after- 
wards came  largely  into  use,  was  invented.  After  this  there 
were  numerous  improvements,  but  Gardner's  machine  in 
its  modified  and  modern  form  is  still  considered  the  best.2 

The   use  of  manures  was  very  limited,  and,  indeed, 

1  Memoirs  of  R.  L.  Edgeworth  (Edition  1821),  vol.  i.  p.  167. 

2  R.  P.  Wright's  Cyclopedia  of  Agriculture,  1910,  s.v.  "  Root-cutter," 
vol.  x.  p.  139.     The  writer  of  the  note  says  that  "it  has  practically 
been  unimproved  since  its  introduction,"  seventy  years  ago. 


138         THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

manure  could  hardly  be  applied  with  much  effect  so  long 
as  the  open-field  system  endured.  The  practice  of  apply- 
ing marl  had  been  lately  revived  in  Norfolk,1  and  a  writer 
in  the  Museum  Rusticum  (vol.  ii.  p.  132)  states  that  the 
Suffolk  farmers  were  in  the  habit  of  using  "  cragg  "  contain- 
ing "  remains  of  marine  shells."  Farmyard  manure  was,  of 
course,  available,  and  the  manuring  of  fields  by  folding 
sheep  and  cattle  upon  them  was  also  practised.  Lime  was 
used  to  a  very  limited  extent,  and  so  were  ashes.  On 
the  sea-coast,  seaweed  seems  to  have  been  utilised.  Town 
nightsoil  was  employed  in  some  localities  where  it  was  avail- 
able, and  the  system  of  paring  the  surface  and  burning  it 
was  also  found  serviceable.  Young,  writing  about  1769, 
mentions  that  oil-cake  was  imported  from  Holland  for 
use  as  a  manure  at  a  cost  of  155.  an  acre.  Its  value  as  a 
cattle  food  was  not  then  generally  known,  though,  as 
previously  mentioned,  such  application  had  been  pro- 
posed, and  indeed  tried. 

In  1758  a  prize  was  offered  for  a  dissertation  on  "  The 
Nature  and  Operation  of  Manures,"  the  following  being 
specified  :  "  Soot,  coal-ashes,  wood-ashes,  lime,  and  night- 
soil."  The  offer  was  continued  in  the  same  terms  for  very 
many  years,  "  bones  "  being  added  to  the  list  in  1817,  and 
"  salt  "  in  1 825 .  After  this  date  the  prize  was  discontinued. 
During  its  continuance  a  good  many  awards  were  made, 
and  various  papers,  none,  perhaps,  of  very  great  value, 
were  published  in  the  Transactions. 

1  Elton,  in  his  Origins  of  English  History,  p.  116,  edit.  1890,  tells 
us  that  the  Gaulish  immigrants  into  Britain  before  Caesar's  invasion 
were  familiar  with  the  agricultural  applications  of  marl  and  chalk. 
They  were  good  farmers  and  had  large  fields.  There  were  among 
them  no  traces  of  the  co-operative  system  of  farming.  Elton  doubtless 
got  his  information  on  this  point  from  Pliny,  who  (Hist.  Nat.,  xvii.  4) 
treats  at  some  length  on  the  employment  of  marl  (marga)  and  refers 
to  its  use  in  Gallia  and  Britannia.  A  writer  in  the  Museum  Rusticum 
(vol.  ii.  p.  376),  who  signs  his  letter  "  X.  Y.  Z.,"  a  Member  of  the  Society 
of  Arts,  and  who  was  very  likely  Arthur  Young,  relates  his  own  ex- 
perience, and  gives  instructions  for  the  use  of  marl.  Young,  in  his 
Annals  of  Agriculture,  gives  a  good  deal  of  information  about  marl, 
and  (vol.  xxii.  p.  547)  refers  to  the  above-cited  passage  of  Pliny.  A 
Charter  of  Henry  in.  of  1225  gave  every  man  a  right  to  sink  a  marl-pit 
on  his  own  ground. 


MANURES  139 

The  same  list  (that  of  1758)  which  contains  the  first 
reference  to  manures,  includes  also  a  premium  for  a 
dissertation  on  "  Soils  and  their  Natures."  This  was 
afterwards  developed  into  an  offer  of  a  gold  medal  for 
"  ascertaining  the  component  parts  of  arable  land/'  by  a 
series  of  experiments.  Detailed  instructions  were  laid 
down  as  to  the  nature  of  the  analysis  of  the  soil,  and 
practical  proof  was  demanded  of  the  improvement  of 
sterile  soil,  by  the  addition  of  such  "  components  "  as 
appeared  to  be  lacking,  and  the  absence  of  which  might 
be  assumed  to  be  the  cause  of  the  sterility.  A  good  deal 
of  information  was  supplied  to  the  Society  from  time  to 
time,  and  published  in  the  Transactions,  but  it  does  not 
appear  that  the  exhaustive  series  of  experiments  laid  down 
by  the  Society  were  ever  carried  out  in  their  entirety. 
The  proposal,  however,  is  not  without  interest,  as  marking 
the  commencement  of  agricultural  chemistry,  which  may 
be  said  to  have  first  taken  definite  form  in  England  when 
Sir  Humphry  Davy,  after  delivering  a  course  of  lectures 
in  1803  on  the  "  Connection  of  Chemistry  with  Vegetable 
Physiology  "  for  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  Board  Professor  of  Chemical  Agriculture, 
with  the  duty — besides  that  of  delivering  annual  courses  of 
lectures — of  analysing  soils  and  manures  at  fixed  fees  for 
those  who  required  such  work.  Davy  had  been  preceded 
by  Duhamel  in  France,  where  science — especially  chemical 
science — was  ahead  of  English  knowledge  ;  but  the  work 
of  Davy  soon  surpassed  that  of  his  foreign  rivals.1 

The  question  of  stock-raising  never  seems  to  have 
received  any  attention  at  all  from  the  Society,  and  this  is 
rather  remarkable,  because  the  successful  experiments 
of  Bakewell — commenced  just  about  the  time  the  Society 
was  established — had  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention, 
and  had  been  followed  up  by  numerous  breeders  of  stock, 
cattle  as  well  as  sheep,  all  over  the  country.  He  was  the 
first  to  indicate  and  to  emphasise  the  necessity  for  proper 
selection  in  breeding,  and  the  principles  he  laid  down  had 

1  See  a  "Life  of  Davy/'  by  H.  B.  Wheatley,  Journal  of  the  Royal 
Agricultural  Society,  vol.  Ixv.  1904,  p.  i  ;  also  Humphry  Davy,  by  Sir 
Edward  Thorpe,  1 896,  pp.  94-99. 


HO         THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

the  greatest  possible  effect  in  improving  the  character  of 
British  stock.  George  in.  was  an  enthusiastic  farmer  and 
breeder,  and  many  of  the  great  landowners  were  devoting 
themselves  to  what  was  really  the  scientific  raising  of  new 
breeds  of  sheep  and  cattle.  All  this,  however,  seems  to 
have  been  regarded  as  outside  the  Society's  province. 
There  are  occasional  papers  in  the  Transactions  on  feeding 
cattle,  horses,  and  sheep,  on  treating  their  various  illnesses, 
etc.  Arthur  Young  had  a  gold  medal  in  1769  (his  first 
medal  from  the  Society)  for  his  system  of  fattening  hogs, 
and  from  time  to  time  a  few  unimportant  premiums  of  a 
like  nature  were  offered  and  bestowed  ;  but,  on  the  whole, 
the  Society  appears  to  have  left  this  important  subject 
severely  alone. 

Very  many  other  objects  were  suggested  in  the  Society's 
lists,  or  received  premiums  when  submitted  to  the  Society's 
notice.  One  of  the  most  important  of  these  was  the 
reclamation  of  land  from  the  sea,  and  there  is  a  long  list  of 
those  who  received  medals  for  such  additions  to  the 
cultivable  area  in  many  places  on  the  coast.  The  cultiva- 
tion and  improvement  of  waste  land,  the  proper  rotation 
of  crops  on  different  soils,  irrigation,  the  destruction  of 
insect  pests,  methods  of  marking  sheep  so  as  to  avoid  the 
use  of  tar,  harvesting  crops  in  wet  weather,  the  draining 
of  land,  were  all  matters  to  which  attention  was  directed, 
and  on  which,  from  1760  till  about  1830,  considerable 
amounts  of  money  were  expended.  Bee  culture  was  at 
one  time  (from  1760  to  1770)  one  of  the  minor  industries 
that  was  warmly  supported,  and  a  large  number  of  small 
prizes  were  given  for  keeping  bees,  and  for  producing  wax 
and  honey.  Beeswax  was  then  a  more  important  article 
than  it  is  now,  as  it  was  practically  the  only  material 
available  for  the  best  candles. 

By  the  end  of  the  second  decade  of  the  nineteenth 
century  the  value  and  importance  of  the  Society's  agri- 
cultural work  had  greatly  fallen  off.  In  the  Preface  to  the 
volume  of  Transactions  for  1819  (Vol.  xxxvu.)  we  find  a 
suggestion  that  "  The  object  of  the  Society  in  the  early 
and  enlightened  liberality  with  which  they  fostered  the 
most  important  of  the  practical  arts,  agriculture,  has  for 


BOARD  OF  AGRICULTURE  141 

the  most  part  been  accomplished."  'The  fact  probably 
was  that  while  the  prosperity  of  the  Society  was  at  this 
time  waning,  the  attention  of  its  most  active  supporters 
was  directed  to  other  subjects  than  agriculture,  and  it  did 
not  appeal  specially  to  them.  At  all  events,  from  this 
time  forward  the  Society  was  content  for  the  most  part  to 
leave  to  other  agencies  the  direction  of  agricultural  pro- 
gress. After  this  date,  though  occasional  rewards  were 
given  for  agricultural  implements,  they  were  neither 
numerous  nor  important.  A  few  years  later  (in  1827), 
in  place  of  the  various  detailed  descriptions  of  apparatus 
which  were  required,  the  premium  list  contains  only  a 
general  offer  of  rewards  for  "  machines  for  performing  any 
agricultural  operations,"  and  eventually  the  prizes  seem  to 
lapse  altogether.  The  work  had  indeed  been  taken  up  by 
another  agency.  The  "  Board  of  Agriculture  "  had  been 
established  in  1 793,  and  had  carried  on  a  not  very  valuable 
life  till  1 822.  It  was  not  really  a  Government  department, 
but  a  sort  of  independent  commission,  enjoying  a  subsidy 
of  £3000  a  year  from  the  State.  It  had  the  good  fortune 
to  secure  Arthur  Young  as  its  secretary,  and  if  he  had  had 
a  free  hand  it  might  have  effected  more  useful  work  ;  but 
for  the  first  part  of  his  tenure  of  office  he  was  hampered 
by  the  proceedings  of  the  chairman,  Sir  John  Sinclair, 
whose  influence  had  obtained  from  Pitt  the  Treasury  grant 
by  which  the  Board  was  established,  and  after  1 808  Young 
was  incapacitated  by  blindness  and  old  age.  The  Board 
produced  one  valuable  piece  of  work  in  the  Statistical 
Surveys  of  the  counties  of  England,  and  it  did  good  service 
when,  as  above  mentioned,  it  appointed  Davy  its  professor. 
It  followed  the  example  of  the  Society  by  offering  premiums, 
when  the  time  for  such  offers  had  passed  away,  and  beyond 
this  it  really  did  very  little.  It  is  probable  that  the  fact 
of  the  Board's  existence  diminished  the  Society's  interest  in 
agriculture,  and  made  its  agricultural  work  less  necessary.1 
Soon  after  the  Board  was  abolished,  a  very  different 
institution  for  the  promotion  of  agricultural  science  came 

1  An  account  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  by  Sir  Ernest  Clarke,  will 
be  found  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  vol.  ix, 
(3rd  series),  p.  i. 


142         THE  SOCIETY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

into  being,  for  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  was  founded 
in  1838.  From  its  first  start  it  secured  the  support  of 
all  interested  in  the  subject,  and  was  at  once  recognised 
as  the  fit  representative  of  British  agriculture.  From  that 
date  there  was  nothing  more  for  the  Society  of  Arts  to  do. 
But  until  the  interests  of  this  great  industry  passed  into 
its  competent  hands  it  can  be  truly  said  that  they  were 
well  looked  after  by  the  older  Society.  Amongst  all  its 
multifarious  objects  there  were  none  more  zealously 
pursued  than  those  associated  with  agriculture.  "  Nor," 
in  the  words  of  the  writer  of  the  above-quoted  preface — 
probably  Arthur  Aikin — "  is  it  unjust  to  suppose  that  the 
unexampled  rapidity  with  which  the  art  of  cultivation 
has  advanced  to  its  present  state  is  in  no  small  degree 
owing  to  the  protection  originally  conferred  by  this  in- 
stitution." 


Early  Chaff -Cutter  (see  p,  133). 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE  SOCIETY  AND  FORESTRY 

(1758-1835) 

Need  of  Timber  for  Fuel  and  Shipbuilding — Evelyn's  Sylva — Proposal 
to  Encourage  Tree-planting — First  Offer  of  Prizes — Names  of 
some  of  the  Recipients — Summary  of  the  Results  of  the  Awards. 

FROM  a  very  early  date  in  English  History  we  find  re- 
current complaints  of  the  lack  of  timber.  Wood  was  almost 
the  only  fuel.  It  was  one  of  the  principal  materials  for 
construction  on  land,  and  the  only  one  available  for  naval 
purposes.  The  forests  which  once  covered  the  country  had 
been  cut  down,  and  the  timber  used  for  a  thousand  pur- 
poses, of  which  the  most  important  were  shipbuilding  and 
ironfounding.  The  places  where  the  iron  manufacture 
was  located  were  decided,  not  as  now  by  the  existence 
of  coal,  but  by  the  neighbourhood  of  forests.  Sussex  and 
the  Forest  of  Dean  were  the  chief  centres  of  the  iron 
trade,  not  so  much  because  of  the  abundance  of  iron  ore, 
as  because  of  the  abundance  of  wood.  Sheffield  became 
the  chief  seat  of  the  cutlery  business  because  it  was  sur- 
rounded by  forests  ;  and  as  the  wood  was  used  or  burnt 
no  efforts  were  made  to  replace  it. 

Even  in  Tudor  times  we  find  attempts  by  legislation 
to  provide  a  remedy  by  limiting  the  destruction  of  woods 
and  coppices,  and  by  preventing  waste  of  timber.  The 
demand  for  fuel  in  London  and  the  need  of  timber  for 
shipbuilding  led  to  a  statute  of  Henry  vm.  for  the 
preservation  of  woods,  and  there  were  several  Acts  of 
Elizabeth  to  the  same  effect.1  At  the  time  of  the 

1  35  Henry  vni.  c.  17  ;  I  Elizabeth  c.  15  ;  23  Elizabeth  c.  5  ;  27 
Elizabeth  c.  19.  Cunningham,  in  his  English  Industry,  vol.  i.  (edit. 
1907),  pp.  64,  525,  and  elsewhere,  refers  to  these  and  other  Acts,  and 
discusses  the  subject  fully. 


144  THE  SOCIETY  AND  FORESTRY 

Restoration  the  need  of  timber  for  shipbuilding  had 
grown  urgent. 

In  or  about  1662  the  Navy  Office,  alarmed  at  the 
increasing  lack  of  timber  for  naval  purposes,  applied  for 
advice  to  the  Royal  Society,  who  passed  on  to  John 
Evelyn  the  questions  they  had  been  asked.  The  result 
of  his  investigations  was  the  well-known  book,  Sylva, 
or  a  Discourse  of  Forest  Trees  and  the  Propagation  of 
Timber  in  His  Majesty's  Dominions.1  In  it  Evelyn 
appealed  to  the  landowners  to  improve  their  forests  and 
woods,  and  provided  them  with  the  fullest  information 
as  to  how  they  should  set  about  the  work.  "  To  you 
princes,  dukes,  earls,  lords,  knights,  and  gentlemen,  noble 
patriots  (as  most  concerned),  I  speak  to  encourage  and 
animate  a  work  so  glorious,  so  necessary."  It  is,  however, 
doubtful  whether  this  remarkable  book,  which  has  become 
an  English  classic,  had  any  very  great  practical  or  permanent 
effect,  though  the  author  was  able  to  boast  that  "  many 
millions  of  timber  trees  have  been  propagated  and  planted 
at  the  instigation  and  by  the  sole  direction  of  this  work." 

At  all  events,  things  were  no  better  a  century  after 
Evelyn's  time,  though  the  use  of  "  sea-coal  "  for  fuel 
had  increased,  and  it  was  applied  for  various  manufactur- 
ing purposes.  Iron,  however,  still  had  to  be  made  with 
charcoal,  since  it  was  only  about  1 730  or  1 735  that  Abraham 
Darby  first  succeeded  in  employing  coke  for  the  purpose, 
and  about  1750  that  he  had  established  the  manufacture 
on  a  commercial  basis.  For  many  other  manufacturing 
purposes,  coal,  with  its  sulphurous  fumes,  was  not  con- 
sidered suitable,  and  nearly  all  over  the  country  wood 
was  still  the  only  domestic  fuel.  Not  only  were  the 
trees  cut  down,  but  they  were  either  pollarded  or  stripped 
of  their  branches.  Arthur  Young,  in  his  Farmers'  Letters, 
says  that  in  many  parts  of  the  country  the  result  of  this 
practice  had  been  to  convert  the  trees  into  "  May-poles." 

Attempts  had  been  made  by  legislation  to  limit  the 
use  of  wood  for  fuel,  but  apparently  there  had  been  no 
serious  efforts  to  replace  the  stock  of  timber  by  acting 

1  The  "  discourse  "  was  "  delivered  "  to  the  Royal  Society  on  i5th 
October  1662,  and  the  complete  book  was  first  published  in  1664. 


NEED  OF  TIMBER  SUPPLIES  145 

on  the  principles  laid  down  by  Evelyn,  until  the  Society 
of  Arts  took  up  the  question. 

The  first  suggestion  came  from  Mr.  Henry  Baker,  who, 
according  to  the  minutes  of  the  meeting  of  26th  March 
I75S>  presented  to  the  Society  from  the  author,  Mr. 
Edward  Wade,  "  a  quarto  pamphlet  published  by  him 
to  promote  the  planting  of  timber  trees  in  the  common 
and  waste  ground  all  over  the  kingdom  for  the  supply 
of  the  Navy,  the  employment  and  advantage  of  the  poor 
as  well  as  the  ornamenting  the  nation."  This  led  to  the 
inclusion  in  the  1758  prize-list  of  three  premiums  for  tree- 
planting.  A  gold  medal  and  two  silver  medals  were 
offered  for  sowing  the  greatest  quantity  of  land  with 
acorns  (five  acres  at  least),  four  bushels  to  the  acre. 
Similar  premiums  were  also  offered  for  planting  Spanish 
chestnuts,  elm,  and  Scotch  fir.  In  1759  the  same  prizes 
were  offered,  with  the  addition  of  similar  awards  for 
Weymouth  pine,1  "  being  the  properest  sort  for  masts." 
As  time  went  on  various  additions  were  made  to  the  list, 
and  the  conditions  were  varied,  but  not  very  widely. 
Eventually  the  list  included  besides  oaks,  which  were  to 
be  planted  as  well  as  raised  from  acorns,  and  the  trees 
above  mentioned,  red  Virginia  cedar,  spruce  fir,  silver 
fir,  larch,  Norfolk  willow,  alder,  red  willow,  ash,  Lombardy 
poplar,  elm,  and  walnut.  At  one  time,  about  1795,  a 
special  prize  was  offered  for  oak  trees  in  "  compass  forms  " 
for  shipbuilding,  but  this  elicited  no  response,  and  the 
offer  was  dropped. 

The  first  award  was  in  1758,  when  a  gold  medal  was 
given  to  the  Duke  of  Beaufort  for  sowing  twenty-three 
acres  in  Hawksbury,  Gloucestershire,  with  acorns.2  In 
1761  the  Duke  of  Bedford  received  a  silver  medal  for 
sowing  eleven  acres  with  acorns  at  Woburn,  and  in  1763 

1  The  "white  pine  of  the  United  States,  Pinus  strobus,  first  brought 
from  the  St.  Lawrence  in   1705,  and  planted  in  Wiltshire  by  Lord 
Weymouth  "  (Lankester). 

2  The  entries  up  to  1783  are  taken  from  four  sources:    The  Register 
of  Premiums,  1778  ;  Dossie's  Memoirs  of  Agriculture,  etc.,  vol.  iii.  1782  ; 
the  list  in  Vol.  n.  of  the  Transactions,  1784  ;  and  a  list  in  Vol.  XLIX.  of  the 
Transactions,  part  ii.  p.   i.     These  lists  do  not  always  agree.     From 
1784  on  we  have  the  annual  prize-lists  in  each  volume  of  the  Transactions. 

ii 


146  THE  SOCIETY  AND  FORESTRY 

a  second  similar  medal  for  16,000  Scotch  firs  planted  at 
Millbrook,    Bedfordshire.     In    1761,  Earl  Winterton   had 
a  gold  medal  for  sowing  twenty  acres  near  Plaistow  with 
acorns.     Lord  Winterton  also  received  another  gold  medal 
in  1767  for  planting  2000  elms  in  Ash  Park,  Sussex,  and 
two  more  in  1776 — one  for  sowing  acorns  and  the  other 
for   planting   Lombardy   poplars.     In    1763    the    Earl   of 
Portsmouth  had  a  gold  medal  for  planting  6100  small- 
leaved  or  English  elms.     After  this  date  the  prizes  become 
more  numerous,  and  the  following  awards  were  made  to 
various  noblemen  for  plantations  on  their  estates  ;    1766, 
silver  medal  to  Lord  Scarsdale  for  planting  Scotch  firs  ; 
1776,  gold  medal  to  Viscount  Tumour  for  Spanish  chest- 
nuts, gold  medal  to  the  Earl  of  Moray  for  planting  7,646,000 
oaks,  firs,  and  other  trees  ;     1779,  gold  medal  to  Lord 
Paget  for  sowing  acorns,  silver    medal    to    the    Earl    of 
Donegal  for    planting    oaks  ;    1784,    gold    medal    to    the 
Earl  of  Upper  Ossory  for  his  plantations  (not  specified)  ; 
1788,  gold  medal  to  the  Earl  of  Fife  for  his  plantations 
in    Scotland.     The    same    nobleman    got    a    second    gold 
medal  in  1803  for  planting  forest  trees.     In  1797  a  gold 
medal  was  given  to  Lord  Brownlow  for  planting  osiers, 
but  this  was  a  special  offer,  quite  apart  from  the  prizes 
for  raising  timber.1     Two  years  before,  Lord  Brownlow 
had  a  grant  of  £20  for  the  same  thing,  which  was  a  very 
unusual  thing  in  the  case  of  noblemen,  since  members  of 
the   peerage  were   only  considered   entitled   to   honorary 
rewards.     In   1800  the  Marquis  of  Titchfield  had  a  gold 
medal    for    sowing    acorns  ;     in    1803    Viscount    Newark 
received  a  gold  medal  for  planting  oaks  ;  in  1805  the  Earl 
of  Breadalbane  had  a  silver  medal  for  firs.     In  1808  the 
Earl  of  Mansfield  had  a  gold  medal  for  oaks.     A  gold 
medal  was  presented  to  the  Duchess  of  Rutland  in  1816, 
but  this  was  for  ascertaining  the  best  method  of  raising 
oaks,  and  was  not  a  prize  for  planting.     In   1820  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire  received  a  gold  medal  for  planting 
forest  trees .     The  last  award  for  plantations  to  a  nobleman 
was  the  gold  medal  given  to  Lord  Newborough  in  1828 
for  planting  forest  trees. 

1  See  Chapter  XIII,  p.  306. 


AWARDS  FOR  TREE-PLANTING  147 

Richard  Watson,  who  was  Bishop  of  Llandaff  from 
1782  to  1816,  received  three  gold  medals  from  the  Society  ; 
in  1 788  for  larch,  in  1 789  for  ash,  and  in  1 808  for  larch.  All 
his  plantations  were  on  an  estate  which  he  inherited  in  1 789. 

The  awards  to  other  landowners  are  too  numerous  to 
set  out  in  detail,  but  some  may  be  mentioned,  on  account 
of  their  comparative  importance,  or  because  of  the  person- 
ality of  the  recipient. 

In  1759  a  gold  medal  was  awarded  to  Dennis  Rolle,  of 
Hudscot,  Southmolton,  for  sowing  about  twenty-five 
acres  with  acorns,  and  three  silver  medals  were  given  to 
Philip  Carteret  Webb,  John  Berney,  and  T.  Drew,  for  sowing 
smaller  areas.  Dennis  Rolle  received  a  second  gold  medal 
in  1761  for  planting  over  100,000  Scotch  firs.  In  1763, 
four  gold  medals  in  all  and  two  silver  were  awarded  for 
elms,  chestnuts,  and  fir. 

In  1764,  Robert  Fenwick,  of  Lemington,  Northumber- 
land, had  a  gold  medal  for  104,000  Scotch  firs.  In  1765 
he  had  a  second  for  another  102,000,  and  in  1766  a  third 
for  yet  another  100,000 — 306,000  in  all. 

William  Beckford,  the  author  of  Vathek,  in  1769 
received  a  gold  medal  for  planting  61,800  Scotch  firs  at 
Fonthill,  the  celebrated  estate  where  he  ruined  himself 
by  his  lavish  expenditure  on  fantastic  decoration. 

Richard  Muilman  Trench  Chiswell,  of  Debden  Hall, 
Essex,  had  a  gold  medal  in  1776  for  planting  Lombardy 
poplars,  and  two  gold  medals,  in  1777  and  1778,  for  plant- 
ing elms.  His  name  was  originally  Muilman,  and  he 
changed  it  on  succeeding  to  the  Debden  Hall  estate.  He 
was  an  antiquary,  and  wrote  on  the  history  of  Essex. 

Thomas  White,  of  West  Retford,  Notts,  received  six 
gold  medals  in  1778  for  his  plantation  of  poplar,  larch, 
Scotch  fir,  occidental  plane  tree,  spruce  fir,  and  silver  fir. 
He  also  received  two  gold  medals  in  1779  for  Norfolk 
willow  and  ash,  one  in  1785  for  elm,  one  in  1786  for  alders, 
and  a  silver  medal  in  1788  for  oaks,  making  in  all  ten  gold 
medals  and  one  silver  medal. 

In  1778  a  gold  medal  was  awarded  to  William  Mellish, 
of  Blythe,  Notts,  for  planting  101,600  spruce  firs,  and  in 
1780  a  second  medal  for  475,000  larches. 


1 48  THE  SOCIETY  AND  FORESTRY 

Richard  Slater  Milnes  of  Fryston  Hall,  Yorks,  the 
grandfather  of  Richard  Monkton  Milnes,  the  first  Lord 
Houghton,  had  three  gold  medals,  one  in  1789  for  planting 
200,000  larch,  a  second  in  1700  for  20,000  elms,  and  a 
third,  also  in  1790,  for  38,400  timber  trees. 

Lewis  Majendie,  of  Hedingham  Castle,  Essex,  received 
four  gold  medals  for  planting  oaks,  chestnuts,  and  ash 
(two)  in  1792,  1 794,  and  1797. 

The  most  extensive  plantations  were  those  made  by 
Colonel  Thomas  Johnes,  of  Hafod,  Cardiganshire,  a  man 
of  considerable  reputation  in  his  time.  He  was  Lord- 
Lieutenant  of  Cardiganshire,  and  from  1774  to  1816  he 
represented  a  Welsh  constituency.  He  was  well  known 
as  a  book  collector  and  as  the  translator  of  Froissart, 
Monstrelet,  and  other  chroniclers.  Between  1 795  and  1801 
he  planted  2,065,000  trees,  of  which  number  i  ,200,000  were 
larches.  Besides  this,  fifty-five  acres  of  land  were  sown 
with  acorns  or  planted  with  oaks,  and  it  was  subsequently 
stated  that  he  had  raised  922,000  oaks.  He  received 
altogether  six  gold  medals  from  the  Society,  in  1800,  1801, 
1802,  1805,  1 8 io,  and  1813.  A  special  account  of  his 
plantations  is  given  in  the  Preface  to  Vol.  xiv.  of  the 
Transactions  (p.  x). 

John  Christian  Curwen,  M.P.,  of  Workington  Hall, 
Cumberland,  received  four  gold  medals,  in  1797,  1802,  1804, 
and  1809,  for  sowing  acorns  and  for  planting  larch  (two) 
and  timber  trees.  In  1801  and  1802  he  planted  814,000 
trees.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Society  from  1798  to 
1827,  and  a  Vice- President  from  1809.  Besides  these 
awards  for  planting,  he  received  seven  gold  medals  and 
one  silver  for  cultivating  wheat,  beans,  carrots,  cabbages, 
and  potatoes,  for  draining  and  improving  land,  and  for 
feeding  cattle.  In  all  he  received  eleven  gold  medals 
from  the  Society,  which  must  certainly  be  the  largest 
number  presented  to  any  single  individual.  He  contri- 
buted numerous  papers  to  the  Transactions,  and  also 
published  a  good  deal  on  agricultural  matters,  and  on  the 
condition  of  the  labouring  classes.  According  to  a  state- 
ment made  by  himself,  it  was  due  to  the  Society  that  he 
first  took  up  farming. 


AWARDS  FOR  TREE-PLANTING  149 

An  award  of  a  silver  medal  in  1 806  to  Robert  Salmon 
may  be  mentioned,  though  it  was  not  for  planting,  but  for  a 
paper  on  pruning  fir  trees.1 

Dr.  William  Makepeace  Thackeray,  of  Chester,  received 
a  gold  medal  in  1809  for  extensive  plantations  of  ash, 
beech,  chestnut,  elm,  and  other  forest  trees,  and  another 
one  in  1819  for  planting  188  acres  with  forest  trees.  He 
was  a  first  cousin  of  Richmond  Thackeray,  the  father 
of  the  novelist.  The  plantations,  according  to  the  account 
he  gave  of  his  work  in  the  Transactions,  were  made  on 
property  in  Denbigh  and  Merioneth,  belonging  to  his 
stepson,  J.  M.  Jones,  for  whom  he  was  trustee. 

Dr.  Henry  Ainslie  received  a  silver  medal  in  1803 
for  planting  timber  trees,  and  a  gold  medal  in  1812  for  the 
same.  He  was  a  distinguished  physician,  Senior  Wrangler, 
and  a  Fellow  of  Pembroke. 

Charles  Fyshe  Palmer,  M.P.,  of  Oakingham,  Berks, 
received  two  gold  medals  for  forest  trees  (893,000)  and 
oaks,  and  a  silver  one  for  sowing  acorns — all  in  1821. 
Before  this,  in  1819,  he  had  a  silver  medal  for  planting 
1 1 5  acres  with  forest  trees. 

The  last  award  for  tree-planting  was  in  1835,  when  a 
gold  medal  was  given  to  Edward  Rogers  of  Stanage  Park, 
Radnor,  for  plantations  carried  on  from  1799  to  1831  by 
Mr.  Rogers  and  his  father.  The  number  of  trees  planted 
was  about  700 ,000. 2 

In  all,  127  gold  medals  and  forty  silver  medals,  besides 
certain  pecuniary  grants  amounting  to  about  £200,  were 
given  by  the  Society  for  arboriculture.  Nearly  all  these 
were  awarded  in  the  period  from  1758  to  1821.  After 
1821  there  were  very  few  awards,  only  seven  in  all.  The 
offer  of  prizes  was  continued  down  to  1846,  but  was  not 
renewed  after  that  year. 

It  is  impossible  to  state  with  exactitude  the  number  of 
trees  planted  which  these  awards  represent,  for  although 
in  some  cases  the  particulars  are  given  in  the  records  of 

1  Transactions,  vol.  xxiv.  p.  68.     In  the  previous  chapter,  p.  135, 
reference  has  been  made  to  this  ingenious  inventor,  and  to  the  awards 
he  received  from  the  Society. 

2  Transactions,  vol.  1.  part  ii.  p.  i. 


i5o  THE  SOCIETY  AND  FORESTRY 

the  Society  with  extraordinary  precision,  in  others  such 
phrases  as  "  extensive  plantations  "  are  used  ;  but  at 
the  very  lowest  estimate  this  number  must  have  consider- 
ably exceeded  fifty  millions,  of  which  some  twenty  millions 
were  firs  and  larches,  and  some  fifteen  million  oaks. 

On  the  whole,  it  may  certainly  be  said  that  the  attempt 
was  extremely  successful,  thousands  of  acres  were  planted, 
and,  as  a  practical  result,  the  supply  of  timber  was,  to  a 
certain  extent,  renewed.  Many  of  the  woods  throughout 
the  country  owe  their  present  existence  to  the  initiative 
of  the  Society  of  Arts.1 

1  Dr.  Alexander  Hunter,  F.R.S.  (1729-1809),  who  produced 
several  additions  of  the  Sylva,  in  one  of  his  notes  (Introduction  to  the 
1812  Edition,  p.  2)  says,  "  The  Society  of  Arts,  etc.,  established  in 
London  in  the  year  1754,  have  greatly  contributed,  by  their  honorary 
and  pecuniary  premiums,  to  restore  the  spirit  for  Planting." 


CHAPTER    VI  I 

THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS 
(1755-1851) 

The  First  Fine  Art  Prizes — Early  encouragement  of  Industrial  Art — • 
Change  of  system  and  establishment  of  Prizes  for  Artists — 
Development  of  the  system — The  Fine  Art  Premiums  gradually 
become  the  most  popular  part  of  the  Society's  work — Their  value 
and  the  results  they  produced — The  Prize-winners — The  specific 
Prizes  offered. 

IT  has  sometimes  been  suggested  that  the  early  offer  of 
prizes  to  young  artists  was  due  to  the  fact  that  Shipley 
was  a  drawing-master,  and  that  his  principal  object  was 
to  establish  a  society  for  the  encouragement  of  painting 
and  drawing,  thereby  serving  his  own  professional  interests. 
There  is,  however,  no  vestige  of  evidence  of  this  in  any 
of  the  Society's  records.  As  before  mentioned,1  it  was 
quite  clearly  stated  that  the  reason  for  the  offer  was  the 
belief  of  the  founders  of  the  Society  that  "  the  Art  of 
Drawing  is  absolutely  necessary  in  many  employments, 
trades,  and  manufactures."  It  will  also  be  remembered 
that  Shipley  himself  controverted  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine,  in  1756,  the  idea  that  the  intention  of  the 
Society  was  to  train  young  people  as  artists,  and  declared 
that  its  main  object  was  to  fit  them  for  the  pursuit  of  the 
Industrial  Arts. 

The  history  of  the  origin  of  the  Society's  Fine  Art 
prizes  has  already  been  told  in  the  first  chapter.2  It 
was  there  recorded  how,  out  of  the  limited  funds  sub- 
scribed for  the  purpose  of  offering  prizes,  a  certain  portion 
was  devoted  to  rewards  for  young  people  of  both  sexes  in 
drawing,  and  how  the  first  prizes  were  taken  by  Cosway 
1  See  Chapter  I,  p.  15.  2  See  Chapter  I,  p.  16. 


152        THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS 

the  painter,  Smart  the  engraver,  Gresse  the  painter,  and 
Barbara  Marsden,  the  clever  girl  who  afterwards  married 
Meyer,  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Royal  Academy. 

From  this  modest  beginning  there  soon  developed  a 
well-organised  system  for  the  encouragement  of  Pictorial 
Art,  which  lasted  for  nearly  a  hundred  years,  and  had 
very  real  influence  on  the  growth  of  English  Art. 

The  prizes  were  at  first  intended  to  encourage  Industrial 
Art,  Art  applied  to  manufactures,  but  it  is  not  difficult  to 
trace  the  changes  in  the  Society's  plans,  which  ended  in 
the  development  of  a  scheme  for  encouraging  young 
artists  pure  and  simple. 

In  the  first  list  of  premiums,  a  list  published  as  an 
advertisement  in  the  newspapers,  but  only  preserved  by 
the  Society  in  MS.,  prizes  are  offered  to  boys  and  girls 
under  the  age  of  seventeen,  for  "  the  most  ingenious  and 
best  fancied  designs,  composed  of  Flowers,  Fruit,  Foliage, 
and  Birds,  proper  for  Weavers,  Embroiderers,  or  Callico 
Printers." 

In  the  oldest  printed  list  of  premiums,  that  issued  in 
1758,  the  objects  of  the  Society  in  including  "  Premiums 
for  improving  Art s ,  etc . , ' '  are  very  clearly  set  out .  "  Fancy, 
Design,  and  Taste  being  greatly  assisted  by  the  Art  of 
Drawing,  and  absolutely  necessary  to  all  persons  concerned 
in  Building,  Furniture,  Dress,  Toys,1  or  any  other  Matters 
where  Elegance  and  Ornament  are  required,"  it  is  "  judged 
proper  "  to  offer  certain  prizes  to  young  persons,  according 
to  a  schedule  carefully  drawn  out,  for  drawings  of  the 
Human  Figure,  Landscapes,  Casts,  etc.  Some  of  these 
are  confined  to  students  in  "  The  Academy  for  Painting, 
etc.,  in  St.  Martin's  Lane  "  ;  *  others  are  open  to  candi- 
dates who  had  studied  in  the  Duke  of  Richmond's  gallery,3 
and  others  were  quite  open. 

In  the  same  list,  besides  these  prizes  for  drawing,  etc., 

1  Toys, — trinkets,  wares  made  of  polished  steel  or  iron,  buckles, 
brooches,  braces,  watch-chains,  sword  hilts,  purse  mounts,  chatelaines, 
etc.  (Timmins,  Birmingham  and  the  Midland  Hardware  District,  p.  216). 
The  term  is  still  used  in  the  trade.     It  was  with  this  meaning  of  the 
word  in  his  mind  that  Burke  called  Birmingham  the  "  Toy-shop  of 
Europe." 

2  See  Chapter  I,  p.  8.  3  See  Chapter  I,  p.  8. 


INDUSTRIAL  AND  PICTORIAL  ART         153 

we  find  special  offers  for  designs  for  weavers  and  calico- 
printers,  cabinetmakers  and  coachmakers,  as  well  as 
for  manufacturers  of  iron,  brass,  china,  earthenware,  or 
"  any  other  Mechanic  Trade  that  requires  Taste."  All 
these  were  for  young  people.  There  was  also  a  prize  for 
a  copper  medal,  open  to  candidates  a  little  older,  but  still 
under  twenty-five.1  All  this  goes  to  show  that  the  founders 
of  the  Society  were  anxious  to  encourage  the  application 
of  Art  to  industry,  and  were  fully  conscious  of  the  need 
existing  at  the  time  for  such  encouragement. 

During  the  next  few  years  the  list  was  extended  by 
the  addition  of  engraving,  mezzotint,  etching,  wood- 
engraving  (with  which  is  included  engraving  on  type-metal), 
gem  -  engraving,  cameo  -  cutting,  modelling  in  pastes 
(cameos), bronze- casting,  mechanical  drawing,  architectural 
design,  furniture  design,  etc.  Many  prizes  were  awarded 
under  these  various  heads  (Bewick  got  a  prize  of  seven 
guineas  in  1775),  but,  on  the  whole,  the  response  was 
hardly  satisfactory.  The  number  of  entries  in  the  purely 
artistic  classes  was  far  more  numerous,  and  the  result 
was  that  by  1778  all  the  technical  subjects  had  been 
practically  dropped  out,  and  the  list  confined  to  the 
artistic  classes  alone — including,  of  course,  all  the  methods 
of  reproduction — engraving,  modelling,  carving,  casting, 
etc.,  but  omitting  the  industrial  applications.  No  doubt 
the  Society  moved  in  the  direction  of  least  resistance, 
and  endeavoured  to  supply  what  the  public  demanded  ; 
but  it  is  impossible  to  suppress  a  feeling  of  regret  that  the 
work  so  wrell  begun  was  not  continued,  and  that  a  further 
effort  was  not  made  to  improve  the  artistic  quality  of  the 
various  industrial  products  then  being  manufactured  in 
rapidly  increasing  amounts  in  England. 

However,  the  Committee  of  Polite  Arts  evidently 
took  greater  interest  in  Art  pure  and  simple  than  in  its 
industrial  applications,  though  some  of  them  must  have 
seen  the  importance  of  encouraging  the  "  Lower  branches 
of  the  Polite  Arts,  such  as  drawings  for  Patterns  for  Silk- 
weavers  and  Callico-printers,"  for  in  the  observations 
appended  in  the  list  of  Fine  Art  awards  in  the  "  Register 
1  See  Chapter  IX,  p.  219. 


154       THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS 

of  Premiums,"  etc.,  published  in  1778,  credit  is  claimed 
for  the  work  done  by  the  Society  in  the  promotion  of  the 
application  of  Art  to  textile  manufactures. 

"  The  elegance  of  pattern  adopted  by  them  [weavers 
and  calico-printers]  may  with  justice  be  attributed  in  a 
great  degree  to  the  rewards  and  attention  bestowed  upon 
them  by  the  Society." 

Nevertheless,  the  Society  stopped  its  rewards  and 
turned  its  attention  elsewhere,  practically  abandoning 
the  whole  field  of  industrial  Art.  Now  and  again  prizes 
were  offered  for  designs.  In  1801  "  chints  "  patterns 
were  asked  for,  and  copper-plate  patterns  for  calico- 
printers,  but  both  offers  were  dropped  after  a  few  years, 
and  it  may  be  said  with  truth  that  very  little  was  done  to 
advance  industrial  Art  until  Prince  Albert  told  a  deputa- 
tion from  the  then  newly-formed  Council  of  the  Society, 
that  "  The  department  most  likely  to  prove  immediately 
beneficial  to  the  public  would  be  that  which  encourages 
most  efficiently  the  application  of  the  Fine  Arts  to  our 
Manufactures."  The  result  of  this  advice  was  that  the 
Council  arranged  a  special  list  of  prizes  for  artistic  manu- 
factures ;  among  which  was  one  for  "  A  plain  and  cheap 
Earthenware  Tea  Service  in  one  colour,  consisting  of 
Teapot,  Basin,  Milk-jug,  Cup  and  Saucer,  and  Plate." 
This  prize  was  taken  by  "  Felix  Summerly,  of  12  Old 
Bond  Street,"  the  pseudonym  or  trade-name  adopted  by 
Henry  Cole  ;  and  as  will  be  hereafter  related  this  particular 
award  had  really  a  close  association  with  the  origination 
of  the  1851  Exhibition.1  Of  this  more  will  be  said  here- 
after, for  Cole's  connection  with  and  services  to  the 
Society  belong  to  a  much  later  chapter  of  its  history. 

The  foundation  of  the  Royal  Academy  in  1768  might 
seem  to  have  left  nothing  for  the  Society  of  Arts  to  do, 
so  far  as  the  Fine  Arts  were  concerned,  and  it  is  evident 
that  those  who  were  responsible  for  the  direction  of  the 
Society's  work  were  anxious  to  avoid  any  rivalry  with  the 
new  Academy.  They  did  not  carry  out  the  intention, 
which  at  one  time  appears  to  have  been  favoured,  of 
confining  the  Society's  work  to  the  encouragement  of 

1  See  Chapter  XVII,  p.  406. 


THE  FINE  ART  COMPETITIONS  155 

industrial  Art,  and  in  all  probability  the  suggestion  was 
not  very  popular,  and  doubtless  at  the  time  appeared 
impracticable ;  but  they  did  definitely  restrict  the  artistic 
awards  to  young  students — either  young  people  who  "  are 
intended  hereafter  to  become  artists,"  as  the  Transactions 
rather  quaintly  put  it,  or  to  young  folk  of  the  upper  class 
who  were  studying  Art  as  amateurs. 

It  appears  to  have  been  thought  that  the  Society's 
work  in  encouraging  Art  might  gradually  be  dropped,  and 
that  it  would  be  taken  over  by  the  Royal  Academy  ; 
but  things  worked  out  differently.  The  Academy  wisely 
confined  itself  to  the  instruction  of  the  best  class  of  Art 
students,  and  insisted  on  a  high  standard  in  those  whom 
it  admitted  to  its  instruction,  while  the  Society  continued 
to  offer  rewards  to  all  who  cared  to  enter  for  its  competi- 
tions. The  value  of  its  work  was  soon  realised.  The 
rewards  of  the  Society  were  evidently  highly  appreciated, 
and  it  became  clear  that  there  was  a  keen  competition 
among  the  younger  Art  students  for  the  Society's  prizes, 
and  that  they  provided  a  valuable  incentive  to  such 
students,  both  professional  and  amateur. 

At  first  only  boys  and  girls  were  allowed  to  compete  ; 
then  classes  of  prizes  for  rather  older  candidates  were  formed, 
and  there  were  some  special  classes  without  limitation  of 
age.  But  the  general  idea  evidently  was  that  the  Society 
would  be  wise  to  confine  its  competitions  to  young  people, 
so  this  was  for  the  most  part  done  ;  and  at  all  events  so 
far  as  drawing,  painting,  and  sculpture  were  concerned, 
the  prizes  were  restricted  to  youthful  candidates  of  both 
sexes.  There  were  various  classes,  with  various  limita- 
tions of  age,  and  from  time  to  time  the  rules  were  modified. 
Sometimes  special  subjects  were  set  ;  sometimes  the  young 
artists  were  allowed  to  choose  their  own.  When  they 
were  permitted  to  send  in  works  of  their  own  choice  they 
had  to  execute  sketches  of  a  similar  character  in  the 
presence  of  examiners,  to  prove  their  capacity.  The  tests 
seem  to  have  been  quite  fair,  and  the  correctness  of  the 
adjudicators'  judgment  is  sufficiently  proved  by  the  long 
list  of  distinguished  artists  who  won  their  earliest  successes 
in  the  Society's  competitions. 


i  $6       THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS 

At  first  nearly  all  the  prizes  were  in  money,  but  "  In 
order  to  encourage  a  love  of  the  Polite  Arts,  and  excite  an 
Emulation  among  Persons  of  Rank  and  Condition,"  there 
was  included  in  the  1758  list  an  offer  of  a  gold  and  a  silver 
medal  for  drawings  by  "  Young  Gentlemen  or  Ladies  under 
the  age  of  Twenty,"  and  a  similar  offer  to  those  under  six- 
teen. The  same  prizes  were  offered  in  the  following  year, 


Austin's  design  used  as  a  Frontispiece  for  the 
Premium  List  of  1803  (see  p.  163). 

but  were  not  continued  after  that.  In  1762,  however, 
a  still  more  exclusive  class  was  introduced — perhaps  the 
definition  of  "  rank  and  condition  "  was  found  difficult — 
for  gold  and  silver  medals  were  offered  for  drawings  by  sons 
and  daughters  of  peers  or  peeresses.  This  queer  distinc- 
tion was  carried  on  almost,  but  not  quite,  continuously  for 
many  years,  with  the  addition  of  another  generation,  grand- 
childrenof  the  nobility  being  included.  A  good  many  awards 
were  made  under  this  regulation  to  youthful  aristocrats. 


PREMIUMS  IN  POLITE  ARTS  157 

In  or  before  1783  a  class  was  added  for  "  young 
gentlemen  "  or  "  young  ladies/'  and  it  was  added  that  it 
was  intended  for  those  who  "  ma}^  hereafter  become 
Patrons  or  Patronesses  of  the  Arts."  It  was  not, 
therefore,  open  to  professional  artists  or  their  children. 
The  rules  were  varied  from  time  to  time,  but  the 
distinction  of  rank  was  kept  up  till  1839,  after 
which  the  privileges  of  the  nobility  disappeared,  and 
the  only  distinction  drawn  was  between  amateurs  and 
professionals. 

In  the  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
interest  in  this  department  of  the  Society's  work  evidently 
flagged.  The  number  of  premiums  offered  was  not  very 
large,  and  the  list  of  awards  was  a  short  one.  It  seems 
likely  that  this  was  mainly  due  to  the  feeling  before 
referred  to,  that  the  Ro}^al  Academy  was  the  proper 
authority  for  controlling  all  Art  education,  and  that  the 
Society  ought  to  relinquish  to  it  the  work  it  had  initiated. 
However,  it  was  soon  found  that  there  was  a  public 
demand  for  artistic  education  of  a  more  elementary 
character  than  was  provided  by  the  Academy,  and  that 
the  Society's  prizes  indirectly  supplied  this  demand.  The 
result  was  that  the  Society  was  influenced  to  provide  what 
was  demanded,  and  that  the  natural  popularity  of  the 
Society's  prizes  led  to  a  great  increase  in  the  number  of 
the  awards.  Whatever  the  cause,  it  is  certain  that  by 
the  end  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  the 
section  of  "  Polite  Arts  "  had  evidently  grown  to  be  the 
most  popular  part  of  the  Society's  work.  As  before 
mentioned,  industrial  Art,  the  application  of  Art  to 
industry,  received  but  scant  attention.  No  doubt  the 
Society  was  influenced  by  the  general  state  of  public 
opinion  ;  but  all  branches  of  artistic  industry  were  en- 
couraged, so  far  as  the  award  of  prizes  could  encourage 
them.  As  regards  drawing,  painting,  and  sculpture,  the 
prizes  were  still  confined  to  young  people  only  ;  but  in 
the  case  of  such  Arts  as  die-sinking,  gem-engraving, 
cameo-cutting,  casting  in  metals,  wood-engraving,  and 
even  line  or  mezzotint  engraving  and  etching,  there  were, 
as  a  rule,  no  limitations  of  age,  and  many  of  the  best 


i SB       THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS 

workers  of  the  time  looked  for  their  recognition  to  the 
medals  or  premiums  of  the  Society. 

In  the  classes  for  drawing  and  painting,  the  limitations 
of  age  (with  a  few  rare  exceptions  in  earlier  years)  were 
always  preserved,  the  limit  being  generally  twenty-five, 
though  in  some  of  the  classes  it  was  lower.  By  far  the 
largest  proportion  of  the  prizes  was  taken  by  these 
young  candidates,  and  contemporary  press  descriptions 
of  the  Society's  prize  distributions  refer  almost  exclusively 
(when  speaking  of  the  Art  awards)  to  the  young  people 
who  came  up  to  receive  them  from  the  President.  So 
long  as  the  system  of  premiums  was  continued,  the  award 
of  prizes  to  young  artists  was  an  essential  part  of  it.  Even 
when  it  was  being  revised  in  the  years  before  the  1851 
Exhibition,  with  the  avowed  object  of  substituting  the 
application  of  Art  to  industry  for  the  cultivation  of 
pictorial  Art,  the  prizes  for  painting  and  drawing  were 
not  discontinued,  and  the  names  of  numerous  recipients 
of  such  prizes  are  to  be  found  in  the  lists  down  to  that  of 
1 849.  There  was  no  prize  distribution  of  any  sort  in  1 8$  i  ; 
at  the  last  distribution  in  1853  only  one  solitary  medal  was 
given  in  the  class  of  Fine  Arts.1 

On  the  whole,  the  result  of  the  Society's  efforts  for  the 
promotion  of  Art  during  the  first  century  of  its  existence 
must  be  regarded  as  distinctly  valuable.  The  same 
causes  which  gradually  rendered  less  and  less  effective 
the  general  offer  of  prizes  for  inventions  and  discoveries, 
by  no  means  applied  in  the  case  of  Art.  If  the  medals 
and  money  prizes  of  the  Society  had  obviously  no  direct 
educational  influence,  they  had  without  any  question  a 
very  genuine  value  as  a  means  of  discovering  hidden 
talent,  as  an  incentive  and  stimulant  to  youthful  effort, 
and  as  a  much-appreciated  reward  for  success.  Hundreds 
of  young  artists  received  from  the  Society  the  first  recogni- 
tion of  their  powers,  and  were  thus  encouraged  to  per- 
severe in  careers  which  in  many  cases  led  to  reputation 
and  success — in  some  to  fame  and  fortune.  And  the 
prizes  given  were  often  of  large  amount,  so  as  to  afford 
substantial  assistance  to  young  artists.  Prizes  of  ten, 
1  Journal,  vol.  i.  p.  365. 


VALUE  OF  THE  AWARDS  159 

fifteen,  and  twenty  guineas  were  common,  and  when 
they  recognised  cases  of  unusual  merit  the  Committee 
did  not  hesitate  to  grant  sums  of  fifty  or  a  hundred 
pounds. 

The  best  evidence  of  the  value  of  the  Society's 
Fine  Art  awards  is  to  be  found  in  the  list  given  in  the 
following  chapter,  a  list  selected  from  the  very  much 
longer  catalogues  of  prize-winners.  In  it  an  attempt 
has  been  made  to  pick  out  those  who  afterwards 
became  professional  artists,  and  attained  some  amount 
of  success  in  their  profession.  Some  other  names  of 
persons  who  attained  eminence  or  reputation  have  also 
been  included.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  list  contains  a 
great  number  of  Royal  Academicians  and  Associates, 
amongst  them  three  Presidents — Sir  Thomas  Lawrence, 
Sir  Charles  Eastlake,  and  Sir  John  Millais  ;  many  of  the 
best-known  English  engravers ;  several  celebrated  sculptors; 
numerous  architects  of  eminence  ;  a  large  proportion  of 
our  best-known  medallists  and  gem-engravers  ;  and  besides 
these  a  very  large  number  of  artists  of  distinction  in  all 
classes.  There  are  also  many  of  reputation  in  their  day, 
but  now  forgotten,  and  some  who  showed  promise  in  their 
youth  not  fulfilled  in  after  years.  The  450  or  so  names 
printed  have  been  collected  out  of  a  list  of  about  3000 
awards,  extending  over  a  period  of  ninety-five  years, 
1755  to  1849.  In  the  mass  this  represents  a  very 
considerable  amount  of  volunteer  labour,  carried  out 
by  a  committee  of  artists  and  amateurs,  and  it  may 
certainly  be  regarded  as  reflecting  very  great  credit 
on  the  institution  by  whose  members  it  was  faithfully 
undertaken. 

The  task  of  selection  has  been  one  of  some  difficulty, 
and  has  involved  a  certain  amount  of  labour.  Though 
pains  have  been  taken  to  ensure  accuracy,  it  is  certain 
that  there  must  be  many  errors  and  inaccuracies  in  the 
list.  Completeness  was  not  to  be  expected,  and  it  can 
only  be  hoped  that  not  many  names  of  importance  have 
been  overlooked.  In  many  cases  identification  was  not 
found  to  be  possible,  and  no  doubt  in  others  awards  may 
have  been  attributed  to  the  wrong  persons. 


160       THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS 

The  accounts  of  the  subsequent  careers  of  the  prize- 
winners are  mainly  based  on  Redgrave's  and  Bryan's 
well-known  dictionaries.  The  notes  about  some  of  the 
medallists  and  gem-engravers  are  taken  from  Ferrer's 
Dictionary  of  Medallists.1  The  Dictionary  of  National 
Biography  has,  of  course,  been  invaluable,  though  only  a 
small  proportion  of  the  candidates  attained  its  standard 
of  distinction.  Graves 's  Dictionary  of  Exhibitors  has 
supplied  numerous  references .  Dossie  's  list  of  the  Society 's 
awards  down  to  1775  contains  a  certain  amount  of  bio- 
graphical information,  but  the  notes  are  unfortunately 
very  brief. 

The  Society's  rewards  in  the  class  of  "  Polite  Arts," 
as  in  all  the  other  classes,  were  at  first  always  pecuniary. 
In  1756  it  was  determined  to  provide  also  "  Honorary 
Premiums  "  in  the  form  of  gold  and  silver  medals,  but 
this  decision  was  not  carried  into  effect  until  1758,  by 
which  time,  after  a  good  deal  of  discussion,  a  design 
for  the  medal  had  been  approved  and  a  die  cut.  The 
first  medals  were  awarded  in  December  of  that  year, 
and  amongst  them  was  a  gold  medal  to  Lady  Louisa 
Augusta  Greville  for  a  landscape  drawing  in  Indian 
ink.  This  was  the  only  medal  awarded  in  the  Art 
class  in  1758,  but  after  that  year  the  awards  of 
medals  became  numerous,  at  first  only  to  amateurs, 
but  later  to  professional  artists  also.  The  "  Honorary 
Palette  "  was  devised  in  1766.  An  illustration  of  the 
Palette  is  given  on  the  opposite  page.  A  description  of 
it  will  be  found  in  Chapter  XIV,  p.  318.  It  was  in  two 
sizes,  in  gold  and  silver,  sometimes  in  silver-gilt. 

The  awards  (other  than  money  prizes)  given  by  the 
Society  in  the  class  of  Fine  Arts  were  :  The  Society's  Medal 
(often  called  the  "Large  Medal"),  in  gold  and  silver; 
the  Isis  Medal  (sometimes  called  the  "  Small  Medal  "), 
in  gold  and  silver  ;  the  Palette,  in  two  sizes  and  in  both 
metals,  also  rarely  in  silver  gilt.  On  a  very  few  occasions 
the  silver  medal  was  "  set  in  a  gold  border."  There  was 

1  When  the  list  was  drawn  up  this  Dictionary  had  not  yet  reached 
letter  R,  but  Mr.  Forrer  very  kindly  supplied  some  information  collected 
for  the  later  volumes. 


,  Si 

;>    m    f 
*   1 


t*Xv-.  «      A'  » 

,v>s-<-.  ±,X" 

\%       ^X 


MEDALS  AND  MONEY  PRIZES 


161 


also  the  Stock  Medallion,1  nearly  always  given  for  Archi- 
tecture, but  occasionally  for  Sculpture.2 

The  "  Premiums  "  mentioned  in  the  list  are  all  money 
prizes.  They  vary  in  amount  from  £150  to  a  few 
pounds,  when  a  given  amount  had  to  be  divided  in 
shares  amongst  a  number  of  candidates.  It  has  not  been 
considered  necessary,  except  in  some  special  cases,  to 
state  in  the  list  the  value  of  the  prizes.  Sometimes  a 
medal  and  a  money  prize  were  both  given. 

1  This  was  awarded  under  the  bequest  of  John  Stock,  "  Painter  to 
His  Majesty's  Dockyards,"  who  in  1781  left  £100  to  the  Society,  with 
the  condition  that  the  interest  should  be  applied  for  the  promotion  of 
Drawing,  Sculpture,  and  Architecture.     See  also  Chapter  XIV,  p.  319. 

2  A  fuller  account  of  the  Society's  various  medals  will  be  found  in 
Chapter  XIV,  p.  314. 


The  Society's  Original  Book-Plate. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

(1755-1849) 

Artists  and  others  who  received  the  Society's  Medals  and  Prizes — 
A  Selection  from  the  Premium  Lists. 

ABSOLON,  JOHN.  Silver  Palette  in  1832  for  a  Portrait 
in  Chalk.  Water-colour  painter.  Treasurer  N.W.C.S. 
Died  1895. 

Adams,  Francis.  Premium  in  1760  for  a  Drawing. 
Portrait  painter  and  engraver.  "  Did  not  attain  any 
excellence  "  (Redgrave). 

Agar,  John  Samuel.  Silver  Palette  in  1793  for  Historical 
Drawing.  Portrait  painter  and  engraver. 

Aglio,  Augustine.  Silver  Medal  in  1831  for  a  Bust.  An 
Italian  artist,  who  came  to  England  in  1803  to  assist 
William  Wilkins,  R.A.,  the  architect  of  the  National 
Gallery.  Died  1857. 

Alcock,  J.  Rutherford.  Gold  Medals  in  1825  and  1826 
for  Anatomical  Models  in  Wax  (coloured).  Sir 
Rutherford  Alcock,  K.C.B.,  Consul  in  China;  the 
first  British  Envoy  and  Consul-General  in  Japan ; 
afterwards  British  Envoy  at  Pekin.  He  gave  up 
medicine  for  diplomacy  in  1837.  He  was  for  long  a 
member  of  the  Society,  and  from  1880  to  1883  one 
of  its  Vice-Presidents.  In  1882  he  read  an  important 
paper  on  the  Opium  Trade.  Died  1897. 

Aliamet,  Francis  Germain.  Premiums  in  1764  and  1765 
for  Engravings.  Engraver.  Brother  of  the  cele- 
brated French  engraver.  Worked  for  Boydell  and 
others.  Died  1790. 


SELECTED  NAMES  163 

Allason,  Thomas.  Gold  Medallion  in  1810  for  a  Design 
for  an  Academy  of  Arts.  Architect.  Alliance  Fire 
Office  in  Bartholomew  Lane  said  to  be  his  chief 
work  (Redgrave). 

Andras,  Catherine.  Silver  Palette  in  1801  for  Models 
of  Princess  Charlotte  and  of  Lord  Nelson.  Medallist. 
Modeller  in  wax  to  Queen  Charlotte.  Produced 
Portrait  Medallions  in  the  enamelled  paste  of  Tassie 
(q.v.),  under  whom  she  probably  studied.  Exhibited 
at  Royal  Academy  1799-1824. 

Artaud,  William.  Silver  Palette  in  1776,  1777,  and  1782 
for  Drawings.  Painter  of  portraits  and  historical 
pictures.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  up  to  1822. 

Austin,  Richard.  Silver  Medal  in  1802,  Silver  Medal 
(and  10  guineas)  in  1803,  and  Silver  Palette  in  1804 
for  Wood  Engraving.  The  1803  medal  was  for  a 
wood-cut  (reproduced  on  page  156),  "  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland  receiving  the  offerings  of 
Genius,  alluding  to  the  rewards  of  this  Society/' 
used  as  a  frontispiece  to  the  Premium  List  for  the 
year  (1803),  and  printed  in  Vol.  xxi.  of  the  Trans- 
actions (facing  page  i).  Wood  engraver.  Pupil  of 
Bewick.  "  He  was  a  clever  artist,  and  much  em- 
ployed by  the  booksellers,  but  he  did  nothing  to 
promote  the  art  "  (Redgrave).  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1803  and  1806. 

Bacon,  John.  Premium  in  1759  (aged  eighteen)  for  a 
figure  of  Peace  ;  subsequent  awards  were  made  to 
him  in  1760,  1761,  1764  (two),  1765,  1772,  1774,  1776, 
1777,  and  1778,  all  for  Casts  or  Models.  In  1778 
he  was  also  presented  with  a  Gold  Medal  in  recogni- 
tion of  his  gift  to  the  Society  of  the  statues  of  Mars 
and  Venus.  An  engraving  of  his  Mars,  by  Bartolozzi, 
is  prefixed  to  Vol.  v.  of  the  Transactions,  and  one 
of  his  Venus  to  Vol.  vn.  Sculptor.  R.A.  Eminent 
and  popular  in  his  own  day.  Carried  out  many 
important  works  and  monuments.  The  Mars  and 
Venus  are  now  in  the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum. 
Died  1799. 


164  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

Baillie,   Edward.     Silver   Medals   in    1833    and    1837 

Enamel  Painting.     Glass  painter.     Exhibited  in  1851 
Exhibition.     Died  1856. 

Daily,  E.  Hodges.  Silver  Medal  in  1808  for  a  Plaster 
Cast  of  the  Laocoon.  A  pupil  of  Flaxman.  Sculptor. 
R.A.  Retired  1863  and  died  1867. 

Ballantyne,  John.  Silver  Medal  in  1833  for  a  Drawing 
from  an  Antique  Statue.  Copyist  and  portrait 
painter.  R.S.A.  Died  1897. 

Banks,  Charles.  Premiums  in  1764,  1765,  1767,  and  1768 
(two)  for  Bas-reliefs.  Sculptor.  Brother  of  Thomas 
Banks,  R.A.  Gold  Medallist  R.A.  1774.  Exhibited 
at  Royal  Academy  1775-1792. 

Banks,  Thomas.  Premiums  in  1 763, 1 765,  and  1 766  for  Bas- 
reliefs  ;  Premiums  in  1 769  for  a  Cast  and  for  a  Design 
for  Furniture.  Sculptor.  R.A.  Monuments  in  St. 
Paul's  and  in  Westminster  Abbey.  "  Takes  high  rank 
among  England's  sculptors  "  (Redgrave).  Died  1805. 

Barney,  Joseph.  Silver  Palette  in  1774  for  a  Drawing  of 
Flowers  ;  Gold  Palette  in  1781  for  Historical  Draw- 
ings. Fruit  and  flower  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1786-1827.  Drawing  Master  at  Royal 
Military  Academy. 

Barralet,  John  James.  Gold  Palette  in  1774  for  a  Land- 
scape. Water-colour  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  from  1770.  Died  in  America  about  1812. 

Barret,  George.  Premium  in  1764  (£50)  for  a  Landscape 
Painting.  Landscape  painter.  R.A.  One  of  the 
founders  of  the  English  school  of  water-colour  painting. 
A  painter  who  "  enjoyed  great  reputation  in  his 
lifetime,  which  his  works  have  not  since  maintained  " 
(Redgrave).  Died  1784. 

Barret,  Joseph.  Gold  Palette  in  1775  for  an  Ornamental 
Design.  Gold  Palette  in  1 777  for  Landscape  Drawing. 
Landscape  painter.  Son  of  George  Barret,  R.A. 
Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1785-1800. 

Barron,  Hugh.  Premiums  in  1759,  1761,  1765,  and  1766 
for  Drawings.  Portrait  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1782-1786.  "The  first  amateur  violinist 
of  his  day  "  (Redgrave).  Died  1791. 


SELECTED  NAMES  165 

Barren,  William  Augustus.  Premium  in  1766  for  a  Chalk 
Drawing  ;  Silver  Palette  in  1774  and  Gold  Palette  in 
1775  for  Landscapes.  Landscape  painter.  Brother 
of  Hugh  Barren,  and  like  him  a  musician.  Exhibited 
at  Royal  Academy  1774-1777. 

Barry,  James,  R.A.  Gold  Medal  and  200  guineas  in  1798, 
"  In  testimony  of  his  public  zeal  and  eminent  abilities, 
manifested  in  the  series  of  Pictures  in  the  Great  Room 
of  the  Society." 

Bassett,  Henry.  Gold  Medal  in  1823  for  a  Design  for 
British  Museum  ;  Gold  Medallion  in  1825  for  a  Design 
for  a  Church .  Architect.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
down  to  1844. 

Beauvais,  John.  Premium  in  1765  for  a  Drawing. 
Miniature  painter.  A  native  of  France.  "  Practised 
with  success  as  a  miniature  painter  at  Bath  "  (Red- 
grave). 

Behnes,  William.  Silver  Medal  in  1814  for  an  Outline  of 
the  Gladiator  Repellens  ;  Gold  Medal  in  1819  for  the 
invention  of  an  Instrument  for  Transferring  Points 
to  Marble.  Sculptor.  He  was  originally  a  portrait 
painter,  but  afterwards  obtained  considerable  fame 
as  a  sculptor,  and  was  specially  successful  with  his 
busts.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1815-1863. 
Died  1864. 

Bellingham,  John.  Premiums  in  1758  and  1759  for 
Ornamental  Designs;  in  1760,  1761,  and  1763  for 
Drawings.  Draughtsman  and  drawing-master . 

Bentley,  Charles.  Silver  Medal  in  1826  for  Landscape  in 
Water-colour.  Water-colour  painter.  Member  Wat er- 
Colour  Society  and  constant  exhibitor.  Died  1854. 

Benwell,  Sarah.  Silver  Palette  in  1806  for  a  Drawing. 
Mentioned  by  Peter  Pindar.  Redgrave  thinks  the 
poet  really  referred  to  her  sister,  Mary  Benwell,  a 
better-known  artist. 

Berridge,  John.  Premiums  in  1 766  and  1 767  for  Drawings. 
Portrait  painter.  Pupil  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 
Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1785. 

Bewick,  Thomas.  Premium  in  1775  (seven  guineas)  for 
an  allegorical  Vignette  on  Wood.  The  great  wood- 


166  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

engraver  must  have  been  just  out  of  his  apprentice- 
ship, as  he  was  born  in  1753.     Died  1828. 

Biffin,  Sarah.  Silver  Medal  in  1821  for  an  Historical 
Miniature.  Miss  Biffin,  although  born  without  hands 
or  feet,  succeeded  in  making  a  name  for  herself  as  a 
miniaturist. 

Billings,  Robert  William.  Silver  Medal  in  1833  for  a  Draw- 
ing ;  Silver  Medal  in  1835  for  an  Engraving;  Silver 
Medal  in  1836  for  a  Water-colour  Drawing;  Silver 
Medal  in  1838  for  an  Oil  Painting  ;  Gold  Medal  in 
1837  for  an  Etching;  Gold  Medallion  in  1839  for 
"  an  Analysis  of  the  great  east  window  of  Carlisle 
Cathedral."  Architect.  Writer  on  architecture  and 
archaeology.  Died  1874. 

Birch,  William.  Silver  Palette  in  1784  for  Pictures  in 
Enamel.  Enamel  painter  and  engraver.  Went  to 
America  and  died  in  Philadelphia.  Painted  miniature 
of  Washington. 

Blackmore,  John.  Silver  Palette  in  1772  for  a  Drawing. 
Mezzotint  engraver.  Engraved  some  of  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds's  portraits.  Died  about  1780. 

Blore,  Edward.  Silver  Medal  in  1809  for  a  Drawing  of 
Fotheringham  Church.  Architect.  F.R.S.  Built 
Sir  Walter  Scott's  house  at  Abbotsford.  Architect 
to  King  William  iv.  and  to  Queen  Victoria.  Designed 
the  front  of  Buckingham  Palace.  Died  1879. 

Bond,  John  Daniel.  Premiums  in  1764  and  1765  for 
Landscapes.  Landscape  painter.  "  Resided  chiefly 
at  Birmingham,  where  he  conducted  the  decorative 
branch  of  some  large  manufactory  "  (Redgrave). 
Died  1803. 

Bonner,  Thomas.  Premium  in  1763  for  an  Etching  of  a 
Landscape.  Topographical  draughtsman  and  engraver. 
Illustrated  several  topographical  works.  Exhibited 
at  Royal  Academy  in  1807. 

Bonomi,  Joseph.  Silver  Medal  in  1815  for  a  Bas-relief. 
Sculptor.  Son  of  Joseph  Bonomi,  A.R.A.  Exhibited 
at  Royal  Academy  1809-1838.  The  well-known 
Egyptologist.  Curator  of  Sir  John  Soane's  Museum. 
Died  1878. 


SELECTED  NAMES  167 

Bouvier,  Augustus  Jules.  Silver  Medal  in  1841  for  a 
Chalk  Drawing.  Water-colour  painter.  Died  1 88 1. 

Boydell,  John.  Gold  Medal  in  1773  for  Encouraging  the 
Art  of  Engraving.  Engraver  and  publisher .  Published 
celebrated ' '  Shakespeare  Gallery . ' '  Lord  Mayor  1 790 . 
Died  1804. 

Brandenburgh,  Anspach,  and  Bareith,  etc.,  The  Margravine 
of  (previously  Lady  Craven).  Silver  Medal  in  1806 
for  a  Model  in  Bas-relief  of  the  late  Margrave. 

Branston,  Allen  Robert.  Silver  Palette  in  1806  and 
Silver  Medal  in  1807,  both  for  Wood-engraving. 
Wood-engraver.  Died  1827. 

Branwhite,  Charles.  Silver  Medal  in  1837  for  a  Figure 
in  Bas-relief.  Landscape  painter.  Died  1880. 

Brigstocke,  Thomas.  Silver  Medal  in  1826  for  a  Chalk 
Drawing  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1827  for  an  Oil  Painting. 
Portrait  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  from 
1842.  Died  1881. 

Brockedon,  William.  Silver  Medal  in  1823  for  a  Rest  for 
painters  engaged  in  minute  work.  Subject  and  history 
painter.  He  was  an  F.R.S.  and  made  various  in- 
ventions, some  of  which  were  patented.  He  received 
another  Medal  for  a  Surgical  Apparatus  in  1825.  He 
was  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Polite  Arts  from 
1824  to  1831.  "  He  displayed  no  ordinary  talent  in 
the  various  departments  of  painting  —  historical, 
landscape,  and  portrait  "  (Bryan).  His  portrait  by 
himself  is  in  the  Uffizzi  Gallery  at  Florence.  Died 
1854. 

Bromley,  James.  Silver  Palette  in  1821  for  an  Etching. 
Mezzotint  engraver.  Engraved  many  well-known 
portraits.  Died  1838. 

Bromley,  John  Charles.  Two  Silver  Palettes  and  a  Silver 
Medal  in  1808,  1809,  and  1810  for  Etchings.  Mezzo- 
tint engraver.  He  was  born  in  1 795,  so  that  he  cannot 
have  been  more  than  fourteen  when  he  took  his  first 
prize.  Died  1839. 

Bromley,  William,  A.R.A.  Gold  Medal  1821  for  an 
Historical  Engraving.  This  was  not  an  award  to  a 
student,  for  Bromley  had  been  an  Associate  Engraver 


1 68  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

of  the  Royal  Academy  since  1819.     He  was  the  father 
of  J.  C.  Bromley  and  of  James  Bromley.     Died  1842. 

Browne,  Hablot  Knight.  Silver  Medal  in  1832  for  a  Group 
of  Figures  in  Pencil ;  Silver  Medal  in  1833  for  a  "  Free 
Etching  of  historical  composition."  Two  years  before 
he  gained  his  first  medal  (at  the  age  of  seventeen) 
he  began  the  association  with  Dickens  on  which  his 
reputation  was  founded.  Under  the  well-known 
signature  of  "  Phiz  "  he  illustrated  the  latter  part 
of  Pickwick,  Nicholas  Nickleby,  Martin  Chupzlewit, 
Dombey,  Copper  field,  Bleak  House,  Little  Dorr  it,  and 
A  Tale  of  Two  Cities  (Bryan).  Died  1882. 

Browne,  John.  Premium  in  1763  for  a  Drawing.  En- 
graver. A.R.A.  Apprenticed  to  Tinney  the  print- 
seller,  and  to  Woollett.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1771-1783.  Died  1801. 

Bryer,  Henry.  Premium  in  1762  for  an  Etching.  Pre- 
miums in  1763  and  1764  for  Engravings.  Engraver. 
Engraved  some  of  Angelica  Kauffmann's  pictures. 
Pupil  and  partner  of  W.  W.  Ryland.  Died  1799 
according  to  Redgrave  and  Bryan,  but  Dossie  in  the 
list  published  in  1783  speaks  of  him  as  dead. 

Bunning,  James  Bunstone.  Silver  Medal  in  1822  for  a 
Drawing  of  Bow  Church.  Architect.  Surveyor  to 
Foundling  Hospital,  architect  to  Corporation  of 
London.  Amongst  his  chief  works  were  Billingsgate 
Market,  Coal  Exchange,  Islington  Cattle  Market. 
Died  1863. 

Burch,  Edward.  Premiums  in  1762,  1763,  and  1765  for 
Gem  Engraving.  Sculptor  and  medallist.  R.A.  "As 
a  gem  engraver  he  was  unrivalled  in  his  day  "  (Red- 
grave). Died  1814. 

Burgess,  Thomas.  Silver  Palette  in  1771  and  1773  for 
Drawings.  Portrait  painter  and  teacher.  "Mr.  Bur- 
gess's Academy  in  Maiden  Lane  produced  many  able 
claimants  for  the  Society's  awards  "  (Dossie).  Ex- 
hibited at  Royal  Academy  1778-1786. 

Burgess,  William.  Premium  in  1761  for  a  Drawing. 
Portrait  painter  and  teacher.  He  was  connected  with 
Thomas  Burgess's  Academy  in  Maiden  Lane,  and 


SELECTED  NAMES  169 

was  probably  related  to  him.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1774-1799.  Died  1812. 

Burt,  Albin  R.  Silver  Medal  in  1830  for  a  Portable  Easel. 
Engraver  and  portrait  painter.  Produced  a  print 
of  Emma,  Lady  Hamilton.  Died  1842. 

Buss,  Robert  William.  Silver  Medal  in  1 826  for  a  Portrait 
in  Oil.  Portrait  and  subject  painter.  Illustrated 
numerous  books.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1826-1859.  He  was  employed  to  make  illustrations 
for  Pickwick  after  the  death  of  Seymour,  and  before 
Hablot  K.  Browne  ("  Phiz")  took  up  the  work,  but 
his  engravings  were  not  used.  Died  1874. 

Byrne,  William.  Premium  in  1765  for  an  Engraving. 
Landscape  engraver.  Engraved  Hearne's  (q.v.)  draw- 
ings for  the  Antiquities  of  Great  Britain.  "May 
be  justly  ranked  among  our  eminent  engravers  of 
landscape  "  (Bryan).  Died  1805. 

Calvert,  Frederick.  Silver  Medal  in  1833  for  an  Oil  Paint- 
ing. Topographic  draughtsman.  Published  various 
series  of  views,  etc. 

Carr,  Johnson.  Premiums  in  1757,  1758,  1759,  and  1764 
for  Drawings  of  Figures;  Premiums  in  1760,  1761 
(two),  1762,  and  1763  for  Landscape  Drawings.  Pupil 
of  Richard  Wilson,  R.A.  He  died  young,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-two.  "  This  promising  young  man, 
at  the  early  period  of  twenty-one  years,  executed 
drawings  equal  to  those  of  the  ablest  masters  then 
in  this  country.  He  died,  much  regretted,  in  1764  " 
(Dossie). 

Carter,  James.  Silver  Medal  in  1819  for  Architectural 
Drawing.  Engraver.  Engraved  for  the  Annuals  and 
for  the  Art  Union.  Died  1855. 

Casali,  Andrea.  Premiums  (100  and  50  guineas)  in  1760, 
1761,  1762,  and  1766  for  Historical  Oil  Paintings. 
Historical  painter.  Casali  was  an  Italian  who  came 
to  England  before  1748,  and  returned  to  Italy  about 
1766.  He  painted  an  altar-piece  for  the  Foundling 
Chapel,  some  pictures  for  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster, 
some  ceilings  at  Fonthill,  etc. 


1 70  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

Chalon,  Maria  Ann.  Silver  Palette  in  1 8 1 3  for  a  Drawing  ; 
Silver  Medal  in  1818  for  a  Painting.  Miniature 
painter.  Daughter  of  H.  B.  Chalon,  the  animal 
painter.  She  was  miniature  painter  to  the  Duke  of 
York.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1819-1866. 
Married  H.  Mosetey.  Died  1867. 

Chamberlin,  Mason.  Premium  (50  guineas)  in  1764  for 
an  Historical  Oil  Painting.  Portrait  painter.  R.A. 
His  portrait  of  Dr.  Hunter  is  in  the  Royal  Academy, 
and  his  portrait  of  Dr.  Chandler  at  the  Royal  Society. 
Died  1787. 

Cheesman,  Thomas.  Silver  Palette  in  1781  for  a  Draw- 
ing ;  Gold  Medal  in  1814  for  an  Engraving.  En- 
graver and  draughtsman.  One  of  Bartolozzi's  best 
pupils.  Exhibited  drawings  and  portraits  at  Royal 
Academy  1802-1820.  Engraved  Hogarth's  "  Lady's 
Last  Stake." 

Clack,  Richard  Augustus.  Silver  Medal  in  1825  for  a 
Landscape;  Silver  Medal  in  1826  for  a  Portrait. 
Portrait  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1830- 
1857. 

Clennell,  Luke.  Gold  Palette  in  1806,  and  Gold  Medal  in 
1809,  both  for  Wood  Engraving.  Wood  engraver 
and  subject  painter.  He  was  apprenticed  to  Bewick, 
and  succeeded  as  a  wood-engraver,  but  abandoned 
that  art  for  painting.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1812-1816.  Became  insane  in  1817.  Died  1840. 

Clevely,  John,  Premium  in  1765  for  a  Sea  Painting  in 
Oil.  Silver  Palette  in  1774  for  a  view  of  a  Castle 
in  the  Isle  of  Wight.  Marine  painter.  Exhibited 
at  Royal  Academy  1770-1786.  Draughtsman  to 
Captain  Phipp's  Arctic  Expedition,  and  illustrated 
the  Journal  of  the  voyage.  Died  1786. 

Clint,  George.  Gold  Medal  in  1819  for  an  Historical  En- 
graving. Portrait  painter  and  engraver .  A. R.A.  Died 
1854. 

Clint,  Raphael.  Gold  Medal  in  1825  for  an  Intaglio  of  a 
Head.  Gem  engraver.  Son  of  George  Clint,  A.R.A. 
"  Possessed  considerable  talent  "  (Bryan). 

Clint,  Scipio.     Gold  Medals  in  1824  and  1826  for  Medal 


SELECTED  NAMES  171 

Dies.  Medallist.  Son  of  George  Clint,  A.R.A. 
Medallist  to  the  King.  Died  1839  at  the  age  of 
thirty-four. 

Coleman,  William.  Premiums  in  1775,  1776,  and  1777 
for  Engraving  on  Wood.  Wood  engraver.  Died 
1807. 

Collyer,  Joseph.  Premium  in  1761  for  a  Drawing.  En- 
graver. A.R.A.  Engraved  some  of  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nold's portraits,  also  for  Boydell.  He  was  about 
thirteen  when  he  took  the  prize.  Died  1 827. 

Cook,  Richard.  Gold  Palette  in  1802  for  a  Drawing  of 
Mucius  Scaevola.  History  painter.  R.A.  Died 
1857. 

Cook,  Thomas.  Premium  in  1761  for  a  Drawing;  Silver 
Palette  in  1770  for  a  Drawing.  Engraver.  "  Rose 
to  the  very  top  of  his  profession  "  (Redgrave). 
Worked  for  Boydell.  Died  1818. 

Cooley,  Thomas.  Premiums  in  1763,  1764,  and  1765  for 
Architectural  Designs.  Architect.  Built  the  Royal 
Exchange  in  Dublin,  and  other  buildings  in  Ireland. 
Died  1784. 

Cope,  Charles  West.  Silver  Medal  in  1828  for  a  Finished 
Drawing  from  a  Statue  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1829  for  an 
Oil  Painting.  Historical  painter.  R.A.  The  por- 
trait of  Prince  Albert  in  the  Society's  meeting-room 
was  painted  by  Cope.  Died  1890. 

Corbaux,  Fanny.  Silver  Medal  in  1827,  and  Gold  Medal 
in  1830  for  Miniatures  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1829  for 
a  Water-colour.  Water-colour  painter.  Exhibited 
numerous  pictures  at  Royal  Academy,  and  also  at 
the  New  Water-Colour  Society.  Writer  on  Oriental 
subjects  and  Biblical  exegesis.  Died  1883. 

Corbaux,  Louisa.  Silver  Medal  in  1828  fora  Drawing; 
Silver  Medal  in  1829  for  a  Water-colour.  Water- 
colour  painter.  Sister  of  Fanny  Corbaux.  Exhibited 
at  Royal  Academy,  but  more  frequently  at  New 
Water-Colour  Society. 

Corbould,  George.  Silver  Palette  in  1806  for  a  Drawing. 
Engraver.  Brother  of  H.  Corbould.  Died  1846. 

Corbould,  Henry.     Gold  Palettes  in  1804  and  1805,  both 


172  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

for  Historical  Drawings.  Historical  painter  and 
draughtsman.  He  prepared  the  drawings  of  the 
Elgin  Marbles.  Died  1844. 

Cosway,  Richard.  Premium  in  1755  for  a  Drawing  in 
Chalk,  the  First  Prize  in  the  Society's  first  competi- 
tion ;  Premium  in  1757  for  an  Ornamental  Design; 
Premiums  in  1758,  1759,  and  1760  for  Drawings. 
Miniature  and  portrait  painter.  R.A.  A  pupil  of 
Shipley.  The  Society  possesses  two  portraits  by 
him,  Shipley  and  Templeman.  Died  1821. 

Cotman,  John  Sell.  Silver  Palette  in  1800  for  a  Drawing. 
Landscape  and  marine  painter.  Worked  both  in  oil 
and  water-colour.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy. 
Lived  some  time  in  Norfolk,  and  much  of  his  work 
was  done  in  that  county.  Died  1842. 

Cousins,  Samuel.  Silver  Palette  in  1813,  and  Silver 
Medal  in  1814,  both  for  drawings.  His  first  award 
was  obtained  when  he  was  eleven  years  old.  En- 
graver. R.A.  "  His  ceuvre  consists  in  all  of  about 
200  plates  "  (Bryan).  An  apprentice  and  assistant 
of  S.  W.  Reynolds,  the  engraver,  he  lived  to  engrave 
Millais's  "  Cherry  Ripe."  Died  1887. 

Crellin,  Henry  Pickersgill.  Premium  in  1820  for  a  Draw- 
ing. Nephew  of  H.  W.  Pickersgill,  R.A.  Did  not 
follow  artistic  pursuits,  but  practised  as  a  medical 
man.  Brother  of  H.  N.  Crellin.  Died  about  1843. 

Crellin,  Horatio  Nelson.  Premium  in  1819  for  a  Drawing. 
Engraver.  Gave  up  the  pursuit  of  Art  and  became 
a  medical  man.  Died  about  1881. 

Cross,  Richard.  Premium  in  1758  for  a  Drawing.  Minia- 
ture painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1770- 
1795.  Died  1810. 

Dall,  Nicholas  Thomas.  Premium  in  1768  for  a  Land- 
scape. Landscape  painter .  A.R.A.  He  was  a  Dane, 
and  settled  in  London  about  1760.  Was  a  scene 
painter  at  Covent  Garden  Theatre  before  his  election 
into  the  Royal  Academy.  Died  1777. 

Daniell,  Thomas.  Premium  in  1780  for  Landscape  Paint- 
ing. Landscape  painter,  R.A.  Painted  in  India 


SELECTED  NAMES  173 

for  ten  years,  and  made  his  reputation  by  Indian 
views.  Died  1840. 

Davis,  John  Scarlett.  Silver  Palettes  in  1816  for  an 
Engraving,  and  in  1821  for  a  Head  in  Pen-and-ink. 
Subject  painter.  Successful  as  a  painter  of  interiors. 
Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1825-1841.  Died  1841. 

Dean,  Hugh  Primrose.  Premium  in  1765  for  a  Land- 
scape. Landscape  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1779-1780.  Died  about  1784. 

Deare,  Joseph.  Silver  Medal  in  1823  for  a  Plaster  Model. 
Two  Silver  Medals  in  1824  for  a  Bas-relief  and  for 
a  Copy  of  a  Group.  Sculptor.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1825-1832. 

De  la  Motte,  William.  Silver  Medal  in  1 82 1  for  an  Etching. 
Water-colour  painter.  Pupil  of  West.  Exhibited  at 
Royal  Academy  1 796-1 848 .  Drawing-master  at  Royal 
Military  Academy.  Died  1863. 

Denman,  J.  Flaxman.  Silver  Palette  in  1822  for  a 
Drawing  in  Indian  Ink.  Subject  painter.  Exhibited 
at  Royal  Academy  in  1839.  Presumably  a  relation 
of  Mrs.  Flaxman. 

Denman,  Maria.  Silver  Medal  in  1807  for  her  Drawing 
of  Flaxman's  Design  for  the  Society's  Medal,  printed 
as  the  Frontispiece  to  Vol.  xxv.  of  the  Transactions  ; 
Silver  Medal,  also  in  1807,  for  "  a  Beautiful  Plaster 
Model  of  a  Cupid's  Head."  She  was  the  sister  of 
Flaxman's  wife,  and  his  adopted  daughter.  She 
founded  the  Flaxman  Gallery  at  University  College, 
London. 

Denman,  Thomas.  Silver  Palette  in  1807  for  a  Plaster 
Model.  Sculptor.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  and 
elsewhere  1815-1837.  Possibly  Mrs .  Flaxman 's  brother . 

Derby,  Louisa.  Silver  Medal  in  1828  for  a  Pencil  Drawing 
of  a  Landscape  by  Claude.  She  afterwards  married 
Henry  Room,  a  portrait  painter  of  some  reputation. 
Their  eldest  son,  Howard  Henry  Room,  was  a  valued 
official  of  the  Society  from  1861-1900. 

Devis,  Antony.  Premium  in  1763  for  a  Landscape. 
Landscape  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1772  and  1781,  Died  1817, 


174  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

Dickinson,  William.  Premium  in  1767  for  a  Mezzotint 
of  R.  E.  Pine's  Portrait  of  King  George  n.  Engraver. 
Engraved  after  West,  Morland,  Stubbs,  Reynolds, 
etc.  Died  1823. 

Dighton,  Denis.  Silver  Medals  and  Palettes  in  1807, 
1808,  1810,  and  181 1  for  Drawings  and  an  Oil  Painting 
(Battle  of  Agincourt).  Battle  painter.  Exhibited  at 
Royal  Academy  1811-1825.  Son  of  Robert  Dighton. 
Died  1827. 

Dighton,  Robert.  Silver  Palette  in  1768  for  a  Fancy 
Head  in  Pen-and-ink  after  Worledge.  Portrait 
painter  and  drawing  master.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1775-1777.  Died  1814. 

Dobson,  William  Charles  Thomas.  Silver  Medal  in  1841 
for  an  Oil  Painting,  "  The  Prodigal  Son."  Painter 
in  oil  and  water-colour .  R.A.  Died  1898. 

Donaldson,  John.  Premium  in  1764  for  an  Historical 
Painting;  two  Premiums  in  1768  for  Enamels. 
Miniature  painter.  Apparently  a  man  of  varied 
accomplishments,  but  unsettled  and  wanting  in 
application.  He  seems  to  have  failed  in  life,  and  died 
in  poverty  1801. 

Donaldson,  Thomas  Leverton.  Silver  Medal  in  1815  for  an 
Original  Architectural  Design.  Architect.  P. R. I.E. A. 
Author  of  works  on  architecture.  Died  1885. 

Downman,  John.  Premium  in  1779  for  an  Historical 
Painting.  Portrait  and  subject  painter.  A.R.A.  Died 
1824. 

Drummond,  Eliza  Anne.  Gold  Medal  in  1822  for  "  an 
original  portrait/'  no  doubt  the  portrait  of  Ann 
Cockings,  the  Society's  Housekeeper,  now  in  the 
Society's  possession  (see  page  343  and  Appendix 
III.).  Silver  Medal  in  1823  for  an  "  Historical  com- 
position." Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  and  else- 
where. 

Dubourg,  Richard.  Premium  in  1755,  at  the  first  of  the 
Society's  competitions,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  for  a 
Drawing.  Dossie  says  that  he  devoted  himself  to 
the  reproduction  of  examples  of  ancient  Italian 
architecture,  and  had  some  sort  of  exhibition  of 


SELECTED  NAMES  175 

reproductions  in  cork  of  "  Venerable  Remains  of 
Antiquity."  His  name  does  not  appear  in  Redgrave 
or  Bryan. 

Dunkarton,  Robert.  Premiums  in  1761,  1762,  1763, 
1764,  1765,  and  1766  for  Drawings  of  various  sorts  ; 
Premium  in  1767  for  an  Engraving  of  Chamberlin's 
Portrait  of  Dr.  Chandler,  the  antiquary  and  traveller 
(now  in  the  possession  of  the  Royal  Society).  Mez- 
zotint engraver.  Exhibited  portraits  at  Royal  Academy 
1774-1779.  "  As  a  mezzotintist  ...  he  was  rarely 
surpassed  "  (Redgrave).  Engraved  portraits  by  Rey- 
nolds, West,  and  others.  After  1811  "there  is  no 
trace  of  him  "  (Bryan). 

Durant,  Susan.  Silver  Medal  in  1847  for  an  Original 
Plaster  Bust.  Sculptor.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Acad- 
emy 1847—1873.  The  Princess  Louise  was  her  pupil. 
Died  1873. 

Durnford,  Elias.  Premium  in  1755  for  a  Drawing  of 
Flowers  (third  prize  in  the  class  between  fourteen 
and  seventeen)  ;  Premium  in  175 7  for  an  Orna- 
mental Design.  Went  to  America,  and  became 
Lieut  .-Governor  of  Pensacola  (Dossie). 

Durno,  James.  Premiums  in  1762  and  1765  for  Draw- 
ings ;  Premiums  in  1766,  1770,  and  1773  (100  guineas) 
for  Oil  Paintings.  Historical  painter.  Died  in  1795 
in  Rome,  where  he  lived  from  1774. 

Earlom,  Richard.  Premiums  in  1757  (under  fourteen 
years  of  age),  1758,  1759,  1760,  1761,  1762,  1763, 
1764,  and  1765  for  Drawings  in  various  classes  ; 
Premium  in  1766  for  an  Etching.  Engraver.  A 
pupil  of  Cipriani,  and  afterwards  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  of  English  engravers.  "  His  '  Liber 
Veritatis/  comprising  mezzotint  engravings  after 
200  drawings  by  Claude,  published  in  1777,  is  well 
known  "  (Redgrave).  Died  1822. 

Eastlake,  Charles  Locke.  Silver  Medal  in  1810  for  a 
drawing  of  Cupid  and  Psyche.  Historical  painter. 
Sir  Charles  Eastlake,  P.R.A.  Director  of  the  National 
Gallery.  He  acted  as  Chairman  of  the  Society's 


1 76  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

Committee  which  procured  the  passing  of  the  Art 
Copyright  Act,  1862.  Died  1865. 

Eckstein,  John.  Premiums  in  1761  and  1764  (50  guineas) 
for  Bas-reliefs.  Modeller  and  portrait  painter.  Ex- 
hibited wax  models  and  portraits  at  Royal  Academy 
1770-1798. 

Eddis,  Eden  Upton.  Silver  Medal  in  1828  for  a  Drawing. 
Portrait  painter.  Gold  Medallist  R.A.  1837.  Ex- 
hibited at  Royal  Academy  1834-1881.  Popular  and 
successful  artist.  His  portrait  of  Theodore  Hook  is 
in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery.  Died  1901. 

Edwards,  Edward.  Premium  in  1762  for  a  Drawing; 
Premiums  in  1764  and  1765  for  Historical  Pictures  ; 
Gold  Medal  in  1770  for  an  Historical  Painting; 
Premium  in  1781  for  a  Landscape.  Portrait  and 
subject  painter.  A.R.A.  Teacher  of  perspective  at 
Royal  Academy.  Published  Anecdotes  of  Painters, 
a  supplement  to  Walpole's  work.  Died  1806. 

Edwards,  John.  Premiums  in  1757  for  a  Drawing  ;  in 
1 760  for  an  Ornamental  Design  ;  in  1 760  for  a  Land- 
scape Drawing;  in  1761,  1762,  1763,  and  1767  for 
Drawings  of  Flowers  ;  in  1764  for  an  Historical 
Drawing  ;  Gold  Palettes  in  1 769  for  a  Figure  Draw- 
ing, and  in  1771  for  a  Drawing  of  Flowers.  Historical 
and  flower  painter.  Pupil  of  Maberley.  Exhibited  at 
Society  of  Artists,  etc.,  up  to  1812. 

Eggbrecht,  John  E.  Silver  Medal  in  1821  for  a  Chalk 
Drawing  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1824  for  an  Oil  Painting. 
Painter  of  still  life.  Exhibited  at  Society  of  British 
Artists  1826-1828. 

Engleheart,  Thomas.  Premium  in  1777  for  a  Model 
of  a  Human  Figure.  Sculptor  and  modeller  in  wax. 
Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1773-1786.  Gold 
Medallist  R.A.  1772. 

Engleheart,  Timothy  Stansfeld.  Silver  Palette  in  1821 
for  a  Chalk  Drawing.  Line  engraver.  Engraved  for 
the  Annuals.  Son  of  William  Francis.  Died  1879. 

Engleheart,  William  Francis.  Silver  Palette  in  1798  for 
an  Outline  Drawing.  Engraver.  Engraved  after 
Stothard,  Cook,  and  Smirke.  Died  1849. 


SELECTED  NAMES  177 

Ensom,  William.     Silver  Medals  in    1815   and    1816  for 
Pen-and-ink  Drawings.    Engraver.     Died   1832. 

Fairland,  Thomas.     Silver  Medals  in  1822  and  1823  for 

Drawings.    Engraver,  lithographer,  and  portrait  painter . 

Died  1852. 
Falconet,    Peter.     Premium    in    1766    for    an    Historical 

Painting;    Premium    in    1768   for  an  Oil   Painting. 

Portrait  painter.     Exhibited   at   Royal  Academy  in 

1773- 

Farey,  Joseph.  Silver  Palette  in  1809  for  an  "  Original 
Drawing  of  a  Steam  Engine  "  ;  Silver  Palette  in 
1809  for  a  "  Perspective  Drawing  of  London  Bridge 
Water- Works."  Engineer  and  draughtsman.  He  was 
the  son  of  John  Farey,  geologist  and  consulting 
surveyor,  and  the  brother  of  John  Farey,  jun.,  a  civil 
engineer  of  eminence,  who  received  a  Gold  Medal  from 
the  Society  for  his  ellipsograph.  As  a  young  man, 
John  Farey  supplied  mechanical  drawings  to  various 
works,  and  some  of  the  illustrations  in  Vols.  xxvi.  to 
xxxi.  of  the  Transactions  are  by  him.  It  is  possible 
that  some  may  also  be  by  Joseph,  as  the  initials  of 
the  brothers  are  the  same.  Joseph  Farey  later  on 
took  over  part  of  his  brother's  work.  He  died  about 
1829. 

Farington,  George.  Silver  Palette  in  1770  and  1771  for 
Landscapes;  Silver  Palette  in  1771  for  a  Drawing. 
History  painter.  Brother  of  Joseph  Farington,  R.A. 
Pupil  of  West.  Gold  Medallist  R.A.  1780.  Ex- 
hibited at  Royal  Academy  in  1773  and  1783.  Died 
1788. 

Farington,  Joseph.  Premiums  in  1764,  1765,  and  1766 
for  Landscape  Drawings.  Landscape  painter.  R.A. 
Illustrated  Boy  dell's  great  work  on  the  History  of  the 
Thames.  Died  1821. 

Faulkner,  B.  Premiums  in  1819,  1820,  and  1822  for 
Die  Engraving.  Medallist.  Forrer  mentions  several 
of  his  medals,  all  produced  in  or  before  1826.  He 
suggests  that  he  may  have  been  identical  with 
B.  R.  Faulkner,  a  portrait  painter  of  reputation  who 

13 


i;8  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  1821-1849,  but  this 
is  improbable,  for  the  Faulkner  (or  Faulkener)  who 
took  the  prizes  lived  in  Birmingham,  whereas  B.  R. 
Faulkner  was  at  the  time  living  in  Newman  Street, 
London. 

Feary,  John.  Premiums  in  1766  for  a  Drawing  and 
in  1776  for  a  Landscape.  Landscape  painter.  Ex- 
hibited at  Royal  Academy  1772-1788.  Painted 
views  of  gentlemen's  seats  and  parks. 

Fennell,  John  G.  Silver  Medal  in  1827  for  a  Chalk  Draw- 
ing. Engraver.  Pupil  of  Henry  Sass.  Super- 
intended the  Findens's  establishment. 
Finden,  Edward.  Silver  Palette  in  1810  for  an  Outline 
of  the  Laocoon.  Engraver.  Younger  brother  of 
William  Finden.  Died  1857. 

Finden,  William.  Silver  Palette  in  1807  and  Silver 
Medal  in  1808  for  Drawings  ;  Gold  Medal  in  1813 
for  an  Engraving.  Engraver.  The  two  Findens, 
Edward  and  William,  worked  together.  They  en- 
graved some  of  Landseer's  and  Wilkie's  works,  and 
produced  many  illustrations  for  books.  Died  1852. 
Finlayson,  John.  Premium  in  1764  for  an  Enamel 
Painting;  Gold  Palette  (and  30  guineas)  in  1773 
for  his  Mezzotint  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 's  Portrait 
of  Lord  Romney.  Mezzotint  engraver.  Engraved 
portraits  after  Hone,  Coates,  Zoffany,  and  Reynolds. 
Died  about  1776. 

Flaxman,  John.  Premium  in  1766  (at  the  age  of  eleven) 
for  Modelling  in  Clay  ;  Premiums  (two)  in  1769  for 
the  same;  Gold  Palette  in  1770  for  Modelling  a 
Statue  of  Garrick  ;  Gold  Medal  in  1 807  for  Designing 
the  Society's  Medal  and  presenting  it  to  the  Society. 
In  the  latter  year  a  Silver  Medal  was  awarded  to  his 
sister-in-law,  Miss  Maria  Denman  (q.v.),  for  a  Drawing 
of  the  Medal,  which  forms  the  Frontispiece  to  Vol. 
xxv.  of  the  Transactions  (1807).  Sculptor.  R.A. 
Died  1826. 

Fox,  Charles.    Silver  Medal  in  1847  f°r  an  original  Com- 
position in  Plaster.     Modeller.     Died  1854. 
Freebairn,  Alfred  Robert.    Silver  Palette  in  1810  for  a 


SELECTED  NAMES  179 

Drawing.  Engraver.  "  Chiefly  known  by  his  en- 
graving of  Flaxman's  '  Shield  of  Achilles  '  "  (Bryan). 
Died  1846. 

Frith,  William  Powell.  Silver  Medal  in  1836  for  Drawing 
in  Chalk  from  a  Bust  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1837  for  a 
finished  Drawing  from  a  Cast .  Subject  painter.  R.A. 
Painter  of  the  celebrated  and  popular  pictures,  "  The 
Derby  Day,"  "  The  Railway  Station/'  "  Margate 
Sands,"  etc.  Frith  was  born  in  1819,  so  he  must 
have  been  about  seventeen  when  he  received  his  first 
award.  Died  1909. 

Frost,  William  Edward.  Silver  Medals  in  1829,  1830,  and 
1831  for  Drawings  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1832  for  Com- 
position in  Oil  in  Still  Life  ;  Gold  Medal  in  1834  for 
a  Portrait  in  Oil.  Subject  painter.  R.A.  Died  1877. 

Gahagan,  Sebastian.  Premium  in  1777  for  a  Model. 
ScUlptor.  Assistant  to  Nollekens.  Exhibited  at 
Royal  Academy  1802-1835.  The  Duke  of  Kent's 
statue  at  the  top  of  Portland  Place  is  by  him. 

Gandon,  James.  Premiums  in  1757  for  a  Drawing; 
in  1758  for  a  Design  for  Weaving;  in  1759  for  a 
Landscape;  in  1762,  1763,  and  1 764  for  Architectural 
Designs.  Architect.  Gold  Medallist  R.A.  1769. 
Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1774-1780.  Carried 
out  important  works  in  Dublin.  Died  1823. 

Gardner,  Rev.  John.  Premium  in  1767  for  a  Landscape 
in  Oils.  Amateur.  Vicar  of  Battersea.  Died  1808. 

Garvey,  Edmund.  Premiums  in  1769  and  1771  for  Land- 
scapes. Landscape  painter .  R.A.  Died  1813. 

Geddes,  Margaret.  Silver  Medal  in  1812  ;  Gold  Medals  in 
1813  and  1814  for  Oil  Paintings.  Portrait  painter, 
"  who  secured  great  reputation  "  (Bryan).  She 
married  W.  H.  Carpenter,  Keeper  of  Prints  and 
Drawings  in  the  British  Museum.  Three  of  her 
portraits  are  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery.  Died 
1872. 

Godby,  James".  Silver  Palette  in  1787  for  an  Outline 
Drawing.  Engraver.  Illustrated  Fine  Arts  of  the 
English  School,  1812,  etc . 


1 8o  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

Goldicutt,  John.  Silver  Medallion  in  1815  for  an  Archi- 
tectural Design.  Architect.  Secretary  R.I.B.A. 
Published  an  account  of  the  Pompeian  paintings, 
etc.  Died  1842. 

Gooch,  Thomas.  Silver  Palette  in  1778  for  Drawings 
of  Animals.  Animal  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1781-1802,  principally  portraits  of  horses 
and  dogs. 

Goodall,  Edward.  Silver  Medal  in  1837  for  a  Water- 
colour  Painting.  Water-colour  painter.  Brother  of 
F.  Goodall,  R.A. 

Goodall,  Frederick.  Silver  Medal  in  1837  for  Water- 
colour  Drawing  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1838  for  Oil  Paint- 
ing, "  Interior  of  Thames  Tunnel."  He  was  not 
sixteen  when  this,  his  first  oil  painting,  was  produced. 
It  led  to  a  friendship  with  Sir  Isambard  Brunei  and 
to  a  visit  to  Normandy,  where  he  found  the  materials 
for  his  first  Royal  Academy  picture,"  French  Soldiers 
Playing  at  Cards,"  exhibited  1839.  From  that 
date  his  career  was  one  of  successful  and  deserved 
popularity.  Subject  painter .  R.A.  Died  1904. 

Gott,  Joseph.  Silver  Palette  in  1808  for  Original  Plaster 
Cast.  Sculptor.  Gold  Medallist  R.A.  1819.  Ex- 
hibited at  Royal  Academy  1820-1848. 

Graham,  George.  Silver  Palette  in  1780  for  a  Drawing. 
Engraver.  Produced  book  illustrations,  etc. 

Grant,  William.  Silver  Palette  in  1837  for  a  Pencil 
Drawing.  Historical  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1847-1866.  Died  1866. 

Green,  Benjamin  Robert.  Silver  Palette  in  1824  for  a 
Chalk  Drawing  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1825  for  an  Out- 
line Drawing  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1827  for  a  Portrait  in 
Oil.  Water-colour  painter.  Died  1876. 

Gresse,  John  Alexander.  Premium  in  1755  (aged  twelve) 
for  a  Drawing  ;  Premiums  in  1756,  1757,  1758,  1759 
(three),  1761,  and  1762  for  Drawings;  Premium  in 
1769  for  a  Landscape  in  Oils.  Water-colour  painter. 
Fashionable  drawing-master.  Taught  the  daughters 
of  George  in .  Died  1 794. 

Greville,  Lady  Louisa  Augusta.     Gold  Medals  in   1758, 


SELECTED  NAMES  181 

1759,  and  1760  for  Drawings.  She  was  the  first  to 
take  one  of  the  honorary  awards  offered  to  amateurs. 
Gold  Medal  in  1759  for  an  Etching.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  the  eighth  Earl  of  Warwick,  and  an 
amateur  of  considerable  skill  who  produced  some 
good  etchings. 

Grignion,  Charles.  Premium  in  1765  for  a  Drawing; 
Silver  Palette  in  1768  for  a  Drawing.  Portrait  and 
history  painter.  Son  of  Thomas  Grignion,  the  clock- 
maker.  Gold  Medallist  R. A.  1776.  Painted  Nelson's 
portrait.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1770-1784. 
Died  1804. 

Grignion,  Thomas.  Premium  in  1761  for  a  Drawing. 
This  wras  the  son  and  successor  of  Thomas  Grignion, 
one  of  the  earliest  members  of  the  Society,  an  eminent 
clock-maker,  and  the  donor  of  the  clock  now  in  the 
meeting-room.  Thomas  Grignion  the  younger  was 
also  a  well-known  clock-maker. 

Gwilt,  George.  Silver  Palette  in  1818  for  a  Drawing. 
Architect.  Best  known  by  his  restoration  of  St. 
Saviour's  Church,  Southwark  (1822-25).  Died  1856. 

Habershon,  Matthew.  Silver  Medallion  in  1813  for  a 
Design  for  a  Palace.  Architect.  Built  several  churches, 
public  buildings,  and  country  houses  in  Derbyshire, 
Yorkshire,  Worcestershire,  etc.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1807—1827.  Published  Ancient  Half-Tim- 
bered Houses  of  England,  1836.  Died  1852. 

Hakewill,  John.  Premiums  in  1759,  1760,  1761,  1762, 
1763,  and  1764  for  Drawings  in  Various  Classes  ; 
Silver  Palette  in  1772  for  a  Landscape.  Landscape 
and  portrait  painter .  Died  1791. 

Hall,  John.  Premium  in  1756  for  a  Drawing  ;  Premium 
in  1761  for  an  Engraving.  Engraver.  Engraved  after 
West,  Reynolds,  Gainsborough,  Hoare,  and  Dance. 
11  Ranks  among  our  best  historical  engravers  "  (Red- 
grave). Died  1797. 

Hamilton,  Hugh  Douglas.  Premiums  in  1764,  1765,  and 
1 769  for  Historical  Picture  and  Oil  Paintings.  Portrait 
painter.  R.H.A.  Died  1806. 


1 82  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

Handasyde,  Charles.  Premiums  in  1765  and  1768  for 
Enamel  Paintings.  Miniature  and  enamel  painter. 
Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  in  1776. 

Harding,  James  Duffield.  Silver  Medal  in  1815  for  a 
Drawing  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1 8 1 8  for  an  Original 
Landscape.  Water-colour  painter.  Died  1863. 

Hardwick,  Philip.  Gold  Medallion  in  1809  for  Original 
Drawing  of  an  Academy  of  Arts.  Architect.  R.A. 
Amongst  his  principal  works  were  Euston  Square 
Station,  the  Goldsmiths'  Company's  Hall, and  Lincoln's 
Inn  Hall  and  Library.  Died  1870. 

Hart,  Solomon  Alexander.  Silver  Medal  in  1826  for  a 
Finished  Drawing  from  a  Statue.  Subject  painter. 
R.A.  Exhibited  from  1826—1880.  Librarian  of 
the  Royal  Academy  for  some  years.  He  was  about 
twenty  when  he  gained  the  medal.  Died  1881. 

Hassell,  Edward.  Silver  Medal  in  1828  for  an  Oil  Painting 
of  the  Altar-piece  of  St.  Margaret's  ;  Silver  Medal  in 
1829  for  Painting  of  Interior  of  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor's Chapel.  Landscape  painter.  Secretary  to 
Society  of  British  Artists.  Most  of  his  exhibits  were 
interiors  of  Gothic  cathedrals.  Died  about  1852. 

Hassell,  John.  Silver  Medal  in  1810  for  Improvements 
in  Aquatint.  Draughtsman  and  engraver.  Worked 
in  aquatint.  Published  Illustrated  Guide  to  Bath, 
and  some  other  works. 

Hayter,  George.  Silver  Medal  in  1821  for  an  Etching 
from  a  picture  by  Titian.  Sir  George  Hayter.  Portrait 
and  historical  painter.  He  was  appointed  portrait 
and  history  painter  to  Queen  Victoria  on  her 
accession.  Died  1871. 

Head,  Guy.  Silver  Palettes  in  1 781  and  1 782  for  Historical 
and  Landscape  Drawings.  Portrait  painter.  Resided 
many  years  in  Rome.  "  Best  known  as  a  copyist  " 
(Redgrave).  Died  1800. 

Hearne,  Thomas.  Premiums  in  1763  for  a  Drawing,  in 
1 764  for  a  Drawing  of  a  Horse,  in  1 765  for  an  Etching, 
in  1767  for  a  Landscape  ;  Gold  Palette  in  1776  for 
a  Landscape  in  Oils.  Water-colour  painter.  Worked 
first  as  an  engraver.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 


SELECTED  NAMES  183 

up  to  1802.  His  drawings  for  the  Antiquities  of  Great 
Britain  were  engraved  by  W.  Byrne  (q.v.).  Died 
1817. 

Hebert,  William.  Premium  in  1760  for  a  Flower  Picture. 
Engraver.  Published  some  landscapes. 

Henderson,  John.  Premium  in  1762  for  a  Drawing. 
Engraver.  Pupil  of  Shipley.  Abandoned  his  art  and 
became  a  successful  actor.  Died  1785. 

Henning,  John.  Silver  Medal  in  1816  for  a  Plaster  Cast. 
Modeller.  Copied  some  of  the  Elgin  Marbles.  Died 
1851. 

Hilditch,  George.  Gold  Medal  in  1823  for  an  Original 
Landscape  in  Oil  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1824  for  a  Copy 
in  Oil  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1825  for  an  Original  Picture 
(still  life)  in  Oil.  Landscape  painter.  Exhibited  at 
Royal  Academy  1823-1856.  Died  1857. 

Hoare,  Prince.  Premium  in  1772  for  a  Flower  Picture. 
Portrait  and  historical  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1781-1815.  Son  of  William  Hoare,  R.A. 
Wrote  several  books  on  Art.  Foreign  Corresponding 
Secretary  to  Royal  Academy.  Died  1834. 

Hodges,  William.  Premium  in  1759  for  Modelling  in 
Clay;  Premiums  in  1762,  1763,  and  1764  for  River 
Views.  Landscape  painter.  R.A.  Errand-boy  in 
Shipley's  School.  Appointed  in  1772  draughtsman 
to  Captain  Cook's  second  expedition.  Died  1797. 

Hodgson,  Thomas.  Premium  in  1775  for  Wood  Engraving. 
Wood  engraver.  Employed  by  Bewick,  and  practised 
on  his  own  account. 

Hole,  Henry.  Gold  Palette  in  1804  for  Wood  Engraving. 
Wood  engraver.  Pupil  of  Bewick. 

Hollis,  Thomas.  Gold  Medal  in  1837  for  a  Water-colour. 
Draughtsman.  Son  of  George  Hollis,  engraver,  and 
worked  with  him.  Died  1843. 

Hook,  James  Clark.  Silver  Medals  in  1837  and  1838  for 
Drawings  in  Chalk  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1 840  for  Two 
Portraits  in  Oil.  Marine  painter.  R.A.  Died  1907. 

Hop  wood,  James.  Silver  Palette  in  1803  for  an  Outline 
Drawing.  Engraver.  "  Designed  and  engraved  some 
clever  book  illustrations  "  (Redgrave), 


1 84  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

Horsley,  John  Callcott.  Silver  Medal  in  1830  for  a  Chalk 
Drawing  from  a  Bust  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1831  for  a 
Finished  Drawing  from  a  Statue.  Subject  painter. 
R.A.  He  painted  the  portrait  of  "  Queen  Victoria  and 
her  Children "  in  the  Society's  meeting-room.  As 
Horsley  was  born  in  1817  his  first  award  was  taken 
when  he  was  thirteen.  Died  1903. 

Horwell,  Charles.     Silver    Palette    in   1787  for  a    Figure 
of    Psyche.      Sculptor.     Gold    Medallist    R.A.    1788. 
Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1787-1807. 
Howard,    Frank.     Silver    Palette    in    1822    for    a    Chalk 
Drawing.     Designer  and  draughtsman.     Son  of  Henry 
Howard,  R.A.     Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1825- 
1846.     Published    various    works,    mostly    manuals 
of  instruction  in  Art.     Died  1866. 

Hughes,    Edward.     Silver    Palette    in     1846    and    Silver 
Medal  in   1847  for  Drawings.     Portrait  painter.     Ex- 
hibited   at    Royal    Academy     1855-1884.      Painted 
portraits    of    Queen    Mary,    Queen    Alexandra,    and 
other  members  of  the  Royal  family.     Died  1908. 
Hullmandel,  Charles   Joseph.     Silver  Medal  in    1819  for 
Specimens  of  Lithography.     This  same  year  a  Gold 
Medal  was  awarded  to  Senefelder  for  the  invention 
of  lithography.     Hullmandel,  who  was  an  artist,  took 
up  lithography  in  1818.     From  that  time  he  devoted 
himself  to  it,  and  with  great  success.     He  introduced 
many  improvements,   and   was   associated  with   the 
production  of  many  important  works.     Died  1850. 
Humphreys,  William.     Premium  in  1764  for  a  Drawing  ; 
Premiums  in  1 765  and  1 766  for  Mezzotints .     Engraver. 
"  His  mezzotints  .  .  .  possess  very  high  merit,  and 
were  esteemed  among  the  best  of  the  time  "  (Red- 
grave.) 

Hurlstone,  Frederick  Yeates.  Silver  Palette  in  1812  for 
a  Drawing  ;  Silver  Medals  in  1813  and  1814  for  Draw- 
ings ;  Silver  Medals  in  1816  and  1821  for  Oil  Paintings. 
Portrait  and  history  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1821-1845.  Took  Gold  Medal  at  Paris 
Exhibition  1855.  President  of  the  Society  of  British 
Artists,  Died  1869, 


SELECTED  NAMES  185 

Hurlstone,  Richard.  Premiums  in  1763  and  1764  for 
Drawings.  Portrait  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1771-1773.  Died  about  1774. 

Inwood,  Henry  William.  Silver  Medal  in  1 816  for  Original 
Architectural  Drawing.  Architect.  Joint  architect 
with  his  father  of  St.  Pancras'  Church.  Exhibited 
at  Royal  Academy  1809-1838.  Died  1843. 

Ireland,  Samuel.  Premium  in  1760  for  a  Drawing. 
Engraver.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  in  1782. 
Published  several  works.  His  son,  William  Henry 
Ireland,  was  the  author  of  the  famous  Shakespearean 
forgeries.  Died  1800. 

Jeffereys,  James.  Gold  Palette  in  1774  for  an  Historical 
Drawing.  Marine  painter.  Gold  Medallist  R.A. 
1773.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  in  1783.  Died 
1784. 

Jones,  George.  Silver  Palettes  in  1802,  1804,  and  1805 
for  Drawings.  Battle  and  subject  painter.  R.A.  He 
was  supposed  to  resemble  the  great  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, and  acted  the  part.  Died  1869. 

Jones,  Thomas.  Premiums  in  1764  and  1765  for  Draw- 
ings ;  Premiums  in  1767  and  1768  for  Landscapes. 
Landscape  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1784-1798. 

Jukes,  Francis.  Premium  in  1778  for  a  "  Map  of  Boston 
in  Aqua  Tint  a."  Painter  and  engraver.  "  Successful 
in  aquatint,  principally  sea-pieces  and  landscapes  " 
(Redgrave).  Died  1812. 

Keith,  Elizabeth.  Premium  in  1755  for  a  Drawing. 
She  obtained  the  second  prize  in  the  class  between 
fourteen  and  seventeen  in  the  Society's  first  competi- 
tion. According  to  Dossie,  she  died  young. 

Kelsey,  Charles  Samuel.  Silver  Medal  in  1846  for  a 
"  design  for  a  ticket  of  admission  to  the  Society's 
Rooms  "  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1 847  for  a  figure.  Sculptor. 
Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1840-1877. 

Kelsey,  Richard.  Silver  Medal  in  1819  for  a  Design  for 
a  Mansion  ;  Silver  Medallion  in  1820  for  a  Design 


1 86  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

for  a  National  Museum.  Architect.  Gold  Medallist 
R.A. 1821. 

Kendrick,  Emma  Eleonora.  Silver  Palette  in  1811  for  a 
Drawing  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1812  for  a  Miniature  ; 
Gold  Medals  in  1814,  1815,  1816,  and  1817  for  Minia- 
tures. Miniature  painter.  Daughter  of  Josephus 
Kendrick.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1811-1840. 
Miniature  painter  to  William  iv.  Died  1871 . 

Kendrick,  Josephus.  Silver  Medal  in  1811  for  a  Plaster 
Cast.  Sculptor.  Gold  Medallist  R.A.  1813.  Ex- 
hibited at  Royal  Academy  1813-1829. 

Keyse,  Thomas.  Premium  in  1764  for  a  Method  of  Fixing 
Crayon  Drawings.  Painter  of  still  life.  Keeper  of 
Bermondsey  Spa.  Died  1800. 

Kirby,  Sarah.  Premiums  in  1757  and  1758  for  Orna- 
mental Designs.  Daughter  of  Joshua  Kirby,  F.R.S., 
architect  and  writer  on  perspective.  Afterwards 
Mrs.  Trimmer,  the  once  popular  educational  writer. 

Kirby,  William.  Premiums  in  1760  for  an  Etching,  and 
in  1761  for  a  Landscape  Drawing.  Son  of  Joshua 
Kirby,  F.R.S.  Died  1771. 

Kirk,  John.  Premiums  in  1759,  1762,  and  1763  for 
Die  Engraving.  The  1762  premium  (30  guineas) 
was  for  "  the  Seal  for  the  Society's  letters,  after  a 
design  of  Cipriani."  Medallist.  Died  1776. 

Kirk,  Thomas.  Silver  Palette  in  1785  for  Historical 
Drawing.  Painter  and  engraver.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1785-1794.  "  An  eminent  artist,"  who 
"  passed  like  a  meteor  through  the  region  of  art  " 
(Dayes,  quoted  by  Redgrave).  Died  1797. 

Kitchingman,  John.  Premiums  in  1762,  1763,  1764,  1765, 
and  1766,  and  Gold  Palette  in  1770  for  Drawings  in 
various  classes.  Miniature  painter.  Pupil  of  Shipley. 
Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1770-1781.  Died  1781. 

Lambert,  James.  Premium  in  1770  for  a  Landscape. 
Landscape  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1774—1778.  A  well-known  scene-painter  and  a  friend 
of  Hogarth.  He  was  the  first  President  of  the 
Incorporated  Society  of  Artists .  Died  1 779 . 


SELECTED  NAMES  187 

Landseer,  Charles.  Silver  Palette  in  1815  for  a  Drawing 
of  the  Laocoon.  Subject  painter.  R.A.  Brother 
of  Sir  Edwin  Landseer.  Died  1879. 

Landseer,  Edwin.  Silver  Palette  in  1813  for  Drawing 
of  Animals  from  Life  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1814  for  a 
Drawing  of  a  Horse  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1815  for  a 
Painting  of  a  Dog  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1 8 1 6  for  an 
original  Painting,  "  The  Stable  Guardian."  As  he 
was  born  in  March  1802  he  was  only  eleven  when  he 
received  his  first  award.  The  eminent  and  popular 
Animal  painter,  Sir  Edwin  Landseer,  R.A.  Died 

1873- 

Landseer,  George.  Silver  Medal  in  1841  for  "  Water- 
colour  Drawings  of  Birds  and  Beasts  from  Nature  "  ; 
Silver  Palette  in  1842  for  an  "  Oil  Painting  of  a  Lion 
from  Nature."  Portrait  and  landscape  painter.  Only 
son  of  Thomas  Landseer,  A.R.A.  Was  in  India  from 
about  1844  to  1870.  Died  1878. 

Landseer,  Miss.  Silver  Palette  in  1813  for  an  Original 
Landscape.  This  was  probably  Jessica,  daughter 
of  John  Landseer,  R.A.  (and  sister  of  Edwin),  who 
"  used  the  painter's  brush  and  the  etching-needle," 
and  "  etched  a  few  designs  after  her  brother  Edwin  " 
(Bryan).  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1816  and 
afterwards.  Her  younger  sister  Emma  (Mrs.  Mac- 
kenzie) did  not  begin  to  exhibit  until  1838. 

Landseer,  Thomas.  Silver  Palette  in  1810  for  an  "  Etch- 
ing of  Sheep  and  Goats  "  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1813  for 
an  "  Etching  of  Animals";  Silver  Medal  in  1814 
for  a  Painting  of  a  Horse.  Engraver.  A.R.A. 
Eldest  brother  of  Sir  Edwin  Landseer,  many  of  whose 
pictures  he  engraved.  Died  1880. 

Lane,  John  Bryant.  Silver  Palette  in  1806  and  Gold 
Medal  in  1807  for  Historical  Drawings.  Historical 
painter.  Exhibited  sacred  and  classical  subjects  at 
Royal  Academy  1808-1813.  Then  went  to  Rome 
and  devoted  fourteen  years  to  the  production  of  what 
he  hoped  would  be  a  masterpiece,  but  proved  a  failure, 
"  The  Vision  of  Joseph."  Afterwards  he  showed 
some  portraits  at  the  Royal  Academy  1831-1834. 


1 88  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

Lawranson,  William.  Premiums  in  1760,  1761,  1762, 
1763,  1764,  1765,  and  1766  for  Drawings.  Portrait 
painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1774- 
1780. 

Lawrence,  Thomas .  Silver  Gilt  Palette  and  Five  Guineas  in 
1784  for  a  Copy  of  the"  Transfiguration  "  of  Raphael. 
The  committee  found  that  the  drawing  had  not  been 
executed  within  the  limit  of  time  specified,  and 
therefore  that  it  was  disqualified,  and  they  conse- 
quently withheld  the  Gold  Medal  offered.  Subse- 
quently they  decided  to  make  the  above-named 
award,  "  as  a  token  of  the  Society's  approbation  of 
his  abilities."  The  award,  therefore,  does  not  appear 
in  the  printed  list.  The  only  record  of  it  is  in  the 
Society's  minutes  and  the  committee  minutes  (Com- 
mittee of  Polite  Arts,  9th  and  3Oth  March  1784). 
The  candidate  was  afterward  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence, 
P.R.A.  He  was  not  fourteen  years  of  age  when  the 
award  was  made,  as  he  was  born  in  May  1769.  Died 
1830. 

Lawrie  (or  Laurie),  Robert.  Premium  in  1770  for  a 
Drawing  ;  Premiums  in  1773, 177 5, and  17 76  for  Orna- 
mental Designs  ;  Silver  Palette  in  1773  for  a  Study 
of  Flowers  ;  Bounty  of  30  guineas  in  1 776  for  Improve- 
ment in  Mezzotint  Colour  Printing.  Engraver. 
Besides  producing  a  large  number  of  engravings, 
he  carried  on  the  business  of  a  publisher  of  prints, 
maps,  etc.  Died  1836. 

Leake,  Henry.  Premium  in  1 760  for  a  Drawing.  Portrait 
painter.  Pupil  of  W.  Hoare,  R.A. 

Legrew,  James.  Silver  Palette  in  1822  for  a  Plaster 
Model.  Sculptor.  Pupil  of  Chantrey.  Gold  Medallist 
R.A.  1829.  Produced  many  groups  of  merit.  Died 
1857. 

Le  Jeune,  Henry.  Silver  Palette  in  1834  for  a  Copy 
of  a  Figure  in  Indian  Ink.  Historical  painter .  A.R  A. 
Gold  Medallist  R.A.  1841.  Died  1904. 

Liart,  Matthew.  Premiums  in  1764  and  1765  for  Draw- 
ings. Premium  in  1766  for  an  Engraving.  Engraver. 
Died  about  1782. 


SELECTED  NAMES  189 

Lines,  Samuel.  Silver  Medal  in  1825  for  Pencil  Draw- 
ing. Painter  and  drawing-master.  One  of  the 
founders  of  the  Birmingham  School  of  Art.  Died 
1863. 

Linwood,  Mary.  Silver  Medal  in  1786  "  for  submitting 
to  the  inspection  of  the  Society,  as  examples 
of  works  of  art,  and  of  useful  and  elegant  employ- 
ment, three  pieces  of  needlework,  representing  a 
hare,  still  life,  and  a  head  of  King  Lear."  Miss 
Linwood  opened  her  celebrated  exhibition  of  em- 
broidered pictures  at  the  Hanover  Square  Rooms 
in  1798,  and  afterwards  removed  to  Leicester  Square, 
where  her  exhibition  was  considered  one  of  the  chief 
sights  of  London.  Died  1 845 . 

Loat,  Samuel.  Silver  Medal  in  1825  and  Gold  Medal  in 
1827  for  Architectural  Designs.  Architect.  Gold 
Medallist  R.A.  1827.  Exhibited  a  design  in  1831, 
"  after  which  there  are  no  traces  of  his  art  "  (Red- 
grave). 

Lochee,  John  Charles.  Premium  in  1775  (30  guineas) 
for  a  Statue;  Premium  in  1776  (50  guineas)  for  a 
Statue  ;  Silver  Medallion  in  1 790  for  a  Bust  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales  (afterwards  George  iv.).  An 
engraving  of  this  bust  forms  the  Frontispiece  to 
Vol.  x.  of  the  Transactions.  Sculptor.  Exhibited 
at  Royal  Academy  1776-1790.  Some  portrait 
medallions  by  him  were  reproduced  by  Wedgwood 
and  by  Tassie. 

Long,  J.  St.  John.  Silver  Medal  in  1825  for  a  Land- 
scape. Brought  up  as  engraver,  but  did  not  follow 
the  profession.  Not  successful  as  an  artist  he  set  up 
as  a  quack  doctor.  Died  1834. 

Lucy,  Charles.  Silver  Medal  in  1834  for  an  Oil  Painting. 
Historical  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1838-1873.  Most  of  his  works  related  to  the  history 
of  England,  and  were  meritorious  but  not  very 
successful. 

Lupton,  Thomas  Goff.  Gold  Medal  in  1822  for  a  Mez- 
zotint on  Soft  Steel.  He  introduced  the  use  of  soft 
steel  for  mezzotint  (see  his  paper,  Transactions ,  Vol.  xi. 


190  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

p.  4I).1     He  worked  both  on  steel  and  on  copper,  and 
produced  many  fine  plates  after  Turner.    Died  1873. 

Malton,  Thomas.  Premium  in  1774  for  a  Drawing  of  a 
Tide-Mill.  Architectural  draughtsman.  Gold  Medal- 
list R.A.  1782.  Published  several  topographical 
works  and  views.  Died  1804. 

Malt  on,  William.  Premiums  in  1775  and  1777  for  Draw- 
ings of  Machines .  Architectural  draughtsman .  Brother 
of  Thomas  Malt  on. 

Manning,  Samuel.  Silver  Medals  in  1831,  1832,  and  1838 
for  Busts  ;  Gold  Medal  in  1833  for  a  Model  of  a 
Figure  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1840  for  a  Group.  Sculptor. 
Son  of  Samuel  Manning,  also  a  sculptor.  There  is 
some  confusion  in  the  books  between  father  and  son. 
According  to  the  account  in  the  Dictionary  of  National 
Biography,  which  seems  the  most  correct,  the  "  Pro- 
metheus," for  which  the  1833  award  was  made,  was 
shown  in  marble  at  the  Royal  Academy  in  1845. 
Died  1865. 

Marchant,  Nathaniel.  Premiums  in  1761,  1762,  1763, 
1764  (two),  and  1765  for  Engraved  Gems.  Gem 
engraver  and  medallist.  R.A.  Pupil  of  E.  Burch, 
R.A.  Engraver  to  the  Mint.  Designed  some  coins 
and  medals.  "  Chief  of  English  gem  engravers  of 
the  eighteenth  century  "  (King,  quoted  by  Forrer). 
Died  1816. 

Marsden,  Barbara.  Premiums  in  1755  and  1756  for 
Drawings;  Premiums  in  1757  and  1758  for  Orna- 
mental Designs.  She  married  Jeremiah  Meyer,  R.A. 
(q.v.).  The  1758  award  was  in  a  class  limited  to 
candidates  under  fourteen,  so  she  cannot  have 
been  twelve  years  old  when  she  took  the  prize  in 
1755. 

1  The  credit  of  having  produced  the  first  mezzotint  on  steel  has 
always  been  given  to  William  Say,  the  mezzotint  engraver,  and  it  would 
appear  with  justice,  since  there  is  a  mezzotint  print  by  him,  dated 
1817,  which  is  said  to  be  from  a  steel  plate.  See  Chapter  IX,  p.  216. 
The  two  inventors  were  probably  working  independently.  There  is 
nothing  in  Lupton's  paper  to  suggest  that  his  work  was  not  original, 
and  probably  it  was. 


SELECTED  NAMES  19 1 

Martin,  David.  Premiums  in  1759,  1760,  and  1761  for 
Chalk  Drawings.  Portrait  painter  and  engraver.  Died 
1798. 

Martin,  William.  Gold  Palette  in  1776  for  an  Historical 
Drawing  ;  Premium  in  1 780  for  a  Landscape.  History 
painter.  Pupil  of  Cipriani.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1775-1816.  History  painter  to  George  in. 

Mason,  William.  Silver  Medal  in  1776  for  a  Drawing  of 
a  Horse.  Animal  painter . 

Masquerier,  John  James.  Silver  Palettes  in  1794,  1795, 
and  1796;  Silver  Medal  in  1799,  all  for  Drawings. 
Portrait  painter.  Born  at  Chelsea  of  French  parents. 
Studied  in  Paris.  Pupil  of  Vernet.  Exhibited  at 
Royal  Academy  1796-1838.  Painted  Napoleon's 
portrait.  Died  1855. 

Mayor,  Barnaby.  Premium  in  1765  for  a  Landscape 
Etching.  Engraver  and  painter .  Died  1774. 

Medland,  Thomas.  Silver  Palettes  in  1777,  1779,  and 
1780  for  Drawings.  Engraver.  Illustrated  numerous 
books.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1777—1822. 

Metz,  Conrad  Martin.  Gold  Palette  in  1783  for  an 
Historical  Drawing.  A  German  artist  who  came  to 
London. 

Meyer,  Jeremiah.  Gold  Medal  in  1761  for  Profile  Like- 
ness of  George  in.  from  memory,  intended  to  be, 
but  not  actually,  used  in  cutting  a  die  for  the  coinage. 
Miniature  painter  to  the  king.  Miniature  painter. 
R.A.  Enameller  to  King  George  in.  and  miniature 
painter  to  Queen  Charlotte.  Married  Barbara 
Marsden  (q.v.),  who  took  several  of  the  Society's 
prizes.  Died  1789. 

Milbourn,  John.  Premiums  in  1763,  1764,  and  1765  for 
Drawings.  Portrait  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1773  and  1774. 

Millais,  John  Everett.  Silver  medals  in  1839  for  Drawing 
in  Chalk  from  a  Bust  ;  in  1 840  for  an  Historical 
Composition  in  Pencil  ;  in  1841  for  an  Historical 
Composition  in  Sepia  ;  Gold  Medal  in  1846  for  an 
Original  Historical  Painting  ;  Gold  Medallion  in  1 847 
for  an  Original  Composition  in  Oil.  Subject,  landscape, 


192  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

and  portrait  painter.  Sir  John  Everett  Millais,  Bart., 
P.R.A.  As  Sir  John  Millais  was  born  in  1829,  his 
first  award  was  obtained  when  he  was  only  ten. 
Died  1896. 

Miller,  John.  Premiums  in  1764  for  a  Flower  Picture  ; 
and  in  1766  for  an  Engraving.  Flower  painter  and 
engraver.  Published  an  illustrated  botanical  work, 
1770-77. 

Mills,  George.  Gold  Medals  in  1817  and  1818  for  Medal 
Dies,  and  in  1823  for  presenting  the  Society  with  a 
new  Die  for  the  Vulcan  Medal.  Medallist.  Produced 
medals  of  General  Moore,  Watt,  West,  George  iv., 
and  Sir  F.  Chantrey.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1816-1823.  Died  1824. 

Mitchell,  Thomas.  Premium  in  1766  for  a  Sea-piece. 
Marine  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1774- 
1789.  Had  appointments  in  the  dockyards,  and 
worked  as  an  amateur. 

Moore,  Francis  John.  Premium  in  1766  for  an  Alle- 
gorical Bas-relief  ;  Silver  Palette  in  1769  for  a  Statue. 
Sculptor.  Died  1809. 

More,  Samuel.  Premiums  in  1763  and  1764  for  two  sets 
of  Impressions  of  Pastes  resembling  Antique  Cameos 
and  Intaglios.  Afterwards  Secretary  of  the  Society. 

Moring,  Thomas.  Gold  Medal  in  1845  f°r  "  an  Engraving 
on  White  Cornelian."  Seal  engraver.  Practised  as 
a  professional  seal  engraver  and  medallist.  Died 
1884. 

Mortimer,  John  Hamilton.  Premiums  in  1759  (two), 
1760,  1761,  and  1762  ;  Premium  in  1763  (50  guineas) 
for  an  Oil  Painting  "  Edward  the  Confessor  taking 
his  Mother's  Treasures";  Premium  in  1764  (100 
guineas)  for  "  St.  Paul  Preaching  to  the  Britons."  The 
last  picture  was  placed  as  an  altar-piece  in  the  church 
of  High  Wycombe,  Bucks,  where  the  painter  is  buried. 
History  painter.  A.R.A.  Died  1779. 

Moser,  George  Michael.  Premium  in  1758  for  "  A  Model, 
chased  in  gold,  of  an  Honorary  Medal  proposed  by 
him  to  the  Society  .  .  .  afterwards  engraved  by 
John  Kirk  "  (Dossie).  Enameller  and  modeller.  R.A. 


SELECTED  NAMES  193 

One  of  the  founders  of  the  Royal  Academy,  and  its 
first  Keeper.  "  Had  high  merits  as  an  artist,  excelling 
not  only  as  a  chaser,  but  as  a  medallist,  and  he 
painted  in  enamel  with  great  beauty  and  taste  " 
(Redgrave). 

Moser,  Joseph.  Premiums  in  1762,  1763,  and  1765  for 
Modelling  in  Wax.  Enameller.  Nephew  of  G.  M. 
Moser,  R.A.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1774— 
1787.  Afterwards  a  London  Police  Magistrate. 

Moser,  Mary.  Premium  in  1758  for  an  Ornamental 
Design;  Premium  and  Silver  Medal  in  1759  for  a 
Flower  Picture.  The  Silver  Medal  was  a  special  and 
additional  award  "  presented  to  her  as  a  further 
Reward  for  her  extraordinary  merit . ' '  Flower  painter . 
R.A.  Daughter  of  G.  M.  Moser,  R.A.  Original 
member  of  Royal  Academy,  and  one  of  the  two 
woman  Academicians  (the  other  being  Angelica 
Kauffmann).  Married  Captain  Hugh  Lloyd.  Died 
1819. 

Moses,  Henry.  Silver  Palettes  in  1800  and  1801  for 
Drawings.  Engraver.  Produced  plates  after  Barry, 
Northcote,  Opie,  and  others.  Died  1870. 

Mulready,  William.  Silver  Palette  in  1801  for  a  Drawing. 
Subject  painter.  R.A.  Mulready  was  born  in  1786, 
so  he  was  only  fourteen  at  the  date  of  the  award. 
In  1848  a  collection  of  Mulready 's  works  was  ex- 
hibited in  the  Society's  house.  Died  1863. 

Nesbitt,  Charlton.  Silver  Palette  in  1798,  and  Silver 
Medal  in  1802,  for  Wood  Engraving.  Wood  engraver. 
A  pupil  of  Bewick.  Successful  illustrator  of  numer- 
ous books.  Died  1838. 

Netherclift,  Joseph.  Premium  in  1829  for  Lithographic 
Transfer  Paper.  Lithographer  and  printer.  This  was 
the  first  practical  transfer  paper,  for  though  the 
earliest  lithographs  made  were  transfers,  the  diffi- 
culties attending  the  process  were  so  great  that  the 
work  was  all  executed  direct  on  the  stone  until  a 
suitable  paper  was  produced.  Died  1863. 

Nollekens,  Joseph.  Premium  in  1759,  at  the  age  of 
H 


194  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

eighteen,  for  a  Drawing  ;  Premiums  in  1759,  1760, 
1761  (two),  and  1762  for  Bas-reliefs.  Sculptor.  R.A. 
One  of  Shipley's  pupils.  This  celebrated  sculptor 
amassed  a  large  fortune  by  his  work.  His  peculiarities 
are  well  known  from  the  Life  by  Smith,  Nollekens  and 
His  Times.  Died  1823. 

Norton,  Christopher.  Premium  in  1760  for  a  Drawing. 
Engraver. 

Okey,  Samuel.  Premiums  in  1 765  and  1 767  for  Mezzotints . 
Engraver.  Engraved  after  Sir  J.  Reynolds,  Pine,  and 
others. 

Pain,  George  Richard.  Gold  Medal  in  1812  for  a  Design 
for  a  Church  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1813  for  a  Design  for 
a  Palace.  Architect.  Apprenticed  to  Nash.  Went 
to  Ireland  about  1817,  and  practised  there.  Died 
1838. 

Papworth,  Edgar  George.  Silver  Medal  hi  1825  for  a 
Pencil  Drawing;  Silver  Palette  in  1827  for  a  Bas- 
relief.  Sculptor.  Died  1866. 

Papworth,  John  Woody.  Silver  Medal  in  1838,  Gold 
Medal  in  1840,  and  Gold  Medallion  in  1845  f°r  Archi- 
tectural Designs.  Architect  and  heraldic  painter.  De- 
signed for  glass,  pottery,  and  textiles.  Brother  of 
Wyatt  Papworth.  Died  1870. 

Papworth,  Wyatt.  Silver  Medal  in  1 836,  and  Silver  Palette 
in  1 838  for  Architectural  Drawings.  Architect.  Editor 
of  the  Dictionary  of  Architecture.  Curator  of  Soane 
Museum.  Died  1894. 

Parke,  Henry.  Silver  Medals  in  1807,  1808,  1810,  1811, 
1812  ;  and  Gold  Medal  in  1814  for  Sea-pieces.  Archi- 
tect. Pupil  of  Sir  John  Soane.  Made  many  drawings 
of  monuments  of  Italy  and  Egypt,  and,  according  to 
Redgrave,  "  Some  naval  drawings  of  much  ability." 
A  collection  of  his  drawings  is  preserved  by  the 
R.I.BA.  Died  1835. 

Parker,  John.  Premiums  in  1762  and  1763  (two  in  each 
year)  for  Drawings  in  different  classes.  Landscape 
painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1770-1778, 


SELECTED  NAMES  195 

Parry,  William.  Premiums  in  1760,  1761,  1762,  1763, 
1 764,  and  1766  for  Drawings  in  various  classes.  Par- 
trait  painter.  A.R .A.  Died  1 791 . 

Pars,  Albert.  Premiums  in  1759,  1764,  and  1765  for 
Modelling  in  Wax  :  Premium  in  1767  for  a  Bronze 
Cast.  Modeller.  Brother  of  William  Pars,  A.RA. 
"  Successful  modeller  in  wax  "  (RedgraTe). 

Pars,  Anne.  Premiums  in  1764,  1765,  and  1766  for  Draw- 
ings. Sister  of  William  Pars,  A.RJV.  Exhibited  at 
Royal  Academy  in  1 786. 

Pars,  William.  Thirteen  Premiums  from  1756  to  1764  in 
various  classes,  including  Drawings  of  Landscapes, 
Animals,  Still  Life,  and  Ornamental  Design,  Wax 
Modelling,  and  an  Oil  Painting.  In  1757  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  class  under  fourteen,  so  he  cannot  have 
been  thirteen  when  he  took  his  first  award.  Portrait 
painter.  A.R.A.  Produced  also  views  of  temples 
in  Greece  and  in  Asia  Minor,  and  some  Swiss  views. 
Brother  of  Henry  Pars,  Shipley's  successor  as  the 
Master  of  the  Academy  in  the  Strand.  Died  1782. 

Parsons,  William.  Premiums  in  1757,  1758,  and  1760  for 
Drawings.  Portrait  painter  (amateur).  Died  1795. 

Patmore,  Coventry.  Silver  Palette  in  1838  for  a  Pencil 
Drawing.  The  well-known  poet.  He  contributed  to 
the  Germ,  and  was  a  friend  of  the  first  pre-Raphaelites, 
but  does  not  appear  to  have  continued  his  artistic 
studies  or  work .  Died  1 896 . 

Patten,  George.  Silver  Palette  in  1816  for  a  Miniature. 
Portrait  and  history  painter.  AJtA.  Exhibited  at 
Royal  Academy  1819  to  about  1865.  Portrait  painter 
in  ordinary  to  Prince  Albert.  Died  1865. 

Pearson,  Mrs.  C.  Silver  Palette  in  1816,  Silver  Medal 
in  1817,  Gold  Medal  in  1819  for  Oil  Paintings. 
Portrait  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1821-1842.  Her  maiden  name  was  Dutton,  and 
the  first  two  awards  were  gained  before  her  marriage. 
Died  1871. 

Peart,  Charles.  Silver  Medallion  in  1783  for  Modelling 
from  the  Life.  Sculptor.  Gold  Medallist  RA.  1782, 
Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1778-1798, 


i96  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

Peters,  Matthew  William.  Two  Premiums  in  1759  for 
Drawings.  Portrait  and  history  painter.  R.A.  Be- 
came a  clergyman  and  abandoned  painting,  except  as 
an  amateur.  Died  1814. 

Pether,  William.  Premiums  in  1756  for  a  Drawing  and 
for  an  Ornamental  Design  ;  in  1760  and  1767  for 
Mezzotints.  Mezzotint  engraver.  Exhibited  minia- 
tures at  Royal  Academy  1781  to  1794,  but  "  his  true 
art  was  mezzotint,"  in  which  he  "  gained  great  dis- 
tinction "  (Redgrave).  Died  about  1794. 

Physick,  Edward  Gustavus.  Silver  Medals  in  1823  and 
1824  ;  Gold  Medal  in  1826  for  Plaster  Models.  Sculptor. 
Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  and  elsewhere  1822- 
1868. 

Physick,  E.  J.  Silver  Medal  in  1846  for  a  Plaster  Cast; 
Silver  Medal  in  1847  for  a  Modelled  Figure.  Sculptor. 

Pinches,  Thomas  R.  Silver  Medals  in  1836  and  1837  f°T 
Medal  Dies .  Medallist .  One  of  the  well-known  family 
of  London  die-sinkers  and  medallists.  "  Cut  many 
military,  academical,  and  private  medals  "  (Forrer). 
Amongst  them  was  a  memorial  medal  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  1852. 

Pine,  Robert  Edge.  Premium  in  1760  (100  guineas)  for 
an  Oil  Painting,  "  The  Surrender  of  Calais  "  ;  Pre- 
mium (100  guineas)  in  1763  for  "  Canute  Rebuking  his 
Courtiers."  History  and  portrait  painter.  Exhibited 
at  Royal  Academy  and  elsewhere  1760-1784.  Went 
to  America.  Died  at  Philadelphia  1790. 

Pingo,  Benjamin.  Premiums  in  1765,  1766,  and  1769  for 
Drawings.  Youngest  son  of  Thomas  Pingo. 

Pingo,  Henry.  Premiums  in  1756,  1758,  1759,  1760,  and 
1 761  for  Ornamental  Designs.  Second  son  of  Thomas 
Pingo.  Exhibited  flower  pictures  at  Free  Society  of 
Artists,  1772  and  1773. 

Pingo,  John.  Premiums  in  1759,  1760,  1762,  1763,  and 
1765  for  Die  Engraving.  Medallist.  Assistant  En- 
graver to  the  Mint.  Eldest  son  of  Thomas  Pingo. 

Pingo,  Lewis.  Premiums  in  1756  and  1759  for  Drawings  ; 
Premiums  in  1759  and  1 760  for  Medallions  ;  Premiums 
in  1757,  1758,  1760,  and  1761  for  Ornamental  Designs  ; 


SELECTED  NAMES  197 

Premiums  in  1761,  1763,  and  1764  for  Die  Engraving  ; 
Premium  in  1 763  for  Gem  Engraving  ;  Gilt  Palette 
in  1770,  Gold  Palettes  in  1771  and  1772  for  Medallions. 
Medallist.  Third  son  of  Thomas  Pingo.  Engraver 
to  the  Mint.  Died  1830. 

Pingo,  Mary.  Premiums  in  1 758  and  1759  for  Ornamental 
Designs  ;  in  1761  and  1762  for  Drawings  of  Flowers. 
Daughter  of  Thomas  Pingo. 

Pingo,  Thomas.  Paid  80  guineas  in  1758  for  making  the 
dies  for  the  Society's  First  Medal  from  a  design  by 
James  Stuart,  the  Architect,  "  Athenian  Stuart." 
Medallist.  Engraver  to  the  Mint.  Died  1776. 

Pitts,  William.  Gold  Medal  in  1812  for  a  Wax  Model. 
Sculptor.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1823-1839. 
Produced  much  successful  work.  Died  1840. 

Pocock,  William  Fuller.  Silver  Medallion  in  1807  for  an 
Architectural  Design.  Architect.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1799-1841. 

Porter,  John  Ashwood.  Premium  in  1755  for  a  Pen-and- 
ink  Drawing.  He  was  the  last  of  the  five  candidates 
who  took  the  first  prizes  offered  by  the  Society  for 
young  people  under  fourteen.  "  He  was  the  son  of  a 
drawing-master  in  Wapping  "  (Dossie),  but  nothing 
more  seems  to  be  known  about  him. 

Porter,  Robert  Ker.  Silver  Palette  in  1 793  for  an  Historical 
Drawing.  History  painter.  Sir  Robert  Porter, 
brother  of  Anne  and  Jane  Porter,  the  novelists.  "  He 
was  by  turns,  during  his  adventurous  career,  artist, 
soldier,  author,  and  diplomatist  "  (Redgrave).  Died 
1842. 

Poynter,  Ambrose.  Silver  Medallion  in  1818  for  an 
Architectural  Design.  Architect.  Father  of  Sir  Ed- 
ward Poynter,  P.R.A.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1817-1852.  Foundation  Member  of  R.I.B.A.,  and 
its  vSecretary  1840,  etc.  Took  important  part  in 
establishment  of  Schools  of  Design.  "  Had  con- 
siderable practice  as  an  architect  "  (Dictionary  of 
National  Biography}.  Died  1886. 

Proctor,  Thomas.  Gold  Palette  in  1787  for  an  Historical 
Drawing.  Sculptor  and  history  painter.  A  brilliant 


198  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

but  unfortunate  genius.     Gold  Medallist  R.A.  1784. 

Exhibited  at   Royal  Academy   1785-1794.     Died  in 

misery  and  want  1794. 
Pugh,  Hubert.     Premium  in  1765  for  a  Landscape  in  Oil. 

Landscape  painter.      '  There  is  a  work  of  his  in  the 

Lock  Hospital  "  (Redgrave).     Died  after  1788. 
Pye,   Charles.    Silver    Palette    in    1791    for    a    Drawing. 

Engraver. 

Radclyffe,  George  Edward.  Silver  Medal  in  1824  for  an 
Etching.  Silver  Palette  in  1826  for  an  Engraving. 
Engraver.  Worked  for  the  Annuals  and  Art  Journal. 
Died  1863. 

Raimbach,  Abraham.  Gold  Palette  in  1806  for  Wood 
Engraving.  Engraver.  Exhibited  miniatures  at 
Royal  Academy  1797-1805,  but  afterwards  devoted 
himself  to  engraving.  Engraved  many  of  Wilkie's 
pictures.  Died  1843. 

Ranson,  Thomas  Frazer.  Silver  Medal  in  1814  ;  Gold 
Medals  in  1821  and  1822  for  Engraving.  Engraver. 
He  was  interested  in  the  question  of  preventing  the 
forgery  of  bank-notes,  and  barely  escaped  conviction 
for  having  a  forged  note  in  his  possession. 

Ravenet,  Fran£ois  Simon.  Premiums  in  1761,  1762,  and 
1764  for  Engravings.  Engraver.  A.RA.  Native  of 
France.  Came  to  England  about  1750.  Worked  for 
Hogarth  and  Boy  dell.  Engraved  the  "  Mariage  a  la 
Mode.1'  Died  1 774. 

Read,  Nicholas.  Premiums  in  1762  (100  guineas)  and  in 
1764  (140  guineas)  for  Statues.  Sculptor.  Pupil  of 
Roubttiac,  and  his  successor.  Some  monuments  by 
him  are  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Died  1787. 

Read,  Richard.  Silver  Palette  in  1771  for  a  Drawing. 
Engraver.  Worked  chiefly  in  mezzotint. 

Reinagle,  Philip.  Premium  in  1767  for  a  Drawing. 
Animal  and  landscape  painter.  RA.  "  His  hunting 
pieces,  sporting  dogs,  and  dead  game  were  excellent  " 
(Redgrave).  Died  1833. 

Revel,  Richard.  Premium  in  1755  for  a  Chalk  Drawing 
of  a  Horse.  This  was  the  fifth  prize  in  the  class 


SELECTED  NAMES  199 

between  fourteen  and  seventeen  in  the  Society's  first 
competition.  "  Nothing  seems  to  be  known  of  his 
after  career"  (Dossie). 

Richardson,  George.  Premium  in  1765  for  an  Archi- 
tectural Drawing.  Architect.  Author  of  the  New 
Vitruvins  Britannicus  and  other  works  on  architecture . 

Rigaud,  Stephen  Francis.  Silver  Palette  in  1794  ;  Gold 
Palette  in  1799  for  Drawings.  Water-colour  painter. 
Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1797-1815. 

Roberts,  James.  Premium  in  1766  for  a  Drawing. 
Portrait  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 

I773-I799- 

Robertson,  George.  Premiums  in  1760  and  1761  (three) 
for  Drawings.  Landscape  painter.  Pupil  of  Shipley. 
Went  to  Jamaica  and  painted  views  of  the  island, 
which  were  exhibited  in  London  and  engraved.  Died 
1788. 

Rochard,  Frederick.  Silver  Medal  in  1823  for  a  Water- 
colour  Portrait.  Miniature  painter.  Exhibited  at 
Royal  Academy  from  1819.  Died  1858. 

Rogers,  Philip  Hutchins.  Silver  Medal  in  1808  and  Gold 
Medal  in  1 8 1 1  f or  Oil  Paintings .  Marine  and  landscape 
painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  and  elsewhere 
1808-1851.  Died  1853. 

Rolls,  Charles.  Silver  Medal  in  1818  for  a  Drawing. 
Engraver  and  draughtsman.  Assisted  the  Findens  in 
their  Gallery  of  British  Art. 

Romney,  George.  Premium  in  1763  (20  guineas)  for  an 
Oil  Painting  of  the  Death  of  General  Wolfe  ;  Premium 
in  1765  (50  guineas)  for  Oil  Painting  of  the  Death  of 
Edward  the  First.  The  celebrated  Portrait  painter. 
Died  1802. 

Romney,  John.  Silver  Palette  in  1806  for  Outline  Draw- 
ing. Engraver  and  draughtsman.  Engraved  some  of 
Smirke's  illustrations  to  Shakespeare,  etc.  Died 
1863. 

Rooker,  Michael  Angelo.  Premiums  in  1 759  for  a  Drawing 
(age  under  fourteen),  and  in  1760  for  a  Landscape. 
Water-colour  painter  and  engraver.  A.R.A.  Died 
1801. 


200  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

Ross,  William.  Silver  Palette  in  1807  for  a  Drawing  (at 
the  age  of  twelve)  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1 808  for  a  Draw- 
ing ;  Silver  Palette  in  1809  for  a  Miniature  ;  Silver 
Medals  in  1 8 1  o  and  1 8 1 1  for  Drawings ;  Silver  Palette  in 
1 8 1 3  for  a  Drawing  ;  Gold  Medal  in  1 8 16  for  a  Portrait 
of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  ;  Gold  Medal  in  1817  for  an 
Historical  Painting.  Sir  William  Ross,  R.A.,  the 
well-known  Miniature  painter.  He  was  Chairman  of 
the  Committee  of  Fine  Arts  1845-6,  and  a  Member 
of  the  first  Council  1845  and  1846.  An  exhibition  of 
his  works  was  held  by  the  Society  in  1860.  Died 
1860. 

Rossi,  Charles.  Premium  in  1794  (50  guineas)  for  a  Group 
of  Statuary.  Sculptor.  R.A.  Sculptor  to  George  iv. 
and  to  William  iv.  Executed  several  monuments  in 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  Died  1839. 

Rossi,  Henry.  Silver  Medal  in  1815  for  Copy  of  Plaster 
Cast.  Sculptor.  Designed  terra-cotta  ornaments  for 
interior  of  St.  Pancras'  Church. 

Russell,  John.  Premiums  in  1759  and  1760  for  Drawings. 
Portrait  painter .  R . A .  H  is  best  work  was  in  crayons , 
and  he  published  a  book  on  Painting  with  Crayons. 
Died  1806. 

Ryder,  Thomas.  Premium  in  1766  for  a  Drawing  ;  Gold 
Medal  in  1803  for  a  Line  Engraving.  Engraver  and 
draughtsman.  "  One  of  the  best  engravers  of  his 
time  "  (Redgrave).  Executed  eight  plates  for 
Boy  dell's  Shakespeare  Gallery.  Died  1810. 

Ryley,  Charles  Reuben.  Premium  in  1770  for  a  Drawing. 
History  painter.  Gold  Medallist  R.A.  1778.  Ex- 
hibited at  Royal  Academy  1780-1798.  Died  1798. 

Samuel,  George.  Silver  Medallion  in  1784  for  a  View  of 
the  Front  of  the  Society's  House.  Landscape  painter. 
Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1786-1823. 

Samuel,  Richard.  Premium  in  1773  for  a  Tool  for  Laying 
Mezzotint  Grounds  ;  Gold  Palettes  in  1777  and  1779 
for  Drawings.  Portrait  and  historical  painter.  Ex- 
hibited at  Royal  Academy  1772-1779. 

Sass,  Henry.    Silver  Medal  in  1807  for  an  Outline  of  the 


SELECTED  NAMES  201 

Laocoon,  Portrait  painter  and  teacher.  According 
to  Redgrave  he  was  more  successful  in  the  latter 
capacity  than  in  the  first.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1808-1838.  Died  1844. 

Savage,  William.  Silver  Medal  in  1 825  for  "  Block  Printing 
in  Colours  in  Imitation  of  Drawings."  Painter  and 
engraver.  Experimented  in  printing  in  colour  from 
wood  blocks,  and  published  a  book  on  the  subject  in 
1822.  Died  1843. 

Say,  Frederick  Richard.  Silver  Palette  in  1817  for  a 
Drawing  ;  Silver  Medal  in  1819  for  a  Chalk  Drawing  ; 
Silver  Medal  in  1820  for  Crayon  Drawings.  Portrait 
painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  from  1825. 
Died  probably  about  1860. 

Scharf,  George.  Silver  Palette  in  1835  and  Silver  Medal 
in  1836  for  Drawings.  Sir  George  Scharf,  K.C.B., 
Keeper  of  the  National  Portrait  Gallery.  Died  1895. 

Scheemakers,  Thomas.  Premiums  in  1765  for  Modelling 
in  Clay,  and  in  1766  for  a  Bas-relief.  Sculptor.  Son 
of  Peter  Scheemakers,  a  Belgian  sculptor  who  settled 
in  London.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1765- 
1804.  Died  1808. 

Schiavonetti,  Lewis.  Silver  Medal  in  1807  for  Engraving 
of  the  British  Troops  in  the  Bay  of  Aboukir .  Engraver. 
Pupil  of  Bartolozzi.  Died  1810. 

Scott,  John.  Gold  Medal  in  181 1  for  two  Original  Engrav- 
ings of  Fox- Hunting.  Engraver.  Successful  as  an 
engraver  of  animals.  Died  1828. 

Scoular,  James.  Premium  in  1755  for  a  Drawing  (at  age 
of  fourteen).  Miniature  painter .  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1761-1787. 

Scoular,  William.  Silver  Medals  in  1816  and  1819  ;  Gold 
Medal  in  1820;  all  for  Models.  Sculptor.  Gold 
Medallist  R.A.  1817.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1815-1846. 

Scriven,  Edward.  Gold  Medal  in  1813  for  an  Engraving 
after  Gerard  Douw  ;  Gold  Medal  in  1 8 1 5  for  Engravings 
after  West .  Engraver.  Worked  for  Dilettani  Society, 
Shakespeare  Gallery,  etc.,  and  was  much  employed 
by  publishers.  Died  1841. 


202  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

Seddon,  Thomas.  Silver  Medal  in  1848  for  Drawings 
of  an  Original  Design  for  an  Ornamental  Carved 
Sideboard.  He  was  the  son  of  a  cabinetmaker. 
Landscape  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1852-1856.  A  collection  of  his  works  was  shown  at 
the  Society  in  1857,  when  an  address  was  delivered 
by  John  Ruskin  (Journal,  vol.  v.  p.  360).  Died  1856. 

Senefelder,  Aloys.  Gold  Medal  in  1819  for  the  Invention 
of  Lithography.  The  process  had  been  perfected 
in  1798,  and  lithographs  had  been  published  in 
England  in  1801,  but  in  1818  Senefelder  published 
his  book  on  the  subject. 

Setchel,  Sarah.  Silver  Palette  in  1829  for  a  Pencil  Draw- 
ing. Water  -  colour  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  and  elsewhere  1831—1867.  Gained  great 
popularity  by  her  picture,  "  The  Momentous  Ques- 
tion." Died  1894. 

Sharp,  William.  Premium  in  1760  for  a  Drawing; 
Premiums  in  1761,  1763,  and  1764  for  Designs.  En- 
graver. "  One  of  the  most  celebrated  of  English 
line  engravers  "  (Bryan).  Engraved  West's  portrait 
of  Samuel  More,  the  Society's  Secretary.  Died  1824. 

Shelley,  Samuel.  Silver  Palette  in  1770  for  a  Figure 
Drawing.  Miniature  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1773-1808.  Died  1808. 

Shenton,  Henry  Chawner.  Silver  Medal  in  1844  for  a 
Clay  Model  of  Sabina.  Sculptor.  Son  of  the  engraver 
of  the  same  name.  Died  1 846. 

Sherlock,  William.  Premium  in  1759  for  a  Figure  Draw- 
ing ;  Premium  in  1760  for  an  Engraving.  Portrait 
painter  and  engraver.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1802-1806.  Engraved  portrait  heads  for  Smollett's 
History  of  England. 

Sherwin,  John  Keyse.  Silver  Palette  in  1769  for  a  Draw- 
ing ;  Premium  in  1772  (50  guineas)  for  a  Drawing  ; 
Premium  in  1774  for  an  Engraving;  Premium  in 
1775  for  an  Engraving;  Gold  Medal  in  1778  for 
"  Excellence  in  Engraving."  The  engraving  (repro- 
duced in  the  plate  facing  page  157)  for  which  the 
1774  Premium  was  awarded  was  used  for  a  vignette 


SELECTED  NAMES  203 

on  the  title-page  of  the  Register  of  Premiums  and 
Bounties  issued  in  1778,  and  was  reprinted  as  a 
frontispiece  to  the  first  volume  of  the  Transactions. 
Engraved  the  portraits  of  Lord  Folkestone  (p.  12) 
and  Lord  Romney  (p.  16).  Engraver  and  history 
painter.  Worked  under  Bartolozzi.  Gold  Medallist 
R.A.  1772  (for  a  Painting).  "  It  is  as  an  engraver 
that  he  will  rank  high  among  our  artists  "  (Redgrave). 
Engraver  to  George  in.  Died  1790. 

Sievier,  Robert  William.  Silver  Medal  in  1812  for  a 
Pen-and-ink  Drawing.  Engraver  and  sculptor .  After 
practising  as  an  engraver  for  some  years  he  devoted 
himself  to  sculpture.  A  man  of  varied  accomplish- 
ments and  of  scientific  tastes,  he  became  an  F.R.S. 
Died  1865. 

Simmons,  William  Henry.  Silver  Medal  in  1833  f°r  an 
Engraving.  Engraver.  "  For  many  years  perhaps 
the  chief  of  English  workers  in  his  own  line  "  (Bryan). 
Engraved  after  Landseer,  Millais,  Faed,  Holman 
Hunt,  Frith,  Rosa  Bonheur,  and  Hook.  Died  1882. 

Simpson,  Philip.  Silver  Medal  in  1822  for  a  Copy  of  a 
Portrait  ;  Gold  Medal  in  1823  for  a  Portrait.  Portrait 
and  subject  painter.  Exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy 
up  to  1836. 

Skelton,  William.  Silver  Palettes  in  1778  and  1779  for 
Drawings.  Engraver.  Published  series  of  portraits 
of  the  family  of  George  in.  Died  1848. 

Smart,  John.  Premiums  in  1755  and  1756  (aged  twelve) 
for  Drawings  ;  Premium  in  1757  for  a  Portrait 
in  Chalks  of  Shipley  ;  Premium  in  1758  for  a  Draw- 
ing. Miniaturist.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1770-1811.  Spent  some  years  in  India.  Died  1811. 

Smirke,  Robert.  Silver  Medallion  in  1797  for  Drawing 
of  the  Water-Gate  at  York  Buildings.  Sir  Robert 
Smirke.  Architect.  R.A.  Died  1867. 

Smith,  Emma.  Silver  Palette  in  1803  for  an  Historical 
Drawing.  Water-colour  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  in  1805.  She  was  a  granddaughter  of 
"Smith  of  Derby." 

Smith,  George.     Premiums  in   1760,   1761,  and   1763  (50 


204  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

guineas  each)  for  Landscapes  in  Oil.  Landscape 
painter.  Known  as  "  Smith  of  Chichester."  "  In 
his  day  they  [his  works]  were  lauded  beyond  their 
merits  "  (Redgrave),  and  he  acquired  considerable 
reputation  and  popularity.  Died  1776. 

Smith,  Joachim.  Premium  in  1758  for  a  Medallion  Model 
in  Wax;  Premium  in  1761  for  a  Composition  for 
Modelling  Portraits  in  Miniature.  Modeller.  Dossie 
says  that  he  practised  his  invention  successfully 
for  some  years.  Some  of  his  models  were  reproduced 
by  Wedgwood  and  by  Tassie. 

Smith,  John.  Premiums  in  1760  and  1761  (25  guineas 
each)  ;  Premium  in  1762  (50  guineas)  for  Landscapes 
in  Oil.  Landscape  painter.  Younger  brother  of 
George  Smith,  and  not  so  good  a  painter.  Died  1 764. 

Smith,  J.  Catterson.  Silver  Medal  in  1825  for  an  Oil 
Painting.  Portrait  painter.  President  of  the  Royal 
Hibernian  Academy.  Died  1872. 

Smith,  Nathaniel.  Premiums  in  1758,  1761,  and  1762 
for  Modelling  Figures  in  Clay;  Premiums  in  1759 
(two)  for  Drawings  ;  Premium  in  1760  for  a  Bas- 
relief.  Modeller.  Pupil  of  Roubiliac.  Assistant  to 
Nollekens. 

Smith,  Thomas.  Premium  in  1760  for  an  Engraved 
Gem.  Seal  engraver.  No  record  of  any  later  work 
of  his  has  been  found. 

Solomon,  Abraham.  Silver  Medal  in  1838  for  a  Chalk 
Drawing  from  a  Statue.  Subject  painter.  Exhibited 
at  Royal  Academy  1843-1862.  Died  1862. 

Spang,  Michael  Henry.  Premium  in  1758  (30  guineas) 
for  Modelling  the  "  Seal  of  the  Society  used  for 
Letters  "  designed  by  Cipriani  and  engraved  by 
Kirk.  Modeller.  Carved  the  decorations  on  the 
Admiralty  Screen,  and  the  figures  on  the  pediment  of 
Spencer  House.  Died  about  1 767. 

Spicer,  Nehemiah.  Premiums  in  1762,  1763,  and  1764, 
and  a  Gilt  Palette  in  1768  for  Gem  Engraving.  No 
further  record  of  his  work  has  been  found. 

Spiller,  John.  Silver  Palettes  in  1778  and  1780  for 
Outline  Drawings.  Sculptor.  Exhibited  at  Royal 


SELECTED  NAMES  205 

Academy  1778-1792.  "  The  statue  of  King  Charles, 
which  stood  in  the  centre  of  the  piazza  of  the  Royal 
Exchange,  before  the  fire  in  1838,  was  his  work  " 
(Redgrave).  Died  in  1794. 

Spilsbury,  John.  Premiums  in  1761,  1762,  and  1763  for 
Mezzotints.  Mezzotint  engraver.  Engraved  some 
of  Reynolds 's  portraits.  Drawing-master  at  Harrow 
about  1782. 

Stannard,  Mrs.  Joseph.  Gold  Medal  in  1828  for  an 
Oil  Painting.  Wife  of  Joseph  Stannard,  a  well- 
known  landscape  and  marine  painter  of  Norwich. 
Some  members  of  the  Stannard  family  designed  for 
the  Lowestoft  Pottery  Works. 

Staples,  Robert.  Premiums  in  1763,  1764,  1765,  and 
1766  for  Gem  Engraving.  He  was  a  jeweller  in  Harp 
Court,  Fleet  Street.  Nothing  more  seems  to  be 
known  of  his  work. 

Stevens,  Edward.  Premiums  in  1762  and  1763  for  Archi- 
tectural Designs.  Architect.  A.R.A.  Pupil  of  Sir 
William  Chambers.  Died  1775. 

Strange,  Mary  Bruce.  Premiums  in  1764  and  1765  for 
Drawings.  Daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Strange,  the 
eminent  engraver. 

Stubbs,  James  Henry  Phillipson.  Silver  Medal  in  1826 
for  an  Etching  ;  Silver  Palette  in  1828  for  a  Pen-and- 
ink  Drawing.  Engraver.  Pupil  of  the  Findens. 
Produced  book  illustrations  and  some  sporting  plates. 
Died  1864. 

Swaine,  Francis.  Premium  in  1764  for  a  Sea-piece. 
Marine  painter.  "  Two  small  paintings  by  him  are  at 
Hampton  Court  "  (Redgrave).  Died  1782. 

Swaine,  John  Barak.  Silver  Palette  in  1831  for  a  Chalk 
Drawing ;  Silver  Medal  in  1833  for  an  Etching. 
Redgrave,  under  John  Swaine,  the  father  of  J.  B. 
Swaine,  says  he  died  in  1828,  and  Bryan  follows 
him,  but  this  seems  to  be  a  mistake.  A  John  Barak 
Swaine  exhibited  in  1837  at  the  B.  I. 

Tallmache,  William.  Silver  Medal  in  1813  for  a  Bronze 
Cast.  Sculptor.  Gold  Medallist  R.A,  1805.  "  He 


206  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

does  not  appear  to  have  followed  up  this  success  " 
(Redgrave). 

Tassie,  James.  Premium  in  1767  for  "  Figures,  Heads, 
and  Portraits  of  his  composition  resembling  antique 
onyx."  Gem  engraver.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1769-1791.  Successful  in  reproduction  of  ancient 
engraved  gems,  and  produced  many  fine  originals. 
Died  1799. 

Taylor,  Isaac.  Gold  Palette  (and  25  guineas)  in  1791  for 
an  Engraving  of  Opie's  "  Death  of  Rizzio."  Engraver. 
Pupil  of  Bartolozzi.  "  Known  chiefly  by  his  works 
for  Boydell's  Shakespeare  Gallery  "  (Redgrave).  Died 
1829. 

Taylor,  John.  Premiums  in  1761  and  1762  (two)  for 
Drawings.  Portrait  and  subject  painter.  Exhibited 
at  Royal  Academy  1 7  79- 1 800 .  Died  1 8  3  8 . 

Taylor,  John.  Premiums  in  1763  and  1764  for  Designs  for 
Medals.  Jeweller  at  Bath  (Dossie). 

Taylor,  Simon.  Premiums  for  Drawings  in  1756,  1757, 
1758,  and  1759;  Premiums  in  1759  and  1761  for 
Pictures  of  Flowers  ;  Premium  in  1759  for  an  Etching. 
Botanical  draughtsman.  Pupil  of  Shipley.  Employed 
by  Lord  Bute  and  by  Dr.  Fothergill.  Died  about  1 798. 

Theed,  William.  Silver  Palette  in  1820  and  Silver  Medal 
in  1822  for  Copies  of  Statues.  Sculptor.  Son  of  W. 
Theed,  R.A.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1825- 
1885.  Produced  many  statues  and  busts.  His  most 
important  work  is  the  group  of  "  Africa  "  in  the  Prince 
Consort's  memorial.  The  bust  of  the  Prince  Consort 
in  the  possession  of  the  Society  is  his  work .  Died  1891. 

Tomkins,  Charles.  Silver  Palette  in  1776  for  a  View  of 
Millbank.  Painter  and  engraver.  Son  of  William 
Tomkins,  A.R.A.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 

1773-1779. 

Tomkins,  Peltro  William.  Silver  Palette  in  1780  for  Land- 
scape Drawing ;  Gold  Medal  in  1813  for  Method  of 
refining  Ox-Gall  for  artistic  purposes.  Engraver.  Son 
of  William  Tomkins,  A.R.A.  Published  various  works, 
original  and  after  other  artists.  Engraver  to  Queen 
Charlotte,  Died  1840. 


SELECTED  NAMES  207 

Tomkins,  William.  Premium  in  1762  for  a  Landscape. 
Landscape  painter.  A.R.A.  Also  painted  some  pic- 
tures of  dead  game .  Died  1 792 . 

Toussaint,  Auguste.  Premium  in  1766  and  Silver  Palette 
in  1768  for  Drawings.  Miniature  painter.  Ex- 
hibited at  Royal  Academy  1775-1788. 

Towne,  Francis.  Premium  in  1759  for  a  Design.  Land- 
scape painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1775- 
1810.  Died  1816. 

Towne,  Joseph.  Silver  Medal  in  1826  for  a  Model  of  a 
Skeleton  ;  Gold  Medal  in  1827  for  a  Wax  Model  of  the 
Brain.  The  skeleton  is  now  in  the  museum  of  Guy's 
Hospital.  He  was  seventeen  when  he  constructed 
it,  and  it  served  as  an  introduction  to  Sir  Astley 
Cooper,  who  at  once  put  Towne  in  the  way  of  obtaining 
employment.  Anatomical  modeller.  Though  self- 
taught,  he  was  soon  "  engaged  continuously  in  the 
practice  of  the  art  which  he  originated  and  brought 
to  perfection,  though  it  died  with  him  "  (D'Arcy 
Power,  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography). 
He  made  over  a  thousand  wax  models  of  anatomical 
preparations,  remarkable  both  for  their  verisimilitude 
and  for  their  artistic  qualities.  Towne  was  also  a 
capable  sculptor.  Died  1879. 

Turner,  William.  Silver  Palette  in  1793  for  a  Landscape 
Drawing.  This  may  have  been  "  Turner  of  Oxford,'1 
who  exhibited  as  a  water-colour  landscape  painter 
at  Royal  Academy,  etc.,  for  fifty-four  years  (Bryan), 
and  died  1862. 

Turnerelli,  Edward  Tracy.  Silver  Medal  in  1833  for  a 
Drawing.  Son  of  Peter  Turnerelli,  a  sculptor  of 
reputation.  Studied  at  Royal  Academy.  Achieved 
notoriety  by  collecting  money  for  a  gold  laurel  wreath 
for  the  Earl  of  Beaconsfield,  which  Lord  Beaconsfield 
refused.  Died  1890. 

Twining,  Elizabeth.  Silver  Medal  in  1824  for  a  Water- 
colour  Painting  of  Flowers.  Amateur  painter.  Phil- 
anthropist and  botanist.  Daughter  of  Richard  Twin- 
ing. One  of  the  founders  of  Bedford  College.  Died 
1889. 


208  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

Tytler,  George.  Silver  Medal  in  1825  for  a  Lithographic 
Drawing.  Lithographer.  Published  some  views  of 
Italian  scenery.  Died  1859. 

Underwood,  Thomas.  Silver  Palette  in  1828  for  a  Pencil 
Drawing  of  a  Landscape.  Engraver  and  writer  on  art 
and  archaeology.  Lived  in  Birmingham.  Died  1882. 

Vacher,  Charles.  Silver  Medal  in  1837  f°r  a  Lithograph. 
Water-colour  painter.  Died  1883. 

Van  Rymsdyk,  Andries.  Premiums  in  1765  (at  the  age 
of  eleven),  1766,  and  1767  for  Drawings  ;  Premium  in 
1767  for  a  Mezzotint.  Son  of  John  van  Rymsdyk, 
history  painter. 

Vendramini,  Caroline.  Silver  Medal  in  1821  for  a  Drawing. 
Daughter  of  Giovanni  Vendramini. 

Vendramini,  Giovanni.  Gold  Medals  in  1819  and  1829  for 
Engravings.  Engraver.  His  reputation  rested  chiefly 
on  his  reproductions  of  the  Old  Masters.  Died  1839. 

Vendramini,  R.  Silver  Palette  in  1829  ;  Silver  Medals 
in  1 830  and  1 833  for  Drawings.  Daughter  of  Giovanni 
Vendramini .  It  is  uncertain  to  which  of  the  two  sisters 
the  1829  and  1830  awards  were  made. 

Vickers,  Alfred  Gomersal.  Gold  Medal  in  1828  for  a 
Marine  Painting.  Marine,  subject,  and  landscape 
painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  and  else- 
where 1827-1837.  Died  1837. 

Vivares,  Mary.  Premiums  in  1759  and  1761  for  Drawings  ; 
Premium  in  1763  for  an  Engraving.  Daughter  of 
Francis  Vivares,  the  engraver. 

Vivares,  Thomas.  Premiums  in  1758  for  an  Ornamental 
Design ;  in  1 760  for  an  Etching  ;  in  1 76 1  for  a 
Drawing;  in  1762  for  an  Etching;  in  1763  for  a 
Landscape  ;  in  1764  and  1765  for  Engravings  ;  in 
1766  for  an  Etching.  Engraver.  Son  of  Francis 
Vivares,  the  well-known  engraver.  Exhibited  at 
Royal  Academy  1783-1787. 

Vulliamy,  Benjamin.  Premium  in  I758*for  a  Drawing. 
He  was  a  son  of  Justin  Vulliamy  ani  the  father  of 
Benjamin  (the  second)  and  Lewis  Vulliamy.  Justin 


SELECTED  NAMES  209 

and  the  two  Benjamins  were  eminent  clock-makers. 
Benjamin  the  elder  was  favoured  and  consulted  by 
George  in.  in  connection  with  Kew  Observatory, 
which  was  a  hobby  of  the  King .  Died  1 8 1  o . 
Vulliamy,  Lewis.  Silver  Medal  in  1813  for  an  Archi- 
tectural Design.  Architect.  Gold  Medallist  R.A. 
1813.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  1822-1838. 
Son  of  Benjamin  Vulliamy  the  elder.  Architect  of 
many  public  buildings  in  London,  and  of  numerous 
mansions,  including  Dorchester  House,  Park  Lane. 
Died  1871. 

Ward,  Edward  Matthew.  Silver  Palette  in  1831  for 
"  a  copy  in  Indian  ink  of  figures."  Historical  painter . 
R.A.  From  1839,  when  he  first  exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy,  his  work  was  popular  and  successful. 
Painted  several  of  the  pictures  in  the  corridor  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  Died  1879. 

Ward,  Francis  Swaine.  Premium  in  1765  for  a  Sea-piece. 
Landscape  painter .  Entered  the  service  of  the  H.E.I.C. 
and  went  to  Calcutta.  Made  numerous  drawings  of 
Indian  temples,  etc.  Died  about  1805. 

Ward,  John  Raphael.  Silver  Medal  in  1823  for  a  Water- 
colour  Portrait  (copy).  Engraver  and  copyist.  Pro- 
duced miniature  copies  of  some  of  Sir  Thomas  Law- 
rence's portraits.  Son  of  James  Ward,  R.A.  His 
daughter  married  E.  M.  Ward,  R.A.  Died  1879. 

Ward,  William.  Silver  Palette  in  1805  f°r  a  Drawing  of 
Ewell  Church.  Mezzotint  engraver.  A.R.A.  En- 
graved many  of  the  pictures  of  George  Morland,  whose 
sister  he  married.  Died  1826. 

Ward,  William  James.  Silver  Medals  in  1813,  1814,  and 
1815  for  Drawings.  Mezzotint  engraver.  Son  of 
William  Ward,  A.R.A.  Engraver  to  the  Duke  of 
Clarence,  afterwards  William  iv.  Died  1840. 

Waring,  John  B.  Silver  Medal  in  1843  f°r  an  Architec- 
tural Design.  Architect.  Superintendent  at  1862 
Exhibition.  Author  of  the  three  volumes  on  the 
Industrial  Art  and  Sculpture  of  the  Exhibition,  and 
of  other  works  on  Art.  Died  1875. 

15 


2io  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

Warner,  William.  Gold  Medal  in  1827  for  an  Intaglio. 
Seal  engraver.  Started  a  business  in  London,  which 
is  still  carried  on  by  his  son.  Engraved  seals  for 
Queen  Victoria.  Died  1872. 

Warren,  Charles.  Gold  Medal  in  1823  for  Improvements 
in  the  Art  of  Engraving  on  Steel.  Engraver.  He 
had  been  employed  in  engraving  for  calico  printing. 
Came  to  London  in  1802  and  was  successful  in  book 
illustration.  Chairman  of  Committee  of  Polite  Arts, 
1822.  Died  1823. 

Watson,  John  Burgess.  Gold  Medal  in  1824  for  a  Design 
for  a  House  ;  Silver  Medal  same  year  for  a  Drawing 
of  a  Crane.  Architect.  Died  1847. 

Webber,  Henry.  Silver  Palette  in  1783  for  an  Historical 
Drawing.  Gold  Medallist  R.A.  in  1779  for  a  Group. 
As  his  address  was  "  Etruria,"  he  was  presumably  em- 
ployed by  Wedgwood. 

Westall,  William.  Silver  Palettes  in  1798  for  a  Drawing  ; 
and  in  1800  fora  Landscape.  Landscape  painter.  He 
was  draughtsman  to  Captain  Flinders 's  voyage  of 
Australian  discovery,  was  wrecked,  and  had  many 
adventures.  Died  1850. 

Wheatley,  Francis.  Premiums  in  1762  and  1763  for 
Drawings  ;  and  in  1767  for  a  Landscape.  Landscape 
and  subject  painter.  R.A.  Pupil  of  Shipley.  Died 
1801. 

Wickstead,  Philip.  Premiums  in  1763,  1764,  and  1765  for 
Drawings.  Portrait  painter.  Pupil  of  Zoffany.  Went 
to  Jamaica.  Died  before  1790. 

Wilkins,  Robert.  Premiums  in  1765  and  1766  for  Sea- 
pieces.  Marine  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy 
1772-1788.  Died  about  1790. 

Williams,  Penry.  Silver  Medal  in  1820  for  a  Landscape  in 
Water-colour;  Silver  Medal  in  1821  for  a  Chalk 
Drawing.  Landscape  painter.  Exhibited  at  Royal 
Academy  1827-1869.  Died  1885. 

Williams,   William.     Premium   in    1758    for   a    Drawing. 
Subject    and  portrait   painter.     Exhibited    at    Royal 
Academy  1770-1792. 
Wilson,   Andrew.    Gold   Medal   in    1810   for   Stereotype 


SELECTED  NAMES  211 

Printing.     Some  examples  of  his  work  are  given  in 
Vol.  xxvin.  of  the  Transactions,  p.  317. 

Winkles,  H.  Silver  Medal  in  1820  for  Pen-and-ink  Draw- 
ing of  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  York.  Architect.  Joint 
author  (with  B.  Winkles)  of  works  on  the  English 
and  French  Cathedrals. 

Woollett,  William.  Premium  in  1759  for  a  Drawing.  En- 
graver. His  "  were  the  first  English  engravings  that 
gained  notice  on  the  Continent."  "  His  works  gave  a 
high  character  to  the  English  school  "  (Redgrave). 
Died  1785. 

Woolner,  Thomas.  Silver  Medal  in  1845  f°r  "  original 
modelled  design,  entitled  '  Affection.'  "  Sculptor. 
R.A.  Died  1892. 

Wright,  Richard.  Premiums  in  1766  and  1768  for  Sea- 
pieces.  Marine  painter.  His  best-known  work  is 
his  "  British  Fishery,"  engraved  by  Woollett.  Died 
about  1775. 

Wyatt,  Henry.  Silver  Medal  in  1812,  and  Silver  Palette 
in  1813  for  Drawings.  Portrait  and  subject  painter. 
Exhibited  at  Royal  Academy  after  1825.  Died 
1840. 

Wyon,  Anne.  Silver  Medal  in  1821  for  Modelling  Wax 
Flowers.  She  was  the  wife  of  Thomas  Wyon  the 
elder,  and  the  mother  of  Benjamin. 

Wyon,  Benjamin.  Gold  Medals  in  1819  and  1821  for 
Medal  Dies.  Seal  engraver.  Chief  engraver  of  seals. 
Son  of  Thomas  Wyon  the  elder.  Died  1858. 

Wyon,  James.  Silver  Medal  in  1820  for  a  "  Head  in 
Miniature."  Die  engraver.  Engraver  at  the  Mint. 
Son  of  George  Wyon,  brother  of  Thomas  Wyon  the 
elder. 

Wyon,  Thomas,  junr.  Gold  Medals  in  1810  and  1811  for 
Die  Engraving.  The  award  in  1810  was  for  a  head 
of  Isis,  adopted  for  the  Society's  Isis  Medal.  Medal- 
list. Son  of  Thomas  Wyon  the  elder.  Chief  en- 
graver to  the  Mint.  Died  1817. 

Wyon,  William.  Gold  Medals  in  1813,  1814,  and  1820 
for  Medal  Dies.  Medallist ,  R.A.  Chief  engraver 
to  the  Mint.  Nephew  of  Thomas  Wyon  the  elder. 


212  THE  FINE  ART  PRIZE-WINNERS 

The  Medal  in  1813  was  for  engraving  the  head  of 
Ceres  for  the  Society's  Medal  ;  that  of  1820  was  for 
designing  and  executing  the  dies  for  the  "  new  large 
Medal  of  the  Society/'  which  he  presented  (see  Trans- 
actions, Vol.  xxxvin.  p.  xxxiii).  Died  1851. 


"  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce." 
From  an  old  Die  in  the  Society's 
possession. 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS — (Continued) 
(1755-185!) 

Prizes  for  Artists'  Instruments  and  Materials,  Crayons,  Colours,  Pencils, 
Paper,  Etching  Fluids,  etc. — The  Society's  Shilling  Colour-Box — 
Steel  Engraving — Acierage  —  Aquatint  —  Colour  Printing — Die- 
Sinking,  Medals,  and  Medallists — Gem-engraving — Pastes  for 
Cameos — Tassie  and  his  Medallions. 

BESIDES  the  prizes  given  to  artists  as  encouragement  for 
technical  skill  or  in  appreciation  of  genius,  there  were 
also  a  certain  number  for  inventions  and  improvements 
connected  with  the  Arts.  A  good  many  of  these  are 
trivial,  but  there  are  others  of  interest  and  some  of  im- 
portance in  the  history  of  the  technics  of  Art. 

A  few  prizes  were  at  various  times  offered  and  awarded 
for  artists'  instruments  and  materials.  In  1 764  a  premium 
of  thirty  guineas  was  given  to  Thomas  Keyse  for  a  method 
of  fixing  crayon  drawings.  Keyse  was  a  still-life  painter 
of  some  repute.  He  was  also  the  keeper  of  Bermondsey 
Spa,  where  he  had  a  gallery  of  his  own  works.  The 
masterpiece  was  the  interior  of  a  butcher's  shop,  and  over 
it  certain  of  the  wits  of  the  time  made  merry. 

In  1772  twenty  guineas  were  given  to  Joseph  Pache 
for  preparing  crayons,  and  "  establishing  a  manufactory 
thereof  in  England."  In  1781  the  greater  silver  palette 
was  awarded  to  Thomas  and  William  Reeves  for  improved 
water-colours.  In  1794  the  palette  and  twenty  guineas 
were  awarded  to  George  Blackman  for  his  method  of 
making  oil-colour  cakes.  These  were  reported  on  favour- 
ably by  Cosway  and  by  Stothard,  and  the  method  of  their 
preparation  is  described  in  the  Transactions.1  In  1803  a 


1  Transactions,  vol.  xii.  p.  271. 
313 


214       THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS 

silver  medal  and  ten  guineas  were  given  to  James  Harris 
for  a  syringe  for  preserving  oil-colours.  The  syringe  was 
of  the  ordinary  sort,  when  it  was  filled  with  colour  the 
piston  was  inserted  and  secured  by  screwing  on  the  head. 
It  was  certainly  an  improvement  on  the  then  existing 
method  of  supplying  artists*  oil-colours  in  bladders,  and 
received  the  approval  of  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  P.R.A. 

An  award  to  William  Brockedon  in  1823  for  a  rest  for 
painters  engaged  in  minute  work,  may  be  noticed  on 
account  of  the  inventor's  personality,  rather  than  because 
of  its  intrinsic  importance.  Brockedon  was  a  versatile 
genius,  an  excellent  painter,  a  man  of  science  (he  was  an 
F.R.S.),  and  an  ingenious  inventor.  He  was  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  Polite  Arts  1824-1831. 

Besides  these  there  were  rewards  for  various  drawing 
instruments  and  appliances,  sculptors'  instruments,  etching 
fluids,  drawing  tablets,  pencils,  paper  for  copper-plate 
printing,  etc.  Reference  to  some  of  these  will  be  found 
in  Chapter  XIII,  which  also  records  the  award  to 
Senef elder  for  the  invention  of  lithography.1 

One  of  the  most  popular  things  the  Society  ever  did 
was  its  offer  of  a  medal  for  a  shilling  colour-box,  and 
mention  may  be  made  of  it  here,  though  we  are  antici- 
pating by  some  half  a  century  at  least  the  proper  course 
of  the  Society's  history.  This  offer  was  made  in  1851, 
and  in  the  following  year  the  medal  was  awarded  to  J. 
Rogers,  of  133  Bunhill  Row,  E.C.  The  box  has  long  since 
been  obsolete,  or  rather  has  been  superseded  by  better 
appliances  of  the  same  sort  ;  but  it  was  a  very  great 
advance  on  anything  which  existed  at  the  time,  and 
its  enormous  popularity  was  sufficient  evidence  of  its 
value. 

The  proposal  was  put  forward  by  Henry  Cole,  and  was 
carried  out  with  the  promptitude  that  characterised  all 
that  remarkable  man's  ideas.  The  offer  was  advertised 
in  September  1851.  The  competing  boxes  were  received 
on  ist  December,  and  the  award  was  published  on  i4th 
January  1852.  The  medal  was  presented  at  the  distribution 
of  awards  held  by  Prince  Albert  in  1853.  According  to 
1  See  Chapter  XIII,  p.  305. 


ARTISTS'  COLOURS,  ETC.— STEEL  ENGRAVING   2 1 5 

a  statement  made  by  Sir  Henry  Cole,1  the  maker  reported 
to  him  in  1870  that  eleven  millions  of  these  boxes  had 
then  been  sold. 

At  the  same  time  a  medal  was  offered  for  a  cheap  set 
of  drawing  instruments,  to  contain  a  pair  of  compasses, 
a  drawing  square,  and  a  graduated  ruler.  This  was 
awarded  to  J.  &  H.  Cronmire,  of  Cottage  Lane,  Com- 
mercial Road,  for  two  sets  of  instruments,  one  to  be  sold 
at  2S.  6d.,  and  one  of  a  superior  character  at  6s.  A  good 
many  of  these  were  sold,  but  the  drawing  instruments 
never  attained  the  popularity  of  the  shilling  colour-box. 

Two  prizes  awarded  in  1822  and  1823  mark  an  im- 
portant though  temporary  modification  in  the  technique 
of  the  engraver,  the  substitution  of  steel  for  copper  plates. 
Although  steel  had  been  employed  for  etched  plates  by 
Albert  Durer  in  1510,  it  had  never  really  come  into  use, 
and  until  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  copper  was 
in  practice  always  used  by  engravers.  It  had  the  advan- 
tage of  being  easily  worked  upon,  and  the  disadvantage  of 
only  giving  a  small  number  of  impressions.  The  precise 
date  of  the  invention  of  the  modern  steel  plate  seems 
uncertain,  and  the  name  of  the  inventor  (if  any  single 
person  can  claim  the  credit)  is  also  doubtful.  S.  T. 
Davenport 2  attributes  the  invention  to  Jacob  Perkins, 
whose  "  siderographic  "  process  for  printing  bank-notes 
will  be  described  later.3  In  the  volume  of  the  Trans- 
actions for  1820,  in  which  the  process  is  fully  described, 
Perkins  states  that  his  method  had  been  "  in  successful 
operation  many  years  in  America,"  and  it  certainly 
involved  the  use  of  engraved  steel  plates,  but  he  makes  no 
claim  to  having  been  the  first  to  engrave  on  steel.  He 
merely  refers  to  such  plates  as  if  they  were  in  ordinary 
use.4  In  the  specification  of  his  patent,  taken  out  in 
October  1819,  Perkins  describes  a  method  of  "  decarbonat- 

1  Fifty  Years  of  Public  Work,  vol.  i.  p.  385. 

2  "  Engraving  and  other   Reproductive    Art   Processes,"   Journal, 
vol.  xiii.  p.  134. 

3  See  Chapter  XIII,  p.  303. 

4  E.  Turrell,  in  a  communication  (Transactions,  vol.  xlii.  p.  43), 
says  that  Perkins  first  used  steel  plates  "  in  his  bank-note  manufactory 
in  the  United  States." 


216       THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS 

ing  "  and  "  reconverting  "  steel  plates  for  engraving,  and 
refers  to  the  use  of  steel  plates  as  a  thing  commonly 
known. 

Early  in  the  century  Abraham  Raimbach,  the  engraver, 
made  some  unsuccessful  experiments  with  steel,  but  it 
seems  to  have  been  considered  that  the  difficulties  of 
engraving  on  the  metal,  even  in  a  soft  state,  and  of  after- 
wards hardening  it,  were  practically  insuperable. 

Raimbach,  in  his  Memoirs*  does  not  refer  to  his 
experiments,  and  he  only  alludes  to  steel-plate  engraving 
as  a  cause  of  the  deterioration  of  the  art  from  the  numbers 
of  plates  produced  to  comply  with  the  popular  demand, 
and  the  consequent  inferiority  of  the  work. 

In  1822,  T.  G.  Lupton  was  awarded  a  gold  medal  for 
introducing  the  use  of  soft  steel  for  mezzotint.  In  a 
communication  on  the  subject,2  he  says  that  the  method 
of  working  is  precisely  the  same  as  for  copper  plates, 
except  that  greater  strength  has  to  be  used  in  laying  the 
ground,  and  the  plate  has  to  be  gone  over  with  the  tool 
a  greater  number  of  times. 

The  medal  was  evidently  given  to  Lupton  under  the 
idea  that  he  was  the  first  to  employ  steel,  at  all  events  for 
mezzotint,  and  in  his  paper  he  appears  to  claim  this  credit 
for  himself.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  he  seems  to 
have  been  anticipated  by  William  Say,  since  there  is  in 
the  collection  of  the  British  Museum  a  mezzotint  by  the 
latter  engraver,  which  is  dated  1817,  and  this  is  said  to 
have  been  printed  from  a  steel  plate.  It  is  from  a  portrait 
by  G.  Dawe,  R.A.,  of  the  Princess  Charlotte,  the  daughter 
of  George  iv.,  who  died  in  1817.  This  has  always  been 
believed  to  be  the  first  mezzotint  on  steel,  and  inasmuch 
as  Lupton 's  plate,  submitted  to  the  Society  in  1822, 
appears  from  his  paper  to  have  been  his  first  success, 
there  is  no  reason  to  question  Say's  claim  to  priority.3 

In  1823  a  gold  medal  was  given  to  Charles  Warren  for 
"  Improvements  in  the  art  of  engraving  on  steel."  These 
improvements  consisted  in  substituting  a  plate  of  soft 
steel  for  the  ordinary  copper  plate.  His  process  is  described 

1  Memoirs  of  Abraham  Raimbach,  1843.        2  Transactions,  vol.  xl.  p.  41 . 
3  See  also  Chapter  VIII,  p.  190  n. 


STEEL  ENGRAVING  217 

in  the  Transactions,1  and  it  appears  that  he  was  led  to 
experiment  in  the  use  of  steel  from  early  training  in 
engraving  for  calico  printers,  and  from  observation  of 
methods  used  in  ornamenting  articles  of  cast  steel.  He 
began  by  decarbonising  steel  plates,  and,  after  engraving 
on  the  softened  steel  (or  iron),  re-hardening  it,  but  he 
found  that  plates  of  sufficient  thinness  for  the  purpose  were 
apt  to  warp  in  the  hardening,  while  there  were  other 
difficulties  in  using  thicker  plates.  He  was  then  led  to  try 
printing  from  the  plates  in  their  soft  state,  and  found  no 
difficulty  in  producing  large  numbers  of  impressions. 
The  details  of  the  method  of  softening  the  plates  were 
improved,  and  it  was  found  that  editions  of  4000  and  5000 
prints  could  be  produced  without  the  plates  showing 
signs  of  deterioration.  Warren  died  suddenly,  after  the 
award  of  the  medal,  and  before  its  presentation,  so  the 
account  of  his  process  in  the  Transactions  is  contained  in  a 
report  by  the  committee,  not  in  a  communication  from 
himself.  So  far  as  can  be  judged,  the  method  is  princi- 
pally intended  for  etching,  though  available  also  for  line 
engraving. 

Probably  the  truth  about  the  invention  of  steel-plate 
engraving  is  that  many  engravers  tried  to  employ  steel. 
Perkins  was  successful  with  the  small  plates  that  served 
his  purpose,  and  probably  those  who  tried  to  use  larger 
lates  found  difficulties  in  the  processes  of  softening  and 
hardening  the  steel.  Very  likely,  therefore,  it  was  not  till 
Say  (possibly)  and  Lupton  and  Warren  (certainly)  found 
that  steel  plates  could  be  employed  without  the  necessity 
for  hardening  them,  that  such  plates  came  into  extensive 
use.  That  they  did  come  into  such  use,  and  very  rapidly, 
is,  of  course,  well  known.  The  facilities  they  afforded  for 
printing  large  editions  enabled  publishers  to  produce  the 
flood  of  "  Annuals  "  which  were  popular  in  the  thirties  and 
forties  of  the  last  century,  and  served  to  popularise  Art, 
if  they  did  little  to  elevate  it. 

The  copper  plate  came  to  its  own  again  when  it  was 
found  possible  to  deposit  upon  its  surface  a  thin  film  of 
steel,  or  rather  iron,  and  thus  to  give  it  a  hard  "  face  " 
1  Transactions,  vol.  xli.  p.  88. 


2i 8        THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS 

which  would  stand  the  wear  of  printing.  The  process  was 
termed  "  acierage,"  and  was,  as  all  the  evidence  goes  to 
show,  the  invention,  about  1858  or  a  little  earlier,  of 
Henry  Gamier,  a  Paris  engraver,  with  whom  F.  Joubert, 
also  an  engraver,  co-operated.  Joubert  brought  the 
process  over  to  London,  and  in  November  1858  he  read 
a  very  full  description  of  it  before  a  meeting  of  the  Society.1 
The  process  was  patented  in  England,  29th  March  1858, 
by  E.  A.  Jacquin,  as  a  "  communication  "  from  Henry 
Gamier.  The  process,  which  was  merely  a  method  of 
electro-deposition,  came  rapidly  into  use,  and  for  a  time 
was  associated  with  Joubert 's  name.  It  proved  to  be  of 
the  utmost  value,  and  has  ever  since  been  extensively 
applied  to  copper  plates  of  every  description,  including 
those  produced  by  photographic  methods.2 

When  steel  was  first  used  for  etching,  a  difficulty  was 
found  in  discovering  a  suitable  etching  fluid.  Nitric  acid 
acted  too  violently,  and  Warren  recommended  a  solution 
of  copper  nitrate,  acidified  with  nitric  acid.  In  the 
following  year  (1824)  Edmund  Turrell 3  received  a  gold 
medal  for  his  etching  fluid,  composed  of  pyroligneous  acid, 
nitric  acid,  and  alcohol,  and  this  fluid,  with  some  modifica- 
tions and  the  omission  of  the  spirit,  seems  to  have  been 
largely  used  for  some  years  for  etching  steel. 

A  few  other  awards  in  connection  with  plate-printing 
may  be  mentioned.  In  1773,  Richard  Samuel  received 
fifteen  guineas  for  a  tool  for  laying  mezzotint  grounds. 
Samuel  was  a  portrait  painter  of  no  great  merit,  according 
to  Redgrave.  In  1776,  Robert  Lawrie  (or  Laurie),  an 
engraver,  who  took  several  of  the  Society's  prizes,  received 
a  "  Bounty  "  of  thirty  guineas  for  an  invention  which 
facilitated  the  printing  of  mezzotint  plates  in  colours. 

In  1810  a  silver  medal  and  thirty  guineas  were  given 
to  John  Hassell  for  improvements  in  the  aquatint  process.4 
His  invention  consisted  in  drawing  direct  on  the  plate 

1  Journal,  vol.  vii.  p.  15. 

2  S.  T.  Davenport,  in  his  paper  above  mentioned,  quotes  a  letter 
from  Joubert,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  the  process  was  patented  in 
in  1848  by  M.  Jacquin  ;  but  this  is  merely  an  unfortunate  misprint. 

3  See  his  paper  in  Vol.  XLII.  of  the  Transactions  above  referred  to. 

4  Transactions,  vol.  xxviii.  p.  97. 


COLOUR-PRINTING—DIE-SINKING  219 

with  a  specially  prepared  ink,  which,  when  removed  from 
the  varnished  plate,  left  the  lines  clear  for  etching.  Such 
devices  were  at  a  later  date  known  to  and  employed  by 
aquatint  workers,  but  the  method  may  have  been  new  at 
the  date  of  the  award. 

The  idea  of  producing  prints  from  wood  blocks  in 
various  colours  is  very  old,  and  the  method  of  colour 
printing  for  which  William  Savage  obtained  a  silver  medal 
and  fifteen  guineas  in  1825  really  involved  no  novel 
principle.  He  used  different  blocks  for  the  different 
colours,  and  employed  various  devices  for  ensuring  accurate 
register.  Savage  produced  some  excellent  work, and  devoted 
much  attention  to  the  subject,  on  which  he  wrote  a  book.1 

The  work  done  by  the  Society  in  encouraging  the  art 
of  die-sinking  during  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  deserves  special  note.  In  the  1758  prize- list  is  an 
announcement  that  "  The  Medallic  Art  being  capable  of 
great  Improvement  in  this  Nation,"  a  prize  of  twenty 
guineas  will  be  given  for  a  copper  medal,  "  after  a  model 
first  produced  by  the  candidate,  and  approved  by  the 
Society,"  the  competition  being  limited  to  persons  under 
the  age  of  twenty-five.  The  offer  was  continued  for 
several  years,  the  terms  being  slightly  varied.  The  age 
limit  was  raised  to  forty,  and  a  second  prize  was  offered 
for  younger  candidates. 

The  effort  to  improve  the  character  of  British  medals 
was  successful,  for  the  result  was  that  a  number  of  admir- 
able medals  were  produced.  In  some  cases  the  candidates 
were  allowed  to  choose  their  own  subjects,  in  others  the 
subjects  were  specified  by  the  Society.  Most  of  the 
selected  subjects  were  British  victories,  of  which  there 
were,  fortunately,  about  that  time  a  sufficient  number  to 
provide  ample  choice.  Several  of  the  prizes  were  taken 
by  members  of  the  Pingo  family,  and,  according  to  a 
statement  by  Dossie,2  the  designs  from  which  the  dies  were 
cut  were  prepared  by  their  father,  Thomas  Pingo,  the 
engraver  to  the  Mint. 

1  Practical  Thoughts  on  Decorative  Printing,  1822. 
3  Vol.  iii.  p.  428, 


220        THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS 

Thomas  Pingo  himself  did  not  enter  for  any  of  the 
competitions,  but  he  was  paid  eighty  guineas  for  cutting 
the  dies  for  the  Society's  first  medal.  His  two  sons,  John 
and  Lewis,  carried  off  a  number  of  the  awards  for  medals, 
and  his  other  children,  Benjamin,  Henry,  and  Mary,  took 
numerous  prizes  in  other  classes.  Thomas  Pingo  was  an 
Italian  who  came  to  England,  and  was  appointed  Engraver 
to  the  Mint,  an  office  afterwards  filled  in  succession  by 
his  sons,  John  and  Lewis.  In  October  1758,  John  Pingo 
produced  a  model  for  a  medal  with  a  head  of  Britannia 
on  the  obverse,  with  the  legend, "  O  fair  Britannia,  hail  !  " 
taken  from  Akenside's  "  Ode  on  leaving  Holland.''  On 
the  reverse  was  the  figure  of  Victory  standing  on  the  prow 
of  a  ship,  with  the  inscription,  "  Louisburg  taken, 
MDCCLVIII."  This  referred  to  the  taking  of  Louisburg 
and  Cape  Breton  by  the  English,  under  Amherst  and 
Boscawen,  in  July  1758.  The  model  was  accepted,  but 
before  the  year  was  out  the  small  island  of  Goree,  on  the 
west  coast  of  Africa,  was  captured  from  the  French  by 
Admiral  Keppel,  and  the  glory  of  this  achievement  was 
supposed  to  eclipse  that  of  the  taking  of  Louisburg. 
Pingo  was  therefore  directed  to  make  a  new  die  for  the 
reverse  of  his  medal,  and  to  cause  the  words  "  Goree 
taken  "  to  replace  "  Louisburg  taken."  Hawkins  in  his 
book  on  Medals  l  tells  us  that  this  and  other  medals  re- 
warded by  the  Society  were  produced  under  the  direction 
of  Thomas  Hollis,  the  republican  writer,  and  that  he 
presented  copies  of  the  Goree  medal  to  Pitt,  Keppel,  and 
Akenside. 

Three  other  medals  were  produced  in  connection  with 
the  conquest  of  Canada,  one  by  John  Pingo  (1759)  with 
the  inscription  "  Quebec  taken  "  ;  a  second  by  Lewis 
Pingo  (1761),  "Canada  subdued " ;  and  a  third  by 
John  Kirk  (1763),  "  Conquest  of  Canada  completed." 
In  1762  a  prize  was  given  to  John  Kirk  for  a  medal 
in  commemoration  of  the  brilliant  exploit  of  Admiral 
Hawke  off  Belleisle,  on  2Oth  November  1759,  usually 
called  the  "  Battle  of  Quiberon."  Hawkins  did  not  know 

1  Medallic  Illustrations  of  the  History  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 
Edward  Hawkins.     1885. 


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PRIZES  FOR  MEDALS  221 

the  real  name  of  the  artist,  and  says  that  the  medal  was 
"probably  by  Thomas  Pingo."  Kirk  had  been  a  pupil 
of  J.  A.  Dassier,  who  had  been  engraver  to  the  Mint 
about  1750.  He  died  young  in  1776.  In  1763,  John 
Pingo  received  a  prize  for  a  medal,  the  subject  of  which 
was  the  Battle  of  Minden,  fought  in  August  1759,  and 
in  1765  one  for  a  medal  commemorating  the  Battle  of 
Plassy,  23rd  June  1759. 

Lewis  Pingo  also  received,  in  1764,  1771,  and  1772, 
three  other  premiums  for  medals  commemorating  victories, 
the  capture  of  Guadaloupe  in  1759  ;  the  naval  victory  at 
Lagos  in  1759  ;  the  capture  of  Havana  in  I762.1 

Besides  these,  John  Pingo  received  an  award  in  1762 
for  an  allegorical  group  of  the  Arts — "  Painting,  Sculpture, 
and  Architecture  "  ;  and  Lewis  Pingo  two  awards,  one 
in  1759  for  a  medal  representing  the  granting  of  Magna 
Charta,  and  a  second  for  a  portrait  medal  of  King  George  in. 
John  Kirk  also  received  a  premium  in  1762  for  engraving 
a  seal  for  the  Society  from  a  design  by  Cipriani,  modelled 
by  Spang,  and  Spang  was  rewarded  for  his  model.2  This  seal 
was  used  for  many  years,  and  when  the  Society  was  in- 
corporated it  was  adopted  as  the  corporate  seal  until  it 
was  abandoned  for  the  vastly  inferior  design  now  em- 
ployed. It  also  served  as  a  book-plate  for  the  books 
purchased  under  the  bequest  left  in  1797  by  W.  B.  Earle. 

There  were  also  a  few  other  awards  for  medals  about 
this  time.  One  was  to  G.  M.  Moser  (the  first  Keeper  of  the 
Royal  Academy)  for  a  medal  for  the  Society,  which  does 
not  seem  to  have  ever  been  adopted  ;  two  to  his  nephew, 
Joseph  Moser,  in  1 762  and  1 763  ;  and  two  to  John  Taylor, 
afterwards  a  jeweller  at  Bath,  for  allegorical  designs. 

After  the  date  when  these  prizes  were  awarded,  the 
subject  of  die-engraving  dropped  out  of  the  Society's 
lists.  Indeed,  the  last  offer  of  a  prize  for  medals  appears 
in  the  list  for  1765  ;  though  prizes  for  wax  models  for 
medallions  were  continued  to  1770.  It  was  one  of  these 

1  The  four  medals  for  Belleisle,  Minden,  Guadaloupe,  and  Plassy 
are  in  the  possession  of  the  Society.     Illustrations  of  them  are  given 
in  the  plate  facing  p.  220. 

2  See  the  plate  facing  p.  398. 


222        THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS 

that  Lewis  Pingo  obtained  in  1772,  and  it  was  many 
years  before  attention  was  again  given  to  the  art  of  the 
medallist.  Indeed,  it  is  not  until  1807  that  an  offer  of  a 
premium  for  medal  die-engraving  again  appears,  and  then 
it  does  not  seem  to  have  attracted  much  attention.  In 
1817,  George  Mills,  a  medallist  of  repute  at  the  time, 
received  a  gold  medal  for  a  medal  die,  and  he  followed 
up  this  success  by  obtaining  similar  awards  in  1818  and 
in  1828,  the  last  prize  being  for  a  new  die  for  the  Society's 
Vulcan  medal.  From  1813  to  1820  a  number  of  gold 
medals  were  taken  by  members  of  the  Wyon  family, 
several  of  them  were  for  medals  for  the  Society.  Of  these  a 
fuller  account  will  be  given  later  on.1  The  name  of  Pinches 
appears  in  the  list  for  the  years  1836  and  1837,  when  silver 
medals  were  awarded  to  T.  R.  Pinches  for  medal  dies,  and 
Scipio  Clint,  the  son  of  George  Clint,  A.R.A.,  the  engraver, 
received  gold  medals  for  dies  in  1824  and  1825. 

It  seems  not  unreasonable  to  assume  that  the  revival 
of  gem-engraving,  which  occurred  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  was  due  to  a  large  extent,  and 
perhaps  entirely,  to  the  Society  of  Arts.  In  1759  a  prize 
of  ten  guineas  was  offered  for  an  intaglio  on  red  cornelian, 
and  it  is  stated  that  the  prize  was  offered  because,  although 
"  the  Art  of  Engraving  in  Gems  is  a  very  ancient,  useful, 
and  curious  Art,  and  has  always  been  esteemed,  yet  [it] 
is  but  little  practised  in  this  nation. "  The  age  of  the 
candidates  was  limited  to  twenty-six.  The  prize  was 
taken  in  1760  by  Thomas  Smith,  jun.,  for  an  engraving 
of  the  statue  of  Meleager  in  the  Vatican  Gallery.  In 
the  following  year  the  age  of  the  candidates  was  reduced 
to  twenty-four,  and  the  prize  was  taken  (1761)  by 
Nathaniel  Marchant,  then  a  young  man  of  twenty-one. 

In  the  list  of  prizes  offered  in  1761  the  age  was  again 
raised  to  twenty-six.  This  prize  was  taken  by  Edward 
Burch.  Both  Marchant  and  Burch  became  Royal 
Academicians,  and  were  undoubtedly  the  finest  gem- 
engravers  of  their  day.  Mr.  Cecil  Thomas,  a  most  com- 
petent authority,  expresses  a  preference  for  the  work  of 

1  See  Chapter  XIV,  pp.  319  and  320;  also  Chapter  VIII,  p.  211. 


GEM-ENGRAVING  223 

the  younger  artist.  "  Marchant  was  easily  the  foremost, 
many  of  his  figure-subjects  being  admirable  and  delicate 
examples  of  intaglio  engraving."  l 

The  offer  of  prizes  was  continued  down  to  about  1770, 
the  conditions  being  varied  from  time  to  time,  and  separate 
prizes  being  added  for  cameo-cutting.  In  the  1762  list 
there  is  no  age  limit.  During  the  ten  years  or  so  for  which 
prizes  were  offered  Marchant  took  six,  Burch  three, 
Nehemiah  Spicer  four,  Robert  Staples  four,  John  Fruin 
two,  and  Lewis  Pingo  one. 

Cordial  testimony  to  the  value  of  the  help  given  by 
the  Society  in  the  encouragement  of  gem-engraving  is 
borne  by  Burch  himself,  who  says  in  his  catalogue  of 
engraved  gems  : — 

"  The  first  step  of  lifting  the  arts  from  obscurity  may 
justly  be  ascribed  to  that  truly  laudable  and  patriotic 
Society  for  the  Promotion  and  Encouragement  of  Arts, 
Manufactures,  and  Commerce ;  the  Duke  of  Richmond's 
Gallery  ;  with  a  valuable  collection  of  gesses  from  the 
most  admired  figures  and  busts  of  the  antique  ;  and  the 
Artists  Subscription  Academy  for  studying  after  Nature  : 
if  we  take  these  collectively,  we  shall  there  find  an  ample 
field  for  encouragement  and  improvement.  First,  the 
above  honourable  society  who  gave  (with  a  liberal  hand) 
premiums  for  history  paintings,  large  and  small  models 
for  sculpture  likewise,  and  engravings  on  gems  ;  and  it 
is  with  thankfulness  that  I  acknowledge  the  share  I  had 
in  these  honors  and  emoluments.  Premiums  were  also 
given  for  engravings  on  copper  plate,  drawings  in  various 
branches  :  in  short,  what  was  most  for  the  fame  and 
opulence  of  their  native  country  was  generously  under- 
taken by  them,  and  carried  on  with  a  spirit  which  must 
do  honor  to  any  institution."  2 

In  the  same  year  (1759)  in  which  the  prize  for  gem- 
engraving  was  first  offered,  a  prize  was  also  proposed  for 

1  "  Gem  Engraving/'  Journal,  vol.  Ix.  p.  366. 

2  From  the  Introduction  to  A  Catalogue  of  One  Hundred  Proofs  from 
Gems  Engraved  in  England,  by  E.  Burch,  R.A.,  Engraver  to  His  Majesty, 
for  Medals  and  Gems  ;   and  to  His  Royal  Highness  the  Duke  of  York. 
London:   1795.     Printed  for  the  author.    (Pp.  ix,  x.) 


224       THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS 

"  casts  or  impressions  in  glass,  commonly  called  pastes," 
"  nearest  in  excellence  to  antique  pastes,  as  well  cameos 
as  intaglios."  The  offer  was  continued  in  successive  lists 
up  to  1764,  and  after  this  occasionally  prizes  were  offered 
for  cameos  and  intaglios.  It  did  not  produce  very  much 
result.  Two  awards  of  twenty  guineas  each  were  made 
to  Samuel  More,  afterwards  Secretary  to  the  Society  and 
then  a  member,  in  1763  and  1764  for  two  collections  of 
such  impressions,  and  in  1765  premiums  of  ten  and  five 
guineas  were  given  to  Edward  Carter,  a  jeweller,  and  to 
Robert  Fruin,  a  gem-engraver.  No  information  about 
More's  imitation  cameos  seems  to  be  available. 

Of  more  interest  and  importance  is  the  award  of  ten 
guineas  in  1767  to  James  Tassie  for  "  Figures,  heads,  and 
portraits  of  his  composition  resembling  antique  onyx." 
Tassie  soon  acquired  a  considerable  reputation,  both  for 
his  copies  of  ancient  gems  and  for  portrait  cameos  modelled 
by  himself.  The  paste  was,  according  to  an  analysis  by 
Professor  Crum-Brown,  "  a  very  easily  fusible  glass, 
essentially  a  lead  potash  glass,"  and  as  it  was  reduced  by 
a  very  moderate  heat  to  a  pasty  consistency,  it  was  admir- 
ably suited  for  taking  casts  from  moulds  of  plaster  or  other 
material.1  Tassie  was  not  only  a  competent  chemist,  but 
a  skilful  modeller,  and  he  eventually  established  a  con- 
siderable business,  which,  after  his  death  in  1799,  was 
carried  on  by  his  nephew  William.  His  portrait  medallions 
and  reproductions  were  highly  appreciated,  and  Mr.  Gray, 
in  his  memoir,  quotes  a  letter  from  Shelley  to  Thomas 
Love  Peacock  in  1822,  asking  Peacock  "  to  get  me  two 
pounds*  worth  of  Tassie's  gems,  in  Leicester  Square,  the 
prettiest,  according  to  your  taste."  At  the  present  time 
his  works  are  of  value.  There  is  a  collection  of  them  in 
the  possession  of  the  Edinburgh  Board  of  Manufactures. 
Miss  Catherine  Andras,  who  received  a  silver  palette  in 
1 80 1  for  her  portrait-models  in  wax  of  the  Princess 
Charlotte  and  Lord  Nelson,  is  thought  by  Mr.  Gray  to 
have  been  connected  with  the  Tassies,  as  some  of  her 
models  were  cast  in  their  paste  by  them. 

1  James  and  William  Tassie,  by  John  M.  Gray.     1894.     Mr.  Gray 
died  in  the  year  in  which  his  book  was  published. 


GEM-ENGRAVING 


225 


During  a  long  interval  the  subject  of  gem-engraving  was 
quite  neglected  by  the  Society,  so  far  as  the  offer  of  prizes 
was  concerned.  The  subject  reappears  in  the  premium 
list  for  1823,  and  from  that  date  on  prizes  were  occasionally 
given.  In  1828  a  gold  medal  was  presented  to  C.  Durham 
for  an  intaglio,  and  a  silver  medal  to  J.  S.  Phillips  for  a 
cameo.  F.  F.  Cuisset  took  silver  medals  for  intaglios  in 
1830  and  1832.  Nothing  more  has  been  discovered  about 
these  artists'  work,  and  their  names  do  not  appear  in 
Ferrer's  Dictionary. 

A  gold  medal  was  awarded  in  1827  to  William  Warner 
for  an  intaglio  of  a  group  (Mare  and  Foal)  which  has  been 
preserved,  and  is  a  nice  piece  of  work.  He  was  a  seal 
engraver  established  in  London,  who  afterwards  cut  some 
seals  for  Queen  Victoria  and  the  Prince  Consort,  as  well  as 
some  medallion  portraits  of  Napoleon  in.  and  the  Duke 
of  Wellington.  The  last  award  which  requires  mention 
is  a  gold  medal  in  1845  to  T.  Moring,  for  an  engraving  on 
white  cornelian.  This  is  still  in  existence,  and  the 
writer  has  an  impression  of  it. 


Abraham  Staghold's  Gun-Harpoon  (see  p.  249). 


CHAPTER    X 
THE  SOCIETY'S  EARLY  ART  EXHIBITIONS 

The  Society  originates  Exhibitions  of  Artists'  Works — The  French  Salon 
— The  Foundling  Collection — The  first  Picture  Exhibition  in 
London — Its  Successors,  the  Free  Society  of  Artists  and  the 
Incorporated  Society  of  Artists — First  Suggestions  for  an  Academy 
of  Arts — The  Royal  Academy. 

A  VERY  important  service  rendered  by  the  Society  to  the 
promotion  of  the  Fine  Arts  in  England  was  the  establish- 
ment of  periodical  exhibitions  of  the  works  of  contemporary 
artists,  since  it  was  directly  as  a  consequence  of  those 
exhibitions  that  the  Royal  Academy  was  founded.  The 
Society,  therefore,  may  legitimately  claim  to  have  been 
not  only  the  precursor  of  the  Academy,  but  the  original 
source  from  which  that  great  institution  was  developed. 

That  English  artists  should  never  before  have  adopted 
this  method  of  making  their  works  known  to  the  public 
is  the  more  extraordinary,  because  it  had  long  been 
well  known  and  popular  in  Paris.  Exhibitions  of  con- 
temporary pictures  had  been  held  regularly  in  France  a 
century  before  the  idea  was  started  in  this  country.  As 
a  French  writer  on  the  subject  says  :  "  C'est  a  la  France 
que  revient  1'honneur  d 'avoir  institue  les  expositions 
periodiques  des  artists  vivants."  On  the  advice  of  Colbert, 
Louis  xiv.  suggested  to  his  Academy  of  Painting  and 
Sculpture  that  its  members  should  hold  an  annual  ex- 
hibition of  their  works.  The  proposal  was  accepted  in 
1663,  though  it  was  not  till  1667  that  the  first  Salon  des 
Beaux  Arts  was  opened.  By  the  advice  of  Colbert  the 
exhibition  was  made  biennial  instead  of  annual,  and 
from  that  time  it  has  been  continued,  with  certain  short 

intervals  and  occasional  irregularities,  at  first  biennially 

326 


PARIS  SALON— THE  FOUNDLING  PICTURES     227 

and  afterwards  annually,  down  to  the  present  day.  There 
is  no  need  to  follow  the  history  of  these  exhibitions.  Those 
who  wish  to  do  so  will  find  an  excellent  account,  succinct, 
but  with  full  detail,  in  Larousse's  well-known  Dictionary,1 
from  which  source  the  above  particulars  are  taken.  Mention 
may,  however,  be  made  of  Diderot's  studies  on  the  Salons, 
from  1759  to  1781,  collected  and  published  in  1796,  and 
afterwards  included  in  a  more  complete  form  in  the  edition 
of  Diderot's  works,  edited  by  Mons.  Assezat.2  It  does 
not  look  as  if  many  English  artists  contributed  to  any 
of  these  Salons.  The  only  English  name  mentioned  by 
Diderot  is  that  of  Strange,  the  engraver. 

There  seems  reason  to  believe  that  the  idea  of  holding 
an  exhibition  of  pictures  in  London  was  suggested  by  the 
popularity  attained  by  the  collection  of  pictures  at  the 
Foundling  Hospital.  This  collection  was  formed  by  the 
liberality  of  various  artists,  who  contributed  pictures  for 
the  decoration  of  the  walls  of  the  new  building  of  the 
hospital,  Hogarth  being  a  principal  donor,  and  the  most 
eminent  among  the  contributors.  According  to  the 
statement  in  Austin  Dobson's  Life  of  Hogarth,  which  is 
corroborated  by  information  in  Brownlow's  account  of 
the  Foundling,  the  collection  was  formed  about  1746.  It 
soon  became  a  popular  resort,  and  the  artists  who  had 
given  the  pictures  found  a  good  deal  of  benefit  from  the 
advertisement,  though  there  was  no  actual  profit,  as  nothing 
was  charged  for  admission. 

The  very  moderate  publicity  thus  given  to  the  pictures 
of  a  few  artists  seems  to  have  suggested  the  idea  that 
an  exhibition  on  a  larger  scale  would  be  highly  profitable, 
by  attracting  the  attention  of  the  public  and  giving 
artists  generally  an  opportunity  of  making  their  works 
known.  At  any  rate,  it  is  certain  that,  whether  in  con- 
sequence of  the  Foundling  collection  or  not,  a  committee 
of  artists  was  formed  in  1759  or  1760,  at  the  "  St.  Martin's 
Lane  Academy  " — the  well-known  painting  school  pre- 
viously referred  to 3 — with  the  object  of  promoting  the 

1  Grand  Dictionnaire  Universel  du  XI Xe  Sticle,  art.  "  Salon,"  vol.  xiv. 
p.  136(1875). 

2  (Euvres  completes  de  Diderot.     Par  J.  Assezat,  1876. 

3  See  Chapter  I,  p.  8. 


228     THE  SOCIETY'S  EARLY  ART  EXHIBITIONS 

formation  of  a  regular  exhibition  of  paintings.  Of  this 
committee,  Mr.  Francis  Hayman,  an  active  member  of 
the  Society  of  Arts,  and  afterwards  an  original  Royal 
Academician,  was  chairman. 

The  Society  had  moved  into  its  new  premises  opposite 
Beaufort  Buildings  in  1759,*  and  one  of  the  reasons  for 
its  move  was  the  acquisition  of  a  "  Great  Room,"  in  which 
could  be  exhibited  the  pictures  and  other  works  of  Art  to 
which  its  premiums  had  been  awarded.  It  had,  therefore, 
facilities  for  holding  an  exhibition  on  a  large  scale  (the 
Great  Room  was  80  ft.  by  40  ft.),  and  had  already  held 
exhibitions  of  a  less  important  character.  Hayman, 
therefore,  very  naturally  appealed  to  the  Society  for  its 
aid. 

This  he  did  by  making  a  formal  application,  since  it 
appears  from  the  minutes  of  the  Society  of  Arts  that  on 
2 /th  February  1760,  "  A  letter  from  Mr.  Francis  Hayman, 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Artists,  was  read,  desiring 
the  use  of  the  Society's  room  for  exhibiting  paintings, 
etc."  The  letter  was  referred  to  a  large  and  important 
committee,  including  among  its  members,  Israel  Wilkes, 
R.  E.  Pine,  Sir  George  Savile,  Lord  Ward,  P.  Carteret 
Webb,  Mr.  Chambers,  Lord  Midleton,  Sir  Thomas 
Robinson,  Thomas  Hollis,  Dr.  Knight,  and  Henry  Baker. 
The  committee  reported  on  5th  March  that  "  they  are  of 
opinion  that  the  Society  may  allow  a  Public  Exhibition 
of  Productions  in  the  Polite  Arts  for  one  fortnight  this 
year  under  such  regulations  and  restrictions  as  the  Society 
shall  hereafter  prescribe."  2 

Regulations  were  accordingly  prepared,  under  which 
all  pictures  sent  in  by  the  committee  of  artists  were  to 
be  accepted,  all  other  pictures  being  selected  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Society.  The  Society's  committee  was  to 
be  the  hanging  committee,  and  to  "  appoint  the  places 
where  all  the  productions  may  be  hung  or  exhibited,  in 
case  any  dispute  shall  arise  among  the  artists  about 

1  See  Chapter  III,  p.  54. 

2  Much  of  this  account  of  the  Society's  early  Exhibitions  of  pictures 
has  been  taken  from  the  article  by  Mr.  H.  B.  Wheatley  in  the  Journal, 
6th  September  1895. 


THE  FIRST  PICTURE  EXHIBITION         229 

placing     them."       No    charge    was     to    be    made     for 
admission. 

It  is  quite  clear  that,  although  the  Society  accepted 
the  proposition  of  the  artists  for  an  exhibition,  its  com- 
mittee took  care  to  reserve  to  themselves  all  the  arrange- 
ments— so  that  it  was,  in  fact,  the  Society's  exhibition. 
All  the  costs  and  charges  were  borne  by  the  Society,  and 
it  appears  from  the  account  books  that  though  they  paid 
all  the  expenses,  they  received  nothing  whatever  in  return. 
More  than  this,  the  Society's  committee  were  responsible 
for  all  the  details  of  the  arrangements,  the  printing  of  the 
tickets,  the  preparation  of  the  catalogue,  etc.  Pictures 
sent  in  by  the  committee  of  artists  were  accepted,  but 
that  was  all  they  had  to  do  with  the  management  of  the 
exhibition. 

In  the  exhibition  there  were  130  pictures  by  sixty- 
nine  painters.  The  best  artists  were  well  represented. 
Reynolds  had  four  portraits,  Richard  Wilson  three 
landscapes,  Hayman  his  well-known  picture  of  Garrick 
as  Richard  in.,  and  Cosway  the  portrait  of  Shipley. 
Among  other  important  exhibitors  may  be  mentioned 
Highmore,  Morland,  Pine,  Sandby,  Carlini,  Moser, 
Pingo,  Roubiliac,  Wilton,  MacArdell,  Gwynn,  Rooker, 
Strange,  and  Woollett. 

The  exhibition  was  a  success,  but,  unfortunately,  a 
success  which  led  to  disaster,  for  a  disagreement  arose 
among  the  exhibitors  as  to  the  use  to  be  made  of  the  money 
received  at  the  door  in  payment  for  catalogues.  This 
amounted  to  one  hundred  pounds,  and  the  money  was, 
apparently,  left  to  the  disposal  of  the  contributors.  The 
Society  certainly  never  had  or  asked  for  any  of  it.  It 
appears  to  have  been  invested,  and  was  probably  added  to 
the  fund  devoted,  as  is  mentioned  later,  to  charitable 
purposes.  In  consequence  of  the  dispute  there  were  two 
rival  exhibitions  in  1761.  The  chief  artists  seceded,  and 
formed  themselves  into  the  Society  of  Artists  of  Great 
Britain,  which  exhibited  in  Spring  Gardens,  and  the 
Society  of  Arts  continued  its  patronage  to  the  others, 
who  subsequently  styled  themselves  the  Free  Society  of 
Artists.  Each  body  took  credit  for  the  exhibition  of 


23o     THE  SOCIETY'S  EARLY  ART  EXHIBITIONS 

1760,  and    counted   its   own   exhibition   of    1761    as  the 
second.1 

The  Society's  exhibitions  were  continued  for  four 
more  years — 1761  to  1764 — and  they  were  principally 
supported  by  those  artists  who  eventually  became  the 
Free  Society  of  Artists.  These  exhibitions  all  seem  to 
have  been  well  supported .  But  the  artists  who  contributed, 
although  distinguished,  were  neither  so  numerous  nor  so 
important  as  those  who  contributed  to  the  rival  exhibi- 
tion of  the  Society  of  Artists  of  Great  Britain. 

It  was  definitely  decided,  and  notices  were  printed  on 
the  catalogues,  that  the  money  arising  from  the  sale  of  the 
catalogues,  which  formed  the  only  profits  of  the  exhibition, 
was  to  be  given  "  by  the  artists  immediately  after  the  ex- 
hibition to  some  public  charity."  There  seems  to  have 
been  a  certain  amount  of  trouble  in  consequence  of  the 
numbers  of  visitors,  as  no  admission  fee  was  charged,  and 
it  was  found  necessary  to  employ  a  number  of  constables 
to  control  the  crowd. 

After  1764  the  Society  decided  to  discontinue  the  ex- 
hibitions, but  the  artists  held  exhibitions  in  1765  and  1766 
in  "  Mr.  Moreing's  Great  Room  in  Maiden  Lane,  Covent 
Garden."  In  1767  the  Free  Society  of  Artists  was  de- 
finitely formed,  and  they  held  annual  exhibitions  up  to 
1783 — first  in  "  the  two  new  Great  Exhibition  Rooms  in 
the  Pall  Mall,  near  the  bottom  of  Hay  Market,"  then  in 
"Mr.  Christie's  new  Great  Room,  next  Cumberland 
House,  Pall  Mall,"  2  and  after  this,  in  rooms  in  or  near 
the  Haymarket. 

"  The  Society  of  Artists  of  Great  Britain,"  on  leaving 

1  Dr.  Johnson,  writing  in  June  1761  to  Baretti,  who  was  then  in 
Milan,  speaks  of  this  second  exhibition  :  "  The  artists  have  instituted  a 
yearly  exhibition  of  pictures  and  statues,  in  imitation,  as  I  am  told,  of 
foreign  academies.  .  .  .  They  please  themselves  much  with  the  multi- 
tude of  spectators,  and  imagine  that  the  English  School  will  rise  in 
reputation.  .  .  .  Surely  life,  if  it  be  not  long,  is  tedious,  since  we  are 
forced  to  call  in  the  assistance  of  so  many  trifles  to  rid  us  of  our  time, 
of   that   time  which  never  can  return." — Boswell's  Life,   edited  by 
G.  Birkbeck  Hill,  vol.  i.  p.  363. 

2  Cumberland  House  was  afterwards  part  of  the  War  Office,  and  was 
pulled  down  when  the  Automobile  Club  was  built  in  1910. 


SOCIETY  OF  ARTISTS  231 

the  Society  of  Arts,  went  to  "  the  Great  Room  in  Spring 
Garden,  Charing  Cross."  It  is  not  quite  certain  where 
this  room  was  situated,  but  it  is  supposed  to  be  now 
incorporated  in  the  offices  of  the  London  County  Council. 
As  previously  stated,  the  chief  cause  of  the  split  among 
the  artists  was  a  dispute  as  to  the  use  to  be  made  of  the 
money  obtained  from  the  sale  of  the  catalogues  ;  but  it 
is  evident  that  the  ruling  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  that  no 
charge  should  be  made  for  admission,  had  much  to  do 
with  the  decision  of  the  chief  artists  to  go  elsewhere,  for 
in  the  preface  of  the  catalogue  of  the  Society  of  Artists 
for  1762,  which  was  written  by  Dr.  Johnson,  we  read  : — 

"  Of  the  price  put  upon  this  exhibition  some  account 
may  be  demanded.  Whosoever  sets  his  work  to  be  shown 
naturally  desires  a  multitude  of  spectators,  but  his  desire 
defeats  its  own  end  when  spectators  assemble  in  such 
numbers  as  to  obstruct  one  another.  Though  we  are  far 
from  wishing  to  diminish  the  pleasures  or  depreciate  the 
sentiments  of  any  class  of  the  community,  we  know, 
however,  what  every  one  knows,  that  all  cannot  be  judges 
or  purchasers  of  works  of  art,  yet  we  have  already  found  by 
experience  that  all  are  desirous  to  see  an  exhibition.  When 
the  terms  of  admission  were  low,  our  room  was  throng 'd 
with  such  multitudes  as  made  access  dangerous,  and  fright- 
ened away  those  whose  approbation  was  most  desired." 

The  exhibition  of  the  Society  of  Artists  of  Great 
Britain  for  1761  is  styled  on  the  catalogue  "  the  second 
year,"  but  no  explanation  of  the  secession  from  the 
exhibition  of  the  Society  of  Arts  is  given.  This  catalogue 
contains  a  frontispiece  by  Hogarth,  representing  Britannia 
as  watering  the  roots  of  three  trees,  labelled  respectively 
painting,  sculpture,  and  architecture,  from  a  fountain 
surmounted  by  a  bust  of  George  in.  Hogarth  himself 
exhibited  no  less  than  seven  pictures,  among  which 
were  his  celebrated  "  Sigismunda,"  the  "  Gate  of  Calais," 
"  Picquet,  or  Virtue  in  Danger,"  and  "  The  Election." 
Gainsborough  sent  a  portrait,  Reynolds  five  portraits, 
Richard  Wilson  six  landscapes,  and  Francis  Hayman  a 
picture  of  "  Sir  John  Falstaff."  The  receipts  from  this 
exhibition  were  £650. 


232     THE  SOCIETY'S  EARLY  ART  EXHIBITIONS 

The  Society  of  Artists  of  Great   Britain  obtained  a 
charter  and  a  coat  of  arms  in  1765,  and  became  known 
as  the  Incorporated  Society  of  Artists.     George  Lambert 
was  appointed  the  first  president,  Francis  Hayman  the 
first  vice-president,  and  F.  M.  Newton  the  first  secretary. 
The  Incorporated  Society  seemed  to  be  on  the  high  road 
to  prosperity,  but,  in  spite  of  complaints,  it  did  nothing 
for  teaching,  and  formed  no  school,  so  that  many  of  the 
leading  artists  became  disgusted,  and  again  there  was  a 
secession.      The   seceders   applied   for   a   charter   for   an 
academy,  which  was  granted,  and  the  Royal  Academy  was 
founded  in  1 768.     From  that  date  the  Incorporated  Society 
steadily   declined,   although    for   a   time    some     of    the 
Royal  Academicians  continued  to  send  to  its  exhibitions. 
The  exhibitions  of  the  Incorporated  Society  continued 
to  be  held  in  Spring  Gardens  until  1771 .     In  the  following 
year   the   Society   removed    to   their   "  new   room     near 
Exeter    Exchange,"    which    was    on    the    site    of    the 
present  Lyceum  Theatre.      In  1777  the  Society  went  to 
Piccadilly,  near  Air  Street  ;    in  1780  to  Spring  Gardens, 
and  in    1783    to    Exeter   Change    again.     No    exhibition 
was  held  between  1783  and  1790,  when  a  final  exhibition 
was  held,  and  after  this  the  Incorporated  Society  came 
to  an  end. 

For  at  least  fourteen  years  previously  various  proposals 
had  been  made  in  different  quarters  for  the  formation  of 
an  Academy  of  Arts.  Soon  after  the  Society  of  Arts  had 
been  established,  a  suggestion  was  considered  that  the 
Society  itself  should  apply  for  a  charter  for  an  Academy 
of  Painting,  Sculpture,  etc.  The  principal  advocate 
of  the  scheme  was  Henry  Cheere  (afterwards  Sir  Henry 
Cheere),  and  he  was  warmly  supported  by  Dr.  Madden. 
The  full  text  of  his  proposal,  with  the  draft  of  a  charter 
for  a  Royal  Academy,  is  preserved  in  Dr.  Templeman's 
MS.  volume  of  Transactions  hereinafter  referred  to.1  The 
proposal,  however,  was  not  approved,  and  the  Society 
even  refused  to  offer  one  of  its  prizes  for  a  scheme  for 
such  an  Academy. 

Even  before  the  establishment  of  the  Society  a  definite 

1  See  Chapter  XV,  p.  328. 


THE  ROYAL  ACADEMY  233 

proposal  for  an  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  had  been  put 
forward.  In  1753,  a  number  of  artists,  under  the  chair- 
manship of  Francis  Hayman,  actually  held  a  meeting  to 
discuss  the  project.  The  official  notification  of  the 
meeting,  held  on  i3th  November,  is  as  follows  : — 

"  There  is  a  scheme  on  foot  for  creating  a  public 
Academy  for  the  improvement  of  painting,  sculpture,  and 
architecture,  and  it  is  thought  necessary  to  have  a  certain 
number  of  professors  with  proper  authority  in  order  to 
making  regulations,  taking  subscriptions,  etc.,  erecting 
a  building,  instructing  the  students,  and  concerting  all 
such  measures  as  shall  be  afterwards  thought  necessary. 
Your  company  is  desired  at  the  Turk's  Head,  in  Gerard 
Street,  Soho,  on  the  i3th  November,  at  five  in  the  evening, 
to  proceed  to  the  election  of  thirteen  painters,  three 
sculptors,  one  chaser,  two  engravers,  and  two  architects, 
in  all  twenty-four,  for  the  purpose  aforesaid. 

(Signed)      Francis  Milner  Newton,  Secretary ."  l 

No  agreement  was  come  to  at  the  meeting,  and  the 
projectors  were  satirised  by  their  fellow-artists,  and  became 
the  objects  of  several  caricatures. 

The  reason  why  those  proposals  all  failed,  and  why  the 
Royal  Academy  succeeded,  was,  as  has  been  pointed  out 
by  Messrs.  Hodgson  and  Eaton  in  their  History  of  the 
Royal  Academy,  that  its  projectors  had  realised  that 
there  was  a  source  of  revenue  in  the  holding  of  exhibitions 
of  pictures.  The  hundred  pounds  taken  at  the  Society's 
first  exhibition  proved  that,  and  further  confirmation  was 
provided  by  the  larger  receipts  at  those  exhibitions  when 
a  charge  was  made  for  admission.  The  founders  of  the 
Royal  Academy  made  good  use  of  their  experience,  and 
from  their  day  to  our  own  the  Academy  has  earned  much 
money  by  its  exhibitions,  and  has  applied  that  money 
wisely  and  well  to  the  education  of  artists. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  while  the  constitution  of 
the  Academy,  as  defined  in  the  "  Instrument  "  or  charter, 
granted  by  George  in.,  is  entirely  different  from  that 

1  Rimbault's  Soho  (1895),  pp.  194,  195,  quoted  by  Mr.  H.  B. 
Wheatley. 


234     THE  SOCIETY'S  EARLY  ART  EXHIBITIONS 

proposed  in  the  scheme  for  an  Academy  of  Painting 
submitted  to  the  Society  in  1755  by  Sir  Henry  Cheere,  its 
objects,  and  the  methods  of  attaining  them,  are  identical 
with  those  set  forth  in  the  original  proposal.  Those  who 
drafted  the  older  scheme  evidently  had  in  their  minds 
the  establishment  of  an  institution  similar  to  the  Royal 
Society,  and  consisting  of  an  unlimited  number  of  Fellows 
with  a  president  and  a  council,  whereas  the  founders  of  the 
Royal  Academy  took  for  their  model  the  French  Academy 
of  Louis  xiv.  with  its  forty  members,  the  governing  body 
being  a  council  of  eight,  on  which  all  Academicians  served 
in  rotation.  When,  however,  they  came  to  details,  they 
practically  adopted  the  scheme  set  out  in  Cheere 's  draft 
charter,  which  proposed  an  annual  exhibition,  the  appoint- 
of  professors  (anatomy,  geometry,  perspective,  architecture, 
antiquity,  and  "  other  studies  "),  and  a  drawing-master, 
the  establishment  of  a  school  with  models,  the  provision 
of  medals,  etc.  Practically  the  same  establishment  is 
provided  in  the  "  Instrument/'  which,  though  obsolete 
in  some  particulars  and  modified  in  others,  is  still  the 
fundamental  charter  of  the  Academy. 

Had  the  original  proposal  been  carried  out,  there  can 
be  little  doubt  that  the  Society  of  Arts  would  have  been 
merged  in  the  Academy,  which  would  almost  certainly 
have  developed  on  its  present  lines.  It  is  therefore 
probable  that  much  of  the  useful  work  carried  out  by  the 
Society  in  the  first  half  century  of  its  existence  would  never 
have  been  accomplished,  and  it  is  highly  unlikely  that 
any  improvement  would  have  been  effected  in  the  methods 
of  the  Academy.  Probably  the  net  result  would  have 
been  that  Art  would  not  have  benefited,  while  agriculture, 
invention,  industry,  and  commerce  would,  for  a  time  at 
least,  have  suffered.  So  while  the  Society  of  Arts  may 
take  a  legitimate  pride  in  the  share  it  had  in  preparing 
the  way  for  the  establishment  of  the  Royal  Academy,  it 
may  also  congratulate  itself  on  the  fact  that  the  attempt  to 
concentrate  in  the  hands  of  a  single  institution  the  work  of 
supervising  and  promoting  all  the  arts  and  industries  of  the 
country  did  not  succeed. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  PREMIUMS 
(1754-1851) 

Object  of  the  Premiums — Committees  of  Award — Method  of  Adjudi- 
cation— The  Premium  Lists — Character  of  the  Premiums  offered 
— General  Results  of  the  System  of  Prize-giving,  its  Good  and 
Bad  Points — Exclusion  of  Patented  Inventions — Motive  Power 
before  the  Steam  Engine — Its  Applications,  Weaving,  Sawmills, 
etc. — Lovell  Edgeworth's  Inventions — The  Screw-jack — The  Gun- 
harpoon — Mechanical  Telegraphs — Mining,  Pumps,  Ventilation, 
Safety  Lamps — Civil  Engineering,  the  first  Iron  Bridge — Naval 
Construction — Various  Mechanical  Appliances. 

As  previously  mentioned,  the  sole  original  object  of  the 
Society  was  to  promote  art,  industry,  commerce,  and 
invention,  by  granting  rewards  and  premiums  for  meri- 
torious discoveries  and  inventions,  for  success  in  the 
various  branches  of  the  fine  arts,  for  increasing  the 
economic  resources  of  the  kingdom  by  the  import  of  new 
or  little  known  materials  of  industry,  or  for  developing 
those  resources  by  novel  or  improved  methods. 

We  have  seen  what  the  Society  did  to  aid  the  progress 
of  the  fine  arts,  by  the  award  of  prizes  and  in  other 
ways.  We  have  also  considered  what  it  did  for  agri- 
culture before  the  foundation  of  the  Royal  Agricultural 
Society,  and  for  forestry,  which  may  be  looked  upon 
almost  as  a  branch  of  agriculture.  An  account  has  also 
been  given  of  its  early  relations  with  the  Colonies,  and  of 
its  share  in  the  development  of  Colonial  resources.  It 
now  remains  to  consider  the  manifold  and  miscellaneous 
work  it  did  in  the  promotion  of  invention,  and  to  give 

some  account  of  the   objects   for  which  it  offered  and 

335 


236  THE  PREMIUMS 

awarded  prizes  in  every  branch  of  industry  and  every 
class  of  technical  science. 

The  Society  took  infinite  pains  to  prepare  a  list  of 
suitable  objects  for  its  premiums.  Each  year  the  list  was 
carefully  revised.  Some  items  were  omitted,  either 
because  the  offered  award  had  been  made,  or  because  it 
had  elicited  no  response.  Fresh  entries  were  constantly 
added,  and  changes  made  in  the  terms  of  those  which 
were  not  dropped.  And  besides  the  specified  articles  in 
the  list,  the  Society  was  ever  ready  to  consider  any  suitable 
application,  so  that  it  constantly  made  grants  for  things 
entirely  outside  its  own  proposals,  so  long  only  as  the 
object  was  deemed  worthy. 

The  classes  under  which  the  awards  were  arranged 
varied  from  time  to  time,  but  eventually  they  were  distri- 
buted among  six  committees  : — 

i.  Polite  Arts.    2.  Agriculture.     3.  Manufactures. 

4.  Mechanics.      5.  Chemistry.       6.  Colonies  and  Trade. 

The  subject-matter  with  which  the  different  committees 
dealt  is  sufficiently  indicated  by  their  titles.  "  Polite 
Arts  "  included  painting,  drawing,  sculpture,  die-sinking, 
designs  for  manufactures,  and  also,  to  a  certain  extent, 
literature.  Agriculture  included  forestry.  Mechanics  and 
Manufactures  were  at  one  time  dealt  with  by  one  committee, 
but  were  afterwards  divided.  Chemistry  was  industrial 
chemistry  only,  but  comprehended  also  other  branches 
of  applied  science.  The  work  of  the  committee  on  Colonies 
and  Trade  was  practically  restricted  to  colonial  matters. 
There  were  at  various  times  other  committees,  such  as  those 
on  Correspondence,  on  Miscellaneous  Matters,  etc., but  these 
were  not  concerned  in  the  adjudication  of  the  premiums.1 

At  first  a  number  of  members  were  appointed  on  each 
of  these  committees.  At  a  later  period  this  practice  was 
abandoned,  two  chairmen  were  elected  at  the  annual 
meeting  for  each  committee,  and  it  was  left  to  those 
members  who  thought  fit  to  attend. 

1  As  in  the  case  of  the  classes  already  dealt  with,  the  awards  con- 
sisted of  money  prizes  and  medals.  A  full  account  of  the  Society's 
medals  and  their  history  will  be  found  in  Chapter  XIV,  p.  314. 


METHOD  OF  AWARD  237 

The  practice  seems  to  have  been  that  a  general  notice 
was  sent  round  to  those  who  were  in  the  habit  of  attending 
the  committees,  and  also  to  other  persons,  who  were  not 
necessarily  members  of  the  Society,  known  to  be  interested 
in,  or  conversant  with,  the  subjects  which  were  to  come 
before  the  meeting.  The  whole  proceedings  were  conducted 
with  a  good  deal  of  formality.  Any  communication  which 
was  received  was  referred  by  the  Secretary  to  the  com- 
mittee to  which  it  seemed  appropriate — the  committee 
consisting,  as  above  shown,  of  a  certain  number  of  persons 
who  might  be  considered  as  more  or  less  experts,  and  of 
any  members  of  the  Society  who  liked  to  attend.  The 
candidate  for  the  premium  was  also  invited  to  be  present 
to  give  such  an  account  of  his  invention  as  he  thought 
proper.  After  he  had  given  his  own  version,  and  had 
replied  to  any  questions  which  were  addressed  to  him,  the 
subject  was  discussed,  first  in  his  presence,  and  then  after 
his  withdrawal.  Formal  resolutions  were  then  put  as  to 
the  award  to  be  made,  and  these  recommendations  were 
submitted  to  the  next  ordinary  Wednesday  meeting  of  the 
Society,  when  they  were  generally  confirmed,  but  in  some 
cases  disapproved.  If  any  award  was  made,  the  paper 
was  generally  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Papers,  with 
a  view  to  its  being  inserted  in  the  next  volume  of  Transac- 
tions, if  suitable. 

It  is  thus  evident  that  a  great  deal  of  trouble  was  taken 
to  ensure  a  fair  adjudication  of  the  premiums.  But  it 
must  often  have  happened — and,  indeed,  from  the  records 
it  is  evident  that  it  did,  at  all  events,  sometimes  happen — 
that  the  committee  were  by  no  means  competent  to  deal 
with  the  invention,  especially  if  it  was  of  a  new  and  original 
character.  The  committee  must  also,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  have  generally  been  composed  of  amateurs,  who, 
however  well-meaning  and  hard-working  they  might  be, 
were  sometimes  incapable,  and,  in  all  cases,  naturally 
biased  by  their  own  opinions.  On  the  whole,  however, 
it  may  be  said  that  no  one  who  makes  a  careful  investiga- 
tion of  the  awards  made — and  probably  there  are  not  very 
many  who  would  care  to  undertake  such  a  task — can  fail 
to  be  of  opinion  that  a  genuine  effort  was  made  to  do 


238  THE  PREMIUMS 

justice,  and  that  in  a  great  majority  of  cases  fair  justice  was 
done.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  quite  certain  that  most 
of  the  awards  leaned  to  the  side  of  generosity.  But  while 
a  great  many  undeserving  inventions  were  rewarded, 
there  are  not  a  great  many  which  were  rejected  and  after- 
wards proved  themselves  of  any  value.1 

The  first  actual  premium  list  issued  was  that  of  1756, 
and  this  only  exists  in  manuscript.  The  first  printed 
list  is  the  second  issued,  and  that  is  dated  1758.  From 
that  date  the  lists  were  issued  annually.  Till  the  publica- 
tion of  the  first  volume  of  Transactions,  in  1783,  the  lists 
were  issued  separately;  from  1783  they  were  included 
in  each  volume  of  the  Transactions,  besides  being  printed 
separately.  The  Society's  set  of  lists  before  1782  is,  un- 
fortunately, not  complete,  a  volume  in  which  the  lists  from 
1763  to  1767  inclusive  were  bound  up,  having  apparently 
at  some  time  been  lost.  A  separate  copy,  however,  of  the 
list  for  1764  has  been  preserved.  A  partial  list  for  1765 
and  the  complete  list  for  1766  are  printed  in  the  Museum 
Rusticum?  The  British  Museum  set  is  complete  from 
1758  to  1781  inclusive. 

After  1829  many  changes  were  introduced  in  the  lists. 
The  importance  of  the  Society's  prizes  was  much  dimin- 
ished, and  the  character  of  its  work  was  changing.  The 
lists  were  shortened.  Sometimes  the  offers  of  prizes  were 
in  general  terms  instead  of  being  made  for  specific  objects. 
From  1 843  to  1 847  the  list  was  onlyissued  in  alternate  years. 
With  the  grant  of  the  Charter  in  1847  the  Society's  system 
of  prize-giving  practically  came  to  an  end.  Special  prizes 
were  offered  and  awarded  from  time  to  time,  but  the 
practice  of  issuing  a  general  list  of  subjects  for  awards, 
though  it  was  not  formally  abandoned,  was  really  obsolete. 
A  sort  of  attempt  to  renew  it  was  made  in  i863,3  when  a 
list  of  the  old  character  was  published  in  the  Journal. 

1  A  full  and  detailed  account  of  the  method  adopted  in  making  the 
awards  will  be  found  in  the  address  delivered  by  Arthur  Aikin,  at  the 
distribution  of  awards  by  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  as  President,  in  1817. 
Transactions,  vol.  xxxv.  p.  209. 

2  Vol.  v.  p.  90  ;  vol.  vi.  p.  339. 

3  Journal,  vol.  xii.  p.  9, 


THE  PREMIUM  LISTS  239 

The  last  such  list  appeared  in  1 873, 1  but  hardly  any  awards 
were  made  upon  it,  and  in  practice  the  whole  system  had 
been  defunct  for  at  least  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

The  first  lists  of  awards  made  by  the  Society  are  con- 
tained in  Dossie's  Memoirs  of  Agriculture,  in  which  they 
were  published  by  the  Society's  authority.  The  list 
down  to  the  end  of  1767  (exclusive  of  "  Polite  Arts  lf)is 
given  in  the  first  (1768)  of  Dossie's  three  volumes  (page  3). 
The  complete  list  of  the  awards  in  "  Polite  Arts,"  to  the 
end  of  1776,  and  the  other  awards,  from  1768  to  1776 
inclusive,  appear  in  his  third  ( 1 782)  volume  (page  447). 

The  same  list  was  also  published  by  the  Society  in  1 778, 2 
and  in  a  few  cases  where  the  two  lists  differ  it  may  be 
assumed  that  the  Society's  list  is  accurate.  There  are 
very  few  discrepancies.  There  is  yet  another  list,  down 
to  1770,  given  in  the  Descriptions  of  the  .  .  .  Machines 
.  .  .  in  the  Repository  of  the  Society,  etc.,  published 
by  William  Bailey,  the  Registrar  of  the  Society,  in  I772.3 

In  the  second  volume  of  the  Transactions  (1784)  a  list 
is  given  of  the  awards  from  1775  to  1782  inclusive.  This 
list  is  by  way  of  being  a  continuation  of  Dossie's  lists, 
though,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  two  overlap  as  regards 
the  years  1775  and  1776.  From  this  date  onwards  the 
awards  are  given  year  by  year  in  the  annual  volumes  of 
the  Transactions,  down  to  what  is  really  the  last  volume 
of  the  series,  that  for  the  session  1843-4,  Vol.  LV.  In 
the  interval  between  the  cessation  of  the  regular  Transac- 
tions and  the  commencement  of  the  Journal,  lists  for  the 
years  1845  to  1850  were  issued,  and  all  of  these  are 
extant,  that  for  1847  being  in  MS.  only.  In  1851,  the 
year  of  the  Great  Exhibition,  there  was  no  distribution 
of  prizes,  on  account  of  the  exhibition,  and  consequently 
no  list.  In  1853  there  was  a  meeting  for  the  distribution 
of  prizes,  and  a  list  was  printed  in  the  Journal* 

1  It  was  issued  as  the  "Premium  List  for  the  Sessions  1873-4-5." 

2  Register  of  Premiums  and  Bounties,  1754-1776. 

3  This  is  a  quarto  volume  with  a  collection  of  fine  illustrations  in 
folio.      In   1782  another  edition  was  issued  by  A.  M.   Bailey,  who 
succeeded  his  father  as  Registrar  in  1773.     It  is  in  two  volumes,  folio. 
See  also  Chapter  XV,  p.  329. 

*  Vol.  i.  p.  365. 


240  THE  PREMIUMS 

The  premium  lists  were  advertised  and  circulated  as 
widely  as  possible.  At  one  time  the  Society  received 
a  little  official  help  in  obtaining  publicity  for  its  work,  for 
in  1775  the  Postmaster-General  sent  a  copy  of  the  list  to 
the  local  post  offices,  with  instructions  to  the  postmasters 
to  let  all  persons  coming  to  their  offices  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  reading  it. 

An  examination  of  the  old  prize-lists,  especially  those 
between  1760  and  1800,  affords  an  interesting  indication 
of  the  state  of  scientific  and  industrial  knowledge  at  the 
time.  Naturally,  we  now  possess  a  great  number  of  the 
things  for  which  the  Society  then  offered  prizes.  Some 
of  these  offers  produced  good  results,  some  were  abandoned 
as  Utopian,  though  the  machines  or  articles  asked  for  are 
now  commonplaces  of  industry  and  manufacture.  Some 
of  the  proposals  show  what  our  modern  conceit  may 
regard  as  lamentable  ignorance,  others  afford  evidence 
of  considerable  shrewdness  ;  others,  again,  indicate  a 
quite  natural  incapacity  to  realise  the  direction  of  future 
progress . 

That  in  the  lists  so  many  familiar  names  are  missing 
is  certainly  disappointing.  One  would  like  to  have  found 
the  names  of  Watt,  Hargreaves,  Crompton,  Roebuck, 
Arkwright,  and  Cort,  amongst  those  whose  inventions 
were  recognised  and  rewarded  by  the  Society  of  Arts. 
But  in  the  early  records  none  of  these  names  appear. 
Why  is  this  ?  The  best  reason  that  can  be  suggested  is 
that  all  these  men  were  in  advance  of  their  time.  Like 
all  great  inventors,  they  had  to  wait  for  recognition  until 
they  had  overborne  the  opposition  of  ignorance  and  of 
rival  interests.  When  recognition  came,  it  was  too  late 
for  the  prize  or  contribution  which  would  have  eased  the 
early  struggles.  A  committee  which  could  anticipate 
the  direction  in  which  industry  or  science  would  progress 
would  have  to  be  composed  of  men  with  prescience  be- 
yond their  fellows,  and  they  would  not  have  received 
the  acquiescence  or  approval  of  their  contemporaries. 

It  has  always  been  so  throughout  the  history  of  inven- 
tion. The  great  inventor  must,  of  necessity,  be  a  man  with 
ideas  ahead  of  his  contemporaries.  He  has  never  had 


OPPOSITION  TO  INVENTORS  241 

their  sympathy  or  their  appreciation.  On  the  contrary,  he 
has  always  had  to  struggle  against  their  active  opposition. 
If  his  invention,  as  has  generally  been  the  case,  has  for  its 
prime  object  the  substitution  of  mechanism  for  human 
labour,  he  incurs  the  violent  hatred  of  those  who  can 
only  realise  that  their  livelihood  is  being  taken  away 
from  them. 

The  history  of  the  introduction  of  textile  machinery, 
by  which  millions  of  operatives  now  make  their  living, 
is  a  record  of  the  attempts  of  the  progenitors  of  these 
operatives  to  wreck  the  new  machinery,  and,  if  possible, 
to  murder  the  man  who  designed  it.  As  long  ago  as  1710 
the  Spitalfields  weavers  rose  in  riot  and  smashed  their 
frames  in  protest  against  the  introduction  of  improvements . 
A  hundred  years  later,  in  1816,  the  Luddite  riots — after 
the  wholesale  destruction  of  factories  and  machinery  in 
the  Nottingham  district — were  only  suppressed  by  the 
stern  expedient  of  hanging  a  number  of  the  ringleaders. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  hatred 
of  new  machinery  was  combined  with  strikes,  often  justi- 
fiable enough,  for  better  pay,  but  certainly  for  nearly  three 
centuries — since  James  Lee  invented  his  stocking  frame 
in  1589 — the  workers  of  the  textile  trades  have  done  their 
very  best  to  prevent  any  improvement  in  the  tools  of 
those  trades.  If  the  spinners  and  weavers  had  had  their 
own  way,  all  yarn  would  now  be  spun  by  the  spinning-wheel 
and  woven  on  the  hand-loom.  The  artisan  fought  for  the 
ancient  system  of  economic  organisation,  for  domestic  in- 
dustry and  handiwork.  Forces  were  too  strong  for  him. 
The  growth  of  capital  and  its  systematic  industrial 
application  conquered  in  the  end,  but  only  after  a  long 
struggle  against  excusable  ignorance  and  natural  incapacity 
to  appreciate  the  inevitable. 

And  the  opposition  did  not  come  from  workmen  alone. 
Manufacturers  a  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  years 
ago  were  no  more  anxious  to  change  all  their  methods 
and  scrap  all  their  machines  than  they  are  now.  When 
an  invention  had  proved  its  value,  and  had  been  taken  up 
by  the  more  enterprising  manufacturers,  the  rest  had 
perforce  to  follow  suit,  but  in  the  meantime  the  original 

17 


242  THE  PREMIUMS 

inventor  had  had  but  a  poor  time  of  it,  and  in  all  probability 
had  died  a  pauper. 

Nor  did  the  inventor  as  a  rule  get  much  sympathy  from 
the  general  public,  or  even  from  those  members  of  the 
public  who  might  have  been  expected  to  know  better. 
After  some  centuries  of  mechanical  and  scientific  progress 
we  have  perhaps  learnt  the  lesson.  Nowadays  we  are 
so  accustomed  to  the  rapid  multiplication  of  scientific 
inventions  that  we  readily  accept  any  marvel,  however 
marvellous.  Yet  there  can  be  hardly  any  great  invention 
which  has  not  been  condemned  or  depreciated  by  a  com- 
petent and  well-qualified  authority.  The  working  of  the 
same  spirit  may  be  traced  from  the  beginning  of  the 
industrial  revolution  down  to  our  own  day.  When  Dr. 
Lardner  demonstrated  beyond  cavil  that  no  steamship 
could  carry  coal  sufficient  to  take  her  under  her  own 
steam  to  America,  the  statement  was  accepted  as  the 
opinion  of  one  of  the  best  authorities  of  the  time.  The 
heads  of  the  Admiralty  declined  to  consider  the  use  of 
the  electric  telegraph  because  the  excellent  and  efficient 
semaphore  arrangement  fulfilled  all  their  needs.  We 
might  have  had  mechanical  transport  on  roads  fifty  years 
before  it  was  accomplished,  but  for  the  opposition — 
partly  interested  and  partly  ignorant — to  the  early  con- 
structors of  road  locomotives.  A  year  or  two  before  the 
incandescent  filament  lamp  was  perfected  the  best 
authorities  were  agreed  that  the  "  subdivision  of  the 
electric  light  "  was  impossible.  The  internal-combustion 
engine  found  but  small  favour  amongst  the  older  mechanical 
engineers  (there  was  one  brilliant  exception).  The  idea 
of  a  "  rotary  steam-engine  "  was  regarded  with  derision 
before  the  steam-turbine  was  perfected.  The  members 
of  the  old  Aeronautical  Society  were  for  years 
looked  upon  as  harmless  visionaries.  When  the  first 
paper  on  the  basic  process  of  steel-making  was  offered  to 
the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  the  council  of  that  body,  a 
competent  tribunal  if  ever  there  was  one,  declined  to 
accept  it. 

Other  instances  might  be  cited,  but  these  may  serve 
to  show  the  value  of  contemporary  opinion  on  new  dis- 


PATENTS  AND  PRIZES  243 

coveries,  and  the  extreme  difficulty  of  forming  a  sound 
judgment  as  to  the  direction  which  future  progress  in  the 
application  of  science  to  industry  is  likely  to  take. 

What  can  we  expect  if  we  go  back  a  hundred  and  more 
years  into  a  non-scientific  age,  when  men  were  beginning 
dimly  to  realise  the  value  of  machines,  and  to  recognise 
that  processes  which  had  for  centuries  been  wrought 
by  human  hands  alone  might  possibly  be  aided  by  inani- 
mate mechanism  if  it  were  only  possible  to  devise  it  ? 
What  wonder,  then,  if  those  who  were  most  anxious  to 
improve  the  manufactures  and  industries  of  their  country, 
could  imagine  no  better  means  than  to  reward  small  im- 
provements in  the  crude  existing  appliances,  if  they 
could  not  imagine  a  development  which  astonished  their 
successors,  or  foresee  an  advance  which  we,  a  century 
later,  regard  with  wonder  and  admiration  ? 

Another  reason  which  prevented  the  Society  from 
taking  cognisance  of  many  important  inventions  was  the 
regulation  which  excluded  patented  articles.  In  one  of 
the  earliest  lists  of  Rules  and  Orders — that  for  1765 — it 
was  expressly  laid  down  that  "  No  person  will  be  admitted 
a  candidate  for  any  premium  offered  by  the  Society  who 
has  obtained  a  patent  for  the  exclusive  right  of  making 
or  performing  anything  for  which  such  premium  is  offered." 
This  rule  continued  in  force  until  1844  or  1845,  when  it 
was  finally  abolished.  The  first  suggestion  for  its  abolition 
appears  to  have  been  made  in  a  report  of  a  Committee 
of  which  Thomas  Webster  was  chairman,  presented  in 
1841.  Several  resolutions  were  passed  in  1843,  1844,  and 
1845,  all  apparently  rescinding  the  old  rule.  In  Vol.  LIV. 
of  the  Transactions  (1841-3),  the  disqualification  is  for 
the  first  time  omitted  in  the  Regulations,  and  in  the 
Preface  to  Vol.  LV.  attention  is  drawn  to  the  fact  that 
Patented  Inventions  are  no  longer  disqualified  from 
competition.  At  all  events,  from  1845  onwards  they  were 
eligible  for  awards. 

So  strong  was  this  feeling  of  opposition  to  patents 
that  it  was  at  one  time  proposed  to  require  every  prize- 
winner to  agree  not  to  take  out  a  patent,  but  this 
proposal  was  negatived.  In  later  years,  when  patents 


244  THE  PREMIUMS 

became  more  numerous,  the  restrictive  effect  of  this  rule 
became  much  more  injurious  than  in  1765  (in  which  year 
only  fourteen  patents  were  granted),  but  even  at  that 
time  it  shut  out  many  valuable  improvements.  However, 
the  motion  that  the  grant  of  a  patent  was  an  injurious 
restriction  on  industry,  only  to  be  condoned  if  the  public 
could  not  get  the  benefit  of  a  useful  invention  unless 
it  bribed  the  inventor  with  a  monopoly,  survived  long 
after  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Indeed,  it  was 
only  in  our  own  generation  that  the  value  of  protection 
by  patent  was  fully  realised,  and  that — to  quote  once  more 
an  often-quoted  saying  of  the  late  Sir  William  Siemens — 
if  an  invention  were  found  lying  in  the  gutter,  it  would  be 
worth  while  to  assign  it  to  an  owner  who  would  have  an 
interest  in  looking  after  it.  Of  course,  this  general  state- 
ment, like  all  such  statements,  has  its  exceptions.  Some 
inventions  do  not  need  a  foster-mother.  A  case  in  point 
is  that  of  the  safety-lamp,  for  which  Sir  Humphry  Davy 
refused  to  take  out  a  patent.  The  need  was  so  urgent,  its 
fulfilment  so  complete,  that  no  advocacy  or  advertisement 
was  wanted.  But  the  invention  of  the  safety-lamp  was 
exceptional,  not  only  in  this  respect. 

On  the  whole,  we  should  admire  the  amount  of  useful 
work  done  by  the  Society's  premiums  rather  than  cavil 
because  it  did  not  accomplish  more.  What  it  really  did 
effect  may  be  judged  from  the  following  selection  of  the 
more  interesting  or  more  important  of  the  subjects  to 
which  its  energies  were  devoted.  The  task  of  selection 
has  been  by  no  means  easy.  Its  successful  accomplish- 
ment would  demand  an  amount  of  technical  and  expert 
knowledge  to  which  the  present  writer  can  make  no  claim. 
The  examples  chosen  out  of  a  century's  work  may,  how- 
ever, show  how  much  was  really  accomplished,  and  how 
much  those  earnest  industrial  pioneers  effected  who 
worked  in  the  name  and  on  behalf  of  the  Society  of  Arts. 

The  period  covered  is  just  a  hundred  years,  from  the 
foundation  of  the  Society  to  the  1851  Exhibition.  Of  this 
period  the  first  half  was  by  far  the  more  fruitful,  and  it  is 
really  to  this  half  that  our  attention  must  principally 
be  directed.  By  the  expiration  of  the  eighteenth  century 


MOTIVE  POWER  245 

the  system  of  prize-giving  had  practically  fulfilled  its  work. 
It  gradually  became  less  and  less  effective  till  at  last  it 
died  out.  The  work  of  the  Society  tended  in  other 
directions.  For  some  years  the  Society  languished  ; 
indeed,  it  nearly  collapsed,  to  be  revived  again  in  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  record  of  these 
changes  is,  however,  a  matter  for  future  consideration. 
For  the  present  we  are  concerned  only  with  the  history  of 
the  useful  work  effected  by  the  Society  during  that  first 
prosperous  portion  of  its  career,  when  its  sole  aim  and 
object  was  the  awarding  of  premiums  for  the  promotion 
of  Art  and  Industry,  and  the  discovery  of  suitable  objects 
for  its  awards. 

Of  all  the  inventions  upon  which,  at  the  time  when  the 
Society  commenced  its  work,  the  advance  of  industrial 
progress  principally  depended,  the  most  important  were 
certainly  those  dealing  with  the  generation  and  application 
of  motive  power,  and  yet  it  was  not  to  these  inventions 
that  most  attention  was  directed.  If  those  who  devoted 
themselves  to  this  department  of  the  Society's  work  were 
unconscious  of  the  change  shortly  about  to  be  effected 
by  the  substitution  of  mechanical  for  animal  power 
in  every  branch  of  industry,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at.  The  modern  steam-engine  and  the  Society  of  Arts 
were  almost  absolutely  contemporaneous.  James  Watt 
began  his  scientific  career  in  the  year  in  which  the  Society 
was  founded,  though  it  was  eleven  years  later  that  he 
conceived  the  idea  of  the  separate  condenser,  and  four 
years  later  still  (in  1769)  that  he  took  out  his  first  patent. 

In  1754  the  need  for  some  agency  which  could  drive 
heavier  machinery  than  could  be  worked  by  a  man  or  a 
team  of  horses  was  hardly  existent,  and  almost  wholly 
unrealised.  Yet  it  must,  to  some  small  extent,  have  been 
in  men's  minds,  and  we  may  find  evidence  for  this  in  the 
desire  to  improve  those  elementary  methods  for  utilising 
the  known  natural  forces,  wind  and  water,  which  showed 
itself  in  the  work  of  the  earliest  engineers — millwrights, 
as  they  were  called — and  in  the  technical  literature,  such 
as  it  was,  of  the  time.  Amongst  other  places,  we  find  it 
in  the  Society's  premium  list.  The  list  for  1759  contains 


246  THE  PREMIUMS 

two  offers  of  £50  each,  one  for  a  tide-mill,  and  one  for  an 
improved  wind-mill  which  should  more  effectively  utilise 
the  force  of  the  wind  than  previously  existing  forms,  and 
should  also,  with  varying  wind-velocity,  communicate  a 
uniform  motion  to  the  mill-shaft.  As  a  result  of  these 
offers,  several  rewards  were  paid,  one  for  a  tide-mill  going 
to  the  Rev.  Humphry  Gainsborough,1  a  brother  of  the 
painter,  who  seems  to  have  been  an  inventor  of  considerable 
ingenuity.  These  and  similar  offers  were  repeated  from 
time  to  time  during  the  next  fifty  years,  and  various 
sums  of  money  were  paid  for  improvements  in  wind- 
mills and  also  in  water-wheels.  Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin 
corresponded  with  the  Society  at  one  time  about  his 
idea  of  a  horizontal  windmill,  but  no  award  was  made 
to  him. 

It  is  some  time  before  the  steam-engine  makes  its 
appearance  in  the  list.  In  1780  we  find  a  gold  medal 
offered  for  an  engine  for  "  working  at  one  time,  the 
greatest  number  of  looms,  not  fewer  than  three."  The 
offer  was  continued  for  some  time,  but  there  is  no  record 
of  a  prize  ever  being  awarded.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  first  recorded  use  of  the  steam-engine  in  a  factory 
is  in  1786.  Cartwright's  power-loom  was  brought  out 
in  1785,  and  was  driven  by  steam  in  1790.  John  Austin, 
of  Glasgow,  also  claims,  in  a  communication  to  the 
Society,2  to  have  constructed  a  power-loom  in  1789,  and 
to  have  had  one  running  in  1798  at  Pollokshaws,  near 
Glasgow.  He  adds  that,  after  this,  a  building  was  con- 
structed to  hold  two  hundred  of  his  looms  at  the  same 
mills.  He  received  a  gold  medal  from  the  Society  in 
1806.  It  is  probable  that  the  first  to  invent  a  power-loom 
was  John  Kay,  whose  patent  of  1745,  taken  out  jointly 
with  Joseph  Stell,  included,  as  Kay  himself  says,  "  tape 
lomes  to  weave  by  water."  3  No  description,  however, 
of  Kay's  loom  is  extant.  Kay  was,  at  all  events,  indirectly 

1  He  was  a  friend  of  R.  L.  Edgeworth's,  who  says  that  he  had 
never  known   "  a  man  of  a  more  inventive  genius  "   (Edgeworth's 
Memoirs,  1821,  2nd  ed.  vol.  i.  p.  153). 

2  Transactions,  vol.  xxiv.  p.  93.     See  also  Chapter  XII,  p.  263. 

3  Journal,  8th  December  1911,  p.  81, 


SAW-MILLS  247 

the  inventor  of  the  power-loom,  because  it  was  his  fly- 
shuttle  that  enabled  a  mechanical  movement  to  be  sub- 
stituted for  the  action  of  the  human  hand. 

Up  to  the  end  of  the  century  references  to  the  steam- 
engine  are  rare.  A  vague  offer  of  a  reward  for  "  increasing 
the  force  or  quantity  of  steam  "  in  steam-engines  was 
published  in  1783,  and  long  kept  its  place  on  the  list,  but 
it  elicited  no  response.  Would  a  modern  triple-expansion 
engine  or  a  turbine  be  eligible  for  the  prize  ?  They  utilise 
the  energy,  but  cannot  be  said  to  increase  it. 

The  first  substitution  of  mechanical  power  for  handwork 
in  the  timber  trade  in  England  is  certainly  due  to  the 
Society.  A  premium  for  a  saw-mill  was  awarded  to  James 
Stansfield  in  1761,  and  sums  amounting  in  all  to  over 
£300  were  given  to  him  to  help  him  in  improving  and 
working  his  mill.  By  the  instrumentality  of  the  Society 
Stansfield  was  also  introduced  to  one  Charles  Dingley, 
who  found  the  capital  for  setting  up  a  mill  at  Limehouse 
which  was  driven  by  wind-power.  This  mill,  after  work- 
ing a  short  time,  suffered  the  usual  fate  of  all  mechanical 
improvements,  and  was  destroyed  by  a  mob,  but  the 
owner  was  compensated,  the  rioters  punished,  and  the 
mill  reinstated.1  For  his  services  in  the  matter,  a  gold 
medal  was  awarded  to  Dingley.  The  backward  state 
of  English  industry  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  saw-mills 
worked  by  water  and  by  wind  had  previously  been  in 
existence  on  the  Continent,  and  even  in  America,  though 
there  seems  reason  to  believe  that  Stansfield  *s  was  an 
improvement  on  the  older  types. 

That  eccentric  mechanical  genius,  Richard  Lovell  Edge- 
worth,  received  several  rewards.  The  most  important 
of  these  was  a  gold  medal  awarded  in  1769  for  various 
inventions  communicated  to  the  Society.  What  these 
were,  it  is  not  very  easy  to  say.  It  is  just  possible  that 
one  of  them  was  a  proposal  for  a  steam  carriage,  which 
seems  to  have  arisen  out  of  a  suggestion  by  Dr.  Erasmus 
Darwin,  who  was  a  friend  of  Edgeworth.2 

This,  however,  is  not  mentioned  by  Edgeworth  himself, 

1  Dossie,  vol.  i.  p.  123.     Transactions,  vol.  i.  p.  41. 

2  Thurston,  History  of  the  Steam  Engine  (1879),  p.  150, 


248  THE  PREMIUMS 

who,  in  his  Memoirs,1  enumerates  only  a  carriage  with 
springs  and  a  new  form  of  frame,  a  waggon  "  divided 
into  two  parts," 2  a  cover  for  haystacks,  and  a  turnip-cutter. 
He  also  says  that  he  afterwards  submitted  a  dynamometer, 
and  from  a  letter  of  his  it  appears  that  he  suggested  a  new 
form  of  camera-obscura. 

For  his  "  Perambulator,  or  instrument  for  easily  measur- 
ing land,"  he  had  a  separate  silver  medal  in  1767.  The 
idea  of  using  a  wheel  for  the  purpose  was  not  novel.  Such 
an  apparatus  was  known  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
was  called  by  the  same  name.  Edgeworth's  machine 
consisted  of  a  wheel,  or  rather  a  framework  of  spokes 
without  a  tyre,  to  the  axle  of  which  was  fitted  a  long 
screw  projecting  horizontally.  A  nut  loosely  fitted  on 
this  screw  was  prevented  from  revolving  with  it,  when  the 
wheel  was  run  over  the  ground,  by  a  suspended  weight, 
so  that  the  motion  of  the  wheel  caused  the  nut  to  travel 
along  the  screw,  one  thread  for  each  revolution,  and  the 
distance  traversed  was  thus  indicated.  The  apparatus 
would,  no  doubt,  be  effective,  but  it  must  have  been 
clumsy,  and  rather  inconvenient  to  work.  The  circum- 
ference of  the  wheel  was  to  be  one  pole  (5^  yards).3  In 

1  Vol.  i.  p.  167. 

*  This  was  the  invention  for  which  Edgeworth  took  out  a  patent 
in  1770,  his  only  patent.  It  was  really  a  "  portable  railway."  Neither 
the  specification  of  the  patent  (there  is  no  drawing)  nor  Edgeworth's 
own  account  of  the  invention  is  very  clear.  It  is  possible  that  the 
railway  was  an  endless  or  continuous  one,  but  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  it  consisted  of  a  number  of  separate  platforms,  laid  down  before 
the  carriage  wheels,  and  picked  up  after  they  had  passed,  by  some 
sort  of  lever  arrangement.  It  is  the  first  of  a  long  series  of  patented 
inventions  of  a  similar  kind,  none  of  which  have  come  into  general 
use,  though  I  believe  supporting  rails  cr  platforms  carried  on  endless 
chains  travelling  over  wheels  have  been  successfully  applied  to  traction 
engines  and  other  implements  for  use  in  heavy  soil,  where  even  wide 
wheels  are  liable  to  sink  in.  Edgeworth's  idea  was,  as  he  himself 
says,  anticipated  by  the  carriage  with  wheels  travelling  on  an  endless 
chain  of  rollers  described  in  vol.  iii.  p.  7  of  the  Machines  Approuvees 
par  I'Academie  Royale  des  Sciences  (1713).  There  is  a  note  on  this  in 
the  abridgments  of  specifications  relating  to  Aids  to  Locomotion, 
published  by  the  Patent  Office  in  1858. 

8  There  is  an  illustration  of  the  apparatus  in  Bailey's  Machines, 
etc,,  vol,  i.  p.  59  (edition  of  1782). 


THE  SCREW-JACK— THE  GUN-HARPOON     249 

the  Memoirs  he  states  (vol.  i.  p.  171)  that  the  instrument 
worked  with  great  accuracy,  having  run  over  a  measured 
mile  twice  with  a  difference  of  only  one  inch  between  the 
two  results.  Edgeworth's  eldest  son  Richard  also  received 
a  silver  medal  in  1 778,  "  for  early  mechanical  genius  shown 
in  the  constructing  several  models  and  machines."  As 
he  was  born  in  1765,  he  must  have  been  about  thirteen 
years  old  at  the  time.  This  reward  seems  to  have  re- 
mained unique. 

The  award  of  a  gold  medal  in  1770  to  Abraham  Stag- 
hold  for  a  screw-jack  is  of  peculiar  interest,  because  the 
jack,  which  is  figured  and  described  by  Bailey,1  is  identical 
with  the  well-known  modern  implement,  which,  many 
years  after  Staghold's  invention,  was  the  subject  of  a 
patent.  The  vertical  screw  is  operated  by  a  worm-wheel 
working  thereon  as  a  nut,  which  worm-wheel  gears  with  a 
horizontal  worm  driven  by  a  winch-handle.  The  screw- 
jack,  however,  was  known  before  this  date.  Murray  in 
his  English  Dictionary  gives  a  reference  to  it  in  1703,  and 
readers  of  Robinson  Crusoe  (the  first  edition  of  which 
was  published  in  1719)  may  remember  that  "  a  great 
screw  jack  "  was  one  of  the  things  that  Crusoe  brought 
ashore  from  the  wreck.  Without  placing  too  implicit 
reliance  on  the  accuracy  of  Defoe's  narrative,  we  may 
accept  his  statement  as  proof  that  he  was  aware  of  the 
existence  of  the  implement.  Abraham  Staghold  was  a 
blacksmith  of  Maldon,  in  Essex,  and  appears  to  have  been  a 
man  of  considerable  inventive  ingenuity,  for  he  was  also 
the  inventor  of  the  gun-harpoon,  for  which  he  received  a 
grant  of  twenty  guineas  in  1 770.  His  inventions,  however, 
do  not  appear  to  have  brought  him  a  fortune,  for  in  1 774 
he  sent  in  a  petition  to  the  Society,  "  desiring  relief  in  his 
state  of  distress."  The  Committee  on  Correspondence 
were  unable  to  recommend  the  Society  to  devote  its  funds 
to  a  charitable  purpose,  so  the  unlucky  inventor  got  nothing 
by  his  application. 

This  first  award  for  a  gun-harpoon  was  followed  by 
several  others.  For  many  years  the  Society  continued 
1  Bailey's  Machines,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  168  (edition  of  1782). 


250  THE  PREMIUMS 

to  offer  prizes  for  improved  forms  of  the  apparatus, 
and  they  also  spent  over  £100  in  experiments  and 
tests.1 

As  soon  as  a  satisfactory  weapon  had  been  obtained — 
and  this  involved  the  improvement  of  many  details  both 
in  the  gun  and  in  the  harpoon — they  continued  to  offer 
rewards  for  whales  taken  by  its  use.  One  of  the  recipients 
of  these  grants,  Captain  Humphrey  Foord,  of  Hull,  wrote 
an  interesting  account  of  his  experiences  with  the  new 
weapon,  and  made  several  pertinent  suggestions  for 
its  improvement.  He  concludes  his  letter  with  a  quite 
unnecessary  apology  for  "  the  blunders  of  an  illiterate 
tar,  who  is  unacquainted  with  writing  to  the  great." 

Up  to  1792  something  like  £400  had  been  expended, 
but  after  this  the  number  of  claimants  diminished,  and 
though  the  offer  was  not  discontinued  till  1821,  the 
awards  made  in  later  years  were  few  and  the  amounts 
paid  inconsiderable. 

Scoresby,  in  his  history  of  the  northern  whale  fishery,2 
gives  an  account  of  the  Society's  efforts  to  introduce  the 
use  of  the  gun-harpoon.  He  says  that  the  weapon  was 
invented  in  1731,  and  was  used  with  some  success .  ' '  Being, 
however,  difficult  and  somewhat  dangerous  in  its  appli- 
cation, it  was  laid  aside  for  many  years.  In  1771  or  1772 
a  new  one  was  produced  to  the  Society  of  Arts,  which 
differed  so  materially  from  the  instrument  before  in  use 
that  it  was  received  as  an  original  invention."  On  the 
whole,  Scoresby  says,  in  spite  of  the  great  improvements 
resulting  from  the  Society's  premiums,  "  on  account  of 
the  difficulty  and  address  requisite  in  the  management 
of  it,  and  the  loss  of  fish  which,  in  unskilful  hands,  it  has 
been  the  means  of  occasioning,  together  with  some  accid- 
ents which  have  resulted  from  its  use,  it  has  not  been  so 
generally  adopted  as  might  have  been  expected."  Later 
on,  still  further  improvements  mere  made,  and  at  the 
date  of  Scoresby 's  writing  (1820)  it  was  coming  to  a 
certain  extent  into  use.  At  the  present  date,  under 
the  different  conditions  of  the  whale  fishery,  the  gun 

1  A  picture  of  Staghold's  harpoon  is  given  on  p.  225. 

*  The  Arctic  Regions,  by  W.  Scoresby  (1820),  vol.  ii.  p.  227. 


MECHANICAL  TELEGRAPHS  251 

is  always  employed  to  the  practical  exclusion  of  the  old 
hand  weapon.1 

Just  about  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  great 
deal  of  attention  was  paid  to  the  subject  of  mechanical 
telegraphs.2  The  first  suggestion  for  such  a  method  of 
conveying  intelligence  was  made  by  Robert  Hooke,  who 
described,  in  a  paper  before  the  Royal  Society  in  1684,  a 
method  of  exhibiting  signals  to  be  observed  through  a 
telescope,  which,  though  rather  complicated,  might  have 
been  perfectly  efficient  had  it  ever  been  put  into  practice. 
The  credit  of  making  the  first  practical  telegraph  may  be 
assigned  to  R.  L.  Edgeworth,  who,  as  has  been  already 
mentioned,  received  several  prizes  from  the  Society. 
There  is,  however,  no  evidence  to  show  that  he  submitted 
his  telegraphic  system  to  the  Society.  He  says  in  his 
Memoirs  that  his  attention  was  first  drawn  to  the  sub- 
ject by  a  bet  that  he  could  report  in  London  the  result 
of  a  race  at  Newmarket  before  it  could  be  brought  by 
mounted  messengers.  Later  on  he  described  his  method 
in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  (Vol.  vi. 
1 795).  In  his  system  it  was  proposed  to  use  four  triangular 
pointers,  each  pivoted  to  the  top  of  a  mast,  and  represent- 
ing units,  tens,  hundreds,  and  thousands,  the  precise  figure 
being  indicated  by  the  position  of  the  pointer.  These 
numbers  corresponded  with  words  or  sentences  in  a  vocab- 
ulary. 

The  mechanical  telegraph,  however,  was  first  intro- 
duced by  a  Frenchman — Monsieur  Chappe — about  1794* 
Several  lines  of  his  telegraph  were  set  up,  and  it  was 
regularly  used  for  military  purposes.  According  to  his 
system,  six  discs  were  mounted  side  by  side  in  a  frame  in 
such  a  way  that  either  or  all  of  them  could  be  turned 
edgeways,  so  as  to  be  practically  invisible,  or  vertical,  so 

1  The  latest  information  on  the  subject  will  be  found  in  a  paper 
read  before  the  Society  by  T.  E.  Salvesen  in  March  1912.     Journal, 
vol.  Ix.  p.  515. 

2  Rees's  Cyclopedia,  vol.  xxxv.  1819,  has  a  very  full  and  excellent 
account  of  mechanical  telegraphs.     Most  of  the  Society's  awards  are 
mentioned. 


2S2  THE  PREMIUMS 

as  to  be  seen.  By  various  combinations  of  these  discs  a 
great  number  of  signals  could  be  sent.  For  use  at  night, 
lamps  were  substituted  for  discs.  A  practically  similar 
arrangement  was  submitted  in  1805  to  the  Society  by 
J.  Davis,  and  he  received  a  silver  medal  for  it.  Two 
other  awards  were  made  by  the  Society  in  1808 — a  silver 
medal  to  Major  Le  Hardy  for  a  rather  ingenious  device 
for  indicating  numbers  by  means  of  index  discs  capable 
of  being  set  in  different  positions  on  a  polygonal  frame, 
and  a  silver  medal  to  Chevalier  Edelcrantz,  a  Swede,  for 
a  telegraph  composed  of  vanes  or  shutters  capable  of  being 
turned  edgeways. 

Two  awards  made  in  1809  are  also  worthy  of  notice, 
because  they  refer  to  methods  of  hand-signalling.  In 
one  of  the  communications  Lieutenant  James  Spratt, 
who  was  wounded  at  Trafalgar,  describes  a  method  of 
signalling  by  a  handkerchief  held  in  different  positions  ; 
and  in  the  second,  Knight  Spencer  submitted  what  he 
termed  an  "  anthropo  telegraph  " — a  method  of  signalling 
by  different  positions  of  the  arms.  This  idea  has  been 
developed,  and  is  now  in  common  use  in  the  Navy  and 
the  Army. 

The  device,  however,  which  superseded  all  of  these 
was  that  invented  by  Admiral  Sir  Home  Popham,  which 
received  a  gold  medal  from  the  Society  in  1816.  This  was 
a  semaphore  arrangement,  in  which  two  masts  were 
employed,  each  with  an  arm  capable  of  being  set  at  any 
desired  angle  to  the  vertical.  It  was  by  this  apparatus 
that  information  was  transmitted  from  Portsmouth  and 
elsewhere  to  the  Admiralty,  until  it  was  at  length  superseded 
by  the  electric  telegraph.  This  was  the  apparatus  with 
which  Barrow  (not  yet  Sir  John)  was  so  well  satisfied, 
that  when  Ronalds  in  1816  offered  to  the  Admiralty  his 
pith-ball  telegraph,  which  was  really  the  first  practical 
electric  telegraph,  Barrow,  then  Secretary  to  the  Admiralty, 
wrote,  with  his  compliments  to  the  inventor,  "  that 
telegraphs  of  any  kind  are  wholly  unnecessary,  and  that 
no  other  than  the  one  now  in  use  would  be  adopted." 
This  historic  communication  is  dated  5th  August  I8I6.1 
1  History  of  Electric  Telegraphy,  J.  J.  Fahie  (1884),  p.  136. 


COAL-MINING  253 

Popham  applied  his  apparatus  to  ships,  and  it  was  for 
long  used  in  the  Navy,  chiefly  from  the  bridges  of  ships 
and  from  positions  comparatively  low  down  in  the  vessels. 
Within  quite  recent  years  the  practice  arose  of  fitting 
masthead  semaphores  so  as  to  signal  over  longer  distances 
during  the  day.  Difficulties,  however,  arose  in  carrying 
the  heavy  weights  of  the  semaphores  at  the  mastheads, 
and  the  practice  was  abandoned.  The  introduction  of 
wireless  telegraphy  has  of  course  rendered  such  apparatus 
obsolete. 

The  list  of  awards  connected  with  mining  is  not  a 
very  long  one.  There  were  a  few  inventions  for  raising 
water  from  mines,  the  most  important  of  these  being 
William  Westgarth's  hydraulic  engine,  for  which  a  gold 
medal  was  awarded  in  1769.  Nearly  twenty  years  later, 
in  1787,  a  silver  medal  was  presented  to  Smeaton,  the 
great  engineer,  for  a  description  of  the  apparatus  which 
he  communicated  (after  the  inventor's  death)  to  the 
Society.1  Smeaton  had  a  very  high  opinion  of  the  value 
of  the  apparatus,  which,  he  said,  was  much  appreciated 
in  the  Cornish  tin-mines.  Various  methods  of  raising 
minerals  were  also  rewarded  by  the  Society,  and  described 
in  the  Transactions.  All  of  these  became  obsolete  when 
the  steam-engine  was  applied  to  that  purpose. 

In  1816  a  gold  medal  and  100  guineas  were  presented 
to  James  Ryan  for  his  system  of  mine  ventilation.  Gallo- 
way 2  speaks  in  terms  of  high  commendation  of  Ryan's 
system,  which  was  to  drain  off  the  gas  by  "  passages  or 
gas  drifts  so  arranged  as  to  collect  and  draw  off  the  gas 
at  the  highest  level."  It  was  largely  introduced  into 
Staffordshire,  where  it  suited  the  character  of  the  coal 
measures,  but  in  the  northern  districts,  where  it  was  not 
so  useful,  it  met  with  less  approval  and  was  not  adopted. 

The  first  person  to  provide  miners  with  a  fairly  good 
and  safe  light  was  Dr.  Clanny,  of  Bishop  Wearmouth.  He 
devised  various  forms  of  lamps  into  which  air  was  forced 
by  a  bellows,  its  exit  being  controlled  by  valves  of  various 

1  Transactions,  vol.  v.  (1787),  p.  181. 
8  History  of  Coal  Mining  (1882),  p.  135. 


254  THE  PREMIUMS 

device.  After  working  for  some  time  at  the  subject,  he 
described  one  form  of  his  lamp  to  the  Royal  Society  in 
1813.  In  1815  he  submitted  an  improved  form  to  the 
Society  of  Arts,  and  received  a  silver  medal,  while  in  1816 
he  was  awarded  a  gold  medal  for  a  steam  safety-lamp. 
These  various  devices  were  undoubtedly  valuable  and  of 
practical  utility,  but  they  never  came  into  general  use. 
They  were  soon  quite  superseded  by  the  safety-lamps  of 
Davy  and  Stephenson,  both  of  which  were  invented 
independently  in  1815. 

Civil  engineering  also  hardly  received  its  due  meed  of 
attention  from  the  Society.  The  Duke  of  Bridgewater 
in  1800  received  a  gold  medal  in  recognition  of  the  great 
system  of  canals  which  he  constructed,  a  well-deserved 
award,  though  perhaps  it  might  have  been  more  fittingly 
bestowed  upon  Brindley,  the  great  engineer,  whose  genius 
was  so  wisely  utilised  by  the  Duke. 

In  1788  a  gold  medal  was  given  to  Abraham  Darby 
for  the  iron  bridge  he  built  over  the  Severn,  near  Coal- 
brookdale.  This  was  the  first  iron  bridge  ever  constructed. 
The  beautiful  model  which  Darby  presented  to  the  Society 
is  now  in  the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum. 

The  award  in  1762  of  fifty  guineas  to  G.  Weldon  for  a 
machine  for  planing  cast-iron  is  of  interest,  because  it 
seems  likely  that  this  is  the  earliest  true  planer  of  which 
there  is  any  record.  No  picture  or  description  of  the 
machine  has  been  discovered  in  the  Society's  records,  but 
Dossie  l  says  that  "  it  planed  large  iron  plates  as  effectually 
as  a  common  plane  does  boards  ;  making  curled  shavings, 
and  completely  smoothing  the  surface  of  the  plates." 

As  might  naturally  be  expected,  a  good  deal  of  attention 
was  paid  by  the  Society  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  and 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  to  questions  of 
naval  construction.  The  old  records  of  the  Society  show 
that  it  was  frequently  consulted  by  the  naval  authorities 
on  questions  of  timber  for  use  in  building  the  King's 

1  Vol.  i.  p.  161.  A  note  on  early  planing  machines,  and  some 
references  to  authorities,  will  be  found  in  Industrial  England  in  the 
Middle  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  p.  27. 


NAVAL  CONSTRUCTION  255 

ships,  and  such  information  as  the  Society  could  furnish 
was  readily  supplied.  Some  important  awards  were  made 
by  the  Society  in  the  class  of  naval  architecture.  In 
1759  a  prize  offered  for  "  Ships'  Blocks,"  that  is  to  say, 
models  of  ships  of  new  construction,  was  awarded  to 
Joseph  Aldridge,  and  in  1804  a  gold  medal  was  voted  to 
Robert  Seppings  (afterwards  Sir  Robert,  and  Surveyor  of 
the  Navy),  for  his  invention  of  suspending  instead  of 
lifting  ships  in  dock.1  For  this  Seppings  was  granted 
£1000  by  the  Admiralty.  It  was  the  first  of  many  im- 
portant inventions  which  gained  him  the  reputation  of 
being  the  greatest  naval  architect  of  his  time.  It  was 
he  who  first  introduced  the  extensive  use  of  iron  in  the 
construction  of  ships,  which,  by  the  additional  strength 
provided  by  his  diagonal  braces  and  trusses,  prevented 
the  arching  of  their  keels,  technically  called  "  hogging," 
which  always  occurred  when  ships  were  laid  by.  Although 
in  the  use  of  iron  for  shipbuilding  he  had  been  partly 
anticipated  by  T.  Roberts  (Assistant  Surveyor  to  the 
Navy) — who  in  1808  received  the  Society's  silver  medal 
for  "  attaching  the  end  of  the  beams  of  ships  to  their  sides 
by  iron  instead  of  wooden  knees  " — it  was  Seppings  who 
really  revolutionised  the  art  of  shipbuilding  by  the 
extended  use  of  iron  framing.  The  Howe,  launched  in 
1815,  was  the  first  ship  built  entirely  on  Seppings's  method, 
although  the  system  had  been  partially  applied  before 
that  date. 

As  may  be  supposed,  a  great  variety  of  mechanical 
and  engineering  inventions  besides  the  few  mentioned 
above  received  awards  from  the  Society.  In  the  first 
half-century  of  its  existence  these  included  corn  and  other 
mills,  canal  locks,  dredgers,  cranes,  pile-driving  machines, 
carriages  of  many  sorts,  a  packing  press,  tools  of  many 
descriptions,  mechanical  movements,  locks,  clocks  and 
watches,  etc. 

Later  on,  in  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
most  of  the  mechanical  inventions  submitted  to,  and 
rewarded  by,  the  Society,  were  of  a  minor  character, 

1  Transactions,  vol.  xxii.  (1804),  p.  275.     See  also  Seppings's  Life  in 
the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 


THE  PREMIUMS 

though  many  of  them  were  valuable.  The  offer  of  a  prize 
for  an  original  screw  brought  out  several  methods  for 
obtaining  one,  but  not  of  the  accuracy  required  for 
astronomical  and  other  scientific  purposes.  There  were 
many  awards  for  improvements  in  clocks  and  watches, 
devices  for  cutting  wheels  for  watches,  watch-springs,  etc. 
The  prizes  connected  with  lathes  and  turning  were  also 
numerous,  including  chucks,  self-centring  and  other. 
Various  mechanical  appliances  and  devices  now  well 
known  and  familiar  were  brought  out  by  the  Society's 
awards,  and  descriptions  of  them  will  be  found  in  the 
pages  of  the  Transactions. 


Almond's  Loom,  1771  (see  p.  263). 


CHAPTER    XI  I 

THE  PREMIUMS — (Continued) 
(1754-1851) 

Textile  Machinery  —  Invention  of  Spinning  Machinery  —  Spinning- 
Wheels — John  Kay  and  his  Relations  with  the  Society,  his  Carding 
Engine  and  the  Drop-box  of  Robert  Kay — Looms  and  Stocking- 
frames — The  Drawboy — Silk  Manufacture,  and  the  Production  of 
Silk  in  England — Lace — "Quilting  in  the  Loom" — Carpets — 
Brocade- weaving — Manufacture  of  Fishing-nets  by  Machinery — 
Industrial  Hygiene — Fire-gilding — Apparatus  for  Protection  from 
Noxious  Vapours  and  Dust — Leadless  Glazes — Chimney  Sweeping 
and  Climbing  Boys — Industrial  Chemistry,  Saltpetre,  Natron, 
Verdigris,  Cobalt,  Ultramarine,  etc. — Dyes  and  Dye-stuffs — 
Madder,  Orchil,  etc. — Substitute  for  White  Lead — Pigments  and 
Varnishes — Marsh's  Test  for  Arsenic — Illuminating  Oils — Medicinal 
Plants,  Rhubarb,  Opium. 
» 

IN  the  first  twenty  years  or  so  of  its  existence,  down  to 
1776,  the  Society  expended  a  little  over  £i  500  in  premiums 
connected  with  the  manufacture  of  textiles — part  in 
establishing,  or  attempting  to  establish,  new  branches 
of  the  industry,  part  in  endeavouring  to  improve  textile 
machinery.  With  regard  to  the  latter  part  of  the  work, 
it  is  easy  to  see,  after  a  century's  experience,  that  they 
were  working  on  wrong  lines  ;  but  that  is  merely  to  say 
that  the  members  of  the  Society  who  directed  its  pro- 
ceedings were  no  wiser  (or  not  much  wiser)  than  their 
contemporaries.  They  took  immense  pains  to  improve 
existing  apparatus,  instead  of — as,  if  they  had  been  gifted 
with  sufficient  prophetic  insight,  they  might  have  done — 
anticipating  the  slow  course  of  inventive  progress,  by 
encouraging  the  production  of  new  methods.  It  is  reason- 
able to  wish  they  had  been  more  enterprising  ;  it  is  un- 
18 


258  THE  PREMIUMS 

reasonable  to  blame  them  for  their  lack  of  non-existent 
knowledge.  Ex  post  facto  criticism  of  the  sort  is  as  foolish 
as  it  is  easy. 

The  Society's  treatment  of  the  important  question  of 
spinning  mechanism  is  a  good  case  in  point,  and  it  is  very 
clearly  stated  by  Dossie.1  At  the  time  when  he  was  writing 
(1768)  a  certain  amount  of  progress  had  been  made  in  the 
construction  of  spinning  machinery.  Just  thirty  years 
before  (1738)  Paul  and  Wyatt's  machine  for  "  spinning  by 
rollers  "  had  been  patented,  and  soon  after  the  patent 
was  granted  the  apparatus  was  in  successful  operation.2 
Yet  Dossie,  with  full  knowledge  of  the  facts,  gives  his 
deliberate  and  reasoned  opinion  in  favour  of  improving 
the  ordinary  spinning-wheel. 

"  I  am  authorised,"  he  says,  "  to  give  this  judgment 
on  the  principle  of  spinning  by  mechanism  instead  of  the 
hand,  from  my  own  observations,  as  well  as  those  of  two 
other  very  judicious  members  of  the  Society,  who  were 
best  acquainted  with  that  matter,  in  the  spinning  machine 
invented  by  the  late  Mr.  Paul,  which  carried  this  applica- 
tion of  mechanics  to  the  greatest  extent  it  is  perhaps 
capable  of.  By  a  very  great  expense,  and  the  assistance 
of  the  most  ingenious  theoretic,  as  well  as  practical, 
mechanicians  of  our  time,  he  attained  to  the  construction 
of  a  machine  that,  being  moved  by  water,  horses,  or  any 
other  power,  would  spin,  in  the  most  perfect  manner,  any 
number  of  threads,  without  other  assistance  of  the  hand, 
than  to  supply  the  carded  cotton,  take  away  the  finished 
roll  of  thread,  and  rectify  any  accidental  disorders  of 
the  operation.  But  the  delicacy  of  the  work  of  the 
machine,  equal  almost  to  that  of  clocks,  which  subjected 
it  to  be  easily  disordered,  and  at  the  same  time  so  expensive 
to  be  repaired,  and  the  peculiar  manner  of  carding,  which 
was  likewise  very  expensive,  have  occasioned  this  machine 
to  be  wholly  laid  aside  as  unprofitable,  after  sixty  or 
seventy  thousand  pounds  have  been  spent  in  various 
attempts  to  establish  its  use." 

Now  these  remarks  are  perfectly  sensible,  and  it  was  in 

1  Vol.  i.  p.  93. 

8  Industrial  England  in  the  Middle  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  p.  53, 


TEXTILE  MACHINERY  259 

consequence  of  the  ideas  and  opinions  that  they  embody 
that  the  attention  of  the  Society  was  devoted  to  the  im- 
provement of  the  spinning-wheel.  Various  prizes  were 
offered,  and  certain  small  improvements  were  duly  re- 
warded. None  of  them,  however,  were  of  any  great  value, 
and,  as  we  fully  recognise  now,  the  efforts  of  the  Society 
were  quite  futile,  and  its  energy  was  entirely  misdirected. 
Hargreaves  had  already  (1764)  invented  his  "  Jenny,"  and 
Arkwright  had  patented  (1769)  his  "  water-frame,"  while  a 
little  later  (1780  or  thereabouts)  Crompton  brought  out  his 
"  mule."  One  wishes  that  those  three  names  were  to  be 
found  in  the  Society's  lists,  instead  of  three  of  the  improvers 
of  the  venerable  spinning-wheel,  who  were  duly  rewarded. 

The  name  of  a  greater  inventor  than  any  of  these,  if, 
as  must  surely  be  the  case,  the  value  of  a  man's  discovery 
is  to  be  estimated  by  the  effect  it  has  upon  an  industry, 
does  appear  in  the  Society's  records,  that  of  John  Kay,  who, 
though  he  lived  neglected  and  died  a  pauper,  revolutionised 
the  whole  textile  industry  by  his  invention  of  the  fly-shuttle. 

Kay  was  a  prolific  inventor.  He  began  by  devising 
wire  "  reeds  "  for  looms,  and  by  the  sale  of  these  he  made 
his  living.1  His  greatest  invention  was  the  fly-shuttle, 
which  doubled  the  output  of  the  hand-loom,  while  improv- 
ing the  quality  of  its  product,  and  rendered  possible  the 
construction  of  the  power-loom.  He  has  a  fair  claim,  as 
previously  mentioned,  to  be  considered  the  inventor  of  the 
power-loom,  but  this  claim  can  now  never  be  substantiated. 

Also  he  constructed  a  machine,  or  rather  a  pair  of 
machines,  for  making  wire  cards  for  carding  wool.2  These 

1  Thin  strips  of  cane  or  reed  (whence  the  name).     They  may  be 
regarded  as  the  teeth  of  the  comb  or  grating,  in  the  interstices  of  which 
the  threads  of  the  warp  pass,  so  that  by  the  swinging  of  the  frame  in 
which  the  reeds  are  set,  each  successive  thread  of  the  weft  is  pressed 
into  its  place  between  the  warp  threads,  and  the  whole  fabric  rendered 
close  and  compact. 

2  The  preparation  of  wool  for  spinning  was  at  the  time  all  done 
by  hand,  as  it  is  even  now  to  a  very  limited  extent  in  the  domestic 
production  of  genuine  homespun  goods. 

The  hand  cards  used  may  be  described  as  stiff  wire  brushes.  The 
wires  are  fixed  in  a  tough  leather  backing,  which  is  supported  by  a 
further  backing  of  wood.  Two  of  them  are  employed  in  the  process  of 


260  THE  PREMIUMS 

are  his  more  important  inventions  ;  none  of  his  others 
appear  to  have  been  of  much  practical  value. 

The  story  of  Kay's  relations  with  the  Society  is  rather 
curious  and  interesting.  It  has  long  been  known  that 
Kay  had  applied  to  the  Society,  but  it  was  not  known 
which  of  his  inventions  he  submitted.  It  was  generally 
believed  that  he  exhibited  his  fly-shuttle  to  a  committee 
of  the  Society,  and  the  Society  has  been  blamed  for  not 
recognising  the  value  of  so  important  an  invention.  This, 
however,  is  very  far  from  the  truth.  The  facts  have  only 
recently  been  discovered ;  they  show  that  the  invention 
submitted  was  not  his  fly- shuttle,  and  that  Kay  was  quite 
fairly  treated  by  the  Society's  committee,  but  also  that 
the  committee  had  no  true  idea  of  the  merits  of  the  man 
or  of  the  value  of  his  ideas.  They  give  us  a  rather  pathetic 
picture  of  the  inventor  in  his  old  age,  poor,  unknown, 
and  rather  hopeless,  yet  still  full  of  faith  in  the  value  of 
his  earlier  inventions,  and  confident  also  as  to  the  merits  of 
certain  newer  ideas  which  he  puts  forward — though  with 
the  fuller  knowledge  now  available,  it  is  easy  to  see  that 
these  later  notions  are  of  no  particular  value,  the  sort  of 
ideas  which  are  always  the  output  of  an  active  and  in- 
ventive mind.  It  is  the  weakness  of  the  born  inventor 
that  he  must  be  always  inventing,  and  a  large  proportion 
of  his  inventions  are  worthless.  Very  often  he  himself 
is  not  the  best  judge  of  the  value  of  his  own  work.1 

carding,  the  lock  of  wool  being  laid  upon  one  and  combed  out  with 
the  other.  The  result  is  to  straighten  out  the  fibres — a  process  required 
in  all  materials  used  for  the  manufacture  of  textiles,  except  silk,  which 
is  produced  as  a  natural  thread.  The  sliver  produced  by  the  action 
of  carding  is  ready  for  the  spinner,  who  spins  it  into  a  thread. 

1  In  1911  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  find  in  one  of  the  Society's  old 
guard-books  several  original  letters  of  Kay  and  some  other  papers 
relating  to  his  inventions,  and  as  these  seemed  to  me  of  very  great 
interest,  both  from  the  fresh  information  they  gave  about  this  great 
but  unfortunate  inventor,  and  because  no  specimen  of  his  handwriting 
was  known  to  be  in  existence,  I  published  in  the  Society's  Journal 
(vol.  Ix.  p.  73)  a  long  article,  in  which  all  the  letters  and  papers  were 
reprinted  with  extracts  from  the  Committee  Minutes  and  facsimiles  of 
some  of  Kay's  signatures.  To  this,  all  who  are  interested  in  the  subject 
may  be  referred.  Kay  was  born  in  1 704,  and  it  is  clear  from  the  evidence 
in  these  documents  that  he  died  somewhere  about  1770. 


KAY'S  WIRE-CARD  MACHINE  261 

It  was  his  apparatus  for  making  wire  cards  that 
brought  Kay  to  the  Society. 

In  November  1765  he  wrote  that  he  had  devised 
t(  two  engines  "  for  making  wire  cards,  and  in  January 
of  the  following  year  he  attended  a  committee  and  demon- 
strated the  working  of  his  machines.  The  committee 
reported  favourably,  and  advanced  Kay  two  guineas 
that  he  might  get  six  pairs  of  cards  made  from  "  wires 
crooked  and  leaves  pricked  J>  by  his  machines,  but  there 
is  no  record  of  his  having  done  so  and  no  further  minute 
on  the  subject.  Of  course,  the  committee  missed  an 
opportunity  of  doing  credit  to  the  Society,  but  there  is 
no  fault  to  be  found  with  them  for  that.  The  apparatus 
was  not  of  the  highest  order  of  importance,  and  it  is  quite 
clear  that  it  received  full  attention.  If  Kay  had  done  what 
he  was  asked  to  do,  he  would  certainly  have  got  a  reward. 
It  may  seem  remarkable  that  the  name  of  a  man  who  is 
now  recognised  as  one  of  our  greatest  industrial  pioneers 
should  have  been  quite  unknown  to  his  contemporaries, 
but  so  it  was.  It  is  evident  that  the  name  of  the  inventor 
of  the  fly-shuttle  meant  nothing  at  all  to  a  committee 
of  mechanical  experts  just  thirty  years  after  the  invention 
was  patented,  though  we  know  that  it  came  largely  into 
use  in  the  wool-working  districts  soon  after  it  was  first 
invented.  Probably  the  committee  did  not  know  that 
the  John  Kay  who  showed  them  his  "  engines  "  for  making 
cards  had  ever  invented  a  shuttle. 

Nine  years  later,  November  1774,  William  Kay,  John's 
youngest  son,  attended  a  committee  which  had  before  them 
another  wire-card  making  machine,  and  he  told  the  com- 
mittee that  he  had  "  used  a  machine  upwards  of  ten  years 
for  this  purpose  invented  by  his  father."  At  a  later 
meeting  of  the  committee  William  Kay  stated  that  he 
had  improved  his  father's  apparatus  and  had  made  cards 
for  sale  by  his  improved  machine,  which  his  father  had 
never  done.  Eventually  a  bounty  of  50  guineas  was 
awarded  to  William  Kay.  The  award  was  recorded  in 
the  Register  of  Premiums  issued  in  1778.  Unluckily, 
Dossie  l  printed  the  name  Ray  in  his  list  of  awards,  and 
1  Memoirs  of  Agriculture,  vol.  iii.  p.  458. 


262  THE  PREMIUMS 

this  is  probably  the  reason  that  no  mention,  so  far  as  I  can 
find,  has  ever  been  made  of  an  award  being  given  by  the 
Society  for  Kay's  machine  for  making  wire  cards. 

A  few  years  before  William  Kay  brought  before  the 
Society  his  improved  form  of  his  father's  card-making 
machine,  his  brother  Robert,  the  eldest  son  of  John  Kay, 
submitted  his  own  improvements  on  the  "  wheel-shuttle  " 
(the  name  by  which  the  fly-shuttle,  as  it  is  now  called,  was 
then  generally  known). 

This  application  was  made  in  1 764  (the  original  patent 
for  the  fly-shuttle  is  dated  1733)  and  was  considered  at 
two  meetings  of  the  Committees  of  Mechanics  and  Manu- 
facturers. Nobody  familiar  with  the  working  of  the 
apparatus  could  be  found  in  London,  and  Robert  Kay 
suggested  that  it  might  be  tested  in  Bolton  or  Manchester 
and  a  report  made  to  the  Society.  This,  however,  was 
apparently  not  done,  and  there  is  no  further  record  of  any 
proceedings  in  the  matter.1 

In  the  article  in  the  Journal  of  the  Society  mentioned 
above,  I  discussed  at  some  length  the  question  as  to 
what  the  invention  really  was  which  Robert  Kay  brought 
under  the  Society's  notice,  and  I  believe  I  succeeded  in 
showing  that  it  was  in  all  probability  his  own  invention 
of  the  "  drop-box,"  a  device  by  which  a  weaver  could 
bring  into  use  any  one  of  three  different  shuttles,  each 
containing  a  different  coloured  weft.  This  drop-box  of 
Robert's  (first  brought  out  about  1760)  is  always  stated 
to  be  the  first  device  for  weaving  cross-striped  fabrics  con- 
veniently, without  stopping  the  loom  to  change  the  shuttle, 
or  to  re-charge  it  with  different  coloured  weft.  On  the 
whole  it  appears  fairly  certain  that  Robert  Kay's"  Improve- 
ments on  the  Wheel-Shuttle  "  consisted  of  the  addition  of 
his  own  drop-box  to  his  father's  fly-shuttle,  and  that  this 
is  the  only  theory  which  satisfies  all  the  statements  made 
in  the  papers  brought  before  the  Society's  Committee,  and 
published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Society  in  1911. 

1  Along  with  Robert  Kay's  papers  are  two  letters  from  John  Kay 
referring  to  various  inventions  of  his,  and  probably  of  the  same  date  as 
Robert's  application,  1764.  The  letters  were  reprinted  in  full  in  the 
number  of  the  Journal  above  referred  to. 


LOOMS  AND  WEAVING  263 

A  good  many  rewards  for  improvements  in  the  loom 
were  made  at  different  times  by  the  Society.  In  1764  a 
prize  of  £100  was  offered  for  improvements  in  the  stocking- 
frame,  and  in  the  minutes  of  1 765  is  an  interesting  descrip- 
tion of  the  competition,  for  which  a  large  number  of 
frames  were  entered.  These  were  set  up  in  the  "  machine 
room,"  and  a  number  of  expert  workmen  were  employed 
to  test  them.  After  a  careful  examination  a  prize  of  £80 
was  awarded  to  Samuel  Unwin  ;  but  in  the  following  year 
(1766)  a  still  better  frame  was  submitted  by  John  Why- 
man,  and  to  this  the  full  prize  of  £100  was  given.  The 
grant  was  also  supplemented  by  an  amount  subscribed  by 
a  number  of  manufacturers .  This  encouragement  to  British 
stocking  weavers  was  of  special  value,  because  the  manu- 
facture was  in  a  depressed  condition  at  the  time,  and 
suffering  severely  from  competition  with  the  better  pro- 
ductions of  French  looms. 

In  1771  a  prize  of  £50  was  awarded  to  John  Almond 
for  a  hand-loom,  which  is  interesting  because  it  resembles 
in  many  respects  the  form  eventually  adopted  for  the 
power-loom.1  In  1798,  according  to  a  statement  by  him 
in  the  Transactions?  John  Austin  erected  a  number  of 
power-looms  for  a  Mr.  Monteith,  a  Glasgow  manufacturer, 
and  these,  according  to  Mr.  Hooper  (Cantor  lecture  above 
quoted),  were  extremely  like  Almond's  hand-loom.  A 
model  of  one  of  Austin's  looms  was  for  some  time  in  the 
possession  of  the  Society.  He  received  a  Gold  Medal  in 
1806,  as  well  as  a  Silver  Medal  in  the  previous  year  for 
his  improvements  in  the  loom. 

The  premium  lists  contain  mention  of  occasional 
awards  down  to  the  year  1830,  and  amongst  these  were 
some  for  improvements  of  considerable  value.  Porter, 
writing  in  1 83 1,8  refers  to  the  improvements  in  silk  weaving 
rewarded  by  the  Society,  which  he  says,  "  has  done  more 
for  the  encouragement  of  ingenious  artisans  in  this  branch 
of  industry  than  has  been,  or  than  could  be,  effected  by 

1  Luther   Hooper,   "Cantor    Lectures    on    Hand-loom  Weaving, " 
Journal (1912),  vol.  Ix.  p.  995. 

2  Vol.  xxiv.  (1806)  p.  93. 

3  Silk  Manufacture  (Lardner's  Cabinet  Cyclopaedia),  p.  35. 


264  THE  PREMIUMS 

the  patent  laws  under  the  present  system."  Amongst 
these  may  be  noted  the  improvements  in  the  "  drawboy," 
for  which  a  prize  was  awarded  in  1807  to  A.  Duff.  The 
mechanical  drawboy  was  invented  by  Joseph  Mason,  to 
whom,  in  1687,  a  patent  was  granted  for  "  weaveing  such 
stuffes  as  the  greatest  trade  in  Norwich  now  doth  depend 
upon,  without  the  helpe  of  a  draught-boy."  Before  his 
invention  the  cords  of  the  loom,  which  had  to  be  drawn 
in  a  prearranged  succession  in  order  to  produce  the  pattern, 
had  to  be  pulled  down  by  a  boy  who  stood  at  the  side  of 
the  loom  and  used  a  large  fork  and  lever  for  the  purpose. 
When  a  mechanical  device  was  substituted  for  the  boy 
who  acted  as  the  weaver's  assistant,  the  apparatus  took 
its  name  from  the  original  worker  whom  it  replaced. 

The  actual  invention  of  the  drawboy  has  erroneously 
been  attributed  to  Duff,  but  what  he  did  was  to  introduce 
very  considerable  improvements.  He  himself,  in  his 
paper  in  the  Transactions,  disclaims  novelty  for  his 
invention,  which  he  describes  as  an  improvement  on 
methods  previously  known.  Three  years  later,  in  1810, 
J .  Sholl  was  rewarded  for  further  improvements  on  Duff's 
apparatus.1  A  little  later  still  came  the  great  invention 
of  Jacquard,  on  which  various  improvements  in  details 
were  made  by  English  inventors.  Some  of  these  were 
rewarded  by  the  Society,  the  most  important  being 
the  invention  of  W.  Jennings,  a  weaver  or  loom-maker 
of  Bethnal  Green,  who  reduced  the  great  height  of  the 
Jacquard  apparatus,  and  thereby  rendered  it  available 
for  use  in  the  rooms  in  which  the  silk  weavers  then 
generally  worked.2 

The  manufacture  of  silk  in  England  had  been  firmly 
established  by  the  two  great  immigrations  of  Flemish 
weavers  in  the  sixteenth  century  and  of  Huguenots  in 
the  seventeenth.  Mills  for  "  throwing  "  silk  had  also 
been  set  up  in  the  eighteenth  century.  But  the  various 
attempts  which  had  been  made  to  produce  silk  in  this 
country  had  all  failed.  The  success  of  Louis  xiv.'s  great 
minister,  Colbert,  in  establishing  the  production  of  silk 

1  Transactions,  vol.  xxv.  p.  51  (1807),  and  xxviii.  p.  123  (1810). 

2  Porter,  Silk  Manufacture,^.  253.     Transactions,  vol.  xlviii.  p.  175. 


SILK  PRODUCTION  265 

in  France  aroused  emulation  over  here,  but  without 
practical  result.  James  i.,  whose  efforts  to  encourage 
English  manufactures  perhaps  deserve  more  credit  than 
they  have  received,  tried  to  acclimatise  the  silkworm, 
and  for  this  purpose  he  had  mulberry  trees  planted  in 
St.  James's  Park  on  the  site  of  the  present  Buckingham 
Palace.  The  experiment  was  continued  for  some  time, 
since  it  is  recorded  that  in  1628,  Charles  i.  appointed 
Lord  Aston  keeper  of  "  His  Majesty's  mulberry  garden 
at  St.  James's,  and  of  the  silkworms  and  houses  thereunto 
appertaining  "  ;  but  the  garden,  as  far  as  its  original  object 
was  concerned,  proved  a  failure,  and  was  eventually  turned 
into  a  place  of  public  entertainment. 

A  scheme  started  in  1718  had  no  better  success.  Large 
plantations  were  laid  out  in  Chelsea,  but  after  a  short 
trial  the  project  collapsed.  Dossie,  in  two  letters  which 
he  wrote  (under  the  signature  of  "  Agricola  ")  to  the 
Museum  Rusticum  in  I/66,1  relates  how  a  person,  whose 
name  is  not  given,  sent  some  specimens  of  English-grown 
silk  to  the  Society  in  that  year,  and  how  the  Society,  not 
considering  his  silk  deserving  any  serious  reward,  yet 
encouraged  him  by  the  gift  of  a  reel  and  basin  such  as 
were  used  by  the  silk-growers  of  Piedmont.2  This  seems 
to  have  been  one  of  several  attempts  to  grow  silk  in  this 
country  at  the  time,  for  some  small  prizes  were  awarded 
in  1763  and  in  1778  for  raising  and  winding  silk. 

The  Society  seems  to  have  held  the  view  that  the 
production  of  silk  in  England  was  not  practicable,  and 
while,  as  previously  recorded,3  it  took  a  good  deal  of  trouble 
to  promote  silk-growing  in  the  American  colonies,  it  did 
nothing  at  first  to  encourage  it  in  Great  Britain.  The  speci- 
mens, however,  above-mentioned  drew  fresh  attention  to 
the  matter,  and  Dossie  rather  vigorously  combated  the  re- 
ceived opinion,  urging  that  further  experiments  should  be 
made.  Accordingly,  in  1768,  a  prize  for  English-raised  silk 

1  Museum  Rusticum,  vol.  vi.  pp.  89  and  241. 

2  It  appears  from  the  minutes  that  the  correspondent  wrote  under 
an  assumed  name,   "  Rusticus,"  but  it  seems,  from  a  note  by  Dr. 
Templeman  on  one  of  his  letters,  that  he  was  really  John  Delamare, 
a  member  of  the  Society  and  a  silk  manufacturer  of  Spitalfields. 

3  See  Chapter  IV,  p.  84. 


266  THE  PREMIUMS 

was  offered,  and  from  time  to  time  after  this  date  efforts 
were  made  to  encourage  the  planting  of  mulberry  trees 
and  the  raising  of  silkworms.  The  Hon.  Daines  Barring- 
ton  contributed  a  paper  to  the  second  volume  of  the 
Transactions  on  the  subject,  and  in  it  he  also  urged  the 
advantage  of  silk-growing  in  England,  and  gave  some 
information  as  to  the  practice  in  the  East  and  on  the 
Continent.  The  Society  continued  to  offer  rewards  for 
the  plantation  of  mulberry  trees,  and  for  the  production 
of  silk,  with  the  result  that  from  time  to  time  small 
quantities  of  cocoons  were  produced,  but  the  matter  never 
got  beyond  the  experimental  stage,  where  indeed  it  now 
remains. 

Many  years  later,  in  1825,  a  vigorous  attempt  was 
made  to  raise  silk  here  on  a  commercial  scale,  and  a 
company  with  a  large  capital  was  started.  It,  however, 
was  unsuccessful,  and  though  even  later  proposals  have 
been  put  forward  for  the  plantation  of  mulberry  trees  and 
the  raising  of  silkworms,  they  have  never  led  to  any 
practical  result.  In  1840,  W.  Felkin,  of  Nottingham,  sent 
the  Society  some  samples  of  British-grown  silk,  and  was 
formally  thanked  for  them,  and  in  1873,  Sir  Daniel  Cooper 
produced  some  similar  experimental  specimens. 

The  latest  communication  on  the  subject  to  the  Society 
is  a  paper  read  in  1877  by  Mr.  Francis  Cobb,  in  which  the 
writer  recommended  the  raising  in  England  of  silkworm 
"  grain,"  or  eggs,  for  exportation  abroad.  The  reason 
generally  put  forward  for  the  failure  has  been  the  lack  of 
cheap  labour,  but  whatever  the  cause,  the  fact  remains 
that  while  it  has  been  shown  that  perfectly  good  silk  can 
be  produced  in  this  country,  nobody  has  ever  succeeded  in 
obtaining  it  in  profitable  quantities. 

At  various  times  attempts  were  made  to  encourage 
the  production  of  lace  in  England.  The  first  award  was 
taken  in  1762  by  Dorothy  Holt,  who  made  the  ruffles 
worn  by  George  in.  at  his  coronation.  Several  other  small 
prizes  were  given  about  the  same  time,  but  the  matter 
dropped,  and  though  some  years  later  the  offer  of  prizes 
was  renewed,  nothing  very  much  came  of  it.  Lace-making 
was  one  of  the  very  few  domestic  industries  which  survived, 


QUILTING  IN  THE  LOOM  267 

and  perhaps  it  neither  needed  nor  profited  by  artificial 
stimulation. 

Between  the  years  1761  and  1765  the  amount  of  £410 
was  expended  in  rewards  for  what  was  known  as  "  quilting 
in  the  loom  " — that  is  to  say,  weaving  fabrics  having  a 
diagonal  pattern  like  a  quilt.  Such  fabrics  were  imported 
from  the  East,  and  "  Indian  quilting  "  was  much  admired, 
as  appears  from  occasional  references  in  contemporary 
literature.  Some,  perhaps  all,  of  the  material  was  hand- 
made. It  was  not,  however,  produced  in  England  till 
the  Society,  in  1761,  offered  a  prize  for  "  a  quantity  of 
quilting,  made  in  a  loom  in  imitation  of,  and  nearest  in 
goodness  to,  the  Marseilles  or  India  quilting."  In  success- 
ive years  samples  of  a  gradually  improving  character 
were  produced  in  silk,  cotton,  linen,  and  wool,  until  in 
1765  the  Committee  on  Manufactures  reported  that  "  the 
manufacture  appears  to  be  sufficiently  established,"  and 
the  prizes  were  discontinued. 

The  writer  of  the  "  Observations  on  the  Effects  of  Re- 
wards "  in  the  class  of  manufactures,  appended  to  the  list  of 
awards  published  in  1778,  writes  in  a  very  jubilant  strain 
about  the  result  of  these  particular  prizes,  for  he  says  : — 

1  The  manufacture  is  now  so  thoroughly  established 
and  so  extensive,  being  wrought  in  all  the  different 
materials  of  Linen,  Woollen,  Cotton  and  Silk,  that  there 
are  few  persons  of  any  rank,  condition,  or  sex  in  the  kingdom 
(and  we  may  add  within  the  extent  of  British  commerce, 
so  greatly  is  it  exported)  who  do  not  use  it  in  some  part 
of  their  clothing  ;  so  that  we  may  safely  say,  if  the  whole 
fund  and  revenue  of  the  Society  had  been  given  to  obtain 
this  one  article  of  trade,  the  national  gain  in  return  should 
be  considered  as  very  cheaply  purchased." 

In  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  number 
of  factories  had  been  started  in  England  by  Walloon, 
Flemish,  and  French  weavers  for  the  manufacture  of 
tapestry  and  pile  carpets,  apparently  with  but  moderate 
success.1  The  subject  was  one  to  which  a  good  deal  of 

1 A  good  summary  account  of  these  is  given  in  the  latest  (eleventh)  edi- 
tion of  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  in  the  article  on  "Carpets,"  by  Mr. 
Alan  Cole.  The  history  in  the  earlier  editions  is  neither  full  nor  accurate. 


268  THE  PREMIUMS 

attention  was  paid  by  the  Society,  and  premiums  were 
given  in  1757  to  Moore,  of  Chiswell  Street,  and  to  Whitty, 
of  Axminster ;  in  1758  to  Passavent,  of  Exeter;  and  in 
1759  to  Jeffer,  of  Frome.  It  seems  probable  that  Passa- 
vent's  factory  was  the  one  founded  about  three  years 
earlier,  and  mentioned  by  Johnson's  friend,  Baretti,  two 
years  later  (1760). 

By  these  awards,  it  is  stated,1  the  manufacture  of 
carpets  "  is  now  established  in  different  parts  of  the 
kingdom,  and  brought  to  a  degree  of  elegance  and  beauty 
which  the  Turkey  carpets  never  attained." 

The  drugget,  for  the  manufacture  of  which  a  prize 
was  offered  in  1758,  was  not  the  floorcloth  now  known 
by  that  name,  but  a  "  sort  of  stuff  very  thin  and  narrow, 
usually  all  wool  and  sometimes  half- wool  and  half-silk."2 
It  was  used  as  a  material  for  clothing,  and  as  late  as  1832 
Bulwer  Lytton  describes  one  of  the  characters  in  his 
Eugene  Aram  as  wearing  a  "  spencer  of  light  brown 
drugget."  There  was  a  great  demand  for  it  in  the  Lisbon 
market,  and  this  market  was  mainly  supplied  from  France, 
so  it  was  thought  that  there  was  a  good  opening  for  British 
trade.  Various  awards  were  made  during  the  next  four 
years,  and  satisfactory  samples  were  produced,  but 
"  owing  to  exterior  circumstances  attending  the  course 
of  our  trade  with  Portugal,"  the  importation  to  Lisbon 
was  never  established.  Dossie,  who  reports  the  matter, 
comforts  himself  with  the  philosophical  reflection  that  if 
such  a  branch  of  the  woollen  manufacture  had  been 
established  it  would  only  have  come  into  competition  with 
branches  already  existing. 

In  1809  the  Society  awarded  a  "  silver  medal  set  in  a 
broad  gold  border  "  to  "  The  Patrons  and  Committee  of 
the  Flag  Association,  for  a  matchless  specimen  of  double 
brocade-weaving  in  a  flag  now  executing  in  Spital-fields." 

A  full  account  of  this  flag  is  given  in  a  curious  and 
rather  interesting  pamphlet  which  has  been  preserved  in 
the  Guildhall  Library.3  It  appears  that  one  Samuel  Sholl 

1  Transactions,  vol.  i.  (1783),  p.  28.       *  Chambers' s  Cyclopedia,  1751. 
3  Short  Historical  Account  of  the  Silk  Manufacture  in  England.      By 
Samuel  Sholl  (1811). 


BROCADE-WEAVING—NET-MAKING          269 

and  some  other  journeymen  weavers  formed  a  committee 
to  produce  a  piece  of  work  which  would  afford  proof  of  the 
capacity  of  British  workmen  to  manufacture  something 
as  good  as  any  foreign  production.  With  this  object  they 
collected  subscriptions  to  defray  the  cost  of  weaving  a 
very  elaborate  flag.  They  collected  over  £570,  but  when 
the  flag  was  finished  they  found  themselves  in  debt  for 
£380  more.  The  flag  was  exhibited  at  the  Society's 
distribution  of  prizes  in  1811,  when  the  medal  was  pre- 
sented, the  flag  being  then  finished.  It  seems  by  the 
description  to  have  been  a  very  remarkable  piece  of  work, 
and  from  the  terms  of  the  award  it  was  evidently  highly 
approved  by  the  committee.  Its  after  history  is  not 
known,  Shell's  work  having  been  published  in  181 1 . 

About  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  idea 
of  making  fishing-nets  by  machinery  seems  to  have 
attracted  some  attention  both  in  France  and  in  England. 
The  Societe  pour  1 'Encouragement  de  ITndustrie  Nationale 
(founded  in  1801)  offered  a  prize  of  10,000  francs,  a  part 
of  which  (according  to  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica) 
was  awarded  to  Jacquard.  In  1771  the  Society  of  Arts 
offered  a  prize  of  twenty  guineas  for  a  similar  object. 
Awards  were  made  in  1776,  1796,  and  1806,  and  the  two 
machines  (by  Boswell,  of  Barnstable,  and  Robertson,  of 
Edinburgh),  for  which  the  last  two  awards  were  made,  look 
from  the  descriptions  as  if  they  would  have  worked  well 
enough,  but  the  above-quoted  authority  states  that  the 
first  efficient  machine  was  by  Paterson,  of  Musselburgh 
(the  date  of  which  was  about  1820).  The  devices  of  some 
of  these  net-making  machines  were  afterwards  embodied 
in  some  of  the  later  lace-making  machines.1 

Amongst  the  first  subjects  to  which  attention  was  given 
was  what  is  now  termed  "  Industrial  Hygiene  " — that  is 
to  say,  methods  of  preventing  injury  to  workmen  engaged 
in  dangerous  or  unhealthy  occupations,  or  proposals  for 
the  substitution  of  innocuous  substances  for  those  in  the 

1  Felkin's  History  of  the  Machine-Wrought  Hosiery  and  Lace  Manu- 
facture (1867),  p.  156. 


270  THE  PREMIUMS 

preparation  or  use  of  which  there  was  risk  of  injury  to  life 
or  health. 

The  late  Mr.  Benjamin  Shaw,  therefore,  when  in  1876 
he  founded  a  prize  for  inventions  devised  to  minimise 
the  risks  incidental  to  industrial  occupations,  wras  only 
carrying  out  a  very  old  tradition  of  the  Society. 

The  first  prize  of  the  sort  was  offered  in  1771,  for  any 
means  of  lessening  the  injurious  effects  of  the  process  of 
fire-gilding  or  water-gilding,  as  it  was  sometimes  called. 
In  this  process  a  coating  of  an  amalgam  of  gold  and 
mercury  is  applied  to  the  metallic  surface  to  be  gilt.  The 
mercury  is  volatilised  by  heat,  and  the  gold  is  left  as  a  thin 
adherent  film.  The  process  has  now  been  to  a  large  extent 
superseded  by  electro-plating  ;  but  it  is  still  used  for  fine 
work,  as  it  gives  a  very  good  solid  deposit.  The  mercurial 
vapours  given  off  are,  however,  extremely  injurious  to  the 
operator,  and  before  proper  appliances  were  devised  to 
carry  them  away,  the  early  workers  suffered  severely 
from  them.  The  offer  produced  an  apparatus  intended 
to  remedy  the  objections,  and  in  1774  a  prize  of  twenty 
guineas  was  awarded  to  its  inventor  (J.  Hills),  who  kept 
a  curiosity  shop  in  Berwick  Street.  According  to  the 
description  of  Dossie,1  who  (like  the  present  writer)  found 
Hill's  own  description  unintelligible,  the  apparatus  con- 
sisted of  a  funnel  fixed  in  front  of  the  furnace  and  over  the 
article  under  treatment.  This  funnel  was  connected  by  a 
pipe  to  the  furnace  chimney,  and  a  draught  produced  by  a 
bellows  drew  up  the  fumes  and  discharged  them  into  the 
flue.  If  necessary,  glass  screens  could  be  added,  with 
openings  through  which  the  workman  could  pass  his  hands, 
enclosed  in  leather  gauntlets.  After  inspecting  a  model, 
the  Society's  committee  ordered  a  full-sized  apparatus 
to  be  constructed  and  set  up.  A  "  Mr.  Platts,  a  workman 
in  the  water-gilding  way,"  was  engaged  to  work  it.  "A 
day  being  fixed,  several  members  of  the  Society  went  to 
see  its  effect,  and  reported  that  they  had  not  felt  any  of  the 
so-called  sweet  vapour  during  the  operation."  Having 
thus  assured  themselves,  by  personal  immunity  from 
mercury  poisoning,  of  the  value  of  the  apparatus,  they 
1  Dossie,  vol.  iii.  p.  370. 


MERCURIAL  GILDING  271 

decided  to  award  Mr.  Hills  the  offered  prize.  A  little  later 
Platts  wrote  that  he  had  made  use  of  the  apparatus 
"  ever  since  the  trial."  He  added,  "I  ...  wish  I  had 
been  so  happy  as  to  have  had  the  use  of  such  an  invention 
twenty  years  ago  ;  I  make  no  doubt  but  that  I  should  have 
been  free  from  the  disorder  I  have  so  long  laboured  under." 

The  actual  process  of  fire-gilding  is  practically  identical 
now  with  that  seen  by  the  Society's  committee  in  1774, 
and  a  certain  amount  of  risk  is  still  run  by  the  workman. 
But  he  works  under  very  much  better  sanitary  conditions, 
and  he  has  the  advantage  of  various  appliances,  such  as 
india-rubber  gloves,  unknown  to  his  predecessors  of  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 

Forty  years  later  we  find  the  same  grievances  existing, 
and  a  fresh  attempt  made  to  remedy  them.  In  1811  a 
prize  of  twenty  guineas  was  awarded  to  Richard  Bridgen 
for  "  a  method  to  prevent  the  inhalation  of  noxious  \*apours 
in  gilding  metals."  This  time  it  was  a  mask  to  be  fitted 
over  the  workman's  nose  and  mouth,  and  connected  to  a 
tube,  which  was  led  to  the  back  of  the  head,  so  that  the 
air  breathed  was  not  charged  with  the  fumes  immediately 
proceeding  from  the  heated  metal.  If  preferred,  the  tube 
might  be  lengthened  and  led  to  a  window,  so  as  to  provide 
communication  with  the  external  air.  That  the  device 
was  quite  practical  and  effective,  though  decidedly  incon- 
venient, may  be  admitted  as  certain.  That  it  is  still 
regarded  in  some  quarters  as  a  novelty  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  when,  ten  years  ago,  in  1903,  a  special  prize 
was  offered  by  the  Society  for  a  dust-arresting  respirator, 
several  masks,  identical  in  principle  with  Bridgen 's,  were 
submitted  in  competition. 

A  considerable  further  advance  was  made  by  John 
Roberts,  who  in  1825  received  a  silver  medal  and  fifty 
guineas  for  "  apparatus  to  enable  persons  to  breathe  in 
thick  smoke,  or  in  air  loaded  with  suffocating  vapours." 
This  apparatus  would  appear  to  be  the  original  of  the 
various  modern  devices,  firemen's  helmets,  respirators, 
and  the  like,  used — or  proposed — for  enabling  persons  to 
breathe  in  smoke  or  noxious  atmospheres.  It  consisted 
of  a  leather  helmet,  padded  so  as  to  fit  airtight  to  the 


272  THE  PREMIUMS 

wearer's  neck  and  shoulders,  and  fitted  with  glass  or  mica 
eye-pieces.  From  the  front  of  the  helmet  was  suspended  a 
flexible  leather  tube,  with  a  helical  wire  inside,  and  ter- 
minating in  a  trumpet-shaped  mouth.  The  object  of  this 
was  to  draw  the  air  for  respiration  from  near  the  floor 
level,  where  there  was  less  smoke.  The  trumpet  was  filled 
with  moist  sponge  covered  with  coarse  cloth.  For  con- 
venience, the  pipe  wras  strapped  to  the  wearer's  thigh.  If 
the  cloth  was  sufficiently  porous,  this  must  have  been  a 
very  efficient  and  practical  appliance.  It  is  evident  that 
the  pipe  was  an  unnecessary  detail,  and  might  have  been 
dispensed  with.  Roberts 's  apparatus  was  carefully  tested 
by  the  Society's  committee,  and  was  found  to  work  very 
well,  according  to  the  account  given  in  the  Transactions  -1 
He  himself  was  a  working  collier  of  St.  Helens. 

Considerable  public  attention  was  drawn  a  little  later 
still  (in  1830)  to  the  Chevalier  Aldini's  *  wire-gauze  mask  3 
or  screen  for  the  use  of  firemen,  and  the  Society  gave  him 
a  gold  medal,  with  the  remark  :  "  Something  is  still 
wanting  to  give  to  his  ingenuity  all  the  practical  utility 
of  which  it  is  capable  ;  and  it  is  in  the  hope  of  this  being 
effected  that  the  Society  again  call  it  to  the  public  atten- 
tion." 4 

The  dangers  to  health  from  any  dusty  trades,  in  which 
the  harm  is  done  by  mechanical  particles  breathed  by  the 
workman,  was  not  overlooked,  and  in  1805  a  gold  medal 
was  offered  for  "  obviating  the  prejudicial  effects  that 
attend  the  operation  of  pointing  needles  by  grinding  them 
dry,  during  which  the  particles  of  grindstone  dust  and 
steel,  being  thrown  into  the  air,  and  received  with  it  into 
the  lungs,  occasion  asthma,  consumption,  and  other  pain- 
ful disorders."  The  offer  was  afterwards  extended  to 
include  other  processes  of  dry  grinding,  and  was  con- 

1  Transactions,  vol.  xliii.  p.  25. 

2  Giovanni  Aldini  (1762-1834)  was  an  Italian  physicist  of  some 
distinction,  and  Professor  of  Physics  at  Bologna. 

5  In  1827  a  reward  of  five  guineas  had  been  paid  to  J.  Callaghan 
for  a  wire-gauze  "  face-guard  for  smelters."  This  was  intended  merely 
to  protect  the  face  from  heat,  but  it  might  have  been  applied  to  other 
purposes  (Transactions,  vol.  xlv.  p.  152). 

*  Transactions,  vol,  xlviii.  p.  141, 


DUST- ARRESTING  RESPIRATORS          273 

tinued  for  twenty  years.  In  ordinary  grinding  work 
with  a  wet  stone,  the  stone  cuts  more  quickly,  because 
the  water  washes  away  the  metallic  particles  and 
fine  dust,  so  that  the  grain  of  the  stone  is  not,  as 
the  grinders  say,  "choked,"  but  the  dry  stone,  though 
it  cuts  more  slowly,  leaves  a  finer  surface,  and  there- 
fore has  always  been  used  for  needle-pointing  and  for 
similar  work.1 

Of  the  various  appliances  submitted,  some  of  which 
received  rewards,  the  best  was  that  of  J.  H.  Abraham, 
of  Sheffield,  to  whom,  in  1822,  the  Society  awarded  its 
gold  medal  for  a  magnetic  guard  to  protect  persons  em- 
ployed in  dry  grinding.  The  apparatus  is  described  in 
the  Transactions.2  The  stone  is  enclosed  in  a  wooden 
casing,  so  that  only  a  portion  is  exposed,  and  the  current 
of  air  generated  by  its  revolution  carries  the  dust  into  a 
tube,  by  which  it  is  led  away.  The  invention  also  includes 
a  respirator  to  cover  the  mouth  and  nose.  This  respirator 
was  fitted  with  magnets,  for  the  purpose  of  arresting 
the  fine  particles  of  steel  thrown  off  in  the  process  of  point- 
ing needles,  and  in  other  processes  of  dry  grinding.  Al- 
though the  invention  was  greatly  appreciated  at  the  time, 
and  was  actually  brought  into  practical  use,  it  never 
became  popular,  the  main  objection  to  it  having  been 
raised  by  the  workpeople  themselves,  who  feared  that 
the  lessened  risk  attached  to  their  employment  would 
lower  their  wages.  Similar  considerations  have  always 
stood  in  the  way  of  the  introduction  of  various  appliances 
intended  to  limit  the  risks  associated  with  all  trades  in 
which  the  workpeople  breathe  a  dusty  atmosphere. 

The  question  of  producing  a  leadless  glaze  for  pottery, 
which  would  be  effective  without  injuring  the  health  of 
those  employed  in  the  manufacture,  is  a  very  old  and  a 
very  important  one,  and  one  that  has  not  yet  been  solved. 
At  a  very  early  date  it  came  before  the  Society,  and  in 
1793  a  prize  of  a  gold  medal  was  offered  for  "  glazing 
earthenware  without  lead." 

As  is  well  known,  the  glaze  on  earthenware  is  merely 

1  Holtzapffel,  Mechanical  Manipulation,  vol.  iii.  (1850),  p.  in  i. 
'Vol.  XL.  (1822),  p.  135. 

19 


274  THE  PREMIUMS 

a  thin  coating  of  glass,  or  silicate  of  soda.  On  many  of 
the  coarser  forms  of  pottery  the  glaze  may  consist  of 
pure  silicate  of  soda,  and  may  be  obtained  by  the  use  of 
common  salt.  But  such  a  glaze  is  only  applicable  to 
clay  bodies,  which  will  stand  a  very  high  temperature — 
a  class  which  includes  a  very  large  number  of  the  roughest 
sorts  of  pottery,  and  also  what  is  known  as  stone- 
ware. By  the  use  of  lead  a  very  much  more  fusible 
glaze  is  obtained,  and  this  is  available  for  all  the  more 
delicate  kinds  of  porcelain  and  other  more  easily  fusible 
ware. 

The  offer,  in  1793,  induced  an  application  from  one 
Law,  who  submitted  specimens  of  an  "  East  Indian 
material  called  by  him  '  She  Kaw.'  '  Samples  were  sub- 
mitted to  Thomas  Wedgwood  for  report,  and  he  reported 
adversely  on  the  material,  which  proved  to  be  some  sort 
of  selenite. 

For  many  years  the  offer  was  continued  without  any 
result,  until  1820,  when  a  claim  was  made  by  John  Rose, 
of  Coalport.  "  The  principal  ingredient  of  my  glaze/' 
he  wrote,  "  is  felspar  of  a  somewhat  compact  texture, 
and  a  pale  flesh-red  colour,  which  forms  veins  in  a  slaty 
rock  adjoining  to  the  town  of  Welsh  Pool,  in  Montgomery- 
shire. This  material,  being  freed  from  all  adhering  pieces 
of  slate  and  of  quartz,  is  ground  to  a  fine  powder,  and 
being  thus  prepared,  I  mix  with  27  parts  of  felspar,  18 
of  borax,  4  of  Lynn  sand,  3  of  nitre,  3  of  soda,  and  3 
of  Cornwall  china  clay.  This  mixture  is  to  be  melted 
to  a  frit,  and  is  then  to  be  ground  to  a  fine  powder, 
3  parts  of  calcined  borax  being  added  previously  to 
the  grinding."  This  was  perhaps  the  first  of  the  many 
felspathic  glazes  which  have  been  suggested  as  sub- 
stitutes for  lead  glaze.  It  was  no  doubt  an  excellent 
glaze,  and  probably  well  deserved  the  gold  medal 
which  was  awarded  to  Mr.  Rose  for  his  invention.  Two 
years  later,  in  1822,  another  premium  was  awarded  to 
J.  Meigh,  of  Shelton,  Staffordshire,  for  another  felspathic 
glaze. 

The  offer  of  the  prize  was  continued  for  another  two 
years,  and  in  the  meantime  arsenic  had  been  added  to 


LEADLESS  GLAZE  275 

the  prohibited  ingredients.     But  after  1823  the  premium 
was  discontinued. 

As   is   well   known,   the    problem    has   not   yet   been 
satisfactorily   solved.     As  late  as   1910  a  Departmental 
Committee   reported    on    the    dangers    attendant  on  the 
use    of   lead    in    the    manufacture   of    earthenware    and 
china,  and  this  report  contains  the  fullest  and  latest  in- 
formation on  the  subject  of  leadless  glazes.     Many  such 
glazes  have  been    added    to    that    of    John    Rose,    but 
none  of  them  are  so  effective  as,  and   all  of  them   are 
more  expensive  than,  a  glaze  in  which  lead  forms  a  part. 
Very    great    improvements    have    naturally   been    made 
in    the    manufacture,    and    to    a    very   large   extent  the 
desired   end  has   been  attained  by  the  method   of  pre- 
paring the  lead  glaze,  which  is  now  made  of  a  much 
less    soluble    character    than    of   old,    so    that    the    pro- 
cesses of   manufacture  are  much   less  dangerous  to  the 
workmen.      By    such    means,    and    by    insisting    upon 
proper  sanitary  precautions,  the  death-rate  has  been  so 
largely  reduced   that   practically   the   object   sought   for 
is  believed  to  have  been  attained  without  the  necessity 
for  prohibiting  certain  methods  of  earthenware-making. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  belief  is  well-founded,  since 
the  proposed  legislation,  whatever  might  be  its  result  upon 
the  health  of  the  workers,  would  only,  in  the  opinion  of 
those  best  qualified  to  judge,  have  the  result  of  driving 
the  manufacture  of  high-class  ware  out  of  this  country, 
and  placing  it  in  the  hands  of  foreigners. 

Until  quite  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  chimneys 
were  always  swept  by  climbing- boys,  and  nobody  seemed 
to  see  any  hardship  in  this  occupation  for  children.  Even 
so  kindly  a  soul  as  Charles  Lamb,  in  his  essay  on  chimney- 
sweeps, ignores  the  enormous  amount  of  brutality  and 
cruelty  which  fell  to  the  lot  of  "  those  tender  novices, 
blooming  through  their  first  nigritude."  Mrs.  Montagu, 
the  celebrated  "  blue-stocking,"  gave  the  climbing-boys 
an  annual  dinner,  and  so,  if  Elia  is  to  be  believed,  did  his 
old  school-fellow,  James  White.  But  the  first  to  make 
a  serious  effort  to  improve  their  condition  appears  to 


2;6  THE  PREMIUMS 

have  been  Jonas  Hanway,  who  was  instrumental  in  intro- 
ducing into  Parliament  the  Bill  which  was  passed  in  1788. 
This  Act  (28  George  in.  c.  48)  imposed  certain  restric- 
tions on  the  business,  but,  on  the  whole,  was  ineffective. 

In  1796  the  Society  offered  a  prize  for  an  apparatus 
for  "  obviating  the  necessity  of  children  being  employed 
within  flues."  A  note  to  this  announcement  refers  to 
the  great  hardships  endured  by,  and  to  the  frequent  fatal 
accidents  occurring  to,  the  children  employed.  The 
prize  offered  was  a  gold  medal  or  forty  guineas,  and 
the  offer  was  renewed  at  intervals  up  to  1803.  Various 
proposals  were  submitted,  including  a  machine  by  G.  M. 
Smart,  but  no  awards  were  made  before  1805,  when 
Smart  sent  in  an  improved  machine,  and  to  this  the  prize 
was  awarded.  This  apparatus  was  practically  the  same 
as  that  which  is  now  used — namely,  a  number  of  rods 
connected  together,  and  carrying  a  brush  at  the  top.  In 
Smart's  apparatus  the  rods  were  hollow  ;  they  fitted  one 
into  the  other  by  means  of  sockets  or  screws,  and  were  all 
held  together  by  a  cord  running  through  them.  This 
machine  was  afterwards  known  as  the  "  scandiscope,"  and 
soon  came  into  general  use.1  According  to  a  note  in  the 
Transactions,  Smart  had  given  up  his  own  profitable 
business  from  philanthropic  motives,  and  devoted  himself 
to  the  invention  and  popularisation  of  chimney-sweeping 
apparatus. 

In  the  year  1800  the  Society  for  Improving  the  Con- 
dition of  the  Poor  took  up  the  subject,  and  in  1 803  a  special 
society  was  formed  for  superseding  climbing-boys.  The 
treasurer  of  this  society  at  one  time  was  William  Tooke, 
a  vice-president  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  who  many  years 
later,  on  the  death  of  the  Prince  Consort  in  1862,  held 
the  presidency  of  the  Society  for  a  year  until  the 
election  of  the  then  Prince  of  Wales  (King  Edward 

1  A  great  deal  of  information  about  the  climbing-boys  and  the 
reform  which  led  to  their  suppression  will  be  found  in  Mayhew's 
London  Labour  and  the  London  Poor  (edition  of  1861),  vol.  ii.  p.  399. 
Hone,  in  his  Everyday  Book,  vol.  ii.  p.  518,  also  gives  many  curious 
and  interesting  details,  including  a  quaint  advertisement  of  the 
scandiscope. 


CHIMNEY-SWEEPING-CHEMISTRY         277 

vii.).1  It  was  due  to  the  exertions  of  Mr.  Tooke,  and  to  the 
appeal  of  Mr.  J.  J.  Angerstein,  the  well-known  philanthro- 
pist, that  the  Society  of  Arts  associated  itself  with  the  newly 
formed  society,  and  renewed  its  offer  of  prizes  for  machines 
for  sweeping  chimneys.  In  1817  a  Parliamentary  inquiry 
was  held,  at  which  Tooke,  Smart,  and  others  gave  evi- 
dence, and  this  led  to  the  passing  of  a  second  Act  in  1834 
(4  &  5  Will.  iv.  c.  35).  Eventually  a  third  Act  (3  &  4 
Viet.  c.  85)  was  passed  in  1840.  This  came  into  force 
in  1842,  and  at  last  put  an  end  to  the  use  of  climbing-boys. 
After  the  award  to  Smart  various  other  prizes  were 
given  for  other  chimney-sweeping  machines,  including 
some  in  which  the  brush  was  dragged  through  the  flues 
by  means  of  a  rope.  But  none  of  these  seem  to  have 
come  into  general  use  in  this  country,  although  the  rope 
machine  is  extensively  employed  in  France,  and  the  flues 
in  the  high  buildings  erected  of  recent  years  are  usually 
swept  by  means  of  what  is  known  as  a  "  ball  and  line," 
the  ordinary  sweep's  broom  not  being  capable  of  the 
necessary  extension. 

Considering  that  the  foundations  on  which  the  science 
of  chemistry  was  eventually  built  were  only  laid  in  the 
last  years  of  the  eighteenth  century,  it  is  obvious  that 
such  industries  of  a  chemical  nature  as  existed  could  only 
be  of  a  purely  empirical  character,  and  were  not  really 
conducted  on  scientific  principles  at  all.  Some  progress, 
it  is  true,  had  been  made  in  technical  chemistry  abroad,2 
but  in  England  there  had  been  but  little  advance.  In- 
deed, it  was  the  discovery  by  Leblanc,  in  1792,  of  the 
method  of  making  carbonate  of  soda  from  common  salt 
that  really  formed  the  basis  of  modern  industrial  chemistry, 
since  it  provided  a  cheap  source  of  alkali,  previously  only 
obtainable  from  vegetable  ashes  as  an  impure  carbonate 
of  potash  and  soda,  or  in  the  form  of  saltpetre  (nitrate  of 
potash),  either  native  or  artificial.  In  an  early  premium 

1  See  Chapter  XX,  p.  444. 

2  Sir  Edward  Thorpe,  in  his  History  of  Chemistry  (1909),  gives  the 
names  of  Gahn,  Marggraf,  Duhamel,  Reaumur,  Macquer,  Kunkel,  and 
Hellot  as  the  pioneer  technical  chemists  of  the  eighteenth  century. 


278  THE  PREMIUMS 

list  (1770)  is  included  a  prize  for  barilla,1  "  made  from 
Spanish  kali  raised  in  Great  Britain."  The  offer  was 
continued  for  thirty  years,  but  produced  no  results,  nor 
was  a  similar  offer  for  barilla  grown  in  any  British  pos- 
session more  effective,  though  the  barilla  industry  was  an 
important  one  in  India,  and  Dr.  Roxburgh,  the  great  Indian 
botanist,  who  died  in  1815,  reported  that  one  species  of 
Salicornia,  abundant  on  the  Coromandel  coast,  might  yield 
barilla  sufficient  to  make  soap  and  glass  for  the  whole  world. 
No  better  result  was  obtained  by  a  similar  prize  offered  for 
British-grown  kelp  richer  in  alkali  than  the  ordinary  sort. 

Later  on  (1783)  the  true  way  of  supplying  the  demand 
for  alkali  was  suggested  in  the  offer  of  a  prize  for  obtaining 
soda  from  sea-salt,  a  problem  which,  after  exercising  the 
minds  of  many  chemists  and  inventors  (among  the  most 
notable  of  these  was  Roebuck,  the  friend  of  Watt  and 
Priestley,  who  ruined  himself  in  the  attempt),  was 
eventually  solved  by  Leblanc,  in  response  to  a  prize  offered, 
not  by  the  Society  of  Arts  or  any  other  society,  but  by 
the  Emperor  Napoleon. 

The  Society's  efforts  to  increase  the  supplies  of  salt- 
petre, or  "  fossil  fixt  alkali,"  have  already  been  referred 
to  in  the  chapter  dealing  with  the  Colonies.2  An  attempt 
was  also  made  to  establish  works  for  the  production  of 
saltpetre  in  England,  but  the  only  result  of  these  efforts 
was  to  demonstrate  the  impracticability  of-  manufacturing 
it  on  a  commercial  scale  at  a  price  which  would  compete 
with  that  of  imported  saltpetre,  and,  after  a  few  years, 
the  attempt  was  abandoned. 

Rewards  were  also  offered  for  the  production  in  Great 
Britain  of  borax,  sal-ammoniac,  bismuth,  and  some  other 
materials,  but  naturally  without  result.  Somewhat  better 
fortune  attended  an  effort  to  establish  in  England  the 
manufacture  of  verdigris  (basic  acetate  of  copper),  used  as  a 
pigment  and  a  dye,  and  then  imported  from  France,  where 
it  was  made  by  treating  copper  plates  with  wine-lees.3 

1  Barilla  was  the  ash  of  plants  of  the  genus  Salicornia  or  glasswort. 
It  contained  only  about  a  fourth  of  its  weight  of  carbonate  of  soda. 
a  See  Chapter  IV,  p.  87. 
3  The  chief  seat  of  the  manufacture  is  still  Montpellier,  in  France. 


VERDIGRIS— COBALT— ULTRAMARINE       279 

In  this  country  the  necessary  vegetable  acid  was  obtained 
by  using  the  pulp  of  apples  from  cider-presses,  and  other 
fruit-juice.  By  the  offer  of  liberal  and  continued  grants, 
the  industry  was  actually  started,  and  a  considerable 
amount  of  the  material  was  produced,  but  no  regular 
manufacture  was  established. 

One  of  the  first  two  prizes  offered  by  the  Society  was 
for  English  cobalt,  the  object  being  the  production  of 
smalt  and  zaffre,  both  silicates  of  cobalt  associated  with 
silicate  of  potash,  and  made  by  melting  the  oxide  of  cobalt 
with  sand  and  potassium  carbonate.  The  glasses  thus 
obtained  form  useful  blue  colouring  matters.  The  first 
offer  (1754)  produced  some  samples,  and  an  award  of  £50 
was  paid  for  cobalt  from  a  Cornish  mine  in  1755.  Nine 
years  later,  a  similar  sum  was  granted  to  Nicholas  Crisp, 
the  watchmaker,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Society,  for 
making  zaffre  and  smalt.  Again,  in  1810,  the  attempt 
was  renewed,  but  without  practical  result. 

In  1 80 1  a  gold  medal  was  offered  for  the  production  of 
artificial  ultramarine.  The  offer  was  continued  for  a  good 
many  years,  and  in  the  list  for  1812  a  note  was  added  that 
"  it  appears  from  the  analysis  of  lapis  lazuli  by  Klaproth, 
and  the  experiments  of  Guyton  (related  in  the  Annales  de 
Chimie),  that  ultramarine  is  a  blue  sulphuret  of  iron,  and 
that  a  blue  substance  much  resembling  it  is  constantly 
found  amongst  the  scoriae  of  blast  furnaces  where  iron  is 
reduced."  Nobody  was  found,  however,  to  act  on  the 
suggestion.  Foreign  chemists  were  more  enterprising,  for 
after  Tassaer  in  1814  observed  the  spontaneous  formation 
of  a  blue  compound  in  the  soda  furnaces  at  St.  Gobain, 
the  Societe  pour  I'Encouragement  offered  a  prize  for 
an  artificial  ultramarine.  Ultimately  the  problem  was 
solved  by  Guimet  and  by  Gmelin,  the  latter  of  whom  was 
then  at  Tubingen,  and  an  industry  was  started  which 
still  flourishes  in  Germany.  The  material  is  a  silicate  of 
alumina  and  iron,  together  with  iron  sulphide.  The  manu- 
facture has  never  been  established  in  this  country. 

Among  the  earliest   objects  to  which  attention  was 
directed  was  the  improvement  of  methods  of  dyeing  textiles, 


28o  THE  PREMIUMS 

wool,  silk,  and   cotton,   and   the   encouragement    of   the 
domestic  production  of  the  materials  (mainly  vegetable) 
which  were  then  employed.     England  was  much  behind 
other    countries    in    its    methods    of   dyeing    and    calico- 
printing  (as  it  was  in  most  other  industrial  processes) 
when  the  Society  was  founded,  and   much  of  the  cloth 
woven  here  had  to  be  sent  abroad  to  be  dyed,  as  much  of 
the  linen  had  to  be  sent  abroad  to  be  bleached.     The  very 
first  prize  offered  by  the  Society  was  for  a  dyeing  material, 
madder,   and   this   was   followed    by   others    for    dyeing 
cloth,  silk,  linen,  and  cotton,  sometimes  of  specified  colours, 
and  sometimes  by  improved  or  cheaper  methods,  or  by 
materials  not  previously  used.     The  Society  worked  hard 
for  twenty  years  to  establish  the  cultivation  of  madder 
in  England,  and  by  1775  it  had  expended  a  sum  of  £1516 
in  the  effort.     After  the  first  two  or  three  years  it  paid  a 
definite  amount  of  £5  per  acre  of  madder  grown  annually, 
and  these  payments  varied  from  £5  for  a  single  acre  up 
to,  in  one  exceptional  case,  £145.     After  1775  the  rewards 
were  discontinued,  the  Society's  object  having  so  far  been 
attained  that  the  price  of  imported  madder  was  reduced, 
and    its    quality   improved,   by   the    competition   of   the 
home-grown  product.     It  is  also  recorded  that  the  Society 
was   instrumental   in    obtaining   an   Act    of    Parliament, 
which  modified  the  amount  of  tithe  levied  on  land  used  for 
the  growth  of  madder.1 

Numerous  rewards  were  offered  for  the  importation 
of  new  or  little  known  dye-stuffs  from  the  colonies,  and 
some  rather  unavailing  efforts  were  made  to  start  in 
England  the  growth  of  tinctorial  plants  better  suited  for 
other  climates.  Such,  for  instance,  were  the  orchella 
weed  (Rocella  tinctoria),  a  lichen  native  to  many  parts  of 
the  world  and  producing  the  colouring  matter  archil,  or 
orchil,  long  used  for  dyeing  red  and  purple  ;  and,  even  a 
less  reasonable  proposal,  indigo.  A  premium  for  growing 

1  Dossie,  vol.  i.  p.  42.  The  Act  was  31  Geo.  n.  1755,  c.  12,  "  An 
Act  to  encourage  the  growth  and  cultivation  of  madder  in  that  part 
of  Great  Britain  called  England  by  ascertaining  the  Tithe  thereof 
there."  The  Act  was  for  fourteen  years,  and  was  continued  for  a 
second  fourteen  by  5  Geo.  in.  c.  18  (Gents,  Mag.  vol.  Ixvi.  pt.  i. 
February  1796,  p.  115). 


DYES-VARNISHES  281 

the  former  in  Great  Britain  was  offered  in  1763,  and  a 
similar  offer  was  published  in  1817  with  reference  to  indigo. 
A  suggestion  in  1763  as  to  the  employment  of  Prussian 
blue  (sesqui-ferrocyanide  of  iron)  may  be  noted.  The 
material  was  known  at  the  time,  but  appears  not  to  have 
been  used  as  a  dye. 

Besides  thus  endeavouring  to  add  to  the  list  of  materials 
available  for  the  dyer,  the  Society  included  in  its  premium 
list  the  production  of  new  or  improved  colouring  matters 
for  use  as  pigments.  Amongst  these  perhaps  the  most 
important  was  a  substitute  for  white  lead.  For  over 
fifty  years  from  1788,  when  it  was  first  offered,  a  prize 
for  a  "  substance  for  the  basis  of  paint  "  "  equally  proper 
for  the  purpose  as  the  white  lead  now  employed,"  appeared 
in  the  premium  list .  The  value  of  the  prize  was  at  first  £30, 
but  it  was  afterwards  raised  to  100  guineas.  That  the 
prize  was  never  awarded  is  not  perhaps  very  remarkable, 
since  it  is  only  of  quite  recent  years  that  even  a  partial 
substitute  for  white  lead  (a  basic  carbonate  of  lead)  has 
been  found  in  zinc-white  (zinc  oxide),  and  even  this, 
though  it  is  non-poisonous  and  is  unaffected  by  atmo- 
spheric influences,  does  not  combine  with  the  oil  of  the  paint 
as  effectively  as  the  lead,  while  the  paint  has  less  "  covering 
power,"  and  is  more  costly.1 

In  the  first  printed  list  of  premiums  is  a  prize  for 
improved  varnish,  and  from  time  to  time  prizes  were 
offered  for  varnishes,  materials  for  varnish- making,  methods 
of  bleaching  lac,  etc.  Although  some  small  rewards  were 
given,  the  offers  appear  to  have  had  no  practical  result 
until  1833,  when  a  gold  medal  was  presented  to  J.  Wilson 
Neil  for  a  paper  on  the  art  of  making  copal  and  spirit 
varnishes.  Until  the  publication  of  this  memoir,  varnish- 
making  had  always  been  professedly  a  trade  secret,  and 
the  methods  of  its  manufacture  were  jealously  concealed. 
Mr.  Neil,  however,  who  was  a  varnish-maker  of  great 
experience  and  of  considerable  reputation,  put  an  end  to 
this  state  of  things  by  giving  full  and  copious  details  of 

1  The  subject  of  white  lead  substitutes  has  recently  been  discussed 
with  much  ability  in  a  paper  read  before  the  Society  in  March  1913  by 
Mr.  Noel  Heaton  (Journal,  vol.  Ixi.  p.  458), 


282  THE  PREMIUMS 

all  the  methods  and  materials  employed.  His  paper  1  was 
for  long  the  principal,  if  not  the  sole,  source  of  information 
on  the  subject,  and  though  its  contents  have  often  been 
republished,  it  remains  to  the  present  day  a  valuable 
treatise  on  the  manufacture,  and  may  still  be  consulted 
with  advantage. 

In  1821  a  gold  medal  was  offered  for  a  test  for  arsenic, 
and  the  offer  was  continued  for  six  years  without  result. 
Fifteen  years  later,  however,  it  produced  a  communication 
from  James  Marsh,  the  well-known  chemist  of  Woolwich 
Arsenal,  and  to  him  the  medal  was  awarded  in  1836,  for 
the  test  since  known  by  his  name.  Marsh's  test  for  arsenic 
is  described  in  all  chemical  text-books,  and  is  familiar  to 
all  chemists.  It  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  the  descrip- 
tion given  in  the  Transactions  2  holds  good  to-day.  The 
test  is  one  of  extraordinary  delicacy,  and  the  cautions 
given  by  the  inventor  as  to  the  need  for  special  care  in 
securing  the  purity  of  the  reagents  employed  are  as 
necessary  now  as  when  they  were  written. 

At  a  time  when  oil  was  the  chief  source  of  illumination, 
and  vegetable  oils  were  scarce  and  expensive,  many  at- 
tempts were  made  to  get  rid  of  the  foetid  smell  of  the  train 
oil,  which  was  for  many  purposes,  on  account  of  its  cheap- 
ness, the  only  sort  available.  A  very  early  prize  was 
offered  by  the  Society  (in  1757)  for  the  "  edulcoration  " 
of  oil.  According  to  Dossie,3  the  result  can  hardly  be 
considered  to  have  been  satisfactory,  for  when  samples 
of  the  "  edulcorated  "  oil  were  compared  with  some 
of  the  same  oil  before  treatment,  "  it  was  difficult  to 
say  which  was  the  worst.  For  the  operation  had 
added  an  empyreumatic  smell  to  the  putrid  feet  or, 
which  was  very  little  diminished."  Dossie,  however, 
can  hardly  be  considered  an  impartial  critic,  for  he 
afterwards  (1761)  produced  a  process  of  his  own,  for 
which  the  Society  gave  him  £100.  His  process  con- 
sisted in  treating  the  oil  with  chalk  or  lime,  and  adding 

1  It  occupies  fifty-five  pages  in  Vol.  XLIX.  of  the  Transitions  (183^-3) . 

PP.  33-87. 

2  Transactions,  vol.  li.  p.  67 . 

3  Vol.  i.  p.  1 88. 


MEDICINAL  PLANTS  283 

either  common  salt  or  potash.     It  was  said  to  have  been 
very  successful.1 

A  good  example  of  the  results  of  the  efforts  of  the 
Society  to  introduce  new  medicinal  plants  is  afforded  by 
the  introduction  of  rhubarb  (Rheum  palmatum)  into  Great 
Britain.  In  1763  the  Society  appointed  a  committee 
"  to  pursue  the  requisite  measures  for  introducing  the 
culture  of  the  true  rhubarb/'  and  eventually  a  gold  medal 
was  offered. 

The  committee  obtained  specimens  of  the  plants  and 
roots  from  various  sources,  but  were  doubtful  if  they  had 
got  hold  of  the  genuine  rhubarb,  until  they  found  that  Dr. 
Mounsey,  an  English  physician  settled  in  Russia,  had,  at 
the  suggestion  of  Sir  Alexander  Dick,  President  of  the 
Royal  College  of  Physicians  of  Edinburgh,  sent  over  some 
seeds  of  the  plant,  which  had  been  planted  by  various 
persons  in  England  and  Scotland.  Dr.  Hope,  the  Pro- 
fessor of  Botany  at  Edinburgh,  had  raised  some  plants, 
and  others,  it  is  stated,  had  been  "  raised  in  the  garden 
of  the  Museum  in  London."2  Accordingly,  in  1769,  gold 
medals  were  awarded  to  Dr.  Mounsey  for  "  having  intro- 
duced the  seed  of  the  true  rhubarb  some  years  before/'  and 
to  James  Inglish3  for  raising  plants  from  it.4  Seven 
years  later  (1776)  Sir  A.  Dick  was  awarded  a  gold  medal, 

1  Dossie's  paper  was  published  in  full,  some  time  after  the  author's 
death,  in  the  Transactions,  vol.  xx.  (1802),  p.  209. 

2  There  cannot,  I  think,  be  any  doubt  that  by  this  is  meant  the 
Chelsea  Physic  Garden,   since   some   of   the  first  rhubarb  seeds   (R. 
Rhabarbarum,  not   the   true   medicinal  rhubarb)   were  sown  in   that 
garden  by  the  curator,  Isaac  Rand,  about   1732  (Rees's  Cyclopedia, 
edit.   1819,  s.v.  Rhubarb).     Rhabarbarum  was  first  named  by  Linnaeus, 
who   afterwards  found   that  Palmatum  was   a  different  species,  and 
named  it  also  (Species  Plantarum,  2nd  edit.  1762).     Hope  described  the 
plants  he  had  raised  in  a  communication  to  the  Royal  Society,  24th 
Sept.  1765  (Phil.  Trans.,  vol.  Iv.  No.  xxxii.).     In  that  paper  he  gives  the 
date  of  his  receiving  the  seeds  from  Mounsey  as  1763. 

2  The  name  is  thus  given  in  the  prize-lists,  and  in  the  MS.  Committee 
Minutes,  but  Dossie  spells  it  "  English." 

4  A  full  account  of  the  history  of  the  introduction  of  rhubarb  is 
given  in  Dossie,  vol.  ii.  p.  258  ;  and  in  vol.  iii.  p.  208,  there  is  a  very 
interesting  letter  from  Sir  A.  Dick. 


284  THE  PREMIUMS 

and  Mr.  Callendar,  of  Newcastle,  a  silver  one.  The  Society 
still  continued  its  rewards  in  order  to  secure  the  growth  of 
the  plant  on  a  commercial  scale,  and  during  the  following 
twenty  years  various  medals  were  given,  amongst  others 
a  silver  medal,  in  1789,  and  a  gold  one,  in  1794,  to  William 
Hayward,  of  Banbury,  which  town  became,  and  still 
remains,  the  principal  seat  of  the  industry  in  England. 

Another  medicinal  plant,  the  growth  of  which  it  was 
attempted  to  encourage,  was  opium.  In  1796,  John 
Ball,  of  Williton,  Somerset,  sent  to  the  Society  some 
samples  of  home-grown  opium,  and,  as  on  examination 
the  drug  proved  to  be  of  good  character,  a  "  bounty  "  of 
fifty  guineas  was  presented  to  him.  Full  details  of  his 
method  of  growing  the  poppies  and  of  obtaining  the  extract 
were  supplied  by  Mr.  Ball,1  who  wrote  enthusiastically 
about  the  prospects  of  his  crop,  and  said  that  he  expected 
to  be  able  to  dispose  of  all  that  he  could  grow  to  a  London 
druggist  at  the  price  which  foreign  opium  then  fetched, 
viz.  twenty-two  shillings  a  pound. 

In  the  premium  list  for  the  following  year,  1797,  gold 
and  silver  medals  were  offered  for  specified  amounts  of 
British-grown  opium,  and  this  offer  was  continued  for  some 
time,  though  without  much  response.  In  1800  the  larger 
prize  was  awarded  to  Thomas  Jones,  who  for  some  years 
had  grown  opium  at  Enfield  and  elsewhere.2  Though  he 
says  he  found  more  difficulties  than  Mr.  Ball  had  reported, 
and  had  suffered  in  some  years  from  unfavourable  weather, 
he  had  produced  considerable  amounts  of  saleable  opium, 
which  was  reported  upon  as  equal  to  the  best  Turkey.  It 
was  concluded  that  the  possibility  of  producing  the  drug 
commercially  in  England  had  been  demonstrated. 

After  an  interval  of  nearly  twenty  years,  yet  another 
gold  medal  was  awarded,  in  1819,  to  John  Young,  an 
Edinburgh  surgeon,  who  had  successfully  grown  opium  in 
Scotland.  He,  like  his  two  predecessors,  contributed  a 
very  full  and  interesting  paper  to  the  Transactions?  and  he 
writes  as  if  he  had  had  some  experience  of  Indian  opium- 
growing.  He  states  that  he  had  obtained  56  Ib.  of  opium 

1  Transactions,  vol.  xiv.  p.  253.  2  Ibid.  vol.  xviii.  p.  161. 

8  Ibid.  vol.  xxxvii.  p.  23. 


OPIUM  285 

from  an  acre  of  ground,  which,  at  363.  per  pound  (the 
London  price  at  that  time),  would  bring  in  a  little  over 
£100.  The  total  net  profits  per  acre  are  estimated  at 
£110,  73.  6d.  It  was  therefore  demonstrated  that  opium, 
as  rich  in  morphia  as  the  Eastern  product,  could  be  grown 
in  Great  Britain,  but  it  is  one  of  those  crops  which  requires 
an  abundance  of  cheap  labour,  and  probably  for  that 
reason  its  cultivation  has  never  been  permanently  estab- 
lished here. 


Sturgeon's  Electro-Magnet, 
1825  (see  p.  292). 


CHAPTER    XIII 

THE  PREMIUMS — (Concluded) 

(1754-1851) 

Optical  Glass — Microscopes — Standards  of  Weights  and  Measures — 
Saccharometer  —  Hydrometers  —  Tachometer  —  Counters  —  Stur- 
geon's Electro-magnet — Smee's  Battery — Plumbago  for  Electro- 
deposition —  Drawing  Instruments,  Surveying  Instruments, 
Surgical  Apparatus,  and  Philosophical  Instruments — Gas-making — 
Residual  Products — Gas-holders  and  other  Apparatus — The  Life- 
boat— Life-saving  Apparatus — County  Maps — William  Smith's 
Geological  Map — Horwood's  Map  of  London — Steel  Engraving — 
Paper-making — Printing — Lithography — Basket-making  and  the 
Supply  of  Osiers — Straw-plaiting — William  Cobbett — Leather 
Manufacture — Saving  Life  from  Fire — Uninflammable  Fabrics — 
Fish  Supply — Curing  Herrings — Miscellaneous  Awards. 

DOLLOND'S  invention  of  the  achromatic  telescope  in  1758 
(for  even  if  he  was  anticipated  by  Moor  Hall,  Dollond 
was  an  original  inventor)  rendered  necessary  the  production 
of  glass,  especially  flint  glass,  of  great  purity,  perfectly 
homogeneous  and  free  from  striae.  Not  only  was  improve- 
ment in  the  quality  of  the  glass  required,  but  large  discs 
were  wanted  for  astronomical  refractors.  With  this  object 
the  Society  offered  prizes  for  optical  glass  in  1768.  Two 
such  prizes  were  proposed — one  of  £60  for  a  sample  of 
optical  glass  not  less  than  20  Ib.  in  weight,  "  fit  for  those 
purposes  for  which  flint  glass  is  used  in  achromatic  tele- 
scopes," and  a  second  of  £20,  for  glass  "  suitable  for  the 
general  purposes  of  opticians."  The  minutes  of  the  com- 
mittee at  which  the  proposal  was  discussed  do  not  give 
any  further  particulars,  nor  has  any  record  been  found 
to  show  with  whom  the  proposal  originated.  It  is  possible 
that  the  committee  hoped  to  obtain  glasses  which  in  com- 

2S6 


OPTICAL  GLASS— MICROSCOPES  287 

bination  would  prove  achromatic  for  all  the  colours  in 
different  parts  of  the  spectrum,  and  so  to  get  rid  of  the 
"  secondary  spectrum  "  or  "  residual  dispersion,"  which 
can  never  be  entirely  abolished  by  the  use  of  two  kinds  of 
glass  only,  though  the  Jena  factory  has  recently  produced 
glasses  which  go  near  the  attainment  of  this  end.  It  is 
also  evident,  from  the  stipulated  weight  of  the  specimen, 
that  the  committee  had  in  view  the  production  of  larger 
discs  than  could  at  the  time  be  manufactured.  At  all 
events,  the  committee  wisely  drafted  their  proposal  in  very 
general  terms,  so  as  to  cover  any  possible  improvements 
in  the  manufacture. 

Two  prizes  were  awarded — £30  to  Abraham  Pelling  in 
1770,  and  £40  to  Richard  Russell  in  1771 — but  no  practical 
result  followed,  and  the  offer  of  prizes  was  not  continued 
after  1779. 

It  was  indeed  many  years  before  the  need  was  supplied. 
The  French  Academy  also  offered  prizes  for  perfect  discs 
of  optical  glass,  but  without  any  better  success  than  the 
Society  of  Arts.  The  first  to  produce  such  discs  was 
Pierre  Louis  Guimand,  a  Swiss  watchmaker,  about  1790. 
He  was  afterwards  (1805)  associated  with  Fraunhofer, 
and  on  his  discoveries  are  based  all  the  great  modern 
improvements  in  the  production  of  large  discs  for  refract- 
ing telescopes.  For  any  serious  improvement  in  the 
character  of  the  glass  itself  we  have  had  to  wait  till  our 
own  times,  since  it  is  only  within  the  last  twenty  years 
that  the  Jena  laboratory  has  furnished  the  makers  of 
optical  instruments  with  glasses  in  which  high  refractive 
power  is  combined  with  low  dispersion,  and  high  dispersive 
power  with  lower  refractivity. 

Henry  Baker,  the  microscopist,  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Society,  but  this  does  not  seem  to  have  led  him  to 
propose  any  premiums  for  improvements  in  the  microscope. 
Nor,  indeed,  had  any  such  offers  been  made,  could  they 
have  had  much  practical  result,  since  it  was  not  until 
the  achromatic  object-glass  had  been  perfected  that  the 
modern  microscope  came  into  existence.  Fraunhofer 
seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  make  an  achromatic 


288  THE  PREMIUMS 

objective  of  any  practical  use  (about  1816),  and  this  was 
very  imperfect,  for  five  years  later  ( 1 82 1 )  M.  Biot  expressed 
the  opinion  that  "  opticians  regarded  as  impossible  the 
construction  of  a  good  achromatic  microscope."  l  Dr. 
Wollaston  also  thought  that  "  the  compound  microscope 
would  never  rival  the  single."  However,  in  1824  satis- 
factory objectives  were  independently  produced  by 
Chevalier,  in  Paris,  and  by  Tulley,  in  London,  and  the 
development  of  the  microscope  went  on  apace.  The  use 
of  high  powers  necessitated  the  provision  of  rigid  stands, 
and  gradually  led  to  the  invention  of  the  various  mechanical 
devices  for  accurate  focussing,  and  for  imparting  minute 
movements  to  the  object,  as  well  as  all  the  other  details 
of  construction,  which  have  brought  the  instrument 
to  its  present  perfection.  In  the  third  and  fourth 
decades  of  the  nineteenth  century,  prizes  for  various 
improvements  in  the  microscope  were  awarded  to  Varley 
(1831),  Powell  (1835  and  1841),  Goadby  (1835),  and  Ross 
(i837).2  The  Transactions  about  the  same  time  contain 
other  communications  on  the  subject.  Hogg,  in  his 
book  above  referred  to,  attributes  the  Society's  action 
to  the  influence  of  Edward  Solly,3  who,  he  says,  "  has 
been  the  means  of  making  its  Transactions,  since  1831, 
the  vehicle  through  which  nearly  all  the  improvements 
in  the  construction  of  telescopes  and  microscopes  have 
been  made  known  to  the  world." 

In  1782  a  gold  medal  was  offered  for  "  a  cheap  and 
portable  transit  instrument  which  may  easily  be  converted 
into  a  zenith  sector,  capable  of  being  accurately  and 
expeditiously  adjusted  for  the  purpose  of  finding  the 
latitudes  and  longitudes  of  places."  This  prize  was 
continued  till  1819,  but  without  any  result.  The  transit 
instrument  was  invented  in  1690  by  Olaus  Romer,  the 
great  Danish  astronomer,  who  was  the  first  to  measure 

1  The  Microscope,  Jabez  Hogg  (1855),  p.  8. 

2  For  the  prize  ofiered  later  for  a  cheap  microscope,  see  Chapter 
XVI,  p.  390. 

3  It  was  really  R.  H.  Solly,  F.R.S.,  not  Edward  Solly,  to  whom  this 
credit   was   due.     See   Cornelius   Varley's  paper  on   the   Microscope, 
Transactions,  vol.  xlviii.  p.  400. 


TRANSIT  INSTRUMENT— STANDARDS        289 

the  velocity  of  light  by  observing  the  eclipses  of  Jupiter's 
satellites.  The  first  transit  instrument  was  set  up  at 
Greenwich  in  1721 .  It  is  not  very  obvious  why  this  prize 
should  have  been  offered,  except  that  the  great  improve- 
ments in  accurate  timekeepers,  resulting  from  the  work  of 
Harrison,  Arnold,  and  the  other  skilful  chronometer- 
makers  of  the  time,  rendered  possible  the  use  of  more 
accurate  astronomical  instruments,  and  thus  created  a 
demand  for  them. 

In  1774  a  gold  medal  was  offered  for  an  invariable 
standard  of  weights  and  measures,  and  it  was  pointed  out 
in  the  notice  of  the  offer  that  previous  suggestions  for  the 
determination  of  a  standard  by  means  of  the  pendulum 
had  not  been  successful.  The  first  of  these  suggestions 
was  made  by  Picard  in  1671 ,  who  proposed  that  a  pendulum 
beating  seconds  should  be  employed,  and  that  one-third 
of  its  length  should  be  adopted  as  the  standard  foot. 
Nevertheless,  the  only  two  candidates  who  received  any 
awards  both  proposed  to  use  the  pendulum,  and  both 
submitted  devices  which  could  only  give  results  of 
moderately  approximate  accuracy.  One  of  them,  Hatton, 
a  watchmaker,  who  received  thirty  guineas  in  1779,  speaks 
of  his  apparatus  as  correct  to  the  twentieth  of  an  inch, 
though  he  proposes  to  employ  an  adjusting  screw  to  ensure 
even  greater  accuracy  !  Fifteen  years  later,  in  1794, 
Dr.  More,  the  secretary,  submitted  a  communication  to 
the  Society,1  in  which  he  very  sensibly  deprecates  a 
reference  to  natural  constants  for  the  construction  of  a 
standard,  and  proposes  the  accurate  copying  of  the  then 
existing  pound,  preserved  at  the  Exchequer.  It  seems 
likely  that  More  was  led  to  publish  his  paper  by  the 
attempts  then  being  made  by  the  French  National  Assembly 
to  fix  on  a  theoretical  standard.  In  1790  they  passed  a 
decree  adopting  a  system  of  measures  based  on  the  seconds 
pendulum,  but  in  the  following  year  they  abandoned  the 
pendulum,  and  decided  to  base  their  standards  on  a 
quadrant  of  the  meridian.  When  the  Republic  was  pro- 
claimed this  proposal  was  confirmed,  and  the  one  ten- 

1  Transactions,  vol.  xii.  p.  292. 
20 


29o  THE  PREMIUMS 

millionth  part  of  the  arc  of  the  meridian  from  the  Pole 
to  the  Equator,  was,  as  is  well  known,  declared  to  be  the 
metre  or  standard  of  length  for  France. 

Dr.  More  really  anticipated  the  course  of  our  own 
legislation  on  weights  and  measures,  which  has  simply 
ordained  the  accurate  copying  of  certain  ancient  examples, 
and  has  declared  that  these  copies  are  the  actual  standard 
weights  and  measures  of  the  country.  Practically  the 
French  Government  have  had  to  do  the  same  thing,  for 
the  metre  is  not  a  fractional  part  of  the  earth's  meridian, 
but  the  length  of  a  certain  platinum  bar,  preserved  in 
Paris,  just  as  our  yard  is  the  length  of  a  certain  bar  (or 
rather  the  distance  between  certain  marks  on  that  bar) 
preserved  in  London. 

The  premium  was  only  continued  for  a  very  few 
years.  It  is  exceptional,  inasmuch  as  it  was  open  to 
"  persons  residing  in  any  country  whatever."  Had  the 
prize  been  continued  for  another  120  years  or  so,  it  would 
therefore  have  been  available  for  the  very  beautiful 
suggestion,  made  about  twenty  years  ago  by  Professor 
A.  A.  Michelsen,  that  the  length  of  the  metre  might  be 
stated  in  terms  of  the  wave-lengths  of  red  light.1 

In  1777  a  gold  medal  was  offered  for  a  method  of 
measuring  "  the  degrees  of  sweetness  in  saccharine  sub- 
stances." This  does  not  seem  to  have  meant  a  saccharo- 
meter,  but  some  means  of  establishing  a  standard  of 
sweetness.  Nothing  came  of  this  offer,  which  was  con- 
tinued for  some  time,  and  then  abandoned,  nor  is  it  con- 
ceivable that  such  a  standard  could  be  set  up.  It  was 
soon  after  this,  in  1784,  that  the  brewer's  saccharometer 
was  first  introduced  by  Richardson,  of  Hull.  It  was  a 
form  of  Martin's  hydrometer,  which  indeed  had  been 
used  in  brewing  in  1768.  It  had  a  scale  adapted  for  the 
use  of  brewers,  and  was  indeed  merely  a  hydrometer 
which  indicated  the  difference  between  water  and  wort, 
water  containing  a  percentage  of  saccharine  matter. 

1  Valeur  du  metre  en  longueurs  d'ondes  lumineuses.  Paris  (1894). 
Chaney's  Weights  and  Measures  (1897),  p.  23. 


HYDROMETERS— TACHOMETER  291 

Richardson's  calculations  are  said  not  to  have  been  quite 
correct,  but  sufficiently  so  for  practical  purposes. 

The  hydrometer  in  its  modern  form  was  described  by 
Robert  Boyle  in  the  Phil.  Trans.  1675.  It  remains  the 
same  in  principle,  but  has  been  improved  in  details,  and 
has  been  fitted  with  weights  and  various  scales  to  adapt 
it  to  liquids  of  different  specific  gravities.  In  1771  a 
prize  was  offered  for  an  instrument  to  measure  the  strength 
of  spirit,  and  in  1781  a  silver  medal  was  awarded  to  Matthew 
Quin  for  his  hydrometer.  In  1790  a  second  silver  medal 
and  twenty  guineas  were  given  him  for  an  improved  instru- 
ment, the  principal  feature  of  which  was  a  sliding  scale  to 
adapt  it  to  different  temperatures.  Other  awards  were 
made,  the  latest  in  1820,  but  Quin's  appears  to  have  been 
the  most  important  instrument  recognised  by  the  Society. 

Two  gold  medals  were  at  different  times  awarded  to 
the  eminent  mechanical  engineer,  Bryan  Donkin  ;  one,  in 
1 8 10,  for  his  tachometer,  and  one,  in  1819,  for  his  counting 
machine.  Mr.  Donkin  was  for  long  a  Vice- President  of  the 
Society  and  Chairman  of  its  Committee  on  Mechanics. 
He  was  the  leading  mechanician  of  his  time,  and  was  best 
known  for  his  share  in  the  completion  and  construction  of 
Fourdrinier's  paper-making  machine.  It  can  hardly  be 
doubted  that  he  would  have  received  some  recognition 
for  this  also  from  the  Society,  if  the  machine  had  not 
been  the  subject  of  a  patent. 

The  tachometer  was  so  named  by  himself,  and  was 
intended,  in  his  own  words,  "  for  indicating  the  velocity 
of  machines."  According  to  the  description  in  the 
Transactions,1  it  was  meant  to  indicate  the  varying  velocity 
of  machines  rather  than  to  measure  their  speed.  This  it 
did  by  means  of  a  rotating  cup  filled  with  mercury,  to 
which  motion  was  given  from  some  part  of  the  machine. 
The  spinning  of  the  cup  caused  the  level  of  the  mercury 
to  sink  at  the  centre  and  to  rise  at  the  rim.  The  variations 
of  level  were  indicated  by  the  rise  and  fall  of  a  column  of 
spirit  in  a  glass  tube,  the  lower  end  of  which  was  immersed 
in  the  mercury. 

1  Transactions ,  vol.  xxviii.  p.  185. 


292  THE  PREMIUMS 

The  counter  would  appear  to  be  the  original  form  of  the 
now  well-known  device  in  which  a  train  of  wheelwork 
indicates  on  a  series  of  dials  for  units,  tens,  etc.,  the 
revolutions  of  any  spindle.  Two  arrangements  are  shown, 
both  working  by  ratchet-gear,  and  indicating  by  clock- 
hands  on  a  single  dial.1 

The  award  in  1825  of  a  silver  medal  and  thirty  guineas 
to  W.  Sturgeon,  for  "  Improved  Electro-Magnetic 
Apparatus,"  is  of  extreme  interest,  because  the  account  of 
his  apparatus  contributed  by  Sturgeon  to  the  Trans- 
actions,2 proves  him  to  have  been  the  inventor  of  the 
electro-magnet.  The  whole  subject  has  been  very  care- 
fully worked  out  by  Professor  Silvanus  Thompson,3  who 
quotes  a  letter  from  Dr.  Joule  to  Mr.  Angus  Smith,  in 
which  that  great  philosopher  says  :  "I  have  sifted  Mr. 
Sturgeon's  claims  to  the  utmost.  I  have  examined  all 
the  periodicals  likely  to  throw  light  on  the  history  of 
electro-magnetism,  and  find  that  Mr.  Sturgeon  is,  without 
doubt,  the  originator  of  the  electro-magnet,  as  well  as  the 
author  of  the  improved  electro-magnetic  machine.  The 
electro-magnet  described  by  Mr.  Sturgeon  in  the  '  Trans- 
actions of  the  Society  of  Arts  for  1825 '  is  the  first  piece  of 
apparatus  to  which  the  name  could  with  propriety  be 
applied.  .  .  .  To  Mr.  Sturgeon  belongs  the  merit  of  pro- 
ducing the  first  electro-magnet  constructed  of  soft  iron." 

Dr.  Joule  also  states  that  Sturgeon  was  "  without 
doubt  the  constructor  of  the  first  rotary  electro-magnetic 
machine,"  the  inventor  of  the  commutator,  and  the  first 
to  use  amalgamated  zinc  plates  in  batteries. 

Professor  Thompson  reproduces  the  pictures  of 
Sturgeon's  electro-magnets  from  the  Transactions,  and 
expresses  the  regret,  which  all  interested  in  the  subject 
must  share,  that  the  actual  instruments  given  by  the 
inventor  to  the  Society's  museum  have  not  been  pre- 
served. He  also,  in  an  appendix,  gives  a  very  full  account 
of  Sturgeon's  life  and  researches.  Like  so  many  other 

1  Transactions,  vol.  xxxvii.  p.  116.  2  Vol.  xliii.  p.  37. 

3  The  Electromagnet,  by  Silvanus  Thompson,  F.R.S.  (2nd  Edition, 
1892),  pp.  2-9,  and  Appendix  A,  p.  412. 


STURGEON'S  ELECTRO-MAGNET  293 

inventors,  Sturgeon  never  received  in  his  lifetime  either 
the  recognition  or  the  reward  he  deserved.  After  his 
death  his  discoveries  were  utilised  and  developed  by  his 
successors,  whose  increased  knowledge  enabled  them  to 
realise  the  value  of  researches  which  his  contemporaries 
were  not  sufficiently  well  informed  to  appreciate. 

Two  years  previously,  in  1823,  a  similar  award  had 
been  made  to  James  Marsh,  the  chemist,  whose  discovery 
of  the  well-known  test  for  arsenic  has  been  noticed  in  the 
preceding  chapter,1  and  with  whom  Sturgeon  had  been 
for  some  time  associated.  In  the  note  appended  to 
Sturgeon's  communication  to  the  Transactions,  attention 
is  drawn  to  several  points  in  which  Sturgeon's  apparatus 
is  considered  superior  to  that  of  Marsh. 

The  award  of  a  gold  medal  in  1840  to  Alfred  Smee 
for  his  galvanic  battery  was  certainly  well  deserved.  A 
convenient  source  of  electrical  energy  was  then  much 
wanted,  and  Smee's  cell  was  a  great  advance  on  all  its 
predecessors.  It  was  fairly  constant,  moderately  cheap, 
of  high  electro-motive  force,  free  from  fumes,  and  readily 
put  in  and  out  of  action  without  loss  or  waste. 

The  negative  element  was  a  thin  sheet  of  platinised 
silver,  the  platinum  being  deposited  as  a  fine  adherent 
powder  on  the  surface  of  the  silver,  which  had  previously 
been  slightly  roughened.  This  plate  was  supported 
in  a  light  wooden  frame  between  two  zinc  plates  which 
formed  the  positive  element.  The  exciting  fluid  was 
diluted  sulphuric  acid. 

Smee's  battery  came  into  very  general  use  for  experi- 
mental work,  and  was  for  long  used  and  greatly  appreci- 
ated. A  well-known  and  popular  writer  on  electrical 
matters  said,  in  1875,  after  the  battery  had  been  in  use  for 
over  thirty  years,  that  it  was  "  one  of  the  most  valuable 
gifts  ever  made  to  electrical  science."  2 

The  now  universally  used  method  of  obtaining  a 
conducting  surface  for  electro-deposition  by  means  of 
plumbago  was  the  discovery  of  Robert  Murray,  and  for  it 
he  received  a  silver  medal  and  ten  pounds  in  1841 .  In  his 

1  Chapter  XII,  p.  282. 

*  ].T.  Sprague,  Electricity  (1875),  p.  91. 


294  THE  PREMIUMS 

paper  in  the  Transactions,1  he  says  that  Edward  Solly  was 
the  first  to  obtain  a  conducting  surface  on  a  non-conducting 
material  by  the  use  of  nitrate  of  silver,  and  he  goes  on  to 
describe  his  own  process,  which  is  identical  with  that  now 
used.  In  fact,  the  instructions  he  gives  describe  in  every 
detail  the  present  method. 

In  the  later  volumes  of  the  Transactions  are  to  be 
found  descriptions  of  a  great  variety  of  instruments  which 
received  rewards  of  different  value  from  the  Society. 
Many  of  these  are  obsolete,  many  contain  the  germs  of 
appliances  since  improved  and  perfected,  some  are  now 
familiar.  Drawing  instruments,  "  perspectographs,"  etc., 
are  numerous.  Amongst  these  may  be  mentioned  the 
ordinary  child's  "  transparent  slate,"  which  now  common 
toy  received  a  gold  medal  in  1814,  as  a  valuable  means 
of  teaching  writing.  There  are  several  ellipsographs 
(including  those  devised  by  Farey,  Cubitt,  Clement,  and 
Hicks),  Ross's  first  spherometer  (1841),  with  a  central 
axial  sliding  rod,  mounted  in  a  truly-turned  supporting 
ring,  afterwards  perfected  by  the  substitution  for  the  ring 
of  a  frame  with  three  supporting  points.  Surveying 
instruments,  sextants,  and  their  predecessors,  quadrants 
and  octants,  appear  in  the  lists.  Surgical  and  dental 
instruments  are  also  fairly  numerous.  The  list  is  a  very 
long  one.  As  to  the  value  of  its  contents,  only  an  expert 
in  each  class  could  speak  with  confidence,  but  its  immense 
variety,  at  all  events,  bears  testimony  to  the  catholicity 
of  the  Society's  objects  and  operations  in  the  first  half  of 
the  nineteenth  century. 

After  the  application  of  gas  for  illuminating  purposes 
by  Murdock  in  1792,  we  find  a  few  prizes  offered  and 
awarded  for  improvements  connected  with  gas-lighting. 

In  1797  a  prize  was  offered  for  a  "  substitute  for  tar," 
but  though  the  offer  remained  open  for  many  years,  it 
does  not  seem  to  have  attracted  any  competitors.  This 
is  remarkable,  because  the  production  of  tar  from  coal 
had  been  known  and  practised  for  a  considerable  period. 
1  Vol.  liii.  part  ii.  p.  10. 


GAS  AND  ITS  BY-PRODUCTS  295 

In  1 68 1  letters  patent  had  been  granted  to  John  Joachin 
Becher  and  Henry  Serle  for  "  a  new  way  of  makeing 
pitch  and  tarre  out  of  pit  coale."  These  inventors  were 
followed  by  several  others,  amongst  them  the  Earl  of 
Dundonald,  who  had  a  patent  for  obtaining  tar  and  other 
products  from  coal. 

In  1810,  B.  Cook,  of  Birmingham,  described  a  process 
for  the  distillation  and  utilisation  of  gas-tar,  which  he 
said  was  at  the  time  a  waste  product,  though  consider- 
able amounts  were  made  in  the  production  of  gas,  and 
the  coking  of  coal.1  The  tar,  Cook  stated,  was  superior 
to  the  "  common  tar  "  for  paying  ships'  timbers.  The 
more  important  part  of  the  communication  related  to  a 
method  of  distilling  the  tar,  from  which  a  "  liquor  or 
volatile  oil  "  (light  oil)  was  obtained,  and  a  "  residuum  " 
(pitch)  "  equal  to  the  best  asphaltum."  He  had  varnish 
made  from  the  pitch  and  the  light  oil,  and  sent  in  a  sample 
of  work  treated  with  the  varnish.  For  this  paper,  which 
was  certainly  among  the  early  practical  proposals  for  the 
utilisation  of  the  by-products  of  gas-manufacture,  Cook 
received  the  very  inadequate  reward  of  a  silver  medal. 

Cook,  however,  had  been  anticipated  by  Winsor, 
whose  patent  specification  of  1 804  refers  to  the  production 
and  utilisation  of  various  by-products  from  gas-making. 
Still,  Cook's  paper  is  full  of  interest,  as  he  appears  to 
have  been  an  original  worker  and  to  have  achieved  a 
considerable  measure  of  practical  success. 

In  1808  a  silver  medal  was  given  to  Samuel  Clegg 
"  for  his  apparatus  for  making  carbonated  hydrogen  gas 
from  pit  coal,  and  lighting  factories  therewith."  The 
apparatus  included  a  gasholder  of  the  form  now  generally 
employed,  of  which  Clegg  was  apparently  the  inventor. 
He  was  apprenticed  to  Boulton  and  Watt,  and  was  in 
business  in  Manchester  as  a  builder  of  steam-engines. 
He  was  the  inventor  of  the  gas-meter,  which  he  patented 
in  1815,  but  (probably  because  it  was  the  subject  of  a 
patent)  he  did  not  submit  it  to  the  Society.  In  1819  a 
gold  medal  was  given  to  John  Malam  for  improvements 
on  Clegg 's  original  meter. 

1  Transactions,  vol.  xxviii.  (1810),  p.  73. 


296  THE  PREMIUMS 

It  is  worth  mention  that  the  well-known  telescopic 
gas-lamp,  or  chandelier,  which  is  in  common  use  up  to 
the  present  date,  was  invented  by  William  Caslon,  who 
received  a  silver  medal  for  it  in  1817.  Caslon  was  one  of 
the  well-known  family  of  type-founders,  being  the  grand- 
son of  the  original  William  Caslon  who  started  the  business. 
He  sold  his  share  of  the  type-founding  business  and  started 
another  in  Sheffield  in  1819.  The  drawings  in  the  Trans- 
actions 1  show  a  chandelier  identical  with  the  most  modern 
form,  with  sliding  tubes,  water-slide  and  counter-balance 
weights. 

In  the  year  1802  a  gold  medal  and  a  grant  of  fifty 
guineas  were  given  to  Henry  Greathead,  of  South  Shields, 
for  the  invention  of  the  lifeboat.  There  seems  very  little 
doubt  that  Greathead  was  the  builder  of  the  first  practical 
lifeboat,  but  it  is  uncertain  how  far  the  actual  invention 
was  due  to  him.  The  subject  has  been  very  carefully 
and  exhaustively  worked  out  by  Sir  John  Lamb  in  a 
paper  on  the  lifeboat,  which  he  read  before  the  Society 
in  ipio.2  Sir  John  Lamb  considers  that  Lionel  Lukin, 
of  Long  Acre,  not  Greathead,  should  have  the  credit  of 
having  made  the  first  lifeboat,  and  that  the  prizes  and 
rewards  should  have  been  given  to  him.  In  1785,  Lukin 
took  out  a  patent  for  an  "  unimmergible  boat."  Nothing 
very  much  seems  to  have  come  of  Lukin 's  invention, 
though  in  the  year  that  he  took  out  his  patent  he  converted 
a  coble  into  a  safety-boat,  which  was  afterwards  employed 
at  Bamburgh,  Northumberland,  in  saving  life  from  ship- 
wreck. Lukin 's  boat  was  fitted  with  a  cork  gunwale 
and  airtight  cases  at  the  end.  Another  inventor  was 
William  Wouldhave,  of  South  Shields. 

In  April  1789,  the  Brethren  of  the  Newcastle  Trinity 
House  had  before  them  a  proposal  to  station  a  boat  per- 
manently at  the  mouth  of  the  Tyne  for  the  saving  of  ship- 
wrecked persons.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  con- 

1  Vol.  xxxv.  p.  162. 

2  Journal,  vol.  Iviii.  p.  354.     The  paper,  with  some  additions  and 
many  fresh  illustrations,  was  republished  in   1911   under  the  title  of 
The  Lifeboat  and  its  Work. 


LIFEBOATS  297 

sider  suggestions  for  the  construction  of  a  suitable  boat, 
and  to  this  committee  both  Wouldhave  and  Greathead 
submitted  models.  Neither  was  adopted,  but  Greathead 
who  was  a  skilled  boatbuilder,  was  instructed  to  build 
a  boat,  which  he  seems  to  have  done,  partly  carrying 
out  his  own  ideas  and  partly  those  of  some  of  the  members 
of  the  committee. 

The  various  claims  of  the  three  inventors  have  long 
been  the  subject  of  discussion,  and  are  never  likely  to  be 
settled.  But  it  is  clear  that  Greathead 's  was  the  first 
practical  lifeboat,  and  the  credit  of  its  construction  has 
generally  been  allotted  to  him.  Besides  the  awards  from 
the  Society,  Greathead  received  a  grant  of  £1200  from 
Parliament,  and  100  guineas  each  from  the  Trinity  House 
and  from  Lloyd's,  besides  various  other  rewards. 

A  little  earlier  than  this,  attention  had  been  directed 
to  means  of  saving  life  from  shipwreck  by  methods  for 
effecting  a  communication  between  stranded  ships  and 
the  shore.  In  1792  the  Society  had  given  a  "  bounty  " 
of  fifty  guineas  to  John  Bell  (then  a  sergeant,  but  after- 
wards a  lieutenant  in  the  Artillery),  for  a  method  of  throw- 
ing a  rope  from  the  ship  to  the  shore.1  But  a  great 
improvement  upon  this  was  brought  before  the  Society 
sixteen  years  later,  when  Captain  Manby  received  a  gold 
medal 2  for  his  device  for  establishing  communication 
from  the  shore  to  a  stranded  ship  by  the  use  of  a  mortar 
by  which  a  line  was  thrown.  The  apparatus  itself  was 
devised  in  1807,  and  was  successfully  used  in  the  follow- 
ing year  at  the  wreck  of  the  brig  Elizabeth.  It  was 
reported  upon  favourably  by  the  Board  of  Ordnance, 
and  before  many  years  were  over  it  was  in  extensive  use 

1  Transactions,  vol.  x.  p.  203  ;  vol.  xxv.  p.  135.     It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  among  the  most  recent  improvements  in  devices  of  this  sort 
is  a  proposal  for  sending  a  line  from  the  ship  to  the  shore  by  the  usual 
rocket  apparatus.     As  ships  are  usually  wrecked  on  a  lee  shore  there 
are  obvious  advantages  in  starting  the  communication  down-wind  from 
the  vessel,  instead  of  from  the  shore  in  the  teeth  of  the  gale.     Bell's 
mortar  apparatus  was  too  heavy  and  clumsy  to  be  carried  on  board 
ship,  but  this  objection  would  not  seem  to  apply  to  modern  rocket 
apparatus. 

2  Ibid.  vol.  xxvi.  p.  209. 


298  THE  PREMIUMS 

all  round  the  coast.  After  some  twelve  years'  experi- 
ence, the  invention  had  been  used  so  successfully,  and 
had  saved  so  many  lives,  that  a  Committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons  recommended  a  payment  to  Manby  of  £2000. 
The  invention  is  still  widely  used  in  this  and  in  other 
countries,  but  for  many  years  past  rockets  have  been 
substituted  for  the  original  mortar. 

Other  inventions  of  the  same  character  were  also 
rewarded  by  the  Society  about  the  same  time,  but  none 
of  them  have  stood  the  test  of  experience  in  the  same 
way  as  Manby 's  well-known  apparatus. 

In  1776  a  silver  medal  was  given  to  Shipley,  the 
originator  of  the  Society,  for  a  lighted  buoy  for  saving 
life  at  sea.  As  the  invention  does  not  seem  to  be  either 
specially  valuable  or  remarkably  original,  it  may,  perhaps, 
be  assumed  that  a  certain  friendliness  of  feeling  dictated 
the  award,  as  respect  for  his  memory  may  have  led  to  the 
publication  of  a  description  of  the  apparatus  in  the  Trans- 
actions 1  a  few  years  after  the  inventor's  death.  A  similar 
feeling  may  justify  its  mention  now. 

In  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  great 
number  of  county  maps  were  published.  Their  issue 
may  without  much  doubt  be  traced  to  the  offer  by  the 
Society  of  a  prize  of  £100  for  the  map  of  any  county  on  the 
scale  of  an  inch  to  the  mile.  In  justification  of  this  state- 
ment it  may  be  said  that,  of  the  county  maps  mentioned 
by  Gough  in  his  great  work  on  "  British  Topography," 
published  in  1780,  as  being  issued  or  in  hand  at  that 
date,  nearly  all  appear  to  be  of  a  later  date  than  1762  ; 
and  the  same  may  be  said  of  a  list  of  such  maps,  which 
has  been  most  obligingly  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the 
writer  by  Sir  H.  George  Fordham,  the  great  authority  on 
this  subject.  Speaking  of  the  survey  of  Yorkshire,  which 

1  Vol.  xxv.  (1807),  p.  94.  This  life-saving  device  was  evidently  an 
old  hobby  of  Shipley's,  for  in  the  minutes  of  one  of  the  earliest 
meetings,  2/th  November  1754,  it  is  recorded  that — "A  model  of  a 
Float  was  produced  by  Mr.  Shipley,  contrived  by  himself,  to  preserve 
the  Lives  of  them  that  fall  overboard  at  Sea,  it  was  ordered  that 
Enquiries  be  made  of  Persons  skilled  in  Sea  Affairs." 


COUNTY  MAPS  299 

was  carried  out  by  Thomas  Jefferys,  the  well-known 
cartographer,  Gough  says  :  "  Jefferys  undertook  this, 
and  other  such  surveys,  in  consequence  of  a  premium 
of  £100  offered  by  the  Society  of  Arts  for  a  county 
map."  Jefferys  died  in  1771  ;  and  this  may  account 
for  his  never  having  received  a  premium.  After  his 
decease  the  map  was  purchased  and  published  by  Robert 
Sayer. 

This  prize  of  £100  l  was  first  offered  in  I7S9,  though 
it  was  not  included  in  the  regular  premium  list  before 
1762.  To  avoid  needless  competition,  a  special  announce- 
ment was  made  that  the  Society  would  accept  an  offer 
for  the  production  of  each  map,  and  would  afterwards 
pay  the  premium  when  the  map  was  completed  to  its 
satisfaction.  The  first  offer  accepted  was  for  a  map  of 
Dorset  by  Isaac  Taylor.  This  was  published  in  1765, 
and  is  described  by  Gough  as  a  capital  survey  of  the 
county,  but  he  adds  :  "  This,  though  the  most  particular, 
is  very  faulty  in  the  place  names."  Whether  on  this 
account  or  for  other  reasons,  no  award  was  made  to 
Taylor.  There  was  some  correspondence  with  him,  and 
the  last  entry  is  in  December  1765,  when  the  con- 
sideration of  his  map  was  "  postponed."  The  first 
actual  award  was  to  Benjamin  Donn,  who  in  1765 
received  £100  for  his  map  of  Devonshire.  This  was 
engraved  by  Jefferys. 

The  offer  of  prizes  was  continued  in  various  terms  up 
to  1 80 1,  after  which  it  does  not  appear  in  the  premium 
list,  though  awards  were  made  as  late  as  1809.  Smaller 
amounts  than  the  original  sum  of  £100  were  sometimes 
paid,  and  in  some  cases  medals  were  given  instead  of 
money  prizes.  In  all,  an  amount  of  £460  was  expended, 
besides  four  gold  medals,  three  silver  medals,  and  a 

1  It  was,  however,  but  a  small  contribution  to  the  actual  expenditure 
on  the  production  of  such  maps,  if  we  are  to  rely  upon  the  statement 
contained  in  Gough's  notes  on  Sussex,  in  which  a  projected  map  of 
that  county  on  a  scale  of  two  inches  to  a  mile,  in  eight  large  sheets, 
is  referred  to  as  estimated  to  have  cost  more  than  ^2400  for  surveying, 
drawing,  and  engraving,  and  to  have  taken  six  years  in  execution, 
four  hundred  subscribers  at  six  guineas  for  the  whole  map  being  asked 
for. 


300  THE  PREMIUMS 

silver    palette.     Maps    were    obtained    of    the    following 
counties  and  districts  : — 

Devonshire  (1765).  Lancashire  (1787). 

Dorsetshire  (1765).  Hampshire  (1793). 

Derbyshire  ( 1 767) .  Sussex  ( 1 796) . 

Northumberland  (1773).  Oxfordshire  (1797). 

Leicestershire  (1778).  North  Wales  (1802). 

Somersetshire  (1783).  Cardiganshire  ( 1 804) . 

Suffolk  (1784).  Shropshire  (1809). 

Many  of  these  are  mentioned  by  Gough. 

For  the  map  of  Derbyshire  P.  P.  Burdett  received  £100. 
This  map  was  said  to  have  been  produced  under  the 
direction  of  the  Rev.  John  Prior,  of  Ashby-de-la-Zouch, 
who  himself  received  a  silver  medal  and  twenty  guineas  in 
1778  for  a  map  of  Leicestershire,  which  was  really  made 
by  J.  Whyman,  an  assistant  of  Burdett,  and  was  published 
in  1777.  Burdett  also  produced  maps  of  Cheshire  and 
Lancashire. 

William  Faden,  who  received  £50  for  a  map  of  Hamp- 
shire in  1793,  and  a  gold  medal  for  one  of  Sussex  in  1796, 
was  a  well-known  map-maker.  He  afterwards  presented 
to  the  Society  a  number  of  county  maps  which  he  had 
produced. 

John  Cary  (whose  name  is  given  as  Carey  in  the  list) 
received  a  gold  medal  in  1804  for  his  map  of  Cardiganshire. 
This  engraver  and  map-seller  is  best  known  as  the  publisher 
of  the  New  Itinerary,  a  road-book  which  ran  through 
eleven  editions,  1798  to  1828,  but  he  and  his  successors, 
G.  and  J.  Cary,  engraved  and  published  between  1769 
and  1850  a  very  large  number  of  maps,  atlases,  and 
topographical  works.1 

The  map  of  Northumberland,  for  which,  in  1773,  Lieu- 
tenant Armstrong  received  fifty  guineas,  is  said  to  have 
been  a  capital  map.  It  was  engraved  by  Kitchin  in 
1769.  Lieutenant  (afterwards  Captain)  Armstrong  was 

1  See  John  Cary,  Engraver  and  Map-seller,  a  paper  by  Sir  H.  G. 
Fordhara,  read  in  1909  (6th  December)  to  a  meeting  of  the  Cambridge 
Antiquarian  Society,  and  published  in  pamphlet  form.  Cambridge, 
1910, 8vo. 


SMITH'S  GEOLOGICAL  MAP  301 

a  son  of  an  earlier  map-maker  of  repute,  also  Captain 
Armstrong. 

Besides  the  Society's  prize  maps,  a  good  many  other 
county  maps  were  issued.  The  Transactions  for  1801  l 
give  a  list  of  twenty-six  such  maps  of  English  counties 
in  the  possession  of  the  Society,  and  some  were  afterwards 
added.  In  all,  about  fifty  seem  to  have  been  produced, 
besides  the  great  series  issued  by  the  Greenwoods  ( 1 829-34). 

In  1802  the  Society  offered  three  gold  medals  for 
mineralogical  maps  of  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland. 
Each  map  was  to  be  on  a  scale  of  not  less  than  ten  miles 
to  the  inch,  "  containing  an  account  of  the  situation  of 
the  different  mines  therein,  and  describing  the  kinds  of 
minerals  thence  produced." 

It  is  not  reported  that  any  of  these  medals  were 
awarded  ;  but  the  offer  had  the  important  result  of  assist- 
ing William  Smith  to  publish  his  great  geological  map  of 
England  and  Wales.2 

William  Smith  is  known  as  the  father  of  British  geology. 
As  Canon  Bonney  says  of  him,  in  his  life  in  the  Dictionary 
of  National  Biography,  "  he  found  the  key  to  stratigraphy 
— viz.,  the  identification  of  strata  by  their  fossil  contents." 
Though  a  well-known  and  successful  canal  engineer  (he 
received  a  medal  from  the  Society  in  1805  for  draining 
Prisley  Bog),  he  was  a  poor  man,  and  had  great  difficulties 
in  publishing  his  map.  He  was  assisted  by  the  Society 
with  £50,  and  his  map  of  England  and  Wales  and  part  of 
Scotland — in  fifteen  sheets,  measuring  8  ft.  9  in.  high  by 
6  ft.  2  in.  wide,  and  on  a  scale  of  five  miles  to  the  inch, 
with  geological  colouring — was  engraved  and  published 
by  John  Cary  on  ist  August  1815,  with  a  dedication  to 
Sir  Joseph  Banks,  P.R.S.  It  was  accompanied  by  a 
memoir  to  the  map  (London,  1815,  4to),  also  published  by 
Cary,  who,  in  addition  to  stratigraphical  tables  issued  in 
1816  and  1817,  published  a  series  of  six  detailed  geological 
sections  across  various  parts  of  England  (1817-19),  and  also , 

1  Vol.  xix.  p.  43. 

2  An  "  explanation  "  of  the  map  and  some  most  interesting  "  ob- 
servations "by Smith,  are  given  in  the  Transactions,,  vol.  xxxiii.  (1815), 
p.  51. 


302  THE  PREMIUMS 

between  1819  and  1824,  twenty-one  out  of  the  full  number 
of  the  county  maps  in  his  large  folio  atlas  (Gary's  New 
English  Atlas,  1809),  with  Smith's  geological  colouring 
and  marginal  notes  on  the  strata. 

In  the  same  year  (1802)  as  that  in  which  the  prizes  for 
mineralogical  maps  were  offered,  the  Society  also  offered 
a  gold  medal  for  a  Natural  History  of  any  English  or 
Welsh  county.  This  was  to  be  really  an  account  of  the 
natural  resources  of  the  county,  "  so  that  the  public  may 
be  enabled  to  judge  what  arts  or  manufactures  are  most 
likely  to  succeed  in  such  county."  This  information  was 
more  effectively  provided  by  the  "  Statistical  Surveys  "  of 
the  counties,  published  by  the  Board  of  Agriculture.  The 
first  of  these  is  dated  1 793,  so  the  offer  of  the  Society  seems 
rather  superfluous. 

In  1803  the  Society  gave  fifty  guineas  to  R.  Horwood 
for  his  map  of  London.  Some  sheets  of  the  map  had 
previously  been  submitted,  in  1791,  but  the  Society 
declined  to  make  any  award  to  the  work  in  its  incomplete 
state,  though  it  passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  author. 
There  had  been  a  number  of  maps  of  London  published 
since  Ralph  Aggas  issued  what  is  believed  to  be  the  first 
map  of  the  sort  somewhere  about  1560.  Horwood's  map 
was  certainly  a  considerable  advance  on  those  of  his  pre- 
decessors, and  more  elaborate  than  any  of  them.  It  was 
one  of  the  few  maps  of  London  made  from  an  actual 
survey,  carried  out,  as  he  says,  by  Horwood  himself.  All 
the  houses  are  numbered,  and  it  is  stated  that  the  publica- 
tion of  Horwood's  map  led  to  the  general  adoption  of 
numbering,  which  had  previously  only  been  applied  to  a 
few  streets.  This  statement,  however,  does  not  seem  to 
rest  on  any  very  good  authority.  Not  a  great  deal  is  known 
about  Horwood.  He  was  surveyor  to  the  Phoenix  Fire 
Office.  It  is  said  he  produced  his  map  for  the  use  of  that 
office,  but  he  makes  no  reference  to  this  in  the  letter  from 
him  printed  in  the  Transactions.1 

Although  no  actual  award,  beyond  the  thanks  of  the 
Society,  was  made  to  Messrs.  Perkins  &  Co.  for  their 

1  Vol.  xxi.  (1803),  p.  311. 


BANK-NOTE  PRINTING  303 

description  in  the  Transactions  1  of  their  process  of  steel- 
engraving  for  bank-notes,  it  is  too  interesting  to  be  passed 
over.  This  absence  of  any  award  is  doubtless  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  process  was  in  use  in  America  and  by  private 
English  banks.2  It  was  afterwards  applied  to  the  pro- 
duction of  postage  stamps,  when  the  introduction  of  the 
Penny  Post  in  1840  caused  a  demand  for  a  large  number 
of  identical  stamps.3  Jacob  Perkins,  the  principal  of  the 
firm,  was  a  very  ingenious  inventor,  and  received  several 
gold  and  silver  medals  from  the  Society.  An  American 
by  birth,  he  passed  much  of  his  life  in  England.  He  was 
a  pioneer  in  the  use  of  high-pressure  steam,  and  in  this  he 
was  followed  by  his  son,  Angier  March  Perkins,  and  his 
grandson,  Loftus  Perkins,  the  last-named  of  whom  built 
several  of  the  first  high-pressure  steam-engines,  and 
suffered  the  usual  fate  of  those  who  are  in  advance  of 
contemporary  ideas. 

In  the  "  siderographic  process,"  as  it  was  termed,  a 
soft  steel  roller  was  rolled  to  and  fro  over  the  surface  of  an 
engraved  steel  plate,  until  the  design  was  transferred  to 
the  roller,  which  was  then  hardened,  and  used  to  produce 
other  steel  or  copper  plates.  From  these,  impressions 
could  be  taken  on  paper  in  the  usual  way.  As  any  number 
of  these  duplicate  plates  could  be  obtained,  it  was  possible 
to  produce  as  many  identical  paper  prints  as  might  be 
required.  In  the  case  of  bank-notes,  it  was  proposed  that 
several  artists  of  repute  should  be  employed,  each  to 
produce  a  small  vignette.  All  these  vignettes  were  to  be 
transferred  to  a  single  plate,  on  which  also  engine-turned 
patterns  might  be  engraved.  Thus  prints,  both  artistic 
and  complicated,  would  be  produced,  which  certainly  it 
would  be  beyond  the  power  of  any  forger  to  copy,  before 
the  invention  of  photography. 

From  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century 
the  paper  industry  had  been  developing,  but  it  was  chiefly 
concerned  with  the  production  of  low-class  papers.  In 

1  Vol.  xxxviii.  (1820),  p.  47.  2  See  also  Chapter  IX,  p.  215. 

3  Sir  Rowland  Hill  and  the  History  of  Penny  Postage,  by  G,  Birkbeck; 
Hill  (1880),  vol.  i.  p.  407. 


3o4  THE  PREMIUMS 

the  finer  qualities  English  manufacturers  could  not  compete 
with  the  productions  of  French  and  Italian  mills,  until 
about  1775  Whatman  succeeded  in  manufacturing  paper 
not  only  equal  but  superior  to  that  made  abroad.  As 
Mr.  Rhys  Jenkins  puts  it,  the  "  export  of  paper  in  1775 
by  Whatman  seems  to  mark  a  turning-point  in  English 
papermaking."  The  same  writer  goes  on  to  remark  : 
"  Between  1 754  and  1 782  the  Society  of  Arts  was  endeavour- 
ing to  promote  the  manufacture  of  high-class  paper  in 
this  country  by  the  award  of  premiums  and  medals  for 
the  production  of  paper  for  copper-plate  printing. 
The  manufacture  of  silk-rag  paper  and  of  embossed 
and  marbled  paper  also  engaged  its  attention."  l 

As  Mr.  Rhys  Jenkins  says,  many  prizes  were  offered 
at  different  times  for  paper  and  paper-making  materials, 
and  these  were  continued  for  many  years  after  the  date 
he  mentions.  The  first  was  the  prize  offered  in  1757  for 
paper  for  copper-plate  printing,  and  one  of  the  latest 
that  proposed,  in  1830,  for  methods  for  manufacturing 
paper  equal  to  China  paper.  At  an  early  date  an  earnest 
attempt  was  made  to  obtain  materials  for  paper  other 
than  rags,  and  a  prize  was  offered  in  1790  for  paper  from 
raw  vegetable  substances.  In  the  announcement  of 
this  it  was  stated  that  the  Society  already  possessed 
specimens  of  paper  made  from  "  thistles,  potatoe  haum, 
poplar,  hop  binds,  etc."  This  offer  was  continued  for 
thirty  years  without  any  addition  being  made  to  the  list 
of  materials,  but  it  possesses  a  good  deal  of  interest, 
because  it  was  an  intelligent  anticipation  of  the  course 
of  future  progress.  Now,  of  course,  practically  all  paper 
is  made  from  "  raw  vegetable  substances,"  that  is  to  say, 
from  cellulose  which  has  not  already  been  made  up  into 
some  textile  material.  The  volume  of  Transactions  for 
1823-4  (Vol.  XLII.)  was  printed  upon  paper  which,  it  is 
stated  in  a  note,  was  made  from  "  pure  flax."  The  paper 
is  good  and  is  in  excellent  condition  now,  which  is  more 
than  can  be  said  for  the  paper  of  many  of  the  volumes. 

It  was  really  not  until  about  1 860  that  paper  materials 

1  See  article  on  "  Paper-making  in  England  (1714-1788),"  by  Rhys 
Jenkins  ;  Lib.  Assoc.  Recordtvol.  iv.  pt.  i.  (1902)  pp.  135  and  136. 


PAPER-MAKING—LITHOGRAPHY          305 

other  than  rags  were  generally  used.  About  that  time 
esparto  began  to  be  employed  to  a  considerable  extent. 
In  1856  fifty  tons  of  esparto  were  imported,  and  perhaps 
this  may  be  taken  as  the  beginning  of  its  application  to 
the  extensive  manufacture  of  paper.1 

It  is  rather  remarkable  that  so  little  was  done  by  the 
Society  for  printing,  in  connection  with  which  there  are 
practically  no  awards  of  any  importance.  Perhaps  the 
most  interesting  entry  in  this  class  is  that  of  the  gold 
medal  awarded  in  1819  to  Aloys  Senefelder  as  the  inventor 
of  lithography.  The  Society  was  a  little  behindhand  in 
this  award,  for  the  process  had  been  perfected  by  the 
inventor  in  i/pS.2 

The  justification  for  the  medal  being  given  at  this 
time  was  no  doubt  the  fact  that  in  the  year  1 8 1 8 ,  Senefelder 
published  his  Lehrbuch  der  Steindruckerey ,  and  that  it  was 
this  book  that  really  drew  attention  to  the  new  art,  though 
before  that  date  lithography  had  been  applied  to  artistic 
purposes.  The  first  dated  English  lithograph  is  a  repro- 
duction of  a  pen  drawing  by  Benjamin  West,  P.R.A.  It 
bears  the  date  1801,  and  was  published  with  other  similar 
plates  by  Fuseli,  Barry,  and  others  in  i8o3.3 

Senefelder  was  much  gratified  with  the  award,  and 
he  sent  to  the  Society,  through  Mr.  Ackerman,  one  of  his 
lithographic  presses.  In  the  same  year  that  Senefelder 
was  thus  honoured,  a  silver  medal  was  awarded  to  C. 
Hullmandel  "  for  a  lithographic  drawing,"  and  in  1829 
Joseph  Netherclift  received  £20  "  for  his  improved  methods 
of  making  lithographic  transfers."4 

In  1793  an  application  was  made  to  the  Society  by 
some  of  the  principal  London  basket-makers,  who  stated 

1  See  paper  by  Robert  Johnston.     Journal,  vol.  xx.  (1871),  p.  96. 

2  See  the  introduction  (by  E.  F.  Strange)  to  the  catalogue  of  the 
collection  of  lithographs  exhibited  at  the  South  Kensington  Museum, 
1 898-9.     This  collection  was  organised  and  shown  by  the  Science  and 
Art  Department,  in  response  to  an  application  from  the  Society  of 
Arts,  suggesting  the  commemoration  of  the  centenary  of  Senefelder's 
invention  by  an  exhibition  of  lithographs. 

3  See  Chapter  VIII,  p.  202,  and  Chapter  IX,  p.  214. 

4  See  Chapter  VIII,  p.  193. 

21 


306  THE  PREMIUMS 

that  their  business  was  almost  at  a  standstill  for  want 
of  osiers,  because  "  great  quantities  of  these  twigs  had 
annually  been  imported  from  France,  and  all  intercourse 
with  that  country  being  stopped,  a  sufficient  quantity, 
the  growth  of  England,  could  not  be  obtained."  As  a 
consequence  of  this  a  great  number  of  the  workmen  had 
been  thrown  out  of  employment.  A  number  of  prizes 
for  planting  osiers  were  offered,  and  the  result  was  very 
satisfactory.  Many  landowners  started  osier  plantations, 
and  numerous  prizes  were  awarded,  including  a  gold 
medal  in  1797  to  Lord  Brownlow,  so  that  in  1806  the 
Society  was  able  to  announce  that  its  object  had  been 
accomplished,  and  a  sufficient  supply  of  English  osiers 
provided.  The  offer  of  prizes  was  consequently  dis- 
continued.1 

It  does  not  appear  to  be  known  with  any  certainty 
when  the  straw-plaiting  industry  was  first  introduced  into 
England  ;  but  it  was  certainly  established  at  Luton  and 
Dunstable  by  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  A 
little  later  the  Society  did  a  good  deal  to  encourage  it. 
In  1762  and  the  three  following  years  a  number  of  small 
premiums  were  given  for  "  chip  hats  like  the  Italian," 
and  at  the  same  time  prizes  were  offered  for  straw  hats  like 
those  made  at  Leghorn  ;  but  without  any  result.2  In 
1805  a  gold  medal  was  awarded  to  William  Corston  for 
making  straw-plait  similar  to  the  Leghorn  plait  from 
rye  straw  grown  in  Norfolk.3  Again,  in  1822,  a  silver 
medal  was  given  to  John  Parry  for  the  manufacture  of 

1  Transactions,  vol.  xi.  (1793)  P-  2&2  >   v°l-  xu^  (J794)  P-  xn*  '>  v°l- 
xiii.   (1795)  p.   x;   vol.  xv.  (1797)  p.   131  ;  vol.  xxiv.  (1806)   p.    vii. 
In  one  place  there  is  a  mistake  in  the  date,  1774  being  printed  for  1773. 

2  The  superiority  of  the  foreign  production  is  shown  by  a  curious 
illustration.     In  1810,  Capt.   Thomas   Borrow,  the   father  of   George 
Borrow,  was  in  charge  of  the  large  prison  at  Norman  Cross,  Huntingdon- 
shire, where  6000  French  prisoners  were  confined.     These  prisoners  used 
to  make  and  sell  straw-plait,  but  as  the  quality  was  superior  to  that 
made  in  England,  the  practice  was  forbidden,  and  the  soldiers  were 
ordered  to  destroy  all  the  straw-plait  they  found  (A.  Jenkins,  Life  of 
George  Borrow,  1912,  p.  13). 

3  Transactions,  vol.  xxiii.  p.  223  ;  vol.  xxviii.  p.  130, 


STRAW-PLAIT 


307 


Leghorn  plait  from  straw  imported  from  Italy.  In  the 
same  year  a  silver  medal  was  given  to  Miss  Sophia  Wood- 
house,  of  Connecticut,  U.S.A.,  for  a  new  material  for 
straw-plait,  which  turned  out  to  be  the  Poa  pratensis. 
Through  the  agency  of  the  Society  seeds  of  the  grass  were 
imported,  and  grown  here. 

William  Cobbett  thought  he  saw  an  opportunity  of 
encouraging  a  useful  industry  in  England,  and  printed  an 
account  of  what  had  been  done  in  his  Register.  An 
importer  of  Italian  straw  then  applied  to  Cobbett  to  know 
whether  he  could  not  get  some  of  the  American  straw.  The 
result  of  this  was  that  Cobbett  set  to  work  in  his  usual 
energetic  manner  *  to  see  if  English  grasses  might  not  be 
used  for  the  same  purpose,  and  he  was  successful  in 
utilising  various  native  straws  and  grasses.  In  apprecia- 
tion of  his  efforts,  the  Society  gave  him  a  silver  medal. 
Cobbett  not  being  by  any  means  a  popular  character  at  the 
time,  the  award  did  not  meet  with  general  approval. 
Edward  Smith,  Cobbett 's  biographer,  says  that  the  news- 
papers announced  the  award  with  the  heading,  "  The 
Society  of  Arts  humbugged  at  last."  The  award  was  of 
course  perfectly  well  deserved,  and  apparently  the  real 
objection  was  to  Cobbett 's  political  views,  not  to  the 
useful  work  he  had  promoted.  However,  the  Society 
continued  to  encourage  the  industry,  which  it  hoped  might 
occupy  numbers  of  the  unemployed,  and  for  three  or  four 
years  it  continued  to  give  a  number  of  small  rewards, 
varying  in  value  from  fifteen  to  two  guineas  for  the 
manufacture  of  hats  and  bonnets  made  of  English 
straw.2 

1  Cobbett,  than  whom  "  no  sturdier  cudgel  player  had  stepped  into 
the  literary  ring,  since  his  master  had  published  The  Drafter's  Letters" 
(Leslie  Stephen).    "  No  man  ever  fought  in  a  nobler  cause,  or  with  more 
sincerity,   with    more    persuasiveness,    with    more    courage "    (Lewis 
Melville  in  the  Fortnightly  Review,  April  1912). 

2  A  very  full  account  of  the  development  of  the  straw-plait  trade 
is  to  be  found  in  a  paper  read  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Tansley  on  ipth  December 
1860,  and  printed  in  the  Journal  of  the  2ist  of  that  month  (vol.  ix. 
p.    69).      In    the    discussion,  the   secretary  (Peter  Le    Neve  Foster) 
gave  a  full  list  of  the  awards  made  by  the  Society  from  1805  down 
to  1825. 


3o8  THE  PREMIUMS 

The  manufacture  of  leather  received  less  encourage- 
ment from  the  Society  than  might  have  been  expected, 
considering  that  the  industry  had  one  of  its  most  important 
seats  close  to  London,  in  Bermondsey.  In  the  year  after 
the  Society's  formation  (1755)  a  prize  was  offered  for  buff 
leather,  then  principally  imported.  The  prize  was  duly 
awarded,  and  the  manufacture  started,  with  a  certain 
amount  of  success.  "  The  Kentish  Militia  and  some 
other  corps  had  their  accoutrements  made  of  it."1  It 
does  not,  however,  appear  that  the  production  of  such 
leather  was  continued. 

The  story  of  the  introduction  of  the  method  of  "  Dying 
leather  red  and  yellow  as  practised  in  the  East  for  that  kind 
called  Turkey  Leather  "  is  rather  a  curious  one.  Dossie2 
tells  us  that  one  Phillippo,  "  an  Asiatic  "  who  was  in 
England,  was  induced  by  two  members  of  the  Society  to 
"  try,  on  his  return  to  the  East,  to  make  himself  master 
of  this  and  some  other  arts  not  known  here,  in  order  to 
communicate  them,  by  means  of  the  Society,  in  case  he 
should  come  again  to  England."  The  Society  agreed  to 
pay  him  £100  if  he  succeeded,  and  on  his  return  to  this 
country  with  the  secrets  of  the  process,  the  money  was 
paid  him,  with  the  additional  complimentary  gift  of  a  gold 
medal. 

The  tanning  industry  was  a  long-established  and 
flourishing  one  in  this  country,  but  it  was  hampered  by 
protective  legislation.  Only  certain  materials,  of  which 
oak-bark  was  the  principal,  were  allowed  to  be  used.  This 
provision  was  not  apparently  for  the  benefit  of  the  tanners, 
but  to  secure  the  use  of  proper  materials,  and,  perhaps,  to 
encourage  the  growth  of  timber.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
not  only  was  the  bark  of  timber  trees  used,  but  oaks  were 
grown  in  coppices,  which  were  cut  for  the  sake  of  the 
bark  alone.  The  Act  in  which  this  provision  was  included 
was  held  to  prevent  the  use  of  oak  saw-dust,  and  therefore 
a  method,  said  to  be  successful,  of  utilising  this  material 
could  not  be  employed.  The  Society  gave  the  inventor 
£100,  and  protested  against  the  clause  in  the  Act — with 
what  effect  is  not  recorded.  Prizes  were  offered,  and  a  few 
*  Dossie,  vol.  i.  p.  170.  *  Vol.  i.  p.  230, 


FIRE-ESCAPES,  ETC.  309 

awarded,  for  new  tanning  materials  and  methods,  but  the 
list  is  not  a  long  one. 

A  great  many  inventions  for  saving  life  from  fire  and 
for  extinguishing  fires  were  rewarded  by  the  Society. 
Among  the  latter  was  an  invention  of  Ambrose  Godfrey 
for  extinguishing  fires,  which  was  brought  under  the  notice 
of  the  Society  in  1760  by  the  inventor's  son.  To  test 
the  device,  a  building  was  erected  in  Marylebone  Fields. 
On  2  ist  May  1 761 ,  the  building  was  set  on  fire,  and  when  it 
was  in  full  blaze  Godfrey's  shells  were  thrown  into  the 
house.  According  to  a  contemporary  description,  "  their 
explosion  immediately  extinguished  the  fire,  and  even  the 
smoke  soon  disappeared."  This  demonstration  was 
carried  out  in  the  presence  of  the  Duke  of  York,  Prince 
William,  afterwards  William  iv.,  Prince  Henry,  afterwards 
Duke  of  Gloucester,  and  a  numerous  crowd,  which  was  kept 
in  order  by  a  guard  of  two  hundred  men. 

There  were  also  a  good  many  fire-escapes.  One  of 
these,  for  which  fifty  guineas  were  voted  in  1810  to  John 
Davis,  is  practically  identical  with  the  modern  fire-escape 
with  its  telescopic  ladder  and  carriage.  In  his  descrip- 
tion of  his  apparatus,  the  inventor  says  that  his  attention 
was  drawn  to  the  subject  by  the  death  of  a  woman  at 
Chelmsford,  who  had  fallen  off  a  "  parish  ladder  "  when 
trying  to  escape  from  a  burning  house. 

In  1805  a  prize  was  offered  for  a  method  of  rendering 
muslin  uninflammable  without  injuring  the  quality  or 
appearance  of  the  fabric,  but  though  the  offer  was  con- 
tinued for  many  years,  it  met  with  no  response. 

The  proposal  was  a  very  old  one.  As  early  as  1735  a 
patent  was  granted  to  Obadiah  Wilde,  who  added  a  mixture 
of  alum,  borax,  and  vitriol  to  paper  pulp,  with  the  view  of 
producing  incombustible  paper.  In  the  early  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century  the  subject  attracted  the  attention  of 
many  chemists,  amongst  others  of  Gay-Lussac,  who  in 
1830  proposed  the  treatment  of  fabrics  with  the  carbonates 
of  potash  and  soda.  Fuchs  suggested  water-glass.  In 
1 859  an  elaborate  paper  was  read  to  the  British  Association 
by  Versmann  and  Oppenheim,  who  gave  a  full  account  of 


3io  THE  PREMIUMS 

their  own  researches.  An  abstract  of  this  paper,  and  an 
account  of  the  valuable  investigations  by  Sir  Frederick 
Abel  carried  on  from  1855  to  1 88 1 ,  will  be  found  in  a  report 
of  a  committee  of  the  Society  on  fire  prevention,  published 
in  1 883  -1  This  gives  a  fairly  complete  history  of  the  various 
attempts  to  render  fabrics  and  other  materials  uninflam- 
mable, down  to  the  date  of  its  issue. 

The  supply  of  fish  to  London  had  always  been  a  diffi- 
culty, and  though  many  attempts  had  been  made  to 
bring  fish  by  land,  none  of  them  had  succeeded.2  In  1761 
a  scheme  for  the  supply  of  the  markets  of  London  and 
Westminster — a  new  fish-market  had  been  started  in 
Broadway,  Westminster,  in  1752 — with  fish  brought  up 
from  the  coast  by  land  was  laid  before  the  Society  by 
John  Blake.  The  Society  took  up  the  proposal  very 
warmly,  and  agreed  to  give  Blake  £1500  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  it  out.  Eventually  no  less  than  £3500  was 
spent  on  this  scheme.  The  proposal  was  taken  up  with 
a  great  deal  of  enthusiasm.  According  to  a  statement 
in  the  first  volume  of  the  Transactions,  Parliament  also 
made  Blake  a  grant  of  £2000,  and  by  the  energy  of  the 
Society  an  Act  of  Parliament  was  obtained  by  which  the 
tolls  on  fish  carriage  were  reduced,  and  other  facilities 
granted  for  breaking  down  the  monopoly  in  the  London 
fish  supply  which  then  existed. 

At  first  the  Society  were  very  much  gratified  with 
the  result  of  their  efforts,  and  they  awarded  Blake  a  gold 
medal  with  the  inscription,  "  Fish  Monopoly  Restrained." 
But  the  practical  results  of  the  procedure  do  not  seem 
to  have  been  very  satisfactory,  for  in  the  article  above 
mentioned  3  it  is  stated  that  the  "  plan  has  not  in  every 
degree  answered  the  sanguine  expectations  of  the  Society ." 
Still,  it  is  stated  that  a  good  deal  of  fish  had  been  brought 
up  by  land,  and  the  fish-supply  of  London  increased. 
It  also  appears  that  the  Society  were  not  quite  satisfied 

1  Journal)  vol.  xxxi.  (11883)  P-  687. 

2  Some  information  about  this  subject  will  be  found  in  Industrial 
England  in  the  Middle  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  p.  165. 

8  Transactions,  vol.  i.  p.  57. 


HERRING  FISHERY  311 

with    Blake   himself,   because   there   is   evidence   in   the 
minutes  of  disputes  having  arisen  about  his  accounts. 

A  later  attempt  to  develop  British  fisheries  was  more 
successful.  In  1805  a  reward  was  offered  for  "  curing 
herrings  by  the  Dutch  method."  For  some  years  this 
does  not  seem  to  have  had  much  result,  but  in  1819  and 
1820  two  rewards  of  fifty  guineas  and  £50  respectively 
were  paid  to  J.  F.  Denovan,  of  Leith,  for  his  success  in 
the  "  curing  of  British  herrings,"  and  for  introducing 
them  into  the  market.  Two  communications  in  the 
Transactions  l  give  an  interesting  account  of  the  way  in 
which,  after  many  unsuccessful  attempts  to  get  hold  of 
the  secrets  of  the  business  in  Holland,  he  secured  the  assist- 
ance of  six  experienced  Dutch  fish-curers,  and  with  their 
help  started  to. catch  and  cure  herrings  on  the  west  coast 
of  Scotland.  After  a  good  deal  of  trouble  and  various 
misadventures,  he  was  quite  successful  in  his  enterprise, 
and  succeeded  in  sending  to  Edinburgh  and  London 
cargoes  of  herrings  equal  to  the  best  Dutch.  The  method 
employed,  then  as  now,  is  merely,  after  gutting  and  clean- 
ing the  fish,  to  pack  them  in  barrels  with  salt  or  brine. 
Many  other  awards  followed,  and  this  was  the  beginning 
of  the  Scotch  cured  herring  trade,  which  developed  into 
an  important  business,  and  has,  of  quite  recent  years, 
spread  to  the  East  Anglian  fishing  ports.  At  the  present 
time  it  is  a  thriving  industry  at  Lowestoft. 

In  1783  the  Society  proposed  to  deal  with  the  ques- 
tion of  general  education,  and  the  following  announce- 
ment was  made  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Transactions  : 2 
"  The  Society,  desirous  to  improve  the  present  mode  of 
education,  hereby  offer  the  gold  medal  to  the  master  of 
any  academy  or  school  for  boys  situated  within  or  not 
more  than  thirty  miles  distant  from  London,  who  shall 
within  three  years  from  the  date  of  this  advertisement 
teach  the  greatest  number  of  scholars,  not  less  than  four, 
to  write  and  to  speak  Latin  in  common  conversation 
correctly  and  fluently.  Also  the  gold  medal  for  teaching 

1  Vol.  xxxvii.  (1819)  p.  183  ;  vol.  xxxviii.  (1820)  p.  186. 

2  Vol.  i.  (1783)  p.  194. 


3i2  THE  PREMIUMS 

in  like  manner  each  of  the  following  languages,  viz. 
the  German,  the  Spanish,  and  the  Italian,  being  com- 
mercial languages,  not  usually  taught  at  schools  in 
England." 

In  December  1786,  Dr.  Egan,  the  master  of  the  Royal 
Park  Academy,  Greenwich,  brought  up  five  of  his  pupils, 
whose  ages  were  between  eleven  and  fifteen,  and  they, 
after  being  duly  examined  by  the  committee,  were  each 
awarded  a  silver  medal,  the  gold  medal  being  given  to 
Dr.  Egan.1 

In  its  earlier  years  the  Society  offered  various  prizes 
of  a  miscellaneous  sort,  prizes  which  may  be  taken  as 
evidence  of  the  catholic  nature  of  its  objects  from  its 
very  foundation.  Such,  for  instance,  was  the  gold 
medal  for  a  treatise  on  the  "  Arts  of  Peace  "  offered  in 
1759,  a  time  when  the  arts  of  peace  must  have  been 
less  in  men's  minds  than  those  of  war,  since  the 
country  was  engaged  in  fighting  in  Europe,  Asia,  and 
America. 

Among  social  and  economical  questions  the  question 
of  female  employment  crops  up  again  and  again  from 
1768  onwards.  Sometimes  a  reward  is  offered  to  those 
who  employ  the  greatest  number  of  women  and  girls  in 
specified  industries.  Then  more  general  offers  are  made — 
requests  for  suggestions,  and  so  on.  The  general  question 
of  want  of  employment  also  comes  up,  and  proposals  are 
requested  for  providing  employment  for  the  poor,  and  for 
workhouse  paupers  especially. 

It  might  be  thought  that  the  question  of  housing  the 
agricultural  labourer  is  a  fairly  modern  one.  It  is  certainly 
an  object  of  discussion  at  the  present  moment.  In  1799 
the  Society  offered  a  gold  medal  to  the  landowner  who 
should  build  in  that  year  the  greatest  number  of  cottages 
with  an  allotment  of  two  acres  apiece,  and  another  gold 
medal  to  the  landlord  who  should  apportion  allotments 
of  two  acres  to  existing  cottages  on  his  estate.  The  offer 

1  An  account  of  this  examination  is  given  in  a  letter  from  John 
Symonds  to  Arthur  Young,  printed  in  Young's  Autobiography  (Edition 
1898,  by  M.  Betham-Edwards,  p.  147). 


LABOURERS'  COTTAGES 

does  not   appear   to   have  attracted  any  response,  and, 
after  a  few  years,  it  was  discontinued. 

Many  years  later  the  subject  was  again  taken  up, 
and  with  rather  more  success,  as  will  be  related 
later  on.1 

1  See  Chapter  XVI,  p.  392,  and  Chapter  XXI,  p.  491. 


Signalling  by  Hand,  1809  (see  p.  252). 


CHAPTER    XIV 
THE  SOCIETY'S  MEDALS 

First  proposal  to  offer  Medals — The  First  Medal,  Stuart's  design — 
Barry's  suggestions — Flaxman's  Medal — Smaller  Medals,  Isis, 
Ceres,  and  Vulcan — The  Palette — Wyon's  large  Medal — President's 
Head  adopted  for  Medal — W.  Wyon's  Head  of  Prince  Albert — King 
Edward's  Head,  by  L.  C.  Wyon — The  same,  by  Emil  Fuchs — King 
George's  Head,  by  Bertram  Mackennal — The  Albert  Medal,  Prince 
Consort's  Head,  by  L.  C.  Wyon. 

THE  first  prizes  offered  were  all  in  money,  but  the  Society 
was  hardly  a  year  old  before  the  proposal  was  made  to 
substitute  medals  for  cash  in  some  of  the  awards.  At 
the  meeting  held  at  its  rooms  in  Craig's  Court  on  3oth  April 

1755  :— 

"  Some  discourse  arose  concerning  the  Society's 
bestowing  Medals  on  some  Occasions  instead  of  Money, 
but  as  nothing  of  that  kind  can  take  place  this  year,  the 
further  consideration  of  it  was  deferred  to  another  Time." 

The  idea  evidently  was  that  some  "  Honorary  Premium" 
was  desirable  in  cases  for  which  a  money  award  was  un- 
suitable, and  this  idea  was  formally  submitted  to  the 
Society  by  Henry  Baker  on  24th  March  1756.  Baker's 
paper  does  not  appear  in  the  Minutes,  but  it  has  been 
preserved  in  one  of  the  old  guard-books.  The  sentiments 
by  which  he  was  actuated  may  perhaps  best  be  indicated 
by  quoting  his  own  expression  of  them  : — 

"  Whoever  would  lead  Mankind,  even  to  their  own 
Good,  must  take  Advantage  of  their  Passions,  amongst 
which  the  Desire  of  Gain,  and  the  Desire  of  Esteem,  are 
two  of  the  most  prevailing.  This  Society,  as  far  as  is 
at  present  in  its  Power,  with  due  Caution  and  great 

Judgment,  applies  itself  to  the  former  ;    nor  has  it  been 

314 


v, 

* 

,~*    r/r,      y2i        ,A^;/  -  <-/* 


SOCIETY'S  ORIGINAL  MEDAL, 

1757- 


CERES  MEDAL. 


VULCAN  MEDAL. 


Isis  MEDAL. 


THE  SOCIETY'S  LARGE  MEDAL 
(FLAXMAN). 


THE  SOCIETY'S  LARGE  MEDAL 

(WYON). 


THE    SOCIETY'S    EARLY    MEDALS. 


To  face  page  314. 


THE  FIRST  MEDAL  315 

altogether  forgetful  of  the  latter  ;  but,  with  all  submission, 
may  not  your  extensive  and  noble  Views  be  greatly 
forwarded  by  adverting  to  it  a  little  more  ? 

"  The  Desire  of  Reputation  and  Esteem  is  strongest  in 
the  most  ingenious  and  most  ingenuous  Minds,  and  can 
set  those  Heads  and  Hands  to  work  which  the  Hopes  of 
Gain  can  give  no  Motion  to.  Undoubtedly  your  Premiums 
in  Money  are,  in  general,  the  best  Encouragement  to  the 
Mechanic,  the  Manufacturer,  and  the  Planter,  and  to  all 
the  Multitude  in  whom  the  Desire  of  Gain  prevails  ;  but 
may  we  not  suppose  that  some  honorary  Token  of  Esteem 
would  more  effectually  bring  to  your  Assistance  the 
Scholar,  the  Philosopher,  and  the  Gentleman  of  Estate  ? 
By  many  Others  too  it  would  perhaps  be  preferred  to 
Money. 

"It  is  therefore  proposed  that  a  dye  be  made  for 
striking  Medals  of  Gold,  Silver,  and  Copper  (with  proper 
Devices),  to  be  occasionally  bestowed  by  the  Society  as  a 
Token  of  Honour  and  Esteem  on  such  as  shall  practice 
or  produce  some  new  Manufacture  or  Discovery  that  may 
employ  many  Hands,  some  considerable  Improvement  of 
Public  Utility,  or  some  valuable  Branch  of  Commerce  (in 
one  or  the  other  Metal),  according  to  the  Nature  and 
Consequence  of  the  Improvement  or  Discovery  ;  which 
Medals  in  Gold  shall  be  of  5^  Value,  and  proportionately 
in  Silver  and  Copper  ;  tho',  in  all  of  them,  the  Honour 
of  being  thus  distinguished  is  the  principal  Object  of 
Regard." 

This  paper  was  referred  to  a  committee,  which  reported 
that  they  were  of  opinion  that  the  giving  of  medals  would 
be  of  utility,  and  that  a  special  committee  should  be 
appointed  to  consider  a  proper  device.  This  committee,  of 
which  Baker,  Nicholas  Crisp,  Hogarth,  Henry  Cheere,  and 
Nicholas  Highmore  were  members,  agreed  upon  a  design, 
but  after  it  had  been  chased  upon  gold  plates,  and  the 
order  given  for  the  dies  to  be  cut,  a  difficulty  arose.  It 
had  been  decided  that  the  value  of  the  medal  should  not 
exceed  ten  guineas,  but  when  specimens  of  the  selected 
design  were  produced  it  was  found  that  not  less  than 
fifteen  guineas'  worth  of  gold  was  required.  This  was 


316  THE  SOCIETY'S  MEDALS 

considered  too  much,  and  the  report  of  the  committee 
was  referred  back  to  them,  with  instructions  to  obtain  a 
new  device  which  should  only  need  gold  to  the  amount 
of  five  guineas.  This,  however,  was  not  found  to  be 
possible,  and  after  a  good  deal  of  discussion,  the  com- 
mittee refused  to  make  any  report.  Thereupon  James 
Stuart,  the  painter  and  architect,  well  known  as  "  Athenian 
Stuart  "  from  his  studies  in  Greek  Architecture,  came  to 
the  rescue  with  a  design  of  his  own,  which  after  being 
executed  by  Thomas  Pingo,  the  engraver  to  the  Mint,  was 
adopted.  Pingo  made  the  necessary  dies  and  medals 
were  struck  from  them  in  1757. 

The  design  of  the  medal,  as  shown  in  the  illustration 
facing  page  314,  represented  Britannia  receiving  awards 
from  Minerva  and  Mercury,  "  the  classical  tutelary  deities 
of  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce." 

There  was  much  discussion  as  to  the  inscription,  but 
eventually  it  was  decided  that  the  legend  should  be 
11  Arts  and  Commerce  Promoted."  At  first  the  date  of 
institution  was  given  as  1753,  but  afterwards  it  was 
changed  to  1754. 

Curiously  enough  the  earlier  and  incorrect  date  was 
preserved  for  many  years  when  the  design  was  adopted 
for  the  Society's  book-plate.1 

The  Medal  was  used  for  nearly  half  a  century, 
until  the  die  was  worn.  In  1801,  James  Barry,  while 
approving  the  idea  symbolised  in  the  medal,  criticised  the 
execution  and  proposed  "  to  substitute  instead  of  the 
little  entire  figures  of  Minerva  and  Mercury,  only  two  large 
heads  of  those  deities,  and  he  would  omit  the  head  of 
Britannia  altogether,  and  by  a  wreath  of  the  shamrock, 
rose,  and  thistle,  totally  rising  round  the  edge  of  the  medal, 
playing  in  and  out  in  a  graceful  gustoso  manner,  he  would 
represent  the  present  happily  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  with  a  felicity  at  least  equal  to  the 
owl,  the  horse's  head,  or  the  dolphin  on  the  Athenian, 
Punice,  or  Sicilian  coins."  2 

Barry's  design  is  here  reproduced  from  the  en- 
graving in  his  account  of  the  pictures  in  the  Meeting- 

1  See  figure,  p.  161.  2  Transactions,  vol.  xix.  pp.  xxxvi-xxxix. 


FLAXMAN'S  MEDAL 


Room.1  It  is  a  fine  vigorous  sketch,  evidently  the  work 
of  an  artist  accustomed  to  express  himself  by  the  strength 
of  his  lines,  rather  than  of  a  medallist. 

His  suggestions  do  not  seem  to  have  commended 
themselves  to  the  Society,  and  the  Committee  of  Polite 
Arts  asked  Nathaniel  Marchand,  the  well-known  medallist, 
to  prepare  a  design  in  accordance  with  their  suggestions, 
one  of  which  was  to  have  the  President's  head  on  the 


Barry's  design  for  the  Society's  Medal. 

obverse,  and  a  symbolical  Society,  with  statues  of  the 
"  tutelary  deities  "  on  the  reverse.  Either  Marchand 
did  not  care  for  the  suggestions,  or  he  was  dilatory ;  but 
for  whatever  reason,  nothing  came  of  the  proposals. 
Then  in  1805,  Flaxman  was  asked  to  furnish  a  design, 
and  he  produced  the  very  beautiful  medal  shown  in 
the  plate  facing  page  314. 

This,  as  will  be  seen,  embodies  Barry's  ideas,  and,  it 
may  be  added,  justifies  them.     Nevertheless,  the  design 
1  See  Chapter  III,  p.  71. 


3i8  THE  SOCIETY'S  MEDALS 

was  not  adopted  without  some  opposition  from  Barry's 
friends,  who  wished  that  the  preparation  of  the  medal 
should  be  entrusted  to  him.  But  Barry's  death  in  1806 
put  an  end  to  any  proposals  of  the  sort,  and  no  further 
objections  were  raised  to  Flaxman's  work.  The  dies 
were  cut  by  Pidgeon,1  entirely  to  Flaxman's  satisfaction, 
and  from  1806  onwards  this  medal  served  as  the  chief 
of  the  Society's  awards.  A  very  beautiful  engraving 
of  the  medal  forms  the  frontispiece  to  Vol.  xxv.  of  the 
Transactions?1  It  was  drawn  by  Maria  Denman,  Flax- 
man's sister-in-law,  and  engraved  by  Anker  Smith. 

Besides  this  large  medal,  three  smaller  medals  were 
afterwards  used,  the  Isis  Medal,  designed  by  Thomas 
Wyon  the  younger  in  1810,  the  Ceres  medal  by  William 
Wyon,  a  nephew  of  the  elder  Thomas,  in  1813,  and  the 
Vulcan  medal  by  George  Mills  in  1818.  These  were 
given  respectively  for  Fine  Arts,  Agriculture,  and 
Mechanics,  and  were  often  designated  the  smaller  Society's 
medal,  while  Flaxman's  was  called  the  larger  medal. 
They  were  struck  in  gold  and  silver. 

The  weight  and  value  of  the  different  medals  is  given 
in  a  note  in  the  Committee  Minutes 3  for  1 843  : — 

Large  Gold,  weight  3  oz.,  value  ^13,  155. 
Small  Gold,  weight  i  oz.  8  dwts.,  value  £6,  145.  6d. 
Large  Silver,  weight  2  oz.  8  dwts.,  value  £i,  43.  6d. 
Small  Silver,  weight  i  oz.  8  dwts.,  value  195. 

In  addition  to  the  medals  there  was  in  the  class  of  Fine 
Arts  the  palette,  an  illustration  of  which  is  given  in  the  plate 
facing  page  160.  Reference  to  it  has  already  been  made  in 
the  chapter  on  the  Fine  Art  prizes.4  It  was  a  miniature  copy 
of  an  artist's  palette,  bearing  on  the  obverse  the  Society's 
title,  and  on  the  reverse  a  scroll  with  the  recipient's  name. 
It  was  struck  in  two  sizes  (2^  in.  and  2  in.  long  respect- 
ively), and  was  generally  silver,  sometimes  gold,  and 

1  Probably  G.  F.  Pidgeon,  a  medallist  who  worked  at  the  Soho  Mint 
under  Matthew  Boulton.     He   is   mentioned   and  some   of  his  work 
described  in  Ferrer's  Dictionary  of  Medallists,  but  it  is  said  that  "  no 
particulars  of  his  life  appear  to  be  known." 

2  See  plate  opposite  p.  354.        3  Miscellaneous  Minutes,  1843,  p.  76, 
See  Chapter  VII,  p.  160, 


SOCIETY'S  MEDAL,  1849-1861. 


SOCIETY'S  MEDAL, 
1863-1900. 


SOCIETY'S  MEDAL, 
1900. 


THE    SOCIETY'S    LATER    MEDALS. 


To  face  page  318. 


LATER  MEDALS  319 

occasionally  silver  gilt.  It  was  devised  in  1760,  as  a 
special  sort  of  prize  to  be  given  instead  of  medals  or 
money  to  youthful  candidates.  Later  on,  the  restriction 
to  young  persons  was  not  always  observed.1 

When,  in  1811,  the  "  Isis  Medal"  was  introduced, 
it  was  intended  to  substitute  this  for  the  palette,  but  this 
idea  was  not  carried  out.  Both  medals  and  palettes  were 
awarded  for  many  years — in  fact,  as  long  as  any  Fine  Art 
prizes  were  given  ;  but  it  is  not  very  easy  to  say  what 
was  their  precise  relative  value.  At  the  first  institution 
of  the  medal,  the  two  were  of  equal  value,  and  the  candidate 
was  given  the  option  of  selection.  The  last  award  of  a 
palette  was  in  1847.  The  Isis  Medal  was  awarded  in  the 
last  two  distributions  of  awards  in  1850  and  i853.2 

In  1 820  a  new  die  was  designed  and  executed  by  William 
Wyon  to  replace  the  one  made  from  Flaxman's  design, 
which  was  worn  out.  It  is  a  design  of  much  beauty,  and 
of  exquisite  workmanship,  but,  in  the  opinion  of  competent 
critics,  not  equal  to  Flaxman's.  This  die  was  used  for 
about  thirty  years,  but  in  1 849  it  was  found  to  be  wearing 
out,  and  at  the  suggestion  of  Henry  Cole  a  new  design 
was  adopted,  with  the  head  of  the  President,  Prince 
Albert,  upon  it.  The  die  for  this  was  also  prepared  by 
William  Wyon,  and  must  have  been  one  of  his  latest 
pieces  of  work,  for  he  died  in  1851.  Probably  in  conse- 
quence of  Wyon's  death  there  was  some  delay  in  the 
preparation  of  the  new  medal,  and  the  old  die  was  cer- 
tainly used  for  striking  some,  if  not  all  the  medals  pre- 
sented in  1853,  but  from  that  date  onwards  the  new  medal 
was  always  used,  until  the  death  of  the  Prince  Consort. 

1  There  was  also  the  "  John  Stock  Medallion,"  awarded,  as  stated  in 
Chapter  VII,  p.  161,  for  Architecture,  Sculpture,  and  Drawing.   When,  in 
1782,  arrangements  were  under  consideration  for  the  award  of  the  prize 
founded  by  the  testator,  it  was  at  first  proposed  to  strike  a  special 
medal  for  the  purpose,  but  afterwards  this  idea  was  abandoned  and  it 
was   "ordered   that   the  medallion  ...  be  composed  of  the  Greater 
Silver  Pallet,  hung  on  a  swivel  within  an  oval  frame  of  the  same 
metal." — Minutes  of  Committee  of  Polite  Arts,  22nd  March  1782,  3rd 
April  1782,  22nd  January  1783. 

2  In  1850  there  were  no  Fine  Art  prizes,  but  th?  Isis  Medal  was  given 
for  some  of  the  awards  in  Industrial  Art,     Jn  1853  it  was  given  for 
gome  purely  technical  inventions, 


32o  THE  SOCIETY'S  MEDALS 

At  the  election  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  (King  Edward 
vii.)  to  the  Presidentship  in  1863,  his  head  was  placed 
upon  the  obverse  of  the  medal.  At  the  same  time  the 
reverse  was  re-engraved  ;  the  wreath  and  inscription 
remained  the  same,  but  the  engraving  was  bolder.  The 
die  for  this  medal  was  the  work  of  Leonard  Wyon,  the 
successor  of  William. 

No  further  change  was  made  till  1900,  when,  the  need 
again  arising  for  a  fresh  die,  a  new  design  was  prepared 
by  Mr.  Emil  Fuchs,  whose  portrait  of  the  Prince  was 
preferred  by  His  Royal  Highness.  When,  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  King  Edward  came  to  the  throne,  he  authorised 
the  continued  use  of  his  head  on  the  Society's  medal,  his 
title  being  changed,  and  the  word  "  Patron  "  being  substi- 
tuted for  "  President  "  in  the  inscription. 

On  the  accession  of  King  George  v.  in  1910,  when  he 
resigned  the  Presidency  and  became  Patron,  he  was  asked 
by  the  Council  if  he  would  allow  his  head  to  be  engraved 
on  the  medal.  His  Majesty  consented,  and  expressed 
his  wish  that  the  work  should  be  executed  by  Mr.  Bertram 
Mackennal,  A.R.A.  An  excellent  likeness  of  the  King 
was  modelled  by  Mr.  Mackennal,  and  from  it  a  die  was 
engraved  by  Mr.  Allan  Wyon,  the  present  representative 
of  the  firm. 

Since  1853  the  medal  with  the  President's  head  upon 
it  has  been  the  only  one  employed  by  the  Society  for  all 
its  ordinary  awards.  It  is  struck  in  gold,  silver,  and 
bronze  ;  gold  for  special  prizes,  silver  for  the  medals  for 
papers,  for  examination  awards,  and  for  other  purposes, 
bronze  for  examination  prizes,  and  occasionally  for  other 
minor  awards. 

In  addition  to  this  the  Society  possesses  the  Albert 
Medal,  founded,  as  hereinafter  stated,  in  1863,  to  com- 
memorate the  Presidency  of  Prince  Albert.1  The  designs 
for  both  obverse  and  reverse  of  this  were  by  Leonard 
Wyon,  the  head  being  intended  as  a  likeness  of  the  Prince 
during  the  later  years  of  his  life,  and  the  reverse  sym- 
bolical of  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce. 
1  See  Chapter  XVI,  p.  400, 


SOCIETY'S  MEDAL, 
1901-1911. 


SOCIETY'S  MEDAL, 
1911. 


ALBERT  MEDAL  OF  THE  SOCIETY. 
THE    SOCIETY'S    LATEST    MEDALS. 


To  face  page  320. 


CHAPTER    XV 

THE  OFFICIALS.    THE  "TRANSACTIONS."    THE  COUNCIL. 
THE  CHARTER 

(1761-1847) 

Presidencies  of  Lord  Romney,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  the  Duke  of 
Sussex — Annual  Prize  Distributions — The  Prince  Consort  elected 
President — The  Vice- Presidents — The  Committees — The  Secre- 
taryship of  More — The  Transactions — The  Museum  Rusticum — 
Dossie  and  his  Memoirs  of  Agriculture — Charles  Taylor  succeeds 
More,  and  is  succeeded  by  Arthur  Aikin — Aikin  and  his  services 
to  the  Society — His  Lectures  and  his  Suggestions  for  the  reading 
and  discussion  of  Papers — His  Resignation  and  his  Successor, 
W.  A.  Graham — The  Assistant  Secretaries,  Box,  Thomas  Taylor 
the  "Platonist,"  Thomas  Woodfall — The  Registrars,  Shipley, 
Tuckwell,  W.  Bailey,  E.  M.  Bailey,  George  Cockings,  Ann 
Cockings — The  Society's  decadence — Attempts  at  Reform  by 
Thomas  Webster  and  others — Their  eventual  Success — Whishaw, 
Secretary,  succeeded  by  Scott  Russell — Formation  of  a  Council — 
The  Charter. 

WE  have  now  considered  the  proceedings  of  the  Society 
during  the  first  century  of  its  existence,  and  the  methods 
it  adopted,  by  the  distribution  of  its  awards,  to  encourage 
the  progress  of  Agriculture,  Fine  Arts,  Industry  and 
Commerce  in  the  Kingdom  and  the  Colonies.  We  may 
now  devote  a  chapter  to  the  personnel  of  the  Society,  its 
officials  and  the  principal  members  of  its  staff,  its  general 
history,  and  the  changes  which  were  gradually  effected  in 
its  character  and  its  methods. 

On  the  death  of  Lord  Folkestone  in  1 761 ,  Lord  Romney 
was  elected  President,  and  he  held  the  office  till  his  own 
death  in  1793.  From  its  foundation  he  had  always  taken 
the  greatest  interest  in  the  Society,  and  during  his  presid- 

22 


322  THE  OFFICIALS 

ency  he  continued  to  attend  regularly.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  Society  owed  a  great  deal  of  its  early  success 
to  its  first  two  presidents. 

Lord  Romney's  portrait, facing  page  i6,is  the  head  from 
the  full-length  picture  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  painted 
for  the  Society  in  1770.  It  was  engraved  by  Sherwin 
for  the  frontispiece  to  Vol.  in.  of  the  Transactions,  and 
is  now  reprinted  from  the  original  copper-plate. 

During  Lord  Romney's  presidency  a  proposal  was 
made  that  the  Prince  of  Wales  should  be  elected  patron, 
and  His  Royal  Highness  seems  to  have  agreed.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  Society  on  i4th  December  1785,  a  letter 
was  read  from  Caleb  Whitefoord,1  saying  that  the  Prince 
would  become  patron,  and  the  proposal  was  approved. 
However,  at  the  meeting  of  the  following  week  (2ist  De- 
cember) other  counsels  prevailed,  and  the  consideration  of 
the  question  was  "  postponed,"  not  to  be  revived.  The 
reasons  for  this  action  are  veiled  in  what  was  perhaps  a 
judicious  reticence. 

Lord  Romney  died  in  November  1793,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded in  the  following  year  by  the  Duke  of  Norfolk. 
The  Duke  had  been  elected  a  member  of  the  Society  in 
May  1769,  as  Charles  Howard,  jun.,  his  father,  also  Charles 
Howard,  having  become  a  member  in  1758.  The  elder 
Howard  became  tenth  Duke  of  Norfolk  in  1777,  when  his 
son  became  Earl  of  Surrey.  The  tenth  Duke  died  in 

1  Caleb  Whitefoord  was  for  long  a  prominent  member  of  the  Society. 
He  was  a  friend  of  Franklin,  being  his  neighbour  in  Craven  Street,  and 
was  proposed  by  him  in  January  1762.  He  continued  a  member  till 
his  death  in  1810.  He  was  then  a  Vice-President,  having  been  elected 
in  1800,  and  for  many  years,  from  1786  onwards,  he  served  as  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  Polite  Arts.  He  was  Secretary  to  the  Commission 
which  concluded  peace  with  America  in  1781,  but  had  a  greater  reputa- 
tion as  a  wit  than  as  a  diplomatist.  Burke  described  him  as  nothing 
more  than  a  diseur  de  bons  mots,  but  he  was  well  known  and  popular  in 
Society.  He  was  a  friend  of  Johnson,  Goldsmith,  Garrick,  and  Foote. 
The  Society  possesses  a  portrait  of  him  painted  by  an  unknown  artist, 
and  another  portrait,  engraved  by  Holl  from  a  painting  by  Stuart, 
forms  the  frontispiece  of  Vol.  xxix.  of  the  Transactions.  He  presented 
Templeman's  portrait  to  the  Society,  and  was  also  instrumental  in 
obtaining  the  portrait  of  Shipley.  A  short  memoir  of  him  is  included 
in  the  preface  to  the  volume  of  the  Transactions  above  mentioned. 


LORD  ROMNEY— DUKE  OF  NORFOLK       323 

1786,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  as  eleventh  Duke. 
He  was  made  a  Vice-President  in  1791,  and  was  elected 
President  at  the  election  of  officers  in  1 794  „ 

He  was  a  man  of  considerable  natural  ability  and  of 
independent  character.  He  was  distinctly  eccentric,  and 
was  a  frequent  subject  for  Gilray's  caricatures.  Slovenly 
in  his  habits  and  dress,  and  too  much  addicted  to  con- 
viviality, he  was  yet  a  liberal  patron  of  literature  and  the 
arts,  a  ready  speaker,  and  endowed  with  plenty  of  common 
sense.  He  was  extremely  popular,  especially  in  Cumber- 
land, and  in  the  borough  of  Carlisle,  which  he  repre- 
sented for  some  time  in  Parliament.  But  he  lacked  self- 
control,  and  allowed  himself  a  licence  in  speech  and  be- 
haviour for  which  only  his  great  rank  procured  toleration. 
He  insulted  the  King,  and  was  deprived  of  certain  of  his 
commissions.  At  one  time  he  was  intimate  with  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  but  they  quarrelled.  Their  reconcilia- 
tion was  celebrated  by  the  disgraceful  practical  joke 
played  upon  the  Duke  in  his  old  age  by  the  Prince,  and 
described  in  scathing  language  by  Thackeray  in  the  Four 
Georges.  The  Duke,  himself  a  sufficiently  seasoned  toper, 
was  invited  from  Arundel  to  the  Pavilion  at  Brighton, 
and  there  made  most  disgracefully  drunk.  Readers  of 
Thackeray's  brilliant  but  very  one-sided  essays  will 
remember  the  sorry  story  well  enough. 

He  certainly  did  not  take  the  same  keen  personal 
interest  in  the  Society's  welfare  as  did  his  two  predecessors, 
but  he  made  a  good  and  attentive  President,  and  at  all 
events  performed  efficiently  the  ceremonial  functions  of 
his  office.  He  attended  regularly  at  the  annual  distri- 
bution of  prizes,  and  occasionally  at  other  meetings 
when  important  business  had  to  be  transacted.  It  was 
owing  to  the  Duke's  objection  to  the  proposal  that  the 
resolution  giving  permission  to  Barry  in  1801  to  substitute 
portraits  of  King  George  in.  and  Queen  Caroline  for  those 
of  Lords  Folkestone  and  Romney,  then  in  the  Great 
Room,  was  rescinded.1 

The  Duke  of  Norfolk  died  in  December  1815,  and  his 
death  was  formally  reported  at  the  ordinary  meeting 
1  See  Chapter  III,  p.  80. 


324  THE  OFFICIALS 

of  the  Society  on  the  2Oth  of  that  month.  At  the  next 
meeting,  on  loth  January  1816,  it  was  proposed  that  the 
Duke  of  Sussex  should  be  nominated  in  his  stead.  The 
Duke  was  a  member  of  some  four  years'  standing,  having 
been  elected  in  April  1811,  when  he  paid  the  usual  life 
membership  fee  of  £21.  An  extraordinary  meeting  was 
called  for  ist  February,  and  His  Royal  Highness  was 
elected  by  180  votes  to  24  over  the  Earl  of  Liverpool, 
who  had  also  been  proposed.  At  the  same  meeting  a 
deputation  was  appointed  to  wait  on  the  Duke  and  to 
invite  him  to  accept  the  presidency.  The  deputation  was 
received  at  Kensington  Palace  on  the  twelfth  of  the  same 
month.  The  Duke  made  a  very  courteous  and  com- 
plimentary reply  to  the  elaborate  address  presented  by  the 
deputation,  and  accepted  the  office,  apparently  with  some 
gratification.  He  attended  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Society  two  days  later  (i4th  February  1816),  was  duly 
inducted  into  the  chair,  and  conducted  the  regular  business 
of  the  meeting. 

The  sixth  son  of  George  m.,  the  Duke  of  Sussex  was  a 
man  of  liberal  sentiments,  genial  manners,  and  intellectual 
tastes.  He  took  a  genuine  interest  in  art  and  in  science, 
and  was  well  qualified  for  such  a  post  as  the  presidency. 
He  liked  the  work,  and  did  it  well,  and  enjoyed  acting  as 
figure-head  on  all  ceremonial  occasions.  Afterwards  (from 
1830  to  1839)  he  acted  as  President  of  the  Royal  Society, 
and  in  both  offices  he  made  himself  popular.  That  he 
should  take  any  active  share  in  the  management  of  either 
society  was  not  to  be  expected,  but  he  was  always  ready 
to  attend  any  functions  which  required  his  presence,  and 
discharged  the  duties  required  on  such  occasions  with 
unvarying  amiability  and  dignity. 

So  far  as  the  Society  of  Arts  was  concerned,  the  most 
important  functions  for  its  President  were  the  annual 
dinner  and  the  annual  distribution  of  premiums.  The 
latter  ceremonial  was  for  many  years  held  in  the  Society's 
own  room,  but  the  attendance  grew  too  large  for  the 
limited  accommodation,  and  after  a  good  deal  of  con- 
sideration, when  it  became  clear,  after  several  years' 
experience  of  inconvenient  crowding,  that  the  meeting- 


DUKE  OF  SUSSEX— PRINCE  CONSORT       325 

room  was  too  small  for  the  numbers  attending,  a  move  was 
made  in  1816  to  Freemasons'  Hall.  In  1820  the  distribu- 
tion was  held  in  the  Argyll  Rooms,1  and  in  1822,  as  the 
crowds  still  grew,  Drury  Lane  Theatre  was  hired  for  the 
occasion.  It  is  clear  that  the  event  had  become  an  im- 
portant social  function.  There  was  a  military  band,  a  body 
of  stewards  was  organised,  and  a  staff  of  policemen  was 
engaged.  Altogether  it  was  a  very  important  ceremonial, 
requiring  not  a  little  fuss  and  organisation.  The  secretary 
was  required  to  deliver  an  appropriate  address — two  of 
Aikin's  are  printed  in  the  Transactions.2 

For  some  years  these  celebrations  were  continued  at 
Drury  Lane  or  at  the  King's  Theatre,3  but  in  1829,  either 
the  attractions  of  the  ceremony  had  diminished,  or  the 
decreasing  funds  of  the  Society  rendered  economy  desir- 
able, and  it  was  decided  to  return  to  the  more  modest 
arrangement  of  a  prize  distribution  in  the  Society's  Great 
Room.  In  that  year  two  separate  meetings  were  arranged, 
one  for  the  prizes  in  Polite  Arts,  and  the  second  a  month 
later  for  the  other  awards.  In  the  following  year  a  single 
meeting  only  was  held  and  all  the  prizes  were  presented  on 
the  same  day.  This  arrangement,  however,  was  not 
popular,  and  in  1831  Exeter  Hall  was  engaged.  The  same 
plan  was  followed  for  the  next  four  years.  Then  for  three 
years  (1836  to  1838)  the  Society  went  to  the  Hanover 
Square  Rooms,  and  in  1839,  again  hampered  by  failing 
resources,  it  came  back  to  the  Adelphi  and  had  its  annual 
distribution  in  its  own  meeting-room. 

In  June  1840,  the  Duke  of  Sussex  proposed  Prince 
Albert  for  membership  of  the  Society,  and  he  was  at  once 
elected.  The  Duke  of  Northumberland  and  Lord  Radnor 
were  his  other  sponsors.  His  Royal  Highness  qualified  as  a 
life  member.  His  marriage  with  Queen  Victoria  had  taken 

1  These  Rooms  were  on  the  east  side  of  Regent  Street,  at  the  corner 
of  Little  Argyll  Street.     They  were  built  by  Nash  in  1818,  and  must 
not  be  confounded  with  the  Argyll  Rooms  in  Windmill  Street,  which, 
as  Mr.  Wheatley  says  in  London  Past  and  Present,  acquired  an  "  un- 
savoury reputation  "  and  had  no  history. 

2  Transactions,  vol.  xxxv.  p.  209  (1817),  and  vol.  xxxvi.  p.  179  (1818). 

3  The  King's  Theatre  or  Haymarket  Opera-House,  later  known  as 
Her  Majesty's  Theatre. 


326  THE  OFFICIALS 

place  in  the  previous  February,  when  an  address  was  pre- 
sented by  the  Society  to  Her  Majesty. 

Three  years  later,  in  April  1843,  the  Duke  died,  and 
it  was  at  once  determined  to  invite  Prince  Albert  to  suc- 
ceed him.  A  deputation  of  three  of  the  most  distinguished 
Vice-Presidents — the  Duke  of  Buccleuch,  the  Duke  of 
Sutherland,  and  the  Marquis  of  Northampton — was 
appointed  to  invite  H.R.H.  to  accept  the  presidency.  The 
Prince  at  once  acceded,  and  was  elected  President  on 
26th  May  of  the  same  year.  He  entered  on  his  duties  by 
presiding  at  the  annual  distribution  of  awards  in  June. 

The  number  of  Vice-Presidents  varied  from  time  to 
time.  There  were  twelve  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  nearly  all  great  noblemen,  with  a  few  distinguished 
men,  who  took  a  more  active  share  in  the  Society's  pro- 
ceedings. The  numbers  were  afterwards  increased  to  about 
twenty,  most  of  the  additions  being  of  the  latter  class, 
more  or  less  active  workers,  and  in  1843  a  distinction  was 
actually  drawn  between  the  "  Honorary"  and  the  "Acting" 
Vice-Presidents.  There  were  also  eighteen  Chairmen  of 
Committees,  two  for  each  of  the  nine  Committees,  which 
remained  unchanged  for  very  many  years.  These  were  the 
six  Premium  Committees — Arts, Agriculture, Manufactures, 
Mechanics,  Chemistry,  Colonies  and  Trade,  with  three 
others — Accounts,  Correspondence  and  Papers,  and  Mis- 
cellaneous Matters. 

The  paid  officials  were  the  Secretary,  Assistant- 
Secretary,  Registrar  and  Collector.  These,  with  the 
President,  Vice-Presidents,  and  Chairmen  of  Committees, 
were  all  elected  at  the  annual  meeting. 

Dr.  Templeman 1  was  succeeded  as  secretary  by 
Samuel  More,  who  had  indeed  discharged  most  of  the  duties 
of  the  office  during  the  long  illness  which  preceded  Temple- 
man's  death.  He  held  the  post  for  over  thirty  years,  for 
he  was  elected  in  January  1769  (Templeman  died  in 
the  preceding  October),  and  died  in  October  1799,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-four.  He  was  evidently  a  capable  and 
efficient  secretary,  keenly  interested  in  the  Society's  work. 
1  See  Chapter  I,  p.  25. 


SAMUEL  MORE,  SECRETARY,  1769-1799. 

From  an  Engraving  by  W.  Sharp,  after  the  Portrait  by  B.  West,  P.R.A. 


To  face  page  326. 


SAMUEL  MORE  327 

He  had  been  an  active  member  for  some  ten  years  before 
he  became  secretary,  and  seems  to  have  been  both  respected 
and  popular.  Of  his  private  life  not  very  much  is  recorded. 
A  short  paragraph  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  reports 
his  death,  and  in  the  Preface  to  Vol.  xvm.  of  the  Trans- 
actions there  are  some  laudatory  comments  on  his  work. 
No  biographical  information  is  given,  "  because  it  is 
expected  that  a  full  account  of  him  will  be  prefixed  to  the 
publication  of  some  valuable  papers  which  it  is  said  he  has 
bequeathed  to  the  world. "  This  intention,  however,  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  carried  out,  as  no  trace  of  such  a 
publication  can  be  found. 

The  estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  members 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  he  was  presented  with  a  gold 
medal  in  1794  "For  eminent  services,"  and  also  by  the 
inclusion  of  his  portrait  in  Barry's  picture,  "  The  Society." 
His  portrait  was  also  painted  for  the  Society  by  Benjamin 
West,  P.R.A.,  in  1796.  A  fine  engraving  of  the  picture 
was  made  by  W.  Sharp,1  and  this  is  reproduced  in  the 
plate  facing  page  326.  He  contributed  two  papers  to  the 
Philosophical  Transactions,2  and  one,  on  standards  for 
weights  and  measures,  to  the  Society's  Transactions ,3 
besides  his  unsigned  contributions. 

He  seems  to  have  been  interested  in  gem-engraving 
and  die-sinking.  Before  he  was  Secretary  he  received 
two  premiums  for  collections  of  "  Impressions  of  Pastes 
resembling  Antique  Cameos  and  Intaglios,"  and  it  is 
stated  in  Forrer's  Dictionary  of  Medallists  that  he  made 
-some  designs  "  for  the  coinage  and  medals  which  were 
engraved  by  Hancock."  Forrer  gives  a  cut  of  a  pattern 
halfpenny,  which  is  also  described  in  Crowther's  English 
Pattern  Coins,  p.  45,  and  in  Montagu's  Copper  Coinage,  etc., 
1885,  p.  63.  The  name  is  misspelt  Moore,  but  it  is  stated 
that  the  designer  was  the  Secretary  of  the  Society  of  Arts. 

1  William  Sharp  (1749-1824),  "  One  of  the  most  celebrated  of  English 
line  engravers  "  (Bryan). 

2  "  Some    Scoriae    from   Iron  Works,"   Philosophical    Transactions 
Abr.  vol.  xv.  p.  182  (1782);    "Account  of  an  Earthquake  felt  in  the 
Northern  Part  of  England,"  ibid.  vol.  xvi.  p.  176  (1787). 

3  Transactions,  vol.  xii.  p.  292. 


328  THE  TRANSACTIONS 

It  was  during  More's  secretaryship  that  the  Transactions 
were  commenced.    The  need  of  some  permanent    record 
of  the  Society's  proceedings  was  recognised   at   a  very 
early  date.     It  was  obviously  of  little  use  to  stimulate 
invention  or  to  reward  progress,  unless  full  information 
of    the    results    obtained    could    be    made    public.     The 
Society  soon  became  possessed  of  a  good  deal  of  valuable 
information    contributed    by    the    competitors    for    the 
awards,  and  this  it  was  at  first  proposed  to  publish  in  an 
Historical  Register,  arrangements  for  the  preparation  of 
which,   it   appears   from   the   minutes,   were   on   several 
occasions  discussed.  Instructions  were  given  to  Templeman 
to  prepare  such  a  Register,  and  two  MS.  volumes  are  in 
existence,  apparently  bound  at  a  later  date,  and  entitled 
Dr.  Templeman 's  Transactions.      These,  however,  consist 
merely  of  extracts  and  compilations  from  the  minutes,  a 
copy  of  the  1759  premium  list,  the  Rules  and  Orders,  a 
list  of  members  elected  from  April  1755,  to  April  1758, 
and  similar  matter.     There  are  only  two  documents  of 
any    importance.      One    is    a    manuscript    copy    of    the 
pamphlet  published  in    1721,  containing  a  proposal  for 
the  formation  of  a  London  "  Chamber  of  Arts,"  referred 
to  in  the  first  chapter.1    As  no  copy  of  this  pamphlet,  so 
far  as  the  present  writer  is  aware,  has  been  preserved, 
Dr.  Templeman's  MS.  copy  is  of  interest.     The  scheme 
suggested  is  so  much  like  that   of  the  Society,  that  it 
looks  as  if  Shipley,  or  some  one  of  the  founders,  was  familiar 
with  the  proposal.     There  is  also  a  copy  of  a  draft  charter 
for  an  Academy  of  Arts  without  any  date.     This  was  no 
doubt  the  draft  submitted  to  the  Society  in  1755  by  Sir 
Henry  Cheere,  but  not  approved.      It  is  very  full  and 
complete,  but  the  scheme  was  one  for  an  Academy  of  Arts, 
not  for  an  industrial  Society,  such  as  was  really  in  the 
minds  of  the  founders  of  the  Society  of  Arts. 

On  the  whole,  it  is  fairly  evident  from  the  contents  of 
these  volumes  that  if  Dr.  Templeman  had  been  able  to 
complete  and  publish  his  Historical  Register,  it  would  not 
have  added  very  much  to  the  information  available  about 
the  Society's  early  years. 

1  See  Chapter  I,  p.  6. 


EARLY  PUBLICATIONS  329 

According  to  a  statement  by  Arthur  Young,1  a  good 
many  of  the  communications  made  to  the  Society  were 
published  as  pamphlets,  in  the  book  De  Re  Rustica,2  in 
the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  or  in  other  periodicals.  De- 
scriptions of  some  of  the  machines  rewarded  by  the 
Society  are  to  be  found  in  an  illustrated  work  entitled 
The  Advancement  of  Art,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce,  or 
Descriptions  of  the  Useful  Machines  and  Models  contained 
in  the  Repository  of  the  Society,  published  in  1772,  by 
William  Bailey,  who  was  then  Registrar  to  the  Society. 
Various  references  to  this  book  have  already  been  made. 
It  is  a  quarto  volume  with  a  collection  of  fine  illustrations 
in  folio.  In  1782  another  edition  was  issued  by  A.  M. 
Bailey,  who  succeeded  his  father  as  Registrar  in  1773. 
It  is  in  two  volumes,  folio.  The  book  is  of  some  value, 
as  it  contains  accounts  of  several  pieces  of  apparatus  not 
elsewhere  described,  and  the  illustrations,  mostly  drawn  by 
A.  M.  Bailey  and  W.  Bailey,  jun.,  are  very  good.  William 
Bailey  received  a  bounty  of  50  guineas  in  1 769  for  this  work.3 

The  first  publication,  however,  which  regularly  pub- 
lished a  selection  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Society  was 
the  Museum  Rusticum  et  Commercial,  a  monthly  journal, 
of  which  six  volumes  were  issued,  each  containing  six  of 
the  monthly  parts.  This  commenced  in  1764  and  came 
to  an  end  in  1766.  It  had  no  official  connection  with  the 
Society,  but  it  provided  a  means  of  publication  for  some, 
at  all  events,  of  the  more  important  and  interesting 
matters  which  were  brought  before  it,  though  it  was  by 
no  means  restricted  to  the  Society's  proceedings.4 

This    casual    and    unofficial    method    of    publication 

1  Farmer's  Letters  (2nd  ed.  1771),  vol.  i.  p.  256. 

2  De  Re  Rustica,  or  the  Repository  for  Select  Papers  in  Agriculture, 
Arts  and  Manufactures,     London:  2  vols.  8vo.     1771. 

3  Some  further  information  about  the  book  is  given  in  Ch.  XI,  p.  239. 

4  Two  of  the  chief  contributors  to  the  Museum  were  Arthur  Young 
and    Robert  Dossie.      Young  states  in  his  Autobiography  (edition  of 
1898    by   M.    Betham-Edwards,    p.    33)    that    the    Farmer's    Letters 
consisted  of  his  scattered  papers  in  the  Museum  Rusticumy  which,  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  Rev.  Walter  Harte,  he  republished,  with  additions, 
in  a  volume.     Dossie  contributed  several  articles  signed  "  Agricola," 
and  possibly  other  papers. 


330  THE  TRANSACTIONS 

proved  unsatisfactory,  and  its  failure  suggested  to  Robert 
Dossie,  an  active  member  of  the  Society,  the  production 
of  a  similar  work  which  should  contain  such  memoirs  as 
the  Society  desired  to  publish,  together  with  other  con- 
tributions, and  also  selections  from  the  published  pro- 
ceedings  of  foreign   societies   devoted   to   the   Arts   and 
Sciences.    An    arrangement    was    entered    into    between 
Dossie  and  the  Society,  under  which  he  undertook  to 
publish,  and  they  to  provide,  such  communications  as 
seemed  suitable  to  both  parties.     With  this  understanding, 
Dossie    started    his    Memoirs    of    Agriculture    and    other 
(Economical  Arts,  the  first  volume  of  which  was  published 
in  1768,  and  contains  a  resolution,  passed  by  the   Society 
in  June  1767,  to  the  effect  that  they  "  will  occasionally 
publish  in  this  Work  such  Pieces  as  they  shall  think  proper 
to  lay  before  the  Public."     It  is  entirely  made  up  of  the 
Society's  proceedings,  and  begins  with  a  list  of  all  the 
awards,  other  than  those  in  Polite  Arts,  up  to  the  end  of 
1767  ;    next  follows  a  brief  statement   of  the  Society's 
receipts  and  expenditure  to  the  same  date  ;   and  after  this 
is  a  well-written  and  excellent  account  of  the  Society's 
proceedings,    presumably    prepared    by    Dossie    himself. 
This  occupies  the  greater  part  of  the  book,  and  it  is  in 
these  pages  that  the  whole  early  history  of  the  Society 
is  to  be  found.     The  last  hundred  pages  contain  seven 
articles,  all  but  one  devoted  to  agricultural  subjects,  the 
one  exception  being  an  account  of  the  methods  for  dyeing 
Turkey  leather,  for  disclosing  which  a  reward  had  been 
granted  to  one  Phillippo.1     This  first  volume  was  followed 
by  two  others,  Vol.  n.  in  1771,  and  Vol.iii.in  1782.     The 
later  volumes  contain  a  few  articles   besides  those  con- 
tributed by  the  Society,  and  are  for  the  most  part  devoted 
to  agricultural  subjects.     Vol.  in.  continues  the   list   of 
awards  down  to  the  year  1776,  and  also  gives  a  complete 
list  of  the  premiums  in  Polite  Arts  down  to  the  same  year, 
with    some   useful   biographical   notes   about   the   prize- 
winners.    Dossie 's   intention    of   continuing   the   general 
history  of  the  Society  was,  unfortunately,  never  fulfilled, 
and,  indeed,  it  is  probable  that  it  was  interrupted  by  his 
1  See  Chapter  XIII,  p.  308. 


DOSSIE'S  MEMOIRS  OF  AGRICULTURE    331 

death,  which  happened  certainly  not  later  than  1783. 
The  catalogue  of  the  Advocates'  Library  gives  1777  as 
the  date,  but  this  can  hardly  be  correct.  ^In  Vol.  n. 
of  the  Society's  Transactions  (published  in  1784)  he  is 
referred  to  as  "  the  late  Mr.  Dossie,"  and  the  preface 
to  Vol.  in.  of  the  Memoirs  of  Agriculture  (1782)  is  signed 
by  him. 

Not  very  much  is  known  of  Robert  Dossie,  who  was 
certainly  a  skilful  chemist  and  an  accomplished  writer. 
He  was  a  friend  of  Dr.  Johnson's,  and  almost  the  only 
reference  to  him  which  appears  in  contemporary  literature 
is  to  be  found  in  Boswell  : — 

"  Johnson  was  well  acquainted  with  Mr.  Dossie, 
author  of  a  treatise  on  agriculture,  and  said  of  him,  '  Sir, 
of  the  objects  which  the  Society  of  Arts  have  chiefly  in 
view,  the  chymical  effects  of  bodies  operating  upon  other 
bodies,  he  knows  more  than  almost  any  man.'  Johnson, 
in  order  to  give  Mr.  Dossie  his  vote  to  be  a  member  of 
the  Society,  paid  up  an  arrear  which  had  run  on  for  two 
years.'' 1 

There  is  a  short  and  inaccurate  notice  of  him  in  Donald- 
son's Agricultural  Biographies,  and  beyond  this  there 
seems  nothing  beyond  scattered  references  in  the  Society's 
records,  and  his  own  books.  He  was  the  author  of 
several  works  on  chemistry,  and  he  was  connected,  as 
a  contributor,  if  in  no  other  way,  with  the  Museum  Rusti- 
cum.  He  received  a  gold  medal  from  the  Society  in 
1766  for  "  aiding  to  establish  the  manufacture  of  potash 
in  North  America,"2  and  before  this,  in  1761,  he  had  re- 
ceived a  grant  of  £100  for  his  method  of  purifying  oil.3 
As  he  was  a  member  at  the  time  this  would  appear  to 
have  been  irregular,  as  members  were  not  eligible  for 
money  prizes ,  but  the  grant  was  made  in  consideration  of 
the  expenses  to  which  he  had  been  put  in  experimenting, 
and  no  doubt  this  was  considered  sufficient  justification. 
He  was  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  secretary  in  1760, 

1  Boswell' s  Life  of  Johnson,  Birkbeck  Hill's  Edition,  1887,  vol.  iv. 
p.  ii.  Dr.  Johnson  paid  two  years'  subscriptions  on  25th  March  1760. 
Dossie  was  elected  on  2nd  April  of  the  same  year. 

*  See  Chapter  IV,  p.  87.  3  See  Chapter  XII,  p.  282. 


332  THE  TRANSACTIONS 

when  Dr.  Templeman  was  elected,  and  it  was  after  his 
failure  to  secure  this  office  that  he  became  a  member, 
He  was  an  active  and  useful  member  of  the  Society, 
and  a  frequent  attendant  at  its  committees. 

It  may  have  been  Dossie's  death,  and  the  consequent 
discontinuance  of  the  Memoirs  of  Agriculture,  that 
brought  to  a  head  the  proposals  for  a  regular  series  of 
Transactions.  Valentine  Green  claimed  the  credit  for 
carrying  the  proposal  through,  and  from  the  minutes  it 
appears  that  the  final  decision  to  publish  transactions  was 
due  to  his  efforts,  but  Arthur  Young,  apparently  with 
justice,  claims  to  have  originated  the  idea.  In  his  Auto- 
biography he  says,1  under  the  date  1772:  "This  year 
I  attended  very  much  the  meetings  of  the  Society  for  the 
encouragement  of  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce,  as 
well  as  the  Committee  of  Agriculture,  of  which  I  was 
chairman.  In  a  letter  from  Mr.  Butterworth  Bayley,  he 
lamented  the  want  of  a  respectable  publication  by  the 
Society  of  Arts,  and  called  on  me  to  think  of  some  means 
of  remedying  the  misery.  When  I  became  chairman  of 
the  Committee  of  Agriculture,  I  was  the  first  to  propose 
that  annual  publication  which  afterwards  took  place. 
This  proposition  was  at  once  acceded  to,  and  Valentine 
Green,  the  engraver,  had  the  impudence  to  assert  that 
it  originated  with  him." 

In  this  Young  probably  refers  to  his  remarks  above 
referred  to  in  the  Farmer's  Letters  of  1771,  in  which 
he  dwells  very  earnestly  and  with  much  force  on  the 
necessity  of  the  Society  publishing  Transactions,  and 
points  out  that  the  value  of  the  premiums,  though  in  some 
cases  they  are  "  truly  munificent,"  is  greatly  lessened  by 
the  absence  of  any  published  record.  When  the  Trans- 
actions began  to  appear  Young  spoke  of  them  very 
favourably  in  his  Annals,  and  took  the  opportunity 
of  praising  the  Society's  work  generally,  as  he  ve^ 
often  did.2 

The  first  volume  of  the    Transactions  was  published 

1  Autobiography  of  Arthur   Young  (ed.  by  M.   Betham-Ed wards), 
1 898,  p.  59. 

2  Annals  of  Agriculture^  vol.  ii.  p.  323. 


THE  SOCIETY'S  PUBLICATIONS  333 

in  1 783.*  It  compares  rather  unfavourably  with  Dossiers 
skilful  compilation.  The  original  papers  are  neither 
numerous  nor  important,  and  the  bulk  of  the  volume  is 
made  up  of  mere  official  records,  necessary  but  insufficient 
by  themselves.  Subsequent  volumes  show  a  marked 
improvement,  and  the  records  of  the  Society's  proceedings 
bear  a  more  reasonable  proportion  to  the  purely  official 
matter.  The  series  was  continued  to  1844,  when  it 
ceased  with  Vol.  Lv.2  Up  to  1830  an  annual  volume 
was  published,  but  from  that  date  to  1843  (Vols.  XLVIII. 
to  LIV.)  each  volume  consisted  of  two  annual  parts. 
Vol.  LV.  contains  only  the  proceedings  of  a  single  session, 
that  of  1 843-4.  In  1 848,  a  few  years  later,  an  attempt  was 
made  to  start  a  new  series,  and  a  volume  was  published 
purporting  to  contain  the  proceedings  for  the  sessions 
1846-7  and  1847-8.  It  is  a  handsome  quarto  volume, 
containing  some  good  illustrations,  a  selection  of  papers 
read  before  the  Society,  and  the  Charter.  This  was 
eventually  treated  as  Vol.  LVI.,  though  on  the  title-page 
(which  bears  the  date  1852)  it  is  called  a  "  Supplemental 
Volume."  In  December  1851  a  volume  called  Vol.  LVII. 
was  published,  containing  the  proceedings  for  the  session 
1850-1.  It  corresponds  in  form  with  the  original  series, 
and  is  in  no  sense  a  continuation  of  Vol.  LVI.  After  this 
no  further  Transactions  were  published. 

In  1845  there  was  commenced  the  issue  of  a  publica- 
tion called  the  Abstract  of  Proceedings.  This  was  published 
weekly  during  the  session  while  meetings  were  being  held. 
At  first  it  consisted  only  of  a  few  octavo  pages  of  notices 
and  general  information  about  the  Society,  but  from  1 848 
onwards  it  contained  abstracts  of  the  papers  read.  A 
little  later  it  was  entitled  Weekly  Proceedings,  and  in  this 
form  it  continued  till  the  end  of  the  session  for  1851-2, 

1  Vol.  in.  was  printed  by  John  Walter  at  the  "Logographic  Press." 
He  applied  for  the  contract  for  Vol.  iv.  but  did  not  get  it.     The  Minutes 
record   rather   fully   the  negotiations  with  Walter,  who  replied  to  a 
question  as  to  whether  he  considered  he  had  any  claim  to  another 
order,  that  he  would  show  no  "bad  temper  "  if  he  did  not  get  it. 

2  A  general  index  to  the  contents  of  previous  volumes  of  the  Trans- 
actions is  given  in  Vols.  xxvi.  (1808),  XL.  (1823),  and  L.  (1836).     At  the 
end  of  Vol.  vm.  there  is  a  Catalogue  of  the  Library. 


334  THE  OFFICIALS 

the  last  number  being  dated  i7th  July  1852.  The 
number  for  i2th  June  contains  a  note  stating  that  the 
Council  were  considering  the  publication  of  "  a  stamped 
weekly  Journal/'  and  with  the  new  session  the  Journal 
of  the  Society  of  Arts  was  started.  The  first  number  of  the 
Journal  was  published  on  26th  November  I852.1 

After  the  death  of  More  in  October  1799,  the  usual 
steps  were  taken  for  the  election  of  a  new  secretary. 
Amongst  the  candidates  who  applied,  besides  Charles 
Taylor,  who  was  successful,  were  included  the  Rev.  Ed- 
mund Cartwright,  the  inventor  of  the  power-loom,  and 
Valentine  Green.2  Valentine  Green  had  for  very  many 
years  taken  a  leading  part  in  the  Society's  affairs,  but  he 
had  been  involved  in  a  very  serious  loss  by  the  failure 
of  his  scheme  for  publishing  a  collection  of  prints  from 
the  pictures  in  the  Dusseldorf  Gallery.  It  was  no  doubt 
this  which  made  him  apply  for  the  secretaryship,  as  it 
afterwards  led  him,  on  the  foundation  of  the  British 
Institution  in  1805,  to  accept  the  office  of  its  Keeper. 
The  committee,  which  subjected  all  the  candidates  to  a 
severe  catechising,  rejected  Green  but  recommended  as 
qualified  Taylor,  Cartwright,  and  another. 

Cartwright  submitted  a  special  memorial  of  his  quali- 
fications, which  was  afterwards  published  3  in  a  volume 
together  with  some  further  information  relating  to  his 
improvements  in  the  steam  engine,  and  his  mechanical 
inventions.  Much  of  the  matter  it  contains  was  incorpor- 
ated in  the  memoir  of  his  life  afterwards  published  by  his 
daughter,  Mary  Strickland.  His  qualifications  were  con- 

1  For  some  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Journal,  see  Chapter  XVI, 

P-  373- 

2  Valentine    Green    (1739-1813),    the    well-known    mezzotint    en- 
graver, was  a  member  of  the  Society  from  1772  till  his  death.     He  was 
one  of  the  most  regular  attendants  and  took  an  active  share  in  its 
proceedings.     He  was  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Polite  Arts  from 
1780  to  1786,  and  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Correspondence  and 
Papers  from  1787  to  1797.     In  1773  he  received  a  gold  medal  "  For 
repeated  services." 

3  A  Memorial  read  to  the  Society  of  Arts  .  .  .  With  an  Appendix." 
1800. 


CHARLES  TAYLOR— ARTHUR  AIKIN         335 

siderable,  for  his  experience  not  only  of  textile  machinery 
but  also  of  agriculture,  was  very  great.  He  received  three 
medals  from  the  Society,  a  silver  medal  in  1 803  for  a  plough, 
a  gold  medal  in  1816  for  a  horse  gear,  and  a  gold  medal  in 
1817  for  experiments  on  manures.  Shortly  before  the 
date  of  the  election,  Cartwright  withdrew,  and  this  left 
the  field  practically  open  for  Taylor,  who  was  elected  by 
a  large  majority  in  February  1800. 

Taylor  was  a  competent  chemist,  and,  according  to 
his  statement  to  the  committee,  he  was  known  to  almost 
all  the  chemists  in  Europe.  He  informed  the  committee 
that  he  was  the  inventor  of  a  method  of  calico  printing 
"  by  wooden  cylinders  and  sliding  metallic  cylinders." 
He  also  claimed  to  have  furnished  the  Government  with 
valuable  information  on  indigo,  which  had  led  in  the 
eight  years  from  1789  to  1797  to  an  increase  in  the  value 
of  the  export  of  indigo  from  the  East  Indies  from  £i  10,000 
to  £558,000.  Taylor  was  for  some  time  engaged  in  the 
cotton  manufacture  in  Manchester,  but,  as  the  short 
notice  which  appeared  in  the  Transactions  after  his  death 
states,  "  the  opulence  which  flowed  so  exuberantly  to 
many  of  his  fellow-townsmen  did  not  find  its  way  to  him."1 
He  was  also  among  the  first  to  utilise  Berthollet's  discovery 
of  the  applicability  of  chlorine  for  bleaching,  and  was  said 
to  be  "  the  first  to  produce  for  sale  in  the  Manchester 
market  an  entire  piece  of  calico  bleached  by  oxy-muriatic 
acid."  His  death  took  place  in  1816,  after  sixteen  years' 
service.  He  appears  to  have  devoted  himself  energetically 
to  his  duties,  and  to  have  made  an  efficient  secretary, 
without  being  a  man  of  scientific  eminence. 

Arthur  Aikin,who  succeededTaylorin  the  secretaryship, 
had,  even  when  he  was  elected  in  February  1817,  though  he 
was  then  only  about  thirty-four  years  of  age,  acquired  a 
much  greater  scientific  reputation  than  his  predecessor. 
He  had  already  been  one  oi  the  founders  of  the  Geological 
Society,  which  was  established  in  1807,  and  had  published, 
in  connection  with  his  brother  Charles,  a  dictionary  of 
chemistry  and  mineralogy  and  some  other  works.  From 
1 8 1 1  he  had  been  honorary  secretary  of  the  Geological 
1  Transactions,  vol.  xxxv.  (1818)  p.  8. 


336  THE  OFFICIALS 

Society.  He  was  an  accomplished  chemist,  and  was 
familiar  with  several  branches  of  industrial  chemistry. 
He  told  the  committee,  on  his  examination  for  the  post  of 
secretary,  that  he  was  then  occupied  in  drawing  up  patents, 
and  in  advising  on  scientific  matters.  He  had  also  a 
very  considerable  knowledge  of  metallurgy,  and  was  a 
good  botanist.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  John  Aikin,  M.D., 
a  brother  of  Lucy  Aikin,  and  a  nephew  of  Mrs.  Barbauld. 
His  father  was  a  friend  of  Priestley,  and  it  was  his  associa- 
tion with  that  distinguished  philosopher  that  led  Arthur 
Aikin  to  the  study  of  science.  He  was  first  intended  for 
the  Unitarian  ministry,  but  he  abandoned  this  idea  in 
early  life,  and  devoted  himself  entirely  to  science.  He  held 
the  office  of  secretary  for  twenty-three  years,  and  after 
his  resignation  in  1839  he  became  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Chemistry.  He  also  became  the  first  treasurer 
of  the  Chemical  Society,  which  was  founded  in  1841  at  a 
meeting  held  in  the  Society's  room,  and  afterwards  (1843- 
45)  its  President.1  He  was  never  married,  and  died  in 

1854. 

To  Aikin  was  certainly  due  the  initiative  of  a  change  in 
the  Society's  methods,  which  ultimately  had  the  result  of 
turning  the  Society  from  a  purely  premium-giving  body 
into  one  whose  main  object  became  the  dissemination  of 
information  about  the  industrial  arts  and  sciences,  and  the 
publication  of  new  discoveries  and  inventions  of  an 
industrial  character.  The  change  was  not  effected  during 
Aikin 's  secretaryship,  but  it  was  certainly  completed 
before  his  death,  though  that  completion  was  effected  by 
other  hands  than  his.  The  foundation  was  laid  by  his 
proposal  that  courses  of  lectures  on  manufactures  should 
be  organised,  and  arrangements  made  for  the  reading  and 
discussion  of  papers  at  the  evening  meetings. 

So  far  as  the  lectures  were  concerned  Aikin  not  only 
suggested  that  they  should  be  given,  but  gave  them  him- 
self. From  1829,  when  the  scheme  was  first  started,  to 

1The  first  regular  meeting  of  the  Chemical  Society  was  held  on 
3Oth  March  1841.  After  this,  for  some  time,  its  meetings  were  held 
fortnightly  at  the  Society  of  Arts'  House.  See  Gentleman's  Magazine 
(N.S.),  vol.  xv.  pt.  i.  p.  527. 


ARTHUR  ATKIN,  SECRETARY,  1817-1839. 

From  a  Daguerreotype. 


To  face  page  336. 


ARTHUR  AIKIN  337 

1842,  after  he  had  resigned  the  secretaryship,  he  continued 
to  deliver,  year  after  year,  excellent  and  well-illustrated 
courses  on  various  branches  of  manufacture.  The  subjects 
were  very  varied.  They  included  glass,  pottery,  paper- 
making,  furs,  tanning,  silk,  sugar,  artificial  lighting,  timber, 
horn  and  tortoiseshell,  and  other  equally  divergent  topics. 
At  first  practically  the  whole  of  the  work  was  carried 
out,  and  very  efficiently  carried  out,  by  the  secretary, 
though  after  two  or  three  years  Aikin  only  gave  annually 
one  or  two  of  the  "  illustrations,"  and  the  bulk  of  the  work 
was  taken  over  by  others.  The  lectures  were  much  ap- 
preciated, and  did  something  to  keep  up  the  waning  popu- 
larity and  reputation  of  the  Society.  Aikin  received  no  pay- 
ment for  the  work,  and  a  proposal  in  1831  to  present  him 
with  a  gold  medal  was  not  carried,  though  the  award  was 
fully  merited,  and  might  well  have  been  given.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  minutes  to  show  why  the  proposal  was  not 
adopted,  but  it  appears  that  Aikin  himself  declined  it,  on 
the  ground  that  he  was  an  officer  of  the  Society.  At  all 
events,  a  vote  of  thanks  was  substituted,  couched  in  very 
warm  and  complimentary  terms.  Before  he  resigned  his 
office,  however,  a  testimonial  was  presented  to  him,  in 
the  form  of  a  valuable  microscope,  with  an  inscription  testi- 
fying to  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held,  and  to  the  value 
at  which  his  services  to  the  Society  were  rated.  The 
instrument  is  now  in  the  possession  of  his  grand-nephew. 
Moreover,  he  got  his  gold  medal  eventually,  for  when  he 
retired  in  1839  it  was  voted  to  him  unanimously,  and  he 
was  also  made  a  life  member.  Few  compliments  could 
have  been  better  deserved,  for  during  his  twenty- two 
years'  service  he  devoted  himself  earnestly  to  the  Society, 
and  it  was  certainly  no  fault  of  his  that  his  single-minded 
efforts  were  not  entirely  successful.  In  after  years  his 
labours  bore  fruit,  and  he  lived  long  enough  to  see  their 
results. 

Even  more  important  as  regards  its  permanent  effects 
wasthe  substitution  of  papers  and  discussions  at  the  ordinary 
meetings  for  the  mere  consideration  of  inventions  compet- 
ing for  prizes.  There  is  no  definite  evidence  in  the  records 
to  prove  that  this  change  was  Aikin 's  doing,  but  there  is 
23 


338  THE  OFFICIALS 


not  much  doubt  that  it  was  due  to  his  initiative.  Among 
the  suggestions  made  in  1828  for  rendering  the  meetings 
more  attractive  was  one  that,  instead  of  confining  the 
discussions  to  inventions  submitted  for  awards,  a  notice 
should  be  issued  that  the  Society  would  welcome  communi- 
cations of  interest  on  suitable  subjects  for  reading  and 
consideration  only.  Such  papers  had  indeed  always  been 
received,  and,  if  considered  worthy,  printed  in  the  Trans- 
actions. As  far  back  as  1784,  Daines  Harrington  made 
two  interesting  communications  to  the  Society,  one  on  silk 
and  one  on  tobacco,  and  both  were  published  in  the  second 
volume  of  the  Transactions.  But  such  papers  were  rare, 
and  it  was  considered  to  be  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Society  to  invite  them,  because  it  looked  like  holding  out 
an  oifer  of  a  prize  and  so  prejudging  the  decision  of  the 
members.  It  was,  however,  realised  that  publication 
was  often  more  important  than  the  grant  of  a  medal,  and 
that  many  inventors  and  students  would  welcome  the 
chance  of  publishing  their  ideas  who  would  not  care  to 
enter  in  competition  for  a  prize,  or  might,  for  various 
reasons,  not  be  eligible  if  they  did.  Accordingly  a  notice 
was  issued  in  the  Transactions  for  1829,  that  papers  would 
be  received  for  reading  and  publication  only.  The  pro- 
posal proved  popular,  and  before  long  such  papers  were 
found  to  be  among  the  most  important  contributions 
to  the  annual  volume.  The  system  gradually  developed, 
until  in  another  ten  years  we  find  that  the  reading  of  such 
papers  came  to  be  the  most  important  business  of  the 
meetings,  as  eventually  it  became  the  most  important 
business  of  the  Society.  And  when,  as  we  shall  see  later, 
the  whole  proceedings  of  the  Society  were  reformed,  a 
special  committee  was  appointed  to  secure  suitable  papers. 
At  first  they  were  only  printed  in  abstract,  but  even  in 
this  form  they  are  interesting,  and  among  them  are  many 
communications  of  importance. 

It  was  in  May  1839  that  Aikin  sent  in  his  resignation, 
but  he  did  not  actually  retire  till  the  beginning  of  the  new 
session  in  the  autumn.  In  December,  W.  A.  Graham  was 
elected  as  his  successor,  but  he  only  held  office  for  three 
years,  for  he  resigned  in  December  1842 


THE  ASSISTANT  SECRETARIES  339 

During  the  period  covered  by  the  secretaryships  of 
Templeman,  More,  Taylor,  and  Aikin,  there  were  many 
changes  in  the  staff  of  the  Society.  As  previously  stated,1 
Box  became  assistant  secretary  on  the  appointment  of 
Templeman  as  secretary.  He  held  the  office  till  1779, 
when  he  retired  from  failing  health,  having  served  the 
Society  in  various  capacities  for  twenty-three  years.  Till 
1 771  he  also  acted  as  collector,  but  he  then  gave  up  that  part 
of  his  duties,  no  doubt  in  consequence  of  his  health,  which, 
it  appears,  was  but  feeble  for  some  years  before  he  actually 
resigned.  He  was  succeeded  as  collector  by  Abraham 
Brockelbank,  the  man  who  was  first  appointed  (Thomas 
Dawson)  being  discharged  after  a  few  months,  because  he 
was  unable  to  find  the  necessary  security.  As  assistant 
secretary  Box  was  followed  by  Richard  Samuel,  who  was 
elected  in  May  1779.  He  died  in  the  summer  of  1787, 
and  was  succeeded  by  John  Samuel,  presumably  a  relation, 
who  was  first  appointed  temporarily  to  do  the  work,  and 
was  formally  elected  in  November  1787.  He  served  for 
a  little  over  ten  years,  and  died  just  before  the  annual 
election  of  officers  in  March  1 798,  when  the  post  of  assistant 
secretary  was  left  vacant.  Bowman,  the  collector ,|  was 
engaged  to  fill  the  vacancy,  pending  the  regular  appoint- 
ment of  a  new  assistant  secretary,  and  in  April  1798 
Thomas  Taylor  was  elected. 

Taylor,  known  as  the  "  Platonist,"  was  distinctly  an 
eccentric  character.  He  was  an  ardent  student  of  the 
Greek  philosophers  and  of  mathematical  philosophy, 
though  he  was  absolutely  unqualified  either  by  aptitude 
or  education  to  appreciate  either  branch  of  knowledge.  He 
was  the  son  of  a  London  stay-maker,  and  was  born  in  1758. 
Though  he  was  at  St.  Paul's  School  for  three  years,  he  does 
not  seem  to  have  profited  much  by  the  teaching  he  got 
there.  After  serving  as  an  usher  in  a  Paddington  school 
he  obtained  a  clerkship  in  Lubbock's  Bank,  and  appears  to 
have  eked  out  his  moderate  financial  resources  by  literary 
hackwork.  Being  lucky  enough  to  have  an  annuity  of 
£100  left  to  him,  he  gave  up  his  clerkship,  and  applied  for 
the  assistant  secretaryship.  He  held  the  post  for  seven 
1  See  Chapter  I,  p.  23. 


340  THE  OFFICIALS 

years,  till  November  1805,  when  he  resigned  on  the 
ground  of  ill-health.  He  wrote  in  a  very  desponding  tone 
about  his  health,  but  recovered,  and  lived  for  another 
thirty  years,  devoting  himself  assiduously  to  the  work  of 
translating  and  expounding  the  writings  of  the  ancient 
philosophers.  "  His  equipment  for  this  enterprise  left 
much  to  be  desired.  Critical  faculty  he  had  none.  No 
doubt  of  the  historic  personality  of  Orpheus  or  the 
authenticity  of  the  hymns  ascribed  to  him  ever  crossed  his 
mind  ;  the  mystical  neo-Pythagorean  mathematics  he 
esteemed  the  true  science,  which  the  Arabians  and  their 
European  successors  had  corrupted.  .  .  .  But  with  an 
ardour  which  neither  neglect  nor  contempt  could  damp,  he 
plodded  laboriously  on  until  he  had  achieved  a  work  never 
so  much  as  contemplated  in  its  entirety  by  any  of  his 
predecessors." l  This  is  rather  a  hard  saying,  but  it 
appears  to  be  justified.  Still,  Taylor  seems  to  have  been  a 
kindly  and  amiable  character.  Although  he  was,  and 
probably  always  will  be,  regarded  as  a  half-crazy  enthusiast, 
he  had  many  friends,  and  appears  to  have  been  much  liked. 
The  list  of  his  translations  and  dissertations  occupies  nearly 
three  columns  of  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography, 
so  he  was  a  most  laborious  and  industrious  author.  The 
best,  perhaps,  that  can  be  said  of  his  writings  is  that  they 
were  voluminous.  They  were  certainly  but  little  appreci- 
ated when  they  were  written,  and  the  lapse  of  time  has 
added  neither  interest  nor  value.  He  died  in  1835. 

When  Taylor  resigned,  his  post  was  temporarily  filled 
by  John  Taylor,  who  was  apparently  a  relation,  perhaps 
his  son,  as  he  is  spoken  of  as  "  Mr.  Taylor,  jun.,"  and 
in  February  1806,  Charles  Combe  was  appointed.  He 
held  the  post  for  less  than  a  year,  for  he  resigned  in 
January  1807,  and  in  the  following  March  Thomas  Wood- 
fall  was  appointed.  He  was  a  son  of  William  Woodfall, 
a  brother  of  Henry  Sampson  Woodfall,  the  publisher  of 
Junius's  Letters , and  the  conductor  of  the  Public  Advertiser. 
William  was  a  journalist  and  reporter,  endowed  with  an 
extraordinary  memory,  on  which  he  relied  for  his  reports. 

1  Life  of  Taylor,  by  J.  M.  Rigg,  in  the  Dictionary  of  National 
Biography. 


THE  ASSISTANT  SECRETARIES  341 

Thomas  Woodfall  had  a  printing  business,  which  he  was 
allowed  to  retain  after  he  became  assistant  secretary,  and 
he  seems  to  have  done  some  of  the  Society's  printing.  He 
continued  in  the  Society's  service  till  I842.1 

When,  in  October  1760,  Shipley  resigned  the  office 
of  Registrar  (the  title  is  always  spelt  "  register  "),  he  was 
succeeded  by  E.  G.  Tuckwell,  who  continued  in  office  till 
1766.  On  his  resignation  William  Bailey  was  appointed. 
His  excellent  account  of  the  machines  and  models  in 
the  Society's  collection  has  already  been  mentioned >2 
He  died  in  January  1773,  and  the  post  was  given  to 
his  son,  Alexander  Mabyn  Bailey.  He  held  it  for  six 
years,  but  resigned  in  March  1779  to  avoid  discharge. 
He  seems  not  to  have  given  satisfaction,  and  the  Society, 
for  some  reason,  disapproved  of  his  action  in  bringing  out 
a  second  edition  of  his  father's  book,  or,  at  all  events,  in 
soliciting  subscriptions  for  it.  This  second  edition  was, 
however,  duly  brought  out,  and,  so  far  as  the  work  itself 
goes,  it  is  a  credit  to  the  Society. 

He  was  succeeded  by  a  man  whose  name  was  associated 
with  the  Society  for  nearly  eighty  years.  George  Cockings 
Was  appointed  porter  in  November  1765,  in  place  of  a  man 
discharged  for  accepting  a  gratuity  of  £5  from  a  candidate 
for  a  premium.  In  1777,  when  Brockelbank  died,  he  suc- 
ceeded him  as  collector,  and  when  A.  M.  Bailey  resigned,  he 
was  appointed  registrar.  He  had  wished  to  offer  himself 
for  the  post  in  1 766,  but  this  had  not  been  permitted.  His 
election  as  registrar  took  place  in  May  1 779,  at  the  meeting 
when  Richard  Samuel  was  elected  assistant  secretary. 

Before  he  entered  the  Society's  service,  Cockings  had 
held  some  small  Government  appointment  in  Boston, 
North  America.  He  is  noticed  in  various  biographical 
dictionaries  (including  the  Dictio  nary  of  National  Biography) 
on  the  ground  of  his  having  produced  certain  inferior 
poems  and  dramas.  Of  most  of  these  the  present  writer 
is  not  in  a  position  to  offer  any  opinion,  as  he  has  not 
felt  it  his  duty  to  study  them,  but  one  particular  epic, 
"  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce,"  written  in  1766, 
no  doubt  in  the  first  flush  of  satisfaction  at  being  ap- 
1  See  p.  349.  2  See  Chapter  XI,  p.  239,  and  Chapter  XV,  p.  329. 


342  THE  OFFICIALS 

pointed  porter,  he  has  sampled,  and  he  can  only  express 
a  regretful  belief  that  the  very  contemptuous  opinions  of 
the  critics  of  his  other  works  are  probably  fully  justified.1 
But  Cockings  was  a  better  official  than  he  was  a  poet. 
He  worked  himself  up  from  a  very  humble  post  to  a 
responsible  position.  In  one  capacity  or  another  he 
served  the  Society  well  for  thirty-seven  years,  and  he 
evidently  gained  the  esteem  and  approval  of  his  employers 
long  before  his  death  in  February  1802. 

For  some  years  previous  to  his  death  he  had  been 
assisted  in  his  work  by  his  daughter,  Ann  Birch  Cockings, 
and  she  was  appointed  his  successor,  with  the  title  of  house- 
keeper, but  practically  with  the  same  duties  as  her  father. 
This  office  she  held  for  forty-two  years,  till  her  death  in 
February  1844.  She  was  evidently  a  very  remarkable 
woman,  endowed  with  great  force  of  character,  and  it  is 
quite  clear  that  during  the  later  years  of  her  life  she  practi- 
cally ruled  the  Society.  Tradition  records  that  she  had  a 

1  It  may  be  but  reasonable  to  give  readers  an  opportunity  of  judging 
for  themselves.  The  following  extracts  are  fair  specimens,  and  are 
selected  because  of  the  courage  they  show  in  compelling  the  muse  to 
treat  subjects  generally  held  to  be  beyond  her  competence  : — 

"  On  Principles  of  Skill  (well  understood,) 
With  plain  intelligible  Aptitude, 
To  polish  Glass,  a  "new  Machine  comes  forth, 
(Whose  future  Trials  may  proclaim  its  Worth  ;) 
'Tis  work'd  by  windy  Pow'r,  or  watry  Force, 
Or  by  a  circumambulating  Horse  : 
Two  diff'rent  Ways  the  Crank,  the  Runner  guides, 
As  o'er  a  subject  Plate  it  gently  glides  ; 
By  other  Cranks,  some  Polishers  are  made 
At  first  t'  advance,  and  then  turn  retrograde  ; 
And  as  they  o'er  the  Spheres,  and  Basons  pass, 
Polish  the  convex,  and  the  concave  Glass." 

And  again  : — 

"Efford  contrives  a  Rod,  by  Rules  of  Art, 
For  Mensuration  of  th'  internal  Part 
Of  any  Cask,  which  gives  th'  exact  Contents, 
Better  than  any  other  Instruments  : 
Inserted  thro'  the  Bung,  compactly  shut, 
And  thro'  the  Liquid  perpendic'lar  put, 
By  an  expanding  Pow'r,  'tis  open  thrown, 
Both  Bung,  and  Length,  at  once  are  truly  shown." 


THE  REGISTRARS,  ETC.  343 

bitter  tongue  as  well  as  a  strong  will,  and  she  was  appar- 
ently a  lady  of  some  humour.  She  is  said  to  have  retorted 
to  an  importunate  applicant  who  wanted  to  interview 
the  secretary,  that  "  one  old  woman  ought  to  do  as  well 
as  another."  The  story  may  serve  to  show  the  view 
she  took  of  her  own  duties,  and  of  her  relation  to  the  other 
officials  of  the  Society.  She  became  eventually,  in  name 
as  well  as  in  fact,  registrar  and  librarian,  as  well  as  house- 
keeper, and  if  she  never  assumed  the  title  of  secretary, 
she  probably  did  her  share  even  of  the  secretary's  work. 
Apparently  a  truculent  and  masterful  old  lady,  she  was 
an  earnest  and  devoted  servant,  who  was  appreciated 
and  esteemed  by  the  masters  whom  she  ruled.  When 
she  died,  they  subscribed  for  a  monument  in  Kensal 
Green  "  in  grateful  remembrance  of  the  perfect  integrity 
and  the  constant  and  zealous  diligence  with  which  she 
performed  the  duties  of  her  office." *  The  Society 
possesses  her  portrait,  a  work  of  moderate  merit,  by  Miss 
E.  A.  Drummond.2 

Aikin  was  certainly  the  most  accomplished  secretary 
the  Society  had  had  since  the  death  of  Templeman,  but 
this  did  not  prevent  the  Society's  decline  during  the  term 
of  his  office.  This  is  not  to  say  that  he  was  in  any  way 
to  blame  for  the  result.  Indeed  it  appears  from  what 
has  been  said  above  that  he  realised  that  the  time  had 
come  for  a  change  in  the  Society's  methods,  and  he  did 
his  best  to  initiate  such  a  change.  There  is  good  authority 
for  believing  that  he  in  later  life  stated  to  his  brother  and 
his  nephew  that  he  could  never  get  his  ideas  properly 
supported  by  the  influential  members  of  the  Society, 
and  the  history  of  the  years  immediately  following  his 
resignation  renders  the  accuracy  of  such  a  statement 
not  only  probable  but  obvious.  It  is  very  likely  that 
he  was  not  specially  endowed  with  those  qualities  which 
go  to  make  a  good  man  of  business,  but  he  was  a  man  of 
refined  and  cultivated  intelligence,  who  had  also  the 
gift  of  making  himself  liked  by  those  with  whom  he  had 

1  Transactions,  vol.  Iv.  (1845)  P-  xvi- 

2  See  Chapter  VIII,  p.  174,  and  Appendix  III. 


344  THE  SOCIETY'S  REVENUES 

to  work.     Still  the  fact  remains  that   at  the  end  of  his 
secretaryship  the  influence  and  reputation  of  the  Society 
had  reached  a  very  low  point.     Its  resources  had  fallen  off 
and  the  number  of  its  supporters  had  seriously  diminished. 
As    a    matter    of    fact,    the    Society's    revenues  had 
been    for  some  years  decreasing.     Its  period  of  greatest 
prosperity  had  been  in  the  first  ten  years  of  its  existence. 
The  largest  amount  subscribed  in  any  one  year  was  in 
1763,  when  a  sum  of  £4614  was  collected.     In  succeeding 
years  we  find  a  gradual  falling  off,  till  at  the  end  of  the 
century  the  average  income  was  about  £2000.     In   1804 
a  careful  examination  was  made  into  the  Society's  financial 
condition,  and  an  analysis  of  receipts  and  expenditure  for 
the  seven  years  ending  with  1803  is  given  in  one  of  the 
volumes   of   committee   minutes.     From   this   it    appears 
that  the  annual  receipts  just  balanced  the  annual  expendi- 
ture, there  being  a  trifling  surplus,  about  £150,  on  the 
results  of  the  seven  years'  work.     At  this   date   about 
£50,000  had  been  expended  in  premiums  since  the  Society's 
foundation.     For  the  next  quarter  of  a  century  the  income 
fluctuated  about  this  same  figure  of  £2000,  with  a  tendency 
to  decline,  and  then  it  began  to  drop,  till  we  find  that 
the  balance-sheet  for  the  year  ending  June  1837  shows  a 
total  revenue  of  only  £1235,  and  a  debt  of  nearly  £300. 
After  this  things  went  from  bad  to  worse,  until,  as  we 
shall  see  later  on,  the  Society  was  reorganised,  and  its 
affairs  again  put  on  a  prosperous  and  satisfactory  footing. 
The  causes  for  this  unfortunate  condition  of  an  institu- 
tion which  had  for  long  been  so  prosperous  and  so  popular 
were    no    doubt    various.     The    political    and    economic 
state  of  the  country  may  have  contributed.     For  long 
after  the  end  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  there  was  serious 
industrial  depression,  and  this  must  have  reacted  on  a 
Society  whose  main  objects  were  industrial.    Also  it  had 
to  contend  with  the  competition  of  many  similar  institu- 
tions.    By  the  end  of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  there  had  been  founded  the  Royal  Academy,  the 
Linnean,    Geological,   Chemical,   Agricultural,   and    Geo- 
graphical Societies,  the  Royal  Institution  and  the  London 
Institution,   the   Institutions   of  Civil   Engineers   and   of 


CHANGES  IN  THE  SOCIETY  345 

British  Architects — all  occupying  ground  once  left  to  the 
Royal  Society  and  the  Society  of  Arts.  But  it  is  certain 
that  the  main  factor  was  the  obsolete  character  alike 
of  the  Society's  objects  and  of  the  manner  in  which  they 
were  carried  into  effect.  Its  constitution  badly  needed 
reform,  and  until  that  reform  was  effected,  as  it  was  a 
few  years  later,  the  Society  remained  incapable  of  useful 
work,  and  was  consequently  not  likely  to  receive  public 
support. 

The  idea  of  encouraging  industrial  progress  by  the 
award  of  prizes,  useful  at  a  time  when  practical  applications 
of  science  were  unknown,  and  invention  required  all  the 
artificial  stimulus  it  could  get,  was  out  of  date.  As  the 
distribution  of  such  prizes  was  obviously  ineffective,  people 
were  less  ready  to  provide  money  for  them,  and  so  the  whole 
scheme  came  near  collapse.  Besides,  had  the  scheme 
been  sound,  the  manner  of  its  administration  was  in- 
effective. The  whole  business  of  the  Society  was  carried 
on  in  open  meetings,  which  all  members  had  a  right  to 
attend,  and  at  which  consequently  the  attendance  was 
always  varying.  The  natural  result  was  that  the  less 
work  there  was  to  do,  the  greater  was  the  expenditure 
of  time  and  talk. 

Much  time  was  occupied  in  discussing  the  proper  way 
of  transacting  business,  and  in  making  elaborate  regula- 
tions to  that  end.  The  story  goes  that  Lord  Brougham, 
on  one  occasion  attending  a  meeting  of  the  Society,  went 
off  with  an  outspoken  declaration  as  to  what  he  hoped 
might  be  his  final  fate  if  he  ever  wasted  his  time  with  a 
Society  that  spent  all  its  time  in  discussing  "  rules  and 
orders/'  Thus  was  lost  to  the  Society  the  energy  after- 
wards expended  in  promoting  the  Society  for  the  Diffusion 
of  Useful  Knowledge  and  the  Social  Science  Association, 
two  institutions  which  owed  much  to  Lord  Brougham's 
exertions. 

To  such  a  serious  condition  had  the  Society's  affairs 
come,  that  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  session  1841-42,  the 
Committee  of  Accounts  reported  that  it  had  practically 
used  up  all  its  available  resources,  that  its  revenue  was 
insufficient  to  meet  its  expenditure,  and  that  of  its  accumu- 


346  THE  COUNCIL 

lated  funds  only  some  £400  was  available  to  meet  future 
deficiencies.  A  special  committee  was  at  once  appointed 
to  consider  the  position  of  the  Society  and  to  suggest 
"  means  by  which  the  Society  can  be  rendered  more 
efficient,  both  as  regards  its  objects,  management,  and 
constitution."  The  chairman  of  the  committeewas  Thomas 
Webster,1  and  its  appointment  was  the  beginning  of  the 
much-needed  reforms  which  he,  and  a  small  party  of  which 
he  was  the  leader,  eventually  succeeded  in  bringing  about. 
This  committee,  which  was  only  appointed  on  i7th 
November,  produced  at  the  meeting  of  15th  December 
an  excellent  and  exhaustive  report,  one  characteristic  of 
which  was  its  extreme  candour,  and  another  the  clear 
insight  it  showed  into  the  causes  of  the  Society's  decay. 
Two  passages  are  worth  quotation  : — 

"  Among  the  causes  which  have  contributed  to  the 
present  state  of  the  Society  the  most  prominent  appears 
to  be  the  want  of  an  efficient  governing  body  to  direct  the 
general  proceedings  and  the  internal  regulations,  upon  the 
proper  control  of  which  the  success  of  every  society  so 
much  depends. 

"  From  the  period  when  the  Society  was  established 
to  the  present  time,  the  system  pursued  has  differed  from 
that  of  all  other  societies  instituted  for  the  promotion  of 
science  and  art,  in  which  a  council  or  committee  of  general 
management  has  always  been  considered  essential. 

'  The  want  of  a  superintending  council  was  not  for 
many  years  perceived  or  felt.  But  with  the  rapidly 
spreading  taste  for  useful  knowledge  and  scientific  pursuits, 
other  societies  arose  of  a  popular  character,  and  the 
consequences  soon  became  apparent  in  the  diminished 

1  Thomas  Webster  (1810-75),  afterwards  Q.C.,  and  an  eminent 
patent  lawyer.  At  this  time  he  had  only  lately  been  called  to  the  Bar, 
after  acting  for  two  years  (1837-39)  as  Secretary  of  the  Institution  of 
Civil  Engineers.  Associated  with  him  in  the  reform  of  the  Society 
were  Edward  Speer,  George  Bailey,  J.  Scott  Russell  (the  eminent 
engineer,  afterwards  Secretary),  John  Bethell,  Joseph  Woods  (architect, 
geologist,  and  botanist),  and  William  Tooke,  solicitor.  Thomas 
Webster's  second  son,  Richard,  afterwards  became  Lord  Alverstone, 
L.C.J.,  and  he  has  followed  his  father's  example  by  his  devotion  to 
the  interests  of  the  Society. 


PROPOSALS  FOR  REFORM  347 

funds  of  this  Society,  whose  great  object  is  the  promotion 
of  the  useful  arts  rather  than  the  personal  gratification 
of  its  members." 

"  Another  prominent  cause  has  been  the  withdrawal 
of  active  members  from  the  committees,  the  consequence 
of  which  has  been  a  want  of  confidence  in  the  decisions 
and  a  falling  off  in  the  number  and  value  of  the  reports  of 
the  committees.  These,  and  other  causes  combined,  have 
led  to  a  decline  in  the  interest  of  the  weekly  meetings, 
the  proceedings  of  which  are  now  principally  confined  to 
discussions  of  rule  and  order,  accounts  and  other  matters, 
not  tending  to  promote  the  interest  of  the  Society." 

After  some  very  judicious  remarks  on  the  wide  field 
open  to  the  Society,  notwithstanding  the  competition 
of  newly-instituted  societies  with  more  specialised  objects, 
in  the  application  of  science  to  the  arts  and  manufactures, 
it  goes  on  to  suggest  the  formation  of  a  governing  body 
or  council,  to  consist  of  the  chairmen  of  the  six  principal 
committees,  the  president,  two  vice-presidents,  and 
two  treasurers.  The  three  other  committees  would  be 
abolished,  their  duties  being  transferred  to  the  council. 

Among  the  various  other  suggestions  made  in  the  report, 
certainly  the  most  important  are  that  the  principal  object 
of  the  Wednesday  evening  meetings  should  be  the  reading 
and  discussion  of  communications  on  the  arts  and  manu- 
factures of  the  country,  and  that  the  exclusion  of  patented 
inventions  from  awards  had  been  "  extremely  detrimental 
to  the  interests  of  the  Society." 

However,  when  this  very  judicious  report  was  sub- 
mitted to  a  general  meeting  of  the  Society  in  the  following 
January  (1842), it  met  with  distinct  opposition.  Eventu- 
ally most  of  its  proposals  were  disapproved,  and  after  a 
good  deal  of  argument  another  committee  was  appointed, 
which  in  its  turn  reported  advising  a  number  of  economies, 
the  result  of  which  must  certainly  have  been  the  winding-up 
of  the  Society  for  good  and  all.  One  of  these  suggestions 
was  that  there  should  no  longer  be  a  salaried  secretary, 
but  that  the  office  should  be  placed  in  commission,  its 
duties  being  discharged  by  a  committee  of  five  members. 


348  THE  COUNCIL 

Graham,  the  secretary,  promptly  resigned  his  office,  and 
things  appear  to  have  got  into  a  general  muddle.  Webster's 
committee  was  reappointed,  and  they  prepared  a  report 
practically  on  the  same  lines  as  their  previous  one.  This 
time  they  took  the  precaution  of  submitting  it  to  the 
President,  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  who  cordially  approved  it, 
adopted  it  as  his  own,  and  sent  it  as  such  to  the  general 
body.  It  was,  of  course,  accepted  without  much  further 
demur,  and  in  April  1843  it  was  finally  adopted.  In  the 
following  month  a  resolution  of  thanks  to  Webster  was 
passed,  which  shows  that,  in  spite  of  what  seems  to  have 
been  merely  factious  opposition,  the  Society  appreciated 
his  labours  on  their  behalf.  This  was  the  last  service 
rendered  by  the  Duke  to  the  Society,  for  he  died  in  the 
same  month,  April  1843.  It  was,  however,  no  trifling  one, 
for  it  enabled  the  necessary  reforms  to  be  effected,  and  thus 
helped  to  start  the  Society  on  a  new  and  prosperous  career. 

Part  of  the  committee's  work  was  to  provide  for  the 
immediate  carrying  on  of  the  regular  work  of  the  office. 
They  therefore  recommended  that  a  temporary  arrange- 
ment for  filling  the  office  of  secretary  should  be  made,  and 
at  their  request  Webster  undertook  to  find  a  suitable  person. 
He  had  but  lately  resigned  the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  In- 
stitution of  Civil  Engineers,  and  was  therefore  thoroughly 
familiar  with  the  ordinary  routine  of  a  society's  work. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Miscellaneous  Matters  Committee,  in 
January  1843,  he  produced  a  letter  from  Francis  Whishaw, 
an  engineer,  who  was  then  known  principally  as  the 
author  of  a  volume  published  in  1 840  on  The  Railways  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  in  which  Whishaw  offered  to 
act  temporarily  as  secretary  on  the  terms  proposed — two 
guineas  a  week,  together  with  the  use  of  certain  of  the 
rooms  in  the  secretary's  house.  This  offer  was  accepted, 
and  Whishaw  was  appointed.  At  the  annual  election, 
in  April  1843,  Whishaw 's  name  was  placed  on  the  balloting 
list,  and  he  was  duly  elected  at  a  salary  of  £150  a  year 
and  a  house. 

Among  other  recommendations  of  the  committee  was 
included  one  to  the  effect  that  it  was  not  desirable  to 
continue  the  office  of  assistant  secretary,  and  notice  was 


CHANGES  IN  THE  STAFF  349 


given  to  Woodfall,  in  March  1843,  tnat  his  services  would 
be  dispensed  with,  but  that  his  salary  would  be  paid  until 
the  end  of  the  session,  and  that  he  would  have  an  addi- 
tional grant  of  £  i  oo  .  A  very  complimentary  vote  of  thanks 
was  also  passed  to  him  at  the  annual  meeting,  and  he  was 
presented  with  a  set  of  Barry's  etchings,  a  gift  which  at 
the  time  was  made  by  the  Society  to  various  people  to 
whom  it  was  desired  to  pay  a  compliment.  Woodfall  at 
first  protested,  but  eventually  expressed  himself  as  entirely 
satisfied,  although  he  said  that  it  was  with  very  great 
regret  that  he  gave  up  a  post  which  he  had  held  for 
thirty-seven  years.  He  appears  to  have  discharged  all 
his  duties  efficiently.  On  several  occasions  additional 
grants  were  made  in  augmentation  of  his  salary,  which  was 
always  on  a  moderate  scale. 

For  some  months  Whishaw  carried  on  the  work  without 
assistance,  but  in  October  1844  he  was  authorised  to 
engage  somebody  to  help  him,  and  he  engaged  S.  T. 
Davenport,  then  a  young  man  of  twenty-one.  Davenport 
developed  into  a  very  valuable  and  trusted  official,  for 
he  served  the  Society  in  various  capacities  for  over  thirty 
years  till  his  death  in  i8?6.1 

Whishaw  held  the  secretaryship  for  nearly  two  years, 
until  November  1845,  when  he  wrote  that  he  wished  to 
resign,  as  he  had  accepted  some  other  work  which  would 
prevent  his  giving  proper  attention  to  that  of  the  Society. 
This  work  appears  to  have  been  an  appointment  in  con- 
nection with  Prosser's  wooden  railway.2  At  tr;e  same  time 
he  stated  that  Mr.  Scott  Russell  was  willing  to  undertake 
the  work  of  secretary,  and  proposed  that  he  should  be 

1  See  Chapter  XVI,  p.  366. 

2  This  was  a  scheme  for  the  use  of  wooden  rails,  which  it  was  thought 
would  be  cheaper  than  rails  of  iron.     The  inventor  was  William  Prosser, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Metropolitan  Railway  Company,  who  took  patents 
out  for  his  invention  in  1843  and  l844-     An  experimental  line  was  laid 
down  on  Wimbledon  Common.     Although  favourably  reported  on  by 
Major-General  Pasley,  Inspector-General  of  Railways,  the  scheme  never 
came  into  practical  use.     Prosser  himself  did  well  out  of  it,  for  his 
rights  were  purchased  by  the  London  and  South-  Western  for  £20,000. 
He  also  received  £32,000  from  an  Irish  line.     A  full  account  of  the 
system  will  be  found  in  the  Engineer,  5th  January  1900,  p.  9. 


350  THE  COUNCIL 

nominated  jointly  with  himself.  This  offer  was  accepted, 
and  Scott  Russell  was  appointed.  At  the  annual  election 
in  the  following  year,  in  April  1846,  Scott  Russell  was 
elected  secretary,  Whishaw  being  elected  corresponding 
secretary.  In  1 848  he  was  made  auditor,  and  after  this  his 
official  connection  with  the  Society  terminated  ;  but  he 
had  been  elected  a  life  member  on  his  resignation  of  the 
secretaryship,  and  he  continued  to  take  an  interest  in  the 
Society's  work.  The  chief  thing  for  which  he  is  to  be 
remembered  is  that  he  originated  the  idea  of  holding  ex- 
hibitions, first  on  a  small  scale  in  the  Society's  rooms,  and 
afterwards  in  the  form  of  a  national  exhibition  of  industries. 
A  full  account  of  this  work  will  be  found  in  the  chapter 
dealing  with  the  early  history  of  the  1851  Exhibition.1 

Although,  both  before  and  after  his  connection  with 
the  Society,  Whishaw  appears  to  have  been  fully  occupied 
in  work  associated  with  the  construction  of  railways  and 
of  electric  telegraphs,  his  career  was,  on  the  whole,  not  a 
fortunate  one.  In  later  life  he  seems  to  have  suffered 
a  good  deal  from  illness,  and  eventually  he  died,  in  October 
1856,  in  Marylebone  Workhouse.2 

The  most  important  reform,  however,  suggested  by 
Webster's  committee  was  that  a  Council  or  managing 
committee  should  be  appointed,  which  should  have  full 
control  of  the  Society's  business,  thus  taking  it  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  general  body,  and  this  was  really  the  crux 
of  the  whole  business.  Though  the  change  was  greatly 
disliked  by  the  excellent  persons  who  had  found  amuse- 
ment and  occupation  in  the  control  of  the  Society's  affairs, 
the  reform  had  been  passed,  and,  in  order  to  carry  it  into 

1  See  Chapter  XVII,  p.  403. 

2  A  full  biography  of  Whishaw  is  given  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  In- 
stitution of  Civil  Engineers,  vol.  xvi.  p.  143.     The  account  of  his  connec- 
tion with  the  Society  requires  a  little  modification,  for  it  attributes  to 
Whishaw's  efforts  rather  more  importance  than  is  actually  their  due. 
It  does  not  mention  his  unhappy  end,  about  which,  however,   there 
is  no  doubt.     It  is  recorded  in   Boase's   Modern  English  Biography 
(1901),  vol.  iii.  p.  1306,  and  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  (November 
1856,  p.  642).     The  facts  have  also  been  verified  by  the  Clerk  of  the 
Marylebone  Board  of  Guardians,  who,  at  the  request  of  the  writer,  very 
kindly  made  a  search  in  the  records  of  the  Marylebone  Workhouse. 


FIRST  MEETING  OF  THE  COUNCIL         351 

effect,  a  complete  revision  of  the  old  rules  and  orders  of  the 
Society  was  necessary.  Such  a  revision  was  made,  and  in 
December  1845  new  rules  and  regulations  were  passed, 
establishing  a  managing  committee  or  Council,  and  giving 
that  body  the  necessary  powers.  It  was  to  consist  of  the 
chairmen  of  committees,  together  with  a  certain  number 
of  elected  members.  The  first  meeting  of  the  Council  was 
held  on  6th  December  1845,  with  Edward  Speer  in  the 
chair.  For  the  first  few  months  of  its  existence  the 
Council  seems  to  have  had  no  regular  chairman,  but  after 
its  election,  at  the  annual  meeting  in  March  1846,  Edward 
Speer  and  George  Bailey  l  were  elected  chairmen,  and  this 
arrangement  was  repeated  in  1847  and  1848. 

The  Council  very  soon  got  into  active  work,  and  the 
wisdom  of  the  change  became  evident.  Its  proceedings, 
however,  and  the  many  useful  alterations  it  introduced 
into  the  work  and  the  character  of  the  Society,  will  be  more 
fitly  considered  when  we  come  to  deal  with  the  history  of 
the  Society  after  the  grant  of  a  Royal  Charter,  the  obtain- 
ment  of  which  was  one  of  the  first  matters  with  which  the 
new  council  dealt. 

It  is  rather  remarkable  that  no  steps  had  ever  before 
been  taken  towards  making  the  Society  a  chartered  body, 
although,  as  will  be  remembered,  the  suggestion  that  a 
charter  should  be  applied  for  was  one  of  the  very  earliest 
matters  considered.  Whether  the  original  proposal  con- 
templated a  charter  for  the  Society  in  its  original  form,  or 
a  charter  for  an  academy  of  painting  and  sculpture,  is 
not  quite  clear,  but  at  all  events  it  was  in  the  latter  form 
that  the  proposal  was  submitted  to  the  Society  in  1 75 5 ,  and, 
as  previously  mentioned,  a  complete  draft  of  a  charter  for 
a  Royal  Academy  of  Arts  is  preserved  among  Dr.  Temple- 
man's  papers .  It  may  have  been  intended  that  the  Society 

1  George  Bailey  (1792-1860)  was  the  first  Curator  of  the  Soane 
Museum,  having  been  designated  for  the  post  by  the  founder.  He 
was  articled  to  Sir  John  Soane,  and  remained  in  his  service  first  as 
architectural  assistant,  and  afterwards  as  confidential  clerk.  He 
became  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Arts  in  1821,  and  continued  until 
his  death  in  1860.  After  serving,  as  above  mentioned,  as  one  of  the 
two  chairmen  of  Council  for  three  years,  he  resigned  membership  of 
the  Council  in  January  1849. 


352  THE  CHARTER 

should  be  merged  in  such  an  academy.  Probably  this 
idea  was  not  consonant  with  the  notions  of  the  original 
promoters  of  the  Society,  and  it  was  for  this  reason  that  it 
was  opposed  and  dropped,  to  be  resuscitated  later  on  by 
the  committee  of  artists  and  successfully  carried  out  in  the 
foundation  of  the  Royal  Academy.1 

The  question  does  not  appear  to  have  been  brought 
up  again  till  1 843 .  In  December  of  that  year  the  secretary 
(Whishaw)  reported  to  the  Committee  on  Miscellaneous 
Matters,  that  "  the  subject  of  the  Society  obtaining  a 
Royal  Charter  had  lately  been  a  matter  of  conversation 
by  two  or  three  members,  who  were  willing  to  subscribe 
£5,  55.  each  towards  this  desirable  object."  But  nothing 
was  done.  In  February  1845  tne  question  of  applying 
for  a  Royal  Charter  was  raised  at  one  of  the  meetings,  and 
was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Miscellaneous  Matters, 
but  again  no  result  followed.  At  last,  in  February  of  the 
following  year  (1846),  the  newly-formed  council  took  the 
matter  up  seriously,  and  recommended  that  steps  should  be 
taken  to  make  application  for  a  Royal  Charter.  In  De- 
cember of  the  same  year  we  find  that  a  draft  of  the  Charter 
was  submitted  by  William  Tooke,  who  was  then  acting  as 
the  Society's  honorary  solicitor.  This  being  approved, 
/  in  the  following  March  (1847),  Tooke  brought  up  a  draft 
of  the  Charter,  together  with  a  petition,  which,  after  they 
had  received  the  approval  of  H.R.H.  the  Prince  Consort, 
as  President  of  the  Society,  were  lodged  in  the  PrivyCouncil 
Office.  In  June,  Tooke  reported  that  the  Charter  had  been 
passed,  and  that  fees  amounting  to  £400  in  all  were  re- 
quired— of  these  the  official  charges  amounted  to  £308, 
95.  2d.,  and  there  was  about  £75  for  office  expenses. 

With  the  grant  of  a  Royal  Charter  the  first  period  of 
the  Society's  history  may  be  held  to  have  come  to  an  end. 
After  this  it  may  be  said  to  have  entered  on  a  new  chapter 
of  its  existence.  It  found  new  aims  and  adopted  novel 
methods ;  not  only  its  constitution  but  its  character  was 
to  a  large  extent  altered,  and  with  a  reorganised  system  it 
may  certainly  be  said  to  have  started  on  a  fresh  career  of 
usefulness. 

1  See  Chapter  X,  p.  232,  and  Chapter  XV,  p.  328. 


CHAPTER    XVI 
THE  PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

(1843-1861) 

The  Council  and  its  Work — Influence  of  the  Prince  Consort — Sir 
Henry  Cole — The  Chairmen  of  the  Council,  1850  to  1862 — The 
Leading  Members  of  the  Society — The  Officials,  Scott  Russell,  George 
Grove,  Edward  Solly,  Peter  Le  Neve  Foster,  Samuel  Davenport, 
James  Forrest,  Charles  Critchett — The  Work  of  the  Council — 
Education — The  Union  of  Institutions — Educational  Exhibition 
— The  Journal — South  Kensington  Museum  and  the  Science  and 
Art  Department — Trade  Museum — Lectures  on  1851  Exhibition — 
Annual  Exhibitions  of  Inventions — Gallery  of  British  Art — Minor 
Exhibitions — The  Society's  Collections — Patent  Legislation,  the 
Act  of  1852 — First  Exhibition  of  Photographs — Fine  Art  Copy- 
right— Musical  Pitch — Public  Lavatories — Prizes  for  Industrial 
Art — Other  Prizes — The  Society's  Microscope — Cheap  Writing 
Case — Prizes  for  Essays — The  Swiney  Bequest — Industrial 
Pathology — Postal  Reform — Paper  Duty — Centenary  of  the 
Society — The  Annual  Dinner — Finances — Death  of  the  President 
— The  Prince's  Services  to  the  Society — The  Albert  Medal. 

IN  the  last  chapter,  which  dealt  with  the  internal  organ- 
isation and  constitution  of  the  Society,  we  left  off  at  the 
point  when  a  Council  had  just  been  appointed,  and  a 
Charter  obtained  for  the  Society.  The  task  before  the 
new  Council  was  no  light  one,  and  it  started  on  its  work 
of  reform  with  many  difficulties  in  the  way.  It  had  to 
rescue  the  Society  from  the  condition  of  torpor  and  in- 
eptitude into  which  it  had  fallen,  to  arrange  its  finances, 
and  indeed  to  provide  funds  for  its  work.  It  had  to  justify 
its  existence,  to  rouse  public  interest,  and  to  find  fresh 
directions  for  its  efforts  to  carry  out  the  objects  for  which 
the  Society  was  originally  founded.  To  do  this  it  had 
first  to  organise  itself,  and  to  distribute  the  work  between 
24 


354   PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

itself  and  the  various  committees  into  whose  hands  the 
details  might  safely  be  entrusted.  At  first  the  original 
six  "  Premium  "  Committees  were  maintained,  the  com- 
mittee on  "  Miscellaneous  Matters  "  being  merged  in  the 
Council.  But  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  enter  into  an 
account  of  the  various  changes  which  were  made  in  the 
number  and  duties  of  the  committees.  Sometimes  the 
number  was  increased  ;  sometimes  it  was  diminished  ;  at 
one  time  there  were  as  many  as  thirty.  But  eventually  the 
sensible  system  was  adopted  of  appointing  committees  from 
time  to  time  as  questions  arose  for  their  consideration. 

Inasmuch  as  all  the  business  of  the  Society  at  once 
passed  under  the  control  of  the  new  governing  body,  there 
was  nothing  of  this  nature  left  to  occupy  the  attention  of 
the  ordinary  meetings,  which  had  hitherto  been  taken  up  in 
the  award  of  the  premiums,  and  in  the  continual  discussion 
of  the  Society's  rules  and  orders.  This  naturally  led  to  an 
increased  importance  in  the  scope  and  character  of  the 
papers,  the  reading  of  which  rapidly  became,  at  first,  the 
most  important,  and  very  soon  the  only  function  of  these 
meetings.  By  the  time  we  have  now  reached,  the  system 
started  by  Aikin  had  grown  and  developed  until  it  became 
the  recognised  practice  that  every  Wednesday  evening 
during  the  session  should  be  occupied,  either  by  a  paper, 
followed  by  a  discussion,  on  some  new  invention  or  some 
novel  industrial  development,  or  else  by  a  lecture  (which 
was  not  discussed)  on  some  branch  of  industry,  some 
fresh  application  of  science,  or,  less  frequently,  some  appli- 
cation of  artistic  principles  or  methods. 

The  desire  to  encourage  the  reading  of  papers  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  in  1845  it  was  determined  to 
"  prepare  a  form  of  Honorary  Testimonial  to  be  presented 
to  persons  making  communications  which  may  appear  to 
the  Society  deserving  of  such  notice."  The  Committee 
of  Fine  Arts,  with  the  help  of  its  chairman,  Sir  William 
Ross,  decided  on  the  design  shown  in  the  plate  on  the 
opposite  page,1  in  which  the  principal  feature  is  Miss 
Denman's  drawing  of  Flaxman's  medal,2  with  a  wreath 

1  This  is  reproduced  from  the  original  copper-plate. 

2  See  Chapter  XIV,  p.  318. 


-,   .':••. '::.    :    ,     ' 

*  r ,   r. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  PRESIDENT  355 

and  a  crown,  executed  after  the  Committee's  instructions 
by  S.  Davenport,  the  father  of  S.  T.  Davenport,  a 
member  of  the  Society's  staff  from  1844  to  I8/6.1  This 
"  Testimonial,"  besides  being  employed  for  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  designed,  was  also  used  to  supplement 
the  award  of  medals,  as  a  sort  of  "  Honourable  Mention  " 
for  cases  not  quite  deserving  a  medal.  It  was  employed 
in  this  way  up  to  1850. 

Perhaps  unfortunately,  the  series  of  lectures,  for  the 
introduction  of  which,  as  previously  mentioned,  Aikin  was 
responsible,  gradually  died  out.  Aikin  himself  had  no 
successor  among  the  officials  able  and  willing  to  devote 
himself  to  popular  exposition,  though  Scott  Russell  had  all 
the  capacity  for  such  work  had  he  cared  to  undertake  it. 
And  so  after  Aikin 's  time  the  Society,  less  fortunate  than 
the  Royal  Institution,  found  no  Faraday  to  draw  intelli- 
gent audiences  to  its  meeting-room  by  brilliant  expositions 
of  the  applications  of  science  and  art,  and  it  really  was 
not  until  the  receipt  of  the  Cantor  bequest  provided 
funds  for  the  payment  for  lectures  that  this  valuable 
means  of  diffusing  knowledge  on  industrial  subjects  was 
utilised.  There  was,  however,  no  very  great  difficulty  in 
securing  suitable  topics  or  capable  authors  for  filling  up 
the  programme  for  the  Wednesday  evening  meetings,  and 
this  important  portion  of  the  Society's  labours  rapidly 
developed,  and  eventually  became  its  principal  duty. 

But  if  the  regular  routine  of  the  Society's  work  was 
thus  provided  for,  there  were  many  outside  objects  to  which 
the  Council  now  began  to  direct  its  attention.  In  this  they 
were  very  greatly  helped  by  the  fact  that  they  had  as 
the  Society's  President  the  Prince  Consort,  who  assisted 
them  not  only  by  his  influence,  which  at  the  time  was 
naturally  much  less  powerful  than  it  became  in  later  years, 
but  by  the  interest  which  he  took  in,  and  the  attention 
which  he  devoted  to,  the  Society's  affairs  during  the 
first  years  of  his  Presidency.  He  realised — and  he  him- 
self told  the  Society — that  the  main  object  of  its  exist- 
ence was  the  application  of  science  and  of  art  to  industrial 
purposes.  These  were  matters  in  which  he  took  a  genuine 
1  See  page  366  of  this  chapter. 


356    PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

personal  interest,  and  so  long  as  the  Society  was  ready  to 
promote  the  objects  he  had  at  heart,  he  was  quite  willing  to 
assist  it  as  far  as  the  numerous  other  occupations  of  his 
exalted  position  allowed  him  sufficient  leisure. 

It  has  often  been  said  that  too  much  credit  has  been 
given  to  the  Prince  Consort  for  the  Society's  success  about 
this  time,  especially  for  its  success  in  starting  the  1851 
Exhibition,  but  a  careful  study  of  the  Society's  records 
has  satisfied  the  present  writer  that  his  influence  was  by 
no  means  exaggerated.  It  is  quite  clear  that  the  Prince 
did  not  initiate  the  reforms — economic,  social,  and  in- 
dustrial— which  started  from  the  Society  of  Arts.  But 
most  new  suggestions  of  any  importance  appear  to  have 
been  submitted  to  him,  and  he  discriminated  with  extreme 
shrewdness  between  those  w^hich  were  of  value  and  those 
which  it  was  not  worth  while  to  press.  He  evidently 
had  an  extremely  quick  and  active  mind.  His  judgment 
on  the  questions  submitted  to  him  seems  generally  to 
have  been  prompt  and  correct,  and  this  is  surely  as  much 
as  can  reasonably  be  looked  for  from  one  occupying  a 
position  such  as  he  occupied.  The  period  on  which  we 
are  now  engaged  may  justly  be  considered  as  the  period 
of  his  Presidency,  and  there  may  be  a  little  more  to  be 
said  about  the  value  of  the  services  he  rendered  the  Society 
when  we  come  to  deal  with  the  termination  of  that  Presi- 
dency by  the  Prince's  death  in  1 86 1 . 

During  that  period  by  far  the  most  important  of  the 
public  works  carried  out  by  the  Society  was  the  starting 
of  the  two  great  Exhibitions  of  1851  and  1862.  The 
history  of  these  two  Exhibitions,  so  far  as  the  Society 
was  associated  with  them,  is  important  enough  to  deserve 
separate  treatment,  and  may  be  left  alone  for  the  present.1 
The  next  most  important  piece  of  public  work  was  the 
establishment  and  organisation  of  a  system  of  examina- 
tions carried  out  simultaneously  all  over  the  kingdom,  which 
had  the  very  greatest  influence  on  industrial,  middle-class, 
and  scientific  education  during  the  fifties  and  sixties. 
The  history  of  the  examinations  also  will  be  more  con- 
veniently dealt  with  by  itself,  and  any  further  account 
1  See  Chapter  XVII,  p.  401,  and  Chapter  XVIII,  p.  416. 


REORGANISATION  OF  THE  SOCIETY        357 

of  them  is  therefore  deferred  to  a  later  chapter.1  The 
present  chapter  will  therefore  be  devoted  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  various  other  matters  which  the  Society 
had  in  hand  during  the  period  extending  from  the  date 
of  its  charter  (1847),  or  the  assumption  of  the  Presid- 
ency by  Prince  Albert  (1843),  down  to  the  date  of  the 
Prince's  death  (1861)  and  the  holding  of  the  second  great 
Exhibition  in  1862. 

The  subjects  pursued  by  the  Society  during  this  period 
were  so  diverse  and  so  numerous,  that  it  is  not  at  all  easy 
to  give  any  connected  history  of  its  proceedings.  Perhaps, 
when  those  who  had  in  hand  the  reconstitution  of  the 
Society  realised  that  the  purpose  of  its  original  institu- 
tion had  been  served,  and  that  some  other  methods  must 
be  devised  for  carrying  out  the  objects  of  its  foundation, 
they  found  it  difficult  to  set  a  limit  to  the  scope  of  its 
work,  and  the  result  was  that  they  extended  its  operations 
a  good  deal  beyond  what  was  intended  or  contemplated 
by  its  original  founders,  somewhat,  indeed,  beyond 
what  was  intended  by  the  framers  of  its  charter. 

The  newly-constituted  Council  was  a  strong  body, 
and  the  very  fact  that  it  was  newly-constituted  made  it 
anxious  to  effect  reforms,  not  only  in  the  Society  itself, 
but  in  all  the  departments  of  public  life  and  administra- 
tion with  which  the  Society  could,  by  any  reasonable 
extension  of  its  objects,  claim  association. 

The  Council,  as  a  body,  was  quick  to  realise  the  value 
of  the  Society's  organisation  as  an  instrument  for  the 
promotion  of  many  useful  social  and  economic  as  well  as 
industrial  changes.  Many  of  its  members  were  active- 
minded,  energetic  men,  keenly  interested  in  the  promo- 
tion of  special  reforms,  full  of  enthusiasm  for  the  causes 
they  had  espoused,  and  anxious  to  utilise  the  growing 
influence  of  the  Society  for  the  realisation  of  their  own 
particular  objects. 

Prominent  among  these  was  Henry  Cole,  a  man  of 

inexhaustible  energy  and  indomitable  perseverance,  full  of 

enthusiasm  for  his  own  ideals  and  of  confidence  in  their 

value.     At  the  instance  of  Scott  Russell  he  joined  the 

1  See  Chapter  XIX,  p.  425, 


358   PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

Society  in  1846,  and  at  once  became  a  member  of  the 
Committee  of  Fine  Arts.  In  January  of  the  following 
year  we  find  him  attending  a  meeting  of  the  Council,  to 
explain,  as  a  representative  of  the  Committee,  the  scheme 
he  had  laid  before  them  for  annual  exhibitions  of  the  works 
of  British  artists,  and  suggesting  as  a  commencement  an 
exhibition  of  the  works  of  Landseer,  then  at  the  height 
of  his  popularity.  In  the  same  year  (1847)  he  was  nomin- 
ated for  the  Council,  and  from  that  time  till  the  date  of 
his  death,  in  1882,  he  continued  to  exercise  the  strongest 
personal  influence  over  the  Society,  influence  which,  for 
the  first  half  or  so  of  this  period,  really  amounted  to  absolute 
control.  A  man  of  singularly  active  mind,  he  was  per- 
petually conceiving  fresh  projects  for  the  improvement 
of  public  welfare  and  the  benefit  of  mankind.  Some  of 
these  were  eminently  successful,  such  as  the  Victoria  and 
Albert  Museum,  and,  it  may  be  said,  the  1851  Exhibition, 
since,  if  he  did  not  originate  the  idea  of  a  great  inter- 
national exhibition,  it  was  his  capacity  for  organisation 
that  rendered  the  scheme  practicable.  Others  naturally 
enough  were  failures,  but  the  bulk  of  his  proposals  were 
valuable,  and  of  genuine  public  utility.  With  very  nearly 
all  of  them  the  Society  of  Arts  was  associated.  He 
utilised  its  influence  and  its  organisation  to  the  full,  and 
he  repaid  its  help  by  useful  guidance  and  administrative 
direction. 

He  was  not  a  skilful  or  a  cautious  financier.  Certain  of 
his  schemes  cost  the  Society  dear,  but  if  he  wasted  some  of 
its  funds,  it  was  mainly  due  to  him  that  the  Society  had  any 
funds  to  waste.  It  is  the  matured  opinion  of  the  writer, 
who  knew  him  well  and  admired  his  great  qualities,  without 
being  in  the  least  unaware  of  his  faults,  that  Henry  Cole 
ought  to  be  looked  on  as  the  second  founder  of  the  Society, 
and  that  it  was  owing  to  his  influence  and  authority  that 
the  Society  was  raised  from  a  state  of  impotence  and 
insignificance  to  a  condition  of  prosperity  and  influence. 
This  does  not  imply  that  he  started  the  improvement. 
He  did  not.  The  Society  had  been  rescued  from  dissolu- 
tion before  he  became  a  member  of  it  ;  but  he  infused 
fresh  vigour  into  its  growth,  and  in  a  few  years  from  his 


SIR  HENRY  COLE,  K.C.B.,  CHAIRMAN  OF  COUNCIL,  1850  AND  1852. 

From  a  Photograph  by  Mrs.  Cameron,  taken  about  1872. 

To  face  page  358. 


SIR  HENRY  COLE  359 

joining  its  governing  body  it  had  trebled  the  number  of 
its  members  and  quadrupled  the  amount  of  its  funds. 

It  may  be  admitted  that  Cole  had  in  full  measure  the 
defects  of  his  qualities.  He  liked  having  his  own  way, 
and  he  generally  got  it.  He  disliked  opposition,  and  was 
ruthless  with  his  opponents.  He  was  a  born  fighter,  and 
his  methods  of  fighting  were  often  questioned  and  disliked. 
Naturally  enough,  this  made  him  unpopular,  while  the 
objects  he  sought  often  laid  him  open  to  the  ridicule 
which  is  generally  the  lot  of  those  who  first  advocate 
schemes  for  the  accomplishment  of  which  others  in  a 
later  age  are  hailed  as  the  benefactors  of  their  kind. 
However,  he  cared  little  for  ridicule  or  for  unpopularity, 
so  long  as  he  got  what  he  wanted,  as  he  usually  did. 
His  best  friends  and  admirers  must  wish  that  he  had 
had  greater  regard  for  the  feelings  of  others,  and  that  he 
had  been  content  to  attain  his  objects  without  thrusting 
aside  and  trampling  down  those  who  did  not  agree  with 
him.  But  that  was  not  his  way,  and  perhaps  gentler 
methods  might  have  proved  less  successful.  At  all  events, 
it  is  likely  that  they  would  have  been  slower,  and  of  all 
things,  delay  was  hateful  to  the  impatient  soul  of  Henry 
Cole. 

Of  course,  he  had  a  fight  soon  after  he  joined  the 
Council,  and,  unhappily,  it  was  with  one  of  the  best  and 
staunchest  friends  of  the  Society,  Thomas  Webster. 
Webster,  doubtless  disapproving  of  Cole's  arbitrary 
methods,  and  his  somewhat  reckless  expenditure,  opposed 
his  proposals  for  annual  exhibitions,  industrial  and 
pictorial.  His  criticisms  were  supported  in  the  Council, 
and,  in  1850,  Cole  resigned.  But  he  organised  an  opposi- 
tion at  the  next  annual  meeting,  and  circularised  the 
members,  with  the  result  that  at  a  largely  attended 
meeting,  on  3rd  April  1850,  when  207  members  voted, 
Cole  and  his  friends  were  elected  by  a  considerable  majority, 
while  Webster  and  his  supporters  were  turned  out.  Inas- 
much as  it  was  Webster  who,  by  the  introduction  of  much- 
needed  reforms,  had  saved  the  Society  from  certain 
dissolution  in  I842,1  the  vote  of  the  electors  appears. 
*  See  Chapter  XV,  p.  346, 


360  PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

ungracious,  especially  as  bitter  feeling  was  engendered 
by  it.  But,  as  above  said,  those  who  got  in  Henry  Cole's 
way  generally  had  to  get  out  of  it.  His  differences  with 
Webster  are  the  more  to  be  regretted  as  Webster  had  the 
scientific  knowledge  to  which  Cole  never  made  any  pre- 
tensions, and  his  experience  as  a  great  patent  lawyer  might 
not  improbably  have  led  the  Society  to  take  a  larger  part 
in  the  guidance  of  industrial  progress  and  the  application 
of  science  to  manufactures  than  it  actually  did  take. 

Cole  was  Chairman  of  the  Council  in  1850,  and  again 
in  1852.  One  of  the  most  prominent  of  his  successors 
was  Went  worth  Dilke,  who  was  Chairman  in  1857  and 
1858.  He  took  an  active  share  in  the  arrangements  for 
the  two  great  Exhibitions  of  1 85 1  and  1 862,  and  a  baronetcy 
was  conferred  upon  him  at  the  close  of  the  latter  Exhibi- 
tion. He  was  so  keen  about  the  Society's  welfare  that 
he  brought  his  relations  into  it.  His  father,  the  well- 
known  editor  of  the  Athenceum,  became  a  member  of  the 
Society  in  1849 — Dilke  himself  having  joined  four  years 
earlier — and  he  made  his  two  sons,  Charles  and  Ashton, 
life  members  when  they  were  boys .  Another  very  energetic 
and  capable  Chairman  was  Sir  Thomas  Phillips,  who  suc- 
ceeded Dilke,  and  was  found  so  useful  in  the  post  that  the 
by-laws  were  altered  so  as  to  allow  him  to  hold  the  Chair- 
manship for  four  consecutive  years,  1859  to  1862.  Sir 
Thomas  Phillips  was  a  man  of  some  character.  He 
earned  his  knighthood  by  his  action  in  quelling  a  Chartist 
riot  in  a  mining  district  of  South  Wales,  when  he  was 
wounded.  He  was  a  liberal  and  public-spirited  man. 
Besides  devoting  himself  strenuously  to  the  Society's 
work,  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  work  of  King's  College 
and  of  many  metropolitan  societies. 

Another  most  useful  member  was  Harry  Chester,  who 
was  Chairman  in  1853.  He  was  the  originator  of  the 
Union  of  Mechanics'  Institutions  and  of  the  Society's 
examinations,  and  continued  an  active  worker  on  behalf 
of  the  Society  until  his  death  in  1868.  He  held  certain 
official  appointments,  including  the  Assistant  Secretaryship 
of  the  Committee  of  Privy  Council  on  Education.  The 
public  work  he  did,  mainly  through  the  Society  of  Arts, 


CHAIRMEN  OF  THE  COUNCIL  361 

never  received  due  recognition  ;  he  is  even  ignored  by 
the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography.  Lieut  .-Colonel 
Owen  was  elected  Chairman  in  1853,  but  was  compelled 
by  pressure  of  his  official  work  to  decline  office  before 
actually  taking  any  active  part  in  it.  But  he  was  in 
many  respects  a  useful  member  of  the  Council,  and  took 
his  full  share  of  its  work.  He  was  a  brother  of  Sir  Philip 
Cunliffe-Owen,  who  in  later  years  was  closely  associated 
with  the  Society.  The  Rev.  James  Booth  became  Chair- 
man in  1855.  The  work  he  did  in  suggesting  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Society's  Journal,  and  in  the  development  of 
its  examinations,  will  be  referred  to  later  on. 

Other  Chairmen  of  Council  during  this  time  were 
Colonel  W.  H.  Sykes,  M.P.,  F.R.S.  (1856),  Chairman  of 
the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  East  India  Company  ;  Lord 
Ebrington  (1854),  afterwards  Earl  Fortescue,  who  lived 
and  preserved  his  interest  in  the  Society  until  1905  ;  and 
William  Saunders,  F.R.S.  (1851),  a  naturalist  of  some  note 
in  his  day,  who  wrote  much  on  botany  and  entomology, 
and  served  as  President  of  the  Entomological  and  Horti- 
cultural Societies. 

Amongst  other  members  of  the  Council  who  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  Society's  work,  and  attended  most 
constantly  at  its  meetings,  the  following  should  be  men- 
tioned :  Dr.  Lyon  Playfair  (afterwards  Lord  Playfair), 
the  eminent  chemist  ;  Richard  Redgrave,  R.A.,  and  his 
brother  Samuel,  the  author  of  the  useful  Dictionary  of 
Artists  of  the  English  School  ;  Sir  Joseph  Paxton,  who 
designed  the  1851  Exhibition  building;  Robert  Stephen- 
son,  the  great  engineer  ;  Richard  Dawes,  the  Dean  of 
Hereford,  who  gave  valuable  help  in  organising  the  ex- 
aminations ;  J.  C.  Macdonald,  the  manager  of  the  Times  ; 
Sir  W.  H.  Bodkin,  the  eminent  lawyer,  who  co-operated 
with  Thomas  Webster  in  the  reform  of  the  Society  ; 
Thomas  Graham,  Master  of  the  Mint ;  William  De  la  Rue, 
F.R.S. ;  Sir  John  Pakington  (afterwards  Lord  Hampton)  ; 
Sir  William  Page  Wood  (afterwards  Lord  Chancellor 
Hatherley)  ;  J.  J.  Mechi,  the  enthusiastic  agriculturist  ; 
Sir  William  Fairbairn,  the  engineer,  who  was  a  commis- 
sioner for  the  1851  and  1862  Exhibitions,  and  took  a 


362    PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

particularly  active  part  in  the  organisation  of  the  latter  ; 
Thomas  Winkworth,  a  man  not  much  known  outside  the 
Society,  but  one  who  did  much  hard  work  within  it  for 
the  Exhibitions,  and  other  matters  ;  Thomas  Twining, 
the  earnest  advocate  of  many  philanthropic  schemes  ; 
Joseph  Hume,  the  Radical  M.P.  and  economical  reformer  ; 
Sir  John  Boileau,  an  archaeologist  of  repute  ;  and  William 
Tooke,  for  many  years  a  Vice- President,  and  the  Society's 
honorary  solicitor. 

These  were  among  the  most  active  supporters  of  the 
Society.  Something  may  now  be  said  about  the  per- 
manent officials.  In  the  early  part  of  the  period  with 
which  we  are  now  concerned,  the  office  of  secretary  changed 
hands  rather  frequently.  In  the  ten  years,  1843-53, 
there  were  six  occupants  of  the  post.  As  previously 
mentioned,1  when  Graham  retired  in  1843  (after  holding 
office  for  two  years  only),  Whishaw  was  appointed,  and  in 
1845  he  was  succeeded  by  John  Scott  Russell.  Scott 
Russell  was  a  worthy  successor  to  Templeman  and  Aikin, 
and,  indeed,  as  a  scientific  man  he  was  superior  to  either. 
Born  in  1808,  he  was  thirty-six  years  of  age  when  he  came 
to  London  and  became  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Arts. 
He  had  already  acted  as  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  at 
Edinburgh,  and  had  acquired  a  reputation  for  his  original 
researches  on  Wave  Motion.  He  had  also  carried  out, 
with  much  success,  the  construction  of  several  large 
vessels  in  which  his  principles  were  embodied.  These 
were  all  designed  by  him  as  manager  of  the  shipbuilding 
establishment  at  Greenock,  afterwards  belonging  to  Messrs. 
Caird . 

Before  his  election  as  secretary,  he  had  taken  an  active 
part  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Committee  on  Miscellaneous 
Matters.  Though  he  was  too  active-minded  to  confine 
his  attention  to  the  Society's  work,  he  made  a  most  efficient 
and  energetic  secretary,  and  took  his  full  share  in  the  work 
of  reconstructing  the  Society,  which  may  be  said  to  have 
been  completed  during  his  term  of  office.  The  steady 
improvement  in  the  character  of  the  papers  brought  before 
the  evening  meetings  was  certainly  to  a  large  extent  due  to 
1  §ee  Chapter  XV,  p.  348, 


SCOTT  RUSSELL— GEORGE  GROVE          363 

him.  He  seemed  ever  ready  to  place  at  the  disposal  of 
the  Society  not  only  his  abilities,  but  what  he  had  in  much 
less  abundance,  the  contents  of  his  purse  ;  for  he  frequently 
took  upon  himself  the  provision  of  expenses  which  assuredly 
he  was  not  called  upon  to  meet,  and  which,  indeed,  he  could 
not  properly  afford. 

His  energy  in  helping  on  the  preparations  for  the  1851 
Exhibition  led  to  his  being  appointed,  jointly  with  Mr. 
Stafford  Northcote  (afterwards  Earl  of  Iddesleigh),  Secre- 
tary to  the  Royal  Commission  when  it  was  appointed  in 
January  1850.  After  this  he  resigned  the  secretaryship  of 
the  Society,  and,  having  been  elected  a  life  member,  was 
placed  on  the  Council.  In  later  life  he  resumed  the  practice 
of  his  profession,  with  a  result  that  cannot  be  better  stated 
than  in  the  words  of  the  author  l  of  the  account  of  his  life 
in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  : — 

"  In  summing  up  Mr.  Scott  Russell's  connection  with 
the  profession  of  naval  architecture,  it  may  be  said  that 
on  commencing  his  career  he  found  it  the  most  empirical 
of  arts,  and  he  left  it  one  of  the  most  exact  of  engineering 
sciences.  To  this  great  result  many  others  contributed 
largely  besides  himself  ;  but  his  personal  investigations, 
and  the  theories  he  deduced  from  them,  gave  the  first  im- 
pels to  scientific  naval  architecture."  2 

A  man  of  real  genius,  he  took  high  rank  in  his  profes- 
sion among  a  race  of  great  engineers,  and  in  his  own  par- 
ticular branch  of  it  he  was  far  ahead  of  his  contemporaries. 
But,  spite  of  his  great  talents,  his  worldly  success  was 
never  equal  to  his  deserts,  and  when  he  died  in  1882  he  was 
in  straitened  circumstances. 

Scott  Russell's  successor  was  George  Grove,  who  was 
appointed  jointly  with  Russell  in  February  1850,  and, 
alter  a  month's  trial,  sole  secretary  in  March.  Grove,  like 
his  two  predecessors,  was  an  engineer,  and  he  had  practised 
his  profession  to  some  extent  before  his  appointment, 
though  never  afterwards.  His  tenure  of  office  was  very 

1  Sir  George  Holmes,  a  pupil  of  Scott  Russell's,  and  at  one  time 
Secretary  of  the  Institution  of  Naval  Architects. 

2  Obituary  notice,  Proceedings  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers^ 
vol.  Ixxxvii.  p.  435. 


364   PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

short,  for  when  the  Crystal  Palace  was  established  at 
Sydenham  he  was  (in  May  1852)  offered  the  appointment 
of  secretary,  and  thereupon  he  gave  up  his  post  at  the 
Society.  He  was  a  thoroughly  capable  official — in  this 
respect  superior  to  his  immediate  predecessors — and  with 
a  longer  period  of  service  he  would  doubtless  have  left  his 
mark  on  the  administration  of  the  Society.  As  it  wras, 
his  powers  were  devoted  to  other  institutions — first  the 
Crystal  Palace,  and  afterwards  the  Royal  College  of  Music 
— where  they  had  full  scope  and  were  greatly  appreciated. 
Grove  was  the  last  secretary  to  live  on  the  Society's 
premises.  When  he  quitted  office  the  house  in  which  all 
the  secretaries  since  Templeman  had  lived,  and  in  which 
one  of  them  (More)  had  died,  was  added  to  the  Society's 
offices. 

When  Grove  retired,  Edward  Solly,  long  an  active 
member  of  the  Council,  was  appointed  secretary,  and 
held  the  office  for  a  year — May  1852,  to  May  1853. 
Solly  was  an  old  member  of  the  Society.  He  had  been 
elected  in  1838,  and  had  served  on  the  Council  since 
1850.  At  the  time  of  his  appointment  as  secretary 
he  was  actually  deputy-chairman.  He  was  a  chemist 
of  some  reputation.  He  became  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society  in  1843,  and  in  1845  was  appointed  a  Professor 
at  the  Addiscombe  Military  College.  He  resigned  the 
secretaryship  of  the  Society  of  Arts  that  he  might 
devote  himself  to  the  organisation  of  the  Trade  Museum 
started  by  the  Society,  of  which  more  hereafter.  Though 
not  a  man  of  brilliant  talent,  he  possessed  considerable 
intellectual  powers  and  some  literary  capacity,  which 
he  devoted  in  later  life  principally  to  antiquarian  and 
bibliographical  subjects.  He  died  in  1886. 

Solly  was  succeeded  in  the  secretaryship  in  1853  by 
Peter  Le  Neve  Foster,  whose  genial  and  kindly  nature 
gained  him  the  regard  and  esteem  of  all  those  with  whom 
he  worked.  He  is  still  remembered  by  many  of  the  older 
members  of  the  Society  ;  by  none  outside  those  of  his 
own  family  can  his  memory  be  more  affectionately 
cherished  than  by  the  writer  of  this  narrative.  He,  like 
his  predecessor,  had  for  some  years  been  connected  with 


LE  NEVE  FOSTER  365 

the  Society,  which  he  joined  in  1837,  at  the  instance  of 
his  grandfather,  Abraham  Osorio,  who  had  become  a 
member  in  iSoo.1  His  father  (also  Peter  Le  Neve)  joined 
the  Society  in  1807,  so  that  he  had  a  long  family  connec- 
tion with  it.  When  the  first  Council  was  formed,  he 
became  an  ex  officio  member  of  it,  as  he  was  at  the  time 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Accounts.  He  was  at 
once  elected  treasurer,  and  this  office  he  held  till  1852, 
when  he  became  an  ordinary  member  of  the  Council. 

Foster  took  his  degree  in  the  Cambridge  Mathematical 
Tripos  of  1830,  and  became  a  Fellow  of  his  college  (Trinity 
Hall).  In  1836  he  was  called  to  the  Bar  at  the  Middle 
Temple,  and  he  practised  as  a  conveyancer  until  his  election 
to  the  secretaryship,  which  he  held  for  a  period  of  not  quite 
twenty-three  years,  till  his  death  in  1879.  He  had  taken 
his  full  share  in  the  reorganisation  of  the  Society,  and 
by  the  time  that  he  became  secretary  its  various  difficulties 
had  been  surmounted,  and  its  second  era  of  prosperity 
had  commenced.  This  prosperity  continued  unabated 
during  his  term  of  office,  and  much  of  the  credit  for  this 
state  of  things  may  fairly  be  claimed  for  him. 

If  he  did  not  originate  any  changes  or  introduce  many 
fresh  ideas,  he  carried  out  efficiently  and  well  all  the 
executive  work  of  the  Society,  and  it  may  fairly  be  said 
that  its  public  reputation  for  practical  work  stood  a  good 
deal  higher  at  his  death  than  it  did  when  he  became 
secretary.  Possessed  of  much  sound  scientific  knowledge, 
of  wide  general  reading,  and  endowed  with  considerable 
intellectual  capacity,  he  was  well  qualified  for  the  duties 
of  his  office,  for  which  also  he  was  equally  well  fitted  by 
character  and  taste.  Of  a  kindly  genial  nature,  singularly 
patient  and  forbearing,  tactful  and  full  of  common  sense, 
he  made  an  admirable  secretary.  If  he  was  devoid  of 

1  Abraham  Osorio's  father,  Jacob,  was  also  a  member,  and  of  a  very 
early  date  (1766).  His  brother  Abraham,  who  died  unmarried,  joined 
the  Society  in  1761.  Three  sons  of  Mr.  Peter  Le  Neve  Foster  and  one 
of  his  grandsons  are  now  (1913)  members,  so  that  six  generations  of 
the  family  have  been  associated  with  the  Society  during  a  period 
extending  from  1761,  seven  years  after  its  foundation,  down  to  the 
present  time. 


366  PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

ambition  and  inclined  to  be  somewhat  "  easy-going,"  this 
only  made  him  more  contented  with  his  duties,  and  never 
induced  him  to  neglect  them,  for  he  was  a  steady  and 
regular  worker,  who  took  a  pleasure  in  his  work. 

He  had  various  interests  outside  the  Society.  Among 
the  first  to  practise,  as  a  scientific  amateur,  the  art  of 
photography,  he  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Photo- 
graphic Society,  and  for  many  years  on  its  Council.  He 
followed  with  interest  the  developments  of  the  art  during 
its  most  interesting  period,  from  the  first  photographic 
application  of  collodion  to  the  introduction  of  the  gelatine 
dry  plate,  and  wrote  a  good  deal  on  the  subject.  At  one 
time  he  served  on  the  Council  of  the  British  Association, 
and  was  for  thirteen  years  secretary  of  Section  "  G," 
Mechanical  Science.1 

Some  reference  is  also  due  to  certain  of  the  other 
officials  of  the  Society.  Of  these  Samuel  Thomas  Daven- 
port comes  first,  both  from  his  seniority  and  because  he 
devoted  his  whole  life  to  the  Society's  service. 

His  appointment  in  1 844  as  a  sort  of  clerk  or  assistant 
to  Whishaw  has  been  mentioned,2  and  from  that  date  he 
served  the  Society  faithfully  and  well  in  various  capacities, 
being  always  ready  to  undertake  any  work  that  might  be 
required  of  him.  His  pay  was  very  moderate,  and  occa- 
sionally small  grants  were  made  to  him,  which  were 
certainly  well  deserved.  In  April  1848  he  was  given 
the  title  of  assistant  secretary,  and  in  January  of  1849  his 
salary  was  made  up  to  £100  a  year.  Six  months  later 
W.  Ellis  was  appointed  assistant  secretary,  but  he  only 
held  office  for  less  than  a  year,  as  he  resigned  in  March 
1850,  when  the  post  was  left  vacant.  Davenport  was 
then  made  "  Curator  and  Collector,"  at  a  salary  of  £150, 
and  in  1853  his  title  was  .changed  to  that  of  "  Finance 
Officer,"  afterwards  modified  to  "  Financial  Officer,"  an 
appellation  which  he  bore,  with  much  personal  pride  and 
gratification,  till  his  death  in  1876.  It  would  not  be  easy 

1The  fullest  account  of  P.  Le  Neve  Foster  will  be  found  in  the 
notice  published  after  his  death  in  the  Journal,  vol.  xxvii.  p.  316. 
There  is  also  a  short  life  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

2  See  Chapter  XV,  p.  349. 


S.  T.  DAVENPORT  367 

to  overrate  the  value  of  Davenport's  services  to  the 
Society,  though  they  were  in  the  earlier  part  of  his  life 
of  an  unpretending  nature .  Later  on,  his  very  considerable 
experience,  and  his  minute  knowledge  of  the  Society's 
history,  gave  him  much  influence  with  the  Council,  and  his 
opinion  in  matters  connected  with  the  internal  administra- 
tion of  the  Society  carried  great  weight.  He  had  had  in 
youth  some  artistic  training,  and  would  have  made  a 
capable  engraver  had  he  followed  the  profession  for 
which  he  was  intended,  but  in  other  subjects  he  was 
mainly  self-educated.  He  had  acquired  a  curious  and 
extensive  knowledge  of  the  contents  of  the  Society's  records, 
and  this  led  him  to  produce,  in  the  form  of  a  paper  read  at 
one  of  the  meetings  in  1 868,  a  short  history  of  the  Society,1 
which  has  been  more  than  once  referred  to  before. 
Though  it  contains  much  information,  it  is  badly  put 
together,  and  shows  a  want  of  literary  skill.  The  same 
criticism  may  be  applied  to  his  other  communication  to 
the  Society,  on  "  Prints  and  their  Production,"  2  though 
it  has  a  distinct  value  as  recording  much  which  is  not  to 
be  found  elsewhere  about  the  earlier  attempts  to  produce 
printing  surfaces  by  means  of  photography,  since  at  the 
date  of  the  paper  many  such  attempts  had  been  made, 
but  none  had  yet  succeeded. 

His  single-minded  and  whole-hearted  devotion  to  the 
interests  of  the  Society  rendered  him  a  zealous  and  valuable 
official.  The  present  writer,  who,  of  course,  knew  him 
intimately  during  the  last  eleven  years  of  his  life,  and  had 
for  him  a  genuine  liking  and  regard,  can  testify  to  the 
kindliness  of  his  nature  and  to  his  popularity  amongst 
those  with  whom  he  was  associated.3 

From  the  date  of  Ellis 's  resignation  in  1850  to  the 
middle  of  1852,  the  office  of  assistant  secretary  was  left 
vacant.  In  June  of  that  year  James  Forrest,  who  had 

1  Journal,  vol.  xvii.  pp.  10,  127,  143,  160.     He  had  previously  (in 
1 864)  read  a  paper  on  the  Society's  promotion  of  industrial  education 
(Journal,  vol.  xiii.  p.  88). 

2  Journal,  vol.  xviii.  p.  62.     The  paper  had  been  preceded  by  an 
article  on  the  same  subject  in  the  Journal,  vol.  xiii.  p.  131. 

3  A  notice  of  Davenport  will  be  found  in  the  Journal,  vol.  xxiv.  p.  1 39. 


368   PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

previously  been  assistant  secretary  to  the  Institution  of 
Civil  Engineers,  was  appointed.  He  held  office  till  April 
1856,  when  he  resigned  in  order  that  he  might  return 
to  his  old  office  at  the  Civil  Engineers,  with  a  view  to  his 
succeeding  Charles  Manby,  who  was  about  to  give  up  the 
secretaryship  of  the  Institution.  This  arrangement  was 
duly  carried  out,  and  Mr.  Forrest  was  appointed  in  1860. 
All  engineers  know  with  what  credit  to  himself,  and  with 
what  benefit  to  the  Institution,  he  filled  his  office,  till 
he  resigned  in  1896.  His  name  will  always  be  associated 
with  the  Institution  by  the  Forrest  Lectures,  founded  to 
commemorate  his  secretaryship.  Mr.  Forrest  is  still  living 
in  retirement  at  St.  Leonards,  now  one  of  three  surviving 
representatives  of  the  Society  of  Arts  of  sixty  years  ago. 

It  was  determined  to  fill  up  the  vacancy  caused  by 
Forrest's  retirement  by  an  open  competitive  examination, 
the  time  being  one  when  the  value  of  test  examinations 
ranked  higher  than  it  does  now  after  half  a  century's 
experience.  Accordingly,  the  appointment  was  adver- 
tised, and  the  candidates  who  applied  were  submitted  to  a 
regular  examination,  both  viva  voce  and  by  papers .  Charles 
Critchett,  who  had  taken  his  degree  at  Cambridge  (Trinity) 
in  1855,  was  successful  and  he  was  duly  appointed.  It 
must  be  said  that  the  experiment  was  quite  successful. 
Critchett  made  a  perfectly  efficient  assistant  secretary  for 
thirteen  years.  He  resigned  of  his  own  accord  in  1869, 
though  his  connection  with  the  Society  was  preserved  by 
his  appointment  as  educational  officer,  in  which  capacity 
he  had  a  nominal  responsibilty  for  the  conduct  of  the 
examinations.  He  held  this  office  till  1879,  and  when  he 
gave  it  up  he  was  made  a  life  member.  As  he  was  quite 
comfortably  provided  for  there  was  no  need  for  him  to  work, 
and  he  naturally  enough  preferred  a  life  of  leisure  to  a 
continuance  of  official  routine.  He  was  a  man  of  artistic 
tastes,  cultivated  manners,  fond  of  society,  and  popular 
in  a  large  circle  of  friends.  He  died  in  I9O6.1 

Having    dealt    with    the    principal    individuals    who 
carried  on  the  Society's  work  during  the  period  which 
1  A  notice  of  his  life  will  be  found  in  the  Journal,  vol.  liv.  p.  528. 


MECHANICS'  INSTITUTIONS  369 

began  with  its  incorporation  and  ended  with  the  1862 
Exhibition,  we  may  pass  on  to  a  consideration  of  the  work 
itself.  At  the  commencement  of  the  period,  the  attention 
of  the  Council  was  chiefly  occupied  with  the  organisation 
of  the  first  great  exhibition,  and  during  its  last  years  with 
the  preparations  for  the  second  ;  but  in  spite  of  this,  time 
was  found  for  a  great  variety  of  other  business,  the  chief 
items  of  which  have  now  to  be  described. 

Of  these,  the  most  important  was  education,  industrial 
education  as  it  was  then  termed,  though  by  this  was 
meant  the  general  education  of  those  engaged  in.  industry, 
not  what  we  now  know  as  technical  education,  the  training 
of  industrial  workers  in  the  subject-matter  of  their 
trades. 

The  first  efforts  for  the  promotion  of  popular  education 
in  this  country  took  the  form  of  the  establishment  of 
Mechanics'  Institutions.  Their  origin  ma}''  be  traced  as 
far  back  as  1800,  when  Dr.  Birkbeck,  who  had  succeeded 
Dr.  Garnett  as  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  at  the 
Andersonian  University  of  Glasgow,  established  courses  of 
lectures,  to  which  working  men  were  admitted  at  a  low  fee. 
The  mechanics'  classes  thus  established  were  for  a  long 
time  a  successful  department  of  the  University,  and  in 
1823  this  department  became  the  Glasgow  Mechanics' 
Institution,  apparently  the  first  genuine  institution  of  the 
sort. 

The  establishment  of  this  institution  suggested  the 
formation  of  a  similar  organisation  in  London,  where  Dr. 
Birkbeck  had  been  resident  for  about  twenty  years.  He 
took  the  lead  in  the  movement,  and,  with  the  assistance 
of  Lord  Brougham  and  others,  established  the  London 
Mechanics'  Institution,  which  later  on  became  the  well- 
known  Birkbeck  Institution,  the  name  being  changed  in 
honour  of  its  founder  and  first  president. 

The  London  and  Glasgow  Societies  had  many  imitators, 
and  in  1848  the  Society  passed  a  resolution  that  any  such 
institution  established  not  less  than  fifteen  miles  from 
London  might  join  the  Society  for  the  same  subscription 
as  an  individual,  so  that  its  members  might  enjoy,  under 
certain  conditions,  the  advantages  of  membership  of  the 
25 


370   PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

Society.  A  few  institutions  availed  themselves  of  the  offer, 
and  a  little  later,  in  1851,  Mr.  Harry  Chester  addressed  a 
letter  to  the  Council,  suggesting  that  "  the  Society  should 
exert  itself  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  metropolitan 
and  provincial  mechanics'  institutes."  The  result  of 
this  letter  was  that  the  Society  called  together  a  con- 
ference on  the  subject,  which  was  held  in  May  1852,  under 
the  presidency  of  the  Earl  of  Lansdowne.  At  this  con- 
ference a  union  of  institutions  was  suggested,  and  such 
a  union  was  formed  in  the  following  July  by  a  resolution 
of  the  Council.  The  object  of  the  union  was  to  enable 
the  scattered  institutions  to  co-operate,  and  thereby  to 
strengthen  their  educational  powers.  The  intention  of 
the  Society  was  to  provide  a  central  organisation,  from 
which  information  could  be  distributed  to  the  institutions, 
lists  of  lecturers  provided,  and  other  facilities  for  their 
development  arranged. 

In  addition  to  holding  this  conference,  the  Society 
issued  in  1853  a  long  report  on  Industrial  Instruction , 
which  had  been  prepared  by  a  committee  appointed  for 
the  purpose.  This  committee  took  a  great  deal  of  evidence 
from  schoolmasters,  manufacturers,  representatives  of 
mechanics'  institutions,  and  others,  and  the  information 
they  supplied  forms  the  principal  and  the  most  valuable 
part  of  the  report. 

It  was  determined  to  hold  an  annual  conference  for  the 
discussion  of  subjects  relating  to  the  institutions  and  their 
organisation,  and  such  a  conference  was  held  at  the 
Mansion  House  in  May  1853,  by  the  then  Lord  Mayor, 
Mr.  Thomas  Challis,  at  the  request  of  the  Society,  by  which 
time  two  hundred  and  seventy  institutions  had  joined  the 
union.  In  connection  with  this  conference  a  small  exhibi- 
tion of  educational  appliances  was  held  in  the  Guildhall, 
and  this  led  to  a  proposal  for  a  similar  exhibition  on  a 
larger  scale  to  be  held  in  the  following  year,  the  centenary 
of  the  Society.  The  proposal  was  readily  taken  up. 
Prince  Albert  expressed  his  warm  approval  of  it,  and 
promised  a  subscription  of  £100.  The  accommodation 
on  the  Society's  premises  being  quite  inadequate  for  an 
exhibition  on  the  scale  proposed,  St.  Martin's  Hall — a  large 


EDUCATIONAL  EXHIBITION  371 

concert  hall  which  had  been  built  for  John  Hullah  in 
Long  Acre — was  taken  for  the  purpose.1 

The  exhibition  proved  to  be  a  great  success,  and  quite 
justified  the  very  considerable  amount  of  labour  which 
was  expended  upon  it  by  the  Council.  Contributions 
(through  the  assistance  of  the  Foreign  Office)  were  secured 
from  France,  Belgium,  Holland,  Sweden,  Norway,  Den- 
mark, Austria,  Prussia,  Switzerland,  Spain,  and  the 
United  States.  The  exhibits  included  educational  appar- 
atus and  appliances  of  all  sorts,  school  buildings  (shown 
in  plans  and  models)  and  fittings,  books,  maps,  etc., 
together  with  samples  of  work  produced  at  schools.  It 
was  opened  in  July  1854  by  Prince  Albert,  and  remained 
open  until  September.  Arrangements  were  made  for  the 
delivery  of  lectures  by  the  most  eminent  authorities  on 
Science  and  Education.  The  list  of  lecturers  included 
Dr.  Whewell,  Professor  De  Morgan,  Dr.  W.  B.  Carpenter, 
Dean  Trench,  Cardinal  Wiseman,  Professor  Alexander 
Williamson,  Professor  Huxley,  Dr.  Hullah,  and  many  other 
names  of  almost  equal  renown.2 

Including  the  donation  from  the  Prince  Consort,  the 
subscriptions  amounted  to  £1079.  This  involved  a 
pecuniary  loss  of  £363,  which  was  made  good  by  the 
Society.  The  success  of  the  exhibition  led  to  the  suggestion 
that  it  should  be  made  permanent,  and  this  view  was 
impressed  by  the  Council  upon  the  Government,  with  the 
result  of  the  foundation  of  the  educational  collection  and 
library  at  South  Kensington  as  part  of  the  Museum,  now 
the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum.  A  great  number  of 
the  exhibits  were  presented  to  the  new  Museum,  and 
formed  the  nucleus  of  the  educational  collection,  and 
also  of  the  fine  library  now  forming  part  of  the  Victoria 
and  Albert  Museum. 

The  conference  of  representatives  of  institutions  became 

1  St.   Martin's  Hall  was  built  in   1847-50  ;    it  was  No.  89  Long 
Acre.     It  was  burnt  down  in  1860,  and  its  destruction  nearly  ruined 
Hullah,  who  had  invested  most  of  his  money  in  it.     Later  on,  the 
Queen's  Theatre  was  erected  on  the  site,  which  is  at  present  occupied 
by  private  premises. 

2  Some  of  these  lectures  were  published  in  a  volume  (Routledge, 
1855).     Others  were  reported,  more  or  less  fully,  in  the  Journal, 


372    PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

an  annual  function,  and  was  continued  regularly  on  the 
same  day  as  the  annual  dinner,  so  long  as  the  dinner  was 
held.  It  lasted  for  a  little  over  twenty  years,  until  1875, 
by  which  time  its  usefulness  had  quite  passed  away, 
In  the  following  year  it  was  changed  into  a  special  con- 
ference on  Adult  Education,  at  which  Sir  Henry  Cole 
presided,  and  in  1877  its  place  was  taken  by  a  conference 
on  Domestic  Economy,  held  at  Birmingham,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  same  gentleman,  who  had  by  that  time 
retired  from  the  public  service,  and  was  then  temporarily 
resident  in  Birmingham.  After  that  the  conference  was 
allowed  to  lapse. 

It  would,  indeed,  have  died  out  long  before,  but  for  the 
institution  of  the  system  of  examinations,  which  has  now 
for  over  fifty  years  been  a  very  important  part  of  the 
Society's  work.  It  was  in  December  1853  that  Mr. 
Harry  Chester,  the  founder  of  the  Union,  suggested  the 
establishment  of  a  system  of  examinations  for  the  benefit 
of  members  of  the  affiliated  institutions.  As  above 
mentioned,  a  full  account  of  the  origin  and  growth  of  the 
Society's  examinations  will  be  found  in  a  later  chapter.1 

Probably  the  real  value  of  the  Union  of  Institutions 
was  that  it  encouraged  the  establishment  and  develop- 
ment in  provincial  towns  of  educational  organisations, 
which  a  little  later  provided  suitable  centres  for  the  local 
science  and  art  schools,  and  thus  served  as  a  basis  for  the 
whole  system  of  education,  scientific,  artistic,  and  technical, 
which  has  grown  up  around  those  schools. 

When  the  Society  took  in  hand  the  organisation  of 
local  institutions,  some  of  them  were  flourishing  and  doing 
serious  work,  but  many  others  were  in  a  feeble  condition. 
Such  education  as  these  latter  afforded  was  of  a  trivial 
sort,  and  they  were  devoted  rather  to  amusement  than  to 
instruction.  The  Society  provided  a  standard  to  which 
all  were  expected  to  conform,  and  a  central  organisation 
from  which  all  could  get  information  and  help. 

After  some  twenty  years  or  so  the  work  of  the  Union 
was  done,  and  there  was  no  longer  much  need  for  its 
existence.  When  in  1882  the  examination  system  was 
1  See  Chapter  XIX,  p.  425. 


UNION  OF  INSTITUTIONS  373 

remodelled,  and  the  examinations  were  thrown  open  to 
everybody,  the  last  reason  for  its  maintenance  disappeared, 
and  though  there  are  still  a  few  institutions  which  like  to 
preserve  their  old  association  with  the  Society,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  the  practical  advantages  they  derive  from 
that  association  are  now  inconsiderable. 

It  was  the  existence  of  the  Union  of  Institutions  that 
led  to  the  establishment  of  the  Society's  weekly  Journal. 
The  first  suggestion  of  such  a  thing  was  made  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Booth  in  a  letter  which  he  addressed  to  the  Council  in 
June  1852.  In  this  letter  he  set  out  in  considerable  detail 
the  scheme  of  a  weekly  newspaper  which  should  record  all 
the  Society's  proceedings,  serve  as  a  medium  of  communi- 
cation between  the  Society  and  the  allied  institutions, 
and  form  a  permanent  record  of  the  progress  of  science, 
art,  and  industry.  The  proposal  had  evidently  been 
thoroughly  well  thought  out,  and  was,  indeed,  eventually 
adopted  without  any  considerable  modifications.1 

As  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter,2  the  Transactions 
of  the  Society  had  stopped  in  1844,  and  from  that  time 
there  had  been  no  regular  record  of  the  Society's  pro- 
ceedings. The  occasional  publication  first  known  as  the 
Abstract  of  Proceedings,  and  afterwards,  when  it  got  to 
be  published  with  greater  regularity  during  the  session, 
entitled  Weekly  Proceedings,  had  increased  slightly  in 
size,  and  it,  at  all  events,  recorded  in  brief  abstract  the 
papers  read  before  the  Society,  and  gave  some  amount  of 
information  about  its  other  proceedings.  This  from  1844 
to  1852  was  the  only  publication  regularly  issued  by  the 
Society,  for  the  odd  volume  of  Transactions  published  in 
1852,  and  intended  to  form  the  first  of  a  new  series,  had 
no  successor,  and  can  only  be  regarded  as  an  unsuccessful 

1  The  Rev.  James  Booth,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  was  at  this  time  Vicar  of 
Wandsworth.     His  suggestion  led  to  his  being  elected  on  the  Council 
(1852),  and  he  afterwards  (1855)  became  its  chairman.     He  took  a 
very  active  and  useful  part  in  the  establishment  of  the  examinations, 
but  later  on  some  friction  arose  between  the  Council  and  him,  and 
after  a  quarrel,  the  details  of  which  are  certainly  now  not  worth  recording, 
he  was  called  upon  to  resign  his  seat  on  the  Council,  and  did  so.     He 
died  in  April  1878. 

2  See  Chapter  XV,  p.  333. 


374   PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

experiment,  as  it  proved  too  costly  for  repetition.  A 
volume  issued  in  1851,  and  entitled  Vol.  LVII.  of  the 
Transactions,  is  really  nothing  more  than  the  weekly  pro- 
ceedings for  the  year  bound  together.  Even  the  meagre 
record  preserved  in  the  Weekly  Proceedings  would  not  now 
be  available  but  for  the  care  of  Davenport,  who  in  Novem- 
ber 1852  presented  to  the  Council  a  "  volume  containing 
a  complete  set  of  the  papers  published  in  the  years  1844-9, 
during  which  time  no  regular  transactions  were  published, 
and  consequently  no  record  of  the  Society's  proceedings 
existed."  l  Davenport  had  no  doubt  carefully  preserved 
a  copy  of  each  issue,  which  nobody  else  seems  to  have  done, 
and  his  volume  is  the  only  set  of  them  in  the  Society's 
possession. 

Booth's  suggestion  commended  itself  to  the  Council, 
and  after  some  discussion  and  consideration  it  was 
accepted,  the  form  of  the  Journal  settled,  and  its  regular 
publication  commenced,  the  first  number  appearing  on 
26th  November  1852.  This  number,  after  a  preliminary 
notice  dealing  with  the  proposed  scope  and  character  of 
the  new  publication,  contained  the  address  of  the  chairman 
(Henry  Cole)  at  the  opening  meeting  of  the  session,  an 
interesting  account  of  the  Industrial  Societies  of  the 
United  States,  one  of  the  replies  (from  British  Guiana) 
to  a  circular  asking  for  information  about  the  productions 
and  commerce  of  the  Colonies  ;  reports  of  the  proceedings 
of  many  of  the  affiliated  institutions,  and  a  list  of  applica- 
tions for  patents  under  the  new  Patent  Law  Amendment 
Act  of  1852.  There  are  four  pages  of  advertisements,  but 
three  of  these  are  Society's  notices.  Succeeding  numbers 
contain  the  papers  read  at  the  ordinary  meetings — at 
first  in  abstract,  and  afterwards  in  full — with  brief  notes 
of  the  discussions,  reports  and  notices  dealing  with  the 
various  matters  on  which  the  Council  and  the  numerous 
committees  were  engaged,  and  much  miscellaneous  in- 
formation on  subjects  connected  with  the  objects  of  the 
Society.  From  the  first  the  Journal  was  a  newspaper, 
and  was  stamped  with  the  newspaper  stamp  required  at 
the  time.  This  duty  on  newspapers  was  originally 
1  Council  Minutes,  loth  November  1852. 


THE  1851  EXHIBITION  SURPLUS  375 

imposed  by  the  Stamp  Act  of  1712,  and,  after  several 
reductions,  was  finally  abolished  in  1853. 

When  the  accounts  of  the  1851  Exhibition  had  been 
made  up,  it  was  found  that  there  was  a  surplus  profit  of 
£186,000.  Of  this,  however,  £67,896  was  the  amount 
which  had  been  subscribed  before  the  Exhibition  was 
started,  and  it  was  expected  that  this  would  be  returned 
to  the  subscribers,  or  at  all  events  given  back  to  the 
various  localities  in  which  it  had  been  subscribed.  The 
Society,  which  had  collected  the  money,  also  put  in  a 
claim  for  a  share.  However,  it  was  decided  that  the  money 
should  be  kept,  and  used  for  the  foundation  of  a  central 
institution  "  for  the  dissemination  of  a  knowledge  of 
science  and  art  among  all  classes." 

This  caused  a  good  deal  of  natural  disappointment  at 
the  time,  but,  looking  back  at  all  the  circumstances,  it 
may  fairly  be  admitted  that  the  decision  was  a  wise  one, 
and  that  better  results  have  been  obtained  than  if  the 
money  had  been  frittered  away  by  distributing  it  in  com- 
paratively small  sums  for  provincial  objects.  Eventually, 
as  is  well  known,  the  estate  at  Kensington  Gore  was 
purchased,  and  the  1851  Commissioners  were  formed 
into  a  permanent  body  for  its  administration.  Many 
schemes  were  proposed  and  discussed.  Prince  Albert 
had  a  large  and  comprehensive  scheme  of  his  own,  which 
included  the  erection  of  suitable  buildings,  and  the  trans- 
plantation of  the  principal  learned  societies  to  South 
Kensington.  The  idea  was  a  fine  one,  and  if  it  could 
have  been  carried  out  we  might  perhaps  have  had, 
years  ago,  a  single  comprehensive  board  or  institution  for 
dealing  with  education,  science,  and  art,  instead  of  our 
present  system,  which,  whatever  its  merits,  cannot  claim 
to  be  a  model  of  organisation,  economy,  or  uniformity. 

But  there  was  much  opposition,  and  there  were  many 
difficulties.  The  story  is  too  long  for  repetition  here. 
Those  who  care  may  find  much  of  it  in  Sir  Henry  Cole's 
Life.1  It  may  be  sufficient  to  say  that  the  immediate 
outcome  was  the  South  Kensington  Museum  and  the 
1  Fifty  Years  of  Public  Work. 


376   PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

Science   and   Art   Department,   with   the   foundation    of 
both  of  which  the  Society  had  much  to  do. 

The  second  report  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  1851 
Exhibition,  published  at  the  end  of  1852,  and'  reporting 
the  purchase  of  the  Kensington  estate,  referred,  amongst 
other  matters,  to  the  formation  of  a  trade  museum,  and 
invited  the  co-operation  of  the  Society  of  Arts.  The 
Council  at  once  took  the  matter  into  consideration,  and  the 
result  was  that  in  May  1853  they  offered  to  undertake 
the  formation  of  a  collection  of  animal  products  used  in 
manufactures,  and  to  devote  to  it  a  sum  of  ^400,  to  be 
expended  in  the  course  of  two  years,  if  the  Commissioners 
would  provide  a  similar  amount.  This  was  at  once  agreed 
to,  and  the  formation  of  such  a  collection  was  immedi- 
ately put  in  hand.  Professor  Solly  undertook  the  task, 
and  for  that  purpose  resigned  the  secretaryship  of  the 
Society.  He  devoted  himself  energetically  during  the 
following  two  years  to  the  work,  and  the  result  was  that 
in  May  1855  a  very  complete  collection  was  exhibited 
in  the  model  room,  and  was  formally  opened  by  the 
reading  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  Solly.  The  exhibits  fully 
illustrated  the  utilisation  of  animal  products  for  in- 
dustrial purposes,  and  comprised  textiles  (wool  and  silk), 
leather  and  furs,  horn  and  bone,  bristles,  feathers,  hair 
and  shell,  also  wax  and  lac,  oils,  and,  finally,  refuse 
materials. 

The  collection,  after  being  for  some  time  exhibited  by 
the  Society,  was  made  over  to  the  Science  and  Art  Depart- 
ment, and  was  placed  in  the  South  Kensington  Museum, 
which  was  opened,  in  the  temporary  buildings  for  long 
known  as  the  "  Brompton  Boilers,"  in  1857.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  original  intentions  of  the  1851  Commissioners 
about  the  formation  of  a  trade  museum  were  never  carried 
out.  The  collection  of  animal  products  was  transferred 
to  the  Bethnal  Green  Museum,  when,  new  buildings  having 
been  built  for  the  South  Kensington  Museum,  the  old 
"  boilers,"  with  certain  additions,  were  re-erected  at 
Bethnal  Green  in  I872.1 

The  total  amount  expended  by  the  Society,  including 

1  Th3  building  was  opened  in  March  1872  by  the  Prince  of  Wales. 


THE  VICTORIA  AND  ALBERT  MUSEUM     377 

the  £400  originally  granted  by  the  Commissioners,  was 
£976.  On  the  transfer  of  the  collection,  the  Commissioners 
agreed  to  repay  the  Society's  expenditure,  and  the  balance 
(£576)  was  accordingly  repaid  to  the  Society. 

This  collection  and  the  educational  collection  previously 
mentioned  were  the  chief  contributions  of  the  Society  to 
the  Museum.  Both  of  them  were  valuable,  not  so  much 
for  themselves,  but  because  they  formed  a  nucleus  about 
which,  by  continual  accretions,  the  scientific  and  educa- 
tional collections  now  forming  part  of  the  Victoria  and 
Albert  Museum  have  grown.  It  must,  of  course,  be 
understood  that  this  does  not  refer  to  the  Art  Museum,  to 
the  contents  of  which  the  Society  was  never  in  a  position 
to  make  any  but  trifling  contributions. 

As  regards  the  Science  and  Art  Department,  the  Society 
can  only  claim  the  credit  of  having  done  a  good  deal  of 
pioneer  work,  and  of  having  prepared  the  way  for  its 
establishment.  Though  Schools  of  Design1  were  started 
in  1839  or  1840,  they  were,  by  all  accounts,  not  very 
successful,  and  in  1851  a  vigorous  attempt  was  made  by 
the  Society  to  encourage  the  formation  of  such  schools  on 
an  independent  basis.  The  proposal  was  well  taken  up 
in  several  provincial  towns  and  in  London,  but  in  the 
following  year  the  Department  of  Practical  Art  was  formed 
by  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  this  a  year  later  became  the 
Science  and  Art  Department.  It  took  over  the  existing 
Schools  of  Design,  and  there  was  no  further  need  for  the 
Society  to  persevere  with  its  scheme,  which  was  accordingly 
dropped. 

Still  more  useful  service  was  rendered  to  the  new 
Department  by  the  Society's  development  of  Mechanics' 
Institutions  and  by  its  examinations.  It  was  at  these 
institutions  that  the  Science  Schools  and  Art  Schools 
were  first  formed,  and  it  was  on  the  model  of  the  Society's 
examinations  that  the  much  larger  scheme  of  Government 
science  examinations  was  carried  out. 

1  They  were  not  really  Schools  of  Design  at  all.  They  were  called 
so  because  they  were  imitations  of  the  French  £  coles  de  Dessin,  and 
were  simply,  like  the  French  originals,  drawing-schools. 


378   PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

Before  the  opening  of  the  1851  Exhibition  the  Council 
announced  the  offer  of  prizes  for  essays  or  treatises  on 
certain  sections  of  the  Exhibition.  But  before  the  time 
came  for  the  award  of  these  prizes,  Prince  Albert,  in  the 
autumn  of  1851,  suggested  that  a  series  of  lectures  should 
be  given  at  some  of  the  Society's  meetings,  "  on  the  prob- 
able bearing  of  the  Exhibition  on  the  various  branches  of 
Science,  Art,  and  Industry."  This  proposal  was  at  once 
adopted,  and  the  offer  of  prizes  withdrawn. 

In  all  twenty-four  lectures  were  delivered  during  the 
session  185 1-52, l  and  these  were  afterwards  published  in 
two  volumes,  which  attained  a  considerable  amount  of 
popularity.  The  first  lecture  was  given  by  Dr.  Whewell, 
at  the  opening  meeting  of  the  session  in  November  1851, 
and  dealt  with  the  general  bearing  of  the  Exhibition  on 
the  progress  of  Art  and  Science.  Among  the  other  emi- 
nent lecturers  were  Sir  Henry  de  la  Beche,  on  Mining,  etc.  ; 
Professor  Owen,  on  Raw  Materials  ;  Dr.  Playfair,  on 
Chemistry  ;  Dr.  Lindley,  on  Food  Substances  ;  Professor 
Willis,  on  Machines  ;  Professor  Royle,  on  the  Arts  and 
Manufactures  of  India  ;  Sir  Thomas  Bazley,  on  Cotton  ; 
and  Digby  Wyatt  and  Owen  Jones,  on  the  Decorative 
Arts.  The  concluding  lecture  on  the  "  International 
Relations  of  the  Exhibition  "  was  given  by  (Sir)  Henry 
Cole. 

After  the  great  international  exhibition  of  1851  the 
Society  still  went  on  holding  exhibitions  on  its  own  account. 
In  1848  an  exhibition  of  recent  inventions  had  been  held. 
This  was  composed  partly  of  objects  belonging  to  the 
Society's  own  collection,  which  had  not  then  been  finally 
disposed  of,  and  partly  of  inventions  recently  patented  or 
registered  under  the  Designs  Act  of  1851 .  This  exhibition 
was  a  fairly  good  one.  It  contained  446  exhibits  in  all, 
of  a  rather  miscellaneous  character,  some,  however,  of 
permanent  interest  and  value.  It  remained  open  from 
26th  December  1848  to  3Oth  January  1849.  It  was  the 

1  Sir  H.  Cole's  lecture  had  to  be  postponed,  and  was  delivered  in 
December  1852. 


EXHIBITIONS  OF  PICTURES  379 

first  of  an  annual  series  continued  regularly  up  to 
1 86 1.  By  that  time  the  character  of  the  Exhibitions 
had  depreciated,  and  Sir  Thomas  Phillips,  in  the  ad- 
dress which  he  delivered  as  Chairman  of  the  Council  in 
November  1862,  remarked  that  "  the  series  have  not 
kept  pace  with  the  progress  of  science,  and  have  not 
been  worthy  of  the  present  position  of  the  Society." 
It  was  determined,  in  consequence  of  the  1862  Exhibi- 
tion, not  to  hold  an  exhibition  of  inventions  that  year, 
and  the  opportunity  was  taken  of  letting  the  series  come 
to  an  end. 

Besides  these  exhibitions  of  an  industrial  character, 
the  Society  organised  several  exhibitions  of  pictures.  As 
mentioned  in  a  previous  part  of  this  chapter,  the  first 
action  taken  by  Henry  Cole  in  connection  with  the  Society 
was  the  submission  of  a  proposition  for  the  holding  of 
exhibitions  of  pictures  by  modern  artists,  the  idea  being  that 
they  would  be  a  source  of  profit,  from  which  funds  might 
be  provided  for  the  establishment  of  a  National  Gallery  of 
British  Art.  The  proposal  was  that  the  profits  from  the 
exhibition  of  each  artist's  works  should  be  expended  in 
purchasing  one  or  more  of  his  pictures,  and  that  these 
should  be  lent  to  the  National  Gallery,  until  enough  had 
been  collected  to  fill  a  special  gallery.  The  idea  was  an 
admirable  one.  But  the  means  proposed  were  quite  in- 
adequate, and,  in  spite  of  the  enthusiasm  which  Cole 
devoted  to  the  scheme,  it  proved  financially  an  absolute 
failure.  The  proposed  series  was  started  with  an  exhibi- 
tion in  1848  of  Mulready's  works,  the  original  idea  of 
beginning  with  a  collection  of  Landseer's'  not  having  for 
some  reason  been  carried  out.  The  financial  result  of  the 
Mulready  Exhibition  was  a  small  surplus,  which  was  later 
on  expended  in  the  purchase  of  two  of  the  artist's  studies, 
and  these  were  presented  to  the  National  Gallery.  In 
1849  an  exhibition  of  Etty's  works  was  arranged.  But 
this  resulted  in  a  loss,  and  the  idea  of  making  money  for 
the  proposed  gallery  was  abandoned.  In  fact,  the  Society 
was  a  heavy  loser,  for  the  expenses  were  ultimately  paid 
only  by  the  diversion,  with  the  donor's  consent,  of  a  gift 
of  £500  from  Mrs.  Acton,  the  widow  of  a  member,  which 


380    PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

had  been  intended  for  the  general  purposes  of  the  Society.1 
Some  years  later,  in  1855,  an  exhibition  of  the  works  of 
the  two  brothers  John  and  Alfred  Chalon  (both  R.A.'s) 
was  held,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  this  had  any  connec- 
tion with  Cole's  scheme.2  After  the  death  of  Sir  William 
Ross,  an  exhibition  of  his  miniatures  was  held  in  the 
Society's  rooms  in  1860,  which  attracted  a  good  deal  of 
interest,  but  did  not  produce  any  profit.  Ross,  as  may  be 
seen  by  reference  to  the  list  of  the  Society's  prize-winners,3 
took  many  of  the  Society's  prizes  as  a  youth.  He  was 
long  a  member  of  the  Society,  was  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Fine  Arts,  and  served  as  a  member  of  the  first 
Council. 

In  December  1860  a  proposal  was  made  that  an 
exhibition  should  be  held  in  the  following  year  of  the 
works  of  C.  R.  Leslie,  R.A.,  who  had  died  in  1859. 
Although  a  number  of  owners  of  his  pictures,  including 
Queen  Victoria,  promised  to  contribute,  it  was  found 
that  a  representative  collection  could  not  be  brought 
together,  and  the  proposal  was  consequently  abandoned.4 

It  may  be  sufficient  to  mention  that  an  exhibition  of 
lithography  was  held  in  1847,  one  of  bookbinding  in  the 
same  year,  and  a  second  of  lithography  in  1853.  The 
photographic  exhibition  of  1852  will  be  referred  to  later, 
and  the  educational  exhibition  of  1854  has  already  been 
described.  In  the  year  1852  the  idea  was  started  of 
holding  an  exhibition  of  the  products  of  India.  The  East 
India  Company  was  approached,  and  promised  assistance, 
and  some  steps  were  taken  for  organising  such  an  exhibi- 
tion in  London.  Eventually,  however,  there  wrere  diffi- 
culties in  finding  a  suitable  locality,  and  the  collection  was 
sent  to  the  Dublin  Exhibition  of  1853,  of  which  it  formed 
an  important  section. 

1  Mrs.  Acton  gave  this  money  in  1837    o  found  prizes  in  memory 
of  her  husband,  Samuel  Acton,  an  architect,  the  prizes  to  be  generally 
for  subjects  connected  with  architectural  design  or  construction.     She 
herself  became  a  member  after  her  husband's  death. 

2  It  is  stated  that  this  exhibition  did  not  attract  much  attention, 
the  works  of  the  Chalons  never  acquiring  much  popularity. 

3  See  Chapter  VIII,  p.  200. 

4  See  Council  Minutes,  1860  and  1861. 


THE  COLLECTION  OF  MODELS  381 

Since  the  first  exhibition  held  by  the  Society  in  1761 
of  agricultural  and  other  machines  for  which  the  Society 
had  offered  prizes,1  it  had  always  kept  up  a  permanent 
collection  of  mechanical  and  other  models.  As  these 
accumulated  from  time  to  time,  their  disposal  was  always 
a  matter  of  difficulty,  and  every  now  and  again  we  find 
notices  of  the  older  models,  for  which  it  was  difficult  to 
find  room,  being  sold,  or  given  away,  or  destroyed.  Many 
of  these  one  may  legitimately  regret.  It  would  have 
been  satisfactory  if  the  original  model  of  Sturgeon's  electro- 
magnet had  been  preserved,  and  we  should  certainly  be 
glad  to  possess  now  the  whole  collection  which  was  shown 
in  1761. 

But  it  must  be  remembered  that  such  things  accumulate 
rapidly,  and  that  they  soon  become  obsolete  and  unin- 
teresting ;  while  they  have  to  be  kept  for  a  great  many 
years  before  they  acquire  antiquarian  interest — an  interest, 
indeed,  which  only  belongs  to  the  survivals  because  nearly 
all  the  apparatus  or  models  have  been  destroyed. 

When  the  Society  began  to  hold  temporary  exhibitions 
the  space  occupied  by  the  old  models  was  required, 
and  they  were  finally  disposed  of  in  various  ways.  The 
bulk  of  them  was  presented  in  1850  to  Bennet  Woodcroft, 
who  was  then  Professor  of  Machinery  at  University  College, 
London,  the  trustees  of  the  College  having  undertaken  to 
repair  and  preserve  them.2  Some  of  these  eventually  found 
their  way  into  the  Patent  Office  Museum  3  at  South  Ken- 
sington, which  grew  into  the  collection  of  engineering 
models  now  forming  part  of  the  Science  Museum.  Others 
were  given  to  the  South  Kensington  Museum  at  its  founda- 
tion in  1857,  and  no  doubt  a  great  deal  of  what  was  really 
rubbish  was  quietly  disposed  of. 

1  See  Chapter  III,  p.  58.  2  Transactions,  vol.  Ivii.  p.  xvii. 

3  The  contents  of  this  museum  were  the  property  either  of  the  Com- 
missioners of  Patents  or  of  their  clerk,  Bennet  Woodcroft.  They  were 
to  have  been  placed  in  the  principal  museum  building,  but  Woodcroft 
objected  to  the  admission  fee  of  sixpence  on  "  Students'  days."  Cole 
insisted,  and  neither  would  give  way.  The  result  was  that  the  models 
of  inventions  were  crowded  into  an  unsightly  iron  shed,  which  was 
always  open  free.  So  the  authorities  had  their  way,  and  nobody 
suffered  except  the  public. 


382    PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  injurious  effects 
on  the  Society's  Premium  List  of  the  exclusion  of  patented 
articles  from  its  awards,  and  the  alteration  in  the  regula- 
tions by  which  in  1845  patented  articles  were  made  eligible 
for  such  awards  has  also  been  mentioned.1  Not  very  long 
after  this  date,  the  Society,  taking  a  different  view  of  the 
value  of  patents,  turned  its  attention  to  the  amendment  of 
the  patent  law,  and  in  1849  the  Council,  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  Henry  Cole,  appointed  a  Committee  on  the  Rights 
of  Inventors.  It  cannot  be  said  that  Cole  had  any  deep 
or  accurate  knowledge  of  patent  law ;  but  he  had  on  this, 
as  on  most  subjects  which  he  took  up,  very  clear  and 
definite  ideas,  and  he  never  hesitated  as  to  their  correct- 
ness. The  committee,  however,  which  was  appointed 
by  the  Council,  included  many  members  who  were  quite 
competent  to  supply  any  deficiency  in  Cole's  knowledge, 
and  he  provided  the  moving  force,  which  eventually 
brought  about  the  much-needed  reform  in  the  law  of 
patents  in  this  country. 

About  a  year  after  the  appointment  of  this  committee, 
Charles  Dickens  published  in  Household  Words  his  well- 
known  "  Poor  Man's  Tale  of  a  Patent  "  ; 2  this,  by  the 
public  attention  it  attracted  to  a  very  dull  and  uninter- 
esting branch  of  legislation,  greatly  aided  in  securing  the 
required  reform. 

The  committee  published  several  reports — reports 
containing  many  suggestions  of  considerable  practical 
value .  The  general  tendency  of  the  reports  was  rather  in 
favour  of  the  French  system — simple  registration,  sans 
garantie  du  gouvernement — a  principle  which  has  com- 
mended itself  to  a  great  many  authorities  on  Patent  Law. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  has  always  really  been  the  English 
system,  which,  while  professing  to  make  a  grant  direct  from 
the  Crown  of  an  important  monopoly,  gave,  as  has  often 
been  said,  nothing  but  a  licence  to  go  to  law,  and  a 
registration  of  the  date  on  which  the  inventor  might  com- 
mence his  action.  The  logical  French  mind  naturally 
agreed  to  a  simple  statement  of  the  facts  as  they  were. 

1  See  Chapter  XI,  p.  243,  and  Chapter  XV,  p,  347. 
*  Household  Words,  I9th  October  1850. 


PATENT  LAW  REFORM  383 

But  the  Englishman  preferred  something  which  appeared 
a  great  deal  more  important,  although  the  imposing  docu- 
ment, with  the  Great  Seal  attached  to  it,  actually  gave 
no  more  right  than  would  have  been  conferred  by  a  simple 
entry  in  a  ledger.  On  the  other  hand,  it  has  to  be  re- 
membered that  an  invalid  patent,  which  could  not  be 
maintained  for  a  moment  in  any  court  of  law,  is  often  ex- 
tremely valuable  as  a  scarecrow,  warning  off  trespassers 
from  a  territory  to  which  the  professed  owner  has  no 
legal  right,  and  this,  perhaps,  is  after  all  the  reason  why 
the  pretentious  but  illogical  British  system  has  so  long 
been  maintained. 

In  America  and  in  Germany  the  opposite  ideal  has  pre- 
vailed, and  the  attempt  is  made  to  provide  a  patentee  with 
a  genuine  monopoly,  by  certifying  to  the  originality  of  his 
ideas.  The  system  in  America  used,  if  all  tales  be  true, 
to  be  modified  by  the  friendly  relations  existing  between 
the  patent  agents  and  the  officials,  though  no  doubt  this 
is  no  longer  the  case  ;  while  the  German  carried  out  his 
ideas  to  the  utmost,  and  reduced  them  ad  absurdum  by 
such  cases  as  refusing  Siemens  a  patent  for  his  regenerative 
furnace  on  the  ground  that  it  was  anticipated  by  a  mediaeval 
oven,  in  which  bread  was  baked  after  the  material  by 
which  the  oven  had  been  heated  was  removed. 

Whichever  may  be  the  better  of  these  two  opposite 
systems  and  ideals  of  patent  law,  it  may  suffice  to  say 
here  that  the  view  of  the  Society's  committee  was  not 
adopted  when  the  Bill,  which  in  1852  became  an  Act,  for 
the  reform  of  the  Patent  Law,  was  introduced  into  the 
House  of  Commons  ;  but  many  of  the  other  provisions  were, 
and  many  parts  of  the  Act  were  founded  on  the  Society's 
suggestions.  This  Act,  which  came  into  force  on  ist 
October  1852,  introduced  many  and  great  changes  into  the 
system  for  granting  patents.  It  abolished  the  "  hanapers  " 
and  "  chaffwaxes,"  whom  Dickens  had  held  up  to  scorn  ; 
it  simplified  procedure,  and  it  reduced  cost.  It  continued 
to  be  the  law  for  many  years,  as  it  was  not  until  1883  that 
any  important  alterations  were  made,  and  in  that  later 
reform  the  Society,  as  will  hereafter  be  recorded,  had  its 
due  share,  For  the  present,  the  work  of  the  committee 


384   PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

having  been  more  or  less  satisfactorily  accomplished,  no 
further  action  was  taken,  and  it  was  not  reappointed  after 
the  passing  of  the  Act. 

The  natural  result  of  the  new  Act  was  an  enormous 
increase  in  the  number  of  patents  applied  for,  and  a  conse- 
quent considerable  revenue  to  the  Patent  Office.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  years  the  amount  of  patent  fees  had  totalled 
up  to  a  large  sum,  and  suggestions  began  to  be  made  that 
money  provided  by  inventors  ought  to  be  applied  in  some 
way  for  their  benefit,  instead  of  being  added  to  the  public 
revenue.  Sir  Joseph  Paxton,  in  1856,  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  Council  on  the  subject,  and  the  result  was  a  com- 
mittee, and  a  memorial  to  the  Commissioners  of  Patents. 
Nothing,  however,  came  of  it,  though  the  Commissioners 
seem  to  have  been  sympathetic  enough,  for  they  published 
year  after  year  in  their  annual  report  a  sort  of  mute  appeal 
to  the  Treasury  in  the  form  of  a  statement  of  the  accumu- 
lated surplus  income  they  had  earned.  The  last  time  this 
statement  appeared  was  in  1881,  in  their  report  for  the 
previous  year.  At  that  time  the  aggregate  surplus  income, 
from  ist  October  1852  to  the  end  of  1880,  was  stated 
(with  a  meticulous  accuracy)  as  £2 ,04 1,159,  J6s.  lod.  The 
Treasury,  however,  were  deaf  to  the  appeal,  and  apparently 
saw  no  reason  to  abandon  so  convenient  a  source  of  revenue. 

In  December  1852  an  Exhibition  of  Photographs 
was  arranged  by  the  Society.  This  was  the  first  public 
exhibition  of  photographs  which  had  ever  been  held, 
though  a  few  specimens  had  been  exhibited  in  the  Philo- 
sophical Instrument  Section  of  the  1851  Exhibition.  One 
hundred  and  twenty-nine  pictures  were  shown,  nearly 
all  of  them  by  the  paper  processes,  though  there  were  some 
collodion  positives.  At  that  time  collodion  had  not  been 
applied  to  the  production  of  negatives,  though  a  few 
months  later  (July  1853)  it  was  found  that  the  picture 
on  the  collodion  film  on  glass  could  be  employed  as  a 
negative,  and  from  that  time  forward  it  was  so  employed, 
to  the*]  ultimate  exclusion  of  the  earlier  methods,  in 
which  paper  rendered  transparent  by  wax  or  other  means 
had  been  used. 


EXHIBITION  OF  PHOTOGRAPHS  385 

The  formation  of  a  Photographic  Society  was  first 
proposed  by  Roger  Fenton  in  April  1852,  and  in  the 
same  month  Robert  Hunt  applied  to  the  Society, 
asking  for  the  use  of  the  meeting-room  for  an  inaugural 
meeting  to  establish  such  a  society.1  The  request  was 
granted,  but  the  meeting  was  not  held  until  January  1853. 
At  this  meeting  Le  Neve  Foster,  who  had  previously 
obtained  the  sanction  of  the  Council  to  his  suggestion, 
brought  forward  a  proposal  that,  instead  of  forming  an 
independent  society  a  special  section  of  the  Society  of 
Arts  should  be  established  dealing  with  photography. 
This  proposal,  however,  did  not  meet  with  the  approval 
of  the  photographers  present,  who  were  strongly  in  favour 
of  an  independent  organisation,  and  the  Photographic 
Society  of  Great  Britain  was  established  on  2Oth  January 
1853.  Sir  Charles  Eastlake,  then  President  of  the  Royal 
Academy,  became  the  first  president  of  the  new  society. 
This,  the  earliest  of  all  photographic  societies,  became  the 
parent  of  many  other  similar  bodies  in  this  country,  and  its 
example  was  also  soon  followed  in  other  countries. 

The  question  of  copyright  in  works  of  Art  was 
taken  up  in  March  1858,  when  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  Council  to  inquire  into  this  subject. 
Of  this  committee  Sir  Charles  Eastlake,  P.R.A.,  was 
appointed  chairman,  and  he  held  the  post  until  the 
termination  of  its  work  four  years  later.  At  that  time 
there  was  almost  no  copyright  in  works  of  Art.  The 
only  Act  in  which  any  protection  at  all  was  given  them  was 

1  Roger  Fenton  was  one  of  the  earliest  photographers,  and  among 
the  most  successful  of  his  time.  He  was  one  of  the  principal  contributors 
in  the  Society's  Photographic  Exhibition  of  1852.  He  took  a  number 
of  pictures  in  the  Crimea  during  the  war.  He  died  in  1869.  A  short 
notice  of  him  will  be  found  in  the  Photographic  Journal,  1 5th  September 
1869.  Robert  Hunt,  F.R.S.,  was  a  man  of  varied  pursuits  and  attained 
reputation  in  more  than  one  of  them.  His  Researches  on  Light  is 
believed  to  be  the  earliest  book  on  photography.  He  was  Keeper  of 
Mining  Records  for  over  thirty  years,  and  professor  at  the  School  of 
Mines.  He  was  a  copious  yet  accurate  writer.  He  was  a  candidate 
for  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Society  in  1853  when  Le  Neve  Foster  was 
elected.  There  is  a  life  of  him  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography 

26 


386  PRESIDENCY  OE  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

that  known  as  Hogarth's  Act  (8  George  n.  c.  15),  passed 
in  1735.  It  was  connected  with  the  name  of  Hogarth 
because  it  was  obtained  by  him,  mainly  at  his  own  expense, 
in  order  to  protect  his  engravings  from  the  piracy  by  which 
he  suffered  considerable  loss.  It  merely  provided  a  cop}^- 
right  of  fourteen  }^ears  in  original  engravings.  There  had 
been  several  amending  Acts,  but  none  which  gave  the 
author  of  an  original  work  of  Art  the  power  of  preventing 
its  being  reproduced  and  copies  being  sold. 

The  committee  drafted  a  Bill  to  establish  copyright 
in  works  of  Fine  Art,  and  this  was  introduced  in  the  Session 
of  1860.  In  spite,  however,  of  all  the  pressure  that  the 
Society  could  bring  to  bear,  by  deputations  to  the  Govern- 
ment, petitions,  and  otherwise,  the  Bill  was  not  passed 
until  July  1862,  and  then  only  in  an  emasculated  form, 
because  the  promoters  were  obliged  to  abandon  its  more 
important  provisions  in  order  to  get  the  Act  passed  at 
all.  Nevertheless,  it  was  a  very  important  reform,  and  it 
continued  for  many  years  to  be  the  law  on  the  subject. 
It  established  the  existence  of  a  copyright  in  works  of  Art, 
though,  owing  to  the  way  in  which  one  of  the  clauses  was 
drafted,  it  left  in  uncertainty  the  question  as  to  whom  the 
copyright  should  belong  in  cases  in  which  the  artist  had 
executed  the  work  for  a  valuable  consideration,  or  when 
he  had  disposed  of  the  work  itself  without  either  retaining 
or  transferring  the  copyright.  In  spite,  however,  of  its 
admitted  imperfections,  it  worked  fairly  satisfactorily, 
and  though  it  has  been  adversely  criticised,  it  was  at  the 
time  a  great  and  valuable  advantage  to  artists.1 

Its  main  provisions  have  been  preserved  in  the  most 
recent  legislation  on  the  subject,  the  Copyright  Act  (i  & 
2  Geo.  v.  c.  46)  passed  in  the  Session  of  1911,  and  in  force 
since  ist  July  1912. 

In  1859  the  Society,  at  the  suggestion  of  Wentworth 
Dilke,  who  was  then  the  Chairman  of  Council,  took  up  the 

1  A  few  years  later,  on  the  receipt  of  an  influentially  signed  memorial 
from  artists  and  picture  dealers,  the  Council  drafted  an  amending  Bill, 
and  it  was  introduced  into  the  House  of  Lords  in  1868  by  Lord  West- 
bury,  but  nothing  came  of  it  (Journal,  vol.  xiv.  pp.  213  and  544,  vol. 
xv.  p.  526,  vol.  xvi.  p.  580). 


MUSICAL  PITCH  387 

question  of  musical  pitch.  The  French  standard  pitch, 
then  and  since  known  as  the  Diapason  Normal,  became 
legal  in  France  on  ist  July  1859  ;  and  it  was  no  doubt  the 
fact  of  the  French  having  adopted  a  musical  standard  that 
led  to  the  endeavour  in  this  country  to  follow  their  example. 
The  proposal  that  an  attempt  should  be  made  to  standardise 
musical  pitch  here  was  referred  to  a  meeting  of  musicians, 
and  after  this  a  committee  was  appointed,  which  produced 
a  very  comprehensive  and  valuable  report  drawn  up  by 
Dr.  Hullah.1 

On  the  recommendations  of  the  committee,  a  standard 
was  suggested  of  528  vibrations  for  the  middle  C  of  the 
pianoforte.  The  French  Diapason  Normal  was  435  for 
the  corresponding  note  A.  The  Society's  note  A  would 
naturally  be  440  ;  but  instead  of  this,  A  was  made  444 
vibrations,  on  the  equal  temperament  system. 

It  is  certainly  unfortunate  that  the  Society's  com- 
mittee did  not  adopt  the  "just"  A  440,  which  would 
have  been  near  enough  to  the  French  pitch  for  the  two  to 
have  been  treated  as  practically  identical,  and  the  probable 
result  would  have  been  that  the  French  pitch  would  have 
been  adopted  in  this  country,  and  we  should  have  got  a 
uniform  musical  pitch  many  years  ago.  The  question 
was  further  complicated  by  the  fact  that  Mr.  Griesbach, 
a  musician  who  had  concerned  himself  with  experimental 
acoustics,  and  who  had  been  entrusted  by  the  Society  with 
the  tuning  of  the  standard  forks,  unfortunately  was  incor- 
rect in  his  determination.  His  C  fork  was  534.5,  instead 
of  528,  and  his  A  fork  445.7,  instead  of  444. 2 

The  Society's  well-intentioned  efforts  had  no  practical 
result,  and  the  suggested  pitch  was  never  to  any 
extent  adopted  here  or  elsewhere.  Much  later  on  its 
existence  became  one  of  the  obstacles  to  the  adoption 
in  this  country  of  a  standard  pitch,  and  in  1886  it  was 
referred  to  a  committee  to  consider  whether  it  was  still 

1  The  report  was  printed  in  the  Journal  for  8th  June  1860,  vol.  viii. 

P-  572. 

2  These  particulars  are  taken  from  a  most  interesting  paper  by  Mr. 
A.  J.  Hipkins,  read  before  the  Society  in  February  1896,  and  published 
in  the  Journal,  vol.  xliv.  p.  535. 


388    PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

desirable  for  the  Society  to  maintain  its  theoretical  C  528. 
On  the  advice  of  this  committee,  the  Council,  in  February 
1886,  formally  abandoned  the  Society  of  Arts  pitch, 
and  published  their  reason  for  so  doing.1 

The  committee  further  advised  that  the  Society  in 
abandoning  its  own  pitch  should  use  its  influence  in 
furthering  the  adoption  of  the  French  pitch,  from  which, 
as  before  said,  the  Society's  pitch,  when  accurately 
measured,  did  not  really  differ  very  much. 

One  of  the  schemes  taken  up  by  the  Council  aroused 
a  great  deal  of  ridicule,  although  it  provided  for  what  has 
now  got  to  be  considered  as  one  of  the  necessaries  of 
civilization — that  is,  the  supply  of  public  water-closets 
and  lavatories.  Such  conveniences  had  been  provided 
in  the  1851  Exhibition,  and  the  charges  made  for  their 
use  resulted  in  a  considerable  profit.2  It  was  thought, 
very  properly,  that  similar  conveniences  ought  to  be 
available  in  all  great  cities,  and  (Sir)  Samuel  Morton  Peto, 
the  well-known  contractor,  offered  to  defray  the  cost  of 
the  experiment,  if  the  Society  of  Arts  would  undertake 
to  provide  waiting-rooms  with  suitable  accommodation 
in  London.  Arrangements  were  made  for  two  such 
places — one  for  gentlemen  in  Fleet  Street,  and  one  for 
ladies  in  Bedford  Street,  Strand. 

The  experiment  turned  out  a  complete  failure,  as  the 
cost  of  establishment  and  current  expenses  for  a  period  of 
about  six  months  amounted  to  £492,  i;s.  4d.,  whereas  the 
total  receipts  were  only  £15,  135.  nd.  Mr.  Peto  (as 
he  then  was)  paid  up  the  balance  of  £477>  3s-  5^.,  and  the 
experiment  was  brought  to  an  end.  It,  however,  served 
its  purpose  in  drawing  attention  to  the  necessity  for  such 
places.  Later  on  the  matter  was  taken  up  by  the  City 
Corporation,  mainly  owing  to  the  recommendations  of 
William  Hay  wood,  the  City  engineer  (1846-1894),  who 
originated  the  system  of  underground  lavatories  ;  and 
now  London,  which  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago  was  probably 

1  Journal  for  I2th  February  1886,  vol.  xxxiv.  p.  265. 

2  The  receipts  were  £2470,  and  the  expenses  about  £680  (Transactions, 
vol.  Ivii.  p.  xvii). 


PRIZES  FOR  INDUSTRIAL  ART  389 

the  worst  supplied  of  any  capital  in  Europe  with  sanitary 
conveniences,  is  certainly  the  best. 

Although  the  Society  had  long  since  given  up  the 
practice  of  making  the  bestowal  of  premiums  its  chief 
object,  it  never  wholly  abandoned  that  practice.  Refer- 
ence has  been  made  more  than  once  to  the  special  prizes 
which  were  given  during  the  years  which  preceded  the 
1851  Exhibition,  and,  indeed,  gave  the  first  stimulus  to 
the  idea  of  such  an  exhibition.  The  award  of  these 
special  prizes  was  carried  on  from  1846  to  1850,  and 
during  that  period  the  following  well-known  firms,  amongst 
others,  received  the  Society's  medals  : — Minton  &  Co. 
and  Copeland  (pottery)  ;  Osier  &  Co.  and  Pellatt  &  Co. 
(glass)  ;  Woollams  &  Co.  and  W.  B.  Simpson  (paper- 
hangings)  ;  the  Coalbrookdale  Co.  (iron  castings)  ;  Hunt 
and  Roskell  (jewellery)  ;  Crossley  (carpets)  ;  Chubb 
(safes)  ;  and  Leighton  (bookbinding).  Mention  should 
also  be  made  of  the  gold  medal  awarded  to  W.  C.  Siemens 
in  1850  for  his  regenerative  condenser.  This  was  an 
early  and  not  very  successful  application  of  the  regenerative 
principle.  It  was  included  in  the  patent  for  a  regenerative 
engine  (1847),  and  was  the  subject  of  a  later  patent  (1849). 
The  regenerative  furnace  was  patented  by  Frederick 
Siemens  in  I856.1  Many  years  afterwards,  when  he 
occupied  the  post  of  Chairman  of  Council,  Sir  William 
Siemens  said  that  this  prize,  the  first  he  ever  received, 
had  been  of  the  greatest  encouragement  to  him.  In  the 
same  year  (1850)  Henry  Bessemer  also  had  a  gold  medal 
for  one  of  his  minor  inventions — a  sugar-cane  press.  His 
improvements  in  steel  manufacture  were  of  a  later 
date,  his  first  patent  connected  with  the  "  Bessemer 
process  "  having  been  taken  out  in  1855. 

Inasmuch  as  the  Society  never  formally  discontinued 
its  practice  of  awarding  medals  for  meritorious  inventions, 
it  was  always  open  to  anybody  to  submit  anything  which 
he  considered  worthy  of  award,  and  from  time  to  time 
new  inventions  of  various  sorts  were  so  submitted,  were 

1  Life    of    Sir    William    Siemens,  by  William  Pole,    1888,  p.   75 
et  seq. 


390   PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

referred  to  a  small  committee  or  to  some  individual  expert, 
and  received  prizes. 

During  the  period  with  which  we  are  now  engaged  some 
special  prizes  of  importance  were  offered.  The  Society's 
colour-box  has  already  been  .mentioned.1  This  was  the 
most  popular  of  all  its  awards.  The  most  important  was 
the  prize  offered  for  a  microscope.  In  the  summer  of  1854 
Dr.  W.  B.  Carpenter  suggested  to  the  Council  that  a  prize 
should  be  offered  for  a  cheap  microscope,  the  cost  of  such 
instruments  being  then  such  as  to  put  them  out  of  the 
reach  of  students  and  teachers  of  elementary  science. 
The  proposal  was  approved,  and  on  the  recommendation 
of  a  committee  of  microscopists,  two  medals  were  offered, 
one  for  a  simple  and  one  for  a  compound  microscope,  to 
be  supplied  at  the  price  of  IDS.  6d.  and  £3,  35.  respectively. 
It  was  said  that  at  such  prices  nothing  of  any  practical 
use  could  be  provided,  but  Messrs.  Field,  of  Birmingham, 
produced  two  excellent  instruments  at  the  stipulated 
prices,  and  the  prizes  were  awarded  to  them.  In  the 
simple  microscope,  a  tubular  stem,  which  screwed  into 
the  top  of  the  box  containing  the  instrument  when  not  in 
use,  carried  an  inner  rod  fitted  with  a  rack  and  pinion, 
and  on  this  rod  the  lenses  were  mounted.  There  were 
three  lenses,  giving  separately  or  in  combination  a  range 
of  magnification  from  about  five  to  forty  diameters.  The 
top  of  the  stem  carried  a  stage,  to  which  could  be  fitted  a 
condensing  lens  for  illumination  or  a  stage-forceps.  The 
little  instrument,  which  was  sold  for  los.  6d.,  was  well 
suited  for  the  examination  of  botanical  and  other  natural 
history  specimens.  In  construction  and  design  it  seems 
to  have  been  quite  novel  at  the  time. 

The  compound  microscope  was  a  really  excellent 
instrument.  It  had  a  cast-iron  stand,  very  firm  and 
steady,  two  eye-pieces,  two  objectives  giving  a  range  from 
25  to  200  diameters,  a  stage  with  rotating  diaphragm, 
coarse  and  fine  adjustments,  adjustable  mirror  with  plane 
and  concave  sides,  separate  condenser,  stage-forceps  and 
live-box.  It  was  not,  of  course,  an  instrument  suited  for 
scientific  research,  but  it  was  a  thoroughly  serviceable 
1  See  Chapter  IX,  p.  214, 


THE  PRIZE  MICROSCOPE  391 

one,  and  nothing  like  it  had  ever  before  been  produced 
at  such  a  price.  Dr.  Carpenter,  in  his  well-known  book  on 
the  microscope,  speaks  highly  of  it,  and  in  his  third  edition, 
published  in  1872,  he  says  that  by  the  end  of  the  year 
1 86 1,  1800  instruments  had  been  sold. 

The  principal  value  of  the  award  was  that  it  proved  that 
a  serviceable  microscope  could  be  produced  at  a  cost  far 
lower  than  that  of  any  previous  instrument,  and  the  natural 
result  followed  that  it  had  many  successors,  some  of  them 
improvements  on  the  original,  though  perhaps  there  were 
none  which  competed  with  it  in  lowness  of  price.  Certainly 
more  than  twenty  years  after  its  introduction  microscopes 
were  being  sold  which  professed  to  be  the  Society  of  Arts 
pattern,  and  resembled  it  more  or  less  closely  both  in 
character  and  merits.  Later  still,  of  course,  much  greater 
improvements  were  made,  especially  in  the  optical  part, 
and  inexpensive  microscopes  can  now  be  bought  com- 
pared with  which  the  original  Society's  microscope  is  but 
a  very  inefficient  tool.  But  it  remains  the  first  of  its  sort, 
and  its  introduction  was  a  great  boon  to  the  scientific 
student  of  fifty  years  ago. 

In  1857  Mr.  John  MacGregor  offered  the  sum  of  £10 
for  a  prize  for  a  cheap  writing-case  suitable  for  the  use 
of  soldiers  and  sailors.  The  donor  was  well  known  as 
"  Rob  Roy  "  MacGregor,  from  his  having  invented  what 
he  called  the  u  Rob  Roy  "  canoe.  This  was  a  canoe 
rather  larger  than  the  double-paddle  canoes  which  were 
then  coming  into  fashion,  covered  in  fore  and  aft,  and 
capable  of  standing  heavier  weather  than  the  ordinary 
canoe.  MacGregor  made  various  voyages  in  his  favourite 
craft,  including  one  down  the  Jordan  (1868),  which  he 
described  in  a  book  that  attracted  a  good  deal  of  atten- 
tion at  the  time.  MacGregor 's  offer  being  considered 
insufficient,  it  was  supplemented  by  a  donation  of  an 
equal  amount  from  the  Rev.  T.  Trench,  and  the  full  prize 
of  £20  was  awarded  in  1859  to  Messrs.  Parkins  and  Gotto 
for  a  writing-case  which  was  sold  at  the  price  of  is.  6d. 
It  achieved  a  considerable  amount  of  popularity,  for 
within  a  year  20,000  of  them  were  sold  ;  but  its  chief  use 
was,  like  that  of  the  colour-box  and  microscope,  that  it  was 


392    PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

succeeded  by  various  forms  of  cheap  desks  and  writing- 
cases,  which  were  improvements  on  the  original,  and  were 
sold  at  an  almost  equally  moderate  cost. 

The  offer  in  1848  of  a  Gold  Medal  or  Thirty  Guineas 
for  a  design  for  Labourers'  Cottages  attracted  sixty- 
one  competitors.  In  the  result  a  prize  of  £15  was 
awarded  to  T.  C.  Hine  of  Nottingham,  and  a  prize  of  £10 
to  S.  J.  Nicholl.  Both  these  designs  were  for  a  double 
cottage.  Under  the  terms  of  the  offer,  the  cost  of  a 
double-cottage  erected  in  Middlesex  was  not  to  exceed 
£300.  There  does  not  seem  to  be  any  evidence  to  show 
that  there  was  much  practical  outcome  of  the  competition. 
But  it  attracted  a  good  deal  of  public  attention,  and  both 
the  prize-winners  published  a  description  of  their  designs, 
with  working  drawings  and  specifications.1 

In  addition  to  these  there  were  several  prizes  for 
essays.  In  1853  a  prize  of  £50  was  awarded  to  James 
Hole,  of  Leeds  (Honorary  Secretary  to  the  Yorkshire  Union 
of  Mechanics'  Institutions),  for  an  essay  on  Mechanics' 
Institutes.  To  this  reference  has  already  been  made. 

In  1855  a  prize  of  twenty-five  guineas,  offered  by  Ben- 
jamin Oliveira,  M.P.,  was  awarded  to  Charles  Wye  Williams2 

1  Reference  to  an  earlier  offer  of  similar  prizes  will  be  found  in 
Chapter  XIII,  p.  312,  and  to  a  later  one  in  Chapter  XXI,  p.  491. 

2  Charles  Wye  Williams  was  a  man  of  a  certain  importance  in  his 
time.     He  founded  the  City  of  Dublin  Steam  Packet  Company,  which 
for  long  maintained  the  service  between  Holyhead  and  Kingstown. 
He  was  the  Managing  Director  of  this  Company  until  the  time  of  his 
death  in  1866.     He  also  took  an  active  part  in  the  formation  of  the 
Peninsular  and  Oriental  Steam  Navigation  Company,  and  is  credited 
with  having  applied  watertight  bulkheads  to  divide  a  ship  into  separate 
compartments  at  an  early  date.     He  was  the  patentee  of  a  steam  boiler 
furnace,  the  principle  of  which  is  described  in  his  Essay,  and  he  wrote 
several  books  on  coal  combustion  and  the  production  of  steam.     The 
value  of  his  work  in  this  direction,  however,  is  a  little  doubtful.     His 
principal  book  has  been  described  to  the  writer  by  a  very  competent 
authority   as   a    "  queer   mixture   of   sense   and  nonsense."     It    was 
vigorously  attacked  by  Armstrong  and  Bourne  in  their  book  on  Boiler 
Engineering  (1856),  and  also  by  Bourne  in  a  review  published  in  1843. 
He  was  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  Society,  and  a  long  obituary 
notice  of  him  appears  in  the  Journal ,  vol.  xiv.  p.  383. 


THE  SWINEY  PRIZE  393 

for  an  essay  on  "  The  Prevention  of  the  Smoke  Nuisance," 
and  two  years  later,  in  1857,  a  prize  of  £200,  which  had 
been  offered  by  Henry  Johnson  for  an  essay  "  On  the 
Present  Financial  Position  of  the  Country  "  was  awarded 
to  Edward  Capps. 

It  should  be  added  that  in  1850  Scott  Russell  made  a 
suggestion  that  medals  should  be  given  to  the  readers  of 
the  best  papers  every  year.  The  suggestion  was  adopted 
and  at  once  acted  upon.  The  practice  has  been  continued 
from  that  date  down  to  the  present  time. 

As  the  first  award  of  the  Swiney  Prize  was  made  in 
1849,  this  would  seem  to  be  the  proper  place  to  insert  some 
account  of  this  curious  bequest. 

At  the  meeting  held  on  7th  February  1 844,  Arthur  Aikin 
reported  that  during  his  secretaryship  thirteen  years 
before,  which  would  mean  some  time  in  1831,  "  a  stranger 
called  at  this  office  and  put  into  my  hand  the  will  of  Dr. 
Swiney,  sealed  up  in  an  enclosure,  and  immediately  left." 
Dr.  Aikin  endeavoured  to  find  out  the  doctor's  address, 
but  without  success.  When  he  retired  from  the  secretary- 
ship (1839)  he  took  legal  advice  as  to  what  had  better  be 
done  with  the  packet,  and  was  advised  to  open  it,  when  he 
found  a  note  from  Dr.  Swiney  addressed  to  himself,  express- 
ing a  wish  that  he  should  take  charge  of  the  will.  This 
note  was  dated  from  Sidmouth  Street,  Gray's  Inn  Road, 
but  no  trace  of  Dr.  Swiney  could  then  be  found,  though 
inquiries  were  at  once  made. 

Aikin  handed  over  the  will  to  William  Tooke,  the 
Society's  honorary  solicitor,  and  it  remained  in  his  hands 
until  January  1 844,  when  Aikin  was  summoned  to  attend 
at  Dr.  Swiney 's  lodgings  in  Grove  Street  (now  Arlington 
Road),  Camden  Town,  where  he  had  died  on  2ist 
January. 

On  the  will  being  read,  it  appeared  that  the  deceased 
had  bequeathed,  amongst  other  legacies,  £5000  Three  per 
Cent.  Consols  to  the  Society  of  Arts,  and  a  like  amount 
to  the  British  Museum,  on  the  condition,  so  far  as  the 
Society  of  Arts  was  concerned,  that  a  sum  of  £100  contained 
in  a  silver  cup  of  the  same  value  should  be  awarded  on 


394   PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

every  fifth  anniversary  of  Dr.  Swiney 's  death  as  a  prize  to 
the  author  of  the  best  published  book  on  Jurisprudence. 

Not  a  great  deal  has  ever  been  found  out  about  Dr. 
George  Swiney.  He  was  said  to  be  a  son  of  Admiral 
Swiney,  and  a  relation  of  Sir  Humphry  Davy.  He  was 
about  fifty  when  he  died,  and  had  resided  in  Grove  Street 
for  about  fifteen  years.  He  was  an  M.D.  of  Edinburgh, 
where  he  graduated  in  1 8 1 6 .  He  was  certainly  an  eccentric 
character,  and  it  was  thought  that  some  of  his  relations — 
for  he  appears  to  have  had  some — would  have  disputed 
the  will.  Nothing  of  the  sort  was  done,  and  in  due  course 
the  Society  received  its  bequest.  His  eccentricity  was 
displayed  in  the  provisions  made  in  his  will  for  his  funeral. 
These  were  all  duly  carried  out.  His  coffin  was  covered 
with  a  yellow  velvet  pall,  and  followed  by  three  girls  in 
gay  dresses.  So  curious  a  procession  naturally  attracted 
a  great  deal  of  attention,  and  the  crowd  was  so  great  that 
there  was  some  difficulty  in  carrying  out  the  funeral.  He 
was  buried  in  the  burial-ground  in  Pratt  Street,  Camden 
Town.  His  tombstone  having  fallen  into  disrepair,  it  was 
twice  repaired  at  the  cost  of  the  Society,  the  second  time 
in  1899,  when  the  old  stone  was  in  so  bad  a  condition  that 
it  was  thought  best  to  renew  it  entirely  and  re-cut  the 
inscription,  which  runs  as  follows — 

Hie  JACET 

GEORGIUS  SWINAEUS,  MED.  DOCT. 
ANGLUS,  SCOTUS,  ET  HIBERNICUS. 

VlXIT    SlMPLICITER 

LUBENS  OBIIT 

12  KAL.  FEB.  MDCCCXLIV. 
ANNO  AETATIS  SUAE  L.1 

Although  the  bequest  was  made  to  the  Society  of  Arts 
alone,  the  adjudicators  were,  by  the  terms  of  the  will,  to 
be  the  members  of  the  Society  and  the  members  of  the 
Royal  College  of  Physicians,  "  with  the  wives  of  such  of 
them  as  happen  to  be  married."  It  may  be  supposed 

1  A  few  further  details  will  be  found  in  two  articles  in  the  Journal, 
vol.  xlvii.  p.  660,  and  vol.  Ivii.  p.  440, 


THE  SWINEY  PRIZE  395 

that  it  was  his  connection  with  medicine  which  led  him  to 
drag  in  the  College  of  Physicians  ;  but  it  is  only  another 
proof  of  the  man's  eccentricity  that  on  deciding  to  found 
an  award  connected  with  Jurisprudence  he  should  select  as 
adjudicators  the  members  of  two  institutions  neither  of 
which  has  any  connection  with  the  law,  or  their  members 
any  special  qualifications  for  the  task.  It,  therefore, 
became  desirable  to  consult  with  the  College  of  Physicians 
as  to  the  disposition  of  the  prize,  and  before  the  time  for 
the  first  award  came  round  the  Council  communicated 
with  the  College,  with  the  result  that  an  arrangement 
was  arrived  at  that  the  award  should  be  given  alternately 
for  Medical  and  General  Jurisprudence.  This  arrangement 
has  been  amicably  adhered  to  up  to  the  present  date. 

When  the  question  of  designing  a  cup  arose,  Daniel 
Maclise  was  invited  to  submit  a  design,  which  was  approved 
and  accepted  by  the  Council  in  May  1849,  the  execution 
of  the  design  being  entrusted  to  Messrs.  Garrard,  the 
silversmiths.  On  two  occasions  since — in  1856  and  1894 — 
the  question  has  arisen  of  substituting  a  new  design  for 
that  of  Maclise,  and  the  Council  on  both  occasions  went  so 
far  as  to  offer  prizes  for  such  a  new  design.  In  neither 
case,  however,  was  the  result  satisfactory,  and  the  cup  is 
now,  with  some  trifling  alterations,  the  same  as  that 
originally  designed  by  Maclise. 

Besides  the  various  matters  already  mentioned  to 
which  the  special  attention  of  the  Society  and  its  Council 
was  directed,  there  were  many  other  topics  of  which  little 
more  than  bare  mention  must  suffice. 

In  1854  a  Committee  on  Industrial  Pathology  was  ap- 
pointed, of  which  the  most  important  members  were  Dr. 
T.  K.  Chambers  and  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir  John)  Simon. 
This  committee  produced  two  reports.1  Dr.  Chambers 
also  read  a  paper  on  the  subject  in  June  1854.  In  this 
paper,2  and  in  the  first  report  of  the  committee,  the 
subject  was  dealt  with  in  a  general  manner.  The  second 
report  had  special  reference  to  trades  which  affected  the 

1  Journal,  vol.  ii.  p.  364,  and  vol.  iii.  p.  119. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.  p.  491. 


396   PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

eyes.  Nothing  very  much  seems  to  have  come  of  the 
committee's  efforts,  and,  indeed,  this  important  subject 
hardly  met  with  adequate  treatment  at  the  Society's  hands. 

The  question  of  cheap  international  postage  was  taken 
up  as  early  as  1851,  and  in  1852  the  Council  sent  a  deputa- 
tion to  Lord  Granville,  then  Foreign  Secretary,  on  the 
subject.  In  1855  a  parcel  post  was  proposed  for  the  first 
time.  A  committee  reported  on  the  proposal,  and  there 
was  much  discussion  upon  it,  which  bore  fruit  eventually, 
but  not  for  many  years. 

The  effects  of  the  Paper  Duty  came  under  considera- 
tion from  time  to  time,  first  in  1853,  when  the  Council 
undertook  an  elaborate  investigation  into  the  effect  of  the 
duties,  and  collected  the  opinions  of  those  whose  interests 
were  affected  by  them,  including  paper-makers,  stationers, 
publishers,  newspaper  proprietors  and  editors,  authors  and 
traders  using  paper  for  manufacturing  and  other  purposes. 
A  considerable  amount  of  information  collected  from 
these  various  classes  was  published.  In  1860  a  petition 
against  what  was  called  "  taxes  on  knowledge  "  was 
addressed  to  the  House  of  Commons.  The  duties  were 
abolished  in  1861,  after  a  dispute  between  the  two  Houses 
of  Parliament. 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  when  a  proposal  for  national 
holidays  was  brought  up  before  the  Council  in  1861,  a 
resolution  of  disapproval  was  passed. 

The  centenary  of  the  Society  occurred  in  1854,  and 
was  duly  celebrated  by  a  dinner  at  the  Crystal  Palace, 
at  which  Earl  Granville  presided.  The  Society's  annual 
dinner  was  continued  regularly  up  to  1862,  when  Mr. 
Gladstone  was  in  the  chair.  This  dinner  was  held  in  one 
of  the  refreshment  rooms  of  the  1862  Exhibition  building. 
Two  years  previously  Mr.  Disraeli  presided.  Other  chair- 
men had  been  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  Lord  Ashburton,  Lord 
Stanley,  the  Earl  of  Carlisle,  Lord  Napier,  and  the  Earl  of 
Elgin.  The  numbers  attending  the  dinner  had  gradually 
fallen  off  (there  were  750  in  1854),  and  after  1862  it  was 
not  continued. 

It  is  worth  mentioning  as  a  matter  of  record  that  the 
present  Common  Seal  of  the  Society  dates  from  1856.  It 


THE  SOCIETY'S  FINANCES  397 

was  adopted  by  a  resolution  of  Council  passed  on  i8th 
June  in  that  year,  and  the  old  seal,  with  the  design  by 
Cipriani,  which  had  been  adopted  in  1 848,  was  given  up. 

When  the  Council  met  for  the  first  time  in  December 
1 845 ,  the  Society  was  not  far  from  being  bankrupt .     All  the 
available  stock  had  been  sold,  and  only  a  few  trust  funds, 
amounting  to  just  £1000,  were  left.     The  receipts  for  the 
year  were  insufficient  to  meet  the  annual  expenditure  ; 
there  was  just  £i  1 7  in  the  bank,  and  the  Society  was  about 
£1000  or  so  in  debt.     The  accounts  are  not  very  clear,  but 
that  seems  to  have  been    about  the  actual  state  of  the 
finances.     It  was  obvious  that  if  the  Society  was  to  go 
on  at  all,  money  had  to  be  provided.      Various  plans  were 
considered.     Among  other  expedients  suggested  was  the 
raising  of  a  loan  fund  amongst  the  members.     Various 
liberal  offers  were  made  to  contribute  to  such  a  fund 
without  requiring  any  interest,  and  several  hundred  pounds 
were  thus  paid,  or  promised,  by  some  of  the  members.  These 
contributions  kept  things  going  for  a  year  or  two,  and  then 
the  Council  received  an  offer  from  one  of  the  members, 
Mr.  Henry  Hobhouse,  to  lend  the  Society  a  sum  of  £1000 
at  4 1  per  cent,  interest,  to  be  secured  by  a  debenture  on 
the  Society's  property.     This  offer  was  gratefully  accepted 
in  May    1848.      It   enabled  temporary   difficulties  to  be 
tided  over,  and  in  a  year  or  so  from  this  time  the  Society 
became  practically  solvent,  the  receipts  from  the  increasing 
number  of  members  and  other  sources  being  just  about 
enough  to  balance  the  expenses.     Still,  when  Mr.  Hob- 
house  died  in  1854  and  his  executors  required  the  debenture 
to  be  taken  up,  the  Council  were  not  yet  in  a  position  to 
discharge  the  liability,  but  Mr.  Thomas  Twining,  who  was 
then  a  member  of  the  Council,  advanced  £1000  in  the 
following    year    to    pay    Mr.    Hobhouse's    estate.     This 
amount  he  was  repaid  in  three  instalments,  the  last  in 
December  1857. 

The  1851  Exhibition  and  the  growing  reputation  of 
the  Society  caused  a  large  influx  of  members,  and  a  similar 
result  accrued  from  the  Exhibition  of  1862,  so  that  the 
balance-sheet  for  the  year  ending  June  1862  showed  a 


398     PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

total  of  actual  revenue  of  nearly  £9000,  and  a  balance 
of  income  over  expenditure  of  more  than  £1000.  The 
moneys  in  hand,  and  the  amounts  actually  due  and  re- 
coverable, were  much  more  than  sufficient  to  balance  the 
actual  liabilities. 

That  the  actual  financial  condition  of  the  Society 
was  not  generally  appreciated,  or  its  independence  of  official 
support  generally  known,  is  shown  by  an  order  made  by  the 
House  of  Lords  in  1856  for  a  return  of  the  sums  of  money 
granted  by  Government  to  the  Society  during  the  five 
years  ending  April  of  that  year.  The  officials  of  the  House, 
unable  to  supply  the  information  themselves,  applied  for 
help  to  the  Society,  whereupon  the  Council  directed  the 
Secretary  to  reply  that  the  Society  had  existed  for  over  a 
hundred  years,  and  had  never  received  any  public  money 
whatever,  and  that,  therefore,  the  amount  in  question 
was  "  nil."  There  does  not  appear  to  have  been  any 
further  correspondence.  If  the  question  were  repeated 
at  the  present  date,  the  same  answer  would  serve. 

When  all  the  arrangements  for  the  1862  Exhibition 
had  been  successfully  completed,  and  the  Society,  then 
in  the  full  tide  of  prosperity  and  success,  was  looking 
forward  to  the  realisation  of  a  considerable  financial 
endowment  from  the  anticipated  profits  of  the  Exhibition, 
their  hopes  were  suddenly  destroyed  by  the  sudden  and 
unexpected  death  of  their  President.  The  Prince  Consort 
died  in  December  1861.  Though  it  was  decided  that  the 
Exhibition  should  still  be  held,  it  was  held  during  a  period 
of  national  mourning,  and  without  any  of  the  pomp  and 
circumstance  which  are  essential  to  the  success  of  such  an 
undertaking.  The  result  was  a  financial  failure,  which 
deprived  the  Society  of  any  advantage  whatever,  though 
it  did  not  involve  it  in  any  actual  loss. 

But  the  loss  of  prospective  revenue  was  not  the  greatest 
of  the  Society's  deprivations.  For  eighteen  years  Prince 
Albert  had  been  the  active  and  watchful  President  of  the 
Society.  He  had  taken  office  when  its  fortunes  were  at 
their  lowest  ebb,  its  members  few  and  falling  away,  its 
resources  exhausted.  If  he  had  not  consented  to  accept 
the  Presidency,  a  very  few  more  years  would  have  seen  its 


THE  SOCIETY'S  FIRST  SEAL. 


THE  SOCIETY'S  PRESENT  SEAL 


To  face  page  398. 


THE  DEATH  OF  PRINCE  ALBERT          399 

extinction.  When  he  died  it  was  flourishing  and  rich,  the 
number  of  its  supporters  was  just  as  many  thousands  as  they 
had  been  hundreds,  and  it  had  accomplished  an  amount 
of  public  work  of  which  any  institution  might  have  been 
proud.  To  attribute  all  this  to  the  Prince  Consort  alone 
would  be  the  merest  sycophancy  ;  but  it  is  absolutely 
certain  that  but  for  his  influence  and  his  inspiring  interest 
the  work  would  never  have  been  done.  At  his  last 
appearance  at  the  Society,  when,  in  May  1861,  he  pre- 
sided at  one  of  its  meetings,  he  expressed  his  regret  that  of 
late  he  had  been  unable  to  give  to  its  work  the  attention 
and  the  care  he  had  given  in  earlier  years.  The  Society 
of  Arts  was  one  of  the  first  public  institutions  in  the 
country  to  which  he  lent  his  patronage  and  his  help.  It 
repaid  his  attention  by  being  amongst  the  first  public 
bodies  in  England  to  value  him  at  his  true  worth .  For  years 
he  was  unappreciated,  misunderstood,  almost  unpopular  ; 
but  by  the  members  of  the  Society  with  whom  he  worked, 
in  pursuance  of  aims  and  objects  on  which  his  heart  was 
set,  he  was  from  the  first  appreciated,  understood  and 
esteemed.  It  is  something  to  the  credit  of  the  band  of 
workers  who  used  the  organisation  of  the  Society  for  the 
promotion  of  much  public  good,  that  they  estimated  at 
its  true  value  the  character  of  a  man  who  for  long  lacked 
fit  recognition  at  the  hands  of  his  adopted  countrymen, 
and  whose  genuine  worth  was  only  fully  realised  in  the 
closing  years  of  his  life  among  them. 

When  the  question  of  a  national  memorial  to  the  Prince 
came  under  consideration,  the  Council  at  once  voted  what 
was — considering  the  Society's  resources — the  very  large 
sum  of  £1000  towards  it,  and  also  took  steps  to  collect 
subscriptions  among  the  individual  members.  Yet  to 
many  outside  the  Council  this  seemed  insufficient,  and  a 
proposal  was  put  forward  for  a  separate  special  memorial 
of  the  Society's  own.  This  was  at  first  opposed  by  the 
Council,  who  were  aware  of  the  Queen's  desire  that  the 
monument  to  her  late  husband  should  be  the  result  of 
a  single  united  national  effort.  The  feeling,  however, 
was  too  powerful.  An  influentially-signed  memorial  was 
presented  to  the  Council  calling  on  them  to  summon  a 


400   PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  PRINCE  CONSORT 

second  general  meeting — one  had  already  been  held  to 
endorse  the  action  of  the  Council  in  contributing  from 
the  Society's  funds  to  the  national  memorial — and  the 
Council,  submitting  to  the  evident  wishes  of  the  members, 
at  once  abandoned  all  opposition  and  took  the  lead  in  the 
proposed  movement.  The  result  was  that  a  fund  was 
subscribed  by  the  members,  out  of  which  were  provided 
the  two  portraits  of  the  Queen  and  of  the  Prince  now  in  the 
meeting-room,  and  the  bust  of  the  Prince  now  in  the  ante- 
room. 

A  still  finer  memorial  of  the  Prince  is  the  Albert  Medal 
founded  in  1863,  "  for  distinguished  merit  in  promoting 
Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce,"  and  awarded  for  the 
first  time  in  1864.  This  was  established  by  the  Council  in 
pursuance  of  a  suggestion  made  at  the  general  meeting 
above  mentioned,  and  is,  of  course,  provided  at  the  cost  of 
the  Society. 

It  has  been  awarded  annually  since  it  was  first 
founded.  This  year  (1913)  completes  a  half-century  of 
awards,  and  the  occasion  has  been  emphasised  by  the 
presentation  of  the  medal  to  his  present  Majesty,  King 
George  V.  The  list  of  its  recipients  forms  a  record  of  the 
greatest  of  those  who  during  that  period  have  laboured  to 
apply  the  advances  of  science  to  the  practical  benefit 
of  mankind.  Their  names  are  fitly  associated  with  that 
of  the  earnest  philosopher  and  philanthropist,  to  com- 
memorate whose  association  with  the  Society  the  medal 
was  established,  and  while  the  renown  of  the  recipients 
adds  a  constantly  increasing  value  to  the  honour  of  the 
award,  the  services  recognised  by  the  medal  may  fitly 
be  held  to  lend  some  further  lustre  to  the  reputation  of  the 
sagacious  and  benevolent  Prince  in  whose  memory  it  was 
founded. 


CHAPTER    XVI  I 
THE  1851   EXHIBITION 

Origin  of  National  and  International  Exhibitions — The  First  French 
Exhibition — The  "National  Repository,"  1828 — First  Proposals 
for  a  National  Exhibition  of  Industry — Attempts  to  carry  out  the 
Proposal — The  Society's  Exhibitions  of  Manufactures — Exhibi- 
tion of  Ancient  and  Mediaeval  Art — Proposal  for  a  National 
Exhibition — Idea  taken  up  by  Prince  Albert — International 
Exhibition  decided  upon — First  Steps  to  carry  out  the  Scheme — 
Agreement  with  Contractors  for  a  Building — Royal  Commission 
appointed,  and  work  handed  over  to  it. 

PROBABLY  the  most  important  piece  of  work  ever  under- 
taken by  the  Society  of  Arts  was  the  foundation  of  the 
Great  Exhibition  of  1 85 1 ,  and  through  it  of  that  long  series 
of  international  exhibitions  which  have  had  such  far- 
reaching  influences  on  the  arts,  as  well  as  on  industry 
and  trade. 

In  the  history,  therefore,  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  the 
chapter  dealing  with  its  connection  with  exhibitions  is  a 
very  important  chapter,  and  so  it  becomes  necessary  to 
set  forth  in  some  detail  an  account  of  the  steps  which 
led  to  the  successful  inauguration  of  the  Great  Palace  of 
Industry  in  Hyde  Park.  Now  that  so  many  exhibitions 
have  been  held,  and  that  experience  has  established  a 
system — even  a  routine — for  their  management,  we  may 
easily  overlook  the  difficulties  which  surrounded  the  path 
of  those  who  started — without  example  or  experience  to 
guide  them — so  novel  an  experiment,  and  who,  indeed, 
realised  a  success  not  surpassed  by  any  of  their  followers. 
Some  of  these  men  are  now  forgotten.  Others  never 
received  their  due  share  of  credit.  Perhaps,  now  that  all 
27 


402  THE  1851  EXHIBITION 

of  them  have  passed  away,  it  may  be  possible  to  set  out 
without  invidious  comparisons  their  various  shares  in  the 
great  enterprise,  so  far  as  the  records  of  the  Society  enable 
it  to  be  done. 

As  it  was  only  with  the  initiation  of  the  undertaking 
that  the  Society  was  concerned,  it  will  be  only  the  early 
steps  of  preparation  that  will  be  recorded  here.  As  soon 
as  success  was  assured,  and  national  support  was  certain, 
it  was  decided  that  so  important  a  movement  should  be 
under  Government  control.  Probably  in  no  other  w7ay 
than  by  means  of  a  Royal  Commission  could  the  great 
enterprise  have  been  so  successfully  accomplished.  Still, 
the  historian  of  the  Society  of  Arts  may  be  pardoned  a 
regret  that  the  Society  should  not  have  been  able  to 
carry  out  to  the  end  the  scheme  it  had  brought  so  far,  and 
to  reap  the  full  reward  of  its  early  and  devoted  labours. 

The  question  of  the  origin  of  national  and  international 
exhibitions  has  often  been  discussed,  and  there  seems 
no  doubt  that  the  earliest  industrial  exhibition  of  which 
there  is  any  record  was  the  Exhibition,  held  by  the  Society 
of  Arts  in  1761,  of  Agricultural  and  other  Machines,  for 
which  the  Society  had  offered  prizes.  Thus  it  may 
certainly  be  claimed  for  the  Society  that  it  initiated  the 
idea  of  Industrial  as  well  as  of  Fine  Art  exhibitions. 

The  idea  was  also  independently  originated  in  France. 
In  1797,  in  the  time  of  the  Directory,  an  exhibition  of 
French  manufactures  was  organised  in  the  then  dismantled 
Chateau  of  St.  Cloud.  The  execution  of  the  scheme  was, 
however,  interrupted  by  the  decree  for  the  expulsion  of 
the  nobility,  and  the  consequent  enforced  sudden  flight 
of  the  originator — the  Marquis  d'Aveze,  who  was  then 
commissioner  for  the  State  manufactures,  Gobelins,  Sevres, 
etc.,  and  had  proposed  the  exhibition  as  a  means  of  raising 
these  works  from  the  state  of  decay  into  which  they  had 
lapsed.1 

In  the  following  year  the  scheme  was  actually  carried 
into  effect  in  a  temporary  building  on  the  Champ  de  Mars. 

1  A  full  account  of  this  first  French  exhibition,  and  of  its  successors, 
will  be  found  in  the  Report  on  the  1849  Exhibition,  prepared  by  Mr, 
Digby  Wyatt  for  the  Council  of  the  Society. 


EARLY  EXHIBITIONS  403 

This  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  French  national  exhibitions, 
the  last  of  which  was  held  in  1849.  The  success  of  these 
national  shows  was  avowedly  one  of  the  causes  which  led 
to  the  promotion  of  similar  exhibitions  in  this  country. 

Such  an  attempt  was  made  in  1828.  An  influential 
committee  was  formed,  with  the  Hon.  G.  Agar  Ellis  as 
chairman,  and  King  George  the  Fourth  gave  his  patronage. 
The  Committee  proposed  to  hold  a  series  of  annual  ex- 
hibitions "  of  new  and  improved  productions  of  our 
artisans  and  manufacturers."  The  place  fixed  upon  was 
the  King's  Mews,  which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  National 
Gallery,  and  were  pulled  down  in  1833.  The  scheme 
was  well  thought  out,  but  seems  to  have  been  in  advance 
of  its  time,  for  the  manufacturers  of  the  country  did  little 
to  support  it.  The  "  National  Repository,"  as  it  was 
termed,  was  continued  for  four  years  ;  in  1833  it  was 
moved  from  the  King's  Mews  to  a  house  in  Leicester 
Square,  and  after  this  it  was  discontinued.1 

Mention  should  also  be  made  of  the  triennial  exhibitions 
of  the  Royal  Dublin  Society,  held  from  1827  to  1850  ;  of 
an  exhibition  held  in  Covent  Garden  in  1845,  of  which, 
however,  no  complete  record  appears  to  have  been  pre- 
served ;  and  also  of  attempts  by  Mr.  S.  Richards  to  get 
up  an  exhibition  of  industry,  including  foreign  manu- 
factures, in  Birmingham,  in  i836.2 

In  November  1844,  Francis  Whishaw,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Society,  started  a  scheme  for  an  annual  exhibition 
of  the  products  of  national  industry,  and  inserted  ad- 
vertisements in  the  Times,  Athenceum,  and  other  papers, 
offering  prizes  to  the  amount  of  £300.  In  this  scheme 
Whishaw  had  the  assistance  of  Joseph  Woods  ;  it  came 
to  very  little,  for  the  public  gave  it  but  slight  support. 
A  small  exhibition  of  works  of  art  and  mechanical  inven- 
tions was,  however,  held  in  the  Society's  rooms  on  the 

1  A  full  account  of  this  exhibition  is  given  in  Mr.  Hollingshead's 
introduction  to  the  official  illustrated  catalogue  of  the  1862  Exhibition. 

2  Local  exhibitions  were  held  at  Munich,   1818  ;    Hanover,  1835  ; 
Brussels,  1835;   Lausanne,  1839;   Vienna,  1839;   Berlin,  1844;   and 
at   many  other  places  on  the  Continent.     A  list  of  these  is  given 
in   the   Introduction   to   the   British  Catalogue  for   the   Philadelphia 
Exhibition,  1876, 


404  THE  1851  EXHIBITION 

6th  December  1 844,  and  a  similar  one  on  the  28th  January 
1845.  So  far  as  appears  from  any  remaining  records, 
these  little  exhibitions  were  held  for  a  single  evening  each, 
but  they  deserve  notice  as  being  really  the  first  sign  of 
the  movement  which  eventually  led  to  the  Great  Exhibi- 
tion. Whishaw  states,  in  a  memorandum  he  left  on  the 
subject,  that,  in  1844,  he  had  an  interview  with  Mr. 
Anson,  Prince  Albert's  private  secretary,  and  that  he 
had  asked  for  the  Prince's  patronage,  apparently  without 
any  result. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Miscellaneous  Matters  Committee 
of  the  Society,  held  on  the  2ist  of  May  1845,  with  Thomas 
Webster  in  the  chair,  William  Fothergill  Cooke,  apparently 
at  the  instance  of  the  Secretary,  Whishaw,  suggested  that 
steps  should  be  taken  for  the  establishment  of  a  national 
exhibition  of  the  products  of  industry,  and  that  efforts 
should  be  made  to  raise  funds  for  the  purpose,  he  himself 
offering  to  start  a  loan  fund  with  the  sum  of  £500.  The 
matter  was  brought  under  the  notice  of  H.R.H.  Prince 
Albert,  the  President  of  the  Society,  in  the  address  read 
to  him  at  the  distribution  of  the  Society's  rewards  on  the 
2nd  June  in  that  year  ;  and  it  is  stated  that  His  Royal 
Highness  then  directed  the  matter  to  be  brought  again 
before  him  as  soon  as  the  plan  for  carrying  the  proposal 
into  effect  had  attained  a  practical  form.  A  Committee  1 
was  appointed  for  the  purpose,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining 
the  promise  of  a  certain  amount  of  funds.  Hyde  Park 
was  suggested  as  a  suitable  site,  and  other  plans  were 
proposed.  The  committee  even  entered  into  communica- 
tion with  the  owner  of  Baker  Street  Bazaar.  However, 
when  they  took  steps  to  ascertain  the  views  of  manu- 

1  The  Committee  consisted  of  W.  F.  Cooke  (well  known  in  connection 
with  the  establishment  of  the  electric  telegraph;  d.  1879);  Joseph 
Woods,  G.  T.  Kemp,  Alfred  Ainger,  J.  Scott  Russell  (then  a  member 
of  the  Miscellaneous  Matters  Committee),  Thomas  Webster,  Q.C.  ; 
Thomas  Winkworth  (partner  in  the  firm  of  Winkworth  &  Proctor,  silk 
brokers;  an  active  member  of  the  Society  ;  d.  1865),  Francis  Fuller, 
Bennet  Woodcroft  (F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Machinery  at  University 
College,  London  ;  clerk  to  the  Commissioners  of  Patents  ;  d.  1879), 
Thomas  Sopwith  (F.R.S.,  Civil  and  Mining  Engineer  ;  d.  1879),  and 
Francis  Whishaw  as  Secretary. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  EXHIBITION  405 

facturers  generally  on  the  subject,  though  many  promised 
support,  they  did  not  meet  with  sufficient  encouragement, 
and  the  proposal  for  a  general  national  exhibition  was 
for  a  time  allowed  to  drop. 

But  the  idea  was  not  permitted  entirely  to  perish. 
Steps  were  taken  by  those  who  directed  the  Society's 
action  to  prepare  the  public  mind  for  a  great  national 
exhibition.  The  Prince  Consort  had,  since  his  election 
as  President,  continuously  impressed  on  the  Society  the 
necessity  of  its  taking  steps  to  improve  the  condition  of 
the  artistic  industries  of  the  country,  then  in  a  very  back- 
ward condition,  and  had  urged  on  the  Society,  as  its  proper 
work,  the  encouragement  of  the  application  of  art  to 
practical  purposes.  As  a  means  to  this  end,  the  Council 
were  induced — at  the  original  suggestion,  it  is  believed, 
of  Scott  Russell,  who  was  then  associated  with  Whishaw, 
as  secretary,1  and  succeeded  him  in  the  following 
March — to  offer  prizes  for  improved  designs  of  u  useful 
objects  calculated  to  improve  general  taste."  A  fund  for 
the  purpose  was  subscribed,  and  a  first  offer  of  prizes 
was  made  in  the  year  1846.  The  response  was  meagre, 
but  among  the  articles  sent  in  was  a  tea-service  designed 
by  (Sir)  Henry  Cole  (under  his  well-known  pseudonym 
of  Felix  Summerly),  and  manufactured  at  his  instance 
by  Messrs.  Minton.  This  service  was  simple  in  form, 
excellent  in  shape  and  thoroughly  artistic  in  design. 
It  afforded  an  admirable  example  of  the  true  principles 
which  should  be  followed  in  the  manufacture  of  articles  of 
common  daily  use,  and,  indeed,  it  effected  a  revolution  in 
that  manufacture.  It  is  because  this  offer  of  prizes  led 
to  the  first  Exhibition  of  British  Manufactures,  and 
because  this  first  Exhibition  led  to  that  of  1851,  that  it 
has  often  been  said  that  this  tea-service  was  the  origin 
of  the  Exhibition.  There  is  perhaps  just  enough  founda- 
tion in  fact  to  justify  the  epigrammatic  statement  that 
11  the  Exhibition  started  from  a  tea-cup."  It  is,  how- 
ever, much  more  true  to  say  that  Felix  Summer ly's  tea- 

1  At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Council,  6th  December  1845,  a  sum 
of  50  guineas  was  offered  "  through  the  Secretary,"  for  prizes.  It 
appears  that  the  offer  came  from  Scott  Russell  himself. 


4o6  THE  1851  EXHIBITION 

cup  originated  that  application  of  art  to  industry  which 
has  changed  the  whole  character  of  those  British  manu- 
factures to  which  artistic  principles  are  applicable.  It 
was,  indeed,  the  commencement  of  the  present  school  of 
art-workmanship  in  this  country. 

Although,  as  above  stated,  the  response  to  the  first 
offer  of  prizes  was  unsatisfactory,  it  was  renewed  in 
the  following  year  (1847),  and  it  was  the  prize  articles 
of  1846,  together  with  the  articles  submitted  in  com- 
petition in  1847,  which  formed  the  basis  of  the  Society 


The  Felix  Summerly  Tea-service.1 

of  Arts'  first  exhibition  of  "  select  specimens  of  British 
Manufactures  and  Decorative  Art,"  which  was  opened  at 
the  Society's  house  in  March  1847.  The  exhibition  itself 
would  have  been  but  a  poor  one  had  it  not  been  supple- 
mented by  examples  lent  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of 
Henry  Cole,  Scott  Russell,  and  another  member  of  the 
Society.  These  three  devoted  men,  as  Russell  himself 
afterwards  said,  spent  three  whole  days  travelling  about 
London  in  four-wheel  cabs  calling  on  manufacturers  and 
shopkeepers,  till  they  had  at  last  succeeded  by  personal 

1  Reproduced  by  permission  of  Messrs.  Bell  &  Sons  from  Sir  Henry- 
Cole's  Fifty  Years  of  Public  Work. 


FIRST  PROPOSALS  FOR  AN  EXHIBITION     407 

entreaty  in  inducing  some  of  them  to  send  sufficient 
goods  to  fill  the  exhibition  room.  The  event  more  than 
justified  the  effort ;  the  exhibition  turned  out  a  complete 
success,  and  it  was  visited  by  20,000  people.  Still  greater 
success  attended  a  repetition  of  the  experiment  in  1848, 
for  manufacturers  began  to  realise  the  advantage  of  the 
cheap  advertisement  provided  by  exhibitions.  This 
second  exhibition  was  attended  by  over  73,000  visitors; 
and  for  the  third,  in  1849,  the  accommodation  on  the 
Society's  premises  proved  quite  inadequate. 

Even  more  successful  was  the  exhibition  held  in  1850 
"  of  works  of  Ancient  and  Mediaeval  Art."  The  success 
of  this  exhibition  was  due  to  a  large  extent  to  the  exertions 
made  by  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir)  Augustus  Wollaston  Franks, 
the  eminent  archaeologist,  who  in  later  years  was  the 
head  of  the  British  Museum  Department  of  British  and 
Mediaeval  Antiquities.  He  acted  as  honorary  secretary  to 
the  exhibition,  and  took  infinite  pains  to  ensure  its  success. 
This  attracted  even  more  public  attention  than  the  ex- 
hibitions of  manufactures.  Collectors,  who  had  not 
then  the  numerous  applications  for  loans  to  which  they 
are  now  subjected,  were  liberal,  and  generously  lent  many 
objects  of  interest  and  value.  The  newspapers  at  the 
time  were  full  of  accounts  of  the  exhibition  and  its 
contents. 

The  next  definite  step  taken  by  the  Council  of  the 
Society  was  to  send,  in  March  1848,  a  deputation  to  the 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  Mr.  Labouchere  (after- 
wards Lord  Taunton),  suggesting  that  the  articles  shown 
at  the  Society  of  Arts  annual  exhibitions  should  be  circu- 
lated amongst  the  provincial  Schools  of  Design,  then  under 
the  Board  of  Trade.1  The  memorial  presented  by  the 
deputation  (which  bears  on  the  face  of  it  evident  signs 
that  it  was  the  work  of  Henry  Cole)  further  proposed  that 

1  The  members  of  the  deputation  were  : — Sir  J.  P.  Boileau,  Bart,  (a 
well-known  archaeologist  and  an  active  Vice-President  of  the  Society  ; 
he  died  1869),  Mr.  G.  Bailey  (Curator  of  the  Soane  Museum),  Mr. 
Henry  Cole  (afterwards  Sir  H.  Cole,  K.C.B.),  Mr.  P.  Le  Neve  Foster 
(at  that  time  one  of  the  Society's  Treasurers),  Mr.  J.  S.  Lefevre, 
Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trade  (afterwards  Sir  John  Shaw 
Lefevre),  and  Mr.  J.  Scott  Russell. 


408  THE  1851  EXHIBITION 

every  fourth  year  the  Society  should  make  a  collected 
exhibition  of  the  principal  objects,  and  others  specially 
prepared,  in  a  suitable  building  in  London  ;  that 
the  site  for  the  building  might  be  Trafalgar  Square  ; 
that  the  Government  should  provide  the  building  ;  and 
that  the  Society  should  have  the  management  of  the 
exhibition. 

Mr.  Labouchere  approved  of  the  proposal,  and  promised 
the  assistance  of  the  Schools  of  Design,  but,  on  the  question 
of  site,  referred  the  deputation  to  the  Chairman  of  the 
Commission  on  Woods  and  Forests,1  Lord  Morpeth  (after- 
wards Lord  Carlisle).  The  same  deputation  waited  on 
Lord  Morpeth  two  months  later  (in  May  1848),  and 
though  he  refused  the  use  of  Trafalgar  Square,  he  offered 
the  use  of  the  quadrangle  of  Somerset  House. 

The  progress  which  had  been  made  was  duly  reported 
by  the  Council  to  the  Society  in  an  address  read  on  the 
occasion  of  the  opening  of  the  third  Exhibition  of  British 
Manufactures  in  March  1849.  This  address  definitely 
stated  that  the  annual  exhibitions  were  "  only  parts  of  a 
series  of  displays  which  it  is  proposed  shall  culminate  every 
fifth  year  in  a  great  national  exhibition,  embracing  all 
manufactures/'  and  it  suggested  1851,  the  fifth  year  from 
the  first  of  the  Society's  Exhibitions  of  Manufactures,  for 
the  first  national  one.  The  address  then  went  on  to  state 
what  had  been  done  by  the  deputation  above  mentioned, 
claimed  that  the  Society  had  "  practically  demonstrated 
the  means  of  establishing  such  exhibitions,  and  educated 
most  successfully  a  numerous  public  of  all  classes  of  society 
to  appreciate  them  and  crowd  to  see  them,"  and  concluded 
by  urging  on  Government  that  it  should  "  provide,  once 
in  every  fifth  year,  a  suitable  building,  in  which  national 
exhibitions,  duly  representing  the  best  productions  in  all 
branches  of  manufactures,  may  be  found." 

A  little  later  in  the  same  year — in  April  1849 — a 
petition  from  the  Council,  which  had  been  drafted  by  Mr. 

1  Trafalgar  Square,  which  is  now  under  the  control  of  the  Office  of 
Works,  was  then  (and  until  1851)  under  the  control  of  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Woods  and  Forests.  It  forms  part  of  the  hereditary 
possessions  of  the  Crown. 


PRINCE  ALBERT  INTERESTED  409 

Henry  Cole,  was  presented  by  Mr.  Milner  Gibson  to  the 
House  of  Commons.  This  petition  was  referred  to  the 
Select  Committee  on  the  Schools  of  Design,  which  reported 
on  it  favourably,  thinking  that  there  was  "  every  reason- 
able probability  that  a  National  Exhibition  of  Decorative 
Manufactures,  if  properly  organised,  might  be  made  to  a 
considerable  extent,  if  not  wholly,  to  repay  its  expenses." 
The  Committee  also  thought  that  the  prayer  of  the 
petition  was  well  worthy  of  the  consideration  of  the 
Government. 

In  the  previous  year,  1848,  Mr.  Cole  had  submitted 
to  Prince  Albert,  through  his  secretary,  Colonel  Phipps, 
the  memorial  afterwards  presented  to  the  Board  of  Trade, 
but  its  reception  was  not  encouraging.  Colonel  Phipps 
stated  that  the  Prince's  opinion  was  not  favourable  to 
the  plan,  and  that  "  no  reasonable  hope  could  be  enter- 
tained of  any  co-operation  or  assistance,  at  any  rate  at 
present,  from  the  Government."  The  time,  however, 
had  now  arrived  when  the  Prince  was  induced  to  take  a 
different  view  of  the  proposal,  and,  by  lending  it  the 
support  of  his  great  influence,  to  carry  it  to  the  success 
it  eventually  attained.1 

Careful  study  of  the  original  records  only  serves  to 
confirm  the  popular  idea  that  the  success  of  the  Great 
Exhibition  of  1851  was  due  to  the  wisdom  and  energy  of 
the  Prince  Consort.  Had  he  given  but  a  nominal  support 
it  would  doubtless  indeed  have  been  carried  to  a  successful 
issue,  but  it  would  have  been  on  a  much  smaller  scale;  prob- 
ably it  would  have  been  confined  to  national  products  alone; 

1  The  early  history  of  the  Exhibition  is  contained  in  a  report 
prepared  by  Mr.  Scott  Russell,  and  read  to  a  general  meeting  of  the 
Society  held  on  the  8th  February  1850.  A  great  deal  of  information 
about  these  preliminary  steps  is  given  in  Sir  Henry  Cole's  Fifty  Years 
of  Public  Life.  The  introduction  to  the  official  illustrated  catalogue 
of  the  1862  Exhibition,  prepared  by  Mr.  John  Hollingshead,  contains 
an  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Exhibition,  mainly  founded  on  Mr. 
Scott  Russell's  report.  Mr.  Scott  Russell  also  made  an  interesting 
collection  of  documents  on  the  subject,  which,  after  his  death,  was 
purchased  by  the  Society,  and  is  now  in  its  possession.  The  First 
Report  of  the  185 1  Commissioners  gives  only  a  very  summary  account 
of  these  early  proceedings. 


4io  THE  1851  EXHIBITION 

and,  while  it  would  certainly  have  had  useful  and  important 
results,  it  could  never  have  had  the  effect  it  certainly  did 
exercise  on  the  arts,  industries,  and  commerce  of  the  world. 

As  previously  mentioned,  an  exhibition  of  French 
Industry  was  being  held  in  1849  in  Paris.  This  was 
visited  by  Henry  Cole  in  company  with  Digby  Wyatt, 
who  had  been  commissioned  by  the  Society  to  prepare  a 
report  on  the  exhibition,1  and  also  by  Francis  Fuller,2 
a  member  of  the  Council  of  the  Society.  Mr.  Fuller, 
on  his  return,  wrote  to  Mr.  Scott  Russell  that,  in  his 
opinion,  it  would  be  possible  to  get  up  in  London  a  much 
better  exhibition  than  the  one  in  Paris.  On  his  way 
back  to  London,  as  Mr.  Fuller  stated  at  a  later  period,  he 
accidentally  met  at  Southampton  Mr.  Thomas  Cubitt,3 
who  was  then  engaged  in  building  the  Royal  Residence 
at  Osborne  House,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight.  A  few  days 
later,  when  Mr.  Cubitt  returned  to  Osborne,  he  mentioned 
the  idea  to  the  Prince,  who  is  said  to  have  expressed 
sympathy  with  the  project.  The  matter,  however,  was 
more  formally  brought  to  His  Royal  Highness 's  notice, 
first  privately,  by  Mr.  Scott  Russell,  and  then  publicly, 
in  the  report  of  the  Council,  read  at  the  annual  presenta- 
tion of  the  prizes  on  the  i4th  June  in  that  year. 

From  the  minutes  of  the  meeting,  which  are  somewhat 
meagre,  it  does  not  appear  that  Prince  Albert  expressed 
any  views  of  his  own  on  that  occasion,  but  he  shortly 
afterwards  sent  for  Mr.  Scott  Russell,  and  obtained  from 
him  full  information  as  to  the  scheme.  He  also  sent  for 
Mr.  Cole,  on  the  occasion  of  a  visit  paid  by  him  to  Colonel 
Phipps,  and  questioned  him  about  the  arrangements  for 
the  proposed  exhibition.  It  was  evident  that  His  Royal 
Highness 's  interest  had  been  thoroughly  aroused,  for  on 
both  occasions  he  went  fully  into  the  matter,  and  gave 

1  Published  the  same  year  for  the  Society.     A  copy  is  in  the  Society's 
library.     Sir  Matthew  Digby  Wyatt  died  in  1877. 

2  Francis  Fuller  was  a  member  of  the  Society  from  1843  till  his 
death  in  1887.     He,  as  will  be  seen,  took  a  very  energetic  part  in  the 
preparations  for  the  Exhibition.     For  some  time  he  was  managing 
director  of  the  Sydenham  Crystal  Palace. 

3  The  founder  of  the  great  firm  of  builders  of  which  he  and  his 
brother  William  were  partners.     He  died  in  1855. 


EXHIBITION  TO  BE  INTERNATIONAL      411 

his  own  opinions  as  to  the  best  means  of  success.  He 
suggested  Leicester  Square  as  a  suitable  site,  and,  in 
answer  to  a  question  from  Mr.  Cole  as  to  whether  the 
exhibition  should  be  national  or  international,  he  decided 
that  it  ought  to  embrace  foreign  productions,  and  must 
certainly  be  international.  On  Mr.  Cole  suggesting  that,  in 
that  case,  Leicester  Square  might  not  be  large  enough,  and 
proposing,  in  reply  to  a  further  question,  a  site  in  Hyde 
Park,  he  was  directed  by  the  Prince  to  visit  the  park,  and 
to  consider  whether  a  suitable  site  could  be  found  there. 

These  informal  discussions  were  preliminary  to  a  more 
formal  meeting,  when  the  Prince  summoned  Scott  Russell, 
Francis  Fuller,  Henry  Cole,  and  Thomas  Cubitt  to  attend 
at  Buckingham  Palace.  A  formal  minute  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  this  meeting  was  prepared,  at  the  Prince's  desire, 
by  Mr.  Scott  Russell,  and  the  original  MS.  of  this  minute, 
with  the  Prince's  own  corrections,  is  amongst  the  docu- 
ments before  referred  to  as  having  been  collected  by  Mr. 
Scott  Russell.  Sir  Henry  Cole  reproduced  in  facsimile  in 
his  autobiography  the  passage  in  which  it  was  laid  down 
that  the  exhibition  was  to  be  international.  In  the 
Prince's  own  words,  it  was  considered  "  that  whilst  it 
appears  an  error  to  fix  any  limitation  to  the  productions 
of  machinery,  science,  and  taste,  which  are  of  no  country, 
but  belong  as  a  whole  to  the  civilised  world,  particular 
advantage  to  British  industry  might  be  derived  from 
placing  it  in  fair  competition  with  that  of  other  nations." 
At  this  meeting,  also,  Prince  Albert  suggested  that  the 
exhibition  should  include  the  four  following  divisions  : 
Raw  materials,  machinery  and  mechanical  inventions, 
manufactures,  sculpture  and  plastic  art.  It  will  be  seen, 
therefore,  that  it  was  at  this  meeting  that  the  various 
proposals  for  the  holding  of  the  Great  Exhibition  in  1851 
at  last  took  definite  form,  and  here,  it  may  be  said,  that 
the  Exhibition  really  originated. 

A  second  similar  meeting  was  held  at  Osborne,  which 
was  attended  by  Scott  Russell,  Henry  Cole,  and  Francis 
Fuller,  Mr.  Labouchere,  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade, 
being  also  present,  by  desire  of  the  Prince.  At  this 
meeting  it  was  decided  that  the  best  means  of  carrying 


4i2  THE  1851  EXHIBITION 

out  the  proposed  scheme  would  be  by  the  appointment 
of  a  Royal  Commission. 

At  this  meeting  a  definite  plan  for  the  exhibition  was 
decided  upon.  It  was  settled  that  an  exhibition  should 
be  held  in  London  in  1851,  under  the  presidency  of  Prince 
Albert,  of  works  of  art  and  industry  of  all  nations  ;  that 
there  should  be  a  Royal  Commission  to  control  and 
regulate  the  exhibition,  and  to  deal  with  the  question  of 
prizes  ;  that  the  Society  of  Arts  should  undertake  to 
collect  funds  for  prizes  and  all  the  other  expenses,  and 
should  provide  for  the  holding  of  similar  exhibitions 
quinquennially. 

It  was  also  decided  that  steps  should  be  taken  to 
ascertain  the  feelings  of  manufacturers,  and  to  obtain 
their  support.1 

In  order  to  carry  these  suggestions  into  effect,  the 
Prince  authorised  Mr.  Cole  and  Mr.  Fuller  to  visit  the 
principal  provincial  centres  of  industry,  and  to  hold 
public  meetings  for  the  purpose  of  awakening  interest 
and  obtaining  promises  of  support  for  the  proposed  ex- 
hibition. The  costs  of  these  journeys  were,  at  all  events 
in  the  first  instance,  defrayed  by  Mr.  Fuller.  The  work 
of  these  gentlemen  was  supplemented  by  similar  efforts 
by  several  other  members  of  the  Society,  and  the  result 
was  that  a  little  later  on  in  the  year  a  report  was  presented 
to  the  Prince,  showing  that  the  proposal  had  met  with 
warm  support  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 

In  the  meantime  the  matter  had  been  brought  before 
the  Council  of  the  Society,  which  was  summoned  on  the 
26th  July  1849 2  to  hear  a  report  from  the  secretary  of  the 
meeting  at  Buckingham  Palace  on  the  3Oth  June,  and  to 
consider  what  the  action  of  the  Society  should  be.  The 

1  Mr.  Fuller,  in  an  account  of  the  meeting,  published  at  a  later 
date,  states  that  Sir  Robert  Peel  was  also  present,  and  that  he  expressed 
the  opinion  that  the  project  was  good  and  deserved  support,  but  that 
until  a  sufficient  majority  of  the  manufacturers  of  the  United  Kingdom 
should  declare  in  favour  of  it,  he  strongly  advised  His  Royal  Highness 
to  have  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

2  At  this  meeting  Mr.  Thomas  Winkworth  was  in  the  chair,  and 
there  were  present  Messrs.  Le  Neve  Foster,  S.  Hickson  (d.  1870),  S. 
Redgrave  (d.  1876),  F.  Whishaw,  and  J.  Scott  Russell  (secretary). 


CONTRACTORS  APPOINTED  413 

conclusion  arrived  at  was  that  the  resources  of  the  Society 
were  not  such  as  to  justify  the  Council  in  guaranteeing 
the  necessary  preliminary  outlay,  but  that  it  might  be 
possible  to  find  some  capitalists  who  would  provide  the 
necessary  funds,  provided  they  were  allowed  to  make  the 
exhibition,  to  some  extent,  a  source  of  pecuniary  profit. 

The  total  probable  cost  of  the  exhibition  was  naturally 
a  subject  of  considerable  discussion.  It  was  estimated 
by  Mr.  Cubitt  that  the  cost  of  the  building  would  not  be 
much  less  than  £50,000  ;  £20,000  was  proposed  for  prizes, 
and  thus,  with  preliminary  expenses,  it  was  considered  that 
£75,000  would  be  required  to  ensure  success.  To  recoup 
this  expenditure  the  following  sources  were  relied  upon — 
receipts  at  the  doors,  payments  from  exhibitors  for  their 
stalls,  and  various  other  miscellaneous  sources  of  revenue. 

For  a  long  time  great  difficulty  was  experienced  in 
finding  anybody  who  would  undertake  the  speculation. 
The  matter  was  laid  before  numerous  contractors,  but 
without  success,  until  at  last  Mr.  Fuller,  through  the 
agency  of  his  father-in-law,  Mr.  George  Drew,  of  Guildford, 
succeeded  in  inducing  Messrs.  J.  &  G.  Munday  to  under- 
take the  risk.  Messrs.  Munday  agreed  to  advance  the 
sum  suggested  for  a  prize  fund — £20,000 — to  the  Treasurer 
of  the  Society,  to  be  placed  in  the  name  of  Prince  Albert 
or  of  trustees  appointed  by  him.  They  also  undertook 
the  whole  cost  of  erecting  the  necessary  buildings,  and  to 
provide  the  money  for  preliminary  expenses.  From  the 
exhibition  receipts  they  were  to  receive  5  per  cent,  interest 
on  money  advanced,  and  of  the  surplus  profits  one-third 
was  to  be  paid  to  the  Society  of  Arts  to  form  a  fund  avail- 
able for  future  exhibitions,  while  the  remaining  two-thirds 
were  to  go  to  the  contractors,  after  payment  of  all  costs 
of  the  exhibition. 

To  carry  on  the  work  the  Council  appointed  an  execu- 
tive committee  and  three  treasurers.1  When  the  deeds  of 

1  The  Executive  Committee  consisted  of  Henry  Cole,  C.  Wen  I  worth 
Dilke  (afterwards  Sir  C.  Wentworth  Dilke,  Bart.  ;  he  died  1869), 
George  Drew,  Francis  Fuller,  Robert  Stephenson  (the  distinguished 
engineer;  he  died  1859),  and  M.  Digby  Wyatt  (secretary).  The 
treasurers  were — P.  Le  Neve  Foster,  Joseph  Payne,  and  Thomas 
Winkworth. 


4i4  THE  1851   EXHIBITION 

contract  came  up  for  approval,  some  of  the  members  of  the 
Council  were  of  opinion  that  provision  ought  to  be  made 
in  case  the  Government  eventually  consented  to  take  over 
the  management  of  the  exhibition,  and  by  agreement  with 
the  contractors  a  clause  was  inserted,  empowering  the 
Society,  in  the  case  of  the  above  contingency  arising,  to 
annul  the  contract  on  terms  to  be  settled  by  arbi- 
tration. 

In  the  meantime  steps  had  been  taken  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Royal  Commission,  which  had  been  decided 
upon  as  necessary  at  Osborne  on  the  i4th  July.  At  the 
end  of  that  same  month  the  Prince  had  written  to  Sir 
George  Grey,  the  Home  Secretary,  asking,  as  President  of 
the  Society,  for  the  appointment  of  a  Royal  Commission, 
and  had  received  from  him  an  encouraging  reply.  The 
Commission  was  published  in  the  Gazette  for  the  3rd 
January  iSso.1  Besides  the  Commissioners,  it  appointed 
four  treasurers  for  the  receipts.  The  three  gentlemen 
who  had  been  appointed  treasurers  by  the  Society  of  Arts, 
were  named  as  treasurers  for  the  payment  of  the  executive 
expenses,  and  the  same  executive  committee  was  nomin- 
ated as  had  been  appointed  by  the  Council  of  the  Society 
of  Arts.2  Mr.  John  Scott  Russell  and  Mr.  Stafford  Henry 
Northcote  (afterwards  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  and  later 
Earl  of  Iddesleigh)  were  appointed  secretaries  to  the 
Commission. 

The  first  step  taken  by  the  Commission  on  the  1 1  th 
June  1850,  was  to  terminate  the  contract  which  had 
been  made  with  Messrs.  Munday.  It  was  thought,  as  the 
experiment  was  of  a  national  character,  it  ought  to  rely 
upon  voluntary  subscriptions,  and  should  not  be  made  a 
question  of  profit  and  loss.  The  proposal  was  met  in  the 
most  liberal  spirit  by  the  Messrs.  Munday,  who  accepted 

1  Mr.  W.  E.  Gladstone  was  the  last  survivor  of  the  original  Com- 
mission. 

2  The   constitution   of   this   committee   was   afterwards   modified. 
Mr.  Stephenson  retired,  and  his  place  was  taken  by  Lieut. -Colonel 
(afterwards  Sir  W.)  Reid,  who  became  chairman.     Mr.  Drew  and  Mr. 
Fuller  took  no  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  committee,  though  their 
names  were  kept  on  it. 


THE  ROYAL  COMMISSION 


415 


an  award  made  by  Mr.  Robert  Stephenson,  of  £5120,  with 
costs  of  £$$7.1 

On  the  8th  February  1850  a  special  general  meeting 
of  the  Society  of  Arts  was  held  to  hear  a  report  by  Mr. 
Scott  Russell  on  the  preliminary  steps  which  had  been 
taken.  A  resolution  approving  the  proceedings  was 
passed,  and  the  Society  pledged  itself  to  support  its  Presi- 
dent by  every  means  in  its  power.  It  was  also  resolved 
that  a  subscription  list  should  be  opened,  and  a  sum  of 
£7888,  out  of  a  total  of  £67,896,  was  eventually  contributed 
by  the  members. 

The  management  of  the  exhibition  was  now,  therefore, 
taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Society,  and  the  undertaking 
placed  on  an  independent  basis.  The  success  achieved  is 
matter  of  history,  but  it  is  outside  the  history  of  the  Society 
of  Arts.2 

JA  few  months  later  (i5th  August  1850)  the  Commission  was 
granted  a  Charter  of  Incorporation,  by  which  it  was  created  a  corporate 
body,  with  executive  powers.  Under  this  authority  it  still  exists. 

2  The  official  history  of  the  Exhibition  is  given  in  the  first  three 
reports  of  H.M.  Commission  for  the  Exhibition  of  1851,  published  in 
1852  and  1856.  A  good  account  of  it  is  also  given  in  the  introduction 
to  the  1862  Exhibition  Catalogue,  previously  referred  to. 


1851  Exhibition  (Front  Elevation). 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

THE  1862  EXHIBITION 

Proposal  for  Exhibition  in  1861 — Various  Plans  suggested — Date 
deferred  in  consequence  of  Franco-Austrian  War — Decision  to 
hold  Exhibition  in  1862 — Guarantee  Fund — Agreement  with  1851 
Commissioners — The  Society's  Trustees  incorporated  as  Commis- 
sion for  1862 — Financial  Failure  of  the  Exhibition — The  Jury 
Reports  published  by  the  Society. 

WHEN  the  proposal  for  the  1851  Exhibition  first  took 
shape,  it  was  intended  that  it  should  be  the  first  of  a  quin- 
quennial series  of  such  exhibitions  The  importance, 
however,  and  the  magnitude  of  the  enterprise  quite  pre- 
cluded any  idea  of  repeating  so  great  an  undertaking  every 
fifth  year,  but  as  the  ten-year  period  from  1851  approached, 
suggestions  began  to  be  made  for  holding  a  second  exhibi- 
tion. Sir  Henry  Cole  tells  us  in  his  autobiography  that 
he  and  Mr.  Wentworth  Dilke  had  discussed  the  matter  in 
the  early  part  of  1858,  and  in  February  of  that  year  Mr. 
Dilke,  who  was  then  Chairman  of  the  Council  of  the  Society, 
submitted  to  the  Council  a  memorandum  from  Mr.  J.  C. 
Deane  proposing  that  there  should  be  held  in  London 
in  1 86 1  a  Great  International  Exhibition  of  Arts.  Mr. 
Deane  had  been  associated  with  the  Art  Treasures  Exhibi- 
tion held  at  Manchester  in  1857,  and  the  memorandum  was 
the  outcome  of  a  conversation  which  he  and  Mr.  Dilke  had 
had  at  Manchester.  According  to  Mr.  Deane 's  proposal, 
the  exhibition  was  to  consist  of  two  divisions,  Ancient  Art 
and  Modern  Art.  The  matter  was  discussed  at  numerous 
meetings  of  the  Council  and  various  suggestions  were 
made.  Eventually  it  was  determined,  on  the  28th  March 
1858,  that  a  series  of  decennial  exhibitions  was  desirable 


EXHIBITION  IN   1861  PROPOSED  417 

that  an  International  Exhibition  should  be  held  in  1861, 
and  that  steps  should  be  taken  for  the  formation  of  a 
guarantee  fund.  The  exhibition  was  to  deal  with  Art  and 
Industry  (Fine  Art  had  been  excluded  in  1851)  and  was  to 
include  Music  ;  it  was  to  be  mainly  an  exhibition  of  pro- 
gress. As  soon  as  the  guarantee  reached  a  certain  sum, 
£100,000  or  £150,000,  an  Executive  Committee  of  three 
was  to  be  nominated.  Eventually  in  May  a  series  of  re- 
solutions was  finally  agreed  to  which  practically  embodied 
these  proposals.1 

On  the  5th  May  a  committee  was  appointed  to  wait 
upon  H.R.H.  Prince  Albert  and  to  submit  the  scheme  to 
him.  This  Committee  consisted  of  Harry  Chester,  Henry 
Cole,  Thomas  Winkworth,  J.  Scott  Russell,  Sir  Thomas 
Phillips,  Peter  Graham,  and  the  Chairman,  Wentworth 
Dilke.  The  Prince,  however,  was  away  and  could  not 
receive  the  deputation  at  the  time,  so  beyond  the 
publication  of  the  resolutions  of  the  Council  no  further 
step  was  then  taken. 

The  announcement,  however,  of  the  Society's  proposals 
naturally  attracted  public  attention,  and  considerable 
discussion  took  place  both  inside  and  outside  the  Society 
as  to  the  best  site  for  the  exhibition.  The  sites  which 
found  most  public  favour  were  Battersea  Park  and  the 
estate  at  South  Kensington,  which  had  been  purchased 
by  the  1851  Commissioners  with  the  surplus  of  the  1851 
Exhibition.  This  estate  at  the  time  consisted  of  the  block 
of  ground  now  occupied  by  the  Natural  History  Museum, 
the  Imperial  Institute,  the  Albert  Hall,  and  other  buildings, 
and  the  site  proposed  for  the  exhibition  was  the  southern 
extremity  of  this  plot,  where  the  Natural  History  Museum 
now  stands.  Those  who  were  moving  in  the  business  on 
behalf  of  the  Society  were  strongly  of  opinion  that  the 
proper  site  was  at  South  Kensington,  and  indeed  it  was  a 
question  whether  it  was  not  the  duty  of  the  1851  Com- 
missioners to  take  entire  charge  of  the  proposed  exhibition. 

It  was  early  in  December  1858  that  the  Society 
brought  the  matter  officially  under  the  notice  of  the  Com- 

1  The  resolutions  agreed  to  were  published  in  the  Journal  of  the 
i6th  April  1858  ;  vol.  vi.  p.  333. 
28 


4i8  THE  1862  EXHIBITION 

missioners,  and  asked  them  whether  they  were  willing 
to  undertake  the  management  of  the  exhibition.  They 
were  the  trustees  of  the  surplus  of  the  1851  Exhibition, 
and  in  that  surplus  was  included  the  amount  of  the  sub- 
scriptions (£67,896)  which  had  been  originally  given  to 
start  the  exhibition.  It  was  urged  in  many  quarters 
that  the  funds  thus  provided  should  be  available  for 
exhibition  purposes,  and  that  if  a  second  exhibition 
was  wanted  the  Commissioners  of  1851  were  the  proper 
persons  to  carry  it  out.  The  Commissioners  did  not 
meet  until  the  ipth  February  in  the  following  year, 
when  they  replied  asking  for  further  information  as  to  the 
prospects  of  the  scheme,  and  the  support  it  was  likely  to 
receive  from  manufacturers,  and  from  the  public.  They 
stated  that  they  had  no  funds  to  meet  the  expenses, 
but  that  if  the  report  was  favourable  they  were  willing  to 
consider  how  they  could  effectively  help  the  undertaking. 
To  this  communication  the  Council  replied  on  the  nth 
March  1859,  promising  that  they  would  endeavour  to 
collect  information,  and  would  try  to  obtain  subscriptions 
to  a  guarantee  fund  of  £250,000  on  the  understanding  that 
the  Commissioners  would  initiate  it  by  a  contribution  of 
£50,000.  It  does  not  appear  that  any  definite  steps  were 
taken  to  form  such  a  fund",  but  informal  promises  were 
received  from  a  number  of  the  members  of  the  Council 
and  their  friends  of  sums  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to 
over  £70,000. 

In  the  midst  of  the  negotiations  the  Franco-Austrian 
war  broke  out  (on  the  26th  April  1859),  and  after  very 
careful  consideration  it  was  determined  by  the  Council 
that  it  would  be  wiser  to  postpone  the  holding  of  an 
exhibition.  This  conclusion  was  not  arrived  at  without 
much  discussion,  for  the  opinion  was  warmly  urged 
that  a  state  of  war  on  the  Continent  ought  not  to  be 
allowed  to  interfere  with  an  industrial  and  peaceful 
enterprise  like  an  exhibition,  and  it  was  further  argued 
that  even  if  no  foreign  nations  co-operated,  a  sufficient 
exhibition  could  be  formed  of  British  productions  alone. 
However,  the  more  cautious  counsels  prevailed,  so  a  formal 
resolution  of  postponement  was  adopted,  and  was  publicly 


DATE  FIXED  419 

notified  at  the  annual  general  meeting  of  the  Society,  held 
on  the  2Qth  June  I859.1 

The  war,  however,  was  brought  to  a  conclusion  much 
more  rapidly  than  had  been  expected,  and  peace  was  con- 
cluded in  July.  On  the  2nd  November  1859,  the  Council 
passed  a  resolution  to  resume  proceedings,  postponing, 
however,  the  date  of  the  exhibition  till  1862,  and  resolved 
to  take  steps  to  obtain  a  guarantee  fund  of  £250,000.  They 
also  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  form  of  guarantee 
and  to  deal  with  exhibition  matters  generally.  This 
committee  consisted  of  Mr.  Cole,  Mr.  Uzielli,  and  the 
Chairman  of  the  Council,  Sir  Thomas  Phillips.  The  com- 
mittee reported  on  the  22nd  February  1860,  and  in  pur- 
suance of  their  report  a  form  of  guarantee  was  adopted  and 
five  trustees  were  nominated — Earl  Granville,  the  Marquis 
of  Chandos  (afterwards  Duke  of  Buckingham),  Mr.  Thomas 
Baring,  M.P.,  Mr.  C.  Wentworth  Dilke,  and  Mr.  Thomas 
Fairbairn,  who  had  been  chairman  of  the  Art  Treasures 
Exhibition  at  Manchester  in  1857.  These  proceedings 
were  reported  to  Prince  Albert  by  a  deputation  from  the 
Council  on  the  28th  February. 

The  guarantee  form  adopted  took  the  shape  of  "an 
agreement  for  holding  an  international  exhibition  in  1862." 
This  was  signed  by  the  intending  guarantors,  and  after- 
wards, when  it  became  necessary  to  raise  money  for  the 
purpose  of  the  exhibition,  a  formal  deed  was  executed, 
and  it  was  signed  by  the  guarantors.  Under  the  provisions 
of  this  agreement  it  was  resolved  that  no  subscriber 
should  be  liable  until  £250,000  at  least  was  guaranteed  ; 
that  the  undertaking  was  to  be  under  the  management 
of  the  five  trustees  above  named,  who  were  to  have  full 
control  of  the  exhibition  ;  that  the  trustees  should  apply 
to  the  Commissioners  for  the  1851  Exhibition  for  the 
grant  of  a  portion  of  their  estate  at  South  Kensington  as 
a  site  for  the  intended  exhibition,  but  that  they  should 
have  power,  if  they  could  not  obtain  such  site  on  favourable 

1  The  report  of  the  Council,  presented  at  this  meeting,  gives  a  full 
account  of  the  correspondence  between  the  Council  and  the  Commis- 
sioners, and  of  the  proceedings  previous  to  the  decision  of  postponement. 
See  Journal,  vol.  vii.  p.  557. 


420  THE  1862  EXHIBITION 

terms,  to  adopt  any  other  suitable  site  ;  that  one-third  at 
least  of  the  sum  expended  on  buildings  should  be  employed 
on  erections  of  a  permanent  character,  to  be  used  by  the 
Society  for  holding  decennial  or  other  periodical  exhibi- 
tions, and  for  other  purposes  tending  to  the  encourage- 
ment of  arts,  manufactures,  and  commerce  ;  that  at  the 
close  of  the  exhibition  the  temporary  buildings  should 
be  sold.  If  there  should  be  a  deficit,  which  the  Society 
of  Arts  declined  to  liquidate,  then  the  permanent  buildings 
were  to  be  sold  ;  and  after  such  sale,  if  there  was  still 
a  deficit,  the  ultimate  loss  was  to  be  paid  by  the  sub- 
scribers pro  rata.  If  there  was  a  surplus  it  was  to  be 
applied  in  a  manner  to  be  determined  by  the  guarantors 
themselves  to  the  encouragement  of  arts,  manufactures, 
and  commerce. 

In  deciding  on  the  terms  of  this  agreement  the  Council 
were  evidently  inspired  by  two  ideas — first,  to  secure  for 
the  Society  some  tangible  results  from  the  success  of  the 
project,  if  success  there  should  be  ;  and  secondly,  to 
make  provision  for  the  regular  holding  of  exhibitions  at 
stated  intervals  in  the  future. 

It  is  noticeable  that  a  financial  success  was  looked 
upon  as  assured.  The  large  profits  from  the  first  exhibi- 
tion made  it  but  reasonable  to  expect  that  a  second, 
managed  with  all  the  benefit  of  the  former  experience, 
would  produce  even  larger  gains,  and  doubtless  it  seemed 
but  prudent  to  avoid  the  discussions  and  controversies 
which  had  arisen  about  the  disposal  of  the  first  surplus. 

With  management  as  skilful  as  that  of  1851,  and 
conditions  as  favourable,  it  seems  probable  that  1 862  might 
have  been  made  a  source  of  profit,  as  an  exhibition  on  a 
similar  scale  might  be  at  any  time,  but  this  is  only  a 
speculation,  and  experience  has  long  since  taught  the 
lesson  that  international  exhibitions  on  the  scale  on  which 
they  are  now  held,  cannot  possibly  prove  remunerative, 
but  must  always  involve  a  heavy  expenditure. 

On  the  8th  March  1860  a  copy  of  the  guarantee 
agreement  was  sent  to  the  Commissioners  of  1851,  and 
an  application  was  made  on  behalf  of  the  Society  for 
the  grant  of  a  suitable  site.  The  Commission  being  in 


COMMISSION  APPOINTED  421 

doubt  as  to  the  means  at  the  disposal  of  the  Society  for 
carrying  out  their  proposal,  delayed  response  ;  but  on  a 
further  letter  being  addressed  to  them  in  June  1860, 
containing  the  information  that  the  guarantee  fund  had 
been  subscribed  to  the  amount  of  £308,350,  the  Commis- 
sioners expressed  their  readiness  to  appropriate  a  portion 
of  their  estate,  rent  free,  for  the  exhibition  ;  and  to  vest 
in  the  Society  of  Arts,  at  a  moderate  rent,  the  site  of  the 
permanent  buildings  proposed  to  be  erected,  provided 
that  the  sum  of  £50,000  was  expended  on  their  erection. 
They,  moreover,  undertook  to  reserve  the  remainder  of 
the  ground  for  an  International  Exhibition,  to  be  held 
in  1872,  provided  £10,000  were  paid  to  them  out  of  the 
proceeds  of  the  1862  Exhibition. 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  further  correspondence  be- 
tween the  Society  of  Arts,  the  Trustees,  and  the  Commis- 
sioners,1 and  amongst  other  suggestions  it  was  proposed, 
at  the  instance  of  Lord  Granville,  and  with  the  concurrence 
of  the  other  trustees,  that  the  management  of  the  exhibi- 
tion should  be  handed  over  to  the  1851  Commission.  This 
proposal,  however,  was  not  accepted  by  the  Commission 
for  various  reasons,  one  of  them  being  that,  as  the  guarantee 
agreement  entrusted  the  control  of  the  exhibition  to  a 
body  of  trustees  specifically  named,  the  agreement  would 
fall  to  the  ground  if  the  management  was  transferred  from 
the  trustees  to  the  Commission.  The  Commission,  how- 
ever, undertook  to  assist  the  trustees,  and  on  that  under- 
standing the  trustees  agreed,  in  November  1860,  to  accept 
the  trust  on  the  condition  that  a  charter  of  incorporation 
was  obtained  for  them  by  the  Society  of  Arts. 

A  charter  accordingly  was  applied  for  by  the  Council 
of  the  Society  on  behalf  of  the  trustees,  and  was  granted 
under  date  of  the  I4th  February  i86i.2  This  charter 
incorporated  the  trustees  under  the  name  of  the  "  Com- 
missioners for  the  Exhibition  of  1862,"  and  gave  them 
full  power  to  take  all  necessary  steps  for  the  management 
of  the  exhibition,  including  the  power  of  borrowing 

1  The  whole  of  the  correspondence  is  printed  in  the  Fourth  Report 
of  the  1851  Commissioners. 

2  See  Journal,  vol.  ix.  p.  205. 


422  THE  1862  EXHIBITION 

money  for  the  purpose.  It  stipulated  that  a  sum  not 
exceeding  £50,000  was  to  be  expended  on  buildings  of  a 
permanent  character  adapted  for  the  purposes  to  which 
the  Society  of  Arts  might  put  them,  as  previously  agreed, 
the  conditions  for  the  ultimate  disposal  of  these  buildings 
being  the  same  as  those  set  forth  in  the  guarantee  agree- 
ment. If  there  was  a  loss,  the  Society  of  Arts  was  to  have 
the  option  of  making  it  good,  and  taking  over  the  per- 
manent buildings.  If  there  was  a  surplus,  £10,000  was 
to  be  paid  to  the  1851  Commissioners  for  the  use  of  a  site 
of  sixteen  acres  for  an  exhibition  in  1872  ;  the  balance, 
as  above  stated,  was  to  be  employed  as  the  guarantors 
might  decide. 

The  trustees  did  not  wait  for  the  formal  issue  of  the 
charter,  but  took  some  provisional  action  before  they 
commenced  their  labours,  and  they  soon  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  them  to  carry 
out  the  condition  of  spending  not  less  than  £50,000  on 
permanent  buildings.  They  therefore  proposed  that  the 
sum  to  be  spent  on  permanent  buildings  should  be  reduced 
from  £50,000  to  £20,000,  with  the  understanding  that  if 
at  the  close  of  the  exhibition  the  necessary  funds  were 
available,  the  difference  should  be  made  up.  This  was 
agreed  to  by  the  Society  of  Arts  and  by  the  1851  Commis- 
sion, and  these  conditions  were  substituted  for  the  condi- 
tions described  as  having  been  stated  in  the  charter. 

The  full  control  of  the  exhibition  was  now  vested  in 
the  Commissioners  appointed  for  the  purpose,  and  passed 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  which  however 
was  still  occupied  with  its  duty  of  increasing  the  guarantee 
fund.  This  was  eventually  raised  to  £45 1 ,070,  contributed 
by  1157  subscribers. 

It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  the  Society  had  a  more 
intimate  connection  with  the  management  of  the  1862 
Exhibition  than  with  that  of  1851.  In  both  cases  the 
preliminary  organisation  was  due  to  the  Society,  and  in 
both  cases  the  early  preparations  were  made  by,  and  at 
the  risk  of,  the  Society,  but  the  exhibition  of  1862  was 
managed  by  a  Commission  appointed  by  the  Society, 
whereas  the  Commission  of  1851  was  an  entirely  inde- 


FINANCIAL  DEFICIT  423 

pendent  body,  the  Society  having  had  no  voice  in  the 
selection  of  its  members.1 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  exhibition  it  was  found,  as  is 
well  known,  that  the  receipts  had  been  insufficient  to 
defray  the  expenses.  This  unfortunate  result  was  no 
doubt  largely  due  to  the  death  of  the  Prince  Consort  in 
1 86 1.  Not  only  did  the  exhibition  lose  the  benefit  of  his 
personal  interest  and  sympathy,  but  it  was  held  during  a 
period  of  national  mourning,  and  was  of  course  therefore 
deprived  of  the  patronage  of  the  court,  and  of  the  pomp 
and  ceremonial  essential  to  the  success  of  such  an  under- 
taking as  an  International  Exhibition. 

Eventually  it  was  agreed  that  the  contractors — Messrs. 
Lucas  &  Kelk — should  take  over  the  whole  of  the  build- 
ings, alike  the  temporary  erections  and  those  which  had 
been  intended  to  be  permanent,  in  discharge  of  their 
claims  against  the  Commissioners  of  1 862  ;  and  in  addition 
to  this,  one  of  the  members  of  the  firm — Sir  John  Kelk — 
personally  gave  the  sum  of  £11,000  to  the  Commissioners 
to  enable  them  to  balance  their  accounts  without  making 
any  call  upon  the  guarantors.  The  anticipation  of  the 
Society,  therefore,  that  it  would  enter  into  possession  of 
buildings  at  South  Kensington  suitable  for  the  holding  of 
exhibitions,  and  for  other  purposes,  was  not  realised,  and, 
as  in  1851,  it  derived  no  profits  from  the  undertaking. 

Later  on  an  important  service  was  rendered  to  the  ex- 
hibition by  the  Society  of  Arts  b}^  the  publication  of  the 
Jury  Reports.  After  the  conclusion  of  the  1851  Exhibition 
the  Commissioners  published  a  very  valuable  volume  of 
Reports  of  the  Juries,  containing  not  only  particulars  of 
all  the  awards  but  a  great  mass  of  valuable  information 
on  industrial  history,  much  of  which  is  not  to  be  found 
elsewhere. 

The  financial  failure  of  the  1 862  Exhibition  prevented 
the  Commissioners  for  that  Exhibition  from  undertaking 

1  For  detailed  information  as  to  the  management  of  the  exhibition, 
construction  of  buildings,  financial  results,  etc.,  reference  may  be  made 
to  the  report  of  the  1 862  Commission  published  in  1 863  ;  to  the  fourth 
and  fifth  reports  of  the  1851  Commission,  and  to  the  introduction  tQ 
the  Official  Illustrated  Catalogue,  1863. 


424 


THE  1862  EXHIBITION 


a  similar  task.  Thereupon  the  Council  of  the  Society, 
anxious,  as  they  said,  that  a  record  of  the  industrial 
progress  of  the  previous  ten  years  should  be  preserved, 
undertook  the  duty  of  issuing  a  similar  volume  to  that  of 
1851.  There  was  some  little  delay  in  the  publication  of 
the  work,  as  it  was  not  completed  and  issued  until  January 
1864.  It  appeared  under  the  editorship  of  Dr.  Lyon 
Playfair,  afterwards  Lord  Playfair,  and  was  of  the  same 
form  as  its  predecessor.  It  also  is  a  work  of  considerable 
value  to  the  student  of  industrial  history,  though,  dealing 
as  it  does  for  the  most  part  only  with  the  ten  years  from 
1851  to  1862,  it  is  not  quite  so  useful  as  the  earlier  volume. 
Unfortunately,  the  cost  of  its  production  proved  to  be  very 
heavy  ;  the  original  estimate  of  £1806  was  exceeded  by 
over  £450,  and  the  total  cost  amounted  to  £2343  ;  of 
this  £1310  was  recovered  by  sales,  leaving  a  total  loss  to 
the  Society  of  £1033. 


The  1862  Exhibition  Building. 


CHAPTER    XIX 
THE  SOCIETY'S  EXAMINATIONS 

Origin  of  the  System  —  First  Examination  of  1856  —  The  College 
of  Preceptors — Qualifying  and  Competitive  Examinations  for  the 
Government  Service — Value  of  Examinations  generally — Prof. 
Huxley's  Views — The  Society's  Board  of  Examiners — Changes  in 
the  System — The  Existing  System — Value  of  the  Certificates — 
Special  Examinations  for  Soldiers — Technological  Examinations, 
their  Origin  and  their  Transference  to  City  Guilds  Institute — 
Examinations  in  Practical  Commercial  Knowledge — Viva  Voce 
Examinations  in  Modern  Languages — Music  Examinations. 

THE  examination  system  of  the  Society,  which  has  now 
attained  such  large  proportions,  was,  as  previously  men- 
tioned,1 started  as  an  adjunct  to  the  "  Union  of  Institu- 
tions," established  in  1852.  Though  it  was  many  years 
before  the  examinations  attained  their  present  dimensions, 
they  were  popular  from  the  first,  and  much  appreciated. 
There  is  this  special  interest  associated  with  them,  that 
the  system  they  started  was  afterwards  adopted  by  the 
Universities,  the  Science  and  Art  Department,  the  City 
Guilds  Institute,  and  many  other  bodies.  There  seems 
no  good  reason  to  claim  any  direct  connection  between 
the  Society's  examinations  and  the  local  examinations  of 
the  two  Universities,  though  W.  Hawes,  in  his  chairman's 
address  in  November  i863,2  says  that  they  originated 
from  "  a  suggestion  of  one  of  our  examiners  that  the 
Universities  should  do  for  the  class  immediately  above 
those  for  whom  our  examinations  were  intended,"  what 
the  Society  had  done  for  its  own  candidates,  but  the 
Government  system  certainly  grew  out  of  that  started  by 
*  See  Chapter  XVI,  p.  372.  2  Journal ,  vol.  xii.  p.  5. 


426  THE  SOCIETY'S  EXAMINATIONS 

the  Society,  and  the  Guilds  Institute  took  over  and  de- 
veloped the  technological  examinations  founded  by  the 
Society. 

It  was  in  November  1851  that  Harry  Chester  sub- 
mitted to  the  Council  his  scheme  for  the  formation  of  a 
union  of  mechanics'  institutions,  the  principal  object  of 
which  was  to  encourage  the  founding  of  such  institutions, 
and  to  develop  the  educational  facilities  which  they  pro- 
vided. As  they  were  meant  to  help  the  education  of 
artisans,  it  was  considered  that  their  promotion  came 
legitimately  within  the  scope  of  the  Society  of  Arts. 

Among  the  early  suggestions  for  the  utilisation  and 
development  of  these  institutions  was  a  proposal  for  a 
general  system  of  examinations  among  their  members. 
In  December  1853,  Mr.  Chester  definitely  proposed  the 
establishment  of  such  a  system,  and  in  the  spring  of  1854 
a  scheme  of  examinations  was  published.  The  scheme 
was  of  a  very  comprehensive  character,  and  included 
the  following  subjects  :  (i)  Mathematical  Sciences  ; 
(2)  Experimental  Sciences  ;  (3)  Sciences  of  Observation  ; 
(4)  Mechanical  Sciences  ;  (5)  Social  Sciences  ;  (6)  Fine 
Arts  ;  (7)  Moral  and  Metaphysical  Sciences  ;  (8)  Liter- 
ature. This  very  elaborate  programme  proved  a  little 
impracticable,  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  only  a 
single  candidate  offered  himself  for  examination  in  March 
1854.  The  promoters  of  the  movement  were  not,  how- 
ever, discouraged  ;  the  scheme  was  remodelled,  principally 
by  Dr.  Booth,  and  in  1856  an  examination  of  62  candidates 
was  held  at  the  Society's  house.  The  subjects  of  this 
first  examination  were  :  (i)  Book-keeping  ;  (2)  Arith- 
metic ;  (3)  Algebra  ;  (4)  Mensuration  ;  (5)  Geometry  ; 
(6)  Mechanics  ;  (7)  Chemistry  ;  (8)  Animal  Physiology  ; 
(9)  Botany;  (10)  Agriculture;  (u)  Geography  ;  (12)  Phy- 
sical Geography;  (13)  English  History;  (14)  English 
Literature  ;  (15)  Latin  and  Roman  History  ;  (16)  French  ; 
(17)  German;  (18)  Freehand  Drawing. 

In  the  following  year,  1857,  the  first  attempt  at  pro- 
vincial examinations  was  made,  and  an  examination 
was  held  at  Huddersfield,  as  well  as  in  London,  the  ex- 
aminers of  the  Society  going  down  for  the  purpose.  The 


THE  FIRST  EXAMINATIONS  427 

desire  of  increasing  the  number  of  examination  centres 
and  the  obvious  impossibility  of  sending  examiners 
simultaneously  all  over  the  country,  led  in  1858  to  the 
elaboration  of  the  system  of  local  committees  to  supervise 
examinations  worked  from  a  single  centre. 

The  system  thus  started  has  been  developed  and 
modified  in  the  course  of  the  sixty  years  which  have 
passed  since  it  was  first  devised,  but  in  principle  it  remains 
unaltered.  The  numbers  examined  are  now  (1913)  nearly 
30,000,  the  character  of  the  examination  has  changed, 
the  subjects  have  been  altered  from  time  to  time,  but  in 
the  method  and  general  system  there  has  really  been  no 
change  whatever.  Of  this  system,  it  may  suffice  to  say 
that  the  examinations  are  conducted  simultaneously  at 
a  number  of  different  centres  throughout  the  kingdom, 
through  the  agency  of  local  examination  committees 
established  for  the  purpose  by  the  Society.  The  papers 
in  each  subject  are  sent  down  in  separate  envelopes  to 
the  secretary  of  the  committee  immediately  before  the 
day  of  examination.  The  envelopes  are  opened  in  the 
presence  of  the  candidates,  and  the  papers  distributed. 
The  worked  papers  are  sealed  up  at  once  and  dispatched 
to  the  office  of  the  Society.  They  are  then  distributed 
among  the  various  examiners,  who  report  upon  them, 
and  the  results  are  published. 

It  is,  however,  proper  to  say  that  the  Society  of  Arts 
cannot  claim  the  sole  credit  of  the  invention  of  the  system 
of  local  examinations.  In  1850  the  College  of  Preceptors 
(established  in  1846)  was  considering  the  best  means  of 
examining  the  schools  of  its  members.  It  commenced 
by  sending  down  examiners,  its  first  school  examination 
having  been  held  in  December  1850  at  Nottingham, 
but  in  1853  the  experiment  was  tried  of  collecting  pupils 
to  a  centre  and  examining  them  by  means  of  papers  sent 
down  from  London.  The  experiment  proving  successful, 
the  system  was  regularly  organised  in  the  following  year, 
1854,  and  has  been  continued  ever  since. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  College  of  Preceptors'  examina- 
tions preceded  those  of  the  Society  of  Arts  by  two  years, 
but  the  objects,  the  conditions,  and  the  methods  of  the 


428  THE  SOCIETY'S  EXAMINATIONS 

two  systems  have  been  so  different  that  there  has  never 
been  any  but  the  most  friendly  rivalry  between  them. 
The  College  examinations  were  school  examinations, 
whereas  those  of  the  Society  were  intended  for  students 
of  all  ages,  but  especially  for  those  beyond  school  age,  and 
a  special  organisation  had  to  be  devised  for  carrying  them 
on.  In  1856  a  conference  was  held  at  the  Society's 
house  between  representatives  of  the  two  bodies,  the 
College  being  rather  afraid  that  the  Society's  examina- 
tions would  interfere  with  their  own.  It  was  soon  apparent 
that  the  two  systems  were  intended  to  occupy  different 
ground,  and  were  not  likely  to  affect  one  another.  In 
practice  this  has  proved  to  be  the  result,  and  it  has  never 
been  found  that  they  have  interfered  in  the  least  with  one 
another. 

The  Society's  methods  had  many  imitations.  The 
University  local  examinations  were  established  in  1858. 
They  deal  with  a  class  quite  different  from  the  classes 
for  whose  benefit  the  Society's  examinations  were  intended, 
and  have  always  been  of  a  distinctly  higher  standard. 
The  beginning  of  elementary  drawing  examinations  by  the 
Department  of  Science  and  Art  was  about  contem- 
poraneous with  the  Society's  examinations,  and  when  those 
examinations  were  regularly  established,  drawing  was 
struck  off  the  Society's  list  in  1 860.  The  Science  examina- 
tions began  in  1859,  and  as  these  developed  it  was  found 
that  the  Society's  examinations  were  in  many  respects 
competing  with  those  of  the  Department .  The  same  candi- 
dates were  being  examined  in  the  same  subjects,  and  there 
was  an  evident  waste  of  power.  In  1870  this  led  to  the 
abandonment  by  the  Society  of  seventeen  out  of  the 
thirty-six  subjects  then  included  in  its  programme. 

At  the  time  when  the  Society's  examinations  were 
started,  there  was  no  doubt  as  to  the  value  of  examina- 
tions as  a  means  of  education,  or  as  a  test  of  fitness  for 
any  employment,  especially  employment  by  the  State.  In 
1854  a  stringent  qualifying  examination  was  introduced  for 
the  Home  Civil  Service,  and  in  the  following  year  (1855)  the 
first  competitive  examination  was  held  for  appointments 
in  the  Civil  Service  of  India.  Such  examinations  were 


VALUE  OF  EXAMINATIONS  429 

regarded  as  the  only  alternative  to  patronage  and  jobbery 
on  the  one  hand,  and  as  providing  the  only  opening  for 
deserving  merit  on  the  other.  After  half  a  century  the 
pendulum  has  swung  back,  and  we  have  now  arrived  at  the 
stage  of  reaction  against  over-examination,  although  it 
is  quite  certain  that  no  other  remedy  against  the  evils  of 
patronage  in  the  disposal  of  minor  Government  appoint- 
ments has  yet  been  discovered.  Perhaps  it  may  come  to 
be  recognised  that  examinations  answer  well  enough  as 
a  rough  test  or  for  sorting  men  into  classes.  If  thirty 
or  forty  clerks  are  wanted  for  a  Government  office  and 
there  are  100  or  150  applicants,  it  is  certain  that  the  men 
at  the  top  of  the  list  will,  on  the  whole,  be  the  best,  though 
one  or  two  who  might  have  special  qualifications  will 
be  rejected. 

When  it  comes  to  selecting  men  for  special  posts, 
examinations  are  not  very  satisfactory,  and  this  has  got 
by  now  to  be  generally  admitted.  Such,  however,  was 
not  the  case  in  1853.  The  evils  of  the  old  system  were 
evident  and  obvious  ;  the  drawbacks  to  the  new  had  yet 
to  be  discovered,  and  so  it  was  naturally  regarded  as  a 
panacea  for  all  existing  ills. 

Apart  from  their  value  as  an  impartial  method  of 
distributing  State  patronage,  there  are  two  points  in  which 
examinations  have,  or  may  have,  a  value — first,  as  a  test 
of  knowledge  ;  and,  secondly,  as  an  incentive  to  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge.  As  to  their  value  as  a  genuine 
test  of  knowledge,  it  is  rather  difficult  to  form  an  opinion. 
They  can  only  test  the  information  there  is  in  the  candi- 
date's head  at  the  moment,  and  in  too  many  cases  that 
information  has  acquired  but  a  temporary  resting-place 
there.  An  examination  is,  probably,  a  better  test  of  a 
candidate's  power  of  acquiring  knowledge  than  it  is  of  the 
amount  he  possesses,  and  perhaps  that  may  be  considered 
as  an  argument  in  its  favour.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
question  cannot  be  answered  in  general  terms.  Perhaps 
no  better  test  need  be  desired  of  a  man's  mathematical 
knowledge  than  the  mathematical  tripos  at  Cambridge. 
On  the  other  hand,  an  elementary  examination  in  physics 
or  chemistry,  or  indeed  in  most  other  subjects,  offers  but 


430  THE  SOCIETY'S  EXAMINATIONS 

a  poor  means  of  estimating  the  real  amount  of  knowledge 
possessed  by  a  candidate.  But  it  must  always  be  remem- 
bered that  on  the  whole  a  student  who  has  passed  an 
examination  is  probably  a  little  better  informed  and  a 
little  better  instructed  than  one  who  has  failed,  and  if  the 
possession  of  an  elementary  certificate  does  not  amount 
to  a  great  deal,  at  all  events  it  means  something. 

As  an  incentive  to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  it 
is  evident  that  the  present  system  of  examination  has  its 
value  ;  its  enormous  extent  alone  is  sufficient  to  show  that. 
There  are  very  few  such  earnest  students  as  to  be  satisfied 
with  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  for  its  own  sake,  and 
in  the  case  of  most  people,  especially  of  young  people, 
an  artificial  stimulus  is  required.  This  stimulus,  it 
is  found,  can  very  satisfactorily  be  provided  by  hall- 
marking those  who  have  passed  an  examination,  and 
allowing  them  to  bear  some  special  title — as  "Dr."  or 
the  like — or  permitting  them  to  attach  certain  initials 
to  their  names. 

There  is,  therefore,  a  good  deal  to  be  said  in  favour  of 
general  examinations,  although  there  is  also  a  good  deal  to 
be  said  against  them  on  the  score  of  the  superficiality  of 
the  knowledge  that  they  tend  to  produce,  and  on  account 
of  the  very  erroneous  idea  that  has  been  disseminated 
that  the  fact  of  a  student  having  passed  an  examination 
affords  much  proof  of  his  possessing  a  knowledge  of  the 
subject  in  which  he  has  been  examined. 

It  was  not  very  long  before  the  general  system  of  the 
Society's  examinations  took  definite  shape,  and  they 
assumed  the  commercial  character  they  have  ever  since 
maintained.  The  institutions  through  whose  agency  the 
examinations  were  held,  were  originally  intended  for  the 
benefit  of  the  artisan  class,  but  as  they  developed  they 
drew  their  members  more  and  more  from  middle-class 
folk,  and  adapted  whatever  education  they  provided  to  the 
needs  of  clerks  and  professional  people  rather  than  to  those 
of  work-people.  Naturally  the  examinations  were  affected 
by  the  same  influences,  and  their  character  was  modified 
accordingly.  The  non-commercial  subjects  were  gradu- 


GENERAL  SYSTEM  431 

ally  dropped  out,  and  subjects  which  were  considered  to 
have  a  distinct  commercial  value  were  introduced.1 

It  has  always  been  a  question  whether  the  system 
adopted  from  the  beginning  by  the  Society,  of  holding 
separate  examinations  in  separate  subjects,  is  the  best, 
or  whether  it  might  not  be  better  to  classify  the  subjects, 
and  only  issue  certificates  on  the  result  of  an  examination 
held  in  a  number  of  specified  subjects.  The  experience 
of  the  Society  certainly  shows  that  the  system  of  separate 
examinations  is  the  more  popular,  and  there  is  much  to  be 
said  as  to  its  actual  merits.  The  arguments  in  its  favour 
were  very  strongly  put  by  Professor  Huxley  many  years 
ago  in  an  address  which  he  delivered  on  the  occasion  of  the 
opening  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  at  Baltimore. 
He  said  :  "  It  [the  system  of  separate  subject  examina- 
tions] allows  the  student  to  concentrate  his  mind  upon 
what  he  is  about  for  the  time  being,  and  then  to  dismiss  it. 
Those  who  are  occupied  in  intellectual  work  will,  I  think, 
agree  with  me  that  it  is  important,  not  so  much  to  know  a 
thing,  as  to  have  known  it,  and  known  it  thoroughly.  If 
you  have  once  known  a  thing  in  this  way,  it  is  easy  to 
renew  your  knowledge  when  you  have  forgotten  it  ;  and 
when  you  begin  to  take  the  subject  up  again,  it  slides  back 
upon  the  familiar  grooves  with  great  facility."  2 

When  the  scheme  was  first  started,  a  very  strong  Board 
of  Examiners  was  formed,  including  amongst  others  such 
names  as  the  following  :  Sir  George  Airy,  the  Astronomer 
Royal  ;  Dr.  Temple,  then  Headmaster  of  Rugby,  and 
afterwards  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;  Dr.  Vaughan, 
Headmaster  of  Harrow,  and  afterwards  Dean  of  Llandaff 
and  Master  of  the  Temple  ;  Dr.  Liddell,  Headmaster  of 
Westminster,  and  afterwards  Dean  of  Christchurch  ;  Dr. 
William  Sharpey,  for  long  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Society  ; 
William  Spottiswoode,  afterwards  President  of  the  Royal 
Society  ;  Canon  Moseley,  one  of  the  first  Inspectors  of 
Schools  ;  Richard  Dawes,  Dean  of  Hereford  ;  Harvey 

1  Book-keeping  first  appears  as  a  separate  subject  in  1859.     Before 
that  date  it  was  included  in  arithmetic.     Shorthand  was  introduced  in 
1876,  and  typewriting  in  1891. 

2  Huxley's  American  Addresses  (1877),  p.  1 16. 


432  THE  SOCIETY'S  EXAMINATIONS 

Goodwin,  Dean  of  Ely,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Carlisle  ; 
Charles  Neate,  the  well-known  economist  and  political 
writer  ;  Robert  Hunt,  the  Keeper  of  Mining  Records  ; 
(Sir)  E.  G.  Creasy,  the  historian,  author  of  the  Fifteen 
Decisive  Battles  of  the  World]  and  Professors  W.  B. 
Carpenter,  A.  W.  Williamson,  Bartholomew  Price,  Baden 
Powell,  and  T.  M.  Goodeve. 

At  first  the  control  of  the  examinations  was  left  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  this  Board  ;  but  the  arrangement  was  not 
found  a  wholly  satisfactory  one,  and  it  was  thought  better 
that  the  Council  should  take  over  the  direct  management. 
Accordingly  the  Board  was  superseded  in  1857,  after 
which  date  the  examiners  were  paid  a  fee.  Previously 
their  services  had  been  honorary. 

Until  the  introduction  of  a  competitive  examination 
for  posts  in  the  Civil  Service  it  was  a  not  uncommon 
practice  for  Ministers  to  place  at  the  disposal  of  the  Society 
a  few  appointments  in  their  Departments,  and  from  their 
first  establishment  down  to  the  year  1864  a  good  many 
clerkships  in  Government  offices  were  thus  obtained  by 
candidates  in  the  Society's  examinations. 

To  the  examinations  in  1858  fifty-eight  institutions 
sent  up  288  candidates  ;  in  the  following  year  there 
were  480;  in  1860,  586.  The  numbers  increased  steadily 
till  1865,  when  there  were  1899  )  the  next  year  showed 
a  slight  diminution,  and  then  there  was  a  further 
increase,  till  the  number  of  2160  was  reached  in  1869. 
This  was  the  largest  number  examined  under  the  original 
system. 

In  1871,  when  the  Council  was  considering  the  establish- 
ment of  a  system  of  technological  examinations,  of  which 
an  account  is  given  below,  they  passed  a  resolution  to 
discontinue  the  general  examinations,  but  on  the  applica- 
tion of  some  of  the  more  important  of  the  Institutions 
in  Union,  they  rescinded  the  resolution  and  determined 
to  continue  the  examinations  for  a  further  period.  This 
was  done,  on  the  same  system  as  before,  till  1876,  when 
the  programme  was  revised,  and  the  plan  on  which  certifi- 
cates were  granted  was  somewhat  modified.  Previously 
certificates  had  been  granted  for  single  subjects,  but  in 


CHANGES  IN  SYSTEM  433 

that  year  a  "  Commercial  Certificate  "  was  established  in 
addition,  to  take  which  it  was  necessary  to  pass  in  at  least 
three  subjects.  Very  few  of  these  certificates  were  ever 
taken,  the  system  of  single  certificates  for  single  subjects 
being  more  popular  and  better  suited  to  the  needs  of  the 
class  of  students  who  take  up  the  Society's  examinations. 

Before  his  death  in  1861,  Prince  Albert  offered  a  prize 
of  twenty-five  guineas  to  the  candidate  who  obtained  the 
largest  number  of  first-class  certificates  in  four  consecutive 
years  (including  the  year  of  the  award).  This  was  first 
awarded  in  1862,  and  after  his  death  the  prize  was  con- 
tinued by  Queen  Victoria.  It  was  awarded  annually  under 
the  title  of  the  "  Prince  Consort's  Prize  "  up  to  1879,  when 
the  proposed  abandonment  of  the  examinations  referred 
to  below  unfortunately  led  to  its  discontinuance. 

In  1879  the  question  of  abandoning  the  examinations 
again  arose,  it  being  thought  that  the  ground  was  covered 
by  other  agencies.  To  quote  from  the  report  of  the  Ex- 
amination Committee  in  1879  : — 

"  The  Committee  feel  that  the  time  has  now  come 
when  the  Society  should  cease  to  compete  with  other 
educational  agencies  more  influential  in  the  work  of  ex- 
amination. With  the  Education  Department  examining 
millions  of  children  in  elementary  schools,  and  thousands 
of  young  persons  in  night  classes  ;  with  the  Universities 
holding  their  local  examinations  throughout  the  country 
for  young  persons  of  a  higher  class  ;  with  the  Science  and 
Art  Department  examining  students  in  every  branch 
of  science  and  art  ;  with  the  new  City  Institute  developing 
yet  further  the  technological  examinations  just  handed 
over  to  them  by  the  Society  ;  with  other  agencies,  such 
as  the  College  of  Preceptors,  doing  kindred  work,  the 
Society  of  Arts  may  well  retire  from  the  field,  having  in 
all  these  various  directions  acted  as  pioneer.  It  held 
science  examinations  before  the  Science  Department, 
examinations  in  literature  before  the  Universities  went 
afield  to  meet  the  classes  who  could  not  go  to  Oxford  or  to 
Cambridge.  It  has  seen  the  system  it  established  develop, 
with  the  aid  of  Government  funds,  as  it  could  never  have 
grown  without  such  help,  and  the  time  has  now  arrived 
29 


434  THE  SOCIETY'S  EXAMINATIONS 

when  it  may  cease  to  compete  with  the  agencies  it  has 
done  so  much  to  foster." 

In  pursuance  of  the  course  recommended  in  this  report 
no  examination  was  held  in  1881,  but  again  some  of  the 
institutions  where  the  examinations  were  held  protested, 
and  on  further  consideration  it  was  determined  to  con- 
tinue the  examinations,  but  to  try  whether  they  could 
not  be  made  self-supporting.  Hitherto  they  had  been 
free.  In  1 882  a  fee  of  2S.  6d.  was  charged  to  each  candidate, 
and  this  charge  has  since  been  continued.  The  "  Com- 
mercial Certificate  "  was  abandoned  and  the  old  system 
was  resumed  of  giving  a  separate  certificate  for  each 
subject.  The  natural  result  of  fees  being  charged  was  a 
considerable  falling  off  in  the  numbers  examined.  In 
1882  only  695  papers  were  worked  as  compared  with 
2325  in  1880.  The  numbers,  however,  soon  began  to 
increase  again.  In  1890  there  were  2474  ;  in  1895,  5IQ8  J 
and  in  1900,  9808.  This  very  considerable  increase  was 
doubtless  to  a  great  extent  due  to  the  facts  that  the 
County  Councils  had,  by  the  Technical  Instruction  Act, 
1889,  been  placed  in  possession  of  large  funds  available 
for  the  promotion  of  technical  education  ;  and  that 
certain  commercial  subjects  were  scheduled  by  the 
Science  and  Art  Department  as  subjects  coming  within 
the  scope  of  the  Act .  The  commercial  subjects  so  scheduled 
were  precisely  those  in  which  the  Society  of  Arts 
examined. 

In  addition  to  its  Commercial  Knowledge  Examina- 
tions, the  Society  conducted,  from  1856  to  1894,  Ele- 
mentary Examinations.  These  were  of  the  same  character 
as  the  general  examinations,  but  much  simpler.  They 
were  really  carried  on  by  the  district  unions  and  local 
boards  in  connection  with  the  Society.  All  the  Society  did 
was  to  supply  identical  examination  papers,  the  results 
being  examined  and  certificates  awarded  by  examiners 
appointed  by  the  local  boards.  The  Society  supplied  the 
certificates,  but  accepted  no  responsibility  as  to  their  award. 
The  system,  though  useful  at  its  first  establishment,  was 
never  found  to  work  in  a  very  satisfactory  manner,  and 
in  1895  it  was  abandoned , 


FURTHER  MODIFICATIONS  435 

There  was,  however,  always  a  demand  for  examinations 
of  a  more  elementary  character  than  the  general  examina- 
tions, and  in  consequence  elementary  examinations  in 
modern  languages  (French,  German,  and  Spanish)  were 
established  in  1897.  These  were  fully  appreciated,  and 
eventually,  in  1901,  an  elementary  or  preliminary  grade 
was  added,  with  two  classes  only,  passes  and  failures. 
The  subjects  selected  for  this  grade  included  Handwriting 
and  Correspondence,  Shorthand,  Book-keeping,  Arith- 
metic, Typewriting,  Commercial  Geography,  French,  and 
German, — Spanish  and  Italian  were  added  a  year  or  two 
later.  In  the  first  year  in  which  these  Elementary  Ex- 
aminations were  held  (1901),  there  were  4458  papers 
worked  in  the  different  subjects,  of  which  2494  passed 
and  1964  failed.  The  percentage  of  successes  and  of 
failures  was,  therefore,  56  and  44.  There  has  since  been  a 
continuous  growth,  till  in  1912  the  numbers  reached  1 1 ,448, 
with  a  percentage  of  64*99  successes  and  35*10  failures.  It 
may,  therefore,  fairly  be  concluded  that  the  increased 
numbers  have  been  accompanied  by  a  perceptible  im- 
provement in  quality. 

In  1905  some  considerable  modifications  were  made  in 
the  general  programme  }•  I  n  t he  system  existing  in  1 904  there 
were  two  grades- — Senior  and  Junior.  In  the  Senior  there 
were  three  classes,  and  in  the  Junior,  or  Elementary,  there  was 
one.  For  some  years  past  suggestions  had  been  made  from 
various  quarters  to  the  Council  that  it  would  be  desirable 
to  establish  a  higher  grade  of  examination,  which  might  be 
taken  by  more  advanced  students  than  those  entering  for 
the  examinations  as  they  then  were.  After  very  careful 
consideration,  and  a  good  deal  of  correspondence  with  the 
local  committees,  it  was  determined  that  the  examinations 
should  be  arranged  under  three  stages.  Stage  I.  was  to  be 
elementary  ;  Stage  II.,  intermediate  ;  and  Stage  III., 
advanced.  The  elementary  was  to  be,  as  before,  a  pass 
examination,  and  in  each  of  the  two  upper  stages  there 
were  to  be  two  classes.  It  was  proposed  that  the  advanced 

1  During  the  preceding  ten  years,  no  changes  of  importance  were 
made.  Domestic  Economy,  which  had  been  in  the  programme  almost 
from  the  beginning,  was  dropped  in  1901. 


436  THE  SOCIETY'S  EXAMINATIONS 

stage  (No.  III.)  should  practically  correspond  with  the  first 
class  of  the  old  Grade  II.  and  the  upper  part  of  the  second 
class,  while  the  idea  was  put  forward  that  the  standard 
should  be  very  gradually  advanced.  The  intermediate 
stage  was  made  up  of  the  third  class  and  the  lower  part  of 
the  old  second  class  of  Grade  II. 

This  system  has  since  been  carried  on  without  any 
alteration,  and  it  has  been  found  to  work  very  well.  The 
advance  in  the  standard  has  been  but  trifling,  as  it  was 
found  from  the  general  character  of  the  papers  sent  in  that 
any  considerable  elevation  of  the  standard  would  involve 
an  undue  amount  of  rejections — that  is  to  say,  more  than 
a  third  of  the  candidates  entering.  Some  new  subjects 
were  also  added  to  the  advanced  stage,  the  principal  of 
which  were  commercial  law  and  accounting  and  banking. 
A  slight  change  was  also  made  in  the  fees,  those  for  the 
advanced  and  intermediate  being  left  as  before  at 
2S.  6d.,  and  for  the  elementary  stage  the  fee  was  fixed  at 
2S.,  with  a  reduction  of  is.  for  every  subject  after  the  first 
subject  taken  up. 

The  new  system  resulted  in  a  very  large  increase  of 
candidates,  from  17,771  in  1904,  to  21,253  m  *9Q$,  22,597 
in  1908,  and  28,644  m  1911-  This  is  the  highest  number 
yet  reached. 

In  1912  the  Education  Committee  of  the  London 
County  Council  took  over  the  superintendence  of  the  London 
examinations,  and  thus  provided  an  independent  local 
authority  responsible  for  the  work  previously  carried  out 
by  voluntary  committees.  The  example  is  being  followed 
in  nearly  all  the  large  Provincial  centres,  and  much  is  hoped 
from  this  most  recent  development.  It  is,  however,  at  the 
present  time  too  novel  for  much  to  be  said  about  it  here. 

As  regards  the  practical  value  of  the  three  sets  of  certifi- 
cates, it  may  safely  be  said  that  a  certificate  of  the  ad- 
vanced grade  (especially  of  the  first  class)  may  be  taken 
to  afford  an  employer  a  reasonable  assurance  of  a  com- 
petent knowledge  of  the  subject  (so  far  as  it  can  be  tested 
by  examination)  on  the  part  of  a  candidate  for  employ- 
ment who  presents  it.  A  certificate  of  the  intermediate 
grade  may  be  taken  as  evidence  that  the  person  presenting 


TECHNOLOGICAL  EXAMINATIONS          437 

it  has  made  a  study  of  the  subject  and  has  made  some  pro- 
gress in  that  study.  An  elementary  certificate  in  the 
hands  of  a  young  person  shows  that  special  study  of  the 
subject  has  been  attempted,  and  its  successful  pursuit 
looked  forward  to  in  the  future.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  this  grade  is  only  intended  for  young  persons  of,  or 
just  over,  school  age. 

In  1907,  at  the  request  of  the  Army  Council,  it  was 
arranged  that  a  special  annual  examination  in  Shorthand 
should  be  held  for  soldiers  at  any  centre  fixed  by  the 
Army  Council  at  any  place  in  the  Empire.  Such  an  ex- 
amination has  been  held  every  year  since.  The  number 
of  centres  has  generally  been  about  twenty-five ;  they 
have  been  situated  in  the  United  Kingdom,  India,  South 
Africa,  Egypt,  and  Malta.  The  average  number  of  candi- 
dates is  between  sixty-three  and  sixty-four,  of  whom 
75  per  cent.  pass.  This  is  much  above  the  average  of 
shorthand  examinations.  There  are  also  a  good  many 
soldier  shorthand  writers  who  hold  certificates  obtained 
at  the  Society's  ordinary  examinations. 

In  1908  and  1909,  also  at  the  request  of  the  Army 
Council,  a  similar  examination  for  soldiers  in  Typewriting 
was  carried  out.  All  the  work  was  good,  but  the  entries 
were  not  sufficiently  numerous  to  justify  the  expenditure, 
the  cost  of  printing  the  necessary  papers  for  such  a 
subject  for  a  few  candidates  being  relatively  consider- 
able, and  so  the  examination  was  discontinued. 

The  Technological  Examinations,  referred  to  on  page 
432,  were  instituted  in  1873  at  the  suggestion  of  Sir  John 
Donnelly.  Some  account  of  their  origin  will  be  found 
in  Chapter  XX.1  These  examinations  were  intended  to 
test  the  knowledge  possessed  by  artisans  of  the  subject- 
matter  of  their  respective  industries.  It  was  arranged 
that  they  should  be  held  in  connection  with  the  May 
examinations  of  the  Science  and  Art  Department,  the 
technological  papers  being  given  out  with  those  of  the 
Department .  Before  a  candidate  could  obtain  a  certificate, 
he  was  required  to  pass  the  Department's  examination  in 
certain  specified  science  subjects,  these  varying  according 

1  Page  465. 


438  THE  SOCIETY'S  EXAMINATIONS 

to  the  technological  subject  taken  up.  Certificates  of 
three  grades  were  given — elementary,  advanced,  and 
honours — corresponding  with  those  of  the  Department 
examination.  No  attempt  was  made  to  test  practical  skill, 
but  each  candidate  was  required  to  produce  a  certificate 
from  his  employer  in  which  his  competence  was  stated. 
The  number  of  candidates  was  never  great.  In  the  first 
year  (1873)  only  six  entered,  and  the  numbers  gradually 
increased  to  68  in  1870,  and  184  in  I878.1 

In  1879,  on  the  foundation  of  the  City  and  Guilds  of 
London  Institute,  the  Technological  Examinations  were 
handed  over  to  that  body.  From  the  funds  placed  at  its 
disposal  by  the  City  Companies  the  Institute  was  able  to 
offer  to  teachers  payments  on  the  results  of  the  examina- 
tions like  the  grants  of  the  Science  and  Art  Department. 
Teachers  were  thus  enabled  to  form  classes  and  to  send 
pupils  in  for  the  examinations,  and  a  large  increase  in  the 
number  of  candidates  took  place.  These  examinations 
now  form  an  important  part  of  the  Institute's  work,  and 
attract  annually  a  very  large  number  of  candidates.  In 
1910  the  number  examined  was  24,508.  Large  additions 
have  also  been  made  to  the  list  of  subjects,  which  now 
number  seventy- five.  No  great  change  has  been  made  in  the 
general  character  or  system,  which  remains  much  the  same 
as  that  proposed  by  Sir  John  Donnelly,  but  the  details  have 
been  considerably  modified,  and,  in  some  cases,  a  practical 
examination,  to  test  handicraft  skill,  has  been  provided. 

In  1889  an  attempt  was  made  to  establish  a  system 
of  examinations  in  "  Practical  Commercial  Knowledge." 
Syllabuses  for  two  subjects,  "  The  Commerce  of  Food  " 
and  "  The  Commerce  of  Clothing,"  were  issued,  but  no 
candidates  came  forward,  and  after  a  second  year's  trial, 
the  proposition  was  dropped. 

A  question  which  had  been  for  a  long  time  before  the 
Council  was  the  holding  of  viva  voce  examinations  in 

1  The  following  were  the  subjects  included  in  the  1878  examinations : 
Cotton  Manufacture,  Paper,  Silk,  Steel,  Carriage  -  building,  Manu- 
facture of  Pottery  and  Porcelain,  Gas  Manufacture,  Glass,  Cloth, 
Silk-dyeing,  Wool-dyeing,  Calico  Bleaching  Dyeing  and  Printing, 
Alkali  Manufacture,  Blow-pipe  Analysis. 


VIVA  VOCE  EXAMINATIONS  439 

Modern  Languages,  and  as  far  back  as  1870  suggestions 
made  by  Mr.  Hyde  Clarke  for  holding  such  examinations 
locally,  were  included  in  the  programme.  No  definite 
arrangements  were  made  for  holding  the  examinations  ; 
it  was  merely  announced  that  if  any  local  board  could 
find  a  suitable  examiner  in  any  modern  language,  the 
Society  would  grant  a  certificate  to  any  candidate  certified 
by  him  as  proficient.  The  experiment  was  tried  on  a 
small  scale  in  London,  Birmingham,  Manchester,  Lichfield, 
and  Penzance  for  six  years,  1870  to  1875,  and  in  that 
time  only  fifteen  candidates  qualified.  The  languages 
taken  up  were  French,  German,  and  Spanish.  After 
1875  the  experiment  was  dropped.1 

It  is  quite  obvious  that  no  paper  examination  can  be 
an  adequate  test  of  knowledge  of  a  spoken  language  ;  but 
the  difficulties  connected  with  the  holding  of  colloquial 
examinations  simultaneously  at  a  number  of  different 
centres  for  a  long  time  proved  insuperable.  In  1902  the 
idea  of  holding  such  examinations  at  the  same  time  as 
the  other  examinations  was  abandoned,  and  it  was 
announced  that  examinations  in  French,  German,  and 
Spanish  would  be  held  at  any  date  at  any  of  the  Society's 
examination  centres  where  proper  arrangements  could 
be  made.  Portuguese  and  Italian  were  afterwards  added 
to  the  list  of  subjects.  The  experiment  proved  quite 
successful .  In  the  first  year  2 80  candidates  were  examined . 
The  numbers  rose  to  68 1  in  1905,  and  this  has  been  the 
highest  number  reached  up  to  the  present  time.  About 
75  per  cent,  of  the  candidates  are  successful,  and  it  has 
been  found  on  the  whole  that  nearly  all  the  candidates 
who  enter  have  a  very  fair  colloquial  knowledge  of  the 
language,  while  certificates  of  distinction  have  been  granted 
to  a  great  many  who  showed  thorough  proficiency.  No 
difficulty  has  been  experienced  in  conducting  the  examina- 
tions satisfactorily. 

Although  Music  was  hardly  considered  as  coming 
properly  within  the  range  of  the  Society's  work,  it  was 
included  almost  from  the  first  in  the  list  of  examination 

1  Journal,  vol.  xviii.  p.  654  ;  vol.  xix.  p.  576  ;  vol.  xx.  p.  604  ;  also 
the  examination  programmes  and  lists  of  results  for  the  years  1870-75. 


440  THE  SOCIETY'S  EXAMINATIONS 

subjects.  The  Theory  of  Music  first  appears  in  the  1859 
programme,  the  examiner  being  John  Hullah.  In  that 
year  twelve  candidates  entered,  and  the  numbers  slowly 
grew  to  324  in  1880.  Hullah  continued  to  conduct  the 
examination  till  his  death  in  1 884.  He  was  succeeded  in  the 
following  year  by  W.  A.  Barrett,  who  for  some  time  pre- 
viously had  acted  as  his  assistant.  Mr.  Barrett  carried  on 
the  work  till  his  death  in  1 891 .  Sir  John  Stainer  acted  for 
one  year  (1892),  and  in  1893  Sir  Joseph  Barnby  took  it  on. 
He  acted  for  three  years,  and  in  1 896  Dr.  W.  G.  McNaught 
undertook  the  work,  which  he  has  since  carried  on.  In 
1893  a  change  in  the  form  of  the  examination  was  intro- 
duced, the  subject  being  divided  into  two,  "  Harmony  " 
and  "  Rudiments  of  Music."  About  700  papers  are  now 
worked  in  the  two  subjects,  a  certain  number  of  candidates 
taking  both. 

In  1879,  at  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  Hullah,  examinations 
in  Practical  Music  were  established — that  is  to  say,  ex- 
aminations at  which  the  actual  capacity  of  students  to 
play  an  instrument,  or  to  sing,  could  be  tested.     For  many 
years  these  have  been  held  in  London  only,  at  a  certain 
specified  date,  though  at  one  time  there  were  also  a  few 
provincial  centres.     It  was  intended  that  these  examina- 
tions should  apply  to  a  less  advanced  class  of  candidate 
than  those  who  entered  for  the  well-known  examinations 
of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music,  at  the  time  when  the 
Society's  system  was  started,  or  who  now  enter  for  those 
of  the  Associated  Board  of  the  Royal  Academy  and  the 
Royal  College  of  Music.     It  is  believed  that  the  Society's 
examinations    have    fulfilled    their    purpose,    and    have 
proved  a  useful  means  of  encouragement  to  many  musical 
students.     Dr.  Hullah  acted  as  examiner  from   1879  till 
1884,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  W.  A.  Barrett.     The 
work   was   continued   by   Sir   John  Stainer,  Sir  Joseph 
Barnby,    and    Mr.    W.    G.    McNaught.      In     1895,    Mr- 
John   Farmer  was  appointed,  and  he  continued  to   act 
till    1899,  when  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  the  work  in 
consequence  of  illness,  which,  at  a  later  date,  terminated 
fatally.     Since   his    death   the   examinations   have   been 
conducted    by    Dr.   Ernest   Walker   and    Mr.    Burnham 


NUMBERS  EXAMINED 


441 


W.  Horner,  who  served  as  Assistant  Examiners  to  Mr. 
Farmer. 

The  numbers  examined  have  never  varied  within  very 
wide  limits.  In  the  first  year  there  were  117  candidates ; 
the  numbers  increased  gradually  to  276  in  1891,  and  to 
393  in  1895.  The  largest  number  yet  examined  was  566 
in  1900.  During  the  last  few  years  there  has  been  a  small 
but  steady  diminution.  The  standard  has  not  varied 
greatly,  but  is  now  (1913)  a  little  higher  than  it  was.  The 
general  level  of  attainment  is  reported  by  the  examiners 
to  be  slightly  higher  of  recent  years. 


The  Swiney  Cup  (see  p.  395). 


CHAPTER    XX 
THE  PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII. 

(1862-1880) 

History  not  carried  beyond  1880 — Value  of  the  Society's  Publications — 
Election  of  Albert  Edward,  Prince  of  Wales,  as  President — His 
relations  with  the  Society  and  his  interest  in  it — His  accession  to 
the  Throne  as  King  Edward  vii. — Presidency  filled  by  Sir  Frederick 
Bramwell — Election  of  George,  Prince  of  Wales,  as  President — 
His  accession  to  the  Throne  as  King  George  v. — Presidency  filled  by 
Lord  Alverstone,  C.J. — Election  of  Duke  of  Connaught  as  President 
— Chairmen  of  Council,  1861-90 — Principal  Members  of  Council — 
The  Cantor  Bequest — Allowance  to  Dr.  Cantor's  Mother  and 
Sister  -  in  -  Law  —  The  Cantor  Lectures — The  Society  and  the 
Colonies — First  Suggestion  of  a  Colonial  Section — Formation  of 
Indian  Section — African  Section,  afterwards  the  Colonial  Section, 
established — Chemical  Section — Art  Workmanship  Prizes — Food 
Committee — Trevelyan  Prize  for  Food  Preservation — Value  of  the 
Food  Committee's  Work — First  Applications  of  Refrigeration — 
Failure  to  award  the  Prize — Its  ultimate  disposal — Technical 
Education  Question  raised  by  Dr.  Playfair — Conference  and  Report 
of  Committee — Technological  Examinations — Other  Educational 
Work  of  Society — School  Drill — Memorial  Tablets  ;  Suggestions  by 
G.  C.  T.  Bartley;  The  Society's  Tablets;  Work  taken  over  by 
London  County  Council. 

THE  final  chapters  of  this  book  are  intended  to  bring 
the  history  of  the  Society  as  far  as  it  has  seemed  desirable 
to  carry  it,  viz.  to  the  year  1880  or  thereabouts,  the  time 
when  the  writer  succeeded  Mr.  Le  Neve  Foster  as  secretary. 
There  are  obvious  reasons  for  this  course,  one  of  them 
being  that  it  avoids  the  need  for  reference  to  persons  still 
alive.  It  has  not  seemed  necessary  to  draw  a  hard-and- 
fast  line,  and  in  a  few  cases  it  has  been  more  convenient 
to  carry  the  history  of  a  subject  down  to  the  end  of  the 

442 


THE  SOCIETY'S  PROCEEDINGS  443 

century,  or  even  later.  In  many  others  it  has  appeared 
better  to  stop  at  an  earlier  date.  At  all  events,  it  may  be 
taken  that  this  and  the  next  chapter  are  intended  to  deal 
with  the  Society's  principal  work  in  the  period  of  fifteen 
or  twenty  years  after  Prince  Albert's  death  in  1861. 

Whether  I  should  apologise  for  the  brevity  with  which 
I  have  treated  the  various  portions  of  my  subject-matter, 
or  for  the  length  to  which  the  whole  narrative  has  extended, 
I  am  not  certain.  It  is  difficult  to  realise  that  I  may 
have  erred  in  both  directions. 

One  portion  of  my  subject  I  know  I  have  dealt  with 
most  inadequately,  and  that  is  the  vast  mass  of  literature 
which  the  Society  has  published  in  the  form  of  papers 
read  at  its  meetings.  This  publication  is  the  Society's 
principal  duty.  Its  execution  of  it  is  its  chief  claim  to 
public  support,  and  yet  in  a  history  of  the  Society's 
labours  this  department  is  almost  ignored,  or  left  with 
only  occasional  reference.  But  how  could  it  be  properly 
treated  ?  The  first  thirty  volumes  of  the  Journal,  record- 
ing the  proceedings  from  1852  to  1882,  contain  the  reports 
of  about  twenty-four  meetings  in  each  year,  720  in  all. 
The  720  odd  papers  are  on  the  most  diverse  topics — in- 
dustrial, economic,  social,  artistic,  scientific,  educational, 
mechanical,  fiscal,  commercial,  hygienic,  and  who  shall 
say  how  many  other  divisions  of  human  polity. 

The  Society  might  take  for  its  motto  the  old  Terentian 
tag,  Humani  nihil  a  me  alienum  puto.  It  never  refused  a 
hearing  to  anybody  who  had  fresh  information  to  give 
on  any  subject  likely  to  be  beneficial  to  human  progress 
or  human  welfare.  The  mere  list  of  the  titles  of  the 
papers  occupies  nearly  fifteen  pages  (large  pages  and 
small  type)  of  the  amalgamated  indexes  to  the  Journal. 
A  summary  of  their  contents  would  easily  fill  a  volume, 
and,  as  any  reasonable  summary  is  hopeless,  it  has  seemed 
better  to  be  content  with  a  general  reference  to  the  vast 
mass  of  information  available  in  the  Journal x  for  the 

1  In  the  first  address  which,  as  Chairman  of  the  Council,  he  delivered 
to  the  Society  in  1890,  the  present  Lord  Chief  Justice,  Lord  Alverstone, 
referred  to  "  the  mine  of  wealth  as  to  the  history  of  invention  and 
scientific  research  which  lay  stored  up  .  .  .  in  the  pages  of  the  Journal." 


444       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

student  of  recent  social  and  economic  history,  and  not  to 
attempt  any  account  of  it. 

As  mentioned  before,  Prince  Albert  died  in  December 
1 86 1,  and  at  first  the  Council  considered  that  the  office  of 
President  ought  not  to  be  left  vacant,  for  at  their  meeting 
of  1 5th  January  they  decided  that  a  letter  should  be  sent 
to  General  Grey,  the  Queen's  private  secretary,  "  request- 
ing him  to  ascertain  any  wishes  which  Her  Majesty  may 
have  on  the  election  of  a  President  to  succeed  the  late 
deeply-lamented  Prince  Consort. " 

It  was,  however,  soon  realised  that  there  was  no  need 
for  immediate  action,  as  the  letter  apparently  was  not 
sent  to  General  Grey,  and  the  matter  was  allowed  to  rest 
until  near  the  time  of  the  annual  meeting,  when,  in  answer 
to  a  letter  from  the  Secretary,  General  Grey  wrote  : — 

'  Her  Majesty  now  commands  me  to  say  that,  as  His 
Royal  Highness  the  Prince  of  Wales  is  not  yet  of  age,  and 
would  himself  be  indisposed,  young  and  inexperienced  as 
he  is,  to  be  placed  in  any  office  in  immediate  succession  to 
his  great  and  beloved  father,  it  would  not  be  desirable  that 
he  should  now  be  chosen.  The  best  arrangement  would 
probably  be  to  fill  up  the  office  for  the  present  in  such  a 
manner,  should  that  be  possible,  as  to  admit  of  a  recon- 
sideration of  the  subject  on  a  future  occasion." 

General  Grey's  letter  was  read  at  the  meeting  of  i2th 
June  1862,  and  the  Council  accordingly,  at  their  next 
meeting  ( 1 8th  June),  invited  William  Tooke,  the  senior  Vice- 
President,  to  accept  the  office,  and  his  name  was  accord- 
ingly placed  on  the  balloting  paper  for  the  general  meeting. 

Mr.  Tooke  was  a  very  old  member  of  the  Society,  which 
he  joined  in  1802,  and  he  had  for  many  years  taken  an 
active  part  in  its  administration.  He  was  a  solicitor  of 
some  eminence,  and  his  firm  (Tooke,  Hallowes,  &  Price) 
had  for  long  acted  as  the  Society's  honorary  solicitors. 
They  had  carried  through  all  the  legal  work  connected 
with  the  grant  of  the  Charter  in  1847.  At  the  time  of  his 
election  he  was  in  failing  health,  and  he  only  held  office 
for  little  more  than  a  year,  for  he  died  in  September  1863, 
two  months  after  his  second  election  to  the  Presidency. 
He  was  in  his  eighty-sixth  year  at  the  time  of  his  death. 


ELECTION  OF  PRESIDENT  445 

The  Presidency  being  again  vacant,  a  second  applica- 
tion was  made  to  General  Grey,  who  intimated  in  reply 
that  the  Prince  would  now  be  willing  to  receive  a  formal 
deputation  from  the  Council.  A  deputation  was  accord- 
ingly appointed  to  wait  on  His  Royal  Highness  with  an 
address  from  the  Council,  asking  him  to  accept  the  Presi- 
dency. The  Prince  consented,  saying,  in  his  reply  to  the 
deputation,  that  he  accepted  the  office  in  the  hope  "  that 
he  might  be  better  able  to  promote  the  great  and  beneficent 
objects  which  his  dear  father  had  so  much  at  heart,  and  in 
which  he  was  so  zealously  supported  by  the  Society. " 

It  only  remained  to  complete  the  formalities  of  election, 
and  for  this  purpose  an  extraordinary  general  meeting  of 
the  Society  was  held  at  Burlington  House  on  22nd  October 
1863,  the  Society's  house  in  the  Adelphi  being  then  under 
repair.  On  the  motion  of  Mr.  William  Hawes,  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Council,  it  was  proposed  "  that  His  Royal 
Highness  the  Prince  of  Wales  be  elected  a  member  of  this 
Society,"  and,  this  resolution  having  been  unanimously 
passed,  it  was  further  resolved  "  that  His  Royal  Highness 
the  Prince  of  Wales  be  elected  President  of  this  Society/1 

The  office  to  which  he  was  thus  elected  in  1863  the 
Prince  held  for  thirty-eight  years,  until  his  accession  to 
the  throne  in  1901 .  If  the  aims  and  objects  of  the  Society 
did  not  appeal  to  his  personal  tastes  in  the  same  way  as 
they  did  to  those  of  his  father,  yet  he  was  led,  at  first  by 
filial  affection,  and  afterwards  by  his  natural  capacity  for 
organisation,  to  pay  all  necessary  attention  to  the  Society's 
doings,  and  to  devote  to  its  interests  as  much  time  and 
thought  as  could  reasonably  be  expected  from  the  heir  to 
the  throne. 

From  the  earliest  years  of  his  Presidency  he  made  it 
clearly  understood  that  he  did  not  choose  to  be  a  President 
in  name  alone,  but  that  he  expected  to  be  consulted  in  all 
matters  of  importance  sufficient  to  justify  their  submission 
to  him.  This,  indeed,  was  characteristic  of  him,  not  only 
in  his  relations  with  the  Society,  but  in  regard  to  the 
numerous  other  bodies  with  which,  as  time  went  on,  he 
became  associated  as  President  or  Patron. 

In  later  years,  when  his  time  was  more  occupied   by 


446       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

the  numerous  demands  upon  it,  he  was  not  able  to  give  so 
much  attention  to  the  institutions  with  which  he  was 
associated  ;  but  from  the  time  he  assumed  the  Presidency 
until  the  date  of  his  accession,  it  may  safely  be  said  that 
no  new  action  of  any  importance  was  ever  undertaken  by 
the  Council  without  its  being  submitted  to  the  Prince  for 
his  consideration  and  approval.  Furthermore,  it  may  be 
added  that  such  advice  as  he  cared  to  give  was  generally 
well  worth  taking,  for  he  was  gifted  with  great  natural 
shrewdness  and  sense,  as  his  subjects  fully  realised  when 
he  became  King  in  after  years. 

The  Albert  Medal  of  the  Society  was  never  awarded 
without  the  names  being  submitted  to  him,  and  his  final 
choice  of  the  selected  candidate  was  always  more  than  a 
nominal  one.  The  Medal  was  regularly  presented  by  him 
personally  in  the  presence  of  the  members  of  the  Council, 
who  attended  for  the  purpose  at  Marlborough  House. 

In  1887,  when  the  Albert  Medal  was  awarded  to  Queen 
Victoria  "  In  commemoration  of  the  progress  of  Arts, 
Manufactures,  and  Commerce  throughout  the  Empire 
during  the  fifty  years  of  her  reign,"  the  presentation  was 
made  to  the  Queen  by  the  Prince  at  Buckingham  Palace, 
in  the  presence  of  the  Council,  on  the  8th  March  1888. 

After  his  accession,  the  Medal  was  awarded  to  King 
Edward,  "  in  recognition  of  the  aid  rendered  by  His 
Majesty  to  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce  during 
thirty-eight  years'  Presidency  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  by 
undertaking  the  direction  of  important  exhibitions  in  this 
country,  and  the  executive  control  of  British  representa- 
tion at  international  exhibitions  abroad,  and  also  by  many 
other  services  to  the  cause  of  British  industry."  In  accept- 
ing the  medal  he  expressed  the  gratification  which  the 
award  gave  him,  and  it  was  clear  that  he  was  genuinely 
pleased. 

When,  on  his  accession  in  1901 ,  he,  of  necessity,  vacated 
the  Presidency,  he  became  the  Society's  Patron,  and, 
indeed,  he  was  the  first  Patron  of  the  Society  ;  for  though 
it  appears  from  the  old  Minutes  that  on  her  accession 
a  suggestion  was  made  that  Queen  Victoria  should  be 
invited  to  become  Patron  of  the  Society,  that  suggestion 


KING  EDWARD'S  SUCCESSORS  447 

was  not  acted  upon  at  the  time,  and,  so  far  as  can  be 
ascertained,  no  application  was  ever  made  to  Her  Majesty 
that  she  should  accept  the  position. 

It  was  in  his  capacity  of  Patron  that  in  1908,  King 
Edward  granted  the  Society  permission  to  prefix  to  its 
title  the  term  Royal.1 

After  King  Edward's  accession  in  1901,  when  the  date 
for  the  election  of  a  President  came  round,  H.R.H.  the 
Duke  of  Cornwall  (afterwards  Prince  of  Wales,  and  now 
King  George  v.)  was  absent  on  a  journey  round  the 
world,  so  the  precedent  of  1862  was  followed  and  a  tem- 
porary President  was  elected,  Sir  Frederick  Bramwell, 
the  eminent  engineer,  being  selected  for  the  vacant  office. 
Sir  Frederick  had  served  every  office  on  the  Council,  hav- 
ing been  Vice-President,  Treasurer,  and  Chairman.  On 
the  return  of  His  Royal  Highness  in  the  autumn  of  1901, 
Sir  Frederick  Bramwell  resigned,  and  the  Council,  on 
behalf  of  the  Society,  invited  the  Prince  to  accept  the 
office  of  President.  From  that  date  he  continued  to  act 
as  President  till  his  accession  to  the  throne  in  1910  necessi- 
tated his  abandonment  of  the  office,  and  he  then  became 
Patron. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  1910,  Lord  Alverstone,  C.J., 
was  elected  President.  He  held  the  office  till  February 
1911,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  His  Royal  Highness  the 
Duke  of  Connaught. 

The  first  Chairman  of  Council  elected  after  the  death 
of  Prince  Albert  was  William  Hawes,  and,  as  previously 
mentioned,  he  was  in  office  when  the  Prince  of  Wales 
was  elected  President.  Hawes  was  a  capable  man  of 
business,  and  had  great  experience  in  the  work  of  society 
administration,  as  he  was  for  many  years  treasurer  of 
the  Royal  Humane  Society,  of  which  his  grandfather 
had  been  the  founder.  He  was  succeeded  by  Sir  Thomas 
Phillips,  and  when  Sir  Thomas  died  in  his  first  year  of 
office  Hawes  was  again  elected,  and  served  for  a  year. 
After  him  came  Lord  Henry  Lennox.  He  accepted 
office  at  the  desire  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  who  wished 

1  The  first  number  of  the  Journal  with  the  new  title  was  that  of 
January  1908. 


448       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

that  the  chairmanship  should  be  held  by  a  personal 
friend  of  his  own,  so  that  he  might  be  kept  in  touch  with 
the  Society's  proceedings.  Lord  Henry  was  a  son  of  the 
fifth  Duke  of  Richmond,  and  for  long  sat  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  He  held  various  official  posts,  including 
that  of  Under-Secretary  of  State  for  War.  His  official 
position  often  rendered  him  specially  serviceable  to  the 
Society,  and  he  became  a  very  popular  and  useful  Chair- 
man. He  was  thrice  re-elected,  and  so  held  office  for  four 
years.  His  successor  was  Major-General  Eardley-Wilmot, 
an  officer  of  singularly  high  character  and  of  consider- 
able reputation.  The  next  Chairman  was  Lord  Alfred 
Churchill,  the  second  son  of  the  sixth  Duke  of  Marlborough, 
who  served  for  two  terms — -1875-6  and  1878-9.  Lord 
Alfred  was  devoted  to  the  Society,  and  gave  unremitting 
attention  to  its  concerns,  both  during  his  tenure  of  the 
chair  and  afterwards  till  his  death  in  1893.  Without 
any  pretence  to  brilliance,  he  was  a  man  of  much  common 
sense  and  infinite  tact,  to  whom  his  colleagues  were  much 
attached.  The  interval  between  his  two  terms  of  office 
was  filled  by  the  election  of  Major-General  Cotton,  who 
was  prevented  by  illness  from  taking  up  any  of  the  work 
of  his  office,  and  Mr.  Hawes,  as  deputy-chairman,  delivered 
the  opening  address  of  the  Session  1877-8.  Lord  Alfred 
Churchill  was  followed  by  Sir  Frederick  Br  am  well,  whose 
record  of  service  to  the  Society  is  certainly  second  to  that 
of  none  of  his  predecessors  or  successors.  He  read  several 
papers,  and  delivered  a  course  of  Cantor  Lectures  before 
the  Society.  He  constantly  occupied  the  chair  at  its 
meetings,  and  still  more  frequently  took  part  in  its  dis- 
cussions. He  served  in  every  capacity  on  its  Council 
from  1875  to  1893,  and  the  list  of  the  offices  he  filled  was 
(as  mentioned  above)  completed  by  his  election  to  the 
post  of  President  in  1901,  in  the  interval  between  the 
accession  of  King  Edward  vn.  and  the  acceptance  of  the 
Presidency  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  (King  George  v.). 

In  succession  to  him  (in  1 882) came  Sir  William  Siemens, 
the  illustrious  inventor,  who  eight  years  before  (1874) 
had  received  the  Society's  Albert  Medal,  and  thirty-two 
years  before  (1850)  had  been  awarded  a  Society's  gold 


CHAIRMEN  OF  COUNCIL  449 

medal.1  His  term  of  office  was  cut  short  by  his  sudden 
death,  and  his  place  was  taken  by  Sir  Frederick  Abel, 
another  recipient  of  the  Albert  Medal,  and  a  chemist  of 
European  fame.  Abel's  successor  was  Sir  Douglas  Gait  on, 
who  held  office  for  the  two  years  1886-88.  Like  his 
two  predecessors,  Bramwell  and  Abel,  Galton  was  a 
copious  contributor  to  the  Society's  proceedings.  The 
list  may  close  with  the  name  of  the  Duke  of  Abercorn, 
who  was  chairman  in  1888-90,  and  whose  death  occurred 
this  year  (1913). 

Many  of  the  members  of  Council  mentioned  in  Chap- 
ter XVI.  still  took  a  leading  part  in  the  direction  of  the 
Society.  Amongst  others  whose  work  should  be  recorded 
are  the  following  :  (Sir)  Edwin  Chadwick  was  a  member 
of  long  standing;  he  was  elected  in  1847,  and  served 
on  the  Society's  Committee  of  Agriculture  before  the 
incorporation,  but  he  did  not  join  the  Council  till  1868. 
From  that  date  till  his  death  in  1890  he  exercised  con- 
siderable influence.  As  a  young  man  he  had  been  secre- 
tary to  Jeremy  Bentham,  and  he  was  saturated  with  the 
ideas  of  that  philosopher.  His  persistent  advocacy  of 
sanitation  left  its  mark  on  his  generation,  which  owed 
much  to  his  energy,  though  his  methods  did  not  meet 
with  the  universal  approval  of  his  contemporaries.  The 
valuable  service  rendered  the  Society  by  Hyde  Clarke 
in  the  formation  of  the  Indian  Section  will  be  referred 
to  later.  He  also  made  his  influence  felt  in  the 
conduct  of  the  examinations 2  and  in  other  matters. 
Sir  Antonio  Brady,  an  active  member  of  the  Society 
for  more  than  thirty  years,  was  the  founder  of  the 
Bethnal  Green  Museum.  J.  Bailey  Denton,  the  well- 
known  engineer,  and  a  great  authority  on  matters 
connected  with  sanitation  and  water-supply,  gave  a 
prize  for  improved  workmen's  dwellings.  The  Rev. 
William  Rogers  ("  Hang  Theology  "  Rogers),  the  wise 
educational  reformer  and  genial  humorist,  took  an 
active  part  in  the  Society's  educational  work  ;  as  also 
did  Sir  J.  Kay  Shuttleworth.  Sir  Daniel  Cooper,  well 

1  See  Chapter  XVI,  p.  389. 

2  See  Chapter  XIX,  p.  439. 

30 


450       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

known  first  as  an  Australian  statesman  and  then  as  repre- 
sentative in  this  country  of  New  South  Wales,  took  great 
interest  in  all  the  Society's  Colonial  work.  Thomas 
Sopwith,  mining  engineer  and  geologist,  was  a  member 
of  the  Society  from  1843  to  1879,  and  of  the  Council 
from  1858  to  1864.  Sir  Charles  Trevelyan,  the  distin- 
guished Indian  administrator,  took  an  active  part  in  the 
work  of  the  Indian  Section.  All  the  above  were  working 
members  of  the  Council  between  1862  and  1870.  Later 
on  there  were  others  who  became  more  prominent  ;  Captain 
(later  General)  Sir  John  Donnelly,  Sir  Henry  Cole's  suc- 
cessor at  South  Kensington,  devised  the  system  of  techno- 
logical examinations,  since  widely  developed  by  the  City 
Guilds  Institute.  He  became  Chairman  of  the  Council  in 
1894.  (Sir)  George  Hartley,  Sir  Henry  Cole's  son-in-law, 
afterwards  M.P.  for  Islington,  first  suggested  the  erection 
in  London  of  memorial  tablets  to  distinguished  men, 
and  helped  to  carry  the  proposal  into  effect.  Andrew 
Cassels,  a  member  of  the  India  Council,  gave  great 
help  towards  the  establishment  of  the  Indian  Section. 
(Sir)  Robert  Rawlinson,  the  eminent  sanitarian,  read 
his  first  paper  to  the  Society  in  1858  and  his  last  in 
1889.  Colonel  Strange  was  the  constant  and  trusted 
adviser  of  the  Council  in  all  scientific  matters.  Admiral 
Ryder  was  responsible  for  the  valuable  report  on  life- 
saving  appliances  issued  in  1 879.*  (Sir)  Benjamin  Richard- 
son gave  the  Society  several  of  his  brilliant  addresses  on 
hygienic  subjects.  Sir  Philip  Cunliffe-Owen,  the  popular 
organiser  of  international  exhibitions,  joined  the  Council 
in  1879,  but  his  work  upon  it  was  of  later  date.  Francis 
Cobb,  if  he  was  not  well  known  oustide  the  Society,  was 
highly  esteemed  within  it  for  his  constant  and  ungrudging 
service.  These — though  many  others  might  be  men- 
tioned— were  the  principal  organisers  of  the  Society's 
multifarious  work  during  the  period  under  review. 

The  first  intimation  of  the  Cantor  bequest  was  made 
known  to  the  Society  in  November  1 860,  when  a  letter  was 
received  from  James  Welch,  the  Administrator-General  of 
1  See  Chapter  XXI,  p.  494. 


THE  CANTOR  BEQUEST  451 

Fort  William,  Bengal,  who  in  that  capacity  had  been  named 
executor  of  the  testator's  will,  stating  that  Dr.  Edward 
Theodore  Cantor,  who  had  died  a  few  months  before,1 
had  bequeathed  his  property  in  equal  shares  to  the  Society 
and  to  Wellington  College,  declaring  it  to  be  his  desire  that 
the  moneys  so  given  should  be  applied  by  the  President  of 
the  Society  and  the  Governors  of  the  College  respectively, 
in  such  manner  as  they  should  deem  most  conducive  to 
promote  the  objects  of  the  Society  and  of  the  College. 

Dr.  Cantor  was  a  surgeon  in  the  Indian  Medical  Service 
and  was  Superintendent  of  the  lunatic  asylums  at 
Bhowanerpore  and  Dallunda  of  Fort  William,  Bengal.  It 
does  not  appear  that  he  was  ever  a  member  of  the  Society. 

The  bequest  was  not  paid  over  until  1 862.  A  technical 
difficulty  arose  because  the  money  was  left  to  the  President, 
and  in  January  of  that  year  the  Society  was  without  a 
President.  This,  however,  was  settled  by  the  agents  of  the 
administrator  of  the  will  consenting  to  accept  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  treasurers  pending  the  election  of  a  Presi- 
dent, and  in  February  the  amount  of  ^5042  was  paid  over, 
and  was  invested  in  India  5  per  cent,  stock.  In  the 
meantime,  in  November  1861,  an  appeal  was  made  to  the 
two  legatees  by  Mrs.  Cantor,  the  mother  of  the  testator, 
who  had  been  greatly  dependent  on  her  son,  and  was  at 
his  death  left  very  badly  off.  The  Governors  of  Wellington 
College  gave  her  £50  ;  but  the  Council  of  the  Society 
replied  that,  as  the  estate  had  not  been  distributed,  they 
could  not  make  any  promise  for  the  time.  It  appeared  that 
Mrs.  Cantor  was  a  Danish  lady,  living  in  her  own  country, 
and  that  her  son  had  allowed  her  £35  a  year.  Inquiries 
were  made  at  the  Danish  Legation,  and  her  appeal  was 
supported  by  the  Minister.  The  matter  was  discussed  with 
the  authorities  of  Wellington  College,  and  it  being  ascer- 
tained that  she  would  be  well  satisfied  with  an  allowance 
of  £50,  it  was  agreed  that  this  amount  should  be  given  her, 
the  College  and  the  Society  each  paying  half.  The  allow- 
ance was  continued  until  the  lady's  death  in  1867.  Nine 
years  after  this,  in  1876,  an  application  was  made  to  the 

1  The  date  of  the  will  was  3rd  March  1859,  that  of  probate  3ist  May 
1680. — Council  Minutes,  yth  November  1860. 


452       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

Society  by  the  widow  of  Dr.  Cantor's  brother,  who  was 
in  reduced  circumstances,  and  a  grant  was  made  to  her  of 
£2 5  a  year.  This  was  continued  until  she  died  in  1 883 . 

Some  consideration  was  given  as  to  the  best  way  of 
disposing  of  the  money,  and  eventually  it  was  determined 
to  expend  it  upon  courses  of  lectures  on  industrial  tech- 
nology. Thus  the  Cantor  Lectures  were  started,  very  much 
to  the  advantage  of  the  Society  and  the  promotion  of 
the  interests  it  was  founded  to  assist.  These  courses  of 
lectures  have  been  delivered  regularly  from  1 864  down  to 
the  present  date,  the  greatest  number  of  lectures  in  any 
one  session  having  been  eighteen.  With  a  very  few  ex- 
ceptions, all  the  lectures  have  been  published  in  the 
Journal,  and  afterwards  in  separate  form.  Many  of  them 
have  besides  been  developed  into  standard  works  on  the 
subjects  with  which  they  dealt.  The  whole  series  may  be 
said  to  form  an  encyclopaedia  of  information  on  matters  of 
industrial  technology,  since  there  are  very  few  important 
industries  which  have  not  at  one  time  or  another  formed 
the  subject  of  a  course. 

The  first  series  delivered  was  one  on  "  The  Operation 
of  the  Present  Laws  of  Naval  Warfare  on  International 
Commerce,"  by  Dr.  G.  W.  Hastings.  It  must  be  admitted 
that  the  subject  does  not  appear  to  be  a  particularly 
suitable  one.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  at  the  time 
(1864)  the  American  War  was  being  carried  on,  and  the 
various  points  of  international  law  raised  by  a  maritime 
war  were  then  of  pressing  urgency.  The  two  other  courses 
given  in  the  same  session,  on  "  Fine  Arts  Applied  to 
Industry,"  by  Mr.  W.  Burges,  the  well-known  architect, 
and  on  "  Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts,"  by  Dr.  F.  Crace 
Calvert,  were  certainly  very  much  more  suitable,  and,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  is  stated  that  they  attracted  very  much 
larger  audiences. 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  mention  a  few  of  the  more 
important  courses  which  were  delivered  before  the  end  of 
the  period  with  which  this  chapter  deals.  Besides  his  first 
course,  Dr.  Crace  Calvert  gave  three  others,  all  dealing  with 
practical  applications  of  Chemistry.  The  applications  of 
Geology  formed  the  subject  of  a  course  by  Professor 


THE  CANTOR  LECTURERS  453 

Ansted  in  1865.  In  the  following  year  Professor  Fleeming 
Jenkin  lectured  on  Submarine  Telegraphy.  In  1867,  Dr. 
John  Hullah  gave  a  course  on  Music  and  Musical  Instru- 
ments, and  Richard  Westmacott,  R.A.,  one  upon  Sculpture. 
In  the  following  year  Dr.  (afterwards  Sir)  W.  H.  Perkin 
lectured  on  Aniline  and  Coal-Tar  Colours.  In  1 869,  and  in 
1874  there  were  courses  on  Spectrum  Analysis  by  (Sir) 
Norman  Lockyer.  Professor  A.  W.  Williamson  lectured 
on  Fermentation  in  1870,  and  in  the  same  year  Professor 
Barff  gave  a  course  on  Artists'  Colours  and  Pigments,  the 
first  of  many  courses  which  he  delivered  here.  Special 
interest  attaches  to  this  series,  because  it  led  to  the 
appointment  of  a  Professor  of  Chemistry  by  the  Royal 
Academy,  Professor  Barff  himself  being  the  first  holder  of 
the  post.  In  1 874,  Dr.  Charles  Graham  gave  a  long  course 
on  the  Chemistry  of  Brewing — these  lectures  have  become 
a  classic  on  the  subject.  Other  courses  deserving  mention 
are  those  by  (Sir)  Frederick  Bramwell  on  the  Steam 
Engine  in  1 875  ;  by  (Sir)  William  Preece  on  recent  advances 
in  Telegraphy  in  1877  (the  first  of  many  lectures  given  to 
the  Society  by  Sir  William)  ;  by  A.  Vernon  Harcourt,  on 
the  Chemistry  of  Gas  Manufacture  in  1877  ;  by  (Sir) 
Benjamin  Ward  Richardson  on  Alcohol  in  1875  ;  and  by 
Dr.  W.  H.  Corfield,  on  the  Sanitary  Construction  of 
Dwelling-houses  in  1879. 

The  history  of  the  early  association  of  the  Society  with 
the  Colonies  was  given  in  an  earlier  chapter.1  After  the 
incorporation  of  the  Society,  the  new  Council,  when  it  was 
first  formed,  was  perhaps  too  much  occupied  with  its  own 
domestic  matters  to  pay  much  attention  to  Colonial  busi- 
ness. So  it  was  not  until  the  1851  Exhibition  attracted  to 
London  a  large  number  of  Colonial  visitors — amongst  them 
many  Colonial  Governors,  some  of  whom  were  made 
honorary  members  of  the  Society — and  thus  once  more 
brought  Colonial  affairs  to  the  front,  that  the  Society  again 
began  to  devote  special  attention  to  the  Colonies. 

At  the  instance  of  the  Society,  the  Secretary  of  State, 
in  April  1852,  sent  out  a  dispatch  in  which  the  British 
Colonies  were  invited  to  form  Associations  in  connection 
1  See  Chapter  IV,  p.  83. 


454       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

with  the  Society  ;  and,  in  response  to  this  appeal,  a  certain 
number  of  such  Associations  were  formed,  some  of  which 
are  even  now  in  existence.  But  the  dispatch  does  not 
seem  to  have  had  a  very  great  effect. 

A  little  later  on,  the  Society  endeavoured  to  include 
Colonial  Institutions  in  the  Union  of  Institutions,  which 
was  then  being  formed,  and  the  Journal  for  2ist  December 
1855  contains  a  notification  that  the  Council  desired  to 
include  such  institutions,  and  states  the  terms  on  which 
they  could  be  admitted.  In  return  for  the  usual  subscrip- 
tion of  two  guineas,  the  Council  offered  to  represent  Colonial 
Institutions  in  London  in  business  matters,  to  receive  any  of 
their  members  who  were  visiting  London,  and  to  give  such 
visitors  the  privilege  of  temporary  membership,  to  purchase 
books  for  their  libraries  at  reduced  rates,  and  to  establish 
centres  for  the  examinations  in  the  Colonies.  A  certain 
number  of  Colonial  Institutions  joined  the  Union  on  these 
terms,  but  the  response  was  not  very  great,  and  the  number 
of  such  Institutions  does  not  appear  at  any  time  to  have 
exceeded  sixteen.  In  1860  there  were  fifteen  Colonial 
Institutions  on  the  list,  and  from  this  date  the  numbers 
fell  away. 

In  1857,  however,  a  proposition,  which  had  much 
greater  effects  in  the  future,  was  made  by  Mr.  Hyde  Clarke, 
who  wrote  to  the  Council  suggesting  that  "  a  special 
section  be  formed  for  India,  another  for  Australia,  one 
for  English  America,  and  so  on."  It  was  suggested 
that  the  Indian  Section  should  meet  once  a  fortnight, 
and  the  Australian  once  a  month,  for  the  reading  of 
papers.  The  subjects  suggested  were  "  railway  exten- 
sions, irrigation,  canals,  European  colonisation,  tea  culti- 
vation, fibre  products,  the  iron  manufactures,  and  the 
copper  mines. "  Mr.  Hyde  Clarke  also  laid  consider- 
able stress  on  the  "  non-existence  of  a  Colonial  centre  in 
London." 

The  letter  was  published  in  the  Journal  of  i5th  May 
1857,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  consider  the 
matter.  Nothing,  however,  was  really  done.  This  was 
no  doubt  due  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Hyde  Clarke  shortly 
afterwards  left  this  country  for  Smyrna,  where  he  resided 


INDIAN  AND  COLONIAL  SECTIONS         455 

for  some  time.  Ten  years  later  he  returned  to  England, 
and  in  1868  he  renewed  his  proposal,  but  only  proposing 
the  formation  of  a  committee  which  should  organise 
conferences  on  Indian  subjects.  This  time  the  suggestion 
was  taken  up  more  warmly.  Hyde  Clarke  himself  was 
placed  on  the  Council,  and  the  Indian  Conferences,  which 
soon  developed  into  the  Indian  Section,  were  started. 
Previous  to  this  date  there  had  been  occasional  papers 
read  on  Indian  matters;  but  from  1869  onwards,  when 
the  Indian  meetings  began  with  a  paper  on  Indian  tea  by 
Mr.  C.  H.  Fielder,  read  on  i2th  March  in  that  year,  the 
Indian  Section  has  continued  its  regular  work.  There 
were  eight  meetings  in  1869  and  four  in  1870.  The 
number  of  meetings  held  each  year  from  that  date  down 
to  the  present  time  have  varied  a  little,  but  there  have 
never  been  less  than  five  or  more  than  seven. 

The  Indian  Section  thus  established  became  a  most 
important  department  of  the  Society.  It  has  had  great 
results  in  India  by  spreading  information  in  that  country 
as  to  the  directions  which  the  development  of  Indian 
manufactures  and  Indian  products  could  most  usefully 
take,  and  in  this  country  by  giving  similar  information  as 
to  the  industrial  resources  and  progress  of  India  itself.  The 
Section  has  received  great  help  from  the  Indian  press  and  it 
has  in  return  been  of  service  to  the  Indian  press  in  supply- 
ing useful  information  to  it.  It  has  been  of  great  value  to 
the  Society  itself  as  the  means  by  which  many  members 
have  been  added  to  its  list,  so  that  in  fact,  thanks  to  a 
very  large  extent  to  the  work  of  the  Indian  Section  and 
of  the  allied  section  for  the  Colonies,  a  large  proportion 
of  the  present  number  of  members  come  from  the  depend- 
encies of  the  Empire  abroad. 

The  continued  success  of  the  Indian  Section  led  to  the 
establishment  in  1874  of  the  African  Section,  and  this  also 
was  due  to  a  very  large  extent  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Hyde 
Clarke.  Five  years  later,  in  1879,  it  was  enlarged  and 
became  the  Foreign  and  Colonial  Section  ;  and  in  1901  it 
was  altered  into  the  Colonial  Section,  under  which  title 
it  has  been  continued  to  the  present  time. 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  Hyde  Clarke's  original 


456       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

suggestion  of  more  than  fifty  years  ago  has  eventually  been 
carried  out,  and  with  remarkable  success.  Something 
might  be  said  on  behalf  of  the  scheme  in  its  original  form, 
in  which  separate  sections  for  the  various  portions  of  the 
Empire  were  proposed.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that 
soon  after  this  idea  was  put  forward,  the  Royal  Colonial 
Institute  was  established,  and  since  its  foundation,  in  1868, 
it  has  carried  out  to  the  full  the  work  which  it  was  sug- 
gested in  1857  that  the  Society  of  Arts  might  do,  especially 
the  formation  of  a  Colonial  centre  in  London.  There  was 
no  question  that  a  separate  Institution,  devoting  itself 
entirely  to  such  work,  could  carry  it  out  more  effectually 
than  the  Society  of  Arts  with  all  its  different  aims  and 
objects  could  hope  to  do,  and  this  has  in  practice  proved 
to  be  the  case.  Still  it  has  been  found  that  there  was  an 
abundance  of  opportunity  for  the  two  institutions,  both 
of  which  have,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  carried  on  work  which 
has  been  useful  to  the  Colonies. 

The  growing  importance  of  industrial  chemistry  led 
to  the  establishment  in  1874  of  a  special  Chemical  Section 
for  the  discussion  of  subjects  connected  with  practical 
chemistry,  and  its  application  to  the  arts  and  manufactures. 
The  Section  was  opened  with  an  introductory  address  from 
Dr.  Odling,  then  President  of  the  Chemical  Society,  who 
dwelt  not  only  on  the  industrial  importance  of  applica- 
tions of  chemistry,  but  on  the  assistance  which  those 
applications  had  rendered  to  the  growth  of  chemical 
knowledge.  It  was  arranged  that  six  papers  should  be 
read  every  session,  and  among  the  list  of  contributors  are 
to  be  found  not  only  men  of  considerable  reputation  at 
the  time,  but  also  many  who  have  since  made  a  reputation 
for  themselves.1 

In  1879  the  scope  of  the  Section  was  enlarged  so  that 
it  might  include  matters  connected  with  applications  of 
physical  science  to  the  Arts.  It  continued  its  successful 
work  for  twelve  years,  until  1886,  when  its  success  led  to 
its  own  extinction,  for  it  had  resulted  in  the  formation  of 

1  The  first  Secretary  of  the  Section  was  Thomas  Wills,  a  promising 
young  chemist  who  died  in  1878  in  his  twenty-eighth  year, 


CHEMICAL  SECTION  457 

the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  founded  in  1881,  the 
Institute  of  Chemistry  having  also  been  established  in 
1877,  a  few  years  after  the  Section  was  started.  The 
Council  came  to  the  decision  to  discontinue  the  work  of 
the  Section,  the  reason  for  this  action  being  given  in  the 
following  extract  from  the  annual  report  of  1887  : — 

"  Since  its  establishment,  the  Section  has  fully  carried 
out  the  intentions  of  those  who  advised  its  formation,  for 
it  has  been  the  means  of  bringing  before  the  Society,  and, 
through  the  Society,  before  the  scientific  public,  many  very 
valuable  applications  of  science  to  practical  purposes. 
Looking  back  at  the  list  of  papers  which  have  been  read 
before  it,  it  will  be  seen  that  many  of  the  most  important 
of  the  communications  to  the  Society  during  the  time  found 
a  place  in  this  Section.  Since  its  formation,  however, 
two  independent  societies — namely,  the  Institute  of 
Chemistry  and  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry — have 
been  specially  established  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on 
the  work  to  which  the  Section  was  originally  devoted  ; 
and  it  appeared  to  the  Council  that  the  Society  of  Arts 
having,  as  in  so  many  other  cases,  originated  a  movement 
of  considerable  public  importance,  might,  as  the  work 
grew,  leave  it  in  the  efficient  hands  of  the  above-mentioned 
Societies."  x 

In  the  early  part  of  1863  the  Society  of  Wood-Carvers  2 
applied  to  the  Society  of  Arts  to  assist  them  in  holding  an 
exhibition  of  wood-carving,  in  connection  with  which 
prizes  were  proposed  to  be  offered.  The  Council  agreed 
to  allow  the  use  of  the  Society's  rooms  for  the  exhibition, 
and  also  offered  a  silver  medal  and  a  grant  of  £30.  This 
amount,  with  a  contribution  of  £1 5  from  the  Wood-Carvers, 
was  distributed  in  prizes  to  workmen,  and  the  exhibition 
was  duly  held. 

Its  success  led  to  a  proposal  for  a  series  of  Art  work- 
manship prizes,  and  later  in  the  same  year  the  Council 

1  Journal,  vol.  xxxv.  p.  775. 

2  This  was  a  small  society  of  working  wood-carvers  that  was  carried 
on  successfully  for  a  good  many  years  in  rooms  in  Bloomsbury.     It 
came  to  an  end  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century. 


458       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

offered  prizes,  amounting  altogether  to  £162,  for  modelling, 
repousse  work,  hammered  work,  carving,  chasing,  enamel 
painting,  painting  on  porcelain,  and  other  subjects.  In 
the  following  year  the  scheme  was  a  good  deal  developed, 
and  prizes  amounting  to  £623  were  offered  in  a  larger 
number  of  subjects  for  productions  from  prescribed 
designs.  A  list  of  subjects  for  competition  was  drawn  up 
with  considerable  care.  It  included  carving  in  various 
materials,  metalwork,  etching  and  engraving,  enamel 
painting,  painting  on  porcelain,  decorative  painting, 
inlaying,  cameo-cutting,  engraving  on  glass,  wall  mosaics, 
gem  engraving,  die-sinking,  glass-blowing,  book-binding 
and  leather  work,  and  embroidery.  The  examples  selected 
were  mostly  in  the  South  Kensington  Museum,  but  some 
were  in  private  possession.  Reproductions  of  them  in 
the  form  of  lithographs,  photographs,  or  casts  were 
provided  at  prices  in  most  instances  not  exceeding  a 
shilling.  There  was  also  a  division  for  works  to  be  executed 
without  prescribed  designs. 

The  offer  was  continued  annually  up  to  the  year 
1870.  The  total  annual  amount  offered  in  prizes  varied 
up  to  £666,  but  the  money  awarded  never  in  any  one  year 
reached  £300,  and  was  in  several  years  under  £100. 
Although  this  seems  a  sufficiently  good  result,  the  Council 
at  the  time  appear  to  have  been  disappointed.  The  prizes 
certainly  were  popular,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  when 
a  surplus  was  obtained  by  the  North  London  Exhibition 
in  1864,  an  amount  of  £157  was  handed  over  to  the  Society 
to  be  added  to  the  prize  fund. 

In  the  Council  Report  of  1870  an  announcement  was 
made  that  these  prizes  would  be  discontinued  "  for  the 
present, "  and  that  special  prizes  would  be  offered  for 
objects  of  art  workmanship  to  be  exhibited  at  the  Inter- 
national Exhibition  of  1871,  then  being  organised  by  the 
1851  Commissioners  at  South  Kensington.  Such  special 
prizes  were  accordingly  offered  in  the  form  of  medals 
for  manufacturers  and*  designers,  and  money  prizes  to 
the  workmen  employed.  The  articles  which  received 
prizes  were  to  be  shown  in  the  exhibition,  and  it  was  a 
condition  of  exhibiting  that  the  names  of  all  engaged  in 


FOOD  COMMITTEE  459 

the  production  of  the  works  should  be  sent  in.  Seventy- 
five  such  articles  were  submitted,  and  silver  medals  and 
money  prizes  to  the  amount  of  £200  were  awarded.1 

In  announcing  the  discontinuance  of  the  ordinary  Art 
workmanship  prizes,  the  Council  expressed  their  regret 
that,  in  spite  of  the  large  amount  of  prizes  offered,  there 
was  still  wanting  anything  like  an  adequate  response  on 
the  part  of  manufacturers,  designers,  or  workmen,  the 
result  being  that  though  the  articles  rewarded  were  of  a 
very  satisfactory  character,  and  showed  great  skill  and 
taste,  yet  the  competition  was  small,  and  the  amount  of 
money  awarded  far  less  than  the  offered  total.  The  hope 
was  also  expressed  that  the  annual  exhibitions  of  industry 
would  sufficiently  encourage  Art  workmanship,  and 
would,  therefore,  take  the  place  of  the  Society's  prizes. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  these  expectations  were 
not  realised. 

On  the  whole,  it  seems  certain  that  these  prizes,  with 
the  accompanying  small  exhibitions,  served  a  useful 
purpose,  and  helped  to  encourage  the  workers  in  artistic 
industries.  Some  disappointment  was  expressed  in  various 
quarters  at  their  discontinuance,  and  if  at  the  time  they 
were  not  popular  with  employers,  they  were  certainly 
appreciated  by  the  workmen  themselves.  It  is  quite 
possible  that  the  real  cause  of  their  discontinuance  was  a 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  Council  to  concentrate  the  Society's 
efforts  on  the  projected  series  of  exhibitions. 

The  problem  of  food  supply  seemed  to  be  specially 
urgent  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  or  at  all  events 
its  urgency  was  very  generally  realised.  The  population 
had  increased,  and  was  increasing,  at  a  rate  far  outstripping 
the  growth  of  the  national  resources  of  the  kingdom,  and 
the  means  of  supply  from  foreign  countries  had  not  yet 
been  developed.  Of  actual  food-stuffs  it  may  be  said 
that  only  cereals  were  imported.  Dead  meat  could  not 
be  conveyed  for  any  distance,  while  the  trade  in  cattle 
was  limited,  and  confined  to  European  countries.  The  im- 
portation of  canned  meat  had  been  introduced,  but  as  yet 
1  See  Chapter  XXI,  p.  486, 


460       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

only  on  a  small  scale.  Imported  fresh  fruit  was  practically 
represented  by  a  single  sort — the  orange.  Salted  and  dried 
fish  were  regular  articles  of  trade,  as  they  long  had  been, 
and  so  were  salt  beef  and  pork  ;  but  even  of  these  the  bulk 
was  supplied  from  domestic  sources. 

It  was  a  realisation  of  this  state  of  things  that,  in  1866, 
led  the  Council  to  appoint  a  committee  "  to  inquire  and 
report  respecting  the  food  of  the  people,"  with  special 
instructions  to  investigate  methods  for  "  the  production, 
importation,  and  preservation  of  substances  suitable  for 
food."  In  the  words  of  the  authors  of  the  most  recent 
book  on  the  subject,1  the  appointment  of  this  committee 
was  the  "  most  practical  step  in  the  direction  of  providing 
a  more  ample  food  supply  "  which  had  yet  been  taken, 
and  the  committee  did  much  useful  work,  though  its 
labours  were  not  quite  so  successful  as  they  might  have 
been. 

A  proximate  cause  for  the  nomination  of  the  committee 
was  the  offer  by  Sir  Walter  Trevelyan  of  a  sum  of  £70  to 
form  a  prize  for  the  discovery  of  a  process  for  preserving 
fresh  meat,  the  prize  being  specially  intended  to  encourage 
the  preservation  of  meat  "  in  countries  where  it  is  now 
almost  valueless."  Later  on,  in  1872,  Sir  Walter  added 
another  £30  to  his  offer,  making  the  total  sum  available 
for  the  prize  £100. 

Some  years  before,  in  1856,  the  same  gentleman  had 
given  £100  for  a  prize  for  an  essay  on  the  utilisation  of 
seaweed  ;  but,  though  the  prize  was  offered,  the  response 
was  unsatisfactory,  and  no  award  was  made.  The  money 
was  then  applied  to  the  more  practical  object  of  encourag- 
ing the  preservation  of  meat. 

The  committee  met  for  the  first  time  in  December 
1866,  and  it  continued  its  useful  labours  for  fifteen  years. 
Though  one  of  its  duties  was  to  award  Sir  Walter  Trevelyan 's 
prize,  this  was  only  a  part  of  its  work,  its  main  object 
being  to  accumulate  and  disseminate  information  on  the 
best  means  of  increasing  the  available  food  supplies  of  the 
country.  Its  members  took  a  wide  view  of  their  duties 

1  History  of  the  Frozen  Meat  Trade,  by  J.  T.  Critchell  and  J.  Ray- 
mond. 1912. 


FOOD  COMMITTEE  461 

and  worked  at  them  conscientiously,  and  if  they  failed 
in  the  first-mentioned  object  of  their  efforts,  they  certainly 
succeeded  in  the  second  and  more  important  part. 

The  committee  collected  an  enormous  amount  of 
information,  which  -was  published  in  successive  reports 
in  the  Society's  Journal.  These  reports  were  of  great 
value  at  the  time  in  directing  attention  to  what  was  being 
done  for  the  preservation  of  food,  and  they  are  now  of 
considerable  historical  interest  as  a  record,  which  appears 
to  be  fairly  complete,  of  the  various  methods,  more  or 
less  successful,  which  were  proposed  for  the  preservation 
and  supply  of  meat  before  the  introduction  of  cold  storage 
and  the  importation  of  refrigerated  meat.  The  committee 
took  a  large  amount  of  evidence  from  experts,  inventors, 
and  others,  and  their  reports  dealt  with  almost  every 
variety  of  food.  At  that  time  canned  meats  were  a 
novelty,  and  the  manufacturers  who  produced  them  gave 
evidence  before  the  committee.  All  sorts  of  processes 
were  described,  and  the  results  tested.  Many  of  these 
processes  were  quite  useless,  but  among  the  samples 
shown  were  some  which  have  since  been  developed  into 
valuable  commercial  products.  Samples  of  meat  from 
Australia  and  South  America,  preserved  in  various  ways, 
were  examined  and  reported  on,  but  none  proved  satis- 
factory. The  importation  of  live-stock  was  also  con- 
sidered. The  supply  of  milk  and  that  of  fish  were  among 
the  subjects  dealt  with  by  the  committee,  and  they 
devoted  one  meeting  to  the  examination  of  a  witness  on 
salmon  preservation.  In  one  of  their  reports  in  1867  they 
suggested  a  Fishery  Exhibition,  a  proposal  which,  some 
years  later,  was  carried  into  effect  with  great  success, 
not  only  in  London  but  in  several  Continental  towns. 

In  1868  prizes  were  offered  for  railway  vans  for  meat 
conveyance,  and  for  milk-cans.  None  of  the  suggestions 
for  improved  vans  were  thought  worthy  of  reward,  but  a 
silver  medal  was  given  to  the  Aylesbury  Dairy  Company 
for  the  best  milk-can  sent  in. 

The  problem  of  meat-supply  may  be  said  to  have  been 
solved  in  1879-80,  when  a  cargo  of  frozen  meat  was 
brought  to  London  by  the  Strathleven,  which  sailed 


462       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

from  Sydney  on  29th  November  1879,  and  arrived  in 
London  on  2nd  February  1880;  but  the  results  of  this 
experiment  were  either  not  brought  before  the  notice  of 
the  committee,  or  were  not  appreciated  as  they  deserved. 
It  is  certainly  a  matter  of  regret  that  this  successful  ex- 
periment met  with  no  award  at  the  hands  of  the  com- 
mittee— which  for  so  long  had  done  really  excellent  work 
in  publishing  information  on  the  food  supplies  of  the 
people.  However,  the  value  of  the  discovery  was  not 
realised  at  the  time,  and  the  view  taken  of  it  is  shown  by 
the  rather  desponding  report  of  1881,  the  last  issued  by 
the  committee,  which  summed  up  the  situation  as  follows: 
"  Though  numerous  methods,  more  or  less  successful, 
for  treating  meat  have  been  before  the  committee,  the 
committee  have  never  felt  themselves  able  to  select  any 
one  as  being  so  far  superior  to  the  rest  as  to  deserve  the 
award  of  the  prize ;  neither  have  they  had  from  any  of 
those  persons  who  are  now  engaged  in  the  importation 
of  meat  preserved  by  means  of  cold  from  America  or 
Australia,  any  such  precise  claim  to  the  credit  of  the  in- 
vention as  would  warrant  the  committee  in  thus  awarding 
the  prize.  The  prize,  therefore,  still  remains  in  the  charge 
of  the  Society,  and  the  Council  would  gladly  welcome  the 
advent  of  any  process  which  would  justify  them  in  pre- 
senting it." 

That  the  committee  did  not  promptly  recognise  the 
value  of  the  new  experiment  is  perhaps  not  remarkable. 
They  had  been  at  work  for  fifteen  years,  the  personnel  of 
the  committee  had  changed,  and  probably  the  interest  of 
the  early  investigations  had  flagged.  But  failure  is  the 
more  to  be  regretted  since  at  various  times  they  had  before 
them,  and  had  carefully  considered,  the  question  of  the 
preservation  of  meat  by  the  application  of  cold.  As  far 
back  as  1869  they  had  under  consideration  Reece's  freez- 
ing machine,1  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  ammonia  machines, 

1  Recce's  machine  was  the  subject  of  a  report  by  a  special  committee 
(Journal,  vol.  xvii.  p.  829).  The  report,  though  commendatory,  is  not 
wholly  favourable.  It  was  also  described  by  Dr.  B.  H.  Paul  in  his 
paper  on  "Refrigeration,"  read  in  December  1868  (Journal,  vol.  xvii. 
p.  67). 


FOOD  COMMITTEE  463 

while  throughout  their  reports  references  are  constantly 
made  to  the  use  of  low  temperatures  for  meat  preservation. 
In  1 868 l  they  "  look  with  interest  at  the  scheme,  proposed 
by  influential  persons  at  Sydney,  to  resort  ...  to  cold." 
They  say  that  "  the  promoters  of  this  plan  are  understood 
not  to  have  decided  in  what  form  they  can  most  economi- 
cally provide  the  refrigeration,  which  must,  of  course,  be 
kept  up  during  the  voyage  by  some  artificial  means."  In 
the  following  year  2  they  "  still  look  with  much  hope  to 
the  process  of  preserving  meat  in  cold  temperatures,"  and 
they  mention  some  experiments  "  by  which  they  hope  to 
be  able  to  determine  the  conditions  most  favourable  for 
the  practical  appliance  to  animal  and  vegetable  substances 
of  this  mode  of  preservation." 

In  the  Journal  for  24th  April  1 868,  a  full  report  is  given 
of  the  meeting  above  referred  to,  which  was  held  at  Sydney 
in  February  of  the  same  year.  At  it  Mr.  T.  S.  Mort  de- 
scribed the  results  of  his  experiments  in  freezing  meat  for 
exportation,  experiments  which  were  certainly  the  founda- 
tion of  the  whole  frozen  meat  trade  of  the  present  day. 
It  is  probable  that  this  report  was  supplied  by  Mr.  John 
Alger,  who  was  present  at  the  meeting,  and  took  an  active 
part  in  the  movement.  He  had  been  treasurer  of  the 
Society  of  Arts  in  1862,  and  had  gone  out  to  Australia. 
It  is  now  generally  admitted  that  Mort  was  beyond  doubt 
the  pioneer  of  cold  storage,  and  if  he  had  lived  a  few  years 
later  (he  died  in  1878)  he  certainly  ought  to  have  had 
awarded  to  him  the  Trevelyan  prize. 

After  the  publication  of  their  rather  despondent  report 
in  1 88 1  the  committee  abandoned  any  further  attempts 
to  discover  a  suitable  candidate  for  the  prize,  and  the 
money  was  eventually  awarded  in  five  prizes  of  £20  each 
at  the  Health  Exhibition  of  1884.  One  of  these  was  given 
to  Messrs.  J.  &  E.  Hall  for  their  "  cold  dry-air  machines 
and  cold  storage  chamber."  Their  machine  was  a  carbonic 
acid  compression  refrigerating  machine  of  the  type  invented 
by  Giffard,  and  afterwards  supplied  by  the  firm  for  use  on 
board  ship,  and  for  the  preservation  of  imported  meat  in 
cold  storage  establishments. 

1  Journal,  vol.  xvi.  p.  583.  2  Ibid.  vol.  xvii.  p.  642. 


464       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

Still,  if  they  missed  the  opportunity  of  awarding  the 
£100  prize — and  after  Mort's  death  it  would  have  been 
very  difficult  to  name  an  individual  who  deserved  it- — the 
committee,  as  was  said  above,  did  a  great  deal  of  really 
useful  work  which  might  have  been  carried  to  an  even 
more  successful  conclusion  but  for  the  sudden  death  in 
1877  °f  its  energetic  and  devoted  chairman,  Benjamin 
Shaw. 

On  his  return  from  a  visit  to  the  Paris  Exhibition  of 
1867,  where  he  had  been  acting  as  one  of  the  jurors,  Dr. 
Lyon  Playfair  addressed  a  letter  to  Lord  Granville  com- 
menting on  the  industrial  progress  which  had  been  made 
by  other  countries  as  compared  with  that  of  Great  Britain.1 
In  Dr.  Play  fair's  opinion,  England  compared  very  unfavour- 
ably with  some  of  the  other  principal  European  countries 
who  exhibited  in  Paris,  and  this  state  of  things  he  attri- 
buted mainly  to  the  advance  which  had  been  made  on 
the  Continent  in  technical  or  industrial  education.  As 
far  back  as  1853  Dr.  Playfair  had  published  a  work  on 
industrial  education  on  the  Continent,  and  had  prophesied 
that  the  result  of  the  attention  given  to  such  education 
abroad,  and  its  neglect  in  England,  would  lead  to  a  much 
more  rapid  industrial  advance  on  the  Continent  than  in 
England.  He  considered  that  the  views  he  had  stated  in 
1853  were  confirmed  in  1867. 

The  result  of  the  attention  thus  drawn  to  the  subject 
was  that  the  Council,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year,  ap- 
pointed a  committee  on  the  subject,  and  by  this  committee 
a  conference  was  organised,  which  met  in  the  Society's 
Room  in  January  1868.  The  list  given  in  the  Journal 
of  the  persons  attending  the  conference  is  a  very  remark- 
able one.  It  is  too  long  for  quotation  at  length,  and  the 
list  of  names  is  too  distinguished  to  justify  a  selection 
from  them.2 

After  the  conference,  at  which  the  subject  was  fully 
discussed,  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the  Council, 

1  Dr.  Playfair's  letter,  prefaced  by  one  from  Lord  Granville,  is  re- 
printed in  the  Journal,  vol.  xv.  p.  477. 

2  Journal,  vol.  xvi.  p.  1 84. 


TECHNICAL  EDUCATION  465 

which,  after  a  number  of  meetings,  published  an  exhaustive 
report l — a  report  that  may  with  advantage  be  consulted 
at  the  present  date.  In  it  for  the  first  time  technical 
education  was  defined  as  meaning  "  general  instruction  in 
those  sciences  the  principles  of  which  are  applicable  to 
various  employments  of  life,"  and  it  was  also  resolved 
that,  for  the  purposes  of  discussion,  technical  education 
"  should  be  deemed  to  exclude  the  manual  instruction  in 
Arts  and  Manufactures  which  is  given  in  the  workshop/' 

Throughout  the  report  the  committee  had  mainly  in 
view  the  education,  not  so  much  of  the  operatives  as  of 
managers  and  superintendents  of  works — a  wise  view 
which  was  afterwards  lost  sight  of,  when  the  subject  of 
technical  education  became  popular,  and  the  training  of 
the  artisan  was  advocated  as  the  one  remedy  for  all 
industrial  shortcomings.  At  the  end  of  their  report 
they  added  an  appendix  suggesting  courses  of  study  for 
such  persons,  and  it  is  evident  that  these  courses  were 
intended  for  students  having  already  a  certain  amount 
of  general  and  scientific  education,  and  not  for  artisans. 
It  may  be  mentioned  that  at  the  end  of  the  list  was  in- 
cluded a  syllabus  of  higher  commercial  education,  intended 
for  the  use  of  merchants  and  commercial  men  generally. 
After  the  issue  of  this  report,  the  Council  did  little  more 
for  a  time  to  promote  technical  education,  though  in  May 
1 869  they  presented  a  petition  to  the  House  of  Commons 
urging  its  necessity,  and  asking  for  legislation  such  as 
would  encourage  scientific  training  in  secondary  schools. 

The  next  step  was  the  proposal  for  the  introduction  of 
technological  examinations,  which  was  brought  before 
the  Council  in  November  1871,  by  Captain  (afterwards 
General  Sir  John)  Donnelly.  The  first  draft  scheme 
prepared  by  him  was  afterwards  considerably  elaborated, 
and  was  submitted  to  a  conference  held  in  July  1872,  at 
which  H.R.H.  Prince  Arthur  (now  the  Duke  of  Connaught) 
presided.2  The  result  of  this  conference  was  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  technological  examinations,  described  in 
a  previous  chapter.3 

1  Journal,  vol.  xvi.  p.  627.  z  Ibid.,  vol.  Ivii.  p.  434. 

3  See  Chapter  XIX,  p.  437. 
31 


466       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

Ever  since  its  foundation  the  Society  had  been  earnest 
in  promoting  industrial  education,  but  for  the  most  part 
this  was  considered  to  mean  merely  general  education  of 
the  artisan  class,  not  the  provision  of  scientific  or  technical 
training. 

The  proper  educational  work  of  the  Society  had  always 
been  for  the  most  part  the  furtherance  of  industrial  and 
technical  instruction,  though  the  foundation  of  the  system 
of  examinations  had  been  an  important  contribution  to 
the  cause  of  secondary  education  in  England.  The 
movement,  however,  for  the  improvement  of  elementary 
education,  which  led  to  the  passing  of  Mr.  Forster's 
Elementary  Education  Act  in  1870,  drew  the  Society  into 
its  influence,  and  in  the  years  1869  and  1870  it  was  busy 
with  the  subject  of  national  education  generally.  By 
means  of  specially-appointed  committees,  it  collected 
information  about  the  educational  needs  and  facilities 
in  several  districts  in  and  near  London,  and  published 
reports  upon  them.  Of  those  reports  the  most  remarkable 
was  the  one  prepared  by  G.  C.  T.  Hartley,  on  "  The  Edu- 
cational Condition  and  Requirements  of  one  Square  Mile 
in  the  East  End  of  London."  This  was  published  as  a 
supplement  to  the  Journal  for  25th  March  1870,  and,  as 
it  well  deserved  to  do,  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention. 
It  was  a  document  of  considerable  value,  prepared  with 
great  care,  and  at  the  cost  of  much  labour  and  minute 
inquiry. 

Before  the  Elementary  Education  Bill  was  introduced 
into  the  House  of  Commons,  a  conference  was  held  (February 
I87O)1  at  which  the  various  proposals  already  formulated 
were  discussed,  and  the  opinions  upon  them  of  leading 
educationalists  were  elicited.  After  the  introduction  of  the 
Bill,  a  petition,  embodying  the  views  of  the  Council,  was 
presented  to  the  House,  and  a  little  later  a  full  memor- 
andum suggesting  various  amendments  and  improvements 
was  submitted  to  the  Prime  Minister  (Mr.  Gladstone)  by 
the  chairman  (Lord  Henry  Lennox)  on  behalf  of  the 
Council.  The  principal  demand  of  the  Council,  the 
appointment  of  a  Minister  of  Education,  was  not  suc- 
1  Journal,  volf  xviii.  p.  238, 


DRILL  IN  SCHOOLS  467 

cessful,  but  some  of  the  other  suggestions  were  not  without 
effect. 

Special  attention  was  drawn  to  the  question  of  female 
education  by  the  paper  read  by  Mrs.  Grey  on  "  The 
Education  of  Women,"  in  June  1872.  In  consequence  of 
this  paper,  a  committee  was,  a  little  later,  appointed  by 
the  Council  "  to  promote  the  better  education  of  girls  of 
all  classes."  It  was  at  first  proposed  to  form  a  "  National 
Union  for  the  Improvement  of  the  Education  of  Girls," 
but  the  actual  result  was  the  much  more  practical  pro- 
ceeding of  the  establishment  of  the  Girls'  Public  Day 
School  Company,  which  has  been  in  successful  operation 
ever  since. 

At  the  end  of  1868  the  Council  took  up  the  idea  of 
encouraging  drill  in  schools.  The  reasons  for  their  action 
are  well  set  out  in  a  paper  read  in  March  1871  by  Major- 
General  Eardley-Wilmot,  who  laid  stress  on  the  value 
of  drill  as  a  means  of  physical  and  also  of  mental  educa- 
tion. It  was,  indeed,  as  a  means  of  improving  the  national 
intelligence,  rather  than  as  a  preparation  for  the  national 
army,  that  the  encouragement  of  drill  in  schools  was  first 
taken  up  by  the  Society,  and  it  was  on  such  grounds  that 
its  extension  was  always  advocated. 

The  efforts  of  the  Society  met  with  a  good  deal  of 
success.  The  first  result  of  the  movement  was  the  holding, 
in  June  1870,  of  a  drill  review  of  3000  boys  from  metro- 
politan schools  at  the  Crystal  Palace,  in  the  presence  of 
the  Prince  of  Teck.  A  similar  review  was  held  in  the 
following  year,  in  the  presence  of  the  Duke  of  Connaught, 
at  the  Horticultural  Gardens,  when  banners  provided  by 
the  Society  were  presented  to  the  schools  which  were 
most  successful  in  a  test  competition.  In  1872  the  Prince 
of  Wales  patronised  the  review,  which  was  again  held  in 
the  Horticultural  Gardens.  He  afterwards  presented 
the  Society's  prize-banners  in  the  Albert  Hall.  Over 
4000  boys  attended.  Other  reviews  were  held  in  1873 
and  1875  ;  and  in  1876  the  London  School  Board  under- 
took to  arrange  a  public  review  of  the  boys  in  their  schools. 
This  review  was  duly  held  in  Regent's  Park,  when  over 
10,000  boys  are  reported  to  have  gone  through  various 


468       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

manoeuvres.  On  this  occasion  an  elaborate  challenge 
banner,  provided  by  the  Society,  was  competed  for. 
This  banner  was  embroidered  by  the  School  of  Art  Needle- 
work, and  cost  nearly  £100. 

For  some  time  the  School  Board  continued  these  drill 
reviews.  But  there  was  a  good  deal  of  opposition  to 
them  from  a  certain  party,  who  were  afraid  they  would 
encourage  "  militarism,"  by  which  it  was  presumably 
meant  that  children  who  had  been  drilled  in  early  youth 
might  thereby  acquire  a  pernicious  desire  to  become 
soldiers  in  after  life.  The  total  cost  of  the  movement 
to  the  Society,  from  the  start  in  1870  down  to  the 
time  when  the  drill  reviews  passed  over  to  the  School 
Board,  was  £944,  but  of  this  £400  was  recouped  to 
the  Society  by  the  sale  of  tickets,  subscriptions  towards 
the  expenses,  etc. 

In  the  year  1864  an  anonymous  letter  was  printed  in 
the  Journal,  which  suggested  that  the  Society  might 
offer  a  prize  for  a  design  for  memorial  tablets  to  be  affixed 
to  houses  in  which  celebrated  persons  had  been  born  or 
lived.  In  the  same  year  also  some  suggestions  appeared 
in  the  Builder  newspaper,  to  the  effect  that  some  sort  of 
memorial  might  be  set  up  on  certain  houses  and  churches 
in  London  to  commemorate  their  association  with  eminent 
men.  Probably  in  consequence  of  these  suggestions, 
the  Council  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  the  "  erec- 
tion of  statues  or  other  memorials  to  persons  eminent  in 
arts,  manufactures,  and  commerce/' 

This  committee  does  not  seem  to  have  done  anything 
for  some  time.  But  in  May  1866  (Sir)  George  Bartley 
submitted  to  the  committee  a  proposal  for  affixing  memorial 
tablets  to  houses  in  London  which  were  known  to  have 
been  inhabited  by  famous  men.  In  his  letter  x  Mr.  Bartley 
quotes  a  reference  by  Samuel  Rogers  to  the  fact  that  in 
various  towns  in  France  and  Germany  such  memorials 
were  in  existence,  and  he  added  a  list  of  houses  in  London 
which  at  one  time  were  associated  with  celebrated  persons. 
Many  of  these,  as  well  as  many  of  those  suggested  by  the 
*  Published  in  the  Journal,  vol.  xiv.  p.  438, 


MEMORIAL  TABLETS  469 

writer  in  the  Builder,  have  since  had  tablets  attached  to 
them.  Mr.  Bartley  concluded  his  proposal  by  suggesting 
that  the  best  kind  of  indicating  label  might  be  some  form 
of  mosaic  or  marble  slab. 

The  committee  at  once  approved  the  idea,  and  Mr. 
Hartley's  proposals  as  they  stood  were  practically  adopted 
and  carried  out.  A  list  was  at  once  prepared  of  suitable 
houses,  and  in  1867  the  first  memorial  tablet  was  affixed 
to  the  house  in  Holies  Street,  Cavendish  Square,  where 
Byron  was  born.  The  work  was  continued  year  by  year 
for  a  considerable  time,  although  there  were  certain  diffi- 
culties in  carrying  it  out.  It  was  not  always  easy  to 
indentify  with  absolute  certainty  the  house  in  which  it 
was  recorded  that  some  eminent  person  had  dwelt.  Before 
the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  houses  in 
London  streets  were  not  numbered,  and  since  that  date 
many  alterations  have  been  made  at  different  times  in 
the  numbering.  Then  the  owners  of  houses  were  often 
reluctant  to  give  permission  for  the  attachment  of  the 
tablets  to  their  premises,  especially  in  the  earlier  years  of 
the  movement.  Even  so  enlightened  a  body  as  the 
Benchers  of  the  Middle  Temple  refused  to  allow  the 
erection  of  a  tablet  in  Brick  Court,  where  Goldsmith 
lived  and  died,  though  later  a  more  reasonable  view 
was  taken,  and  permission  was  given  for  the  erection  of 
a  bronze  memorial.  But,  on  the  whole,  the  work  was 
carried  out  with  a  considerable  amount  of  success,  and  it 
attracted  a  great  deal  of  public  interest  and  approval. 
In  the  year  1872  a  sum  of  £50  was  presented  to  the 
Council  by  Mr.  Benjamin  Whitworth  and  Mr.  H.  D. 
Pochin,  to  be  devoted  to  the  erection  of  tablets,  but  the 
rest  of  the  cost,  never  very  considerable,  was  provided  by 
the  Society. 

When  the  idea  was  first  taken  up,  the  offer  of  a  £10 
prize  for  a  suitable  design  was  made,  but  nothing  seems 
to  have  come  of  this.  Later  on  Mr.  Bartley  undertook  to 
obtain  a  design,  and  with  the  assistance  of  (Sir)  Henry 
Cole,  who  took  a  great  interest  in  the  matter,  various 
designs  were  prepared  in  the  offices  of  the  Science  and 
Art  Department,  South  Kensington,  under  the  super  in- 


470       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

tendence  of  Godfrey  Sykes  x  and  his  assistant.  Eventually 
the  matter  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Messrs.  Minton, 
Hollins,  &  Co.,  of  Stoke-on-Trent,  who  appear  to  have 
worked  on  the  suggestions  submitted  to  them,  and  pro- 
duced the  tablet  which  was  approved  and  adopted  by 
the  Council  of  the  Society.  One  of  the  main  objects  in 
the  design  was  that  the  Society  of  Arts'  name  should  be 
given,  but  that  it  should  not  be  made  too  prominent,  and 
this  object  was  effectively  attained  by  the  ingenious 
border,  in  which  the  name  of  the  Society  is  introduced. 
The  same  design  has,  in  all  cases,  been  used  by  the  Society, 


Tablet  formerly  on  No.  1 5  Bucking- 
ham Street.2 

with  the  solitary  exception  of  the  tablet  to  Milton  in  Bun- 
hill  Row.  The  architecture  of  the  building  there  did  not 
admit  of  the  convenient  erection  of  a  circular  tablet,  and 
consequently  the  oblong  slab  which  is  now  in  position  was 
specially  designed  and  erected. 

The  work  was  carried  on  by  the  Society  until  1901,  by 
which  time  thirty-five  tablets  had  been  set  up .  The  houses  on 
which  four  of  these  were  erected  have  since  been  demolished. 

1  Godfrey  Sykes   (1825-66)  was  the  talented  designer  of  much  of 
the  terra-cotta  and  other  decoration  of  the  old  buildings  of  the  South 
Kensington  Museum.     One  piece  of  his  work  is  very  familiar,  the  design 
on  the  cover  of  the  Cornhill  Magazine. 

2  The  house  was  pulled  down  about  1906.     It  was  the  last  remaining 
part  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham's  house. 


MEMORIAL  TABLETS  471 

The  house  in  Holies  Street  on  which  Lord  Byron's  tablet 
had  been  affixed,  was  pulled  down  in  1889.  In  May  1900, 
Messrs.  John  Lewis  &  Co.  erected  on  the  front  of  the  new 
house,  which  was  in  their  occupation,  a  fresh  memorial 
consisting  of  a  bronze  relief  bust  of  Byron  placed  in  an 
architectural  frame  of  Portland  stone.  When  Furnivars 
Inn  was  pulled  down  in  1898,  the  tablet  which  had  been 
set  up  to  Charles  Dickens  disappeared,  but  two  other 
residences  of  the  great  novelist  have  since  been  marked 
by  the  London  County  Council.  About  1906  the  house 
at  the  bottom  of  Buckingham  Street,  Strand,  which  carried 
a  tablet  to  commemorate  the  fact  that  Peter  the  Great  of 
Russia  had  lived  there  during  his  stay  in  London,  was  pulled 
down,  and  a  block  of  chambers  erected  on  the  site.  Mrs. 
Siddons'  house  in  Upper  Baker  Street  was  demolished 
in  1904,  but  the  original  tablet  was  re-fixed  by  the  London 
County  Council  on  the  new  premises. 

It  is  always  a  difficult  question  whether  these  tablets 
should  only  be  placed  on  the  actual  house  in  which  the 
person  to  be  commemorated  had  lived.  In  some  cases 
the  house  had  disappeared,  and  the  tablet  was  set  up  on 
the  building  which  had  taken  the  place  of  the  old  house. 
Whether  this  was  worth  doing  must  remain  a  moot  ques- 
tion, and,  on  the  whole,  perhaps  it  is  really  not  worth 
while,  for  instance,  to  have  a  tablet  on  Archbishop  Tenison's 
Grammar  School  in  Leicester  Square,  now  occup3dng  the 
site  of  Hogarth's  old  house  ;  on  the  other  hand,  some- 
thing might  be  urged  on  behalf  of  the  tablet  on  a  ware- 
house in  Bunhill  Row,  built  on  the  spot  where  Milton's 
house  once  stood,  because  it  at  all  events  suggests  to 
the  passer-by  the  original  suburban  character  of  the 
locality. 

In  1901  the  Historical  Records  and  Buildings  Committee 
of  the  London  County  Council  proposed  to  advise  the 
County  Council  that  it  should  undertake  the  work  of 
indicating  houses  and  localities  of  interest  in  London  ; 
but,  before  taking  any  action  in  the  matter,  the  Committee 
very  courteously  applied  to  the  Society  to  know  what  its 
views  on  the  matter  were.  The  Council  of  the  Society 
readily  agreed  to  hand  over  the  work  to  the  County  Council, 


472       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

and  offered  at  the  same  time  to  render  any  assistance 
in  the  Society's  power.  The  London  County  Council 
thereupon  formally  resolved  to  take  upon  itself  the  duty 
in  future,  and  since  that  date  they  have  certainly  carried  it 
out  in  a  most  able  and  efficient  manner.  Up  to  the  present 
time  (1913)  the  Council  have  set  up  seventy-six  tablets. 
They  have,  probably  wisely,  in  almost  every  case  refused 
to  indicate  merely  sites,  and  have  confined  themselves  to 
indicating  actual  houses.  It  may  be  added  that  their 
work  in  this  respect  is  a  little  easier,  because  nearly  all 
the  houses  with  which  they  have  had  to  deal  are  compara- 
tively modern.  Looking  at  the  list  of  persons  commemo- 
rated, it  appears  that,  leaving  out  of  consideration  a 
few  tablets  which  bear  more  than  a  single  name, 
only  ten  of  the  seventy-six  tablets  refer  to  persons  who 
might  not  certainly  be  classed  as  belonging  to  the  nine- 
teenth century  ;  that  is  to  say,  their  reputations  were  made 
since  the  beginning  of  that  century ;  while  there  are  only 
two — Sir  Isaac  Newton  and  General  Wolfe — who  had 
died  before  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
About  two-thirds  of  the  names  commemorated  are  of 
persons  who  have  died  since  the  work  began  in  I864.1 

The  ancient  sites  are  doubtless  the  more  attractive  ; 
but  with  the  constant  changes  which  have  been  made 
in  London  streets,  especially  during  the  last  half-century 
or  so,  innumerable  houses  of  historical  interest  have  of 
necessity  disappeared.  An  enormous  hotel,  or  shop,  or 
block  of  flats,  may  now  cover  ground  once  occupied  by 

1  A  complete  list  of  the  tablets  erected  up  to  that  date,  which  include 
all  except  Milton's,  will  be  found  in  the  Journal  of  5th  October  1900 
(vol.  xlviii.  p.  827).  A  similar  list,  which  is  quite  complete,  is  in  the 
Directory  of  the  Society,  published  in  1909,  p.  53.  An  account  of  many 
of  the  houses  bearing  tablets  is  given  in  two  articles  by  Mr.  Henry  B. 
Wheatley  (then  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Society),  which  appeared  in 
the  Journal  (vol.  xxix.  p.  823,  and  vol.  xxx.  p.  1066).  The  London 
County  Council  have  published  three  volumes  of  Ancient  Houses  of 
Historical  Interest  in  London,  the  latest  of  which  is  dated  1909.  Several 
parts,  which  no  doubt  will  form  a  fourth  volume,  have  since  been  issued 
in  pamphlet  form.  There  is  also  a  companion  volume,  edited  by  Sir 
Laurence  Gomme,  Return  of  Outdoor  Memorials  in  London  (1910). 
This  gives  a  list  of  all  such  memorials  erected  by  the  L.C.C.,  the  Society 
of  Arts,  and  private  individuals. 


MEMORIAL  TABLETS 


473 


a  dozen  houses,  in  some  of  which  painters  or  poets,  or 
writers,  or  scientific  men  or  statesmen  of  the  eighteenth 
and  earlier  centuries  may  have  been  born,  or  lived,  or 
died.  The  obliteration  is  complete,  and  there  is  nothing 
left  to  commemorate.  On  the  other  hand,  during  the 
past  century  and  a  half  very  many  fresh  sites  of  interest 
have  been  created  in  the  birthplaces  and  residences  in 
London  of  some  of  the  men  who  have  been  occupied  in 
making  history  since  the  nineteenth  century  began,  and 
so  fresh  work  is  ever  being  provided  for  the  Historical 
Committee  of  the  London  County  Council. 


Dr.  Johnson's  House  in  Bolt  Court,  with  Memorial  Tablet. 


CHAPTER    XXI 

THE  PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII.  (Continued) — 

CONCLUSION 

(1862-1880) 

Patent  Law  Amendment — The  Government  Bills,  1875-9  The 
Society's  Bill,  1881-2— The  Patents  Act,  1883— Postal  Reform- 
Musical  Education — The  Royal  Academy  of  Music  and  the  Society 
— National  Training  School  of  Music — Its  Successful  Establish- 
ment by  the  Society — The  Society's  Expenditure — School  of  Art 
Wood-Carving — Its  foundation  by  the  Society — Subsequent  His- 
tory— Paris  Exhibition,  1867 — Artisan  Reports,  1867  and  1878 — 
The  Annual  Exhibitions,  1871-4 — The  Society's  connection  with 
them — Memorial  Window  in  St.  Paul's  after  Prince  of  Wales's 
illness — Sanitary  Conferences,  1876-84 — Prizes — Issue  of  Premium 
Lists — Special  Prizes — Domestic  Stoves — Labourers'  Cottages — 
Channel  Traffic — Ships'  Life-boats  and  Life-Saving  Appliances — 
Blow-pipe  Apparatus — Essay  on  Thrift — Mechanical  Road  Trac- 
tion— London  Cabs — Railway  Lamp — Steel — Revolution  Indi- 
cator— Harvesting  Crops  in  Wet — Rating  of  Societies — Finance — 
Concluding  Remarks. 

AFTER  the  passing  of  the  Patent  Law  Amendment  Act 
of  1852,  a  measure  which,  as  mentioned  previously,  owed 
a  great  deal  to  the  Society  of  Arts,  the  question  of  Patent 
Law  reform  was  for  a  long  time  allowed  to  slumber,  so 
far  as  the  Society  was  concerned.  The  Act  was  working 
extremely  well,  and  the  criticisms  of  objectors  were  mainly 
directed  to  matters  of  detail,  which  might  perfectly  well 
have  been  dealt  with  by  administrative  rather  than 
legislative  reform.  In  some  quarters  a  feeling  of  opposi- 
tion to  the  granting  of  patents  at  all  had  gathered  a  certain 
amount  of  strength.  But  the  case  of  the  objectors — if, 
indeed,  they  had  any  case — was  demolished  by  a  brilliant 
paper  read  before  the  Society  in  December  1874  by  Mr. 

474 


SIR  FREDERICK  BRAMWELL,  BART. 
CHAIRMAN  OF  COUNCIL,  1880-1881.     PRESIDENT,  1901. 

From  a  Photograph. 


To  face  page  474. 


PATENT  LAW  REFORM  475 

(afterwards  Sir)  F.  J.  Bramwell,  on  "  The  Expediency  of 
Protection  for  Inventions." 

In  1875  the  Government,  urged  on  by  admirers  of  the 
American  patent  system,  brought  forward  a  Bill  for  the 
reform  of  the  Patent  Law,  in  which  it  was  proposed  to 
introduce  into  this  country  a  system  of  examination 
similar  to  that  which  has  always  been  favoured  in  the 
United  States.  It  was  not  indeed  quite  clear  whether  the 
examination  proposed  by  the  Bill  really  extended  to  points 
of  novelty  ;  but  there  is  not  much  doubt  that  an  examina- 
tion for  novelty  was  well  within  the  scope  of  the  Bill,  and 
it  would  probably  have  been  introduced.  The  Bill  raised 
a  good  deal  of  opposition  amongst  those  who  were  most 
competent  to  form  an  opinion  on  Patent  Law  and  admini- 
stration, prominent  amongst  whom  was  Sir  Frederick 
Bramwell.  The  Council  of  the  Society  took  an  active 
part  in  opposing  it.  The  Bill,  with  various  modifications, 
was  before  Parliament  for  three  consecutive  years,  and  it 
was  persistently  opposed  during  the  whole  time.  Petitions 
against  it  were  presented  by  the  Council,  on  behalf  of 
the  Society,  to  the  House  of  Lords — in  which  the  Bill 
was  introduced  in  1875 — and  in  the  following  year, 
when  it  was  brought  into  the  House  of  Commons,  to  that 
House. 

A  special  meeting  was  held  in  March  1877,  for  the 
discussion  of  the  Bill,  the  meeting  being  opened  by  the 
reading  of  a  paper  which  the  present  writer,  who  was  then 
the  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Society,  had,  at  the  wish 
of  the  Council,  prepared.  The  general  feeling  of  the  meet- 
ing was  strongly  adverse  to  the  proposed  measure  ;  and 
eventually  it  was  so  evident  that  public  opinion  was 
against  it,  that  it  was  dropped. 

In  1879  a  different  Bill  was  brought  in  by  the  Govern- 
ment, but  this,  like  its  predecessors,  met  with  a  good  deal 
of  adverse  criticism,  and  nothing  came  of  it. 

When  Sir  Frederick  Bramwell  became  Chairman  of 
the  Council  in  1 880,  he  drew  attention,  in  the  address  which 
he  delivered  before  the  Society  at  the  opening  meeting  of 
the  Session  1 880—8 1 ,  to  the  desirability  of  certain  modifica- 
tions which  experience  had  proved  to  be  desirable  in  the 


476       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

Act  of  1852,  and  eventually  it  was  determined  that  the 
best  way  of  bringing  the  Society's  views  definitely  forward 
would  be  to  draft  a  Bill  embodying  the  amendments  which 
experience  had  shown  to  be  necessary,  and  to  get  this 
Bill  introduced  in  the  House  of  Commons.  A  committee, 
appointed  for  the  purpose,  considered  very  carefully  the 
main  alterations  which  seemed  imperative,  and,  under 
the  instructions  of  this  committee,  a  Bill  was  drafted  by  a 
Parliamentary  draftsman.  It  seems  hardly  needful  to 
mention  that  the  leading  spirit  of  the  committee  was  Sir 
F.  Bramwell,  who  read  two  papers  on  the  Bill — one  before 
the  British  Association  at  York,  in  September  iSSi,1  and 
one  before  the  Society  in  February  i883.2  The  Bill, 
after  being  submitted  to,  and  considered  by,  a  meeting  of 
the  Society  specially  held  for  the  purpose  in  the  autumn  of 
1 88 1,  was  introduced  into  the  House  of  Commons  by  Sir 
John  Lubbock,  Mr.  W.  H.  Smith,  and  Mr.  J.  Compton 
Lawrance,3  in  March  1882,  and  again  in  the  Session  of 
1883.  It  received  a  good  deal  of  attention,  and  it  had 
the  effect  of  inducing  the  Government  to  bring  in  a  fresh 
Bill  in  1883,  which  embodied  many  of  its  main  provisions, 
and  was,  in  the  opinion  of  all  competent  judges,  a  very 
great  improvement  on  the  Bill  of  1879.  A  comparison  of 
the  Society's  Bill  with  that  which  eventually  passed  into 
law  4  will  show  to  what  a  large  extent  the  Act  was  founded 
upon  the  Society's  Bill,  although  certain  of  the  provisions 
which  the  Society's  committee  considered  of  first-rate 
importance,  especially  that  of  the  appointment  of  paid 
commissioners,  were  not  adopted.  The  Society's  Bill 
only  dealt  with  Patents,  while  the  1883  Act  included  also 
Designs  and  Trade  Marks.  As  is  well  known,  the  1883 
Act  abolished  the  old  Commissioners  for  Patents  (the 
Lord  Chancellor,  the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  and  the  Law 
Officers,  Irish  and  Scotch  as  well  as  English),  and  trans- 

1  Journal,  vol.  xxix.  p.  809. 

2  Ibid.  vol.  xxxi.  p.  285. 

3  Sir  John  Lubbock  became  Baron  Avebury  in  1900  and  died  in  May 
of  the  present  year  (1913).     Mr.  W.  H.  Smith,  the  distinguished  states- 
man, served  in  Lord  Salisbury's  Government  of  1886,  and  died  in  1891. 
Mr.  Lawrance  became  a  judge  in  1900,  and  died  last  December  (1912). 

4  As  the  Patents,  Designs,  and  Trade  Marks  Act,  1883. 


POSTAL  REFORMS  477 

ferred  the  Patent  Office  from  their  authority  to  the  Board 
of  Trade,  appointing  a  Comptroller  of  Patents  instead  of  the 
Commissioners. 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  fact  that  a  parcel 
post  had  been  suggested  as  far  back  as  1851.  This  was  no 
doubt  due  to  the  suggestion  of  (Sir)  Henry  Cole,  who 
made  his  first  mark  in  public  life  by  his  advocation  of  the 
introduction  of  penny  postage,  and  ever  afterwards  took 
a  great  interest  in  the  development  of  the  Post  Office.1 
In  the  period  which  we  now  have  under  consideration,  the 
Society  was  specially  active  in  postal  reform,  and  this 
time  the  protagonist  was  (Sir)  Edwin  Chadwick,  who 
in  1857  read  a  paper  urging  the  purchase  of  the  telegraphs 
by  the  State.  The  proposal  had  been  made  some  time 
before,  and  was  then  under  consideration  ;  but,  in  the 
opinion  of  Sir  John  Cameron  Lamb,2  a  most  competent 
authority,  Chadwick 's  paper  "  had  a  powerful  effect  on 
public  opinion,  and  helped  materially  to  pave  the  way 
for  the  telegraph  legislation  of  1868,"  by  which  provision 
was  made  for  the  purchase. 

It  was  largely  owing  to  the  exertions  of  Cole  and 
Chadwick  that  the  Society  was  so  earnest  at  this  time  in 
promoting  postal  reform.  The  object  was  sought  by  every 
possible  means  ;  conferences  were  held,  deputations  were 
sent  to  successive  Postmasters-General  and  to  the  Treasury; 
petitions  were  presented  to  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
in  every  way  an  agitation  was  kept  up  in  favour  of  cheaper 
postal  charges,  the  development  of  a  parcel  and  sample 
post,  the  reduction  of  telegraph  rates,  the  development  of 
savings  banks,  the  improvement  of  colonial  and  foreign 
postal  communications  and  other  changes — many  of  which 
have  since  been  introduced,  thanks  to  a  large  extent  to 
the  persistent  recommendations  of  the  Society.  Amongst 
other  matters  may  be  mentioned  the  provision  of  facilities 
for  the  purchase  of  small  amounts  of  Consols,  which,  at 
the  suggestion  of  (Sir)  George  Bartley,  was  submitted  to 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  (Sir  Stafford  Northcote) 

1  Sir  H.  Cole,  Fifty  Years  of  Public  Work,  vol,  i,  p.  34. 
8  Journal ,  vol,  lix.  p.  12,] 


478       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

by  a  deputation  in  1 874,  though  the  idea  was  not  adopted 
by  the  Post  Office  until  1888. 

In  the  Address  which  Sir  John  Cameron  Lamb  delivered 
when  he  was  Chairman  of  the  Council  in  19  lo,1  he  described 
very  fully,  and  with  special  knowledge,  the  aid  which  the 
Society  had  rendered  in  the  development  of  the  electric 
telegraph,  first  by  encouraging  inventors  and  giving 
publicity  to  their  work,  and,  secondly,  by  bringing  pressure 
to  bear  upon  the  Government  Department  for  the  improve- 
ment and  development  of  telegraphy  after  it  had  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  Government.  Sir  John  Lamb's  ex- 
perience, as  a  Secretary  of  the  Post  Office  for  many  years, 
lent  great  force  to  what  he  said,  and  it  is  satisfactory 
to  be  able  to  record  that  in  the  opinion  of  a  leading  official 
of  a  Department  which  had  been  for  years  worried  by  the 
Society,  the  efforts  of  the  Society  had  been  judicious  and 
useful,  and  that,  on  the  whole,  they  had  secured  the 
friendly  appreciation  of  the  Post  Office. 

The  Art  of  Music  had  never  been  considered  to  be 
one  of  the  arts  which  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Society  to 
promote,  and,  indeed,  this  view  had  been  definitely  stated 
on  one  or  two  occasions.  But  in  the  period  with  which 
we  are  now  concerned  this  opinion  was  changed,  a  larger 
interpretation  was  given  to  the  Society's  title,  and  a  very 
considerable  addition  was  made,  through  its  agency,  to 
the  existing  provisions  for  musical  education  in  England. 

In  1854  or  1856  the  Directors  of  the  Royal  Academy 
of  Music  asked  the  1851  Commissioners  for  the  grant  of  a 
site  on  the  Kensington  Estate.2  Nothing,  however,  came 
of  the  proposal,  and  the  Academy,  which  was  at  the  time 
in  a  state  very  far  from  prosperous,  seems  to  have  gone 
from  bad  to  worse,  for  in  June  1860  an  application  was 
made  by  its  directors  to  the  Society,  asking  for  suggestions 
for  the  improvement  and  extension  of  its  system  of 
management. 

1  Journal,  vol.  lix.  p.  7. 

2  Sir  Henry  Cole's  Fifty  Years  of  Public  Work,  vol.  i.  p.  365  ;  Journal, 
vol.  xiii.  p.  593.     The  former  reference  gives  the  date  as  1854,  the  latter 
as  1856.     The  date  is  not  very  important. 


TRAINING  SCHOOL  FOR  MUSIC  479 

The  Council  thereupon  appointed  a  committee,  which 
reported  in  May  1861,  and  suggested  rather  sweeping 
alterations  in  the  constitution  and  management  of  the 
Academy — alterations  which,  in  fact,  amounted  to  the 
creation  of  a  new  institution.  It  appears  that  these 
suggestions  did  not  commend  themselves  to  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Royal  Academy,  for  nothing  came  of  them. 
But  three  years  later  the  Council  appointed  a  committee 
on  musical  education.  This  was  done  at  the  instance  of 
(Sir)  Henry  Cole,  who  became  chairman  of  the  committee, 
and  directed,  or  rather  dictated,  all  its  proceedings. 

The  first  work  of  the  committee  was  to  collect,  through 
the  help  of  the  Foreign  Office,  and  by  independent  in- 
quiries, a  great  deal  of  information  about  foreign  musical 
education,  and  full  reports  were  obtained  of  the  working  of 
the  musical  academies  or  conservatoires  of  Paris,  Munich, 
Vienna,  Prague,  Leipsic,  Milan,  Naples,  Berlin,  Brussels, 
and  Liege.  Much  of  this  information  was  published  in 
the  Journal,  and  was  embodied  in  a  long  report  issued  in 
1866. 

While  this  committee  was  at  work,  Cole  conceived  the 
idea  of  forming  a  number  of  scholarships  by  public  sub- 
scription to  be  tenable  either  at  the  Royal  Academy  of 
Music  or  elsewhere.  Negotiations  were  for  a  long  time 
carried  on  with  the  Academy.  But  the  conditions  sug- 
gested were  not  appreciated  by  that  body,  and  eventually 
the  committee,  at  the  instigation  of  its  chairman,  pro- 
posed the  establishment  of  a  separate  institution,  which 
should  have  for  its  main  object  the  training  of  teachers, 
and  the  students  at  which  should  all  be  holders  of  scholar- 
ships to  be  obtained  by  competitive  examination,  the 
funds  being  supplied  by  public  subscription.  The  idea 
once  formulated,  energetic  measures  were  taken  to  carry 
it  into  effect.  Meetings  were  held  at  the  Mansion  House 
in  1875  and  1876,  under  the  presidency  of  the  Lord  Mayor 
(Alderman  Stone  in  1875  and  Alderman  Cotton  in  1876), 
at  Marlborough  House,  under  the  presidency  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  at  Manchester,  Liverpool,  Bristol,  Birmingham, 
Dover,  Hastings,  Rhyl,  and  elsewhere.  At  all  of  the  pro- 
vincial meetings  deputations  from  the  Society  attended. 


48o       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

Sufficient  promises  of  support  having  been  secured,  it 
was  determined  that  an  attempt  should  be  made  to  provide 
a  building  for  a  National  Training  School  for  Music  at 
South  Kensington.  An  application  was  made  to  the 
1851  Commissioners,  who  agreed  to  grant  a  site  for  the 
purpose,  and  steps  had  been  taken  to  collect  money  for 
building  the  school,  when  (Sir)  C.  J.  Freake  liberally 
undertook  to  provide  the  necessary  building  at  his  own 
charge.  A  design  was  prepared  by  Lieutenant  H.  H.  Cole, 
R.E.,  and  the  first  stone  of  the  building  was  laid  by  the 
Duke  of  Edinburgh,  who  had  joined  the  committee  in 
1872,  on  1 8th  December  1873.  The  building  was  com- 
pleted and  opened  at  Easter  1876,  when  the  Council  were 
able  to  announce  that  a  sufficient  number  of  scholarships 
of  £40  each  had  been  promised,  and  that  sixty-seven 
scholars  had  already  been  appointed.  The  number  of 
scholarships  was  soon  raised  to  eighty- two.  The  Queen, 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh  each 
provided  one,  the  Society  of  Arts  founded  four,  the  Cor- 
poration of  London  ten,  the  City  Guilds  fourteen,  Mr. 
Freake  five,  and  thirty-three  were  provided  by  various 
provincial  towns. 

These  scholarships  were  to  be  of  £40  each,  tenable  for 
five  years,  the  hope  of  the  founders  being  that  by  that 
time  the  institution  would  be  taken  over  by  the  State, 
and  placed  on  a  permanent  basis. 

The  school  carried  on  a  very  successful  career  until 
1882,  when  it  was  reconstituted,  and  became  the  Royal 
College  of  Music,  the  College  taking  over  all  the  property 
of  the  school,  including  the  house  and  a  balance  of  £i  100. 

When  the  five  years  for  which  the  school  had  been 
established  expired  in  1881,  steps  were  taken  to  carry 
it  on  for  another  year  until  the  arrangements  for  the 
new  foundation  could  be  completed.  Many  of  the  sub- 
scribers renewed  their  payments  for  a  year.  The  Society 
of  Arts  voted  £160  for  its  four  scholarships. 

The  final  report  of  the  school  was  issued  in  June 
1882,  and  an  abstract  of  it  appears  in  the  Society's  Journal 
for  the  pth  of  that  month.  From  this  it  appears  that  since 
the  opening  of  the  school  180  students  had  been  admitted. 


TRAINING  SCHOOL  FOR  MUSIC  481 

Of  these  152  held  free  scholarships,  and  twenty-eight 
were  private  students  who  paid  their  own  fees,  a  modifica- 
tion having  been  made  in  the  regulations,  which  at  first 
did  not  contemplate  such  students .  These  private  students, 
like  the  free  scholars,  were  only  admitted  after  passing 
a  test  examination.  The  report  states  that  no  of  the 
students  were  either  earning  their  own  living  or  largely 
contributing  thereto,  by  the  profession  for  which  they 
had  been  prepared,  thirty  of  them  being  said  to  be 
artists  of  recognised  merit. 

After  the  establishment  of  the  Royal  College  of  Music, 
further  negotiations  were  carried  on  with  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Music,  in  the  hope  of  some  amalgamation 
between  the  two  bodies  being  effected.  These,  however, 
were  unsuccessful,  though  in  1889  ^ne  two  institutions 
agreed  to  form  an  associated  board  for  their  examinations. 

The  total  amount  expended  upon  this  object  by  the 
Society  of  Arts  from  1861  to  1882  was  £2035.  In  1871 
six  concerts  were  arranged  at  the  Royal  Albert  Hall,  in 
the  hope  of  obtaining  funds  for  the  foundation  of  the 
school,  but  they  resulted  in  a  loss  of  over  £87,  which 
fell  upon  the  Society,  and  is  included  in  the  above 
total. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  establishment  of  the  School  of 
Music  was  the  principal  object  to  which  the  energies  of 
the  Society  were  devoted  for  a  period  of  twelve  years — 
from  1 86 1  to  1873.  It  expended  a  considerable  amount 
of  money,  an  expenditure  justified  by  the  hope  expressed 
in  1 874  that  it,  or  the  greater  part  of  it,  would  be  refunded.1 
Many  of  the  Society's  members  devoted  much  time  and 
thought  to  its  organisation,  and  others,  like  Sir  Charles 
Freake  and  Sir  Titus  Salt,  contributed  munificently  to 
its  funds.  It  cannot  be  said  that  sufficient  credit  has 
ever  been  given  to  the  Society  for  its  efforts.  When  the 
school,  already  an  acknowledged  success,  became  the 
Royal  College  of  Music,  even  the  trivial  compliment  of 
retaining  a  representative  of  the  Society  on  its  governing 
body  was  unpaid,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  work  of 
the  original  founders  was  absolutely  ignored. 

1  Council  Minutes,  ipth  May  1874. 
32 


482       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

Another  educational  institution  established  by  the 
Society  was  the  School  of  Art  Wood-Carving,  which  has 
now  been  doing  useful  work  for  more  than  thirty  years. 
In  1878  the  Drapers'  Company  offered  the  Society  a  sum 
of  money  to  be  applied  in  the  promotion  of  some  branch 
of  technical  education,  and  the  Council,  at  the  suggestion 
of  (Sir)  John  Donnelly,  determined  to  devote  it  to  the 
encouragement  of  wood-carving,  an  art  which  had  long 
prospered  in  this  country,  but  was  then  languishing.  The 
Council  secured  the  services  of  a  Florentine  wood-carver 
of  considerable  merit,  named  Antonio  Bulletti,  and  estab- 
lished a  small  school  in  Somerset  Street,  Oxford  Street, 
under  the  direction  of  a  committee,  of  which  Colonel 
Donnelly  was  the  chairman.  Nine  free  students  were 
nominated,  and  a  few  paying  students  were  also  admitted. 

After  being  carried  on  for  some  time  in  Somerset 
Street,  the  school  migrated  in  1879  to  the  Royal  Albert 
Hall,  where  convenient  rooms  were  placed  at  its  disposal 
free  of  rent.  In  1880  the  City  Guilds'  Institute  took  the 
school  under  its  protection,  and  in  1885  it  was  provided 
with  accommodation  at  the  Guilds'  College  in  Exhibition 
Road.  Here  it  remained  until  1898,  when,  the  rooms  it 
occupied  being  required  for  the  purposes  of  the  Technical 
College  itself,  it  was  transferred  to  the  Imperial  Institute, 
funds  for  its  support  being  still  provided  through  both  the 
Drapers'  Company  and  the  City  Guilds'  Institute.  In 
1900  the  grant  from  the  City  Guilds'  Institute  was  with- 
drawn, but  the  loss  was  temporarily  made  up  by  a  special 
grant  from  the  Clothworkers'  Company  of  £50.  Two 
years  later,  in  1902,  the  school  had  again  to  move,  and 
this  time  it  hired  premises  from  the  Royal  School  of  Art 
Needlework.  In  1901  the  then  newly-formed  Technical 
Education  Committee  of  the  London  County  Council 
made  the  school  an  annual  grant  of  £250,  increased  to  £400 
in  1903.  In  1908  the  school  moved  to  premises  of  its  own 
in  Thurloe  Place,  and  there  it  has  since  been  carried  on. 

In  1912  the  grant  from  the  London  County  Council 
committee  was  further  increased  to  enable  the  school  to 
add  to  its  staff  of  teachers.  Since  1905  the  school  has  been 
recognised  by  the  Board  of  Education,  and  it  has  earned  a 


PARIS  EXHIBITION  ARTISAN  REPORTS     483 

gradually  increasing  amount  each  year,  thus  proving  that 
the  efficiency  of  its  teaching  has  been  well  maintained. 

Numerous  prizes  and  medals  have  been  taken  by  the 
school  and  its  members  at  various  exhibitions  and  at  the 
national  competition  held  under  the  Board  of  Education. 
It  has  also  trained  many  teachers,  and  produced  a  number 
of  highly-trained  carvers  of  wood  who  are  now  at  work  in 
the  trade.1 

The  connection  of  the  Society  with  the  Paris  Exhibi- 
tion of  1867  was  not  very  close,  though  a  visit  of  the 
members  was  organised,  and  it  was  really  the  holding 
of  the  Exhibition  which  led  to  the  presentation  of  the 
Albert  Medal  to  the  Emperor  Napoleon  in  1865.  The 
most  important  movement  initiated  by  the  Society  in 
connection  with  the  exhibition  was  the  organisation  of 
a  body  of  artisan  reporters,  who,  in  accordance  with  a 
resolution  passed  by  the  Council — at  the  instance  of  Sir 
William  Page  Wood — in  November  1 866,  were  sent  to  the 
Exhibition  to  report  upon  it  for  the  Society.  The  British 
Commissioners  for  the  Exhibition  placed  a  sum  of  £500 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Society,  and  rather  more  than  the 
same  amount  was  obtained  by  subscriptions.  By  means 
of  the  funds  thus  obtained,  supplemented  by  a  sum  of 
£350  from  the  Society,  eighty  artisans,  representing  vari- 
ous industries,  were  selected  from  different  parts  of  the 
country,  and  arrangements  were  made  for  their  visiting 
Paris,  where  full  opportunities  were  given  them,  not  only 
for  examining  the  contents  of  the  Exhibition,  but  also  for 
inspecting  French  factories  and  workshops.  The  result 
was  the  production  of  an  extremely  interesting  volume  of 
reports,  which  was  published  by  the  Society  in  1867.  The 
reports  are  naturally  of  varying  interest  and  value,  but 
all  of  them  are  useful  and  interesting.2 

1  Notes  on  the  History  of  the  School  of  Art  Wood-Carving,  by  Thomas 
Armstrong,  C.B.,  1910.     Mr.  Armstrong  succeeded  Sir  John  Donnelly 
as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  the  School  in  1902,  and  devoted  him- 
self earnestly  to  its  interests  until  his  death  in  191 1. 

2  In  1855  the  Society  had  organised  facilities  for  artisans  visiting 
the  Paris  Exhibition.     A  reduction  in  the  railway  fares  was  obtained, 


484       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

The  same  idea  was  carried  out  at  the  next  great  French 
Exhibition  in  1878,  when  a  greater  number  of  artisans 
were  sent  over  and  a  larger  number  of  reports  were  printed. 
But,  on  the  whole,  this  second  volume  is  inferior  in  interest 
and  value  to  the  one  issued  in  1867. 

As  the  date  approached,  various  proposals  were  put 
forward  for  holding  an  exhibition  in  1871,  the  idea  being 
that  such  exhibitions  should  be  held  every  ten  years. 
The  suggestion,  however,  met  with  but  scant  support,  the 
financial  result  of  the  1 862  Exhibition  not  having  been  such 
as  to  encourage  a  repetition  of  the  experiment.  A  scheme, 
however,  which  did  not  involve  so  heavy  an  expenditure 
met  with  greater  approval ;  and  when  (Sir)  Henry  Cole, 
in  1868,  brought  before  the  Commissioners  of  the  1851 
Exhibition  a  proposal  for  holding  a  series  of  annual  ex- 
hibitions, it  was,  after  some  consideration,  adopted.  The 
original  scheme  was  modified  in  some  details,  and  in  July 
1 869,  Cole  was  ready  with  his  completed  programme,  which 
was  approved  by  the  Commissioners,  and  announced  in 
the  Society's  Journal  of  6th  August  1 869.  The  idea  was  to 
hold  a  series  of  annual  international  exhibitions  of  "  selected 
works  of  fine  and  industrial  art,"  to  last  over  a  period  of 
ten  years,  from  1871  to  1880.  A  careful  classification 
was  prepared,  allotting  to  the  exhibition  of  each  year 
certain  specified  industries,  while  the  fine  arts  were  to  form 
a  section  of  each  exhibition.  The  1851  Commissioners 
guaranteed  a  sum  of  £100,000,  and  gave  the  use  of  a  portion 
of  their  land  at  South  Kensington.  This  land  consisted 
of  the  area  extending  from  the  Royal  Albert  Hall  on  the 
north  to  the  site  of  the  1 862  Exhibition,  where  the  Natural 
History  Museum  now  stands.  The  central  portion  of  the 
ground  was  in  the  occupation  of  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society,  and  had  been  laid  out  as  a  garden.  The  part 
intended  for  the  Exhibitions  was  a  space  on  the  south 
side  of  the  gardens,  and  the  strips  bounding  the  gardens 
on  the  east  and  west.  Certain  buildings  existed  upon 
it,  including  the  long  gallery  now  (1913)  containing  the 

lodgings  were  provided,  and  other  privileges  arranged,  but  no  reports 
were  expected  from  the  visitors. 


ANNUAL  EXHIBITIONS,  1871-4  485 

engineering  collection,  which  was  originally  part  of  the 
1862  Exhibition,  and  to  these  considerable  additions 
were  made,  forming  a  quadrangle  which  enclosed  the 
gardens. 

In  accordance  with  the  programme,  the  first  exhibition 
was  opened  in  1 87 1 .  It  was  quite  successful,  and  attracted 
more  than  a  million  visitors,  the  total  receipts  being  over 
£75,000.  Had  a  similar  amount  been  earned  by  the  other 
exhibitions,  the  series  would  have  been  at  least  self-sup- 
porting. Its  successors,  however,  were  less  fortunate,  for 
the  attendances  gradually  dropped  off,  and  the  receipts 
got  less  and  less  satisfactory,  until  the  series  was  brought 
to  an  end  in  1874.  The  total  amount  expended  by  the 
1851  Commissioners  on  the  four  exhibitions  was  £303,364, 
while  the  total  receipts  only  amounted  to  £159,725,  thus 
involving  a  loss  of  £  143, 639. l 

The  cause  of  this  financial  failure  was  certainly  that 
the  exhibitions,  though  of  great  technical  excellence,  were 
not  of  a  sufficiently  popular  character,  as  is  proved  by 
the  fact  that  ten  years  later  a  very  similar  series  of  exhibi- 
tions— the  Fisheries,  Health,  Inventions,  and  Colonial — 
held  on  the  same  site,  were  made  so  attractive  that  they 
not  only  paid  their  way,  but  produced  a  handsome  surplus. 
If,  since  then,  the  popular  side  of  exhibitions  has  been 
given  undue  prominence,  it  has  at  all  events  been  clearly 
shown  that  without  large  concessions  to  popularity,  the 
heavy  expenditure  necessitated  by  the  extent  of  our 
modern  shows  cannot  possibly  be  met. 

But  the  non-popularity  of  the  older  series  is  without 
doubt  to  be  attributed  mainly  to  the  dissensions  which 
arose  between  the  Council  of  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society  and  the  exhibition  authorities.  In  the  first  year 
(1871)  the  gardens  of  the  Society  formed  part  of  the 
exhibition.  But  in  the  three  later  exhibitions  difficulties 
were  raised,  and  the  use  of  the  gardens  was  refused, 
except  under  harassing  and  inconvenient  conditions. 
This  not  only  deprived  the  exhibition  of  its  most  attractive 
and  popularjfeature,  but  seriously  affected  the  use  of  the 

1  These  figures  are  taken  from  the  6th  Report  of  the  Commissioners 
of  1 85 1,  published  1879. 


486       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

buildings  for  exhibition  purposes,  because  easy  communica- 
tion between  different  parts  of  the  buildings  was  pre- 
vented. Although  the  picture  galleries  were  excellent,  the 
rest  of  the  buildings  were  really  not  very  well  adapted  for 
exhibitions,  and  after  the  whole  central  area  was  taken 
away  they  became  very  unsuitable.  It  may  be  added 
that  the  action  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  not 
only  wrecked  the  exhibition  scheme,  but  went  far  to  ruin 
the  Society  itself.  A  few  years  later  it  was  removed 
from  South  Kensington,  and  in  new  quarters,  and  under 
better  management,  it  became  the  prosperous  institution 
which  it  now  is. 

The  connection  of  the  Society  with  these  exhibitions 
was  very  close.     In   December  1869   tne   Commissioners 
applied    formally   for   the    co-operation    of   the   Society, 
basing  their  request  on  the  ground  that  the  projected 
scheme  was  really  carrying  out  an  idea  formulated  by  a 
Committee  of  the  Society  in  1858.     The  proposal  was  at 
once  accepted,  and  the  Council  undertook  to  co-operate 
with  the  Commissioners,  and  to  assist  the  series  of  ex- 
hibitions to  the  best  of  their  ability.     To  all  four  of  them 
it  lent  a  very  active  support.     As  has  already  been  men- 
tioned, the  scheme  of  art-workmanship  prizes  was  modified, 
with  a  view  of  providing  a  typical  collection  for  the  1871 
Exhibition,1  and  at  all  the  exhibitions   gold   and   silver 
medals    were    offered    under    various    conditions.     The 
Journal  was  made  the  official  organ  of  the  exhibitions, 
and  its  volumes  for  the  years  1870  to  1874  are  full  of  in- 
formation about  them.     Certain  of  the  sections  were  also 
placed  under  the  special  charge  of  the  Society,  which 
appointed  committees  for  their  organisation.     The  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  the   Exhibition  published  reports  on 
the  first  of  the  series,  but  for  the  other  three  the  Society 
undertook  this  duty.     The  reports  on  the  three  later  ex- 
hibitions were  published  in  the  Journal,  and  those  for 
1872  and  1873  were  reprinted  separately.     Although  the 
assistance  thus  rendered  by  the  Society  to  the  scheme  was 
very  considerable,  the  actual  cost  was  not  very  great,  as 
the  total  amount  which  is  charged  to  the  International 
1  See  Chapter  XX,  p.  459. 


MEMORIAL  WINDOW  IN  ST.  PAUL'S        487 

Exhibitions  for  the  four  years  only  amounts  to  a  little 
over 


After  the  service  held  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in  thanks- 

giving for  the  recovery  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  from  his 

serious  illness  in  1872,  it  was  suggested  that  a  permanent 

memorial  in  St.  Paul's  should  be  provided  by  members 

of  the  Society,  and  that  that  memorial  should  take  the 

form  of  a  stained-glass  window.     At  the  time  the  question 

of  the  decoration  of  St.  Paul's  was  under  consideration, 

and  the  offer  of  the  Society  to  contribute  a  window  was 

gratefully  accepted  by  the  Dean  and  Chapter.     A  subscrip- 

tion list  was  accordingly  opened,  and  a  sum  of  £343  was 

collected  among  the  members.     But  it  was  a  long  time 

before  the  scheme  of  decoration  could  be  settled,  and 

there  was   consequently   considerable   delay   in   carrying 

the  proposal  into   effect,   the   Dean  not   feeling  himself 

justified  in  accepting  the  design  for  the  window,  which 

had  been  prepared  by  F.  W.  Moody,2  until  some  decision 

had   been  arrived  at   upon  the  whole  character  of  the 

decorations.     So  the  matter  was  hung  up  for  the  time,  and 

the  amount  which  had  been  subscribed  was  placed   on 

deposit  with  the  Society's  bankers  .     In  this  state  the  matter 

remained  for  ten  years,  when  the  Council  renewed  negotia- 

tions with  the  Dean  and  Chapter,  and,  as  there  were  still 

1  A  very  full  account  of  the  series,  with  minute  details,  will  be  found 
in  the  report  presented  by  Sir  Henry  Cole  to  the  Commissioners  for 
1851,  and  published  as  a  Parliamentary  Paper  in  1  879.  The  exhibitions 
are  also  dealt  with  in  the  Sixth  Report  of  the  1851  Commissioners, 
issued  in  1879.  A  brief  account  of  them  is  to  be  found  in  Sir  Henry 
Cole's  Fifty  Years  of  Public  Work,  vol.  i.  p.  269,  and  there  is  of  course  a 
very  large  amount  of  information  contained  in  the  Society's  Journal 
for  the  period. 

2  Instructor  in  Decorative  Art  at  the  National  Art  Training  School. 
He  was  a  designer  of  considerable  merit,  and  was  responsible  for  a 
good  deal  of  the  decorative  work  in  the  Museum,  the  Royal  College  of 
Science,  and  the  old  National  Training  School  for  Music.  In  the 
Museum  his  staircase  and  the  decorations  (largely  Majolica  and 
Mosaic)  of  the  Lecture  Theatre  Gallery  are  remarkable.  His  work 
on  the  last-named  building  was  mainly  sgraffito.  His  Lectures  and 
Lessons  on  Art  (1870)  was  for  long  a  text  -book  for  art  students.  He 
died  before  j  890, 


488       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

difficulties  in  coming  to  any  definite  agreement,  it  was 
finally  resolved  that  the  amount  subscribed  should  be 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  to  be 
expended  upon  a  stained-glass  window  in  such  a  manner 
as  they  should  decide.  The  money  was  accordingly 
handed  over  to  the  Dean  in  1882. 

Although  numerous  papers  had  previously  been  read 
before  the  Society  on  subjects  relating  to  sewage  treat- 
ment and  utilisation,  the  first  definite  attempt  made  by 
the  Society  for  the  promotion  of  sanitation  may  be  said 
to  have  been  the  conference  on  Rivers  Pollution,  held  in 
the  December  of  1874,  with  Sir  Lyon  Playfair  in  the 
chair.  At  this  conference  a  number  of  papers  were  read, 
referring  not  only  to  the  actual  pollution  of  rivers,  but  to 
methods  of  dealing  with  sewage  which  would  prevent 
such  pollution.  Indeed,  the  conference  was  really  one 
on  sewage  treatment,  the  question  of  the  pollution  of 
rivers  by  manufacturing  refuse  receiving  but  a  small 
amount  of  attention. 

The  success  of  this  meeting  led  to  the  organisation  o 
a  conference  in  1876,  under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  James 
Stansfeld,1  which  dealt  with  the  whole  subject  of  the  health 
and  sewage  of  towns.  This  was  the  first  of  the  important 
series  of  sanitary  conferences  which  was  continued  for 
five  years,  and  included  a  second  meeting  on  the  "  Health 
and  Sewage  of  Towns  "  (1877)  ;  a  congress  on  "  National 
Water-Supply"  (1878);  a  conference  on  "National 
Water-Supply,  Sewage,  and  Health"  (1879);  and  a 
conference  on  the  "  Progress  of  Public  Health"  (1880). 
A  second  congress  on  "  National  Water-Supply  "  was 
also  held  in  1884.  Reports  of  the  proceedings  of  all 
these  meetings  were  duly  published,  and  also  a  useful 
compilation,  "  Notes  on  Previous  Inquiries,"  which  was 
issued  before  the  Water-Supply  Conference  of  1878. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  this  series  of  health  conferences 
was  mainly  instrumental  in  directing  public  attention  to 

1  Rt  Hon.  Sir  James  Stansfeld,  M.P.  (1820-98).    Radical  politician 
Held  various  offices  under  Palmerston  and  Gladstone.    President  of 
Local  Government  Board,  1871-4. 


PRIZE  FOR  ECONOMICAL  USE  OF  FUEL    489 

sanitary  questions.  If  they  did  not  start  the  movement 
in  favour  of  improved  sanitation — and  this  would  be  no 
unreasonable  claim — they  undeniably  popularised  it,  and 
the  ultimate  result  of  this  rousing  of  popular  feeling  was 
certainly  the  great  improvement  in  domestic  and  muni- 
cipal sanitation,  which  may  be  dated  from  the  time  when 
these  conferences  were  held. 

As  has  been  previously  pointed  out,1  systematic  prize- 
giving  practically  came  to  an  end  with  the  change  in 
the  Society's  character  which  followed  on  its  incorpora- 
tion. But  prizes  were  still  offered.  A  list  of  subjects 
for  premiums  was  published  for  the  Sessions  1863-4 
and  1864-5,  and  another  similar  list  for  the  Sessions 
1873-4-5.  This  is  the  last  of  the  series  of  premium 
lists  commenced  in  1756.  Both  of  these  were  rather 
miscellaneous  lists.  Many  of  the  desiderata  are  now 
commonplace  products,  others  are  as  far  from  realisation 
as  ever.  Probably  not  very  much  trouble  was  spent  on 
the  preparation  of  the  lists,  and  they  do  not  look  like  the 
production  of  expert  authorities.  That  they  do  not  to 
any  extent  foreshadow  the  lines  along  which  industrial 
and  scientific  progress  has  since  advanced,  is  not,  perhaps, 
to  be  wondered  at.  It  would  have  been  a  very  remarkable 
feat  to  forecast  in  1863  or  1873  the  advances  even  of  the 
remainder  of  the  century.  Occasionally  a  few  applications 
were  made  for  the  offered  awards,  and  still  more  rarely 
medals  were  awarded. 

Yet  a  good  many  prizes  were  actually  given  as  the 
result  of  special  offers,  generally  made  by  the  aid  of  liberal 
donors  who  provided  the  necessary  funds.  The  more 
important  of  these  deserve  record. 

A  generous  donation  of  £500  from  an  anonymous  friend 
of  Sir  William  Bodkin  (there  can  now  be  no  objection  to 
its  being  stated  that  it  was  Mr.  John  Noble,  a  member  of 
the  Society,  who  died  in  1890),  enabled  the  Society  to 
carry  out  in  1873  and  1874  some  very  interesting  experi- 
ments on  the  economical  use  of  coal  in  domestic  stoves. 
The  money  was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Society  in 
July  1872,  and  the  intention  of  the  donor  was,  in  his  own 
1  See  Chapter  XV,  p.  336,  and  Chapter  XVI,  p.  389, 


490       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

words,  to  encourage  the  development  of  improved  means 
for  the  economical  use  of  fuel  in  private  dwellings.  The 
manner  in  which  it  was  to  be  utilised  was  left  to  the 
discretion  of  the  Council,  and  they  determined  to  offer  five 
prizes  of  £50  each,  together  with  a  gold  medal,  under 
certain  specified  categories,  for  stoves  or  grates  for  warming 
and  cooking,  whether  by  coal  or  gas.  The  competing 
apparatus  were  to  be  exhibited  in  the  1874  Exhibition 
at  South  Kensington,  and  it  was  expected  that  the  awards 
would  be  made  at  the  conclusion  of  that  Exhibition. 

Two  hundred  and  four  competitors  replied  to  the  invita- 
tion, and  from  the  various  apparatus  sent  in  107  were 
selected  for  testing.  To  carry  out  the  tests  a  series  of 
rooms  was  erected  on  ground  lent  for  the  purpose  by  the 
1851  Commission.  Six  rooms,  fifteen  feet  cube,  were 
erected  in  concrete,  and  facilities  were  provided  in  each 
room  for  fitting  the  stoves  to  be  tested.  A  committee 
was  appointed,  and  a  very  elaborate  series  of  tests 
was  devised ;  indeed,  the  committee  were  a  little  too 
ambitious  in  their  efforts,  for  the  tests  were  so  elaborate 
that  it  would  hardly  have  been  possible  to  have  carried 
them  to  a  successful  conclusion  with  the  funds  pro- 
vided. They  included  careful  temperature  tests  of  the 
air  in  different  parts  of  the  room  and  chimney,  measure- 
ment of  the  chimney-draught,  and  of  the  air  coming 
into  the  room,  and  hygroscopic  tests  for  the  amount  of 
moisture  in  the  air  at  different  stages  of  the  experiments . 
It  is  probable  that  the  value  of  these  last-mentioned 
tests  was  at  all  events  diminished  by  the  character  of  the 
buildings,  which  were  new  and  possibly  not  quite  dry  even 
by  the  time  the  experiments  were  finished.  However, 
a  great  deal  of  time  and  trouble  was  taken,  one  member 
of  the  committee — the  Rev.  Arthur  Rigg * — devoting 
himself  constantly  to  the  work  from  February  1874  until 

1  The  Rev.  Arthur  Rigg  was  the  first  Principal  of  the  Diocesan 
Training  College  at  Chester,  which  he  converted  into  a  really  excellent 
technical  school,  the  first  of  its  sort  in  England  (see  obituary  notice, 
Journal,  vol.  xxviii.  p.  820).  He  gave  the  Society  some  valuable 
courses  of  Cantor  Lectures,  the  first  of  them  being  the  one  on 
"Mechanism,"  delivered  in  1872.  Mr.  Rigg  was  an  extremely  skilful 
amateur  mechanic,  and  a  man  of  considerable  scientific  knowledge. 


PRIZES  FOR  STOVES  491 

the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  that  year.  No  actual 
cooking  tests  were  made,  but  the  time  required  to  raise 
a  measured  quantity  of  water  to  boiling-point  was  taken 
with  all  the  cooking-stoves,  and  careful  thermometer 
tests  of  the  temperature  of  the  ovens  were  also  carried 
out. 

The  committee  eventually  acquired  a  great  mass  of 
information,  but  the  results  were  hardly  sufficiently  con- 
clusive to  justify  their  publication.  A  number  of  the 
stoves  tested  were  of  considerable  merit,  certainly  the 
best  that  were  constructed  at  that  date  ;  but  amongst 
these  the  committee  did  not  feel  justified  in  making  any 
selection  for  the  prizes,  and  consequently  in  December 
1874  they  published  a  report  giving  the  conclusion,  which 
they  said  they  had  arrived  at  with  very  considerable 
regret,  that  they  were  unable  to  award  any  prizes.  The 
grant  of  £500  was  all  expended,  and  about  £75  in  addition 
was  paid  by  the  Society. 

Whether  the  committee  might  not  fairly  i  have 
awarded  medals  to  a  certain  number  of  the  competi- 
tors is  a  matter  upon  which  it  is  not  now  possible 
to  express  any  opinion.  But  it  is  quite  certain  that 
they  could  not  fairly  have  discriminated  amongst  the 
different  stoves  submitted  by  selecting  any  particular 
one  for  the  first  prize. 

The  competition  is  specially  interesting  in  being 
probably  the  first  attempt  to  apply  an  elaborate  series  of 
scientific  tests  for  the  purpose  of  exhibition  awards,  and  it 
affords  certain  testimony  as  to  the  inevitable  difficulties 
in  carrying  out  such  tests,  which,  it  may  be  added,  have 
often  been  demanded  by  exhibitors,  and  without  which, 
it  must  be  confessed,  exhibition  medals  lose  a  great  part 
of  their  value. 

The  efforts  made  by  the  Society  in  previous  years  to 
secure  suitable  houses  for  the  labouring  classes  have  been 
recorded  in  previous  chapters.1  The  matter  was  again 
taken  up  in  1863,  when  Mr.  J.  Bailey  Denton  provided 
two  prizes  of  £25  each  for  approved  designs  for  cottages , 
1  See  Chapter  XIII,  p.  312,  and  Chapter  XVI,  p.  392, 


492       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING   EDWARD  VII 

to  be  built  singly  or  in  pairs,  at  a  cost  not  exceeding 
£100  each.  One  hundred  and  seven  competitors  sent  in 
134  designs,  and  in  the  following  year  one  of  the  prizes, 
with  a  medal,  was  awarded  to  Mr.  John  Birch,  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  committee  that,  although  the 
conditions  were  not  strictly  complied  with,  the  design 
contained  so  much  merit  that  it  richly  deserved  an  award. 
The  report  of  the  committee,  with  a  plan  and  elevation 
of  Mr.  Birch's  design,  will  be  found  in  the  Journal  (vol.  xii. 

p.  401). 

The  offer  of  these  prizes,  and  some  discussion  which 
took  place  on  a  paper  read  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Morton,  in  the 
autumn  of  1863,  on  agricultural  progress,  together  with 
some  statistics  collected  by  a  committee  on  model  dwell- 
ings appointed  by  the  Society,  under  the  chairmanship 
of  Mr.  Thomas  Twining,  led  to  the  holding  of  a  conference 
in  May  1864,  at  which  the  subject  was  fully  discussed 
and  a  good  many  useful  suggestions  were  made.  Two 
years  later,  in  1866,  a  Bill  drafted  on  the  lines  suggested 
by  the  conference  was  introduced  by  Charles  Buxton  into 
the  House  of  Commons.  Neither  the  proposals  of  this 
conference,  nor  the  various  offers  of  prizes  through  the 
Society,  successful  as  they  were  in  obtaining  excellent 
designs,  have  done  very  much  to  assist  the  provision  of 
labourers'  dwellings  in  rural  districts,  though  they  cer- 
tainly have  had  their  effect  by  influencing  public  opinion 
in  the  promotion  of  the  provision  of  industrial  dwellings 
in  London  and  other  cities.  So  far  as  rural  districts  go, 
notwithstanding  the  constant  attention  which  has  been 
paid  to  the  subject,  the  great  Royal  Commission  of  1880, 
of  which  King  Edward  vn.  (then  Prince  of  Wales)  was  a 
member,  and  the  recent  special  efforts  which  have  been 
made  to  encourage  the  erection  of  labourers'  cottages,  it 
cannot  be  said  that  much  progress  has  been  made  since 
the  Society  first  offered  a  prize  in  1799,  inasmuch  as  a 
writer  on  the  subject  was  able  to  say  at  the  present  time, 
and  with  perfect  truth,  that  "the  deficiency  of  good  cottages 
in  rural  districts  is  one  of  the  most  notorious  evils  from 
which  the  English  countryside  suffers."  * 

1  Daily  Graphic,  3rd  December  1912. 


CHANNEL  PASSAGE  493 

Those  who  are  old  enough  to  remember  the  conditions 
of  the  traffic  between  England  and  France  in  the  sixties 
and  seventies  of  the  last  century,  can  realise  that  the 
Council  of  the  Society  were  well  justified  in  offering,  in 
1869,  gold  and  silver  medals  for  improved  Channel 
steamers.  The  vessels  used  were  small.  They  were 
heavily  engined  and  fine  sea-boats,  but  extremely  lively, 
while  the  passenger  accommodation  was  limited,  and  in 
bad  weather  they  were  very  uncomfortable.  For  many 
years  there  had  been  little  improvement,  and  there  seemed 
small  prospect  of  any.  The  offer  of  the  prizes  cannot  be 
said  to  have  had  much  effect,  although  it  produced  the 
double-hull  steamer  of  Captain  Dicey  and  Mr.  Sedley,  on 
the  lines  of  which  the  Castalia  was  afterwards  constructed . 
This  vessel,  as  many  will  remember,  ran  successfully 
between  Dover  and  Calais  for  some  years.  But  the  report 
of  the  committee  appointed  by  the  Council,  and  the 
evidence  they  collected,  together  with  the  admirable 
paper  read  a  few  years  later,  in  1873,  by  Colonel  Strange 
on  "  Ships  for  the  Channel  Passage,"  had  a  great  deal  to 
do  with  helping  forward  the  formation  of  public  opinion, 
so  that  eventually  sufficient  pressure  was  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  railway  authorities,  who  were  responsible  for  the 
trans-Channel  traffic,  to  induce  them  to  improve  the 
accommodation  as  it  was  improved  in  the  later  years  of 
the  nineteenth  century. 

About  the  same  time  as  these  prizes  for  Channel 
steamers  were  offered,  a  prize  was  offered  for  improved 
ships'  life-boats.  Although  a  good  many  models  and 
drawings  were  sent  in,  none  of  these  were  considered 
worthy  of  an  award.  Later  on  again  the  subject  was 
taken  up,  attention  having  been  drawn  to  it  by  the  sudden 
sinking  of  H.M.S.  Eurydice,  a  training-ship  which  had 
capsized  in  a  sudden  squall  off  Ventnor  in  March  1878, 
and  a  prize  was  offered  for  a  ready  means  for  saving  life 
where  any  apparatus  to  be  of  any  service  at  all  has  to  be 
available  within  a  very  short  period,  possibly  not  exceed- 
ing five  minutes.  It  was  found  possible  to  award  this 
prize  (a  gold  medal),  and  it  was  given  to  Messrs.  J.  &  A. 
W.  Birt,  for  a  collection  of  buoyant  articles  sent  in  by 


494       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

them,  while  several  other  exhibitors  received  honourable 
mention.  The  most  useful  work,  however,  done  by  the 
committee  was  the  production  of  an  exceedingly  valuable 
report,  due  mainly  to  the  exertions  of  Admiral  A.  P. 
Ryder,  which  appeared  in  the  Journal?  and  was  after- 
wards published  as  a  Parliamentary  paper. 

Among  the  subjects  included  in  the  list  of  the  Society's 
technological  examinations  was  the  use  of  the  blow-pipe. 
This  addition  was  made  at  the  suggestion  of  !(Sir)  Clement 
Le  Neve  Foster,  one  of  the  inspectors  of  metalliferous 
mines,  who  was  himself  a  skilful  user  of  the  implement, 
and  was  a  great  believer  in  the  value  of  blow-pipe  analysis. 
The  examination  was  a  practical  one.  Test  specimens 
were  circulated  among  the  candidates,  which  they  were 
expected  to  analyse. 

Some  difficulty  was  found  by  the  students  who  came  up 
for  examination  in  obtaining  a  good  set  of  blow-pipe 
apparatus  at  a  moderate  price,  and  in  1877  a  prize  of  £10, 
which  was  provided  by  Colonel  Angus  Croll,  a  member  of 
the  Society,  was  offered  for  the  best  blow-pipe  apparatus 
which  could  be  sold  retail  for  a  guinea.  Several  sets  were 
sent  in,  including  one  by  Messrs.  Letcher,  of  St.  Day, 
Cornwall,  and  to  this  the  prize  was  awarded. 

After  the  Technological  Examinations  were  handed 
over  to  the  City  Guilds'  Institute,  the  committee  of  that 
institute,  or  its  technical  advisers,  took  a  different  view  of 
the  value  of  blow-pipe  analysis,  and  the  examination  was 
discontinued. 

A  sum  of  £100  was  offered  to  the  Council  by  Sir  Joseph 
Whitworth  in  1873,  f°r  ^ne  purpose  of  providing  prizes 
for  Essays  on  Thrift,  the  subject  to  be  dealt  with  being 
defined  as  "  The  advantages  which  would  be  likely  to  arise 
if  railway  companies  and  limited  companies  generally 
were  each  to  establish  a  savings  bank  for  the  working- 
classes  in  their  employ." 

Fifty-three  essays  were  sent  in,  but  the  judges  reported, 
in  July  1874,  that  none  of  them  were  of  sufficient  merit 

1Vol.  xxvii.  (1879)  p.  298. 


MECHANICAL  ROAD  TRACTION  49 5 

to  be  entitled  to  the  full  prize.  Thejr,  however,  recom- 
mended that  £50  should  be  awarded  for  an  essay  sent  in  by 
Joseph  Mason,  and  this  was  done.  The  essay  was  after- 
wards printed,  and  a  small  edition  issued  by  the  Society. 

An  attempt  by  the  Society  to  encourage  mechanical 
road  traction  is  worth  mention.  In  the  premium  list 
issued  in  1873  a  gold  medal  had  been  offered  under  the 
Howard  Trust,  for  "  a  traction-engine  of  moderate  power 
capable  of  being  employed  as  a  substitute  for  horse-power 
on  tramways,  and  in  the  streets  of  cities  and  towns." 
The  engine  was  to  form  one  structure  in  combination  with 
the  carriage .  The  power  might  be  generated  by  any  means , 
provided  that  "  noise,  noxious  fumes,  or  the  discharge  of 
refuse  into  the  air  or  on  to  the  road  surfaces  "  was  avoided. 
John  Grantham,  an  engineer,  who  died  in  1874,  had  built 
an  engine  purposely  to  compete  for  this  prize,  and  after 
his  death  his  widow  put  in  a  claim  for  it.  (Sir)  F.  J. 
Bramwell,  with  whom  the  development  of  steam  traction 
on  common  roads  had  been  since  the  days  of  his  apprentice- 
ship—when he  was  associated  with  Hancock,  the  pioneer 
of  mechanical  road  traction — a  subject  of  special  interest 
and  study,  sent  in  a  report  strongly  recommending 
Grantham 's  engine  and  car,  and  on  that  report  the  medal 
was  awarded.  The  report,  which  was  published  in  the 
Journal ,x  is  interesting  reading  at  the  present  time.  It 
not  only  gives  a  clear  account  of  the  particular  invention 
described,  but  contains  a  good  deal  of  information  on  the 
early  history  of  mechanical  road  locomotion,  and  a  lucid 
exposition  of  the  principles  which  should  guide  the  con- 
struction of  road-cars,  now  common  knowledge,  but  little 
appreciated  in  1875. 

Grantham  Js  car  was  soon  after  set  to  work  on  the 
Wantage  tramways,  and  ten  years  later  it  was  stated  in  the 
discussion  of  a  paper  on  Steam  Tramways,  read  before  the 
Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  by  the  Hon.  R.  C.  Parsons, 
that  it  was  still  working  on  them.  Speaking  in  the  same 
discussion,  Mr.  Edward  Woods,  the  well-known  engineer 
and  a  Past- President  of  the  Institution,  referred  to  Mr. 
1  Journal,  vol.  xxiii.  (1875)  p.  728. 


496       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

Grantham  as  the  "  pioneer  in  the  introduction  of  steam 
tramway  cars  for  traffic."  From  Sir  Frederick  Bram- 
well's  description  of  it,  it  is  clear  that  the  car  was  equally 
suitable  for  work  on  common  roads,  and  doubtless,  but 
for  the  legislative  restrictions  on  mechanical  traction,  it 
would  have  been  so  applied.  But  Grantham,  like  Loftus 
Perkins  and  many  another  inventor  of  steam  carriages 
about  this  time,  was  prevented  from  carrying  out  his 
ideas,  and  it  was  not  till  the  advent  of  the  petrol  engine  and 
the  success  of  the  automobile  in  France  compelled  the 
rescission  of  obstructive  laws  that  English  inventors  were 
given  fair-play  in  their  attempts  to  develop  what  has  since 
proved  to  be  a  great  and  lucrative  industry. 

In  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  cab  system  of 
the  metropolis  was  in  a  by  no  means  satisfactory  con- 
dition. In  a  paper  on  the  subject,  read  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Society  in  1867,  (Sir)  Henry  Cole  expressed  the  opinion 
that,  <(  on  the  whole,  we  had  in  London  the  meanest  cabs 
in  the  world."  The  system  of  cab  fares  was  also  a  constant 
cause  of  complaint.  At  that  time  the  rate  was  6d.  a  mile 
within  the  four-mile  radius,  without  the  shilling  minimum 
afterwards  introduced.  Two  years  after  the  reading  of 
Henry  Cole's  paper,  the  Council  took  up  the  subject,  and 
began  by  organising  a  conference  upon  it,  which  was  held 
in  June  1869,  and  in  this  a  good  many  cab  proprietors 
and  others  interested  in  the  question  took  part.  A 
deputation  also  waited  on  the  Home  Secretary  asking 
for  legislation,  and  this  may  have  had  its  effect  in  hasten- 
ing on  the  Act  of  1 869. 

In  order  to  encourage  the  production  of  a  better  class 
of  vehicles,  in  the  same  year  gold  and  silver  medals  were 
offered  for  open  and  closed  hackney  carriages  constructed 
to  carry  two  or  four  persons.  At  the  same  time  a  silver 
medal  was  offered  for  an  instrument  which  should  indicate 
the  fare,  either  by  registering  the  distance  or  otherwise. 
The  offer  was  not  successful  in  the  production  either  of 
improved  vehicles  or  of  a  practical  taximeter.  Although 
a  number  of  instruments  were  sent  in,  none  of  them  were 
1  Proceedings,  Inst.  C.E.,  vol.  Ixxix.  (1884)  p.  129. 


PRIZES  FOR  CABS  AND  RAILWAY  LAMPS    497 

approved  by  the  committee,  and,  indeed,  it  is  probable 
that  if  at  the  time  a  good  instrument  had  been  constructed, 
it  would  not  have  been  adopted  by  the  trade. 

In  1872  the  question  was  again  taken  up,  and  this  time 
with  more  success.  One  of  the  sections  of  the  Exhibition 
of  1873  was  devoted  to  carriages,  and  the  Council  deter- 
mined to  offer  money  prizes,  amounting  altogether  to 
£120,  for  improved  cabs,  which  were  to  be  shown  in  the 
exhibition,  and  were  also  to  have  been  regularly  used  in 
London  for  three  months.  For  this  competition  a  con- 
siderable number  of  cabs  were  sent  in,  showing  a  great 
variety  of  construction  and  a  good  deal  of  novelty.  From 
them  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Council  selected  four 
as  worthy  of  favourable  notice  and  specially  deserving 
reward,  and  they  recommended  the  Council  to  divide  the 
total  amount  offered  equally  among  these  four.  The 
Council,  therefore,  awarded  prizes  of  £30  each  for  hansoms 
to  Mr.  C.  Thorn,  of  Norwich,  and  to  Messrs.  Forder  &  Co., 
of  Wolverhampton  ;  and  for  four-wheelers  to  Mr.  Lambert, 
of  Great  Queen  Street,  W.C.,  and  Messrs.  Quick  &  Nor- 
minton,  of  Kilburn.  Both  four-wheelers  were  capable 
of  being  used  either  open  or  closed.  As  regards  the 
hansoms,  the  result  of  the  offer  was  considerable,  as  from 
that  time  forward  the  character  of  the  London  hansom 
was  greatly  improved.  The  prize  also  seems  to  have 
exerted  some  influence  in  improving  the  character  of  the 
four-wheeler,  but  it  had  no  effect  whatever  in  promoting 
the  production  of  a  four-wheeler  capable  of  being  used 
as  an  open  carriage. 

In  March  1874  the  Council  determined  to  offer  a  gold 
medal  for  an  improved  railway  lamp,  and  an  announce- 
ment to  that  effect  was  made  in  the  Journal  for  2 9th  May 
of  that  year.  In  response  to  the  announcement,  twelve 
competitors  sent  in  lamps,  some  for  mineral  oil,  some 
for  vegetable  oil,  and  some  for  gas.  A  selected  number 
of  these  were  tested  for  the  light  afforded,  and  the  best  of 
these  were  subjected  to  a  practical  trial  on  the  St.  John's 
Wood  Railway.  At  that  time  the  Metropolitan  Railway 
did  not  extend  farther  than  Swiss  Cottage,  and  there 
33 


498        PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  Vlt 

was  an  unused  length  of  tunnel  beyond  this  which  was 
available  for  the  purpose.  The  company  lent  a  railway 
carriage  and  afforded  all  necessary  facilities  for  the  experi- 
ments. The  lamp  which  came  out  the  best  from  all  these 
trials  was  Pintsch's  Compressed  Gas  Lamp,  and  this  was 
subjected  to  a  further  practical  trial  by  the  Metropolitan 
Railway  Company.  The  trial,  which  extended  over  about 
three  weeks,  being  reported  upon  as  favourable,  the  medal 
was  awarded  to  Messrs.  Pintsch  for  their  lamp.  This 
lamp  afterwards  came  into  extensive  use,  and  the  award 
of  the  Society  was  fully  justified. 

A  gold  medal  was  offered  for  the  best  collection  of 
specimens  of  steel  suitable  for  general  engineering  pur- 
poses sent  to  the  International  Exhibition  of  1873.  But 
the  committee  appointed  to  make  the  award  reported  that 
none  of  the  collections  sent  in  fulfilled  the  conditions  laid 
down,  and  therefore  they  could  not  recommend  any 
award. 

In  November  1873  a  letter  was  addressed  by  Admiral 
Ryder  to  the  Council,  pointing  out  the  need  which  existed 
for  the  provision  of  an  accurate  revolution  indicator  for 
use  on  board  ship,  since  at  the  time,  although  various 
plans  for  indicating  the  number  of  revolutions  made 
by  the  screw-shaft  had  been  proposed,  none  had  as  yet 
been  successful.  In  accordance  with  Admiral  Ryder's 
suggestion,  a  gold  medal  was  offered  in  the  following 
January  for  the  best  revolution  indicator  "  which  shall 
accurately  inform  the  officer  on  deck  and  the  engineer  in 
charge  of  the  engine  what  are  the  number  of  revolutions 
of  the  paddles  or  screw  per  minute,  without  the  necessity 
of  counting  them."  Eighty-four  competitors  sent  in 
apparatus  or  descriptions,  and  of  these  nine  were  selected 
by  the  committee  for  trial  on  board  ship.  The  Admiralty 
lent  H.M.  gunboat  Arrow  for  the  purpose,  and  five  of 
the  selected  candidates  fitted  their  instruments  on  board, 
where  they  were  duly  tested.  As  the  result  of  the  trials, 
the  prize  was  awarded  in  May  1876  to  Mr.  T.  A.  Hearson, 
whose  strophometer  was  found  to  work  with  complete 


REVOLUTION  INDICATOR  499 

satisfaction.     The  apparatus  was  afterwards  brought  into 
practical  use,  and  was  found  of  considerable  value. 

The  wet  weather  of  the  summer  of  1867,  and  the  conse- 
quent injury  to  the  harvest  of  that  year,  induced  the 
Council  to  offer  a  prize  of  fifty  guineas  and  the  Society's 
gold  medal  for  an  essay  on  harvesting  corn  in  wet  seasons, 
in  the  hope  that  some  practical  suggestions  for  drying 
crops  of  all  sorts  might  be  forthcoming.  Twenty  essays 
were  sent  in,  and  the  prize  was  awarded  to  Mr.  W.  A. 
Gibbs,  of  Gillwell  Park,  Essex,  for  an  essay  which  appeared 
in  three  numbers  of  the  Journal.'1-  This  essay  gives  a  very 
full  account  of  the  various  methods  proposed  for  the 
artificial  drying  of  crops,  including  hay  as  well  as  corn, 
and  described  at  considerable  length  the  devices  proposed 
by  the  author,  which  were  the  result  of  long-continued 
experiments  upon  his  own  farm. 

Mr.  Gibbs'  proposal  was  to  utilise  a  hot-air  blast, 
driven  through  a  chamber  of  suitable  construction,  and 
provided  with  various  devices  according  to  the  character 
of  the  crop  to  be  treated.  In  the  case  of  hay,  it  was  pro- 
posed to  carry  the  wet  grass  through  the  chamber  on  a 
travelling  apron.  With  corn  it  was  preferred  to  place 
each  sheaf  on  a  vertical  support,  consisting  of  a  pipe, 
by  which  the  hot  air  was  delivered  into  the  centre  of  the 
sheaf.  The  sheaf,  when  dried,  was  removed  by  hand. 
Mr.  Gibbs'  arrangements  met  with  a  good  deal  of  approval 
by  agricultural  authorities,  but  they  do  not  appear  ever  to 
have  come  into  actual  use. 

Something  must  now  be  said  about  the  finances  of  the 
Society  in  the  period  after  the  great  Exhibitions,  but  before 
this  it  may  be  worth  while  to  find  room  for  a  paragraph 
about  a  financial  question  which  at  one  time  exercised 
the  minds  of  the  Council,  though  it  is  really  rather  curious 
than  important.  The  question  of  the  liability  of  societies 
to  parochial  rates  has  always  been  rather  a  difficult  one 
since  the  passing  of  the  Act  in  1843  (6  &  7  Viet.  c.  36), 
which  exempted  societiesinstituted  "for  purposes  of  science, 
1  Vol.  xvi.  pp.  781,  793,  and  804. 


500       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

literature,  or  the  fine  arts  exclusively  "  from  "  county, 
borough,  parochial,  and  other  local  rates."  To  enable 
it  to  claim  exemption  the  society  must  be  "  supported, 
wholly  or  in  part,  by  annual  voluntary  contributions," 
and  there  are  certain  other  conditions.  Immediately  the 
Act  was  passed  the  Society  of  Arts  took  advantage 
of  it,  and,  in  accordance  with  its  provisions,  applied 
to  Mr.  Tidd  Pratt,  the  Registrar  of  Friendly  Societies,  for 
his  certificate.  Mr.  Pratt  was  of  opinion  that  the  Society 
"  could  avail  itself  of  the  provisions  of  the  Act,"  and  from 
that  time  forward  it  paid  no  rates.  In  1869,  however, 
the  parochial  authorities  declined  to  admit  the  exemption, 
and  rated  the  Society  in  full.  The  matter  duly  came 
before  the  Petty  Sessions,  and  the  magistrates  decided 
against  the  Society,  but  granted  a  case  for  appeal  to  the 
Queen's  Bench.  Mr.  (now  Sir)  H.  B.  Poland  was  instructed 
to  state  a  case,  and  did  so,  but  he  added  the  opinion  that 
the  Society  was  rateable,  inasmuch  as  it  had  been  estab- 
lished for  the  promotion  of  commerce,  whereas  the  Act 
applied  exclusively  to  societies  for  the  promotion  of  science, 
literature,  and  the  fine  arts. 

The  Council  at  the  time  were  inclined  to  drop  the  pro- 
ceedings, but  eventually  decided  that  the  case  should  be 
proceeded  with.  It  was  accordingly  sent  by  the  Society's 
solicitors  to  the  solicitors  for  the  parish,  who  allowed  the 
matter  for  a  long  time  to  stand  over.  But  in  1872  the 
application  was  suddenly  renewed,  and  the  Society  then 
took  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Hardinge  Giffard  (now  Lord  Hals- 
bury),  which  was  to  the  effect  that  the  proposition  con- 
tended for  by  the  Society  was  hardly  arguable.  He 
therefore  advised  the  Council  not  to  proceed  further  with 
the  case.  Under  these  circumstances  the  Council  aban- 
doned further  opposition  to  the  claim  of  the  parish,  and 
in  February  1873  they  paid  the  amount  of  £246,  195., 
being  the  rates  due  from  Michaelmas  1 869  to  Lady  Day 

1873. 

The  Act  itself  was  intended  for  the  benefit  of  the 
various  local  institutions  which  at  the  time  were  being 
founded  in  different  parts  of  the  country — "  Athenaeums," 
as  they  were  commonly  called — and  it  was  certainly 


RATING  OF  SOCIETIES  501 

meant  to  be  of  much  wider  application  than  it  has  proved 
to  be  under  the  interpretation  of  necessity  placed  upon 
it  by  the  Courts  of  law.  There  have  been  various  cases 
under  it,  some  of  which  are  reported  in  a  treatise  on  the 
Act  published  in  1851  by  George  Taylor,  a  barrister,  and 
others  in  the  principal  modern  authority  on  the  subject, 
11  The  Law  and  Practice  of  Rating,"  by  W.  C.  Ryde  (1912). 

In  1878  the  liability  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers 
to  pay  rates  was  raised,  and  a  special  case  was  argued 
before  Justices  Field  and  Manisty,  who  confirmed  the  rate, 
with  costs  against  the  Institution,  on  the  ground  that  a 
society  the  primary  object  of  which  is  the  acquisition  of 
scientific  knowledge  for  the  purposes  and  in  the  interests 
of  a  particular  profession  is  not  a  society  instituted  for 
purposes  of  science  exclusively.  Some  doubt  has,  how- 
ever, been  thrown  on  this  decision  by  a  more  recent  deci- 
sion of  the  House  of  Lords  in  1890,  when  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Inland  Revenue  appealed  against  a  decision  of 
the  Court  of  Appeal  that  the  Institution  was  not  liable  to 
Corporation  Duty  under  the  Customs  and  Inland  Revenue 
Act,  1885  (48  &  49  Viet.  c.  51).  In  that  case  it  was  held 
by  Lords  Watson  and  Macnaghten  (Lord  Halsbury  dis- 
senting) that  the  property  of  the  Institution  was  entitled 
to  exemption,  because  it  was  in  fact  legally  appropriated 
and  applied  substantially  for  the  promotion  of  mechanical 
and  engineering  science,  and  not  for  the  promotion  of  the 
professional  interest  or  advantage  of  its  members. 

In  the  case  of  the  Zoological  Society,  tried  in  1854,  it 
was  held  that  the  Society  could  not  be  considered  either 
as  a  society  for  the  purpose  of  science  exclusively  or  as 
supported  by  voluntary  contributions. 

In  1895  the  Imperial  Institute  appealed  to  the  County 
of  London  Sessions  against  the  assessment  of  the  Institute 
and  claimed  exemption.  The  Bench  (Sir  Peter  Edlin 
being  the  chairman)  decided  that  the  Institute  was  liable, 
but  reduced  the  rateable  value  from  £15,400  to  £11,700. 
The  United  Service  Institution,  the  Working  Men's  Educa- 
tion Union,  the  Art  Union,  and  the  British  and  Foreign 
School  Society  are  also  among  the  institutions  which  have 
been  held  not  to  be  exempt. 


502       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Linnaean  Society  and  the 
Royal  College  of  Music  have  been  held  to  be  exempt. 

It  appears  to  have  been  held,  in  one  case,  that  by 
11  voluntary  contributions  "  are  meant  free  gifts  which 
the  society  could  not  recover  by  process  of  law  or  enforce 
in  any  way,  and  in  return  for  which  the  donors  received 
no  benefit.  The  donor  must  give  "  from  disinterested 
motives,  not  looking  for  any  return  in  the  shape  of  direct 
personal  advantage."  Whether  under  this  ruling  any 
society  publishing  Transactions,  or  providing  its  members 
with  an  annual  conversazione,  could  maintain  its  right 
to  exemption,  may  perhaps  be  an  open  question.  If  so, 
on  a  strict  interpretation  of  the  wording  of  the  statute, 
there  must  be  few  institutions  which  could  take  advantage 
of  its  provisions. 

Whether  it  is  reasonable  that  certain  parishes  should 
be  called  upon  to  contribute  to  the  funds  of  institutions, 
however  meritorious,  from  which  they  derive  no  special 
advantage — for,  however  beneficial  to  the  world  in  general 
may  be  the  work  (say)  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  it  cannot  be 
said  to  profit  the  parish  of  St.  Martin's  more  than  the 
parish  of  Paddington  or  of  Bethnal  Green — is  a  matter  of 
opinion.  It  might  be  held  that  such  aid  might  more 
properly  come  from  Imperial  than  from  local  sources, 
while  it  is  hardly  disputable  that  the  statute  of  6  &  7  Viet. 
c.  36  badly  needs  revision,  so  that  the  benefits  it  is  intended 
to  provide  might  be  distributed  with  greater  impartiality 
amongst  those  morally,  if  not  legally,  entitled  to  them. 
Whether  any  modern  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  would 
approve  of  such  a  modification  of  the  law  is  another 
question. 

During  the  period  of  the  Society's  history  with  which 
we  are  dealing  (1860  to  1880),  its  resources  were  sufficient 
and  its  financial  position  was  sound.  Looking  back  to  the 
period  of  its  greatest  depression,  before  its  incorporation,  we 
see  that  its  membership  had  been  reduced  to  something 
like  300,  and  its  resources  were  nil.  In  December  1 843,  six 
months  after  the  Prince  Consort  had  become  President, 
there  were  685  members .  In  1 8  50  the  numbers  were  a  little 
under  2000.  In  1856  they  were  reported  as  being  about 


THE  SOCIETY'S  REVENUE  503 

1700.  After  this  we  get  a  constant  and  regular  increase. 
The  numbers  in  November  1861  were  2263,  and  by  the 
same  date  in  1866  they  had  grown  to  3031,  an  increment 
due  mainly  to  the  1862  Exhibition.  In  the  next  ten  years 
the  increase  was  steady,  but  less  rapid — 3200  in  1870, 
and  3800  in  1875.  The  numbers  fell  to  3300  in  1881,  and 
rose  again  to  3656  in  1885. 

The  Society's  income  of  necessity  fluctuated  with  the 
number  of  its  members,  since  their  contributions  form  its 
sole  source  of  revenue.  Taking  round  figures,  its  income 
in  1861  was  over  £5000,  and  in  1862  over  £6000.  In  these 
two  years  also  a  sum  of  over  £2000  was  repaid  by  the 
Commission  of  the  1862  Exhibition,  but  this  amount  was 
absorbed  by  the  expenditure  on  the  new  lease  of  the 
premises,  £2361.  In  addition  to  the  renewal  fine  and 
the  charges  on  the  new  lease,  the  Society  spent  a  sum  of 
£2800  on  the  premises  during  the  four  years  1863-6. 

The  income  was  practically  stationary  for  some 
years,  but  by  1880  it  had  grown  to  more  than  £8000,  the 
increase  being  mainly  due  to  the  dividends  from  invested 
benefactions,  increased  revenue  from  the  advertisements 
in  the  Journal,  and  other  minor  receipts. 

During  this  period  the  Society  was  singularly  fortunate 
in  the  benefactions  it  received.  The  Swiney  and  Cantor 
bequests,  already  recorded,  were  of  an  earlier  date,  but 
in  the  eight  years  1868  to  1876  it  came  in  for  a  consider- 
able amount.  It  received  a  legacy  of  £100  in  1868  from 
Dr.  Aldred,  one  of  £2000  in  1870  from  Alfred  Davis,  and 
another  of  £200  in  the  same  year  from  Alexander  Robb. 
In  1872,  Thomas  Howard  bequeathed  to  it  £500  to  found 
prizes  for  treatises  on  motive -power  and  for  other 
purposes  ;  while  in  1875  and  1876  respectively,  the 
Mulready  and  Owen  Jones  Prize  Trusts  were  made  over 
to  the  Society.  In  1876  also  Benjamin  Shaw  presented 
the  Society  with  £133  to  found  a  prize  for  industrial 
hygiene.  These  last-named  donations  or  trusts,  though 
of  no  pecuniary  benefit  to  the  Society,  yet  are  valuable 
as  aiding  it  to  carry  out  certain  portions  of  its  proper 
work. 

With  such  abundant  resources  it  might  have  been 


504       PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

expected  that  the  Society  at  the  end  of  this  period 
would  have  been  in  a  stronger  financial  position  than  it 
really  was.  But  it  must  be  admitted  that  its  expenditure 
was  somewhat  lavish,  and  not  controlled  with  sufficient 
care  or  strictness.  Large  sums  were  expended  upon 
objects  no  doubt  desirable  but  rather  costly,  and  much 
money  was  spent  which  could  easily  have  been  saved  by 
a  more  judicious  administration  of  the  funds.  The 
publication  of  the  Jury  Reports  of  the  1862  Exhibition1 
was  a  creditable  piece  of  work,  and  the  book  produced 
was  of  considerable  value,  but  the  expenditure  upon  it 
of  over  £1000  seriously  hampered  the  Society  at  a  time 
when  it  had  to  provide  a  sum  of  £5000  for  lease  renewal 
and  repairs.  If,  as  was  indeed  the  case,  the  1862  Com- 
missioners had  no  available  surplus  for  publication 
purposes,  they  might  reasonably  have  called  upon  their 
more  fortunate  predecessors  of  1851  for  the  needed  help. 

A  few  years  later  the  National  Training  School  for  Music 
was  successfully  endowed  with  large  funds  collected 
entirely  by  a  committee  of  the  Society,  and  started  in  a 
building  provided  by  one  of  its  members .  Surely  this  was 
sufficient  without  the  Society  being  called  upon  to  contri- 
bute over  £2000  in  cash .  The  Society 's  efforts  to  encourage 
drill  in  schools  cost  £540 .  The  efforts  were  quite  successful , 
but  rather  expensive.  The  contribution  of  £1000  to  the 
Prince  Consort's  Memorial  in  1862  is  in  a  very  different 
category.  No  money  gift  could  represent  the  value  of 
the  Prince's  services  to  the  Society.  Yet  is  it  unreason- 
able or  ungrateful  to  feel  a  wish  that  the  evidence  of  ap- 
preciation had  been  shown  in  some  other  form  ?  That 
while  it  was  liberal,  it  was  yet  felt  at  the  time  to  be 
inadequate,  is  shown  by  the  spontaneous  decision  of  the 
members 2  to  establish  by  voluntary  subscriptions  a 
special  memorial  of  their  own. 

The  Society  was  always  solvent,  but  expenditure  of 
this  liberal  character  was  just  a  little  more  than  it  could 
stand,  and  consequently  the  annual  revenue  did  not  always 
meet  he  annual  outlay,  and  the  balance  had  to  be  tempor- 
arily made  good  by  applications  to  the  bankers.  Whether 

1  See  Chapter  XVIII,  p.  423.  *  See  Chapter  XVI,  p.  399. 


CONCLUSION  505 

an  institution  like  the  Society  ought  to  make  provision 
in  prosperous  years  for  possible  future  needs  may  be  a 
matter  of  opinion.  It  is  certainly  not  called  upon  to 
accumulate  large  funds,  but  all  experience  goes  to  show 
that  it  is  wise  in  times  of  prosperity  to  use  a  judicious 
economy,  and  to  keep,  as  long  as  possible,  a  sufficient 
margin  of  surplus,  so  as  to  provide  for  the  bad  times 
which  are  certain  some  day  or  other  to  overtake  institu- 
tions as  well  as  individuals. 


The  writer  has  now  brought  to  an  end  the  task  he 
started  upon  about  three  years  ago — the  preparation 
of  a  History  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts.  He  has  striven 
to  give  some  account  of  the  objects  for  which  it  was 
established,  of  the  work  it  endeavoured  to  accomplish, 
and  of  the  individuals  of  whom  it  was  composed.  The 
work  has  not  been  without  its  special  difficulties,  the  chief 
of  which  has  been  that  of  correlating  and  bringing  into 
some  sort  of  ordered  sequence  the  multifarious  and  mis- 
cellaneous subjects  to  which  in  the  course  of  its  long 
career  the  energies  of  the  Society,  corporate  and  individual, 
have  been  devoted.  He  doubts  whether  he  could  have 
persevered  with  the  task  but  for  the  kind  encourage- 
ment he  received  from  many  members  of  the  Council  and 
of  the  Society  while  the  articles  of  which  this  volume  is 
composed  were  appearing  in  the  Society's  weekly  Journal. 

At  all  events,  he  is  satisfied  that  the  work  of  the  Society 
deserves  record,  and  he  is  not  without  hope  that  the 
narrative  which  he  has  prepared  may  add  to  the  Society's 
credit  and  promote  its  future  welfare.  Naturally,  such  an 
account  must  record  much  wasted  energy,  but  it  also 
records  much  strenuous  hard  work,  done  by  individuals 
for  what  they  considered  the  public  service,  and  without 
any  personal  interest  beyond  the  natural  and  human 
desire  to  obtain  credit  and  appreciation  from  their  fellows. 
The  results  of  the  associated  efforts  of  such  a  combination 
of  individuals  as  this  Society  will  be  appreciated  at 
different  values  according  to  the  point  of  view  of  the 
observer.  The  standpoint  of  one  who  has  served  the 


506        PRESIDENCY  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII 

Society  for  a  little  over  forty  years  cannot  be  that  of  an 
impartial  critic,  but  the  writer  can  honestly  say  that  the 
fairly  minute  study  of  the  Society's  records  to  which  he 
has  devoted  the  leisure  of  the  past  three  years  (added  to  a 
certain  familiarity  with  them  acquired  during  the  work  of 
the  past  forty)  has  resulted  in  a  genuine  admiration  of 
the  unselfish  labours  of  its  dead-and-gone  constituents, 
and  in  a  sincere  conviction  that,  on  the  whole,  their  labours 
have  been  of  constant  and  real  service  to  the  State. 

Many  of  their  objects  were  trivial,  many  of  their  efforts 
were  futile,  but  when  all  allowance  is  made,  the  net  result 
is  an  enormous  mass  of  useful  work,  beneficial  to  the 
country  and  serviceable  to  mankind.  Certainly  no 
society  has  had  objects  so  many  or  so  multifarious.  Few 
can  have  endured  such  vicissitudes.  It  has  earned  much 
popularity,  it  has  incurred  its  fair  share  of  ridicule.  It 
has  been  often  praised  and  often  blamed,  generally  with 
equal  lack  of  reason.  It  has  endured  for  a  period  of  more 
than  a  century  and  a  half,  and  is  certainly  as  prosperous 
now  as  it  has  ever  been.  There  is  no  reason  why  that 
prosperity  should  not  continue.  In  the  future,  as  in  the 
past,  it  will  doubtless  find  fresh  fields  of  activity,  and,  as 
it  has  ever  done,  change  with  the  changing  years,  and 
adapt  itself  to  the  fresh  conditions  of  the  coming  time. 

For  all  institutions  depending  on  voluntary  subscrip- 
tions the  times  grow  harder.  They  are  in  the  position  of 
people  with  fixed  incomes  and  growing  expenses.  In 
our  own  case  the  scale  of  contribution  was  fixed  1 50  years 
ago,  and  it  cannot  well  be  altered  now  ;  but  it  is  far  less 
profitable,  while  nearly  all  the  items  of  expenditure  are 
of  necessity  far  more  costly.  It  is  difficult  to  discern  a 
source  from  which  the  Society's  revenue  can  be  supple- 
mented. It  is  unlikely  that  the  subsidies  given  by  the 
State  to  certain  institutions  will  be  increased.  That  the 
bounty  might  be  more  fairly  distributed  there  cannot  be 
much  doubt.  Few  would  question  the  propriety  of 
State  aid  being  liberally  given  to  the  two  great  institutions 
which  are  respectively  at  the  head  of  Science  and  of  Art 
in  this  country.  The  method  of  distribution  of  State 
support  to  other  institutions  is  open  to  criticism.  It  seems 


CONCLUSION  507 

accidental  and  casual,  governed  by  no  particular  principle. 
At  all  events,  the  Secretary  of  a  Society  which  has  always 
been  left  out  in  the  cold  when  there  was  any  benefit  going, 
may  be  forgiven  if  he  does  not  fully  appreciate  the  manner 
in  which  State  patronage  has  been  bestowed  elsewhere. 

Perhaps,  in  default  of  State  aid,  the  private  benefactor 
may  supply  the  needed  help .  Many  of  the  best  institutions 
of  the  country — Universities,  Schools,  Hospitals — owe 
their  existence  to  the  surplus  wealth  of  the  pious  founder 
of  ancient  days.  Numerous  modern  charities  have  been 
founded,  and  are  still  supported,  by  philanthropic  bene- 
factors. Education  and  science  have  had  their  full  share 
of  generous  gifts.  Perhaps  in  the  future  it  may  occur  to 
some  liberal  possessor  of  millions,  accumulated  from 
industrial  sources,  that  an  endowment  might  well  be 
bestowed  on  an  institution  which  for  the  best  part  of  two 
centuries  has  really  done  not  a  little  to  carry  out  the  objects 
of  its  foundation — the  promotion  of  "  Arts,  Manufactures, 
and  Commerce.11 


APPENDIX  I 


THE  SOCIETY'S  OFFICIALS 


PRESIDENTS 

Viscount  Folkestone        .....  1755-1761 

Lord  Romney      ......  1761-1793 

The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  E.M.      ....  1794-1815 

H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  K.G.  .  .  .  1816-1843 

H.R.H.  Albert  Prince  Consort,  K.G.       .  .  .  1843-1861 

William  Tooke,  F.R.S.     .....  1862 

H.R.H.  the  Prince  of  Wales,  K.G.  (King  Edward  VII.)  1863-1901 

Sir  Frederick  Bramwell,  Bart.,  F.R.S.    .  .  .  1901 

H.R.H.  the  Prince  of  Wales,  K.G.  (King  George  V.)     .  1901-1910 

Lord  Alverstone,  L.C.J.,  G.C.M.G.,  F.R.S.          .  .  1910 

H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Connaught,  K.G.     .  .  .  1911 

CHAIRMEN  OF  COUNCIL 

Edward  Speer  1   T  . 

George  Bailey  )  Joint  Chairmen  .  .  1846-1848 

Edward  Speer      ......  1848-1849 

Francis  Fuller      .  .  .  .  .  .1850 

Henry  Cole  ......  1850 

W.  W.  Saunders,  F.R.S  ......  1851 

Henry  Cole,  C.B.  .....  1852 

Captain  Owen,  R.E.        .....  1853 

Harry  Chester     ......  1853 

Viscount  Ebrington,  M.P.  .  .  .  '  .  1854 

Rev.  James  Booth,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.  .  .  .  1855 

Colonel  W.  H.  Sykes,  M.P.,  F.R.S.          .  .  .  1856 

C.  Wentworth  Dilke        .....  1857-1858 

Sir  Thomas  Phillips         .  .  .  .  1859-1862 

William  Hawes,  F.G.S.    .....  1863-1865 

Sir  Thomas  Phillips         .....  1866 

William  Hawes,  F.G.S.    .....  1867 

509 


5io 


APPENDIXES 


Lord  Henry  G.  Lennox,  M.P.      ....  1868-1871 

Major-Gen.  F.  Eardley-Wilmot,  R.A.,  F.R.S.     .            .  1872-1874 

Lord  Alfred  Spencer  Churchill     .             .          -  ^             .  1875-1876 

Major-Gen.  F.  C.  Cotton,  C.S.I.               .            .            .  1877 

Lord  Alfred  Spencer  Churchill    ....  1878-1879 

Sir  Frederick  Bramwell,  Bart.,  F.R.S.    .             .             .  1880-1881 

Sir  William  Siemens,  D.C.L.,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.      .            .  1882-1883 
Sir  Frederick  Abel,  G.C.V.O.,  K.C.B.,  D.C.L.,  D.Sc., 

F.R.S.          .p 1883-1885 

Sir  Douglas  Galton,K.C.B.,  F.R.S.         .                         .  1886-1887 

The  Duke  of  Abercorn,  C.B.        ....  1888-1889 

Sir  Richard  Webster,  Q.C.,  M.P.             .            .            .  1890-1893 

Major-Gen.  Sir  John  Donnelly,  K.C.B.  .            .            .  1894-1895 

Major-Gen.  Sir  Owen  Tudor  Burne,  G.C.I.E.,  K.C.S.I.  1896-1897 

Sir  John  Wolfe-Barry,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S.    .            .            .  1898-1899 

Sir  John  Evans,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S.               .            .            .  1900 

Sir  William  H.  Preece,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S.    .            -.  <;          .  1901-1902 

Sir  William  Abney,  K.C.B.,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S.      ;            .  1903-1904 

Sir  Owen  Roberts,  D.C.L.,  F.S.A.       .            .            .  1905 

Sir  Steuart  Colvin  Bayley,  K.C.S.I.,  C.I.E.        .            .  1906-1907 

Sir  William  H.  White,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S.     .            .            .  1908-1909 

Sir  John  Cameron  Lamb,  C.B.,  C.M.G.   .            .            .  1910 

Lord  Sanderson,  G.C.B.,  K.C.M.G.,  I.S.O.          .            .  1911-1912 


SECRETARIES 


William  Shipley  .          ^-.    ; 

George  Box 

Peter  Templeman,  M.D. 

Samuel  More 

Charles  Taylor,  M.D. 

Arthur  Aikin 

W.  A.  Graham     . 

Francis  Whishaw 

J.  Scott  Russell,  F.R.S.  . 

George  Grove 

Edward  Solly,  F.R.S.      . 

Peter  Le  Neve  Foster,  M.A. 

Sir  Henry  Trueman  Wood,  M.A. 


ASSISTANT-SECRETARIES 


George  Box 

»         » 
Richard  Samuel  . 


1754-1757 
1757-1760 
1760-1769 
1769-1799 
1800-1816 
1817-1839 
1839-1842 
1843-1845 
1845-1850 
1850-1852 
1852-1853 
1853-1879 
1879 


1756-1757 
1760-1779 
1779-1787 


APPENDIXES 


John  Samuel 

Thomas  Taylor    . 

Charles  Combe     . 

Thomas  Woodfall 

S.  T.  Davenport  . 

W.Ellis   . 

James  Forrest 

Charles  Critchett,  B.A.    . 

H.  Trueman  Wood,  B.A. 

Henry  B.  Wheatley,  F.S.A. 

G.  K.  Menzies,  M.A. 


1787-1798 

1799-1805 

1806 

1807-1842 

1848-1849 

1849-1850 

1852-1856 

1856-1869 

1876-1879 

1879-1908 

1908 


REGISTRARS,  ETC. 

William  Shipley  ......  1757-1760 

Edward  Grant  Tuckwell  .  .  .  .  1760-1766 

William  Bailey    ......  1766-1773 

Alexander  Mabyn  Bailey  ....  1773-1779 

George  Cookings  (Porter,  Collector,  and  Registrar)      .  1765-1802 

Miss  Ann  Birch  Cockings  (Housekeeper  and  Registrar)  .  1802-1844 

S.  T.  Davenport  (Financial  Officer)         .  .  .  1853-1876 

H.  Trueman  Wood  (Editor  of  Journal}  .  .  .  1872-1876 

Colonel  E.  A.  Hardy  (Secretary  of  the  Indian  Section)  1873-1884 

Howard  H.  Room  (Accountant) ....  1876-1900 

George  Davenport  (Chief  Clerk) ....  1879 

Professor  J.   M.  Thomson,   F.R.S.  (Secretary  of  the 

Chemical  Section)    .....  1879-1886 

S.  Digby,  C.I.E.  (Secretary  of  Indian  and  Colonial  Sec- 
tions)   .......  1890 

J.  H.  Buchanan  (Accountant)     ....  1900 


APPENDIX   II 

THE  ALBERT  MEDAL 

LIST  OF  RECIPIENTS 
1864-1913 

THE  Medal  was  instituted  in  1862  as  a  memorial  of  the  Prince 
Consort,  and  is  awarded  annually  for  "  Distinguished  Merit  in 
promoting  Arts,  Manufactures,  or  Commerce."  It  may  be  given  to 
persons  of  any  nation. 

1864.— Sir  ROWLAND  HILL,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S.,  "  for  his  great  services 
to  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce,  in  the  creation  of  the 
penny  postage,  and  for  his  other  reforms  in  the  postal  system 
of  this  country,  the  benefits  of  which  have,  however,  not  been 
confined  to  this  country,  but  have  extended  over  the  civilised 
world." 

1865. — His  Imperial  Majesty  NAPOLEON  III.,  "for  distinguished 
merit  in  promoting,  in  many  ways,  by  his  personal  exertions, 
the  international  progress  of  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Com- 
merce, the  proofs  of  which  are  afforded  by  his  judicious  patron- 
age of  Art,  his  enlightened  commercial  policy,  and  especially 
by  the  abolition  of  passports  in  favour  of  British  subjects." 

1866. — MICHAEL  FARADAY,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S.,  "  for  discoveries  in 
electricity,  magnetism,  and  chemistry,  which  in  their  relation 
to  the  industries  of  the  world  have  so  largely  promoted  Arts, 
Manufactures,  and  Commerce." 

1867. — Sir  W.  FoTHERGiLL  COOKE  and  Sir  CHARLES  WHEATSTONE, 
F.R.S.,  "  in  recognition  of  their  joint  labours  in  establishing 
the  first  electric  telegraph." 

1868. — Sir  JOSEPH  WHITWORTH,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  "  for  the  invention 
and  manufacture  of  instruments  of  measurement  and  uniform 
standards  by  which  the  production  of  machinery  has  been 
brought  to  a  state  of  perfection  hitherto  unapproached,  to  the 
great  advancement  of  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce." 

1869. — Baron  JUSTUS  VON  LIEBIG,  Associate  of  the  Institute  of 
France,  For.  Memb.  R.S.,  Chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honour, 
etc.,  "  for  his  numerous  valuable  researches  and  writings,  which 

512 


APPENDIXES  513 

have  contributed  most  importantly  to  the  development  of  food 
economy  and  agriculture,  to  the  advancement  of  chemical 
science,  and  to  the  benefits  derived  from  that  science  by  Arts, 
Manufactures,  and  Commerce." 

1870. — Vicomte  FERDINAND  DE  LESSEES,  Member  of  the  Institute 
of  France,  Hon.  G.C.S.I.,  "  for  services  rendered  to  Arts,  Manu- 
factures, and  Commerce,  by  the  realisation  of  the  Suez  Canal." 

1871. — Sir  HENRY  COLE,  K.C.B.,  "  for  his  important  services  in 
promoting  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce,  especially  in 
aiding  the  establishment  and  development  of  International 
Exhibitions,  the  Department  of  Science  and  Art,  and  the  South 
Kensington  Museum." 

1872. — Sir  HENRY  BESSEMER,  F.R.S.,  "  for  the  eminent  services 
rendered  by  him  to  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce,  in 
developing  the  manufacture  of  steel." 

1873. — MICHEL  EUGENE  CHEVREUL,  For.  Memb.  R.S.,  Member  of  the 
Institute  of  France,  "  for  his  chemical  researches,  especially  in 
reference  to  saponification,  dyeing,  agriculture,  and  natural 
history,  which  for  more  than  half  a  century  have  exercised  a 
wide  influence  on  the  industrial  arts  of  the  world." 

1874. — Sir  WILLIAM  SIEMENS,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S.,  "  for  his  researches  in 
connection  with  the  laws  of  heat,  and  the  practical  applications 
of  them  to  furnaces  used  in  the  Arts ;  and  for  his  improvements 
in  the  manufacture  of  iron  ;  and  generally  for  the  services  ren- 
dered by  him  in  connection  with  economisation  of  fuel  in  its 
various  applications  to  Manufactures  and  the  Arts." 

1875. — MICHEL  CHEVALIER,  "  the  distinguished  French  statesman, 
who,  by  his  writings  and  persistent  exertions,  extending  over 
many  years,  has  rendered  essential  services  in  promoting  Arts, 
Manufactures,  and  Commerce." 

1876. — Sir  GEORGE  B.  AIRY,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S.,  Astronomer  Royal, 
"  for  eminent  services  rendered  to  Commerce  by  his  researches 
in  nautical  astronomy  and  in  magnetism,  and  by  his  improve- 
ments in  the  application  of  the  mariner's  compass  to  the  navi- 
gation of  iron  ships." 

1877. — JEAN  BAPTISTS  DUMAS,  For.  Memb.  R.S.,  Member  of  the 
Institute  of  France,  "  the  distinguished  chemist,  whose  re- 
searches have  exercised  a  very  material  influence  on  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  Industrial  Arts." 

1878.— Lord  ARMSTRONG,  C.B.,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S.,  "  because  of  his 
distinction  as  an  engineer  and  as  a  scientific  man,  and  because 
by  the  development  of  the  transmission  of  power — hydraulically 
— due  to  his  constant  efforts,  extending  over  many  years,  the 
manufactures  of  this  country  have  been  greatly  aided,  and 
mechanical  power  benefically  substituted  for  most  laborious 
and  injurious  manual  labour." 

1879.— Lord  KELVIN,  O.M.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S.,  "  on  account 
of  the  signal  service  rendered  to  Arts,  Manufactures,  and 
Commerce,  by  his  electrical  researches,  especially  with  refer- 

34 


5i4  APPENDIXES 

ence  to  the  transmission  of  telegraphic  messages  over  ocean 
cables." 

1880.— JAMES  PRESCOTT  JOULE,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S.,  "for 
having  established,  after  most  laborious  research,  the  true 
relation  between  heat,  electricity,  and  mechanical  work,  thus 
affording  to  the  engineer  a  sure  guide  in  the  application  of 
science  to  industrial  pursuits." 

1881. — AUGUST  WILHELM  HOFMANN,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  Professor 
of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Berlin,  "  for  eminent  services 
rendered  to  the  Industrial  Arts  by  his  investigations  in  organic 
chemistry,  and  for  his  successful  labour  in  promoting  the 
cultivation  of  chemical  education  and  research  in  England." 

1882. — Louis  PASTEUR,  Member  of  the  Institute  of  France,  For. 
Memb.  R.S.,  "  for  his  researches  in  connection  with  fermenta- 
tion, the  preservation  of  wines,  and  the  propagation  of  zymotic 
diseases  in  silkworms  and  domestic  animals,  whereby  the  arts 
of  wine-making,  silk  production,  and  agriculture  have  been 
greatly  benefited." 

1883.— Sir  JOSEPH  DALTON  HOOKER,  K.C.S.I.,  C.B.,  M.D.,  D.C.L., 
LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  "  for  the  eminent  services  which,  as  a  botanist 
and  scientific  traveller,  and  as  Director  of  the  National  Botanical 
Department,  he  has  rendered  to  the  Arts,  Manufactures,  and 
Commerce  by  promoting  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  floras 
and  economic  vegetable  products  of  our  several  colonies  and 
dependencies  of  the  Empire." 

3:884. — Captain  JAMES  BUCHANAN  EADS,  "the  distinguished 
American  engineer,  whose  works  have  been  of  such  great 
service  in  improving  the  water  communications  of  North 
America,  and  have  thereby  rendered  valuable  aid  to  the 
commerce  of  the  world." 

1885. — Sir  HENRY  DOULTON,  "  in  recognition  of  the  impulse  given 
by  him  to  the  production  of  artistic  pottery  in  this  country." 

1886. — Lord  MASHAM,  "  for  the  services  he  has  rendered  to  the 
textile  industries,  especially  by  the  substitution  of  mechanical 
wool  combing  for  hand  combing,  and  by  the  introduction  and 
development  of  a  new  industry — the  utilisation  of  waste  silk." 

1887. — HER  MAJESTY  QUEEN  VICTORIA,  "  in  commemoration  of 
the  progress  of  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce  throughout 
the  Empire  during  the  fifty  years  of  her  reign." 

1888. — Professor  HERMANN  Louis  HELMHOLTZ,  For.  Memb.  R.S., 
"  in  recognition  of  the  value  of  his  researches  in  various 
branches  of  science  and  of  their  practical  results  upon  music, 
painting,  and  the  useful  arts." 

1889. — JOHN  PERCY,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  "  for  his  achievements  in 
promoting  the  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce,  through 
the  world-wide  influence  which  his  researches  and  writings 
have  had  upon  the  progress  of  the  science  and  practice  of 
metallurgy." 

1890. — Sir  WILLIAM  HENRY  PERKIN,  F.R.S.,  "  for  his  discovery 


APPENDIXES  515 

of  the  method  of  obtaining  colouring  matter  from  coal  tar, 
a  discovery  which  led  to  the  establishment  of  a  new  and 
important  industry,  and  to  the  utilisation  of  large  quantities 
of  a  previously  worthless  material." 

1891.— Sir  FREDERICK  ABEL,  Bart.,  G.C.V.O.,  K.C.B.,  D.C.L., 
D.Sc.,  F.R.S.,  "  in  recognition  of  the  manner  in  which  he 
has  promoted  several  important  classes  of  the  Arts  and  Manu- 
factures, by  the  application  of  Chemical  Science,  and  especially 
by  his  researches  in  the  manufacture  of  iron  and  of  steel ; 
and  also  in  acknowledgment  of  the  great  services  he  has 
rendered  to  the  State  in  the  provision  of  improved  war  material, 
and  as  Chemist  to  the  War  Department." 

1892. — THOMAS  ALVA  EDISON,  "  in  recognition  of  the  merits  of 
his  numerous  and  valuable  inventions,  especially  his  improve- 
ments in  telegraphy,  in  telephony,  and  in  electric  lighting, 
and  for  his  discovery  of  a  means  of  reproducing  vocal 
sounds  by  the  phonograph." 

1893. — Sir  JOHN  BENNET  LAWES,  Bart.,  F.R.S.,  and  Sir  HENRY 
GILBERT,  Ph.D.,  F.R.S.,  "  for  their  joint  services  to  scientific 
agriculture,  and  notably  for  the  researches  which,  throughout 
a  period  of  fifty  years,  have  been  carried  on  by  them  at  the 
Experimental  Farm,  Rothamsted." 

1894. — Lord  LISTER,  F.R.S.,  "  for  the  discovery  and  establish- 
ment of  the  antiseptic  method  of  treating  wounds  and  injuries, 
by  which  not  only  has  the  art  of  surgery  been  greatly  pro- 
moted, and  human  life  saved  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  but 
extensive  industries  have  been  created  for  the  supply  of 
materials  required  for  carrying  the  treatment  into  effect." 

1895. — Sir  ISAAC  LOWTHIAN  BELL,  Bart.,  F.R.S.,  "  in  recognition 
of  the  services  he  has  rendered  to  Arts,  Manufactures,  and 
Commerce,  by  his  metallurgical  researches  and  the  resulting 
development  of  the  iron  and  steel  industries." 

1896. — Professor  DAVID  EDWARD  HUGHES,  F.R.S.,  "in  recognition 
of  the  services  he  has  rendered  to  Arts,  Manufactures,  and 
Commerce,  by  his  numerous  inventions  in  electricity  and  mag- 
netism, especially  the  printing  telegraph  and  the  microphone." 

1897. — GEORGE  JAMES  SYMONS,  F.R.S.,  "  for  the  services  he  has 
rendered  to  the  United  Kingdom  by  affording  to  engineers 
engaged  in  the  water  supply  and  the  sewage  of  towns,  a  trust- 
worthy basis  for  their  work,  by  establishing  and  carrying  on 
during  nearly  forty  years  systematic  observations  (now  at 
over  3000  stations)  of  the  rainfall  of  the  British  Isles,  and 
by  recording,  tabulating,  and  graphically  indicating  the  results 
of  these  observations  in  the  annual  volumes  published  by 
himself." 

1898. — Professor  ROBERT  WILHELM  BUNSEN,  M.D.,  For.  Memb. 
R.S.,  "  in  recognition  of  his  numerous  and  most  valuable 
applications  of  Chemistry  and  Physics  to  the  Arts  and  to 
Manufactures." 


5i6  APPENDIXES 

1899. — Sir  WILLIAM  CROOKES,  F.R.S.,  "  for  his  extensive  and 
laborious  researches  in  chemistry  and  in  physics,  researches 
which  have  in  many  instances  developed  into  useful  practical 
applications  in  the  Arts  and  Manufactures." 

1900. — HENRY  WILDE,  F.R.S.,  "  for  the  discovery  and  practical 
demonstration  of  the  indefinite  increase  of  the  magnetic  and 
electric  forces  from  quantities  indefinitely  small,  a  discovery 
now  used  in  all  dynamo  machines  ;  and  for  its  application 
to  the  production  of  the  electric  search-light,  and  to  the 
electro-deposition  of  metals  from  their  solutions." 

1901. — His  MAJESTY  KING  EDWARD  VII.,  "  in  recognition  of  the 
aid  rendered  by  His  Majesty  to  Arts,  Manufactures,  and 
Commerce  during  thirty-eight  years'  Presidency  of  the  Society 
of  Arts,  by  undertaking  the  direction  of  important  exhibitions 
in  this  country  and  the  executive  control  of  British  representa- 
tion at  International  Exhibitions  abroad,  and  also  by  many 
other  services  to  the  cause  of  British  Industry." 

1902. — Professor  ALEXANDER  GRAHAM  BELL,  "  for  his  invention 
of  the  Telephone." 

1903. — Sir  CHARLES  AUGUSTUS  HARTLEY,  K.C.M.G.,  "  in  recogni- 
tion of  his  services,  extending  over  forty-four  years,  as  Engineer 
to  the  International  Commission  of  the  Danube,  which  have 
resulted  in  the  opening  up  of  the  navigation  of  that  river 
to  ships  of  all  nations,  and  of  his  similar  services,  extending 
over  twenty  years,  as  British  Commissioner  on  the  International 
Technical  Commission  of  the  Suez  Canal." 

1904. — WALTER  CRANE,  "  in  recognition  of  the  services  he  has 
rendered  to  Art  and  Industry  by  awakening  popular  interest 
in  Decorative  Art  and  Craftsmanship,  and  by  promoting  the 
recognition  of  English  Art  in  the  form  most  material  to  the 
commercial  prosperity  of  the  country." 

1905.— Lord  RAYLEIGH,  O.M.,  D.C.L.,  Sc.D.,  F.R.S.,  "  in  recogni- 
tion of  the  influence  which  his  researches,  directed  to  the 
increase  of  scientific  knowledge,  have  had  upon  industrial 
progress,  by  facilitating,  amongst  other  scientific  applications, 
the  provision  of  accurate  electrical  standards,  the  production 
of  improved  lenses,  and  the  development  of  apparatus  for 
Sound  Signalling  at  Sea." 

1906.— Sir  JOSEPH  WILSON  SWAN,  M.A.,  D.Sc.,  F.R.S.,  "  for  the 
important  part  he  took  in  the  invention  of  the  incandescent 
electric  lamp,  and  for  his  invention  or  the  carbon  process  of 
photographic  printing." 

1907.— The  Earl  of  CROMER,  O.M.,  G.C.B.,  G.C.M.G.,  K.C.S.I., 
C.I.E.,  "  in  recognition  of  his  pre-eminent  public  services 
in  Egypt,  where  he  has  imparted  security  to  the  relations  of 
this  country  with  the  East,  has  established  justice,  restored 
order  and  prosperity,  and,  by  the  initiation  of  great  works, 
has  opened  up  new  fields  for  enterprise." 

1908.— Sir  JAMES  DEWAR,  M.A.,  D.Sc.,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  "  for  his 


APPENDIXES  517 

investigations  into  the  liquefaction  of  gases  and  the  properties 
of  matter  at  low  temperatures,  investigations  which  have 
resulted  in  the  production  of  the  lowest  temperatures  yet 
reached,  the  use  of  vacuum  vessels  for  thermal  isolation,  and 
the  application  of  cooled  charcoal  to  the  separation  of  gaseous 
mixtures  and  to  the  production  of  high  vacua." 

1909.— Sir  ANDREW  NOBLE,  K.C.B.,  D.Sc.,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S.,  "  in 
recognition  of  his  long-continued  and  valuable  researches  into 
the  nature  and  action  of  explosives,  which  have  resulted  in 
the  great  development  and  improvement  of  modern  ordnance." 

1910. — Madame  CURIE,  "  for  the  discovery  of  Radium." 

1911. — The  Hon.  Sir  CHARLES  ALGERNON  PARSONS,  K.C.B.,  LL.D., 
D.Sc.,  F.R.S.,  "  for  his  experimental  researches  into  the  laws 
governing  the  efficient  action  of  steam  in  engines  of  the  turbine 
type,  and  for  his  invention  of  the  reaction  type  of  steam 
turbine,  and  its  practical  application  to  the  generation  of 
electricity  and  other  purposes." 

1912. — Lord  STRATHCONA  and  MOUNT  ROYAL,  G.C.M.G.,  G.C.V.O., 
LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S.,  "  for  his  services  in  improving  the 
railway  communications,  developing  the  resources,  and  pro- 
moting the  commerce  and  industry  of  Canada  and  other 
parts  of  the  British  Empire." 

1913. — His  MAJESTY  KING  GEORGE  V.,  "  for  nine  years  President, 
and  now  Patron  of  the  Society,  in  respectful  recognition  of 
His  Majesty's  untiring  efforts  to  make  himself  personally 
acquainted  with  the  social  and  economic  condition  of  the 
various  parts  of  his  Dominions,  and  to  promote  the  progress 
of  Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce  in  the  United  Kingdom 
and  throughout  the  British  Empire." 


APPENDIX   III 


PORTRAITS  IN  THE  SOCIETY'S   POSSESSION 

Portrait  group  of  QUEEN  VICTORIA  with  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
the  Princess  Royal,  and  other  members  of  the  Royal  Family. 
Painted  by  J.  C.  Horsley,  R.A.,  1864. 

Portrait  of  H.R.H.  the  PRINCE  CONSORT,  president  of  the  Society 
1843  to  1861.  Painted  by  C.  W.  Cope,  R.A.,  1864. 

These  two  portraits,  together  with  the  bust  of  Prince  Albert, 
form  the  memorial  provided  by  subscriptions  of  members  of 
the  Society  in  1863  in  memory  of  the  Prince. 

Portrait  of  JACOB,  VISCOUNT  FOLKESTONE,  first  president  of  the 
Society  of  Arts.  Painted  by  Thomas  Gainsborough,  R.A., 
1776.  It  was  a  copy  of  a  three-quarter  portrait  by  Hudson 
(1749) ;  enlarged  to  full  length  by  Gainsborough  to  match  the 
portrait  of  Lord  Romney.  The  fee  paid  to  the  artist  was  a 
hundred  guineas.  Dance  had  previously  been  asked  to  do  the 
work,  and  had  undertaken  to  do  so,  but  eventually  was  unable 
to  carry  out  the  commission. 

Portrait  of  ROBERT,  LORD  ROMNEY,  second  president  of  the  Society 
of  Arts.  Painted  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  P.R.A.,  1770.  The 
price  paid  to  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  was  150  guineas. 

Portrait  of  WILLIAM  SHIPLEY,  "  whose  public  spirit  gave  rise  to 
this  Society."  Painted  by  Richard  Cosway,  R.A.,  and  pre- 
sented by  him  to  the  Society  in  1785,  through  the  intervention 
of  Caleb  Whitefoord,  V.P. 

Portrait  of  PETER  TEMPLEMAN,  M.D.,  secretary  of  the  Society  from 
1760  to  1769.  Painted  by  R.  Cosway,  R.A.,  and  presented  by 
Caleb  Whitefoord,  V.P. 

Portrait  of  SAMUEL  MORE,  secretary  of  the  Society  from  1769  to 
1799.  Painted  by  Benjamin  West,  P.R.A.,  1796.  The  amount 
paid  the  artist  was  £66,  8s. 

Portrait  of  JAMES  BARRY,  painted  by  himself.  Presented  to  the 
Society  by  W.  Moffatt. 

518 


APPENDIXES  519 

Portrait,  said  to  be  JAMES  BARRY'S  mother,  and  to  have  been 
painted  by  him.  Of  uncertain  history  and  doubtful  authen- 
ticity. 

Portraits  of  CALEB  WHITEFOORD  and  of  his  wife.  The  painter  is 
not  known.  Whitefoord  was  a  member  of  the  Society  from 
1762  to  1810. 

Portrait  of  Sir  JOHN  GLADSTONE,  father  of  the  Rt.  Hon.  W.  E. 
Gladstone.  Presented  by  Thomas  Murray  Gladstone  in  1847. 
T.  M.  Gladstone,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Society,  was  a  son 
of  James,  a  younger  brother  of  Sir  John.  He  was  engaged  in 
the  iron  trade,  and  was  a  pioneer  in  the  art  of  galvanising. 
The  portrait  is  almost  certainly  the  work  of  Thomas  Gladstone 
(a  son  of  Thomas,  another  brother  of  Sir  John).  He  is  said  to 
have  been  an  artist  of  promise,  but  died  early. 

Portrait  of  Sir  FREDERICK  B  RAM  WELL,  Bart.,  president  of  the 
Society  in  1901.  Painted  after  Sir  F.  Bramwell's  death  by 
Seymour  Lucas,  R.A.,  and  presented  to  the  Society  by  H. 
Graham  Harris,  V.P.,  in  1904. 

Portrait  of  Sir  HENRY  TRUEMAN  WOOD,  secretary  of  the  Society 
from  1879.  Painted  by  Sir  Hubert  von  Herkomer,  R.A.,  and 
presented  by  the  members  of  the  Council  in  1902. 

Portrait  of  Dr.  FREDERICK  GRACE  CALVERT,  F.R.S.  Presented  by 
Mrs.  Calvert  (1876).  He  delivered  several  courses  of  Cantor 
Lectures — the  first  in  1864. 

Portrait  of  Miss  ANN  BIRCH  COCKINGS,  housekeeper  and  registrar 
of  the  Society  (1802-1844).  Painted  and  presented  to  the 
Society  by  Miss  E.  A.  Drummond  (1822).  This  was  in  all 
probability  the  portrait  for  which  Miss  Drummond  was  awarded 
a  gold  medal  in  that  year. 


Bust  of  the  PRINCE  CONSORT  by  William  Theed.  Purchased  by 
subscription  from  the  members  as  part  of  the  Prince  Consort 
Memorial. 

The  Statue  at  the  foot  of  the  staircase  is  of  JOSHUA  WARD,  a  well- 
known  character  in  his  time  (1685-1761).  Ward,  known  as 
"  Spot "  Ward  from  a  mark  on  his  face,  was  a  quack  doctor  who 
amassed  a  large  fortune  by  the  sale  of  his  remedies.  In  his  later 
life  he  was  very  popular,  and  had  many  patrons,  including 
George  II.  In  1740  he  introduced  into  England  an  improved 
method  of  manufacturing  sulphuric  acid,  already  practised  on 
the  Continent,  and  set  up  works  for  the  purpose  at  Twicken- 


520  APPENDIXES 

ham  and  Richmond.  The  process  was  afterwards  perfected 
by  Roebuck.  The  statue  is  by  Agostino  Carlini,  and  was 
presented  to  the  Society  in  1792  by  Ralph  Ward,  Ward's 
grandnephew,  and  one  of  his  heirs. 

The  Society  also  possesses  a  bronze  Bust  of  Sir  GEORGE  BIRDWOOD 
by  Alfred  Gilbert,  R.A.,  a  replica  of  one  presented  in  1900  to 
the  University  of  Bombay  by  some  Indian  friends  of  Sir  George ; 
and  a  terra-cotta  Bust  of  Sir  EDWIN  CHAD  WICK,  the  well-known 
sanitary  reformer  (1800-1890),  by  George  Tinworth.  It  was 
presented  to  the  Society  by  Sir  Edwin's  daughter  in  1905. 


INDEX 


Abel,  Sir  Frederick,  on  methods  for 
rendering  fabrics  uninflammable, 
310  ;  Chairman  of  Council,  449  ; 
Albert  medallist,  515. 

Abercorn,  Duke  of,  Chairman  of 
Council,  449. 

Abercorn,  Earl  of,  29. 

Abraham,  J.  H.,  prize  for  apparatus 
to  prevent  injury  from  dust  in 
grinding,  273. 

Absolon,  J.,  162. 

Abstract  of  Proceedings,  333,  373. 

Academy  of  Arts,  draft  charter  for 
an,  328,  351. 

Academy  of  Arts,  Royal,  first  pro- 
posals for,  232 ;  foundation  of,  154, 
2 33  I  grew  out  of  Society's  Picture 
Exhibitions,  226  ;  effect  of  its  estab- 
lishment on  Society's  prizes,  155, 
157  ;  Professor  of  Chemistry  at, 

453- 
Academy,  Maiden  Lane   (Burgess's), 

1 68. 

Academy  of  Music,  Roj^al,  478. 
Academy,  St.  Martin's  Lane,  8,  152, 

227. 
Academy,  Shipley's,    7,   8,  9,  10,   16, 

53.  57,  195- 

Academy,  Sir  W.  Thornhill's,  8 

Acierage,  introduction  of,  217. 

Acton,  Mrs.,  donation  to  Society, 
379,  380  n.  ;  used  to  defray  de- 
ficiency on  Etty  exhibition,  379. 

Adam  Brothers,  design  for  the 
Adelphi,  60 ;  offer  to  build  a 
house  for  the  Society,  59. 

Adam,  J.,  35. 

Adam,  R.,  35. 

Adam,  W.,  35. 

Adams,  F.,  162. 

Addington,  Dr.  A.,  35. 

Adelphi,  account  of  the,  59  ;  history 
of  site,  59  ;  Adam's  design,  60  ; 
completion  of  scheme,  63  ;  Acts 
for  building,  63  ;  lottery  for,  63  ; 
house  in,  offered  to  the  Society 
by  the  Bros.  Adam,  59  ;  its  con- 
struction, 63  ;  foundation  -  stone 
laid,  64  ;  conditions  of  tenure, 


64  -,  alterations,  etc.,  in,  65 ; 
renewal  of  lease,  65 ;  503. 

African  colonies,  84,  112,  113. 

African  section,  455. 

Agar,  J.  S.,  162. 

Aglio,  A.,  162. 

Agrarian  Revolution,  114. 

Agricultural  implements,  124. 

Agricultural  Societies,  Highland,  3  ; 
Bath  and  West  of  England,  3  ; 
Scotch  improvers  in  knowledge 
of  agriculture,  3 ;  county,  6. 

Agricultural  Society,  Royal,  142. 

Agriculture,  Board  of,  118.  141  ; 
account  of,  by  Sir  E.  Clarke  in 
Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural 
Society,  i^in.;  statistical  surveys 
by,  141,  302. 

Agriculture,  condition  of,  in  1754, 
114;  first  connection  of  Society 
with,  115  ;  offer  of  premiums,  116  ; 
Society's  lessened  interest  in,  141. 

Aikin,  Arthur,  account  of  method 
of  making  awards,  238  n.  ;  elected 
Secretary,  335  ;  his  life  and  charac- 
ter, 335;  his  death,  336;  suggests 
courses  of  lectures,  336 ;  portrait, 

336  ;  organises  and  delivers  lectures, 

337  ;  offer  of  gold  medal  declined, 
337;    medal  awarded,   337;   testi- 
monial to,  337 ;  originates  regular 
reading  of  papers  and  discussions, 
337 ;    elected    life    member,    337 ; 
resigns     secretaryship,     338 ;      his 
character,  343  ;  system  of  lectures 
abandoned,    355  ;    relates   circum- 
stances connected  with  Dr.  Swiney's 
will,  393. 

Ainger,  A.,  on  first  exhibition  com- 
mittee, 404  n. 

Ainslie,  Dr.  H.,  medals  for  planting 
trees,  149. 

Airy,  Sir  George,  acts  as  examiner, 
431  ;  Albert  medallist,  513. 

Albert,  H.R.H.  The  Prince  Consort, 
portrait  in  Great  Room,  80,  171, 
400,  518;  bust,  80,  400,  519;  on 
industrial  applications  of  art,  154; 
his  head  placed  on  Society's  medal, 


521 


522 


INDEX 


319;  elected  a  member,  325;  ad- 
dress on  his  marriage,  326  ;  elected 
President,  326 ;  approves  draft  of 
charter,  352  ;  influence  of,  on 
Society's  work,  355  ;  approves 
scheme  of  Educational  Exhibition, 
370 ;  opens  the  Exhibition,  371  ; 
proposal  for  Institute  of  Science 
and  Art  at  South  Kensington,  375 ; 
suggests  lectures  on  1851  Exhibi- 
tion, 378  ;  services  to  Society,  399  ; 
subscription  of  ^1000  to  National 
Memorial,  399,  504  ;  Society's 
memorial  to,  400  ;  the  Albert 
medal,  320,  400 ;  list  of  medallists, 
512  (App.)  ;  informed  of  Whis- 
haw's  Exhibition  proposals,  404  ; 
has  proposal  for  Exhibition  form- 
ally submitted  to  him,  404  ; 
urges  importance  of  application 
of  art  to  industry,  405  ;  receives 
proposals  for  Exhibition  from  H. 
Cole,  409  ;  success  of  Exhibition 
due  to  him,  409  ;  interest  aroused 
in  proposals  for  Exhibition,  410  ; 
receives  suggestions  about  Ex- 
hibition from  T.  Cubitt,  410  ; 
decides  that  Exhibition  is  to  be 
international,  411  ;  scheme  for 
Exhibition  in  1861  submitted  to 
him,  417  ;  arrangements  for  or- 
ganising 1862  Exhibition  reported 
to  him,  419;  founds  Prince  Consort's 
prize,  433  ;  death  of,  398,  444. 

Albert  Edward,  H.R.H.  The  Prince 
of  Wales,  see  Edward  vn. 

Albert  medal,  the,  320,  400  ;  list  of 
recipients,  512  (App.}\  considera- 
tion of  award  by  King  Edward,  446, 
516;  presented  to  Queen  Victoria, 
446,  514;  presented  to  King  Edward 
vii.,  446 ;  presented  to  King  George 
v.,  517- 

Alcock,  Sir  J.  R.,  medals  for  ana- 
tomical models,  162. 

Aldini,  Giovanni,  prize  for  fire- 
men's mask,  272. 

Aldred  bequest,  503. 

Aldridge,  J.,  prize  for  ship  model, 
255- 

Alger,  J.,  on  frozen  meat,  463. 

Aliamet,  F.  G.,  162. 

Alkali  from  India,  88,  278. 

Alkali  from  salt,  offer  of  prize  for 
86. 

Alkali  manufacture  in  America,  86. 

Alkali,  supply  of,  278. 

Allason,  T.,  163. 

Allen,  R.,  35. 

Allom,  Mrs.,  medal  for  introducing 
bees  into  New  Zealand,  112. 


Almack,  W.,  35. 

Almond,  J.,  prize  for  hand-loom,  263. 

Almonds  in  West  Indies,  96. 

Aloes  from  America,  92  ;  from  West 
Indies,  93. 

Alverstone,  Lord,  on  Society's  pro- 
ceedings, 443  ;  President,  447. 

America,  early  societies  in,  3. 

American  wine,  85  ;  silk,  85,  265  ; 
potash,  86  ;  saltpetre,  87  ;  iron,  88  ; 
timber,  89 ;  hemp,  89 ;  sturgeon, 
90;  isinglass,  90;  myrtleberry  wax, 

91  ;  olives,  raisins,  logwood,  cochi- 
neal, scammony,  opium,  safflower, 
persimmon,  aloes,  and  sarsaparilla, 

92  ;  cotton,  98  ;  tobacco,  101 ;  saw- 
mills in,  92,  247. 

Ancaster,  Duke  of,  28. 

Ancient  and  Mediaeval  Art  Exhibi- 
tion, 407. 

Anderson,  Dr.  Alexander,  on  bread- 
fruit, 96  ;  superintendent  of  St. 
Vincent  Botanic  Gardens,  99  ; 
medal  for  report,  99  ;  medal  for 
cultivating  cloves  and  cinnamon, 
99  ;  letter  by,  101. 

Anderson's  History  of  Commerce, 
reference  to  Society,  52. 

Andras,  Catherine,  awards  for  wax 
modelling,  163,  224.  • 

Angerstein,  J.  J.,  35  ;  promotes 
suppression  of  climbing  boys^  277. 

Anglesey,  Earl  of,  29. 

Animal  products,  collection  of,  376; 
made  over  to  science  and  art  de- 
partment, 376;  transferred  to  Beth- 
nal  Green,  376  ;  cost  of  formation 
paid  by  1851  Commission,  377. 

Annatto,  West  Indian,  93. 

Annual  dinner,  324,  396. 

Annual   distribution  of    prizes,    158, 

319,  324- 

Anson,  Baron,  33. 

Ansted,  Prof.,  Cantor  Lectures,  453. 

Anstey,  Mrs.,  medal  for  growing 
cinnamon  in  India,  102. 

Anti-Gallican  Society,  4. 

An  till,  E.,  premium  for  wine  from 
New  Brunswick,  86. 

Aquatint,  improvements  in,  218. 

Argyll,  Duke  of,  28  ;  presides  at 
annual  dinner,  396. 

Argyll  Rooms,  distribution  of  pre- 
miums in,  325. 

Armstrong,  Lieut.,  prize  for  map  of 
Northumberland,  300. 

Armstrong,   Lord,   Albert   medallist, 

513- 
Armstrong,  T.,  History  of  the  School 

of  Art  Wood-Carving,  483  n. 
Arne,  T.,  35. 


INDEX 


523 


Arnold,  F.,  medal  for  Canadian 
hemp,  1 08. 

Arsenic,  prize  for  test  of,  282. 

Art  workmanship,  offer  of  prizes 
for,  457  ;  conditions,  458  ;  amounts 
offered,  458  ;  discontinued,  458  ; 
donation  from  North  London  Exhi- 
bition, 458  ;  prizes  offered  at  1871 
Exhibition,  458. 

Artaud,  W.,  163 

Arthur,  R.,  35. 

Artisan  reports  on  Paris  Exhibitions, 
483,  484. 

Artists,  list  of  those  who  received 
Society's  awards,  162 ;  materials 
and  appliances,  prizes  awarded  for, 
213  ;  committee  of  proposed  ex- 
hibition of  pictures,  227  ;  Society 
of,  of  Great  Britain,  229 ;  Free 
Society  of,  230 ;  Incorporated 
Society  of,  232. 

Ashburnham,  Earl  of,  29. 

Ashburton,  Lord,  presides  at  annual 
dinner,  396. 

Assam,  wild  tea  in,  106  ;  tea  planta- 
tions in,  1 06. 

Assezat,  (Euvres  de  Diderot,  227. 

Associations,  Colonial,  connected 
with  Society,  453. 

Astle,  T.,  35. 

Astley,  J.,  35. 

Austin,  J.,  power  loom,  246  ;  medals 
for  looms,  263. 

Austin,  R.,  awards  for  wood  engrav- 
ing, 163  ;  engraves  frontispiece  for 
premium  list,  156,  163. 

Australia,  first  offer  of  prizes,  no  ; 
olives  in,  in  ;  tanning  materials 
from,  in;  wool  from,  no;  wine 
from,  1 1 1  ;  sand  for  glass-making 
in,  114;  meat  from,  461. 

Awards,  method  of  making,  237; 
annual  distribution  of,  158,  324; 
see  also  Premiums. 

Aylesbury  Dairy  Co.,  prize  awarded 
to,  461. 

Bacon,  J.,  awards  for  sculpture,  163. 

Bahamas,  proposal  for  botanic  garden 
in,  100. 

Bailey,  A.  M.,  appointed  Registrar, 
341  ;  resigns,  341 ;  his  edition  of 
his  father's  book,  341. 

Bailey,  G.,  on  committee  for  re- 
organising Society,  346  ;  Chairman 
of  Council,  351 ;  on  deputation  to 
Board  of  Trade,  407  n. 

Bailey,  W.,  prize  for  chaff-cutter, 
134;  prize  for  turnip-cutter,  136. 

Bailey,  W.,  appointed  Registrar, 
341  ;  his  death,  341  ;  his  book, 


Mechanical    Machines,    etc.,    134, 
239,  248,  249,  329. 
Baillie,  E.,  164. 
Baily,  E.  H.,  164. 

Baker,  Capt.  H.  C.,  presents  collec- 
tion of  woods,  107. 
Baker,  David  Erskine,  35. 
Baker,    Henry,    attends    first    meet- 
ing,  12;    his  work,   12  n.\   elected 
"perpetual  member,"  17;  in  list  of 
members,    35 ;    suggests  prizes  for 
tree  planting,  145  ;   on  committee 
of    first    picture    exhibition,    228 ; 
proposes  institution  of  medals,  312. 

Baker,  Samuel,  36. 

Baker  Street  Bazaar  suggested  for 
National  Exhibition,  404. 

Baker,  Wynn,  his  agricultural  work 
in  Ireland,  118. 

Bakewell,  stock-raising,   115,  139. 

Ball,  J.,  prize  for  growing  opium, 
284. 

Ballantyne,  J.,  164. 

Baltimore,  Baron,  33. 

Bamboo,  introduction  into  West 
Indies,  94. 

Banca  tin,  102. 

Banknotes,  Perkins'  method  of 
printing,  215,  303. 

Banks,  C.,  164. 

Banks,  Sir  Joseph,  36,  95,  99  ; 
suggests  cultivation  of  tea-plant 
in  India,  105. 

Banks,  T.,  164. 

Barbados  Society  of  Arts,  97 ;  mango 
in,  97. 

Barff,  Prof.,  Cantor  Lectures,  453  ; 
appointed  Professor  of  Chemistry 
at  Royal  Academy,  453. 

Barilla,  87  ;  prize  offered  for  British, 
278 ;  Indian,  278. 

Baring,  Sir  Francis,  36. 

Baring,  T.,  nominated  trustee  for 
1862  Exhibition,  419. 

Barker,  Robert,  36. 

Barnby,  Sir  J.,  examiner  in  music, 
440. 

Barnett,  Miss,  presents  plates  of 
Barry's  etchings,  Si. 

Barney,  J.,  164. 

Barralet,  J.  J.,  164. 

Barret,  G.,  164. 

Barret,  J.,  164. 

Barrett,  W.  A.,  examiner  in  music, 
440. 

Barrington,  Hon.  Daines,  on  English- 
grown  silk,  266  ;  papers  on  silk 
and  tobacco,  338. 

Barrington,  Viscount,  32. 

Barron,  H.,  164. 

Barron,  W.  A.,  165. 


524 


INDEX 


Barrow,  Sir  J.,  and  the  electric 
telegraph,  252. 

Barry,  Sir  Edward,  36. 

Barry,  James,  invited  to  paint  picture 
for  Great  Room,  70  ;  offers  to  paint 
pictures  for  the  Great  Room,  71 
his  character,  71  ;  his  history,  72 
his  death,  72  ;  his  other  works,  73 
his    execution    of    the    work,    73 
his    influence   upon    art,    73 ;    ex 
hibition   of  his  pictures,    73  ;     his 
relations    with    the    Society,     74 
his  account  of  the  pictures,  71,  74 
his   portrait   by   himself,    82  ;     his 
proposal     to     paint     portraits     of 
King     George     in.     and     Queen 
Charlotte,  79,  323  ;  his  "  Adam  and 
Eve,"    73,    81  ;    his    etchings,  81  • 
his  pictures, — the  "  Orpheus,"  75 
"  A  Grecian  Harvest  Home,"  75 
"  The   Victors   at   Olympia,"    75 
"The      Thames,"       76;        "The 
Society,"    76  ;      "  Elysium,"     77 
later  history  of  the  pictures,   80 
award    for  the   pictures,   165;   his 
portrait  of  S.  More,  77,  327 ;   early 
lithographs    by,    305  ;      suggested 
design  for  Society's  medal,  316. 

Bartley,  Sir  George,  member  of 
Council,  450  ;  reports  on  Educa- 
tion, etc.,  in  East  End  of  London, 
466  ;  his  scheme  for  memorial 
tablets,  468  ;  proposes  purchase 
of  small  amounts  of  Consols, 

477- 

Baskerville,  John,  36. 

Basket-makers,  scarcity  of  osiers  for, 
305- 

Bassett,  H.,  165. 

Bath  and  West  of  England  Agri- 
cultural Society,  3. 

Battersea  Park,  suggested  site  for 
proposed  1861  Exhibition,  417. 

Bazley,  Sir  T.,  lectures  on  1851 
Exhibition,  378. 

Beans  for  cattle-food,  120. 

Beauclerk,  Topham,  36. 

Beaufort  Buildings,  Shipley's  Acad- 
emy in,  g,  57  ;  demolition  of,  58. 

Beaufort,  Duke  of,  medal  for  planting 
trees,  145. 

Beauvais,  J.,  165. 

Beckford,  William,  36  ;  medal  for 
planting  trees,  147. 

Bedford,  Duke  of,  28  ;  medals  for 
planting  trees,  145. 

Bee  culture,  140. 

Bees,  introduction  of,  into  New 
Zealand,  112. 

Beet  for  cattle  food,  120. 

Behnes,  W.,  165. 


Bell,    Professor   Alexander   Graham, 

Albert  medallist,  516. 
Bell,  Sir  Isaac  Lowthian,  Albert 

medallist,  515. 

Bell,  J.,  prize  for  method  of  com- 
municating with  stranded  ship, 

297. 
Bell,   Rev.  P.,  his  reaping  machine, 

130. 
Belleisle,     medal    to     commemorate 

naval  action  off,  220* 
Bellingham,  J.,  165. 
Benefactions   to   Society,    Stock,  43, 

161,  319  ;  Earle,  221  ;  Swiney,  343  ; 

Acton,    379,  380  n. ;    Cantor,  541  ; 

Aldred,    503 ;    Davis,    503 ;    Robb, 

503  ;  Howard,  503  ;  Mulready,  503  ; 

Owen  Jones,  503  ;  Shaw,  503. 
Bengal  ramie,  103. 
Bennet,     A.,     medal     for     growing 

cotton  in  Tobago,  98. 
Bentham,  Jeremiah,  36. 
Bentinck,  Lord  William,  appoints 

committee  on  Indian  tea,  106. 
Bentley,  C.,  165. 
Ben  well,  Sarah,  165. 
Berg,    Sir     J.     C.,     early     threshing 

machine,  131. 
Berney,  J.,  medal  for  tree-planting, 

147. 

Berridge,  J.,  165. 
Bessborough,  Earl  of,  29. 
Bessemer,     Sir    Henry,     medal     for 

sugar-cane     press,     389  ;      Albert 

medallist,  513. 

Bethell,    J.,    on    committee    for    re- 
organising Society,  346. 
Bethnal    Green    Museum,    collection 

of  animal  products  transferred  to, 

37.6- 
Bewick,  T.,  prize  for  wood-engraving, 

I53>  !65- 

Bhaugulpore  cotton,  102. 

Biffin,  Sarah,  166. 

Billings,  R.  W.,  166. 

Birch,  J.,  prize  for  labourer's 
cottages,  492. 

Birch,  W.,  166. 

Birdwood,  Sir  G.,  bust  of,  520. 

Birkbeck,  Dr.,  founder  of  Mechan- 
ics' Institutes,  369. 

Birmingham,  conference  on  Domestic 
Economy  held  at,  372  ;  attempted 
exhibition  in,  403  ;  meeting  for 
Training  School  for  Music,  479. 

Birt,  J.  &  A.,  prize  for  life-saving 
apparatus,  493. 

Bismuth,  offer  of  prize  for,  278. 

Blackman,  G.,  prize  for  oil  colours, 
213. 

Blackmore,  J.,  166. 


INDEX 


525 


Blake,  J.,  prize  for  improving  fish 
supply,  310. 

Blaxland,  G.,  medal  for  Australian 
wine,  in. 

Bligh,  Captain,  medal  for  introduc- 
tion of  bread-fruit  into  West 
Indies,  95. 

Blore,  E.,  166. 

Blow-pipe  apparatus,  prize  for,  494. 

Board  of  Agriculture,  see  Agriculture. 

Bodkin,  Sir  W.  H.,  member  of 
Council,  361  ;  obtains  funds  for 
prizes  for  stove  competition,  489. 

Boileau,  Sir  J.,  member  of  Council, 
362  ;  on  deputation  to  Board  of 
Trade,  407  n. 

Bolingbroke,  Viscount,  32. 

Bond,  J.  D.,  1 66. 

Bond,  W.,  medal  for  paper  on  Can- 
adian industries,  109. 

Bonner,  T.,  166. 

Bonomi,  J.,  medal  for  sculpture,  166. 

Bookbinding,  exhibitions  of,  380. 

Book-plate,  Society's,  161,  316;  for 
books  purchased  under  Earle 
bequest,  221. 

Booth,  Rev.  J.,  Chairman  of  Council, 
361  ;  suggests  weekly  Journal 
for  Society,  373  ;  his  connection 
with  the  Society,  373  n. ;  his  death, 
373  n. 

Borax,  offer  of  prize  for,  278. 

Borecole,  120. 

Boswell,  — ,  award  for  net-making 
machine,  269. 

Boswell,  James,  36. 

Botanic  gardens  in  West  Indies 
suggested  by  Society,  98  ;  St. 
Vincent,  99 ;  Hinton  East's,  in 
Jamaica,  97,  99  ;  Jamaica,  97,  99  ; 
Trinidad,  100 ;  proposed  in  Ba- 
hamas, 100  ;  Calcutta,  102,  103, 
106. 

Bouchette,  Col.  J.,  medal  for  survey 
of  Canada,  109. 

Bouvier,  A.  J.,  167. 

Bowman,  collector  and  temporary 
assistant  secretary,  339. 

Box,  George,  appointed  assistant 
secretary,  22  ;  appointed  secretary, 
22  ;  re-appointed  assistant  secre- 
tary, 23,  25  ;  collector,  339  ;  retires, 
339  ;  lease  of  Little  Denmark  Court 
premises  in  his  name,  55. 

Boydell,  J.,  36;  medal  for  encourag- 
ing engraving,  167. 

Brady,  Sir  Antonio,  member  of 
Council,  449. 

Bramwell,  Sir  Frederick,  President, 
447  ;  Chairman  of  Council,  448  ; 
Cantor  Lectures,  453  ;  paper  on 


protection  for  inventions,  474  ; 
suggested  changes  in  Law  of 
Patents,  475  ;  promotes  Society's 
Patents  Bill,  476  ;  papers  on  the 
Bill,  476  ;  reports  on  Grantham's 
steam  car,  495  ;  portrait,  519. 

Brandenburgh,  Anspach,  and  Bar- 
eith,  etc.,  The  Margravine  of, 
medal  for  portrait  model,  167. 

Brander,  Gustavus,  one  of  the 
founders,  12,  36. 

Branston,  A.  R.,  167. 

Bran  white,  C.,  167. 

Breadalbane,  Earl  of,  medal  for 
planting  trees,  146. 

Bread-fruit,  introduction  of,  into 
West  Indies,  93,  95. 

Brereton,  A.,  Literary  History  of  the 
Adelphi,  59  n. 

Brereton,  O.  S.,  36 ;  portrait  in  Barry's 
picture,  77. 

Bridge,  first  iron,  254. 

Bridgen,  R.,  prize  for  device  for 
avoiding  noxious  fumes,  271. 

Bridgewater,  Duke  of,  medal  for 
canal  development,  254. 

Brigstocke,  T.,  167. 

Bristol,  meeting  to  promote  Train- 
ing School  for  Music,  479. 

Brocade-weaving,  medal  for,  268. 

Brockedon,  W.,  medal  for  artist's 
rest,  167,  214;  Chairman  of  Com- 
mittee of  Polite  Arts,  167,  214. 

Brockelbank,  A.,  appointed  collector, 
339  ;  his  death,  341. 

Bromley, 

Bromley, 

Bromley, 

Brougham,  Lord,  on  Society's  ad- 
ministration, 345. 

Brown,  S.,  medal  for  information 
about  Georgia,  93. 

Browne,  H.  K.,  medals  for  drawing 
and  etching,  168. 

Browne,  J.,  168. 

Brownlow,  Lord,  medal  for  planting 
osiers,  146,  306. 

Bruce,  C.  A.,  superintendent  of  tea 
plantations  in  Assam,  awarded 
medal  for  services,  106. 

Bruce,  Major,  discovers  tea  plant  in 
Assam,  106. 

Brunswick,  New,  wine  from,  86. 

Bryan,  Dictionary  of  Artists,  160. 

Bryant,  Jacob,  36. 

Bryer,  H.,  168. 

Buck-wheat,  120. 

Buff  leather,  prize  for,  308. 

Bunning,  J.  B.,  168. 

Bunsen,  Professor  Robert  Wilhelm, 
Albert  medallist,  515. 


ms  uearn,  3 

T,   J.,   I67. 

Vj.C.,  167. 

T,   W.,    167. 


526 


INDEX 


Burch,  E.,  prizes  for  gem-engraving, 
168,  222,  223  ;  his  remarks  on 
Society's  prizes,  223  ;  his  Catalogue 
of  .  .  .  Gems,  etc.,  223  n. 

Burdett,  P.  P.,  prize  for  map  of 
Derbyshire,  300. 

Burges,  W.,  Cantor  Lectures,  452. 

Burgess,  T.,  168. 

Burgess,  W.,  168. 

Burke,  Edmund,  77. 

Burnet,  120. 

Burney,  Dr.  Charles,  36 ;  his  portrait 
in  Barry's  picture,  76. 

Burt,  A.  R.,  169. 

Buss,  R.  W.,  169. 

Bute,  Earl  of,  life  member,  20,  29. 

Buxton  C.,  introduces  Bill  for  im- 
proved labourers'  cottages,  492. 

Byrne,  W.,  169. 

Cabbages  for  cattle  food,  120. 

Cabs,  distance  indicator  for,  496  ; 
conference  on  London,  496  ; 
prizes  offered  for  improved,  496  ; 
offer  renewed,  497  ;  competing 
cabs  to  be  shown  in  1872  Ex- 
hibition, 497 ;  prizes  awarded,  497. 

Cadogan,  Baron,  33. 

Cadogan,  Dr.  W.,  36. 

Calcutta  Botanic  Gardens,  102,  103, 
106. 

Callaghan,  J.,  prize  for  workman's 
mask,  272. 

Callendar,  Mr.,  medal  for  growing 
rhubarb,  284. 

Calooee  hemp,  103. 

Calvert,  F.,  169. 

Calvert,  F.  C.,  Cantor  Lectures,  452  ; 
his  portrait,  519. 

Cameo-cutting,  157. 

Cameos,  pastes  for,  224. 

Campeachy  logwood,  98. 

Camphor,  West  Indian,  93  ;  in 
Jamaica,  100. 

Canada,  first  association  of  Society 
with,  107  ;  hemp,  108 ;  industries 
in  1807,  109  ;  survey  of,  109  ; 
explorations  in  North- West,  109; 
pigments  from,  109  ;  medals  in 
celebration  of  conquest  of,  220. 

Canal  locks,  awards  for,  255. 

Cantor,  Dr.  E.  T.,  leaves  his  property 
to  the  Society  and  to  Wellington 
College,  451  ;  terms  of  bequest, 
451  ;  grant  to  Mrs.  Cantor  (his 
mother),  451  ;  grant  to  his  sister- 
in-law,  452  ;  application  of  be- 
quest, 452  ;  the  Cantor  Lectures, 
452. 

Caoutchouc,  see  Rubber. 

Cape,  tea  from,  105 ;  wine  from,  112. 


Cardigan,  Agricultural  Society  in,  6. 

Cardigan,  Earl  of,  29. 

Cardiganshire,  map  of,  300. 

Carlini,  A.,  contributes  to  first  art 
exhibition,  229. 

Carlisle,  Earl  of,  presides  at 
annual  dinner,  396. 

Carmarthen,  Agricultural  Society  in, 
6. 

Carnarvon,  Marquis  of,  29. 

Carolina,  wine  from,  86  ;  tea  in,  93  n. 

Carpenter,  Dr.  W.  B.,  lectures  at 
Educational  Exhibition,  371  ;  sug- 
gests prize  for  cheap  microscope, 
390  ;  acts  as  examiner,  432. 

Carpets,  awards  for,  267. 

Carr,  J.,  169. 

Carriages,  awards  for  construction  of, 

255- 

Carrots  for  cattle  food,  120. 

Carter,  C.,  prize  for  Virginian  wine, 

85- 

Carter,  E.,  awards  for  artificial 
cameos,  224. 

Carter,  J.,  169. 

Cartwright,  Rev.  E.,  power  loom, 
246  ;  candidate  for  secretaryship, 
334  ;  medals  for  agricultural  im- 
plements and  experiments,  335. 

Gary,  J.,  medal  for  map  of  Cardigan- 
shire, 300  ;  publishes  William 
Smith's  geological  map,  301. 

Carysfort,  Baron,  33. 

Casali,  A.,  169. 

Caslon,  William,  36. 

Caslon,  W.,  medal  for  telescopic  gas 
lamp,  296. 

Cassels,  Andrew,  member  of  Council, 

450- 

Castle  Court,  Society's  offices  in,  53. 

Catharine,  Empress  of  Russia,  founds 
Economical  Society  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, 6. 

Catherlough,  Earl  of,  29. 

Cattle  food,  118,  120. 

Cavendish,  Hon.  H.,  36. 

Cayenne,  coffee  introduced  into,  94. 

Centenary  dinner,  396. 

Centenary  of  Society,  educational 
exhibition  held  to  celebrate,  370. 

Ceres  medal,  212,  318. 

Ceylon,  coco-nut  oil  from,  107  ;  rice 
in,  107. 

Chadwick,  Sir  Edwin,  member  of 
Council,  449  ;  paper  on  purchase 
of  telegraphs,  477  ;  promotes 
postal  reform,  477  ;  his  bust,  520. 

Chaff-cutters,  133. 

Chalon,  J.  and  A.,  exhibition  of 
pictures  by,  380. 

Chalon,  Maria  A.,  170. 


INDEX 


527 


Chamber  of  Arts  proposed,  6,  328. 

Chamberlin,  M.,  170. 

Chambers,  Sir  Robert,  36. 

Chambers,  T.  K.,  on  industrial 
pathology,  395. 

Chambers,  Sir  William,  36  ;  acts  as 
Society's  architect,  54  ;  on  com- 
mittee of  first  picture  exhibition, 
228. 

Chandelier,  gas,  296. 

Chandler,  Dr.  S.,  37. 

Chandos,  Marquis  of,  nominated 
trustee  for  1862  Exhibition,  419. 

Chancy,  Weights  and  Measures,  290  n. 

Channel  passage,  prizes  for  improved 
steamers  for,  493. 

Chappe  introduces  mechanical  tele- 
graph, 251. 

Charlemont,  Viscount,  32. 

Charlotte,  Queen,  proposal  by  Barry 
to  paint  her  portrait,  79,  323. 

Charlton,  Capt.,  finds  tea-plant  in 
Assam,  106. 

Charter,  early  proposals  for,  351  ; 
first  steps  for  obtaining,  351  ;  pro- 
posal discussed,  352  ;  draft  con- 
sidered, 352  ;  grant  of,  352. 

Chauncey,  C.,  37. 

Cheere,  Sir  Henry,  37  ;  advocates  an 
Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  232,  234  ; 
member  of  committee  on  medals, 

315. 

Cheesman,  T.,  170. 

Chelsea  Physic  Garden,  rhubarb 
grown  in,  283  n. 

Chemical  Industry,  Society  of,  457. 

Chemical  section  established,  456  ; 
discontinued,  457. 

Chemistry,  agricultural,  139  ;  in- 
dustrial, awards  for,  277. 

Chemistry,  Institute  of,  457. 

Chester,  Harry,  Chairman  of  Council, 
360 ;  originates  Union  of  Institu- 
tions, 360 ;  suggests  examinations, 
372  ;  on  committee  for  proposed 
1861  Exhibition,  417. 

Chesterfield,  Earl  of,  29. 

Chevalier,   Michel,    Albert  medallist, 

513- 

Chevreul,     Michel     Eugene,     Albert 

medallist,  513. 
Chimneys,  sweeping,  275. 
China,     tea    imported    into     Assam 

from,  1 06. 

Chintz,  designs  for,  154. 
Chip  hats,  prizes  offered  for,  306. 
Chippendale,  T.,  37. 
Chiswell,     R.     M.     T.,     medals     for 

planting  trees,  147. 
Chou-rave,  121,  123  n. 
Chubb,  Messrs.,  prize  for  safes,  389. 


Chucks,  awards  for  lathe,  256. 

Churchill,  Lord  Alfred,  Chairman' of 
Council,  448. 

Cinnamon,  from  Sumatra,  84  ;  West 
Indian,  93  ;  introduced  into 
Jamaica,  97 ;  in  Guadaloupe,  97 ; 
in  St.  Vincent,  99;  in  India,  102. 

Cipriani,  Giovanni,  37 ;  invited  to 
paint  picture  for  Great  Room,  70. 

City  and  Guilds  Institute  take  over 
technological  examinations,  438  ; 
assists  school  of  wood-carving, 
482. 

Clack,  R.  A.,  170. 

Clanny,  Dr.,  medals  for  safety- 
lamps,  253. 

Clanricarde,  Earl  of,  29. 

Clarke,  Hyde,  proposes  Colonial  sec- 
tions, 454  ;  proposes  Indian  sec- 
tion, 455  ;  promotes  formation  of 
African  section,  455  ;  suggests 
viva  voce  examinations  in  Modern 
Languages,  439  ;  member  of 
Council,  449. 

Clarke,  Dr.  T.,  superintendent  of 
Jamaica  Botanic  Garden,  100. 

Clegg,  medal  for  making  and  using 
coal  gas,  295. 

Clement's  ellipsograph,  294. 

Clennell,  L.,  170. 

Clevely,  J.,  170. 

Climbing  boys,  abolition  of,  275. 

Clint,  G.,  170. 

Clint,  R.,  170. 

Clint,  S.,  awards  for  medal  dies,  170, 

222. 

Clive  of  Plassy,  Baron,  33. 
Clocks,  awards  for,  255. 
Clothmakers'  Company  subscribes  to 

School  of  Wood-Carving,  482. 
Clover,  1 20. 
Cloves,    West    Indian,    93  ;     in    St. 

Vincent,  99  ;   in  Trinidad,  101. 
Coach-making,     prizes     for     designs 

for,  153. 
Coalbrookdale    Co.,     prize    for    iron 

castings,  389. 

Coal-gas  manufacture,  294. 
Cobalt,  offer  of  prizes  for  British,  15, 

279. 
Cobb,    Francis,    paper    on    silkworm 

"grain,"  266;  member  of  Council, 

450. 
Cobbett,  W.,  medal  for  encouraging 

straw-plait  industry,  307. 
Cochineal,    East    Indian,    84  ;     from 

America,  92  ;  from  West  Indies,  95. 
Cockburne,     Captain,     rewarded     by 

Anti-Gallican  Society,  4. 
Cockings,  Ann  Birch,  69  ;    appointed 

housekeeper,  342 ;  appointed  regis- 


528 


INDEX 


trar     and     librarian,     343  ;      her 
character,    343  ;     her   death,    342  ; 
her  portrait,  343,  518. 
Cockings,   George,  appointed  porter, 
collector,   and   registrar,    341 ;    his 
poems,  342  ;    his  character,  342. 
Coco-nut  in  West  Indies,  96. 
Coco-nut  oil  from  Ceylon,  107  ;   from 

Mauritius,  112. 
Coffee,    introduction    of,    into    West 

Indies,  94 ;  in  West  Indies,  96. 
Colbert  and  picture  exhibitions,  226  ; 

silk  manufacture  in  France,  264. 
Cole,  Alan,  on  early  carpet-making  in 

England,  267  n. 

Cole,  Sir  Henry,  the  Felix  Summerly 
tea-service,  154.  405  ;  suggests  prize 
for  shilling  colour-box,  214;  sug- 
gests president's  head  for  medal, 
319;  influence  on  Society,  357; 
member  of  Committee  of  Fine 
Arts,  358;  proposes  exhibitions  of 
works  of  British  artists,  358; 
his  character,  358  ;  elected  on 
Council,  358;  share  in  organising 
1851  Exhibition,  358  ;  dispute  with 
T.  Webster,  359  ;  resigns  seat  on 
Council,  359  ;  re-elected,  359  ; 
Chairman  of  Council,  360 ;  pre- 
sides at  conference  on  adult 
education,  372  ;  suggests  con- 
ference on  domestic  economy,  372  ; 
Chairman's  address  in  first  number 
of  Journal,  374  ;  account  of 
foundation  of  South  Kensington 
Museum,  375  n.  ;  lectures  on  1851 
Exhibition,  378  ;  National  Gal- 
lery of  British  Artists,  379;  pro- 
motion of  Patent  Reform,  382  ; 
drafts  memorial  on  circulating 
objects  from  Society's  exhibitions 
among  Schools  of  Design,  407  ; 
on  deputation  to  Board  of  Trade, 
407  n. ;  submits  scheme  of  exhibi- 
tion to  Prince  Albert,  409;  drafts 
petition  to  House  of  Commons 
about  National  Exhibition,  409  ; 
account  of  early  history  of  1851 
Exhibition  in  his  Life,  409  n. ;  visits 
Paris  Exhibition  of  1849,  410;  sug- 
gests Hyde  Park  as  site  for  ex- 
hibition, 411  ;  visits  provincial 
cities  on  behalf  of  1851  Exhibition, 
412  ;  member  of  Society's  Exe- 
cutive Committee  for  1851  Ex- 
hibition, 41 3  w. ;  proposals  for  1862 
Exhibition,  416;  on  Committee  for 
proposed  1861  Exhibition,  417  ; 
on  Committee  for  1862  Exhibition, 
419  ;  Postal  reform,  477  ;  National 
Training  School  for  Music,  479 ; 


series  of  Annual  International 
Exhibitions,  484  ;  paper  on  London 
cabs,  496  ;  Albert  medallist,  513. 

Cole,  Lieut.  H.  H.,  designs  building 
of  National  Training  School  for 
Music,  480. 

Coleman,  W.,  171. 

Coleraine,  Baron,  33. 

Collison,    F.,   medal   for  Cape. wine, 

US- 

Collyer,  J.,  171. 

Colman,  G.,  37. 

Colonial  Institute,  Royal,  456. 

Colonial  Manufactures  Prohibition 
Act,  89 ;  premiums,  amount  of, 
101  n.  ;  section  suggested  by  Hyde 
Clarke,  454 ;  section  established, 

455- 

Colonies  and  Society,  83  ;  later 
association  of  Society  with,  453. 

Colour-box,  the  Society's  shilling, 
214,  390. 

Colour  printing,  mezzotints,  218  ; 
wood  block,  219. 

Colouring  matters,  prizes  for,  279. 

Colours,  artists',  prizes  for,  213,  279, 
281. 

Combe,  C.,  appointed  assistant  secre- 
tary, 340. 

Comber,  T.,  chaff-cutter,  133. 

Commemorative  medals  rewarded  by 
the  Society,  220. 

Commerell,  Abb6,  Account  of  Mangel- 
Wurzel,  124. 

Commission  of  1851  proposed,  412  ; 
appointed,  414  ;  made  permanent, 
375  ;  reports  of,  409  n.,  485  n.,  487  n. 

Committees  appointed  by  first 
Council,  354. 

Committees,  the  Society's,  236. 

Common,  J.,  his  reaping  machine, 
128  ;  medals  for  drill,  etc.,  130. 

Conference  of  Institutions,  see  In- 
stitutions. 

Conferences,  on  industrial  education, 
370 ;  on  adult  education,  372 ;  on 
domestic  economy,  372 ;  on  tech- 
nical education,  464 ;  on  techno- 
logical examinations,  465  ;  on 
elementary  education,  466  ;  on 
postal  reform,  477 ;  on  rivers  pol- 
lution, 488  ;  on  sanitation,  488  ;  on 
water  supply,  488 ;  on  housing  of  the 
people,  492  ;  on  London  cabs,  496. 

Connaught,  H.R.H.  the  Duke  of, 
President,  447  ;  presides  at  con- 
ference on  technological  examina- 
tions, 465 ;  reviews  drill  of  school 
children,  467. 

Consols,  purchase  of,  in  small 
amounts,  477. 


INDEX 


529 


Constitution  of  Society,  18;  altera- 
tions in,  346,  350,  352. 

Conyngham,  Viscount,  32. 

Cook,  B.,  medal  for  distillation  of 
gas-tar,  295. 

Cook,  J.,  chaff-cutter,  135. 

Cook,  R.,  171. 

Cook,  T.,  171. 

Cooke,  Sir  W.  Fothergill,  proposes 
holding  national  exhibition,  404  ; 
on  first  Exhibition  Committee, 
404  n.  ;  Albert  medallist,  512. 

Cooke's  patent  drill,  127. 

Cooley,  T.,  171. 

Cooper,  Sir  Daniel,  submits  samples 
of  British-grown  silk,  266 ;  member 
of  Council,  449. 

Coote,  Sir  E.,  37. 

Cope,  C.  W.,  medals  for  drawing  and 
painting,  171 ;  portrait  of  Prince 
Consort,  80,  171,  400,  518. 

Copeland  &  Co.,  prize  for  pottery,  386. 

Copper-plate,  steeling,  217. 

Copyright,  Committee  on  Fine  Art, 
385 ;  Hogarth's  Act,  386 ;  Act 
passed,  386. 

Corbaux,  Fanny,  171. 

Corbaux,  Louisa,  171. 

Corbould,  G.,  171. 

Corbould,  H.,  171. 

Corfield,  Dr.  W.  H.,  Cantor 
Lectures,  453. 

Corn,  prizes  for  harvesting  in  wet 
weather,  140,  499. 

Corn-mills,  awards  for,  255. 

Cornwall,  Duke  of,  see  George  v., 
King. 

Cornwall,  J.,  medal  for  Canadian 
hemp,  108. 

Corston,  W.,  medal  for  straw-plait, 
306. 

Cos  way,  Richard,  his  portrait  of 
Shipley,  10,  518  ;  one  of  first  prize- 
winners, 1 6,  151;  his  portrait  of 
Templeman,  25,  518 ;  in  list  of 
members,  37  ;  list  of  his  awards, 
172  ;  reports  on  sample  of  oil 
paints,  213  ;  contributes  to  first 
exhibition  of  pictures,  229. 

Cotman,  J.  S.,  172. 

Cottages  for  labourers,  conference 
on,  492  ;  prizes  for  improved,  312, 
392,  49i. 

Cotton  from  Africa,  medal  offered  for, 
84  ;  West  Indian,  93  ;  American, 
98  ;  in  Tobago,  98  ;  from  India, 
102. 

Cotton,    Capt.,    medal    for    growing 

ramie,  103. 

Cotton,  General,  Chairman  of  Council, 
448. 

35 


Council  first  proposed,  347  ;  forma- 
tion of,  351 ;  organisation  of,  353, 

357- 

Counting  machine,  medal  for,  292. 

County  histories,  offer  of  prizes  for, 
302. 

County  maps,  298. 

Courtenay,  Viscount,  32. 

Cousins,  S.,  172. 

Coutts,  J.,  37. 

Coutts,  P..  37. 

Coutts,  T.,  37. 

Coutts's  Bank,  59. 

Crace,  Messrs.,  decorations  by,  in 
Great  Room,  66. 

Craig's  Court,  Society's  offices  in, 
8,  9,  53-  • 

Craik,  medal  for  agricultural  drill, 
127. 

Crane  Court,  Society's  meetings  in, 
16. 

Crane,  Walter,  Albert  medallist,  516. 

Cranes,  awards  for,  255. 

Crayon  drawings,  prize  for  treat- 
ment of,  213. 

Crayons,  prize  for  making,  213. 

Creasy,  Sir  E.,  acts  as  examiner,  432. 

Crellin,  H.  N.,  172. 

Crellin,  H.  P.,  172. 

Crisp,  Nicholas,  one  of  the  founders, 
12  ;  member  of  committee  on 
medals,  315  ;  prize  for  zaffre  and 
smalt,  279. 

Critchell  and  Raymond,  History  of 
the  Frozen  Meat  Trade,  460  n. 

Critchett  C.,  assistant  secretary, 
368  ;  resigns,  368  ;  made  life- 
member,  368;  appointed  educa- 
tional officer,  368  ;  his  death,  368. 

Croll,  Col.  A.,  offers  prize  for  blow- 
pipe apparatus,  494. 

Cromer,  the  Earl  of,  Albert  medallist, 
516. 

Cronmire,  J.  and  H.,  prize  for  set 
of  drawing  instruments,  215. 

Crookes,  Sir  William,  Albert  medallist, 
516. 

Crops,  rotation  of,  140 ;  prizes  for 
apparatus  for  drying,  140,  499. 

Cross,  R.,  172. 

"  Crossing  "  made  in  Strand  opposite 
Society's  offices,  58. 

Crossley,  Messrs.,  prize  for  carpets, 

389. 
Crowther's    English    Pattern    Coins, 

327- 

Cuba,  coffee  in,  94. 
Cubitt,  T.,  speaks  to  Prince  Albert 

about   proposed    exhibition,    410  ; 

submits  estimate  of  cost  of  1851 

Exhibition  to  the  Council,  413. 


530 


INDEX 


Cubitt's  ellipsograph,  294. 

Cuisset,  F.  F.,  medals  for  intaglios, 

225. 

Cultivators,  128. 

Cundall's  Biographia  Jamaicensis,  6. 
Cunliffe-Owen,    Sir  P.,    member    of 

Council,  361,  450. 
Cunningham,   English  Industry  and 

Commerce,  5,  143. 
Curie,    Madame,     Albert    medallist, 

Curwen,  J.  C.,  medals  for  planting 

trees,  148. 
Cust,  Sir  J.,  37. 

Dall,  N.  T.,  172. 

D'Almeida,  Dr.  Jose,  presents  samples 
of  gutta-percha  to  Asiatic  Society, 
104. 

Dance,  G.,  37. 

Dance,  Sir  Nathaniel,  invited  to  paint 
picture  for  Great  Room,  70. 

Dancer,  Dr.,  on  bread-fruit,  96;  on 
cinnamon,  97 ;  in  charge  of 
Jamaica  Gardens,  100 ;  medal, 
100. 

Daniell,  T.,  172. 

Darby,  Abraham,  makes  iron  with 
coal,  144 ;  medal  for  first  iron 
bridge,  254. 

Dartmouth,  Earl  of,  29. 

Darwin,  Erasmus,  246,  247. 

Dashwood,  Sir  F.,  37. 

Davenport,  S.,  design  for  Society's 
Honorary  Testimonial,  355. 

Davenport,  S.  T.,  his  life  of  Barry, 
73  n.  ;  on  the  origin  of  steel- 
engraving,  215;  engaged  as  clerk, 
349  ;  his  life,  366 ;  assistant 
secretary,  366 ;  curator  and 
collector,  366 ;  financial  officer, 
366  ;  his  death,  366  ;  his  services 
to  the  Society,  367  ;  his  history 
of  the  Society,  367 ;  paper  on 
prints,  etc.,  367  ;  presents  volume 
of  weekly  proceedings,  374. 

Davies,  Martha,  mother  of  William 
Shipley,  9. 

Davies,  T.,  Life  of  Garrick,  24. 

Davis  bequest,  503. 

Davis,  J.,  prize  for  fire-escape,  309. 

Davis,  J.,  medal  for  mechanical 
telegraph,  252. 

Davis,  J.  S.,  173. 

Davy,  Sir  Humphry,  139  ;  chemical 
professor  to  Board  of  Agriculture, 
141 ;  his  safety  lamp,  244,  254. 

Dawes,  R.  (Dean  of  Hereford), 
member  of  Council,  361  ;  acts  as 
examiner,  431. 

Dean,  H.  P..  173. 


Deane,  J.  C.,  proposes  Art  Exhibi- 
tion for  1862,  416. 

Deare,  J.,  173. 

Decadence  of  Society  and  attempts 
at  reform  (1841),  345. 

De  Chayal,  medal  for  conveying 
silk-worms'  eggs  into  Mauritius, 

112. 

Decorticating  rice,  machine  for,  107. 

De  la  Beche,  Sir  H.,  lectures  on 
1851  Exhibition,  378. 

Delamare,  J.,  submits  English-grown 
silk  to  Society,  265. 

De  la  Motte,  W.,  173. 

De  Morgan,  Professor,  lectures  at 
Educational  Exhibition,  371. 

Denbigh,  Countess  of,  51. 

Denman,  J.  F.,  173. 

Denman,  Maria,  prizes  for  modelling, 
173;  draws  reproduction  of  Flax- 
man's  medal,  318;  design  used  for 
Honorary  Testimonial,  354. 

Denman,  T.,  173. 

Denmark  Court,  Little,  Society's 
house  in,  55. 

Denovan,  J.  F.,  prizes  for  curing 
herrings,  311. 

Dental  instruments,  prizes  for,  294. 

Den  ton,  J.  Bailey,  member  of  Coun- 
cil, 449 ;  offers  prize  for  labourers' 
cottages,  491. 

Derby,  Louisa,  173. 

Derbyshire,  map  of,  300. 

De  Re  Rustica,  329. 

Desaguliers,  Captain  T.,  37. 

Devis,  A.,  173. 

Devonshire,  Duchess  of,  77. 

Devonshire,  Duke  of,  28  ;  medal  for 
planting  trees,  146. 

Dewar,  Sir  James,  Albert  medallist, 
516. 

Dick,  Sir  Alexander,  and  Scotch 
Society  of  Arts,  4  ;  in  list  of 
members,  37 ;  medal  for  intro- 
duction of  rhubarb,  283. 

Dickens,  Charles,  Poor  Man's  Tale 
of  a  Patent,  382. 

Dickinson,  W.,  174. 

Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  7, 
25,  34,  160,  301,  340,  341,  361,  366, 
382. 

Diderot  on  Salons  des  Beaux  Arts, 
227. 

Die  sinking,  prizes  for,  157,  219. 

Dighton,  D.,  174. 

Dighton,  R.,  174. 

Dilke,  Sir  Wentworth,  Chairman  of 
Council,  360  ;  connection  with  1851 
and  1862  Exhibitions,  360  ;  mem- 
ber of  Society's  Executive  Com- 
mittee for  1851  Exhibition,  413  n.  j 


INDEX 


proposals  for  1862  Exhibition, 
416  ;  on  Committee  for  proposed 
1861  Exhibition,  417  ;  nominated 
trustee  for  1862  Exhibition,  419. 

Dingley,  C.,  medal  for  saw-mill,  247. 

Dinner,  annual,  324,  396, 

Disraeli,  I.,  presides  at  annual  dinner, 
396. 

Distribution  of  premiums,  annual 
meeting  for,  158,  319,  324. 

Dobson,  A.,  Life  of  Hogarth,  227. 

Dobson,  W.  C.  T.,  174. 

Docking  ships,  Seppings'  method  of, 

255- 

Dodsley,  J.,  37. 

Dodsley,  R.,  37. 

Dollond,  J.,  37 ;  achromatic  tele- 
scope, 286. 

Domestic  Economy,  conference  on, 
372  ;  examinations  in,  435  n. 

Donaldson,  J.,  174. 

Donaldson,  T.  L.,  174. 

Donaldson's  Agricultural  Biographies, 

331- 

Donegal,  Earl  of,  medal  for  planting 
trees,  146. 

Donkin,  B.,  medals  for  tachometer 
and  counter,  291. 

Donn,  B.,  prize  for  map  of  Devon,  299. 

Donnelly,  Sir  John,  suggests  Techno- 
logical Examinations,  437 ;  member 
of  Council,  450  ;  founds  School  of 
Wood -Carving,  482  ;  Chairman  of 
Committee  of  School,  483  «. 

Dorset,  map  of,  299,  300. 

Dossie,  Robert,  Memoirs  of  Agri- 
culture, etc.,  4  n.,  330 ;  candidate 
for  the  secretaryship,  24,  331  ; 
in  list  of  members,  38  ;  medal 
for  aiding  to  establish  manu- 
facture of  potash  in  N.  America, 
87,  331  ;  opinions  about  spinning 
machines,  258  ;  prize  for  method 
of  purifying  oil,  282,  331  ;  contribu- 
tions to  Museum  Rusticum,  329  n.  ; 
his  life  and  character,  331  ;  Dr. 
Johnson's  opinion  of  him,  331. 

Doulton,  Sir  Henry,  Albert  medallist, 

5I4- 
Dover,  meeting  to  promote  Training 

School  for  Music,  479. 
Downe,  Viscount,  32. 
Downman,  J.,  174. 
Draining  land,  140. 
Drapers'     Company,     subscribes     to 

School  of  Wood-Carving,  482. 
Drawboy,  invention  of,  264. 
Drawboy,  prize  for  improved,  264. 
Drawing,  technical  need  of,  15,  151. 
Drawing  instruments,   set  of>   prize, 

215  ;  awards  for,  294. 


Drawings,  first  offer  of  prizes  for,  15 ; 
list  of  awards  for,  162. 

Dredgers,  awards  for,  255. 

Drew,  George,  introduces  Messrs. 
Munday  as  contractors  for  1851 
Exhibition,  413  ;  member  of 
Society's  Executive  Committee  for 
1851  Exhibition,  413  n. 

Drew,  T.,  medal  for  tree-planting,  147. 

Drill  and  broadcast  husbandry,  121, 
126. 

Drill  in  schools,  467 ;  General  Eardley- 
Wilmot  on,  467  ;  reviews,  467  ; 
review  by  London  School  Board. 
467  ;  challenge  banner,  468. 

Drills,  agricultural,  126,  127. 

"  Drop-box "  for  weaving,  Robert 
Kay's,  262. 

Drugget,  prizes  offered  for  manu- 
facture of,  268. 

Drummond,  Eliza  A.,  medals  for 
portrait,  etc.,  174 ;  portrait  of  Miss 
Cockings,  343,  518. 

Drummond,  George,  owner  of  tbe 
Adelphi  estate,  60,  64. 

Drummond,  John,  the  banker,  38. 

Drummond,  Robert,  the  banker,  38. 

Drummond,  R.,  Archbishop  of  York, 
patron  of  Whitehall  School,  8  n. 

Drury  Lane  Theatre,  distribution  of 
premiums  in,  325. 

Drying  crops  in  wet  weather,  prizes 
offered  for  apparatus  for,  140,  499. 

Dublin  Exhibition,  collection  of 
Indian  products  sent  to,  380. 

Dublin,  Royal  Society  of,  2,  118  ; 
exhibitions  of,  403. 

Dubourg,  R.,  174. 

Dudley,  Viscount,  32. 

Duff,  A.,  prize  for  improved  draw- 
boy,  264. 

Dumas,  Jean  Baptiste,  Albert  medal- 
list, 513. 

Dunkarton,  R.,  175. 

Durand,  Mr.,  medal  for  Canadian 
hemp,  1 08. 

Durant,  Susan,  175. 

Diirer,  Albert,  use  of  steel  plates,  215. 

Durham,  Bishops  of,  59,  60. 

Durham,  C.,  medal  for  an  intaglio,  225. 

Durham  House,  56. 

Durnford,  E.,  175. 

Durno,  J.,  175. 

Dusty  trades,preventing  injury  in,  2  72 . 

Dyeing,  prizes  for,  279. 

Eads,     Captain     James     Buchanan, 

Albert  medallist,  514. 
Eardley-Wilmot,  General,  Chairman  of 

Council,  448 ;  paper  on  school  drill, 

467. 


532 


INDEX 


Earle,  W.  B.,  bequest  for  purchases 

of  books,  221. 
Earlom,  R.,  premiums  for  drawing 

and  etching,  175. 
Earthenware,    innocuous    glaze    for, 

273- 

East,  Hinton,  95,  97,  99. 

East  India  Company,  fdiscourage 
offer  of  prizes  in  East  Indies,  84  ; 
consults  Society,  102  ;  discourages 
growth  of  tea  in  India,  105  ; 
sends  samples  of  Indian  tea,  106  ; 
forwards  collection  of  woods,  107  ; 
promises  to  assist  exhibition  of 
Indian  products,  380. 

Eastlake,  Sir  C.  L.,  medal  for  draw- 
ing, 175;  becomes  President  of 
the  Photographic  Society.  375 ; 
serves  as  Chairman  of  Copyright 
Committee,  385. 

Ebrington,  Lord,  Chairman  of 
Council,  361. 

Eckstein,  J.,  176. 

Edelcrantz,  Chevalier,  medal  for 
mechanical  telegraph,  252. 

Eddis,  E.  U.,  176. 

Edgcumbe,  Lord,  33. 

Edgeworth,  R.,  medal  for  "  early 
mechanical  genius,"  249. 

Edgeworth,  R.  L.,  turnip-cutter,  137, 
248  ;  Memoirs,  137  n.,  246  n.,  251  ; 
medal  for  various  inventions,  247  ; 
medal  for  a  "Perambulator"  for 
measuring  land,  248  ;  portable  rail- 
way, 24871. ;  mechanical  telegraph, 
251- 

Edgill,  J.,  prize  for  chaff-cutter,  134  ; 
prize  for  turnip-cutter,  136. 

Edinburgh,  Duke  of,  lays  first  stone 
of  National  Training  School  for 
Music,  480  ;  provides  scholarship 
for  National  Training  School  for 
Music,  480. 

Edinburgh  Society  for  encourag- 
ing Arts,  etc.,  of  Scotland,  3  ; 
Society  for  Promotion  of  Natural 
Knowledge,  4;  Philosophical  So- 
ciety, 4 ;  Society  for  Improvement 
of  British  Wool,  6. 

Edison,  Thomas  Alva,  Albert  medal- 
list, 515. 

Education,  conference  on  Adult,  372. 

Education,  elementary,  efforts  for 
improvement  of,  466  ;  Act  of 
1870,  466 ;  reports  on  condition 
of,  in  London,  466 ;  Bartley's 
report,  466  ;  conference  on,  466. 

Education,  Mrs.  Grey  on  female,  467. 

Education,  industrial,  promotion  of, 
by  Society,  369,  466  ;  report  on, 
370. 


Educational  appliances,  exhibition  of 
at  Guildhall,  370 ;  at  St.  Martin's 
Hall,  370. 

Educational  collection  at  South 
Kensington  founded  on  exhibits 
from  Educational  Exhibition,  371. 

Edward  vn.,  King,  suggestion 
about  presidency,  444 ;  consents, 
445  ;  deputation  to,  445  ;  elected 
President,  445 ;  his  head  on  Society's 
medal,  319,  320  ;  his  services  to 
Society,  445  ;  presents  Albert 
Medal  to  Queen  Victoria,  446  ; 
receives  Albert  Medal,  446,  516; 
becomes  Patron  on  his  accession, 
320,  446  ;  grants  Society  use  of 
term  "  Royal,"  447  ;  reviews 
drill  of  school  children,  467  ; 

Provides   scholarship    at  National 
raining  School   for   Music,    480  ; 

memorial  window  in  St.  Paul's  on 

recovery  from  illness,  487. 
Edwards,   B.,  History  of  the  British 

West  Indies,  97,  9971. 
Edwards,  E.,  176. 
Edwards,  J.,  176. 
Egan,     Dr.,     medal     for     teaching 

Latin,  312. 

Eggbrecht,  J.  E.,  176 
Egmont,  Earl  of,  29. 
Egremont,  Earl  of,  30. 
Electric  lighting  of  Society's  house,  70. 
Electro-deposition,  use  of  plumbago 

in,  293. 

Electro-magnet,  Sturgeon's  first,  292. 
Elgin,    Earl  of,   presides  at  annual 

dinner,  396. 

Ellipsographs,  prizes  for,  294. 
Ellis,  W.,  assistant  secretary,  366. 
Elton's   Origins  of  English  History, 

138  n. 
Employment      of      women,      prizes 

offered  for  encouragement  of,  312. 
Engineering,  awards  in,  254. 
Engleheart,  T.,  176. 
Engleheart,  T.  S.,  176. 
Engleheart,  W.  F.,  176. 
Engraving,  first  offer  of  prizes  for, 

153  ;  conditions  of  offer,  157. 
Engraving  on  steel,  215. 
Engraving  on  steel,  Perkins'  process 

of,  215,  303. 
Ensom,  W.,  177. 
Esparto,    first     use    of,    for     paper 

making,  305. 
Essays,  prizes  for,  392. 
Etching,    first    offer    of    prizes     for, 

153  ;    conditions  of  offer,  157. 
Etching  fluid  for  steel,  218. 
Etching  on  steel,  216. 
Etty,  exhibition  of  pictures  by,  379. 


INDEX 


533 


Evelyn,  John,  his  Sylva,  144. 
Examinations  in  Domestic  Economy 

435  n. 

Examinations,  Elementary,  434. 
Examinations,    importance   of,    356 

368,  428. 
Examinations  in  Modern  Languages 

viva  voce,  312,  439. 
Examinations  in  Music,  439. 
Examinations  in  Practical  Com- 
mercial Knowledge,  438. 
Examinations  of  Society,  suggested 
by  H.  Chester,  372,  425  ;  system 
followed  by  other  institutions 
425,  428  ;  their  origin,  426  ; 
their  original  character,  426  ;  date 
of  first  examination,  426  ;  system 
adopted,  427  ;  negotiations  with 
College  of  Preceptors,  427 ;  gradual 
development  of  system,  430  ;  ad- 
vantages of  system,  431  ;  Board 
of  Examiners,  431  ;  civil  service 
appointments  given  to  candidates, 
432  ;  number  of  candidates,  432  ; 
programme  revised,  432  ;  "  Com- 
mercial Certificate,"  433  ;  Prince 
Consort's  prize,  433  ;  proposed 
abandonment,  433  ;  system  re- 
modelled, 434  ;  fee  charged,  434  ; 
increase  in  numbers,  434  ;  effect 
of  Technical  Instruction  Act,  434  ; 
further  modifications,  435  ;  in- 
crease in  numbers,  436  ;  co-opera- 
tion of  London  County  Council, 
436  ;  value  of  certificates,  436. 
Examinations  for  soldiers,  437. 
Examinations,  suggestions  for  Col- 
onial, 454. 
Examinations,  Technological,  437, 

465- 
Examinations,    value    of,    356,    368, 

428. 

Exeter  Change,  proposal  to  acquire, 
for  Society's  offices,  54 ;  demolition 
of,  58. 

Exeter,  Earl  of,  30. 
Exeter  Hall,  distribution  of  premiums 

in,  325. 
Exeter  Street,  covers  part  of  site  of 

Society's  offices,  55. 
Exhibition  of  1851,  the  Summerly 
tea-service,  154,  405 ;  importance 
°f »  356  ;  early  history  of,  401 ;  com- 
mittee formed  to  consider,  404 ; 
1851  suggested  as  suitable  date, 
408 ;  petition  to  House  of  Com- 
mons, 409  ;  committee  reports 
favourably,  409  ;  report  by  Scott 
Russell  on  early  history  of,  409  n. ; 
discussions  at  Buckingham  Palace, 
and  decision  of  Prince  Albert  to 


make      exhibition      international, 

411  ;    Royal  Commission  proposed, 

412  ;     organisation    of    exhibition 
settled,  412;  Executive  Committee 
appointed  by  Society,  413  ;    Royal 
Commission   appointed,    414  ;     re- 
solution of  Council  as  to  preliminary 
outlay,  413  ;    estimate  of  cost  by 
Cubitt,    413  ;     arrangements   with 
Messrs.  Munday,  413  ;    report  by 
Scott   Russell,    415  ;     subscription 
list  opened,   415  ;    Charter  of  In- 
corporation granted  to  Commission, 
415  n.  ;       references     for     official 
history,  415  n.  ;    Colonial  visitors, 
453  >  Commission  made  permanent, 
375  ;    offer  of  prizes  for  essays  on, 
378 ;    lectures    substituted,     378 ; 
financial  results,  375  ;    disposal  of 
surplus,  375. 

Exhibition  of  1862,  importance  of, 
356;  first  proposals  for,  416;  deci- 
sion to  hold  exhibition  in  1861,  417 ; 
guarantee  fund  to  be  opened,  417  ; 
committee  appointed,  417  ;  South 
Kensington  site  proposed,  417; 
proposals  submitted  to  Commission 
of  1851,  417;  proposed  application 
of  surplus  from  1851,  418 ;  date 
postponed,  418  ;  date  fixed  as  1862, 
419  ;  guarantee  fund  started  and 
committee  appointed,  419  ;  trustees 
nominated,  419  ;  application  made 
to  1851  Commission  for  site,  420  ; 
application  granted,  421  ;  Com- 
mission decline  to  manage  exhibi- 
tion, 421  ;  charter  obtained  for 
1862  Trustees,  421  ;  financial 
failure  of  exhibition,  423  ;  de- 
ficiency made  good  by  contractors, 
Kelk  &  Lucas,  423  ;  Jury  Reports 
published  by  Society,  42 3  ;  Reports 
of  Commission,  423  n.  ;  loss  of 
anticipated  profits,  398. 

Exhibition  of  1871-2-3-4,  see  Exhibi- 
tions, Annual,  etc. 

Exhibition  of  ancient  and  mediaeval 
art,  407. 

Exhibition  of  art- workmanship,  457. 

Exhibition  of  bookbinding,  380. 

Exhibition  of  British  manufactures, 
405,  406,  408. 

Exhibition  in  Covent  Garden  (1845), 

403- 

Exhibition,  Dublin,  of  1853,  collec- 
tion of  Indian  products  sent  to, 
380. 

Exhibition,  early,  in  London,  403. 

Exhibition,  Educational,  370. 

Exhibition,  Health,  award  of  Tre- 
velyan  prize  at,  463. 


534 


INDEX 


Exhibition  of  Indian  products  pro- 
posed, 380 ;  collection  sent  to 
Dublin  Exhibition,  380. 

Exhibition  of  inventions,  378. 

Exhibition  of  lithographs,  305  «.,  380. 

Exhibition  of  models,  etc.,  58,  66, 118, 
239,  381,  402. 

Exhibition  of  photography,  380,  384. 

Exhibition  of  pictures,  first,  58,  226. 

Exhibition  of  pictures  by  modern 
artists,  proposed,  358,  379  ;  of  Mul- 
ready's  pictures,  379  ;  of  Etty's 
pictures,  379  ;  of  John  and  Alfred 
Chalon's  pictures,  380  ;  of  minia- 
tures by  Sir  W.  Ross,  380 ;  of 
Leslie's  pictures  proposed,  but 
abandoned,  380. 

Exhibition  proposed  in  Birmingham, 

4°3- 

Exhibition,  suggested  Fishery,  461. 

Exhibition,  surplus  from  North 
London,  given  to  Society,  458. 

Exhibition  of  wood-carving,  457. 

Exhibitions,  Annual  International, 
1871-4,  484 ;  grant  of  land  at 
South  Kensington,  484  ;  financial 
results,  485  ;  connection  with 
Horticultural  Society,  485  ;  causes 
of  failure,  485  ;  connection  of 
Society  with,  486  ;  prizes  offered, 
458,  486,  490,  497,  498;  Reports 
on,  486 ;  official  records,  487  n. 

Exhibitions  of  Free  Society  of 
Artists,  230. 

Exhibitions,  French,  226,  402,  410, 
483,  484- 

Exhibitions  of  Incorporated  Society 
of  Artists,  230. 

Exhibitions,  increase  in  number  of 
members  due  to,  397. 

Exhibitions,  Munich,  Hanover,  Brus- 
sels, Lausanne,  Vienna,  Berlin,  403. 

Exhibitions,  origin  of  International, 
402. 

Exhibitions  of  Paris,  1849,  403,  410; 
1867,  artisan  reporters  at,  483  ; 
1878;  artisan  reporters  at,  484. 

Exhibitions  of  Royal  Dublin  Society, 
4°3- 

Exhibitions  in  Society's  rooms  organ- 
ised by  Whishaw,  404. 

Faden,  W.,  prizes  for  maps  of  Hamp- 
shire and  Sussex,  300. 

Fahie,  History  of  Electric  Telegraphy, 
252  n. 

Fairbairn,  Sir  W.,  member  of 
Council,  361. 

Fairbairn,  T.,  nominated  trustee  for 
1862  Exhibition,  419. 

Fairland,  T.,  177. 


Falconet,  P.,  177. 

Falkland,  Viscount,  32. 

Falmouth,  Viscountess,  51. 

Faraday,  Michael,  Albert  medallist, 
512. 

Farey,  John,  supplies  illustrations 
to  Transactions,  177;  his  ellipso- 
graph, 294. 

Farey,  Joseph,  awards  for  mechanical 
drawing,  177. 

Farington,  G.,  177. 

Farington,  J.,  177. 

Farnham,  Earl  of,  30. 

Faulkner,  B.,  177. 

Feary,  J.,  178. 

"Felix  Summerly"  tea-service,  154, 

4°5- 
Felkin,     W.,     submits     samples     of 

British-grown      silk,      266  ;       his 

History  of  Lace  Manufacture,  269. 
Felspathic  glaze,  274. 
Female  education,  Mrs.  Grey  on,  467. 
Female   employment,   prizes  offered 

for  encouraging,  312. 
Fennell,  J.  G.,  178. 
Fenton,   Roger,  promotes  formation 

of  Photographic  Society,  385. 
Fen  wick,    R.,    medals    for    planting 

trees,  147. 
Ferrers,  Earl,  30. 
Field,     Messrs.,     prize     for     cheap 

microscopes,  390. 
Fielder,  C.  H.,  paper  on  Indian  tea, 

455- 

Fielding,  Sir  J.,  38. 

Fielding,  John,  Society's  landlord,  53. 

Fife,  Earl  of,  medals  for  planting 
trees,  146. 

Finances  of  Society  (1755-64),  21  ; 
(1776),  22  ;  (1840),  344,  345  ; 
(1845),  397  ;  (1860-80),  502,  506. 

Finden,  E.,  award  for  drawing,  178. 

Finden,  W.,  award  for  drawing,  178. 

Fine  art  prizes  of  the  Society,  151, 
213  ;  list  of  recipients,  162  ;  re- 
marks on  character  of  the  list, 

159- 
Finlayson,  J.,  premium  for  mezzotint 

of  Lord  Romney's  portrait,  178. 
Fire-escapes,  prizes  for,  309. 
Fires,  means  for  extinguishing,  309. 
Fish  supply,  improvement  of,  310. 
Fishery  Exhibition,  suggested,  461. 
Fishing-nets,   machines  for  making, 

269. 

Fitzgerald,  Keane,  77. 
Fitzgerald,    P.,    Picturesque   London, 

59  n. 

Fitzwilliam,  Viscount,  32. 
Flag,  medal  for  weaving,  as  sample  of 

brocade,  268. 


INDEX 


535 


Flaxman,  J.,  premiums  for  modelling 
and  for  designing  Society's  medal 
178 ;  designs  Society's  medal 
316 ;  design  used  for  Honorary 
Testimonial,  354. 

Florida,  indigo  in,  98. 

Fludyer,  Sir  S.,  38. 

Fly-shuttle,  Kay's,  260,  262. 

Foley,  Baron,  33. 

Folkestone,     Viscount,     co-operate; 
with     Shipley     in     formation     o: 
Society,  n  ;  attends  first  meeting 
12  ;      contributes    to    first    prize 
fund,    15  ;   elected   President,    17 
in  list  of  members,   32  ;    portrai 
by    Gainsborough,    71,    79,    518 
portrait   in    Barry's    picture,    77 
death  of,  321. 

Food    Committee    appointed,    460 
reports,    461 ;    meat  preservation 
461  ;     canned    meat,    461  ;     milk 
461  ;    fish,   461  ;    food  transport 
461  ;    prize  for  railway  van,  461 
prize    for    milk-can,     461  ;      firsl 
cargo  of  frozen  meat,  461  ;    final 
report,  462  ;   use  of  low  tempera- 
tures, 463  ;  Australian  frozen  meat, 

463- 
Food  supply,  conditions  of,  in  1866, 

459- 

Foord,  Capt.,  uses  gun-harpoon,  250. 
Forder  &  Co.,  prize  for  hansom  cab, 

497- 

Fordham,  Sir  G.,  on  county  maps, 
298  ;  his  pamphlet  on  John 
Cary,  Engraver  and  Map-seller, 
300  «. 

Foreign  and  Colonial  Section,  455. 

Forestry  and  the  Society,  143. 

Forestry,  number  of  awards  in,  149. 

Forrer's  Dictionary  of  Medallists, 
160,  318  n.,  327. 

Forrest  J.,  assistant  secretary,  368. 

Forster,  John,  Life  of  Goldsmith, 
24. 

Fortescue,  Earl,  see  Ebrington. 

Foster,  P.  Le  Neve,  appointed 
Secretary,  364 ;  his  life  and 
character,  365  ;  Chairman  of 
Committee  of  Accounts,  365  ; 
member  of  first  Council,  365 ;  his 
death,  365  ;  family  connections 
with  Society,  365  n. ;  on  straw- 
plait  industry,  307  M.  ;  takes  part  in 
formation  of  Photographic  Society, 
385 ;  on  deputation  to  Board  of 
Trade,  407  n.  ;  treasurer  for  1851 
Exhibition,  413  n. 

Foster,  Sir  C.  Le  Neve,  suggests 
prize  for  blow-pipe  apparatus,  494. 

Fothergill,  Dr.  J.,  38, 


Foundling    Hospital,    exhibition    of 

pictures  at,  227. 
Fox,  C.,  178. 

France,  exhibitions  of  pictures  origin- 
ated   in,     226 ;    Early    Industrial 
Exhibitions  in,   402  ;    1849   Exhi- 
bition, 403,  410;  1867  Exhibition, 
483;  1878  Exhibition,  484. 
Franklin,       Benjamin,        originates 
American  Philosophical  Society,  3; 
life  member,  38 ;  Chairman  of  Com- 
mittee on  Colonies,  38 ;  encourages 
American  silk  industry,  85 ;   pro- 
poses Whitefoord  as  member,  322. 
Franks,   Sir   A.    W.,    Hon.    Sec.    for 
Exhibition  of  Ancient  and  Medi- 
aeval Art,  407. 
Fraunhofer's   achromatic    objective, 

287. 

Freake,  Sir  C.  J.,  provides  scholar- 
ship at  National  Training  School 
for  Music,  480;  provides  building 
for  National  Training  School  for 
Music,  480. 
Freebairn,  A.  R.,  178. 
Freemason's    Hall,    distribution    of 

premiums  in,  325. 

Fresnau,  describes  caoutchouc,  103. 
Frith,  W.  P.,  medals  for  drawings,  179. 
Frost,  W.  E.,  179. 
Fruin,  J.,  prizes  for  gem-engraving, 

223. 
Fruin,      R.,     award      for     artificial 

cameos,  224. 
"  Fryers'  Pyes,"  57. 
Fuchs,  E.,  engraves  Society's  medal, 
with  head  of  Albert  Edward,  Prince 
of  Wales,  320. 
Fuel,  prizes  for  economical  use  of, 

489. 

Fuller,  F.,  on  first  exhibition  com- 
mittee, 404  n.  ;  reports  on  French 
Exhibition  of  1849,  410  ;  becomes 
managing  director  of  Crystal 
Palace,  410  n.  ;  attends  meetings 
at  Buckingham  Palace  and  at 
Osborne,  when  1851  Exhibition  is 
decided  on,  411  ;  visits  pro- 
vincial cities  on  behalf  of  Ex- 
hibition, 412  ;  introduces  Messrs. 
Munday  as  contractors  for  Ex- 
hibition, 413  ;  member  of  Society's 
Executive  Committee  for  1851 
Exhibition,  413  n. 
Furniture,  prizes  for  designs  for,  152. 
Fuseli,  early  lithographs  by,  305. 

Gahagan,  S.,  179. 

Gainsborough,  Rev.  H.,  prize  for 
drill-plough,  127;  prize  for  a  tide- 
mill,  246. 


536 


INDEX 


Gainsborough,  T.,   portrait    of    Vis- 
count Folkestone,  71,  79,  518. 
Gale,   medal    for    agricultural    drill, 

127  n. 

Galloway,  Earl  of,  30. 
Galloway's  History  of  Coal  Mining, 

253  n. 
Galton,    Sir    Douglas,    Chairman    of 

Council,  449. 

Galvanic  battery,  Smee's,  293. 
Gandon,  J.,  179. 
Gardens,      Botanic,      see       Botanic 

Gardens. 

Gardner,  Rev.  J.,  179. 
Gardner's  turnip-cutter,  137. 
Gamier,    H.,    invents     method     of 

"  acierage,"  218. 

Garrick,  David,  in  list  of  members, 
38  ;    refuses  to  recommend  Gold- 
smith  for   the   secretaryship,    24 ; 
epigram  on  Hill,  46. 
Garvey,  E.,  179. 

Gas,  first  used  in  Society's  house,  69. 
Gas-holder,  Clegg's,  295. 
Gas  lamp,  telescopic,  medal  for,  296. 
Gas  manufacture,  prizes  for,  294. 
Gas  manufacture,  utilisation  of  by- 
products, 295. 

Gas-meter,  invention  of,  295. 
Geddes,  Margaret,  179. 
Gem-engraving,  prizes  for,  157,  222. 
George  in.,  King,  proposal  by  Barry 

to  paint  the  King's  portrait,  79. 
George  v.,  King,  becomes  President, 
447  ;  becomes  Patron  on  his  acces- 
sion to  throne,  447  ;   his  head  on 
Society's     medal,     320  ;     receives 
Albert  Medal,  517. 
Georgia,     "  observations     on,"     93 ; 

silk  from,  84 ;   filature  in,  85. 
Germain,  Lady  Betty,  51. 
Gibbon,  Edward,  38. 
Gibbs,   W.   A.,   prize  for  harvesting 

crops  in  wet  weather,  499. 

Gibson,    Milner,    presents     Society's 

petition   to    House    of   Commons, 

409. 

Gilbert,  Sir  H.,  Albert  medallist,  515. 
Gilding,  prizes  for  improved  methods 

of  mercurial,  270,  271. 
Girls'  Public  Day  School  Co.,  467. 
Gisborne,  Dr.  T.,  38. 
Gladstone,  Sir  J.,  portrait,  519. 
Gladstone,  W.  E.,  presides  at  annua 

dinner,  396. 

Glaze  for  pottery,  innocuous,  273. 
Goadby,  prize   for  improvements   in 

the  microscope,  288. 
Godby,  J.,  179. 

Godfrey,  A.,  prize  for  fire-extinguish 
ing  apparatus,  309. 


Goldicutt,  J.,  1 80. 

Goldsmith,  Oliver,  39 ;  canvasses  for 

the  post  of  secretary,  24. 
Gomme,  Sir  Laurence,  supplies  in- 
formation about  RawthmeH's 
Coffee-House,  12  ;  about  Society's 
Strand  offices,  57  ;  lists  of  London 
memorials,  472  n. 

Gooch,  T.,  1 80. 

Goodall,  E.,  medal  for  water-colour, 
180. 

Goodall,  F.,  medals  for  drawing  and 
painting,  180. 

Goodchild,  John,  attends  first  meet- 
ing, 12  ;  first  treasurer,  17. 

Goodchild,  John,  the  younger,  suc- 
ceeds his  father  as  treasurer,  21  ; 
account  of  his  treasurership,  21. 

Goodeve,  Prof.,  acts  as  examiner,  432. 

Goodwin,  Dean,  acts  as  examiner,  432. 

Goree,  medal  in  celebration  of  capture 
of,  220. 

Gott,  J.,  1 80. 

Gough,  British  Topography,  298,  299, 
300. 

Government  assistance,  absence  of, 
21,  398. 

Grafton,  Duke  of,  28. 

Graham,  Dr.  Charles,  Cantor  Lec- 
tures, 453. 

Graham,  G.,  180. 

Graham,  Thomas,  member  of  Council, 
361. 

Graham,  W.  A.,  elected  Secretary, 
338  ;  resigns,  338,  348. 

Grant,  W.,  180. 

Grantham,  J.,  prize  for  steam-car,  495. 

Granville,  Earl,  presides  at  Centenary 
Dinner,  396  ;  nominated  Trustee 
for  1862  Exhibition,  419  ;  on 
Technical  Education,  464. 

Grass-seed,  prizes  for,  119. 

Gray,  J.  M.,  James  and  William 
Tassie,  224  n. 

Great  Room  (in  Little  Denmark 
Court),  54,  57  ;  size  of,  58  ;  first 
London  exhibition  of  pictures 
held  in,  228. 

Great  Room  (in  the  Adelphi), 
decorations  of,  65,  66;  alterations 
in,  65 ;  warming  arrangements, 
66  ;  lighting,  69  ;  Barry's  pictures 
in,  70. 

Greathead,  H.,  medal  for  invention 
of  lifeboat,  296. 

Grece,  C.  F.,  medal  for  Canadian 
hemp,  1 08. 

Green,  B.  R.,  180. 

Green,  Valentine,  negotiates  with 
Royal  Academicians  about  pictures 
for  Great  Room,  70 ;  reports 


INDEX 


537 


Barry's  willingness  to  provide  the 
pictures,      71  ;      suggestions      for 
publication  of   Transactions,   332 
candidate  for  secretaryship,   334 
his  work  for  the  Society,   334  n. 
gold  medal  for  services,  334  n. 

Green,  W.,  medal  for  Canadian 
pigments,  109. 

Gresse,  J.  A.,  one  of  first  prize- 
winners, 17,  152  ;  prizes  for 
drawing  and  painting,  180. 

Greville,  Lady  Augusta,  first  award  of 
medal  for  a  drawing,  160;  medals 
for  drawing  and  etching,  180. 

Grey,  Earl,  30. 

Grey,  Mrs.,  on  Education  of  Women, 
467. 

Griesbach,  constructs  forks  for 
Society's  standard  of  musical  pitch, 

387. 

Griffin,  Admiral  T.,  39. 

Griffin,  Sir  J.,  39. 

Grignion,  C.,  prizes  for  drawing,  181. 

Grignion,  Thomas,  presents  clock 
to  Society,  39. 

Grignion,  Thomas,  jun.,  prize  for 
drawing,  181. 

Grinding  mills,  awards  for,  255. 

Grinding,  preventing  injury  from 
dust  in,  272. 

Grose,  F.,  39. 

Grove,  Sir  George,  appointed  Secre- 
tary, 363  ;  becomes  secretary  to 
Crystal  Palace,  and  resigns,  364. 

Guadaloupe  cinnamon,  97. 

Guarantee  Fund  for  1862  Exhibition, 
conditions  of,  419. 

Guilding,  L.,  account  of  St.  Vincent 
Botanic  Garden,  99  n. 

Guimand,  P.  L.,  optical  glass,  287. 

Gun-harpoon,  awards  for,  249,  250. 

Gutta-percha,  introduction  of,  104  ; 
Obach's  lectures  on,  105. 

Gwilt,  G.,  181. 

Gwynn,  J.,  contributes  to  first  exhibi- 
tion of  pictures,  229. 

Habershon,  M.,  181. 

Hakewill,  J.,  181. 

Hales,     Dr.     Stephen,    one    of    the 

founders,  12,  39,  77. 
Halifax,  Earl  of,  30. 
Hall,  J.,  181. 
Hall,  J.  and  E.,  prize  for  refrigerating 

apparatus,  463. 

Hall,  M.,  achromatic  telescope,  286. 
Hamilton,  Duchess  of,  3. 
Hamilton,  H.  D.,  181. 
Hampshire,  map  of,  300. 
Handasyde,  C.,  182. 
Hand-signalling,  awards  for,  252. 


Hanover  Square  Rooms,  distribution 
of  premiums  in,  325. 

Hanway,  Jonas,  in  list  of  members, 
39 ;  subscribes  to  exhibition  of 
Barry's  pictures,  74 ;  procures 
Act  for  suppressing  use  of  climbing 
boys,  276. 

Harcourt,  A.  V.,  Cantor  Lectures,  453. 

Harcourt,  Earl,  30. 

Harding,  J.  D.,  182. 

Hard  wick,  P.,  182. 

Hardwicke,  Earl  of,  30. 

Hardy,  Sir  C.,  39. 

Harley,  Hon.  T.,  39. 

Harris,  James,  77. 

Harris,  J.,  syringe  for  oil-paints,  214. 

Harrows,  124,  128. 

Hart,  Solomon,  medal  for  drawing, 
182. 

Hartley,  Sir  Charles  Augustus,  Albert 
medallist,  516. 

Harvesters,  see  Reaping  Machines. 

Harvesting  crops  in  wet  weather,  1 40, 
499- 

Harvey,  Mr.,  prize  for  threshing- 
machine,  133. 

Hassell,  E.,  182. 

Hassell,  J.  medal  for  improvements 
in  aquatint  process,  182,  218. 

Haste's  Essays  on  Husbandry,  121. 

Hastings,  G.  W.,  Cantor  Lectures, 
452. 

Hastings,  meeting  at,  to  promote 
Training  School  for  Music,  479. 

Hatton,  prize  for  standard  of  length, 
289. 

Hauling  devices  for  mines,  253. 

Hawes,  W.,  Chairman  of  Council, 
447  ;  proposes  election  of  H.R.H. 
the  Prince  of  Wales  as  member 
and  as  President,  445  ;  Deputy- 
Chairman,  448. 

Hawke,  Sir  E.,  39. 

Hawkesworth,  Dr.  J.,  39. 

Hawkins,  E.,  Medallic  Illustrations, 
etc.,  220  n. 

Hawkins,  Sir  C.,  39. 

Hay,  D.  R.,  Decorations  in  Great 
Room,  65. 

Hay,  Sir  G.,  39. 

Hay,  prizes  for  harvesting  in  wet 
weather,  140,  499. 

Hayman,  Francis,  39  ;  suggests 
exhibition  of  pictures,  228  ;  contri- 
butes to  first  exhibition  of  pictures, 
229. 

Hayter,  Sir  G.,  medal  for  painting, 
182. 

Hayward,  W.,  medal  for  growing 
rhubarb,  284. 

Head,  G.,  182. 


538 


INDEX 


Health,  conferences  on,  488. 

Health  Exhibition,  award  of  Trevel- 
yan  prize  at,  463. 

Hearne,  T.,  182. 

Hearson,  T.  A.,  prize  for  revolution 
indicator,  498. 

Heberden,  W.,  39. 

Hebert,  W.,  183. 

Helmholtz,  Professor  Hermann  Louis, 
Albert  medallist,  514. 

Hemp  in  America,  89  ;  in  Canada, 
108. 

Henderson,  J.,  183. 

Henning,  J.,  183. 

Herrings,  prizes  for  curing,  311. 

Hewett,  Rev.  J.  M.,  medal  for  horse- 
hoe,  128. 

Hicks's  ellipsograph,  294. 

Hickson,  S.,  attends  meeting  about 
1851  Exhibition,  412. 

Highland  and  Agricultural  Society  of 
Scotland,  3. 

Highmore,  N.,  contributes  to  first 
exhibition  of  pictures,  229  ;  mem- 
ber of  committee  on  medals,  315. 

Hilditch,  G.,  183. 

Hill,  Sir  Rowland,  Albert  medallist, 
512- 

Hills,  J.,  prize  for  means  of  obviating 
risks  of  mercurial  gilding,  270. 

Hillsborough,  Earl  of,  30. 

Hincks,  W.,  his  portrait  of  Shipley,  10. 

Hine,  T.  C.,  prize  for  design  for 
labourer's  cottage,  392. 

Hipkins,  A.  J.,  on  musical  pitch, 
387  «• 

Hispaniola,  bamboo  in,  94. 

Hoare,  P.,  183. 

Hoare,  W.,  39. 

Hobhouse,  H.,  lends  the  Society 
£1000,  397. 

Hoblyn,  T.,  medals  for  coco-nut  oil 
from  Ceylon,  and  for  machine  for 
decorticating  rice,  107. 

Hodges,  W.,  183. 

Hodgson,  T.,  183. 

Hodgson  and  Eaton,  History  of  the 
Royal  Academy,  233. 

Hofmann,  August  Wilhelm,  Albert 
medallist,  514. 

Hogarth,  William,  founds  St.  Martin's 
Lane  Academy,  8  ;  in  list  of 
members,  39 ;  member  of  com- 
mittee on  medals,  315  ;  and  the 
Society  of  Artists,  231  :  Copy- 
right Act,  386. 

Hogg,  J.,  The  Microscope,  288  n. 

Holdernesse,  Earl  of,  30. 

Hole,  H.,  183. 

Hole,  J.  C.,  prize  for  essay  on 
Mechanics'  Institutes,  392. 


Holidays,  proposal  for  national,  con- 
demned, 396. 

Hollingshead,  J.,  Introduction  to 
1862  Exhibition  Catalogue,  403  n., 
409  n. 

Hollis,  Thomas,  40  ;  promotes  prizes 
for  die-sinking,  220 ;  on  com- 
mittee of  first  picture  exhibition, 
228. 

Hollis,  T.,  medal  for  water-colour, 
183. 

Holt,  Dorothy,  prize  for  lace,  266. 

Holtzapffel,  Mechanical  Manipula- 
tion, 273  n. 

Honduras  logwood,  98. 

Hone's  Everyday  Book,  276  n. 

Honorary  Testimonial  proposed  for 
readers  of  papers,  354. 

Hook,  J.  C.,  medals  for  drawing, 
183. 

Hooke,  R.,  method  of  signalling,  251. 

Hooker,  Sir  Joseph  Dalton,  Albert 
medallist,  514. 

Hooper,  Edward,  77. 

Hooper,  L.,  Cantor  Lectures  on 
Weaving,  263  n. 

Hope,  Dr.,  on  Jamaica  Botanic 
Garden,  99  ;  grows  rhubarb  plants, 
283. 

Hopwood,  J.,  183. 

Homer,  B.  W.,  examiner  in  music, 
441. 

Horse-hoes,  124,  127. 

Horsley,  J.  C.,  medals  for  drawing, 
184  ;  his  portrait  of  Queen  Victoria, 
80,  518. 

Horton,  R.  W.,  presents  collection 
of  Australian  articles,  112. 

Hortus  Jamaicensis,  94  «. 

Horwell,  C.,  184. 

Horwood,  R.,  prize  for  map  of 
London,  302. 

Houses,  memorial  tablets  on,  see 
Memorial  Tablets. 

Housing  labourers,  prizes  for,  312, 
392,  49L 

Howard,  R,  184. 

Howard,  J.,  40. 

Howard  Trust  founded,  503;  prize 
for  traction  engine,  495. 

Howe,  Viscount,  32. 

Huck,  Dr.  R.,  40. 

Hughes,  Professor  David  Edward, 
Albert  medallist,  515. 

Hughes,  E.,  184. 

Hullah,  John,  St.  Martin's  Hall  built 
for,  371 ;  lectures  at  Educational 
Exhibition,  371 ;  examiner  in  music, 
440 ;  Cantor  Lectures,  453. 

Hullmandel,  C.  J.,  medal  for  litho- 
graphy, 184,  305. 


INDEX 


539 


Hume,  Joseph,  member  of  Council, 

362. 

Humphreys,  W.,  184. 
Hunt,    Robert,   promotes    formation 

of     Photographic     Society,     385  ; 

candidate     for     secretaryship     of 

Society,  385  n. ;  acts  as  examiner, 

432. 
Hunt  and  Roskell,  prize  for  jewellery, 

389. 

Hunter,  Dr.  A.,  on  Society's  pro- 
motion of  tree-planting,  150. 

Hunter,  Dr.  W.,  40,  77. 

Huntingdon,  Earl  of,  30. 

Hurd,  Dr.,  77. 

Hurlstone,  F.  Y.,  184. 

Hurlstone,  R.,  185. 

Hussey's  reaping  machine,  131. 

Huxley,  Prof.,  lectures  at  Educa- 
tional Exhibition,  371  ;  on  the 
use  and  value  of  examinations, 

431. 
Hyde  Park  first  suggested r for  1851 

Exhibition,    404 ;     recommended, 

4x1. 
Hydrometer,  prizes  for,  291. 

Implements,  agricultural,  124. 

Incorporated  Society  of  Artists,  232. 

Incorporation  of  Society,  see  Char- 
ter. 

Indian  alkali,  88,  102  ;  cotton,  102  ; 
cinnamon,  102  ;  tea,  105,  106 ; 
collections  of  woods,  107  ;  barilla, 
278. 

Indian  products,  collection  sent  to 
Dublin  Exhibition,  380. 

Indian  Section  established,  455  ;  its 
work  and  value,  455. 

India-rubber,  see  Rubber. 

Indigo,  West  Indian,  93 ;  Mexican, 
98  ;  Guatemalan,  98  ;  in  Tobago, 
98  ;  in  Jamaica,  98  ;  in  East 
Florida,  98  ;  prize  offered  for 
British,  280. 

Industrial  art,  early  prizes  for,  152. 

Industrial  hygiene,  269. 

Industrial  instruction,  Report  on, 
370  ;  conference  on,  370. 

Industrial  pathology,  Committee  on, 

395- 

Inglish,  J.,  medal  for  growing 
rhubarb,  283. 

Insect  pests,  140. 

Institutions,  origin  of  mechanics, 
369  ;  those  near  London  affiliated 
to  Society,  369  ;  H.  Chester 

.  suggests  their  development,  370  ; 
conference  on,  370 ;  Union  founded, 
370 ;  annual  conference  started, 
370 ;  organisation  of  Union  of, 


370 ;  discontinuance  of  confer- 
ence, 372 ;  examinations  in  con- 
nection with,  372,  425 ;  use  as 
centres  for  Science  Examinations, 
377 ;  prize  for  essay  on,  392 ; 
Colonial,  454. 

Inventions,  exhibitions  of,  378. 

Inventors,  difficulties  of,  240 ;  opposi- 
tion to,  241,  242. 

Inwood,  H.  W.,  185. 

Ireland,  S.,  185. 

Iron  bridge,  first,  254. 

Iron  manufacture  in  America,  88. 

Iron  shipbuilding,  award  for,  255. 

Iron,    wood    only    fuel    for    making, 

143,  144- 
Irrigation,  140. 
Irvine,  Viscount,  32. 
Isinglass  from  America,  90. 
Isis  Medal,  318,  319. 
Isle  of  France,  see  Mauritius. 

Jacquard  apparatus,  prizes  for  im- 
proved, 264. 

Jacquin,  E.  A.,  patentee  of  Garnier's 
method  of  "  acierage,"  218. 

Jamaica,  sugar  cane  first  cultivated 


in,  94  ;  coffee  in,  94 
94 ;  cotton  in,  94 
94  n.  ;  cochineal,  95 


bamboo  in, 
Handbook, 
bread-fruit 


in»  95.  96  ;  Botanic  Garden,  99  ; 
cinnamon,  97,  100 ;  cargo  of  cap- 
tured plants  carried  to,  97  ;  indigo, 
98  ;  logwood,  98  ;  camphor,  100  ; 
sago,  100  ;  tea,  105  ; 

James  i.,  efforts  to  improve  British 
manufactures,  265. 

James,  Dr.  R.,  40. 

Jamison,  Sir  John,  medal  for  method 
of  extracting  tree  stumps,  112. 

Jebb,  Sir  Richard,  40  ;  obtains  seeds 
of  mangel-wurzel,  123. 

Jeffer,  prize  for  carpets,  268. 

Jeffereys,  J.,  185. 

Jefferys,  T.,  map  by,  showing 
Society's  offices  in  Little  Den- 
mark Court,  57  ;  map  of  York- 
shire, 299  ;  map  of  Devon,  299. 

Jenkin,    Prof.    F.,    Cantor   Lectures, 

453- 

Jenkins,  A.,  Life  of  George  Borrow, 
306  n. 

Jenkins,  Capt.,  finds  tea-plant  in 
Assam,  106. 

Jennings,  W.,  prize  for  improve- 
ments in  Jacquard  loom,  264. 

Jenyns,  Soame,  40,  77. 

Johnes,  Colonel  Thomas,  medals  for 
planting  trees,  148. 

Johnson,  Dr.  Samuel,  40 ;  his 
portrait  in  Barry's  picture,  77 ; 


540 


INDEX 


writes  to  Baretti  about   the  Pic- 
(  ture  Exhibitions,  230 ;  his  Preface 

to    Catalogue    of     Exhibition    of 

Society  of  Artists,  231. 
Jones,  G.,  185. 
Jones,      Owen,      lecture     on      1851 

Exhibition,  378  ;   prize  in  memory 

of,  503- 

Jones,  T.,  185. 

Jones,  T.,  prize  for  growing  opium, 
284. 

Joubert,  F.,  describes  method  of 
"  acierage,"  218. 

Joule,  Dr.  James  Prescott  on 
Sturgeon's  electro -magnet,  292  ; 
Albert  medallist,  514. 

Journal  of  the  Society  first  published, 
334 ;  suggested  by  Dr.  Booth, 
373  ;  character  of,  374  ;  contents 
of  first  number,  374 ;  value  as 
record  of  history  of  invention, 

Jukes,  F.,  185. 

Jurisprudence,  Swiney  prize  for 

book  on,  394. 
Jury  Reports  of  1862  Exhibition 

published   by   Society,    423  ;     loss 

on  publication,  424,  504. 

Kauffmann,  Angelica,  invited  to 
paint  picture  for  Great  Room, 
70. 

Kay,  John,  share  in  invention  of 
power  loom,  246 ;  his  relations 
with  the  Society,  259  ;  his  wire- 
card  apparatus,  261  ;  his  fly- 
shuttle  never  submitted  to  Society, 
260,  262  ;  fresh  information  about 
him  in  Society's  records,  260. 

Kay,  Robert,  submits  his  "  drop- 
box"  for  weaving  coloured  fabrics, 
262. 

Kay,  William,  submits  his  father's 
wire-card  machine  to  Society, 
261  ;  premium  awarded,  261. 

Kay-Shuttleworth,  Sir  J.,  member 
of  Council,  449. 

Keith,  Elizabeth,  185. 

Kelly,  H.,  40. 

Kelp,  prize  offered  for,  278. 

Kelsey,  C.  S.,  185. 

Kelsey,  R.,  185. 

Kelvin,  Lord,  Albert  medallist,  513. 

Kemp,  G.  T.,  on  first  exhibition 
committee,  404  n. 

Kendrick,  Emma  E.,  186. 

Kendrick,  J.,  186. 

Kenmare,  Viscount,  32. 

Kent,  T.,  medal  for  Australian 
tanning  material,  in. 

Keppel,  Admiral  A.,  40. 


Keyse,   T.,   prize    for    fixing  crayon 

drawings,  186,  213. 
King,  J.,  medal  for  Australian  wine, 

in. 
King's      Theatre,      distribution      of 

premiums  in,  325. 
Kingston,  Duke  of,  28. 
Kirby,  Sarah,  186. 
Kirby,  W.,  186. 

Kirk,  John,  prizes  for  medal  design- 
ing, 1 86,  220,  221  ;  cuts  die  for 

Society's  seal,   221. 
Kirk,  Thomas,  186. 
Kitchingman,  J.,  186. 
Knight,  Dr.  G.,  40  ;  on  committee  of 

first  picture  exhibition,  228. 
Knight's      London,      references      to 

Society  in,  66  n. 
Knowles,  Admiral  Sir  C.,  40. 
Kohl-rabi,  121,  123  n. 

Labouchere,  Mr.,  deputation  to,  407  ; 
attends  meeting  about  1851  Exhi- 
bition, 411. 

Labourers'  cottages,  prizes  for,  312, 
392,  491. 

Lace,  encouragement  of  English,  266. 

La  Condamine,  describes  caout- 
chouc, 103. 

Lady  members,  51. 

Lamb,  Charles,  on  climbing  boys,  275. 

Lamb,  Sir  J.  C.,  on  the  invention  of 
the  lifeboat,  296  ;  on  Society's 
labours  for  postal  reform,  477,  478. 

Lambert,    J.,    186. 

Lambert,  Mr.,  prize  for  four-wheeled 
cab,  497- 

Lamp,  prize  for  railway,  497. 

Lancashire,  map  of,  300. 

Land  reclamation,  140  ;  cultivation 
of  waste,  140. 

Landseer,  C.,  prize  for  drawing,  187. 

Landseer,  Sir  E.,  medals  for  drawing 
and  painting,  187. 

Landseer,  G.,  medals  for  painting, 
187. 

Landseer,  Miss,  prize  for  painting, 
187. 

Landseer,  T.,  medals  for  etching  and 
painting,  187. 

Lane,  J.  B.,  187. 

Langford,  A.,  40. 

Lansdowne,  Earl  of,  presides  at 
conference  on  Mechanics'  Institu- 
tions, 370. 

Larousse,  Dictionnaire  Universel, 
227  n, 

Latin,  prizes  awarded  for  colloquial, 

3". 

Lavatories,  scheme  for  establishing 
public,  388. 


INDEX 


Law,  W.,  History  of  Coffee,  94  n. 
Law,     submits    sample    of    glazing 

material  for  pottery,  274. 
Lawes,     Sir     John    Bennet,    Albert 

medallist,  515. 
Lawrance,  J.  C.,  introduces  Society's 

Patents  Bill,  476. 
Lawranson,  W.,  188. 
Lawrence,     Charles,     one     of     the 

founders,  12. 
Lawrence,  Colonel  S.,  40. 
Lawrence,  T.,  40. 
Lawrence,     Sir    Thomas,     prize    for 

drawing,     188  ;     on     method     of 

preserving  oil  colours,  214. 
Lawrie,  R.,  prizes  for  drawing,  etc., 

1 88  ;  prize  for  method  of  printing 

mezzotints  in  colour,  218. 
Lawson,  Sir  Wilfrid,  40. 
Leadless  glaze,  273,  274. 
Leake,  H.,  188. 
Lease  of  Adelphi  premises,  terms  of, 

64. 
Lease  renewal,   expenditure  on,  65, 

503- 
Leather,     prize     for     dyeing,     308  ; 

prizes  for,  308. 
Leblanc's  process   for  making  soda 

carbonate,  277. 
Lecky,  England  in  the  i8th  Century, 

3     «M        21. 

Lectures,  Cantor,  see  Cantor  Lectures. 

Lectures,  system   started  by  Aildn, 

336,  337 ;  decadence  of  this  system, 

Lee,  H.  P.,  prize  for  threshing 
machine,  133. 

Lefevre,  Sir  J.  S.,  on  deputation  to 
Board  of  Trade,  407  n. 

Legard,  Sir  D.,  medal  for  observations 
on  drill  and  broad-cast  husbandry, 
126. 

Legge,  H.  Bilson,  41. 

Legrew,  J.,  188. 

Le  Hardy,  Major,  medal  for  mechani- 
cal telegraph,  252. 

Leicestershire,  map  of,  300. 

Leighton,  Messrs.,  prize  for  book- 
binding, 389. 

Le  Jeune,  H.,  188. 

Lennox,  Lord  Henry,  Chairman  of 
Council,  447 ;  presents  memo- 
randum on  education  to  Mr.  Glad- 
stone, 466. 

Lesseps,  Vicomte  Ferdinand  de, 
Albert  medallist,  513. 

Lester,  W.,  medal  for  cultivator,  128. 

Letcher,  Messrs.,  prize  for  blow-pipe 
apparatus,  494. 

Lettsom,  J.  C.,  on  introduction  of 
mangel-wurzel,  123. 


Liart,  M.,  188. 

Library  Catalogue,  333  n. 

Lichfield,  Earl,  30. 

Liddell,  Dr.,  acts  as  examiner,  431. 

Liebig,    Baron    Justus    von,    Albert 

medallist,  512. 
Lifeboat,  invention  of,  296. 
Lifeboats,  prize  for  improved  ships', 

.493- 

Life-saving  apparatus,  prizes  for,  297, 
493  ;  report  on,  494. 

Ligonier,  Field-Marshal  Earl,  30. 

Lincoln,  Earl  of,  30. 

Lincoln,  local  society  in,  5. 

Lindley,  Dr.,  lectures  on  1851  Ex- 
hibition, 378. 

Lindsey,  local  society  in,  5. 

Lines,  S.,  189. 

Linwood,  Mary,  medal  for  needle- 
work, 189. 

List  of  members,  26,  27. 

Lister,  Lord,  Albert  medallist,  515. 

Lists  of  premiums,  116,  141,  152,  236, 
238,  240,  489. 

Lithography,  prize  for  invention  of, 
by  Senef elder,  214,  305;  medal  to 
Hullmandel  for,  184,  305;  prize  to 
Netherclift  for  transfer  paper  for, 
193.  305;  exhibitions  of,  305  n., 
.380. 

Liverpool,  Earl  of,  candidate  for 
presidency,  324. 

Liverpool,  meeting  to  promote 
Training  School  for  Music,  479. 

Llandaff,  Bishop  of  (R.  Watson), 
medals  for  planting  trees,  147. 

Lloyd,  J.,  prize  for  threshing- 
machine,  132. 

Loat,  S.,  189. 

Lochee,  J.  C.,  prizes  for  sculpture, 
189. 

Locke,  William,  77. 

Lockhart,  D.,  medal  for  culture  of 
nutmegs  and  mace  in  Trinidad, 
100. 

Locks,  awards  for,  255. 

Lockyer,    Sir  N.,   Cantor    Lectures, 

453- 

Logographic  Press,  vol.  iii.  of  Trans- 
actions printed  at,  333  n. 

Logwood  from  America,  92  ;  in  West 
Indies,  98 ;  Campeachy,  98  ;  Hon- 
duras, 98. 

London  County  Council  and  the 
Society's  examinations,  436  ;  and 
school  drill,  467 ;  undertakes  erec- 
tion of  memorial  tablets,  471  ; 
subscribes  to  School  of  Wood- 
Carving,  482. 

London,  prize  for  map  of,  302, 

Long,  J.  St.  J.,  189. 


542 


INDEX 


Long,  History  of  Jamaica,  94,  98  n. 

Looms,  awards  for,  263. 

Louisburg,  medal  in  celebration  of 
capture  of,  220. 

Lowther,  Rev.  M.,  medal  for  ob- 
servations on  drill  and  broadcast 
husbandry,  126. 

Lubbock,  Sir  John,  introduces 
Society's  Patents  Bill,  476. 

Lucerne,  120. 

Lucy,  C.,  189. 

Lukin,  L.,  inventor  of  a  lifeboat, 
296. 

Lupton,  T.  G.,  medal  for  mezzotint 
engraving  on  steel,  189,  216. 

Lyttelton,  Baron,  34. 

M'Ardell,  J.,  41 ;  contributes  to  first 
exhibition  of  pictures,  229. 

M' Arthur,  H.,  medal  for  Australian 
wool,  no. 

M'Arthur,  John,  vineyard  in  N.S. 
Wales,  in;  medals  for  Australian 
wool,  no. 

Macclesfield,  Countess  of,  51. 

Macclesfield,  Earl  of,  30. 

McCormick's  reaping  machine,  129. 

Macdonald,  J.  C.,  member  of  Council, 
361. 

Mace,  West  Indian,  93  ;  in  Trinidad, 
100. 

Macgregor,  J.,  offers  prize  for  cheap 
writing-case,  391. 

Machinery,  opposition  to  introduc- 
tion of,  241. 

Machines,  etc.,  exhibition  of,  by 
Society,  58,  66,  118,  239,  402  ;  dis- 
posal of  collection  of,  381. 

Mackennal,  B.,  designs  the  Society's 

,    medal,  320. 

Mackenzie,  Alexander,  medal  for 
explorations  in  North- West 
Canada,  109. 

Mackreth,  Sir  R.,  41. 

Maclise,  D.,  design  for  Swiney  Cup, 

395.  441- 
McNaught,  Dr.,  examiner  in  music, 

440. 
Macquarrie,      Governor,      memorial 

about  Australian  wine,  in. 
Madden,  Dr.,  and  the  Dublin  Society, 

2. 
Madder,    offer    of     prize     for,     15  ; 

amount    expended    in    prizes    for, 

280. 
Maidstone,  Shipley  died  in,  5  ;  local 

Society  in,  5. 
Majendie,   L.,    medals    for    planting 

trees,  148. 
Malam,     J.,     medal    for    improved 

gas-meter,  295. 


Malta  silk,  112. 

Malton,  T.,  190. 

Malton,  W.,  190. 

Manby,  Capt.,  medal  for  means  of 
communication  with  stranded  ship, 
297. 

Manchester,  Duke  of,  29. 

Manchester,  meeting  to  promote 
Training  School  for  Music,  479. 

Mangel-wurzel,  introduction  of,  121, 
123. 

Mango,  West  Indian,  93  ;  first 
introduced  into  Brazil  and  thence 
to  West  Indies,  94,  97  ;  offer  of 
medal  for  introduction  to  West 
Indies,  96  ;  introduced  into  St. 
Vincent,  96  ;  first  introduction 
of,  in  West  Indies,  97 ;  in  Martin- 
ique, 97. 

Manipur,  tea  in,  106. 

Manning,  S.,  190. 

Manningham,  Sir  R.,  41. 

Mansfield,  Earl  of,  medal  for  plant- 
ing trees,  146. 

Manures,  137,  138. 

Map  of  Canada,  109. 

Maps,  county,  prizes  for,  298  ;  offer 
of  prizes  for  mineralogical,  301  ; 
Smith's  geological,  301. 

Marchant,  N.,  prizes  for  gem-en- 
graving, 190,  222,  223  ;  asked  to 
design  Society's  medal,  317. 

Markham,  Dr.  W.,  41. 

Marl,  revived  use  of,  138  ;  ancient 
use  of,  138  n. 

Maryborough,  Duke  of,  29. 

Marsden,  Barbara,  one  of  first  prize- 
winners, 17,  152  ;  prizes  for  draw- 
ings and  designs,  190. 

Marsh,  J.,  medal  for  test  for  arsenic, 
282  ;  medal  for  electrical  appar- 
atus, 293. 

Marshall,  Captain,  captures  French 
ship  with  plants  for  Hispaniola,  97. 

Marsham,  Hon.  Charles,  77. 

Martin,  D.,  191. 

Martin,  W.,  191. 

Martin's  hydrometer,  290. 

Martinique,  coffee  introduced  into, 
94  ;  mango  introduced  into,  by 
French,  97. 

Masham,     Lord,     Albert     medallist, 

5i4- 
Mask   for    use    in    noxious  vapours, 

271,  272. 
Mason,  J.,  prize  for  essay  on  Thrift, 

495- 

Mason,  W.,  191. 
Masquerier,  J.  J.,  191. 
Maty,  Dr.  M.,  41  ;  candidate  for  the 

secretaryship,  24. 


INDEX 


543 


Mauduit,  I.,  41. 

Mauritius,  silk  in,  112  ;  coco-nut  oil 
from,  112  ;  tea  in,  105. 

Mayhew's  London  Labour,  etc.,  276  n. 

Mayor,  B.,  191. 

Mead,  Captain,  rewarded  by  Anti- 
Gallican  Society,  4. 

Mead,  Dr.,  14. 

Measures,  standard  of,  289. 

Meat  preservation,  see  Food  Com- 
mittee. 

Mechanical  movements,  awards  for, 

255- 

Mechanics'  Institutions,  see  Institu- 
tions. 

Mechi,  J.  J.,  member  of  Council,  361. 

Medals,  first  offer  of,  156 ;  first 
award  of,  160;  selected  list  of 
those  given  for  Fine  Arts,  162  ; 
awards  for  dies  for,  219  ;  Society's 
dies  for  first  medal  cut  by  Thomas 
Pingo,  220  ;  account  of  Society's, 
314  ;  awarded  for  papers  read,  393. 

Medicinal  plants,  prizes  for,  283. 

Medland,  T.,  191. 

Meigh,  J.,  prize  for  leadless  glaze,  274. 

Meikle's  threshing-machine,  132. 

Mellish,  W.,  medals  for  planting 
trees,  147. 

Melville,  General,  reports  on  bread- 
fruit in  St.  Vincent,  96 ;  estab- 
lishes botanic  garden  in  St. 
Vincent,  99. 

Members,  list  of,  26,  27 ;  numbers  of, 
26,  27,  344,  397,  502. 

Memorial  tablets  first  proposed, 
468  ;  committee  appointed,  468  ; 
scheme  prepared  by  G.  Hartley, 

468  ;  first    tablet    erected,     469  ; 
subscriptions     towards     expenses, 

469  ;  design  of  tablet,  470  ;  num- 
ber of  tablets  set  up,  470  ;  houses 
pulled  down,  470  ;  work  taken  over 
by  London  County  Council,  471  ; 
references    to    lists,    etc.,   of    me- 
morials, 472  n. 

Memorial  Window  in  St.  Paul's  after 
Prince  of  Wales's  illness,  487. 

Menzies'  threshing-machine,  132. 

Mercurial  gilding,  prize  for  im- 
proved methods  of,  270,  271. 

Messiter,  Husband,  friend  of  Shipley, 
8  ;  attends  first  meeting,  12. 

Metal-working,  prizes  for  designs 
for,  153,  157. 

Metz,  C.  M.,  191. 

Meyer,  J.,  medal  for  design  for  a 
die,  191. 

Mezzotint,  first  offer  of  prizes  for, 
153  ;  conditions  of  offer,  157  ;  use 
of  steel  for,  190  n.,  216  ;  tool  for 


laying  grounds,  218  ;  printing  in 
colours,  218. 

Michelsen,  Prof.,  method  of  obtain- 
ing standard  measure  in  terms  of 
wave-lengths  of  light,  290. 

Microcosm  of  London,  references  to 
Society,  65. 

Microscope,  prizes  for  improvements 
in,  288  ;  prize  for  cheap,  390. 

Midleton,  Viscount,  32  ;  on  com- 
mittee of  first  picture  exhibition, 
228. 

Milbourn,  J.,  191. 

Milk-cans,  prize  for,  461. 

Milk  supply,  see  Food  Committee. 

Millais,  Sir  J.  E.,  medals  for  painting, 
191. 

Miller,  J.,  192. 

Mills,  G.,  medals  for  die-engraving, 
192  ;  medal  for  medal  designing, 
222;  awards  for  die  for  Vulcan 
Medal,  222  ;  designs  Vulcan  Medal, 

318- 

Mimes,  R.  S.,  medals  for  planting 
trees,  148. 

Mimosa,  tanning  material  from 
Australia,  in. 

Minden,  medal  in  commemoration  of 
battle  of,  221. 

Mineralogical  maps,  offer  of  prizes 
for,  301. 

Mining,  awards  for,  253. 

Minorca  silk,  112. 

Minton,  Messrs.,  present  mosaic 
pavement,  66;  prize  for  pottery, 
389  ;  manufacture  the  Felix  Sum- 
merly tea-service,  405  ;  manufac- 
ture memorial  tablets,  470. 

Mitchell,  Dr.,  candidate  for  the 
secretaryship,  24. 

Mitchell,  J.,  41. 

Mitchell,  T.,  192. 

Models,  exhibition  of,  58,  66, 1 18, 239, 
402  ;  disposal  of  collection  of,  381. 

Moffat,  W.,  presents  Barry's  por- 
trait, 82. 

Monpesson,  Sir  Thomas,  purchases 
Adelphi  Estate,  60. 

Montagu,  Mrs.,  51  ;  portrait  in 
Barry's  picture,  77 ;  dinner  to 
climbing  boys,  275. 

Montagu's  Copper  Coinage,  327. 

Montfort,  Baron,  34. 

Montgomerie,  Dr.  William,  sends  first 
samples  of  gutta-percha,  104 ; 
medals  for  discovery  of  gutta- 
percha,  and  for  cultivation  of 
nutmegs,  104. 

Montrath,  Earl  of,  30. 

Moody,  F.  W.,  designs  memorial 
window  for  St,  Paul's,  487. 


544 


INDEX 


Moore,  prize  for  carpets,  268. 

Moore,  F.  J.,  192. 

Moore,  Sir  H.,  41. 

Moray,  Earl  of,  30 ;  medal  for 
planting  trees,  146. 

More,  R.,  41. 

More,  Samuel,  portrait  in  Barry's 
picture,  77,  327 ;  awards  for  arti- 
ficial cameos,  192,  224,  327;  paper 
on  standards,  289;  elected  Secre- 
tary, 326 ;  his  life  and  character, 
327  ;  his  portrait  by  West,  327  ; 
his  design  for  a  coin,  327 ;  his 
death,  334. 

Moring  T.,  medal  for  intaglio,  192, 
225. 

Morland,  G.  H.f  contributes  to  first  ex- 
hibition of  pictures,  229. 

Morpeth,  Lord,  deputation  to,  408. 

Morris,  Sir  D.,  Lectures  on  Commercial 
Fibres,  108  n. 

Morris,  Valentine,  suggests  intro- 
duction of  bread-fruit  into  West 
Indies,  95. 

Mort,  T.  S.,  experiments  on  preserv- 
ing meat  by  cold,  463. 

Mortimer,  T.  H.,  invited  to  paint 
picture  for  Great  Room,  70 ; 
prizes  for  painting,  192. 

Morton,  Dr.  €.,41. 

Morton,  J.  C.,  Cyclopedia  of  Agri- 
culture, 131;  paper  on  agricultural 
progress,  492. 

Mosaic  pavement  in  hall  and  stair- 
case, 66. 

Moseley,  Canon,  acts   as  examiner, 

431- 

Moser,  G.  M.,  41  ;  prize  for  design 
for  medal,  192  ;  award  for 
his  design  of  a  medal  for  the 
Society,  221  ;  contributes  to  first 
exhibition  of  pictures,  229. 

Moser,  Joseph,  awards  for  medal 
designing,  193,  221. 

Moser,  Mary,  medals  for  drawing, 
etc.,  193- 

Moses,  H.,  193. 

Motive  power,  premiums  for,  245. 

Mounsey,  Dr.,  medal  for  introduc- 
tion of  rhubarb,  283. 

Mulberry  trees,  plantation  of,  in 
St.  James's  Park,  265  ;  at  Chelsea, 
265 ;  encouragement  of  growth  of, 
266. 

Mulready,  W.,  reports  on  Barry's  pic- 
tures, 80  ;  prize  for  drawing,  193  ; 
exhibition  of  pictures  by,  379. 

Mulready  prize,  503. 

Munday,  Messrs.  J.  &  G.,  undertake 
contract  for  1851  Exhibition,  413; 
contract  terminated,  414. 


Mure,  S.,  medal  for  growing  bread- 
fruit in  Jamaica,  96. 

Murray,  Lieut.-General  Lord  John, 
41. 

Murray,  R.,  medal  for  using  plum- 
bago to  obtain  conducting  surface 
for  electro-deposition,  293. 

Murray's  English  Dictionary,  87,  92, 
128,  249. 

Museum  Rusticumt  118,  329. 

Museum,  Victoria  and  Albert,  see 
South  Kensington  Museum. 

Music,  examinations  in,  439. 

Music,  National  Training  School  for, 
first  suggested,  479  ;  meetings  in 
support  of,  479  ;  scholarships  at, 
479,  480 ;  building  for,  480  ; 
reconstituted  as  Royal  College 
of  Music,  480  ;  final  report,  1882, 
480 ;  amount  expended  by  Society, 
481,  504. 

Musical  Education,  Society's  atten- 
tion directed  to,  478  ;  negotiations 
with  Royal  Academy,  478  ;  com- 
mittee appointed,  479;  reports  on 
musical  education  abroad,  479 ; 
proposals  for  scholarships,  479. 

Musical  Pitch,  Committee  on,  387 ;  re- 
port by  Hullah,  387 ;  standard  pitch 
adopted,  387 ;  abandoned,  388 ;  A. 
J.  Hipkin's  paper  on,  387  n. 

Mylne,  R.,  41. 

Myrtleberry  wax  from  America,  91. 

Napier,    Lord,    presides    at    annual 

dinner,  396. 

Napoleon  in.,  Albert  medallist,  512. 
National    Gallery    of    British    Art, 

proposals  for,  379. 
"  National  Repository  "  the,  403. 
Natron,  87,  102  ;  natron  pits  of  Sind, 

88. 

Naval  construction,  prizes  for,  255. 
Navy  Office  and  timber  supplies,  144. 
Neate,  C.,  acts  as  examiner,  432. 
Needles,     preventing     injury     from 

dust  in  grinding,  272. 
Neil,    J.    W.,    medal    for   paper   on 

varnish-making,  281. 
Nesbitt,  C.,  193. 
Netherclift,  J.,  prize  for  lithographic 

transfer  process,  193,  305. 
Net-making    machines,    awards   for, 

269. 

New  Brunswick,  hemp  in,  108."* 
New  South  Wales,  tea  from,   105  ; 

wool  from,  no;  wine  from,  in. 
New  York,  Society  of,  3. 
New   Zealand,   introduction   of   bees 

into,   112:   Phormium  tenax  from, 

108. 


INDEX 


54S 


Newark,  Viscount,  medal  for  plant- 
ing trees,  146. 

Newbery,  J.,  41. 

Newborough,  Lord,  medal  for  plant- 
ing trees,  146. 

Nicholl,  S.  J.,  prize  for  design  for 
labourer's  cottage,  392. 

Nicholls,  Dr.  F.,  41. 

Nichols'  Literary  Anecdotes,  12  n.  ; 
Literary  Illustrations,  14. 

Nitrates  from  America,  87. 

Noble,  Sir  Andrew,  Albert  medallist, 

51?- 
Noble,   John,   gives  prizes  for  stove 

competition,  489. 
Nollekens,    J.,    student   at   Shipley's 

Academy,  17  n. ;  prizes  for  drawing 

and  sculpture,  193. 
Nootka  Sound,  108. 
Norfolk,  Agricultural  Society  in,  6. 
Norfolk,  Duke  of,  elected  President, 

322  ;   his   character,    323  ;   objects 

to     Barry's     proposal     to     paint 

portraits  for  Great  Room,  323  ;  his 

death,  323. 
North    London    Exhibition,    surplus 

from,  given  to  Society,  458. 
North,  Lord,  34. 
Northampton,  Earl  of  (7th),  31. 
Northampton,  Earl  of  (8th),  31. 
Northcote,  Sir  Stafford,  Secretary  to 

1851  Commission,  363,  414. 
Northumberland,  Countess  of,  51. 
Northumberland,  Duchess  of,  77. 
Northumberland,      Duke      of,      77  ; 

seconds   proposal    for    election    of 

Prince  Albert  as  member,  325. 
Northumberland,  Earl  of,  31. 
Northumberland,  map  of,  300. 
North-West  Passage  by  land,  prize 

for,  1 08. 
Norton,  C.,  194. 
Nova  Scotia,  hemp  in,  108. 
Noxious  vapours,  preventing  injury 

from,  270,  271. 
Nutmegs,     West     Indian,     93  ;     in 

Trinidad,  100. 

Oaks,  planting,  see  Trees. 

Obach,    Dr.    E.,    on    gutta-percha, 

105. 
Odling,  Prof.,  address  on  formation 

of  Chemical  Section,  456. 
Offices  of  Society,  53. 
Officials,  list  of,  509  (App.) ;  duties  of, 

25- 
Ogle,   co-operates  with   Common   in 

invention  of  reaping  machine,  129, 

130. 

Oglethorpe,  Lieut. -General,  41. 
Oil,  prize  for  purifying,  282,  331. 

36 


Oil-cake,  first  use  of,  as  cattle  food, 

119. 

Oil-colours,  prize  for,  213. 
Okey,  S.,  194. 
Olives  in  America,  92  ;  West  Indian, 

93  ;  in  N.S.  Wales,  in. 
Open-field  system  of  farming,  115. 
Opium  in  America,  92 ;  West  Indian, 

93  ;  prizes  for  growing  British,  284. 
Optical  glass,  prizes  for,  286. 
Orange,   introduction  of,  into  West 

Indies,  94. 
Orchella,   prize    offered    for    British, 

280. 

Origin  of  Society,  I. 
Orwell,  Baron,  34. 
Osiers,  offer   of   prizes   for  growing, 

306. 

Osier  &  Co.,  prize  for  glass,  389. 
Oxfordshire,  map  of,  300. 
Owen,  Col.,  Chairman  of  Council,  361. 
Owen  Jones  prize,  503. 
Owen,  Prof.,  lecture  on  1851  Exhibi- 
tion, 378. 
Owen,    Sir   P.    Cunliffe,    member   of 

Council,  361,  450. 

Packe,  J.,  prize  for  crayons,  213. 

Packing  press,  award  for,  255. 

Paget,  Lord,  medal  for  planting 
trees,  146. 

Pain,  G.  R.,  194. 

Paine,   J.,  41. 

Paints  and  colouring  matters,  prizes 
for,  213,  279,  281. 

Pakington,  Sir  J.,  member  of 
Council,  361. 

Palette,  the  Society's,  1 60,  318. 

Palk,  Sir  R.,  42. 

Palmer,  C.  F.,  medals  for  planting 
trees,  149. 

Palmerston,   Viscount,   32. 

Paper  and  paper-manufacture,  prizes 
offered  for  improvements  in,  303. 

Paper  duty,  report  on,  396. 

Paper  for  copper-plate  printing,  prize 
offered  for,  214,  304. 

Papers,  regular  reading  of,  suggested 
by  Aikin,  337 ;  definite  arrange- 
ments made  by  Council  for  reading, 
354 ;  number  and  subjects  of,  443. 

Papworth,  E.  G.,  194. 

Pap  worth,  J.  W.,  194. 

Papworth,  W.,  194. 

Para  rubber,  103. 

Parcel  post,  396,  477. 

Paris  Exhibition,  1849,  410;  1867, 
artisan  reporters  at,  483;  1878, 
artisan  reporters  at,  484. 

Paris,  picture  exhibitions  first  started 
in,  226. 


546 


INDEX 


Parke,  H.,  194. 

Parker,  J.,  194- 

Parkins  &  Gotto,  prize  for  cheap 
writing-case,  391. 

Parry,  J.f  medal  for  straw-plait,  306. 

Parry,  W.,  195. 

Pars,  Albert,  prizes  for  modelling, 
etc.,  195- 

Pars,  Anne,  prizes  for  drawing,  195. 

Pars,  Henry,  carries  on  Shipley's 
Academy  in  Beaufort  Buildings, 
9. 

Pars,  William,  9  ;  prizes  for  painting, 
drawing,  etc.,  195. 

Parsnips  for  cattle  food,  120. 

Parsons,  The  Hon.  Sir  Charles  Alger- 
non, Albert  medallist,  517. 

Parsons,  Dr.  J.,  42. 

Parsons,  W.,  195. 

Passavent,  prize  for  carpets,  268. 

Pastes  for  cameos,  224. 

Pasteur,  Louis,  Albert  medallist,  514. 

Patent  fees,  proposals  for  disposal  of 
surplus,  384. 

Patent  Law  Reform  promoted  by 
Society,  382  ;  Act  of  1852,  383  ; 
Sir  F.  Bramwell  on  474  ;  Bill  of 
1875  opposed  by  Society,  475  ; 
discussed  at  special  meeting,  475  ; 
Bill  of  1879,  475  ;  Sir  F.  Bram- 
well's  proposals,  475  ;  Bill  em- 
bodying them,  drafted,  476 ; 
brought  in  1882  and  1883,  476  ; 
Government  Bill  of  1883,  476 ; 
becomes  law  as  Patents  Designs 
and  Trade  Marks  Act,  1883,  476. 

Patent  Office  Museum,  381. 

Patented  inventions  ineligible  for 
awards,  243,  382 ;  rule  rescinded, 
243  ;  detrimental  effect  of  rule, 

Patents,    early    objection    to,    243  ; 

advantages  of,  244. 
Paterson,  net-making  machine,  269. 
Pathology,  Committee  on  Industrial, 

395- 

Patmore,  Coventry,  prize  for  draw- 
ing, 195. 

Patron,  King  Edward  vn.,  the  first, 
320,  446  ;  King  George  v.  succeeds 
his  father,  320,  447  ;  proposal 
that  the  Prince  of  Wales  (King 
George  iv.)  should  be  elected,  322  ; 
suggestion  that  Queen  Victoria 
should  be  invited,  446. 

Patten,  G.,  195. 

Paul  &  Wyatt's  spining  machinery, 
258. 

Paxton,  Sir  J.,  member  of  Council, 
361  ;  on  disposal  of  surplus  patent 
fees,  384. 


Payne,  J.,  treasurer  for  1851  Exhibi- 
tion, 41 3  n. 

Peace,  prize  offered  for  treatise  on 
Arts  of,  312. 

Pearlash  from  America,  86. 

Pearson,  Mrs.  C.,  195. 

Peart,  C.,  195. 

Peele's  Coffee-house,  Society's  meet- 
ings at,  16,  53. 

Peers,  special  offer  of  prizes  for 
children  of,  156. 

Pellatt  &  Co.,  prize  for  glass,  389. 

Pelling,  A.,  prize  for  optical  glass, 
287. 

Pembroke,  Agricultural  Society  in,  6. 

Pembroke,  Earl  of,  31  ;  owns  the 
Adelphi  Estate,  60. 

Penny,  E.,  invited  to  paint  picture 
for  Great  Room,  70. 

Pepper,  West  Indian,  93. 

Pepys,  Sir  L.,  42. 

"  Perambulator  "  for  measuring  land, 
248. 

Percy,  Earl,  77. 

Percy,  Dr.  John,  Albert  medallist,  5 14. 

Perkin,  Sir  William  Henry,  Cantor 
Lectures,  453  ;  Albert  medallist, 
514. 

Perkins,  Jacob,  his  "  Siderographic  " 
process,  215,  303. 

Perkins,  Loftus,  inventor  of  steam 
carriage,  496. 

Persimmon  from  America,  92. 

"  Perspectographs,"  294. 

Petchey  &  Wood,  medal  for  Tas- 
manian  tanning  materials,  in. 

Peters,  M.  W.,  196. 

Pether,  W.,  196. 

Petit,  Dr.  L.  P.,  42. 

Peto,  Sir  S.  M.,  defrays  cost  of  ex- 
perimental establishment  of  public 
lavatories,  388. 

Phillippo,  prize  for  information  about 
dyeing  leather,  308,  330. 

Phillips,  J.  S.f  medal  for  cameo,  225. 

Phillips,  L.,  medal  for  growth  of 
mangel-wurzel,  124. 

Phillips,  Sir  T.,  Chairman  of  Council, 
360,  447  ;  on  Committee  for  pro- 
posed 1 86 1  Exhibition,  417  ;  on 
Committee  for  1862  Exhibition, 
419. 

Phipps,  C.  J.,  42. 

Phormium  tenax,  prizes  for,  108  ; 
importation  of,  108. 

Photographic  exhibition,  380,  384. 

Photographic  Society,  formation  of, 
385. 

Physicians,  College  of,  joint  adjudi- 
cators of  Swiney  Cup,  394. 

Physick,  E.  G.,  196. 


INDEX 


547 


Physick,  E.  J.,  196. 

Pictures,  exhibitions  of,  see  Ex- 
hibitions. 

Pidgeon,  G.  F.,  engraves  die  from 
Flaxman's  design  for  Society's 
medal,  318. 

Pigments,  Canadian,  109 ;  prizes  for, 
213,279,281. 

Pike,  J.,  prize  for  chaff-cutter,  134. 

Pile-drivers,  awards  for,  255. 

Pinchbeck,  C.,  42. 

Pinches,  T.  R.,  medals  for  die- 
engraving,  196,  222. 

Pine,  R.  E.,  prizes  for  painting,  196; 
on  committee  of  first  picture  exhi- 
bition, 228  ;  contributes  to  first 
exhibition  of  pictures,  229. 

Pinfold,  C.,  42. 

Pingo,  B.,  prizes  for  drawings,  196. 

Pingo,  H.,  prizes  for  designs,  196. 

Pingo,  John,  prizes  for  die-engraving, 
196  ;  prizes  for  medal-designing, 
220,  221. 

Pingo,  Lewis,  prizes  for  die-sinking, 
gem-engraving,  etc.,  196  ;  prizes 
for  medal  designing,  220,  221  ; 
prize  for  gem-engraving,  223. 

Pingo,  Mary,  prizes  for  drawing,  etc., 
197. 

Pingo,  Thomas,  42  ;  award  for  die  of 
Society's  medal,  197 ;  prizes  for 
dies  of  his  designing,  219;  cuts 
dies  for  Society's  first  medal,  220, 
316  ;  contributes  to  first  art 
exhibition,  229. 

Pintsch,  Messrs.,  prize  for  railway 
lamp,  498. 

Pitcairn,  Dr.  W.,  42. 

Pitt,  George,  42. 

Pitt,  William  (Earl  of  Chatham),  42. 

Pitts,  W.,  197. 

Planer,  medal  for,  254. 

Plantain  in  West  Indies,  96. 

Plassy,  medal  in  commemoration  of 
battle  of,  221. 

Playfair,  Lord,  member  of  Council 
361  ;  lectures  on  1851  Exhibition, 
378  ;  edits  Jury  Reports  on  1862 
Exhibition,  424  ;  letter  on  technical 
education,  464  ;  presides  at  con- 
ference on  pollution  of  rivers,  488. 

Ploughs,  124,  125. 

Plumbago  for  electro-deposition,  293. 

Plymouth,  Earl  of,  31. 

Pochin,  H.  D.,  subscribes  towards 
cost  of  memorial  tablets,  469. 

Pocock,  Admiral  Sir  G.,  42. 

Pocock,  W.  F.,  197. 

Pollington,  Baron,  34. 

Pomegranate  in  West  Indies,  96. 

Pomfret,  Earl  of,   31. 


Popham,  Sir  H.,  medal  for  mechanical 
telegraph,  252. 

Portable  railway,  Edgeworth's,  248  n. 

Porter,  J.  A.,  197. 

Porter,  Sir  J.,  42. 

Porter,  Sir  R.  K.,  197. 

Porter's  Silk  Manufacture,  85  «., 
263  n.,  264  n. 

Portland,  Duke  of,  29. 

Portsmouth,  Earl  of,  medal  for 
planting  trees,  146. 

Post  office,  premium  lists  distributed 
by,  240. 

Postage,  international,  396. 

Postal  parcels,  396,  477. 

Postal  reform  advocated,  396,  477. 

Potash  from  America,  86. 

Potato,  introduction  of,  120  n. ; 
"  clustered,"  120. 

Potatoes  for  cattle  food,  120. 

Pottery,  innocuous  glaze  for,  273. 

Powell,  prizes  for  improvements  in 
the  microscope,  288. 

Powell,  Prof.  Baden,  acts  as 
examiner,  432. 

Power-looms,  246,  263. 

Power  scour  t,  Viscount,  32. 

Powis,  Earl  of,  31. 

Pownall,  Governor,  42. 

Poynter,  Ambrose,  197. 

Practical  Art,  Department  of,  377. 

Practical  commercial  knowledge, 
examination  in,  438. 

Pratt,  Sir  C.,  42. 

Preceptors,  negotiations  with  College 
of,  417. 

Preece,  Sir  W.,  Cantor  Lectures,  453. 

Premium  Lists,  116,  141,  152,  236, 
238,  240  ;  last  issue  of,  489. 

Premium  Society,  title  used  by 
Society,  18. 

Premiums,  annual  distribution  of, 
!58>  319,  324 ;  method  of  awarding, 
237  ;  decadence  of  system  of  award- 
ing, 345- 

Premiums,  Fine  Arts,  151,  162,  213  ; 
Colonial,  83  ;  agricultural,  114  ;  in 
forestry,  143  ;  industrial,  etc.,  235. 

Preservation  of  food,  see  Food 
Committee. 

Presidents  of  Society,  Viscount 
Folkestone,  17  ;  Lord  Romney, 
321  ;  Duke  of  Norfolk,  322  ; 
Duke  of  Sussex,  324 ;  Prince  Albert, 
326  ;  William  Tooke,  444  ;  Albert 
Edward,  Prince  of  Wales  (King 
Edward  vn.),  445  ;  Sir  Frederick 
Bramwell,  447  ;  George,  Prince  of 
Wales  (King  George  v.),  447  ; 
Lord  Alverstone,  447  ;  Duke  of 
Connaught,  447 ;  list  of,  509  (A pp.). 


548 


INDEX 


Price,  Prof.  Bartholomew,  acts  as 
examiner,  432. 

Priestley,  first  mention  of  india- 
rubber,  103. 

Printing,  awards  for,  305. 

Printing  bank-notes  and  stamps, 
Perkins'  process  for,  215,  303. 

Prior,  Rev.  J.,  map  of  Derbyshire, 
300 ;  prize  for  map  of  Leicester- 
shire, 300. 

Prize  Lists,  see  Premium  Lists. 

Proceedings  of  Society,  see  Trans- 
actions, Journal,  Abstract  of  Pro- 
ceedings, and  Weekly  Proceedings. 

Proctor,  T.,  197. 

Prussian  blue  for  dyeing  purposes, 
281. 

Pugh,  H.,  198. 

Pulteney,  Viscount,  42. 

Pumping  engine,  253. 

Pusey,  P.,  experiments  on  draught 
of  ploughs,  125  ;  on  use  of  drills, 
127. 

Pye,  Admiral  Sir  T.,  42. 

Pye,  G.,  198. 

Quebec,  medal  in  celebration  of 
capture  of,  220. 

Queensberry,  Duke  of,  29. 

Quick  &  Norminton,  prize  for  four- 
wheeled  cab,  497. 

Quilting  in  the  loom,  prizes  for,  267. 

Quin,  M.,  medals  for  hydrometer, 
291. 

Quinine,  West  Indian,  93. 

Racine  de  disette,  123. 
Radclyffe,  G.  E.,  198. 
Radnor,   Earl  of,   77  ;   seconds  pro- 
posal for  election  of  Prince  Albert 

as  member,  325. 

Railway,  Edgeworth's  portable,  248  n. 
Railway    lamp,    prize    offered    for, 

497  ;  lamps     tested,     497  ;  award 

made,  498. 

Railway  vans,  prize  for,  461. 
Raimbach,  A.,  198  ;  his  experiments 

in  engraving  on  steel,  216. 
Raine,   John,  medal  for  Tasmanian 

wool,  no. 

Raisins  from  America,  92. 
Ramie,    introduced    by    Roxburgh, 

103  ;  Sumatra,  103  ;  from  Bengal, 

103. 

Ramsay,  A.,  43. 
Ranson,  T.  F.,  198. 
Rates,      liability      of      Society     to 

parochial,  499  ;  Act  of  1843,  499  ; 

action     taken    by    Society,    500  ; 

authorities    on,   501 ;    cases  tried, 

501. 


Ravenet,  F.  S.,  198. 

Rawlinson,  Sir  R.,  member  of 
Council,  450. 

Rawthmell's  Coffee-house,  first  meet- 
ing of  Society  held  at,  n  ;  posi- 
tion of  the  house,  etc.,  12. 

Rayleigh,  Lord,  Albert  medallist, 
5i6. 

Read,  N.,  198. 

Read,  R.,  198. 

Reaping  machines,  128. 

Reclamation  of  land,   140. 

Redgrave,  R.,  member  of  Council, 
361. 

Redgrave,  S.,  member  of  Council, 
361  ;  attends  meeting  about  1851 
Exhibition,  412;  his  Dictionary  of 
Artists,  7  n.,  73  «.,  160,  361. 

Recce's  refrigerating  machine,  462. 

Reeves,  T.  &  W.,  prize  for  water- 
colours,  213. 

Refrigeration  processes,  see  Food 
Committee. 

Register  of  Premiums,  145  n.,  239  «., 
267. 

Register,  Templeman's  Historical, 
328. 

Registrars  of  Society,  Shipley,  10  ; 
Tuckwell,  341  ;  W.  Bailey,  341  ; 
A.  M.  Bailey,  341  ;  G.  Cockings, 
342  ;  A.  B.  Cockings,  342. 

Reid,  Sir  W.,  Chairman  of  Executive 
Committee  of  1851  Exhibition, 
414  n. 

Reinagle,  P.,  198. 

"  Repository,"  the  National,  403. 

"  Repository  of  Inventions,"  the 
Society's,  58,  66,  118,  239,  381,  402. 

Respirators  for  workmen's  use,  271, 
272,  273. 

Revel,  R.,  198. 

Revolution  indicator  for  ships,  prize 
for,  498  ;  instruments  tested  on 
H.M.S.  Arrow,  498  ;  prize  awarded, 
498. 

Reynolds,  John,  prize  for  introduc- 
tion of  Swede  turnip,  122. 

Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,  43  ;  invited 
to  paint  picture  for  Great  Room, 
70  ;  his  portrait  of  Lord  Romney, 
71,  518;  contributes  to  first  ex- 
hibition of  pictures,  229. 

Rhubarb,  prizes  for  British,  283. 

Rhyl,  meeting  to  promote  Training 
School  for  Music,  479. 

Rhys  Jenkins  on  paper-making,  304. 

Rice  in  Ceylon,  107 ;  machine  for 
decorticating,  107. 

Rich,  General  R.,  43. 

Richards,  S.,  attempts  to  organise 
exhibition  in  Birmingham,  403. 


INDEX 


549 


Richardson,  Sir  B.,  member  of  Coun- 
cil, 450  ;  Cantor  Lectures,  453. 

Richardson,  G.,  199. 

Richardson,  S.,  43. 

Richardson's  saccharometer,  290. 

Richmond,  Duke  of,  29,  77  ;  estab- 
lishes school  in  Whitehall,  8,  152. 

Rigaud,  S.  F.,  199. 

Rigg,  Rev.  A.,  superintends  tests  of 
heating  and  cooking  apparatus,  490. 

Rimbault's  Soho,  233. 

Ripon,  Marquis  of,  his  subscription, 
20. 

Rivers'  pollution,  conference  on,  488. 

Roads,  mechanical  traction  on,  495. 

Robb  bequest,  503. 

Roberts,  J.,  199. 

Roberts,  J.,  prize  for  device  for 
breathing  in  smoke,  etc.,  271. 

Roberts,  T.,  medal  for  use  of  iron  in 
shipbuilding,  255. 

Robertson,  G.,  199. 

Robertson,  — ,  award  for  net-making 
machinery,  269. 

Robinson,  Sir  John,  reports  on 
Barry's  pictures,  81. 

Robinson,  Sir  T.,  43  ;  on  committee 
of  first  picture  exhibition,  228. 

Robinson,  W.,  The  Vegetable  Garden, 
123  «. 

Robison,  J.,  43. 

Robley,  John,  medal  for  growing 
indigo  in  Tobago,  98. 

Robley,  Joseph,  medal  for  growing 
bread-fruit  in  Tobago,  96. 

Rochard,  F.,  199. 

Rockingham,  Marquis  of,  29. 

Rodney,  Admiral  Lord,  34,  97. 

Roebuck,  attempts  to  manufacture 
alkali  from  common  salt,  278. 

Rogers,  E.,  medal  for  planting  trees, 
149. 

Rogers,  J.,  prize  for  shilling  colour- 
box,  214. 

Rogers,  P.  H.,  199. 

Rogers,  Rev.  W.,  member  of  Council, 

449- 

Rolle,  Dennis,  medals  for  planting 
trees,  147. 

Rollers,  agricultural,  128. 

Rolls,  C.,  199. 

Romney,  Lord,  attends  first  meeting, 
12  ;  contributes  to  first  prize  fund, 
15  ;  first  vice-president,  17  ;  his 
portrait  by  Sir  J.  Reynolds,  34,  71, 
79,  518  ;  his  portrait  by  Barry,  77  ; 
on  silk  from  Georgia,  84 ;  presents 
Society  with  some  swede  turnip 
seed,  I23W. ;  elected  President,  34, 
321  ;  death  of,  321. 

Romney,    George,   invited    to    paint 


Eicture  for  Great  Room,  70 ;  prizes 
)r  paintings,  199. 
Romney,  J.,  199. 
Ronald's  electric  telegraph,  252. 
Rooker,  M.  A.,  prizes  for  drawings, 

199  ;  contributes  to  first  exhibition 
of  pictures,  229. 

Root-cutters,  see  Turnip-cutters. 

Rose,  J.,  medal  for  leadless  glaze,  274. 

Rosebery,  Earl  of,  31. 

Ross,  A.,  prize  for  improvements  in 
the  microscope,  288  ;  prize  for 
spherometer,  294. 

Ross,  Sir  William,  awards  for  draw- 
ings, paintings,  and  miniatures, 

200  ;  approves  design  for  Society's 
Honorary  Testimonial,  354;  exhi- 
bition   of     miniatures     by,     380; 
Chairman  of    Committee   of    Fine 
Arts,  380 ;  member  of  Council,  380. 

Rossi,  C.,  200. 

Rossi,  H.,  200. 

Roubiliac,  F.  L.,  43  ;  contributes 
to  first  Art  Exhibition,  229. 

Roxburgh,  Dr.  William,  superin- 
tendent of  Calcutta  Botanic  Gar- 
dens, 1 02  ;  sends  specimen  of 
Malay  rubber,  103  ;  introduces 
ramie,  103 ;  gold  medals  for  his 
communications,  104  ;  his  memoir 
and  portrait,  104 ;  on  Indian 
barilla,  278. 

Royal  Academy,  see  Academy. 

Royal  Society,  the,  i,  27. 

"  Royal,"  Society  granted  permission 
to  use  the  term,  by  King  Edward 
viz.,  18,  447. 

Royle,  Prof.,  lectures  on  1851  Ex- 
hibition, 378. 

Rubber,  introduction  of,  103  ;  Ma- 
layan, 103  ;  Para,  103. 

Rules  and  orders  of  the  Society,  18, 
25,  243,  345,  351,  354. 

Russell,  J.,  200. 

Russell,  J.  Scott,  on  Committee 
for  reorganising  Society,  346  n.  ; 
his  capacity  as  a  lecturer,  355  ; 
appointed  Secretary,  362  ;  his  life 
and  character,  362 ;  appointed 
Secretary  to  1851  Commission,  363, 
414;  his  death,  363;  elected  life 
member,  363  ;  suggests  award  of 
medals  for  paper  read,  393  ;  on  first 
exhibition  committee,  404  n.  ;  on 
deputations  to  Board  of  Trade, 
407  n. ;  report  on  preliminary  stages 
of  1851  Exhibition,  409  n.  ;  sup- 
plies information  to  Prince  Albert 
about  proposed  exhibition,  410 ; 
reports  to  special  general  meeting 
on  preliminary  arrangements  for 


550 


INDEX 


1851  Exhibition,  415  ;  on  com- 
mittee for  proposed  1861  Exhibi- 
tion, 417. 

Russell  R.,  prize  for  optical  glass,  287. 

Rutland,  Duchess  of,  77  ;  medal  for 
method  of  growing  oaks,  146. 

Rutlandshire,  local  Society  in,  6. 

Ryan,  J.,  medal  for  mine  ventilation, 

253. 

Ryder,  Admiral  A.  P.,  member  of 
Council,  450  ;  report  on  life-saving 
apparatus,  494  ;  suggests  offer  of 
prize  for  revolution  indicator,  498. 

Ryder,  T.,  200. 

Ryley,  C.  R.,  200. 

Saccharometer,  290. 

Sackville,  Lord  George,  43,  51. 

Safety  lamps,  Clanny,  253 ;  Davy, 
254;  Stephenson,  254. 

Safflower  in  America,  92  ;  in  West 
Indies,  93. 

Sago  in  Jamaica,  100. 

Sail-cloth,  cotton,  90. 

Sainfoin,  120. 

St.  Albans,  Duke  of,  owner  of  the 
Adelphi  Estate,  60. 

St.  Aubyn,  Sir  J.,  43. 

St.  John  of  Bletsoe,  Baron,  34. 

St.  Martin's  Hall,  Educational  Ex- 
hibition at,  370. 

St.  Martin's  Lane  Academy,  8,  152, 
227. 

St.  Vincent,  bread-fruit  in,  95,  96  ; 
Botanic  Gardens,  96,  99  ;  cloves 
in,  99  ;  cinnamon  in,  99. 

Sal-ammoniac,  offer  of  prize  for,  278. 

Salmon,  Robert,  chaff-cutter,  135  ; 
other  inventions,  135  n.  ;  medal  for 
paper  on  pruning  trees,  149. 

Salon  des  Beaux  Arts,  first  of  ex- 
hibitions of  pictures,  226. 

Salt,  Sir  Titus,  subscribes  to  National 
Training  School  for  Music,  481. 

Saltpetre  in  America,  87  ;  offer  of 
prizes  for  British,  278. 

Salvesen,  T.  E.,  paper  on  whale 
fishery,  251  n. 

Samuel,  G.,  200. 

Samuel,  John,  appointed  assistant 
secretary,  339. 

Samuel,  Richard,  appointed  assistant 
secretary,  339. 

Samuel,  R.,  prize  for  mezzotint  tool, 
200,  218. 

San  Domingo,  introduction  of  sugar- 
cane into,  93. 

Sandby,  P.,  43,  contributes  to  first 

exhibition  of  pictures,  229. 
Sandwich,  Earl  of,  31. 
Sanitary  Conferences,  488. 


Sarsaparilla     from     America,     92  ; 

West  Indian,  93. 
Sass,  H.,  200. 

Saunders,  Admiral  Sir  C.,  43. 
Saunders,  W.,  chairman  of  Council, 

361. 
Savage,   W.,   medal  for  printing  in 

colours  from  wood  blocks,  201,  219  ; 

Thoughts   on  Decorative    Printing, 

219  n. 

Savile,  Sir  George,  43,  77 ;  on  com- 
mittee of  first  picture  exhibition, 

228. 

Saw-mills  for  America,  92,  247. 
Saw-mills,  introduction  of,  247. 
Say,  F.  R.,  201. 
Say,    William,    first    mezzotint    on 

steel,  1 90  w.,  216. 
Scammony  from  America,  92. 
"  Scandiscope,"  the,  276. 
Scarsdale,  Baron,  34. 
Scarsdale,  Viscount,  medal  for  plant- 
ing trees,  146. 
Scharf,     Sir     George,     awards     for 

drawings,  201. 
Scheemakers,  T.,  201. 
Schiavonetti,  L.,  201. 
Schools  of  design,  377  ;  proposal  to 

circulate    objects    from    Society's 

exhibitions  among,  407. 
Science  and  Art  Department,  assist- 
ance rendered  by  Society  to,  377  ; 

relation  of  its  examinations  with 

those  of  Society,  425. 
Scoresby,  W.,  on  Society's  prizes  for 

gun-harpoon,     250 ;       his     Arctic 

Regions,  250  n. 
Scotland,    Society    for    encouraging 

arts     and    manufactures    of,     3  ; 

Highland  and  Agricultural  Society 

of,  3  ;  see  also  Edinburgh. 
Scott,    H.,     medal    for    sample    of 

Indian  alkali,  88. 
Scott,  J.,  201. 
Scott,   Mr.,   discovers    tea-plant    in 

Manipur,  106. 
Scoular,  J.,  201. 
Secular,  W.,  201. 
Screw,  originating,  256. 
Screw-jack,    medal    for,    249  ;    early 

references  to,  249  ;  mentioned  by 

Defoe,  249. 
Scriven,  E.,  201. 
Scrivener's  History  of  the  Iron  Trade, 

89  n. 

Sea-coal  for  fuel,  144. 
Seal-engraving,  prizes  for,  222. 
Seal  of  the  Society,  engraved  by  Kirk 

from    design    by    Cipriani,    221  ; 

adopted   as   corporate   seal,    221  ; 

disused,  397  ;  present,  397. 


INDEX 


Secretaries  of  Society,  Shipley,  10, 17 
22 ;  Box,  22 ;  Templeman,  24 
More,  326 ;  Taylor,  334 ;  Aikin 
335  ;  Graham,  338  ;  Whishaw,  348 
Scott  Russell,  350 ;  Grove,  363 
Solly,  364  ;  Le  Neve  Foster,  364. 

Sections  of  Society,  see  Indian 
Colonial,  African,  Foreign,  Chemi 
cal. 

Seddon,  T.,  202. 

Senefelder,  Alois,  medal  for  invention 
of  lithography,  202,  214,  305. 

Seppings,  Sir  R.,  medal  for  methoc 
of  docking  ships,  255  ;  his  applica 
tion  of  iron  in  shipbuilding,  255. 

Setchel,  Sarah,  202. 

Shaftesbury,  Earl  of,  contributes  to 
first  prize  fund,  15  ;  in  list  o 
members,  31. 

Sharp,  W.,  prizes  for  drawings,  etc. 
202  ;  engraves  More's  portrait,  327 

Sharpe,  Granville,  on  introduction  o: 
mangel-wurzel,  123. 

Sharpe,  Dr.  Gregory,  43. 

Sharpey,  Dr.  W.,  acts  as  examiner 

431- 

Shaw,  B.,  prize  for  industrial 
hygiene,  270,  503  ;  chairman  of 
Food  Committee,  464. 

Shaw,  P.,  43- 

Sheep,  marking,  140. 

Shelburne,  Earl  of,  31. 

Shelley,  S.,  202. 

Shenton,  H.  C.,  202. 

Sherb,  premium  for  cultivating  vines 
in  S.  Carolina,  86. 

Sheridan,  T.,  43. 

Sherlock,  W.,  202. 

Sherwin,  J.  K.,  awards  for  engraving, 
etc.,  202. 

Shilling  colour-box,  the,  214,  390. 

Ships'  models,  prizes  for,  255. 

Shipley,  Jonathan,  father  of  William 
Shipley,  9. 

Shipley,  Jonathan,  Bishop  of  St. 
Asaph,  brother  of  William  Ship- 
ley, 9. 

Shipley,  William,  founds  local 
Society  at  Maidstone,  5  ;  proposes 
formation  of  Society,  7  ;  his  k'fe, 
7,  9  ;  his  academy,  7,  8,  9,  10,  16, 
S3>  57.  J95  I  his  portrait  by  Cosway, 
10,518;  byHincks,  10;  attends  first 
meeting,  12 ;  elected  Secretary, 
10,  17,  22  ;  elected  "  perpetual 
member,"  17  ;  registrar,  22,  23  ; 
resigns  post  of  registrar,  25  ; 
portrait  in  Barry's  picture,  77  ; 
opposes  inclusion  of  agriculture 
among  Society's  objects,  115;  object 
in  establishing  the  Society,  151  ; 


his  portrait  shown  at  first  exhibi- 
tion of  pictures,  229  ;  medal  for  life- 
saving  apparatus,  298 ;  his  death, 
ii. 

Shipwreck,  saving  lives  from,  297, 493. 

Sholl,  J.,  prize  for  improvements 
in  the  draw-boy,  264. 

Sholl,  S.,  organises  weaving  an 
elaborate  flag  as  sample  of  brocade, 
268  ;  his  Account  of  the  Silk 
Manufacture,  268. 

Short,  James,  one  of  the  founders,  12. 

Shropshire,  map  of,  300. 

Shuttleworth,  Sir  J.  Kay,  member  of 
Council,  449. 

Siemens,  Werner,  receives  sample  of 
gutta-percha  from  his  brother,  104. 

Siemens,  Sir  William,  obtains  sample 
of  gutta-percha,  104 ;  medal  for 
regenerative  condenser,  389,  448  ; 
chairman  of  Council,  389,  448  ; 
Albert  medallist,  448,  513. 

Sievier,  R.  W.,  203. 

Signalling,  methods  of,  251. 

Signature  Book  of  the  Society,  26. 

Silk  in  America,  85,  265  ;  from  Geor- 
gia, 84,  85 ;  in  Malta,  112  ;  in 
Mauritius,  112  ;  in  Minorca,  112. 

Silk  manufacture  in  England,  264. 

Silk,  mills  for  throwing,  264. 

Silk  produced  in  England,  prize 
offered  for,  265 ;  samples  sub- 
mitted to  Society,  265  ;  paper  by 
Hon.  Daines  Barrington  on,  266, 
338 ;  company  started  for  produc- 
tion of,  266 ;  samples  submitted  by 
W.  Felkin  and  by  Sir  D.  Cooper, 
266 ;  paper  by  F.  Cobb,  266. 

Silk-weaving,  improvements  induced 
by  Society,  263. 

Silkworm,  attempts  by  James  I.  to 
acclimatise,  265. 

Simmons,  W.  H.,  203. 

Simon,  Sir  J.,  on  industrial  pathology, 

395- 

Simpson,  P.,  203. 

Simpson,  W.  B.f  prize  for  paper- 
hangings,  389. 

Sinclair,  Sir  John,  President  of  the 
Board  of  Agriculture,  6,  141. 

Sind  natron,  87,  88,  102. 

Singapore,  gutta-percha  from,  104 ; 
nutmegs  in,  104. 

Skeat's  Etymological  Dictionary,  87  n. 

Skelton,  W.,  203. 
late,  prize  for  transparent,  294. 

Smalt,  see  Cobalt. 

Smart,  G.  M.,  prize  for  chimney- 
sweeping  apparatus,  276. 

Smart,  John.one  of  first  prize-winners, 
17,  152,  203. 


552 


INDEX 


Smeaton,  John,  medal  for  account  of 

hydraulic  engine,  253. 
Smee,  A.,  medal  for  galvanic  battery, 

293. 
Smirke,  Sir  R.,  prize  for  architectural 

drawing,  203. 
Smith,    Anker,    engraves    Flaxnian's 

design  for  Society's  medal,  318. 
Smith,  E.,  Life  of  Sir  Joseph  Banks, 

95  «,  99  «• 

Smith,  Emma,  203. 

Smith,  G.,  203. 

Smith,  J.  T.,  Life  of  Nollekens,  16. 

Smith,  Joachim,  204. 

Smith,  John,  204. 

Smith,  J.  Catterson,  204. 

Smith,  N.,  204. 

Smith,  T.,  prize  for  gem-engraving, 
204,  222. 

Smith,  William,  medal  for  draining 
Prisley  Bog,  301  ;  grant  for  geo- 
logical map,  301. 

Smith,  W.  H.,  introduces  Society's 
Patents  Bill,  476. 

Smoke,  devices  for  breathing  in,  271, 
272. 

Smoke  nuisance,  prize  for  essay  on 
prevention  of,  393. 

Smollett,  his  opinion  of  the  Society 
(in  Humphrey  Clinker),  i8«.  (in  his 
History),  52. 

Societies : — Royal,  i,  27  ;  Royal  Dub- 
lin, 2  ;  Philosophical  of  Dublin,  2  ; 
Highland  and  Agricultural  of  Scot- 
land, 3  ;  Bath  and  West  of  England 
Agricultural,  3  ;  American  Philo- 
sophical, 3  ;  New  York,  3  ;  Im- 
provers in  the  Knowledge  of 
Agriculture  in  Scotland,  3,  132  ; 
Select  Society  of  Edinburgh,  3  ; 
Anti-Gallican,  4 ;  Edinburgh,  for 
Promotion  of  Natural  Knowledge, 
4  ;  Edinburgh  Philosophical,  4 ;  in 
Breconshire,  5  ;  in  Maidstone,  5  ; 
in  Lindsey,  5  ;  in  Rutlandshire,  6  ; 
in  Norfolk,  6  ;  in  Pembroke,  6  ;  in 
Carmarthen,  6  ;  in  Cardigan,  6  ; 
Edinburgh  for  Improvement  of 
British  Wool,  '6  ;  in  Barbados,  6  ; 
Economical,  of  St.  Petersburg,  6 ; 
Royal  Agricultural,  142,  344; 
Chemical,  336,  344  ;  Photographic, 
385;  Linnean,  344;  Geological, 
344;  Royal  Geographical,  344; 
Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  344, 
501  ;  Royal  Institution,  344 ;  Lon- 
don Institution,  344 ;  Royal  Insti- 
tute of  British  Architects,  344 
Chemical  Industry,  457 ;  Institute 
of  Chemistry,  457;  Wood-Carvers, 
457;  Zoological,  501. 


Societies,  rating  of,  499. 

Soils,  analysis  of,  139. 

Soldiers,    special    examinations    for, 

Solly,  E.,  obtains  conducting  surface 
for  electro-deposition  by  use  of 
nitrate  of  silver,  294  ;  appointed 
Secretary,  364  ;  deputy-chairman, 
364  ;  resigns,  364  ;  undertakes  to 
arrange  collection  of  animal  pro- 
ducts, 364,  376. 

Solly,  R.  H.,  presents  Barry's  "Adam 
and  Eve,"  82  ;  promotes  offer  of 
prizes  for  microscopes,  288. 

Solomon,  A.,  204. 

Somerset  House  Quadrangle  offered 
for  National  Exhibition,  408. 

Somerset,  map  of,  300. 

Sopwith,  Thomas,  member  of  Council, 
450 ;  on  first  exhibition  com- 
mittee, 404  n. 

South  Kensington  estate  purchased, 

375- 

South  Kensington  Museum,  trans- 
ference of  educational  collections 
to,  371  ;  establishment  of,  375  ; 
animal  products  collection  formed 
for,  376  ;  contributions  by  Society 
to,  377  ;  models  presented  to,  381. 

Southwell,  Baron,  34. 

Southwell,  Viscount,  32. 

Spalatro,  Diocletian's  Palace  at,  sug- 
gests the  idea  of  the  Adelphi,  59. 

Spang,  M.  H.,  204. 

Speer,  Edward,  on  committee  for 
reorganising  Society,  346 ;  chair- 
man of  Council,  351. 

Spencer,  K.,  award  for  method  of 
signalling,  252. 

Spencer,  Viscount,  32. 

Spherometer,  prize  for,  294. 

Spicer,  N.,  prizes  for  gem-engraving, 
204,  223. 

Spiller,  J.,  204. 

Spilsbury,  J.,  205. 

Spinning  machinery,  invention  of, 
258. 

Spottiswoode,  W.,  acts  as  examiner, 

431- 

Sprague,  J.  T.,  Electricity,  293  n. 
Spratt,  Lieut.  J.,  award  for  method 

of  signalling,  252. 
Staghold,  A.,  medal  for  screw-jack, 

249  ;  medal  for  gun-harpoon,  249. 
Stainer,  Sir   J.,  examiner  in  music, 

440. 

Stamford,  Earl  of ,  31. 
Stamps,  Perkins'  process  for  printing, 

215,  303- 

Standard  of  weights  and  measures, 
offer  of  prize  for,  289. 


INDEX 


553 


Stanhope,  Earl,  31. 

Stanley,  Lord,  presides  at  annual 
dinner,  396. 

Stannard,  Mrs.  J.,  205. 

Stansfeld,  J.,  presides  at  sanitary 
conference,  488. 

Stansfield,  J.,  premium  for  saw-mill, 
247 ;  model  of  his  mill  sent  to 
America,  92. 

Staples,  R.,  prizes  for  gem-engrav- 
ing, 205,  223. 

Starkey  &  Co.,  medal  for  cloth  from 
Australian  wool,  no. 

Statistical  surveys  of  Board  of  Agri- 
culture, 141,  302. 

Staves  for  casks,  importation  of, 
from  America,  92. 

Steam  car  for  common  roads, 
Grantham's,  495. 

Steam-carriage,  proposal  for,  247. 

Steam-engine,  offer  of  prize  for  im- 
provements in,  247  ;  application  to 
drive  textile  machinery,  246. 

Steel-engraving,  introduction  of,  215. 

Steel  in  Exhibition  of  1873,  prize 
offered  for,  498. 

Steel,  fluid  for  etching,  218. 

Steele,  Joshua,  77,  97. 

Steeling  copper-plates,  217. 

Stephenson,  Robert,  member  of 
Council,  361  ;  member  of  Society's 
Executive  Committee  for  1851 
Exhibition,  41371.;  arbitrates  on 
rescission  of  contract  with  Messrs. 
Munday  for  1852  Exhibition,  415. 

Sterne,  Laurence,  43. 

Stevens,  E.,  205. 

Stirling,  Earl  of,  31  ;  premium  for 
planting  vines  in  N.  America,  86. 

Stock,  John,  43  ;  his  bequest,  161  ; 
medallion,  161,  319  «. 

Stocking-frame,  prizes  for,  263. 

Stothard,  T.,  reports  on  sample  of  oil- 
paints,  213. 

Stoves,  prizes  for  heating  and  cook- 
ing. 489 ;  report  of  committee,  491. 

Strand  buildings,  demolition  of,  in 
1830,  58  n. 

Strand,  Society  occupies  No.  380  or 
38i,  54- 

Strange,  Colonel,  member  of  Council, 
450;  paper  on  "Ships  for  the 
Channel  Passage,"  493. 

Strange,  E.  F.,  on  invention  of 
lithography,  305  n. 

Strange,  Mary  B.,  205. 

Strange,  Sir  Robert,  43  ;  contri- 
butes to  first  exhibition  of  pictures, 
229. 

Strathcona  and  Mount  Royal,  Lord, 
Albert  medallist,  517. 


Straw-plait  industry,  prizes  offered 
for,  306. 

Strode,  General  W.,  43. 

Stuart,  J.,  44  ;  designs  Society's  first 
medal,  316. 

Stubbs,  G.,  44. 

Stubbs,  J.  H.  P.,  205. 

Sturgeon  in  America,  90. 

Sturgeon,  W.,  medal  for  electro- 
magnet, 292. 

Subscription,  amount  of,  20. 

Suffolk,  map  of,  300. 

Sugar  in  West  Indies,  101. 

Sugar-cane  first  cultivated  in 
Jamaica,  94;  in  San  Domingo,  93. 

Sumatra,  cinnamon  in,  84  ;  tin,  102  ; 
ramie,  103. 

Summerly,  Felix,  154,  406. 

Surgical  instruments,  prizes  for,  294. 

Surveying  instruments,  prizes  for, 
248,  294. 

Sussex,  Duke  of,  elected  President, 
324  ;  his  character,  324  ;  proposes 
Prince  Albert  as  a  member,  325  ; 
death  of,  326,  348  ;  adopts  com- 
mittee report  advocating  reforms, 

348. 

Sussex,  map  of,  300. 

Sutherland,  Earl  of,  31. 

Swaine,  F.,  205. 

Swaine,  J.  B.,  205. 

Swan,  Sir  Joseph  Wilson,  Albert 
medallist,  516. 

Swede,  introduction  of,  121,  122. 

Sweeping  chimneys,  275. 

Sweetness,  offer  of  prize  for  measur- 
ing, 290. 

Swiney,  Dr.,  his  will  given  to  Aikin, 
393  ;  his  death  ;  393,  his  bequest, 
393  ;  his  character,  394 ;  his 
funeral,  394. 

Swiney  prize,  method  of  adjudicat- 
ing, 395;  cup  for,  39 5,441 . 

Sykes,  Col.,  Chairman  of  Council,  361. 

Sylva,  John  Evelyn's  book  on 
trees,  etc.,  144. 

Symons,  George  James,  Albert 
medallist,  515. 

Tablets,     memorial,     see     Memorial 

Tablets. 

Tachometer,  prize  for,  291. 
Tallmache,  W.,  205. 
Tanning  materials    from    Australia, 

in. 
Tanning,  prizes  for  improvements  in, 

308. 
Tansley,  A.  J.,  paper  on  straw-plait 

industry,   307  n. 
Tar,   prize   for   substitute   for,    294; 

from  gas-making,  295. 


554 


INDEX 


Tasmania,  wool  from,  no;  tanning 

materials  from,  in. 

Tassie,  James,  medallion  of  Robert 

Adam,  59  ;  award  for  his  paste  for 

artificial  cameos,  206,  224. 

Taximeter,  prize  offered  for,  496. 

Taylor,   C.,   elected   Secretary,  334  ; 

his   life   and   character,    335;   his 

death,  335. 

Taylor,  I.,  206. 

Taylor,  I.,  map  of  Dorset,  299. 

Taylor,  John,  206. 

Taylor,  John  (of  Bath),  awards  for 
medal  designing,  206,  221. 

Taylor,  Dr.  R.,  44. 

Taylor,  S.,  206. 

Taylor,  T.,  appointed  assistant 
secretary,  339 ;  his  life  and  char- 
acter, 339;  his  writings,  340;  re- 
signs, 340 ;  his  death,  340. 

Tea  in  South  Carolina,  93  n. ;  Indian, 
105,  106;  in  West  Indies,  105;  in 
the  Cape,  105  ;  in  Mauritius,  105  ; 
in  New  South  Wales,  105. 

Tea-service,  the  Summerly,  1 54,  406. 

Technical  education,  early  associa- 
tion of  Society  with,  15 ;  pro- 
posals by  Dr.  Playfair,  464;  con- 
ference on,  464 ;  definition  of, 
465. 

Technological  examinations,  437 ; 
proposed  by  Capt.  Donnelly,  465  ; 
conference  on,  465  ;  establish- 
ment of,  465. 

Teck,  Prince  of,  at  school  drill 
review,  467. 

Telegraphs,  mechanical,  251. 

Telegraphs,  paper  by  E.  Chad  wick  on 
purchase  of,  477. 

Temple,  Dr.,  acts  as  examiner,  431. 

Temple,  Earl,  31. 

Templeman,  Dr.,  appointed  Secre- 
tary, 24;  account  of  him,  25;  his 
portrait  by  Cosway,  25,  518;  his 
death,  25,  326;  his  house  in  Little 
Denmark  Court,  55;  his  Historical 
Register,  328. 

Textiles,  prizes  for  designs  for,  152, 
1 54  ;  premiums  connected  with, 
257. 

Thackeray,  Dr.  W.  M.,  medals  for 
planting  trees,  149. 

Theed,  W.,  awards  for  sculpture, 
206. 

Theobald,  James,  one  of  first  vice- 
presidents,  17,  44. 

Thomas,  C.,  on  gem-engraving,  222. 

Thomas,  Sir  N.,  44. 

Thomond,  Earl  of,  31. 

Thompson,  Prof.  S.,  on  Sturgeon's 
electro-magnet,  292. 


Thorn,   C.,    prize   for   hansom   cab, 

497- 

Thornhill,  Sir  William,  his  academy 
in  Coven  t  Garden,  8. 

Thornton,  B.,  44. 

Thornton,  J.,  44. 

Thorpe,  Sir  E.,  Humphry  Davy, 
139  n.  \  History  of  Chemistry, 
277  n. 

Thrale,  H.,  44. 

Threshing  machines,  131. 

Thrift,  prize  for  essay  on,  494. 

Thurston's  History  of  the  Steam 
Engine,  247. 

Tide-mills,  prizes  for,  246. 

Timber,  in  America,  89  ;  lack  of,  143  ; 
statutes  for  preventing  waste  of, 
143,  308 ;  Evelyn's  Sylva,  144  ; 
for  naval  use,  Society  consulted 
for  advice  on,  254. 

Timber  trade,  first  application  of 
motive  power  in,  247. 

Tin  from  Banca,  102. 

Titchfield,  Marquis  of,  medal  for 
planting  trees,  146. 

Title  of  Society,  1 7,  447. 

Tobacco,  American,  101. 

Tobacco,  paper  by  Hon.  Daines 
Barrington  on,  338. 

Tobago,  bread-fruit  in,  96;  cotton 
in,  98  ;  indigo  in,  98. 

Tomkins,  C.,  206. 

Tomkins,  P.  W.,  206. 

Tomkins,  W.,  207. 

Tonson,  J.,  44. 

Tooke,  William,  promotes  suppres- 
sion of  climbing  -  boys,  276;  on 
committee  for  re  -  organising 
Society,  346 ;  submits  draft  of 
charter,  352  ;  vice-president,  362  ; 
elected  President,  444;  his  death, 

444- 

Tools,  awards  for  mechanical,  255. 
Toussaint,  A.,  207. 
Towne,  F.,  207. 
Towne,    J.,    medals    for   anatomical 

models,  207. 
Townley,  Rev.  J.,  44. 
Townshend,  C.,  44. 
Townshend,  Viscount,  33. 
Trade  Museum,  proposal  for,  364,  376 ; 

its  formation  undertaken,  376. 
Trafalgar   Square   proposed    as    site 

for  National  Exhibition,  408. 
Transactions,      account      of,      328  ; 

interval  between  their  publication 

and  the  Journal,  373. 
Transit    instrument,    offer    of    prize 

for,   288. 
Tree-stumps,  method  of  extirpating, 

112. 


INDEX 


555 


Trees,  planting,  prizes  for,  145. 

Trench,  Dean,  lectures  at  Educa- 
tional Exhibition,  371. 

Trench,  Rev.  T.,  provides  prize  for 
cheap  writing-case,  391. 

Trevelyan,  Sir  Charles,  member  of 
Council,  450. 

Trevelyan,  Sir  W.,  prize  for  utilisa- 
tion of  sea- weed,  460;  for  food 
preservation,  460 ;  prizes  awarded, 

463- 
Trinidad,   Botanic   Garden  in,    100; 

mace,     100;     nutmegs    in,     100; 

cloves,  i or. 
Tuckwell,  E.  C.,  appointed  registrar, 

34i. 

Tull,  Jethro,  115;  incorrectly 
credited  with  introduction  of 
turnip,  120;  his  Horse -hoeing 
Husbandry,  126;  on  the  horse- 
hoe,  127. 

Tulley's  achromatic  objective,  288. 

Turner,  W.,  207. 

Turnerelli,  E.  T.,  207. 

Turning-lathes,  awards  for,  256. 

Turnip  cabbage,  see  Kohl-rabi. 

Turnip-cutters,  1 36  ;  Edgeworth's, 
137,  248. 

Turnip-rooted  cabbage,  see  Swede. 

Turnip,  swede,  see  Swede. 

Turnips,  119,  120,  121. 

Turnour,  Viscount,  medal  for  planting 
trees,  146. 

Turrell,  E.,  medal  for  etching  fluid 
for  steel,  218. 

Twining,  Elizabeth,  207. 

Twining,  T.,  member  of  Council,  362  ; 
pays  off  loan  owing  by  Society, 
397;  chairman  of  committee  on 
model  dwellings,  492. 

Tyers,  J.,  44. 

Tylney,  Earl,  31. 

Tytler,  G.,  208. 


Ultramarine,  prize  offered  for  arti- 
ficial, 279  ;  its  manufacture 
abroad,  279. 

Underwood,  T.,  208. 

Uninflammable  fabrics,  prizes  for, 
309- 

Union  of  Institutions,  see  Institu- 
tions. 

Unwin,  G.,  medal  for  reviving  tin 
trade  with  the  East,  102. 

Unwin,  S.,  prize  for  stocking-frame, 
263. 

Upper  Ossory,  Earl  of,  medal  for 
planting  trees,  146. 

Uzielli,  T.,  on  Committee  for  1862 
Exhibition,  419. 


Vacher,  C.,  208. 

Van  Diemen's  Land,  see  Tasmania. 

Van  Rymsdyk,  A.,  208. 

Vanilla,  West  Indian,  93. 

Vansittart,  R.,  44. 

Varley,  C.,  prize  for  improvements 
in  the  microscope,  288  ;  paper  on 
the  microscope,  288  n. 

Varnish,  medal  for  account  of  manu- 
facture of,  281 ;  offer  of  prizes 
for,  281. 

Vaughan,  Dr.  C.  J.,  acts  as  ex- 
aminer, 431. 

Vehicles,  awards  for  construction  of, 

255,  495,  496,  497- 

Vendramini,  Caroline,  208. 

Vendramini,  G.,  208. 

Vendramini,  Miss  R.,  208. 

Ventilation  of  mines,  Ryan's  system 
of.  253. 

Verdigris,  prizes  for  British,  278. 

Verney,  Earl,  32. 

Vetches,  120. 

Vice-Presidents,  number  and  duties 
of,  326. 

Vickers,  A.  G.,  208. 

Victoria,  Queen,  her  portrait  in 
Great  Room,  80,  400,  518;  address 
on  her  marriage,  326  ;  continues 
Prince  Consort's  prize  for  examin- 
ations, 433 ;  suggestion  that  she 
should  be  asked  to  become  Patron, 
446 ;  provides  scholarhip  at  Na- 
tional Training  School  for  Music, 
480;  Albert  Medal  presented  to,  514. 

Victoria  and  Albert  Museum,  see 
South  Kensington  Museum. 

Virginian  vineyards,  8$. 

Vivares,  Mary,  208. 

Vivares,  T.,  208. 

Vulcan  Medal,  192,  222,  318. 

Vulliamy,  B.,  prize  for  drawing,  208. 

Vulliamy,  L.,  medal  for  Architectural 
Design,  209. 

Wade,  E.,  pamphlet  on  planting 
trees,  145. 

Waldegrave,  Earl,  32. 

Wales,  map  of  North,  300. 

Wales,  Prince  Albert  Edward  of, 
see  Edward  vn. 

Wales,  Prince  George  of,  see  George 
v. 

Wales,  Prince  of  (King  George  iv.), 
his  portrait,  77  ;  proposal  that  he 
should  be  elected  Patron,  322. 

Walker,  Dr.  E.,  examiner  in  music, 
440. 

Wallich,  Dr.  N.,  superintendent  of 
Calcutta  Botanic  Gardens,  secre- 
tary to  committee  on  Indian  tea, 


5S6 


INDEX 


1 06;  medal  for  presenting  collec- 
tion of  Indian  woods,  107. 

Walpole,  Horace,  44. 

Walter,  John,  prints  vol.  iii.  of 
Transactions,  333  n. 

Waltham,  Baron,  34. 

Ward,  Baron,  34. 

Ward,  E.  M.,  prize  for  drawing,  209. 

Ward,  F.  S.,  209. 

Ward,  G.,  prize  for  Canadian  hemp, 
108. 

Ward,  J.,  45  ;  his  statue,  519. 

Ward,  J.  R.,  209. 

Ward,  Lord,  on  committee  of  first 
picture  exhibition,  228. 

Ward,  W.,  209. 

Ward,  W.  J.,  209. 

Waring,  J.  B.,  209. 

Warner,  W.,  medal  for  intaglio,  210, 
225. 

Warren,  C.,  medal  for  engraving  on 
steel,  210,  216  ;  his  etching  fluid, 
218. 

Warren,  Dr.  R.,  45. 

Warwick,  Earl  of,  32. 

Watches,  awards  for,  255. 

Water-colours,  prize  for,  213. 

Water-supply,  conferences  on,  488. 

Watson,  Dr.  Forbes,  on  ramie  fibre, 
103. 

Watson,.  J.  B.,  210. 

Watson,  Sir  W.,  45. 

Wax  portraits,  award  for,  224. 

Wax,  vegetable,  from  America,  91. 

Webb.  P.  C.,  45  ;  medal  for  planting 
trees,  147;  on  committee  of  first 
picture  exhibition,  228. 

Webber,  H.,  2 10. 

Webster,  Thomas,  chairman  of  com- 
mittee on  accounts,  346  ;  his 
efforts  to  reform  constitution  of 
Society,  346;  proposes  Whishaw 
as  secretary,  348  ;  dispute  with 
H.  Cole,  359  ;  not  re-elected  on 
Council,  359 ;  in  chair  of  committee 
when  exhibition  is  first  proposed, 
404 ;  on  first  exhibition  committee, 
404  w. 

Wedderburn,  A.,  45. 

Wedgwood,  T.,  reports  on  pottery 
glaze,  274 ;  reproduces  Lochee's 
medallions,  189. 

Weekly  Proceedings,  333,  373. 

Weight,  standard  of,  289. 

Weight  and  value  of  Society's  medals, 
318. 

Welch,  S.,  45. 

Weldon,  G.,  medal  for  machine  for 
planing  cast-iron,  254. 

Wellington  College,  share  of  Cantor 

^bequest,  451. 


Wentworth,  Baron,  34. 

Wentworth,  Viscount,  33. 

Werden,  Sir  John,  his  trustees  pur- 
chase Adelphi  Estate,  60. 

West,  Benjamin,  45  ;  invited  to 
paint  picture  for  Great  Room,  70 ; 
reports  on  Barry's  pictures,  80  ; 
lithographic  reproduction  of  draw- 
ing by  him,  305  ;  portrait  of  S. 
More,  327. 

West  Indies,  prizes  offered  in,  93,  105  ; 
introduction  of  economic  plants  by 
Bligh,  96.  See  also  Cuba,  Guada- 
loupe,  Jamaica,  Martinique,  St. 
Vincent,  San  Domingo,  Tobago, 
Trinidad. 

Westall,  W.,  210. 

Westgarth,  W.,  medal  for  hydraulic 
engine,  253. 

Westmacott,    R.,    Cantor    Lectures, 

453- 

Westmorland,  Earl  of,  32. 

Weymouth,  Viscount,  33. 

Whale-fishery,  prizes  for  use  of  gun- 
harpoon  in,  250 ;  Scoresby  on,  250 ; 
recent  account  of,  251  n. 

Wheatley,  F.,  prizes  for  drawing,  etc., 
210. 

Wheatley,  H.  B.,  on  the  Society's 
origin,  27  ;  his  history  of  the 
Adelphi,  59  ;  Life  of  Sir  Humphry 
Davy,  139  n.  ;  on  Society's  first 
exhibition  of  pictures,  228  n. 

Wheatstone,  Sir  Charles,  Albert 
medallist,  512. 

Whewell,  Dr.,  lectures  at  Educa- 
tional Exhibition,  371  ;  lectures  on 
1851  Exhibition,  378. 

Whishaw,  Francis,  describes  speci- 
mens of  gutta-percha,  104  ;  elected 
Secretary,  348  ;  his  book  on  Rail- 
ways, 348  ;  resigns,  349  ;  elected 
corresponding  secretary,  350  ; 
appointed  auditor,  350  ;  suggests 
holding  of  exhibitions,  350;  elected 
life-member,  350;  his  death,  350; 
proposes  annual  industrial  exhibi- 
tions, 403  ;  secretary  to  first 
exhibition  committee,  404  n. 

Whitbread,  S.,  45. 

White,  Thomas,  medals  for  planting 
trees,  147. 

White  lead,  substitute  for,  281. 

Whitefoord,  Caleb,  45  ;  proposes 
Prince  of  Wales  (George  iv.),  as 
patron,  322  ;  his  life  and  character, 
322  n. ;  obtains  Shipley's  portrait, 
and  presents  Templeman's,  518. 

Whitehall,  Duke  of  Richmond's 
school  in,  8,  152. 

Whitty,  prize  for  carpets,  268. 


INDEX 


557 


Whitworth,  B.,  subscribes  towards 
cost  of  memorial  tablets,  469. 

Whitworth,  Sir  Charles,  one  of  first 
vice-presidents,  17,  45. 

Whitworth,  Sir  Joseph,  prize  for  essay 
on  Thrift,  494;  Albert  medallist, 
512. 

Whyman,  J.,  prize  for  stocking- 
frame,  263. 

Whyman,  J.,  map  of  Leicester,  300. 

Wickstead,  P.,  210. 

Wilde,  Henry,  Albert  medallist, 
516. 

Wiles,  J.,  superintendent  of  East's 
Botanic  Garden  in  Jamaica,  99. 

Wilkes,  Israel,  45  ;  on  committee  of 
first  picture  exhibition,  228. 

Wilkes,  John,  45. 

Wilkins,  R.,  210. 

Williams,  C.  W.,  prize  for  essay  on 
prevention  of  smoke,  392. 

Williams,  P.,  210. 

Williams,  W.,  210. 

Williams  and  Woodin,  Society's 
landlords,  54. 

Williamson,  Prof.  A.,  lectures  at 
Educational  Exhibition,  371  ;  acts 
as  examiner,  432  ;  Cantor  Lectures, 

453- 

Willis,  Prof.,  lectures  on  1851  Exhibi- 
tion, 378. 

Willoughby  de  Broke,  Baron,  34. 

Willoughby  de  Parham,  Baron,  34. 

Wills,  T.,  first  secretary  of  Chemical 
Section,  456. 

Wilmot,  Sir  E.,  45. 

Wilmot,  Sir  John  Eardley,  45. 

Wilmot,  General  Eardley,  chairman 
of  Council,  448 ;  paper  on  school 
drill,  467. 

Wilson,  A.,  210. 

Wilson,  R.,  contributes  to  first 
exhibition  of  pictures,  229. 

Wilton,  Joseph,  45 ;  contributes  to 
first  exhibition  of  pictures,  etc., 
229. 

Wind-mills,  prizes  for,  247. 

Wine  from  America,  85  ;  Australian, 
in  ;  Cape,  112. 

Winkles,  H.,  211. 

Winkworth,  T.,  member  of  Council, 
362  ;  on  first  exhibition  committee, 
404  n. ;  in  chair  of  meeting  about 
1851  Exhibition,  412  n. ;  treasurer 
for  1851  Exhibition,  413  n.  ;  on 
committee  for  proposed  1861  Ex- 
hibition, 417. 

Winsor  utilises  by-products  from 
gas-making,  295. 

Winter  food  for  cattle,  118,  120. 

Winterton,  Baron,  34. 


Winterton,  Earl,  medals  for  sowing 
acorns,  etc.,  146. 

Wiseman,  Cardinal,  lectures  at  Educa- 
tional Exhibition,  371. 

Wollaston,  Dr.,  on  the  compound 
microscope,  288. 

Wood,  Sir  W.  P.,  member  of  Council, 
361  ;  proposes  scheme  for  sending 
artisan  reporters  to  Paris  Exhibi- 
tion, 1867,  483. 

Wood-carvers,  exhibition  by  Society 
of,  457. 

Wood-carving,  School  of,  founded, 
482  ;  moved  to  South  Kensington, 
482  ;  supported  by  city  companies 
and  London  County  Council,  482. 

Woodcroft,  B.,  Appendix  to  Reaping 
Machines,  131  n.  ;  models  pre- 
sented to,  381  ;  on  first  exhibition 
committee,  404  n. 

Wood-engraving,  first  offer  of  prizes 
for,  153  ;  conditions  of  award, 
157. 

Woodfall,  H.  S.,  46. 

Woodfall,  T.,  appointed  assistant 
secretary,  340  ;  his  office  abol- 
ished, 349. 

Woodhouse,  Miss  S.,  medal  for  grass 
for  straw-plait,  307. 

Woodin,  Society's  landlord,  54. 

Woods,  E.,  on  Grantham's  steam  car, 

495- 

Woods,  Joseph,  on  committee  for 
reorganising  Society,  346  ;  assists 
Whishaw's  exhibition  scheme,  403  ; 
on  first  exhibition  committee, 
404  n. 

Woods,  collection  of,  presented  to 
Society  by  Wallich  and  Baker, 
107. 

Wool,  Society  for  Improvement  of,  6  ; 
Tasmanian,  no  ;  from  New  South 
Wales,  no. 

Woollams  &  Co.,  prize  for  paper- 
hangings,  389. 

Woollett,  W.,  211  ;  contributes  to 
first  exhibition  of  pictures,  229. 

Woolner,  Thomas,  211. 

Wouldhave,  W.,  inventor  of  a  life- 
boat, 296. 

Wright,  P.,  medal  for  Canadian 
hemp,  108. 

Wright,  R.,  prizes  for  paintings,  211  ; 
invited  to  paint  picture  for  Great 
Room,  70. 

Wright,  R.  P.,  Cyclopedia  of  Agri- 
culture, 137^. 

Writing-case,  prize  for  cheap,  391. 

Wyatt,  Sir  Matthew  Digby,  lectures 
on  1851  Exhibition,  378;  reports 
on  French  Exhibition,  402  «.,  410  ; 


558 


INDEX 


Secretary  of  Society's  Executive 
Committee  for  1851  Exhibition, 
413  w. 

Wyatt,  H.,  211. 

Wyattand  Paul's  spinning  machinery, 
258. 

Wyon,  Allan,  engraves  die  for 
Society's  medal,  320. 

Wyon,  Anne,  medal  for  wax  flowers, 
211. 

Wyon,  Benjamin,  medals  for  die-en- 
graving, 211. 

Wyon,  James,  medal  for  miniature, 
211. 

Wyon,  Leonard,  engraves  Society's 
medal  with  head  of  Albert  Edward, 
Prince  of  Wales,  320. 

Wyon,  Thomas,  medals  for  die-en- 
graving, 21  r;  designs  Isis  Medal, 
318. 

Wyon,  William,  medals  for  die- 
engraving,  211  ;  designs  Ceres 
Medal,  318 ;  designs  Society's 
medals,  319. 

Yonge,  Sir  G.f  46. 
Yorkshire,  map  of,  298. 
Young,  Arthur,  refers   to  Rutland- 
shire Society,  6  ;   elected  member 


of  Economical  Society  of  St. 
Petersburg,  6  ;  portrait  by  Barry, 
77;  on  introduction  of  turnips,  120; 
medals  awarded,  120,  140;  com- 
ments on  the  work  of  the  Society, 
117;  chairman  of  committee  on 
agriculture,  117,  332  ;  Farmer's  Let- 
ters, 117,  136  n.,  144,  332;  Annals 
of  Agriculture,  117  «.,  132  n.,  332  ; 
use  of  oil-cake  as  cattle  food,  119  ; 
on  threshing  machines,  132  ;  on 
turnip-cutters,  136  ;  on  marl,  138  ; 
Secretary  to  Board  of  Agriculture, 
141  ;  on  timber  supplies,  144 ; 
account  of  Society's  examinations 
in  Latin,  312  n.  ;  on  Society's 
transactions,  329  ;  contributions 
to  Museum  Rusticum,  329  n.  ;  sug- 
gested publication  of  Transactions, 
332  ;  autobiography,  332. 

Young,  Dr.  George,  on  mango,  96  ; 
on  cinnamon,  97  ;  superintendent 
of  St.  Vincent  Botanic  Gardens, 
99  ;  medal  for  report,  99. 

Young,  J.,  prize  for  growing  opium, 
284. 

Zaffre,  see  Cobalt. 
Zincke,  C.  F.,  46. 


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