The Spalding Gentlemen's Society is a
learned society
A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership m ...
based in
Spalding,
Lincolnshire, England, concerned with cultural, scientific and
antiquarian subjects. It is Britain's oldest such provincial body, founded in 1710 by
Maurice Johnson (1688–1755) of
Ayscoughfee Hall
Ayscoughfee Hall is a grade I listed building and modest associated parkland in central Spalding, Lincolnshire, England, and is a landmark on the fen tour.
History
The house, currently a museum, was built for a local wool merchant, trad ...
. Membership is open to anyone aged 18 or over: the term "gentlemen" in the title is historical – there is no discrimination between men and women. Its
Grade II listed museum in Broad Street, Spalding, was designed by
Joseph Boothroyd Corby and opened in 1911; additions to the building ensued in 1925 and 1960. The carved outside panels were by Jules Tuerlinckx of
Malines, a
Belgian refugee in the First World War.
History
The Spalding Gentlemen's Society started in 1710 with informal meetings of a few gentlemen at a local
coffee house in Spalding called Youngers. Many
gentlemen's clubs formed in this way around that time. They talked about local antiquities and discussed the popular London newspaper ''
The Tatler
''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...
''. In 1712 the society was organised in a more formal way as a ''Society of Gentlemen, for the supporting of mutual benevolence, and their improvement in the liberal sciences and in polite learning''. Officers were appointed and minutes were kept.
Francis Scott, 2nd Duke of Buccleuch (1695–1751), became Patron in 1732.
Records of the society's earliest activities have been published by the
Lincoln Record Society as ''The Correspondence of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society, 1710–1761'' and ''Minute-Books of The Spalding Gentlemen's Society, 1712–1755''. Later works appear in catalogues as produced by "Spalding Gentleman's Society" in 1892 and 1893.
Notable members
Noteworthy and early members of the "Gentlemen's Society at Spalding" include:
*Sir
Isaac Newton. Stukeley's unpublished memoir of Newton mentions his joining the society, and making a substantial donation of books.
*
Ayuba Suleiman Diallo
Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (17011773), also known as Job Ben Solomon, was a prominent Fulani Muslim prince from West Africa who was kidnapped to the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade, having previously sold slaves himself. Born in Bundu, Sene ...
, freed slave, Muslim cleric and aristocrat from Senegal
*Dr
William Stukeley, cleric and antiquary
*Sir
Hans Sloane, President of the
Royal Society, whose museum and library formed the nucleus of the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
*
"Honest Tom" Martin, antiquary
*
Alexander Pope, poet
*
Alexander Gordon Alexander Gordon may refer to:
* Alexander Gordon, 1st Earl of Huntly (died 1470), Scottish magnate
* Alexander Gordon (bishop of Aberdeen) (died 1518), Precentor of Moray and Bishop-elect of Aberdeen
* Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly (died ...
, antiquary
*Sir
Joseph Banks, naturalist and botanist
*
Emanuel Mendes da Costa
Emanuel Mendes da Costa (5 June 1717 – 31 May 1791) was an English botanist, naturalist, philosopher, and collector of valuable notes and of manuscripts, and of anecdotes of the literati. Da Costa became infamous for embezzling funds while ...
, botanist and conchologist
*Sir
George Gilbert Scott,
Gothic revival architect
*Alfred,
Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
, Poet Laureate
*
George Vertue
George Vertue (1684 – 24 July 1756) was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period.
Life
Vertue was born in 1684 in St Martin-in-the-Fields, ...
, engraver
*
Joseph Ayloffe
Sir Joseph Ayloffe, 6th Baronet FRS, FSA (1708 – 19 April 1781, London) was an English antiquary.
Life
He was the great-grandson of Sir William Ayloffe, 1st Baronet, through his third wife (Alice, daughter of James Stokes of Stoke near Cov ...
, antiquary
*
John Anstis, F.R.S.
Garter King of Arms
*
John Gay, the poet
*Rev.
Richard Bentley, D.D., classical scholar
*Captain
John Perry, engineer
*
Pishey Thompson
Pishey Thompson (1784–1862) was an English publisher and antiquarian writer, known as a historian of Boston, Lincolnshire. He spent the years 1819 to 1846 in the United States.
Life
Thompson was born at Peachey Hall, Freiston, near Boston, Linco ...
, historian of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
*
Andrew Michael Ramsay, Scottish writer
*
Lord Curzon of Kedleston
*
Lord Peckover, Quaker banker and philanthropist of Wisbech
*
Lord Ancaster, the Society's Patron from 1960 to 1983
*
Francis Bellinger, LRCP, (d. 1721), English physician
Gallery
File:Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton (4670221).jpg, Isaac Newton
File:Stukeley William.jpg, William Stukeley
File:Joseph Banks 1810.jpg, Joseph Banks
File:Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson - Project Gutenberg eText 17768.jpg, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
File:AlexanderPope.jpg, Alexander Pope
File:Alexander Gordon, 2nd Duke of Gordon, after Godfrey Kneller.jpg, Alexander Gordon
File:George Vertue by Richardson.jpg, George Vertue
File:John Anstis Garter.jpg, John Anstis
File:John Gay - Project Gutenberg eText 13790.jpg, John Gay
File:Richard Bentley - Imagines philologorum.jpg, Richard Bentley
File:Li Hung Chang, Lord Salisbury, Lord Curzon-2.jpg, Lord Curzon
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*
*
The Gentlemen's Society at Spalding: its origin and progress (1851)Bound with a catalogue of the society's library, 1893
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spalding Gentlemen's Society
1710 establishments in England
Scientific organizations established in 1710
Clubs and societies in England
Culture in Lincolnshire
History of Lincolnshire
Regional and local learned societies of the United Kingdom
Science and technology in Lincolnshire
Spalding, Lincolnshire
Organisations based in Lincolnshire
Scientific societies based in the United Kingdom
Museums in Lincolnshire