Spalding Gentlemen's Society

The Spalding Gentlemen's Society is a still-active learned society in Spalding, Lincolnshire, England, founded in 1710 by Maurice Johnson (1688–1755) of Ayscoughfee Hall. The Society's museum in Broad Street, Spalding, opened in 1911; additions were made in 1925 and in 1960.[1] The carved outside panels were by Jules Tuerlinckx of Malines, a Belgian refugee in the First World War.

This article is about the Lincolnshire society. For the Aberdeen-based text publication society, see Spalding Club.

History
A Letter from Cromwell Mortimer, M. D. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians London, Secretary to the Royal Society of London, Member of the Gentlemens Society at Spalding, &c. to William Bogdani, (14592358717)
Jetton of John Ray, who was grandfather of the Rev. Benjamin Ray, Perpetual Curate of Cowbit and Surfleet (elected a member of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society in 1723), and a relative of the founder, Maurice Johnson.

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. 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 functions were issued 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.[2]

Notable members

Noteworthy and early members of the 'Gentlemen's Society at Spalding' include:

  • Isaac Newton
  • William Stukeley
  • Joseph Banks
  • Alfred, Lord Tennyson
  • Alexander Pope
  • Alexander Gordon
  • George Vertue
  • John Anstis
  • John Gay
  • Richard Bentley
  • Lord Curzon

References
  1. http://www.spalding-gentlemens-society.org/the_museum_building.html
  2. "1710 – Spalding – Spalding Gentlemen's Society". History of Scholarly Societies. University of Waterloo. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  3. Stukeley, William (2010). Rob Iliffe; Scott Mandelbrote (eds.). Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's life. William Stukeley 1752 (AHRC Newton Papers Project: transcript ed.). University of Sussex: The Newton Project. pp. Source: Ms. 142, The Royal Society Library, London.
  4. Brown, Iain Gordon. "Gordon, Alexander". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11021. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  5. "Ayloffe, Joseph" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

Further reading
  • D. and H. Honeybone with M. Chisholm (2019), Against the Odds: the survival of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society. Shaun Tyas for the Spalding Gentlemen's Society. ISBN 9781907730740
  • Owen, Dorothy M.; Woodward, S.W., eds. (1981). The Minute-Books of The Spalding Gentlemen's Society, 1712-1755. Lincoln Record Society. 73. Fakenham.
  • Honeybone, D.; Honeybone, M., eds. (2010). The Correspondence of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society, 1710-1761. Lincoln Record Society. 99. Woodbridge: Boydell. ISBN 9780901503879.


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