Context, Image and Function: A Preliminary Enquiry into the Architecture of Scientific Societies

The British Journal for the History of Science

Volumn 19, Issue 1, 1986, Pages 89-113

  Forgan, Sophie ^a  

^a TEESSIDE UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ART; ARTICLE; HEALTH CARE ORGANIZATION; HISTORY; HISTORY OF MEDICINE; NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION; ORGANIZATION; UNITED KINGDOM;

ACADEMIES AND INSTITUTES; ART; FOUNDATIONS; GREAT BRITAIN; HISTORY OF MEDICINE, MODERN; SOCIETIES;

EID: 0022673695     PISSN: 00070874     EISSN: 1474001X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0007087400022779     Document Type: Article

References (66)

1. Inkster, Ian & Morrell, Jack, eds: Metropolis and Province: Science in British culture 1780–1850. London, 1983. See also the essay review by Miller, D.P.: The Social History of British Science: After the Harvest?. Soc. Stud. Sci. (1984), xiv, p. 115–135.
2. Schaffer, Simon: Natural Philosophy and Public Spectacle in the Eighteenth Century. Hist. Sci. (1983), xxi, p. 1 —45. See also Shapin, S.: The Audience for science in eighteenth century England'. Hist. Sci. (1974), xii, p. 85-121; Inkster, Ian: The Public Lecture as an Instrument of Science Education for Adults-the Case of Great Britain, c. 1750-1850. Paedagog. Hist. (1980), xx/1, p. 80–107. There are also useful essays in Inkster & Morrell (note 4), by Hays, J.N.: The London lecturing empire, 1800-50. Morrell, Jack: Economic and ornamental geology: the Geological and Polytechnic Society of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1837-53. Shapin, S.: Nibbling at the teats of science: Edinburgh and the diffusion of science in the 1830s. Kitteringham, G.S.: Studies in the Popularisation of Science in England 1800—30. unpub. PhD. thesis, University of Canterbury, 1981, covers lecturers and their activities.
3. Plate iv in Orange, A.D.: Philosophers and Provincials: The Yorkshire Philosophical Society from 1822–1844. York, 1973.
4. Kitson Clark, E.: The History of 100 Years of Life of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, Leeds, 1924, plate facing p. 22.
5. The Department of Maps & Prints, Guildhall Library, London, has several prints of the London Institution, including a watercolour (n.d., but c. 1824) showing a panoramic view of the Circus with the London Institution at the centre.
6. Neumann, Oscar: Defensible Space: People and Design in the Violent City. London, 1973, ch. 1.
7. Porter, W.S.: Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society: A Centenary Retrospect 1822—1922. Sheffield, 1923, p. 26—27.
8. Type used as in Pevsner, N.: A History of Building Types. London, 1976. For a discussion of building types and the city, see Olsen, D.: The Growth of Victorian London. London, 1976, ch. 3.
9. Markus, (n. 1), p. 15.
10. Schaffer, (n. 5), p. 11.
11. Porter, R., (n. 3), p. 35.
12. Figures taken from Chalklin, C.W.: Capital Expenditure on Building for Cultural Purposes in Provincial England, Business History, 1980/81, p. 51–70 (table p. 60), and from Orange (n. 6), Kitson Clark (n. 7), and Neve, M.: Science in a commercial city: Bristol 1820-60. In: Inkster & Morrell (n.4). Chalklin gives a slightly lower figure for Scarborough, excluding a sum spent on specimens, printing, stationery etc., which were included in the general building account in 1st Report of the Scarborough Philosophical Society, 1830.
13. Chalklin, (n. 15), p. 60.
14. This even happened in Leeds, when Benjamin Gott and John Marshall, both important manufacturers, each subscribed for five £100 shares to help meet the need for an additional £1200: Kitson Clark (n. 7), p. 21; Steele, E.D.: The Leeds Patriciate and the Cultivation of Learning, 1819-1905: A Study of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society. Proc. Leeds Phil. Lit. Soc.: Lit. Hist. Sect. xvi. pt ix, p. 183–202 (p. 185).
15. Minutes of the Council of the Scarborough Philosophical Society, MS vol (unpaginated), 1st mtg. 6 November 1829, 2nd mtg. 11 November 1829, 6th mtg.[n.d.], 9th mtg. 1 March 1830; Scarborough Central Library Archives. See also the carefully phrased appeal for funds by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society which began, The extensive and opulent County of York possesses the power of patronage to an ample degree. Report of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, 1825, p. 3–4.
16. Bud, R.F.: The Royal Manchester Institution. In: Cardwell, D.S.L. ed.: Artisan to graduate. Manchester, 1974, p. 119–133.
17. Browne, H.B.: Chapters of Whitby History 1823—1946. Hull, 1946, p. 15—17.
18. Taken from figures reproduced in Stephens, M.D. & Roderick, G.W.: Nineteenth Century Educational Finance: The Literary and Philosophical Societies. Ann. Sci. (1974), 31, iv, p. 335—349.
19. Act 6 & 7 Vict. c. 36. Arthur Ryland (1807—1877) was a successful solicitor who in 1853 promoted the formation of the Birmingham and Midland Institute.
20. 1st Report of the Scarborough Philosophical Society, 1830, p. 12.
21. Quoted in Waterhouse, R.E.: The Birmingham & Midland Institute. Birmingham, 1854, p. 58.
22. 1st Report Scarborough Phil. Soc., 1830, p. 13.
23. An exception was the Geological and Polytechnic Society of the West Riding of Yorkshire; see Morrell, Jack: Economic and Ornamental Geology. In: Inskter & Morrell (n. 4), p. 231—256.
24. Halifax Literary & Philosophical Society, Minute Book of Council, vol. 1830—189, p. 5; Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Archives, Misc. MS. 49/7.
25. The key work in this respect was Smith, W.: Strata identified by organized fossils. London, 1816—1819.
26. 1st Report Scarborough Phil. Soc., 1830, p. 15. See also Neve's remarks on the way that the Bristol Institution fostered a Christian conservative science (n. 15, p. 190).
27. As shown in Altick, R.D.: The Shows of London. Cambridge, Mass, 1978.
28. Quoted in N. Pevsner (n. 11), p. 130.
29. Tried in most societies with varying degrees of caution. Whitby limited free access by ticket to the first Monday in each month between 1100 and 1300; Browne (n. 20), p. 60.
30. Hole, James: An Essay on the History and Management of Literary, Scientific and Mechanics Institutions. 1853 (reprinted London 1970), p. 152–55.
31. Browne, (n. 20), p. 60—61.
32. Minutes, Scarborough Philosophical Society, 19th mtg.? Nov. 1830[n.d.].
33. W.S. Porter (n. 10), p.28-29.
34. Pope, W.B., ed.: The Diary of Benjamin Robert Hayden. 5 vols., Cambridge, Mass, 1960—1963, iv., p. 462.
35. R.I.B.A. Drawings Collection, Office of J.B. Papworth, MS plans 99/1—2. Described in McHardy, G.: Catalogue of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects. 1977, p. 38.
36. For details of the careers of Barry, Chantrell and Sharp, see Colvin, H.: A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600—1840. London, 1978.
37. Harper, R.: Victorian Architectural Competitions. London, 1983. A number of mechanics institutes, museums and university buildings were open to competition, especially later in the nineteenth century, though the built design was sometimes a composite of the assessors favourite entries.
38. Ashworth Underwood, E.: The Early Teaching of Anatomy at Padua, with special reference to a Model of the Padua Anatomical Theatre. Ann. Sci. (1963), 29, 1, p. 1-26.
39. Quoted in Jessie Dobson (n. 48), p. 41.
40. Garnett (n. 49), p. 195.
41. Ackermann: The Microcosm of London in Miniature. 1808, London, (reprint 1904), iii, p. 157.
42. Royal Society archives, MM 13.58. See plate 4, in Martin, D.C.: Former Homes of the Royal Society. In: The Royal Society at Carlton House Terrace London. booklet, 1967.
43. For a detailed study of the evolution of Methodist architecture and its relation to the beliefs and practice of Methodism, see Dolbey, George W.: The Architectural Expression of Methodism: the First Hundred Years. London, 1964.
44. Boas Hall, Marie: All Scientists Now: the Royal Society in the 19th Century. Cambridge, 1984, p. 3—4.
45. Swainson, William: A Preliminary Discourse of the Study of Natural History. In: The Cabinet Cyclopaedia conducted by Rev. Dionysius Lardner. London, 1834, p. 305–306.
46. Hall (n. 67), p. 69.
47. Royal Society Minutes of Council, iii, p. 323 (28 June 1866).
48. Chambers plan is reproduced in Evans (n. 44), pl. xxi, facing p. 177, and see engraving by Fairholt 1839, pl. 31, facing p. 257.
49. I am grateful to Professor Martin Rudwick for this information. See also Swainson (n. 68), p. 314.
50. Royal Society archives, MM 13.66, Memorandum by Mr Hardwick, 19 March 1859.
51. The Linnean changed its meeting to the first and third Thursdays of each month in order to co-ordinate its meeting with that of the Royal, so that members could take tea and talk after their respective meetings; Gage, A.J.: A History of the Linnean Society. London, 1938, p. 53.
52. Robert Brown, President of the Linnean, expressed a preference in 1852 for one central locality, and if possible under one roof. None of the major societies wished to be removed to South Kensington; Royal Society Minutes of Council, ii, p. 235 (26 November 1852). For similar sentiments later, see Nature, ii, p. 429 (29 September 1870).
53. Ibid., ii, p. 416—417 (14 January 1858).
54. Ibid., iii, p. 425–426 (18 June 1868).
55. Sheppard, F.H.W. ed.: Survey of London. London, 1963, 32, Parish of St. James, Westminster, pt. ii, p. 426.
56. Illustrated London News, 12 December 1863, p. 597; reproduced in The Record of the Royal Society of London, Royal Society, London, 4th edn., 1940, facing p.312.
57. MacLeod, R.M.: Whigs and savants: reflections on the reform movement in the Royal Society, 1830—48, In: Inkster & Morrell (n. 4), p. 55–90.
58. Royal Society archives, DM 2.37-38.
59. Berman, M., (n. 49): Chilton, D. & Coley, N.G.: The Laboratories of the Royal Institution in the Nineteenth Century. Ambix, (1980), xxvii.3, p. 173–203. Cutler, J.C.: The London Institution 1805—1933. unpub. PhD thesis, Leicester, 1967.
60. Weale, John: London Exhibited in 1851. London, 1851, p. 593.
61. Chilton & Coley (n. 74), p. 182–186.
62. See comments in Brock, W.H. & Meadows, A.J.: Physics, Chemistry and Higher Education in the U.K. Studies in Higher Education, (1977), ii.2, p. 109—124 (p. 120).
63. Robinson, N. & Forbes, E.G.: The Royal Society catalogue of portraits. Royal Society, London, 1980.
64. See for example the many illustrations in Robins, E.C.: Technical School and College Building, London, 1887.
65. Ruskin's ideas on architecture were first worked out in The Seven Lamps of Architecture, 1849, and Stones of Venice, 1851–1853.
66. Illustrated in Reid, D.B.: Textbook for Students of Chemistry. Edinburgh, 1836.