LITERARY, SCIENTIFIC AND ARTISTIC SOCIETIES.
BY SAM: TIMMINS.
The Chapter II., on “Education,” has included the more active and
valuable societies which have developed into important organizations
for the full and regular teaching of Literature, Science, and Art,
but it has been thought desirable to give a brief summary of the
local societies which for nearly a century have assisted in creating
the demand which the larger institutions have been established to
supply. Birmingham has not been so remarkable as some other towns for
its societies formed of lovers of literature and science, and it is
certainly remarkable, and almost reprehensible, that so large a centre
has never had a definite Literary Society or Literary Club, associating
all, and they are many, who are lovers of books in all departments,
and not merely of literature of a scientific, technical, and practical
kind. Such a society, or such a club, should certainly exist in a great
Midland town, as in Manchester, Liverpool, and other places.
=The Lunar Society= of the last century, which included among its
members or visitors, Priestley, Boulton, Watt, Darwin, Withering,
Keir, Galton, Sir Joseph Banks, Smeaton, Edgeworth, Day, Wedgwood,
Baskerville, was founded about 1765, and as the houses of the members
were distant from each other, and the roads dark and sometimes
dangerous at night, the meetings were held at “full moon,” hence
“The Lunatics” or “Lunar Society” derived its name. Its objects were
social and scientific rather than literary and it has left no literary
memorials of its meetings.
=Debating Societies.=--Among the earliest of the societies, common
in later days, and which were the more needful when newspapers were
few, were the Debating Societies, the first of which, the “Robin Hood
Free Debating Society,” was a tavern-society, founded in 1774, and
was followed in the same year by another, and probably a rival, or
seceded body, as a “Society for the Encouragement of Free and Candid
Disputation,” but both soon discussed themselves out of existence. In
1789 a “Society for Free Debate” was formed, and like the others it
discussed social, moral, and political questions, so that in 1792 the
magistrates interfered, on the ground that the recent riots should
discourage public discussions of dangerous subjects.
=Philosophical Institution.=--At the close of the century, about the
year 1794, a Philosophic and Artistic Society was proposed, and in
1800 the first steps were taken to found the Birmingham Philosophical
Institution, which was so successful that, in 1813, a suitable
building, with a lecture room for two hundred hearers, a news room, a
museum, and other necessary rooms, were erected, and were opened by a
lecture by Rev. J. Corrie, a friend and biographer of Priestley, in
October, 1814. This society flourished for many years, with lectures
from eminent men, a good library and museum, and was finally succeeded
by the Midland Institute on a much larger and more popular scale. One
of its notable practical uses was the erection of Mr. Follett Osler’s
first Anemometer, and excellent Clock for public convenience. For many
years papers were read and discussed by members, and published in
Transactions in which meteorological, industrial, and scientific facts
of historic importance have been preserved.
=Society of Arts and Exhibitions.=--In April, 1814, the “artists
and amateurs,” proposed to form a society, and to hold an annual
exhibition of pictures, and the promoters secured as honorary members,
Benjamin West, Sir J. Soane, J. M. W. Turner, John Flaxman, and
Richard Westmacott. The first exhibition was held in the “Academy
of Arts,”--a building still remaining in Union Passage--and proved
very attractive. In 1821, the Artistic Society proposed to expand
and to form a Society of Arts, and in 1822, the site of the present
large building (then temporary) was secured, and replaced, in 1827,
by a permanent building, chiefly from the liberality of Sir Robert
Lawley, who gave a large number of casts from antique, and in that
year the first great exhibition of pictures was held. As a proof of
the necessity of such an exhibition and of such a Society, it will be
worth while to quote the remarks of Catherine Hutton, the daughter of
the historian, herself a woman of good sense and good taste, since
she predicted that the proposed society would “die a natural death,”
that the “genius of the artists of Birmingham was more calculated to
paint tea boards than pictures,” and that the proposed rooms would soon
“serve for a Methodist Meeting House.” For more than sixty years since
that prophecy, the rooms have been used, with one interval, caused by
quarrels, for a series of exhibitions of paintings and drawings, not
only in autumn, but in spring exhibitions too, which secure some of the
best pictures by the foremost artists of the day.
=School of Medicine and Surgery.=--In 1828, the School of Medicine
and Surgery was begun in Snow Hill, by the late W. Sands Cox, and
was finally expanded into the Queen’s College, which has been
fully described, but the “Society” side of this and other similar
institutions, was originally a series of meetings of members, and not
any sort of college or school.
=Mechanics’ Institute and Artisans’ Library.=--The success of Dr.
Birkbeck’s popular institution in London led to the formation of a
Mechanics’ Institution in Birmingham, in 1825, and the establishment
of an Artisan’s Library. From various causes this society was not
successful, but it was one of the first attempts to reach the masses of
the people with literary and scientific teaching, and numerous classes
were well taught and gave valuable help to the young men of that day.
One of the most remarkable results of the Mechanics’ Institution, and
one of the causes, unfortunately, of its failure, was one of the first
of Industrial Exhibitions of manufactures and processes in 1840, and
followed by a second which was financially a failure. In 1841 another
“Institution” on a somewhat different plan was established under the
patronage of Lord John Manners and the “Young England” party as the
“Athenic Institute” for mental, moral, and physical improvement,
combined with rational amusements--athletic and others. In 1843 the
Polytechnic Institution followed and was carried on successfully till
1853 on rather broader lines than the Mechanics’ Institution, but it
attracted rather the middle than the humbler classes, and finally
failed, to be followed by the Midland Institute as previously described.
In 1850 an important society was founded in Birmingham to advocate the
establishment of “free, secular, and compulsory” education, and this
developed into the “National Public School Association,” and in 1867
into the “National Education League,” which was the most important
factor in the education of the country by the agitation which resulted
in the Elementary Education Act of 1870.
In 1852-53 another attempt was made to form a Literary and Scientific
Institution, to take up the work which the Mechanics’ Institution and
the Polytechnic Institution had failed to accomplish. The first public
help given was by one of the first public readings of the Christmas
Carol, by Charles Dickens, which produced for the three readings, £227.
19s. 9d., and continued the interest and help which Dickens had given
as President of the Polytechnic Institution some years before. From
this date the Midland Institute has most successfully provided for all
classes, by its literature and science classes, its public lectures,
and its musical and archæological sections, and has become one of the
most successful of all similar institutions.
=Magazines and Pamphlets.=--So early as 1764 a “Birmingham Register
and Entertaining Museum” had been published on the lines of the
Gentleman’s Magazine, and ten years later a “Medical Miscellany”
appeared which, however, did not live long, and no similar serial
appeared till 1817. During the whole of this period, and especially
just before or after the riots in 1791, the town was deluged with
pamphlets, chiefly on political subjects, and great feuds arose.
The pupils of the famous “Hazelwood School” issued the “Hazelwood
Magazine,” often illustrated with etchings and lithographs from 1822
to 1830, and the pupils of King Edward’s School have from time to
time had a “Magazine” of their own. This example was followed by the
“Proprietary School” on two or three occasions. “The Oscotian” in
1828 reached 3 vols., and was resumed later, and is still issued. For
several years, _circa_ 1830, several Magazines devoted to the drama
were published, and were useful in their day.
=Newspapers.=--The pamphlets of the last century were superseded by
the newspaper press; Birmingham, which had a “Journal” in 1731, and
a “Gazette” in 1741; had its first “Daily Press” in 1855, when the
taxes on knowledge were repealed, and “Daily Post” in 1857, and “Daily
Gazette” in 1862. In 1869, an attempt was made to establish a Midland
“Illustrated News,” which continued for some two years. In the same
year the first halfpenny evening paper appeared, the “Daily Mail,” and
in 1871, the “Birmingham Morning News” was established, with the late
George Dawson as its first editor.
=Magazines.=--Magazine literature has often been attempted since 1764,
but not successfully. In 1876, the “Birmingham Examiner,” a weekly
newspaper of politics and literature was tried for some months, and
about the same time the “Medical Review,” the “Midland Naturalist,”
and the “Central Literary Magazine,” were founded and flourish still.
An illustrated Magazine, “Mid-England” appeared in 1879, but failed to
secure the “Midland” readers; and the “Midland Antiquary,” devoted to
archæology, genealogy, and heraldry, since 1879.
=Debating Societies= have been numerous, and have generally held
their ground, and helped to train some of the best speakers and
debaters of our day. The Birmingham Debating Society was founded in
1846, and amalgamated with the Edgbaston Society in 1855. Parliamentary
Debating Societies--“echoes” of the House of Commons--have been
tried two or three times but without success, although flourishing
for some years. The Central Literary Association has been one of the
most long-lived and popular of debating societies, and its Magazine
has also been a marked success. In 1856 an Amateur Dramatic Club was
formed, and many very excellent performances were given. A Dramatic
Club, holding winter meetings, has been established since for the
reading of papers, and the celebration of the Shakespeare Anniversary;
and “Our Shakespeare Club” has met for more than thirty years as a
social rather than literary club, whose chief work was to found the
Shakespeare Memorial Library. A Graduates Club was founded by the late
Dr. C. Badham for social meetings of University Graduates; a Clef Club
has recently been opened for lovers of music; the Historical Society,
at Mason College, has been merged into the Philosophical Society, which
meets in the same building; the Natural History and Microscopical
Society has many and devoted members; the Law Society has its learned
discussions; the Medical Institute has its Library and Meetings; the
students of the Midland Institute and of Mason College have their
respective societies and magazines; the Archæological section of
the Institute has its meetings, excursions, and transactions; the
Natural History Society its numerous members, and its excursions and
magazine,--all being social as well as scientific, and helping to raise
the standard of taste and knowledge among all classes of the town.