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The Lunar Society was a dinner club and informal learned society
Learned society

A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline or group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies, such as the Poland Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana , the Italian Acc...
 of prominent industrialists, natural philosophers
Natural philosophy

Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the Objectivity study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science....
 and intellectuals who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 in Birmingham
Birmingham

Birmingham is a city status in the United Kingdom and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. Birmingham is the most populous of England's English Core Cities Group, and is the List of United Kingdom cities by population British city after London, with a population of 1,010,200 ....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
. At first called the Lunar Circle, 'Lunar Society' became the formal name by 1775. The name arose because the society would meet during the full moon
Full moon

Full moon is a lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. More precisely, a full moon occurs when the geocentric apparent longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180 degrees; the Moon is then in opposition with the Sun....
, when the extra light made the journey home easier and safer (in the absence of street lighting). The members cheerfully referred to themselves as "lunaticks", a pun on lunatic
Lunatic

A lunatic is a commonly used term for a person who is mental illness, dangerous, foolish or unpredictable: a condition once called lunacy....
s.






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The Lunar Society was a dinner club and informal learned society
Learned society

A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline or group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies, such as the Poland Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana , the Italian Acc...
 of prominent industrialists, natural philosophers
Natural philosophy

Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the Objectivity study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science....
 and intellectuals who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 in Birmingham
Birmingham

Birmingham is a city status in the United Kingdom and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. Birmingham is the most populous of England's English Core Cities Group, and is the List of United Kingdom cities by population British city after London, with a population of 1,010,200 ....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
. At first called the Lunar Circle, 'Lunar Society' became the formal name by 1775. The name arose because the society would meet during the full moon
Full moon

Full moon is a lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. More precisely, a full moon occurs when the geocentric apparent longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180 degrees; the Moon is then in opposition with the Sun....
, when the extra light made the journey home easier and safer (in the absence of street lighting). The members cheerfully referred to themselves as "lunaticks", a pun on lunatic
Lunatic

A lunatic is a commonly used term for a person who is mental illness, dangerous, foolish or unpredictable: a condition once called lunacy....
s. Venues included Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Darwin

Erasmus Darwin , was an England physician, natural philosopher, physiologist, abolitionist, inventor and poet. He was one of the founder members of the Lunar Society, a discussion group of pioneering industrialists and natural philosophers....
's home in Lichfield, Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton

Matthew Boulton was an England manufacturer and engineer and a key member of the Lunar Society....
's home, Soho House
Soho House

Soho House , Matthew Boulton's home in Handsworth, West Midlands, Birmingham, England, is now a museum , celebrating his life, his partnership with James Watt and his membership of the Lunar Society....
, and Great Barr Hall
Great Barr Hall

Great Barr Hall is an 18th century mansion situated at Pheasey, Walsall, on the border with Great Barr, Birmingham, West Midlands , England. It is a Grade II* listed building....
.

Members

The members of the Lunar Society were very influential in Britain. Amongst those who attended meetings more or less regularly were Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton

Matthew Boulton was an England manufacturer and engineer and a key member of the Lunar Society....
, Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Darwin

Erasmus Darwin , was an England physician, natural philosopher, physiologist, abolitionist, inventor and poet. He was one of the founder members of the Lunar Society, a discussion group of pioneering industrialists and natural philosophers....
, Samuel Galton Junior, James Keir
James Keir

James Keir Fellow of the Royal Society , chemist, geologist, industrialist and inventor, was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland. Keir was an important member of the Lunar Society....
, Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley

Joseph Priestley was an 18th-century British theologian, English Dissenters clergyman, Natural philosophy, educator, and Political philosophy who published over 150 works....
, Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood

Josiah Wedgwood was an England potter, credited with the industrial process of the manufacture of pottery. He was a member of the Darwin-Wedgwood family, most famously including his grandson, Charles Darwin....
, James Watt, John Whitehurst
John Whitehurst

John Whitehurst Royal Society of Cheshire, England was a clockmaker and scientist, and made significant early contributions to geology. He was an influential member of the Lunar Society....
 and William Withering
William Withering

William Withering was an England botanist, geologist, chemist, physician and the discoverer of digitalis....
.

More peripheral characters and correspondents included Sir Richard Arkwright
Richard Arkwright

Sir Richard Arkwright , was an England who is credited for inventing the spinning frame ? later renamed the water frame following the transition to Hydropower....
, John Baskerville
John Baskerville

John Baskerville was an English businessman, in areas including japanning and papier-m?ch?, but he is best remembered as a printer and typographer....
, Thomas Beddoes
Thomas Beddoes

Thomas Beddoes , English physician and scientific writer, was born at Shifnal in Shropshire. He was a reforming practitioner and teacher of medicine, and an associate of leading scientific figures....
, Thomas Day
Thomas Day

Thomas Day , was a Great Britain author. He is most well-known for the children's book The History of Sandford and Merton which emphasized Rousseauvian educational ideals....
, Richard Lovell Edgeworth
Richard Lovell Edgeworth

Richard Lovell Edgeworth was an England writer and inventor....
, Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and Printer , Satire, list of political philosophers, politician, scientist, inventor, activism, statesman, and diplomacy....
, Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States , the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the United States for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States....
, Anna Seward
Anna Seward

Anna Seward was an England poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield....
, William Small
William Small

William Small was born in Carmyllie, Forfarshire , Scotland, the son of a Presbyterian minister, James Small and his wife Lillias Scott. He attended Dundee Grammar School, and Marischal College, Aberdeen where he received an MA in 1755....
, John Smeaton
John Smeaton

John Smeaton, Fellow of the Royal Society, was a civil engineer – often regarded as the "father of civil engineering" – responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses....
, William Strutt
William Strutt (inventor)

William Strutt Fellow of the Royal Society, was a cotton spinner in Belper, England.Strutt was the first son of Jedediah Strutt and, after a good education, joined his father's business at the age of fourteen....
, Thomas Wedgwood
Thomas Wedgwood

Thomas Wedgwood may refer to several members of the Wedgwood family of famous potters, it was a name used for the first son, giving the line:* Thomas Wedgwood I ...
, John Wilkinson
John Wilkinson (industrialist)

John "Iron-Mad" Wilkinson was an England industrialist who suggested the use of cast iron for many roles where other materials had previously been used....
, Joseph Wright
Joseph Wright of Derby

Joseph Wright , styled Wright of Derby, was an England landscape and portrait Painting. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution."...
, James Wyatt
James Wyatt

James Wyatt Royal Academy , was an England architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the Neoclassicism style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the Gothic revival....
, Samuel Wyatt
Samuel Wyatt

Samuel Wyatt was a member of a leading family of 18th and 19th century English architects....
, and Staffordshire member of parliament
Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators....
 and investor John Levett
John Levett

John Levett of Wychnor Hall , Staffordshire, was an English landowner and investor, and a Tory member of Parliament for Lichfield, Staffordshire for one term only ....
.

Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier

Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier , the Fathers_of_scientific_fields#Chemistry, was a French people noble prominent in the histories of chemistry and biology....
 frequently corresponded with various members of the group, as did Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and Printer , Satire, list of political philosophers, politician, scientist, inventor, activism, statesman, and diplomacy....
, who also visited them in Birmingham
Birmingham

Birmingham is a city status in the United Kingdom and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. Birmingham is the most populous of England's English Core Cities Group, and is the List of United Kingdom cities by population British city after London, with a population of 1,010,200 ....
 on several occasions.

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

Both of naturalist Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin Royal Society was an English people natural history who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolution over time from common descent, through the process he called natural selection....
's grandfathers (Erasmus Darwin and Josiah Wedgewood) were members of the Lunar Society.

Among memorials to the Society and its members are the Moonstones
Lunar Society Moonstones

The Moonstones are a set of eight carved sandstone memorials to various members of the Lunar Society. Made in 1998, they can be viewed in the grounds of the Asda supermarket in Queslett, Great Barr, Birmingham, England....
; two statues of Watt and a statue of Boulton, Watt and Murdoch
Boulton, Watt and Murdoch

The gilding bronze statue of Matthew Boulton, James Watt and William Murdoch by William Bloye and Raymond Forbes-Kings stands on a plinth of Portland stone, outside the old Register Office on Broad Street, Birmingham in Birmingham, England....
, by William Bloye
William Bloye

William James Bloye was an England sculpture, active in Birmingham either side of World War II.He studied, and later, taught at the Birmingham School of Art, where his pupils included Raymond Mason and Gordon Herickx....
; and the museum at Soho House – all in Birmingham
Birmingham

Birmingham is a city status in the United Kingdom and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. Birmingham is the most populous of England's English Core Cities Group, and is the List of United Kingdom cities by population British city after London, with a population of 1,010,200 ....
, England.

Modern Lunar Society

In more recent times a new was formed in Birmingham
Birmingham

Birmingham is a city status in the United Kingdom and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. Birmingham is the most populous of England's English Core Cities Group, and is the List of United Kingdom cities by population British city after London, with a population of 1,010,200 ....
, England by a group led by Dame Rachel Waterhouse. Its aim is to play a leading part in the development of the city and the wider region.

See also

  • Scottish Enlightenment
    Scottish Enlightenment

    The Scottish Enlightenment was the period in 18th century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments....
  • Science and invention in Birmingham
    Science and invention in Birmingham

    Birmingham is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom. It is one of the country's principal industrial centres and has an impressive history of industrial and scientific innovation....


Further reading


Reprint: ISBN 0416080103

External links


  • (from the Birmingham Stories website)