Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society

*Memoirs and Proceedings*
Language	English
Edited by	Prof. Graham Booth
Publication details
History	1783–present
Frequency	Annually
Standard abbreviations;
ISO 4	Mem. Proc.
Indexing;
ISSN	0265-3575;

Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
Formation	28 February 1781; 243 years ago
Type	Learned society
Registration no.	235313
Legal status	Charity
Purpose	The Manchester Lit and Phil was established in 1781 with the object of promoting the advancement of education and public interest in any form of literature, science, arts or public affairs.
Headquarters	Manchester, UK
Region served	Manchester; Greater Manchester;
Membership	400
Official language	English
Activities	Research; Publications; Lectures; Events;
Collections	Library; Archives;
President (98th)	Peter Wright
Website	www.manliphil.ac.uk

The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, popularly known as the Lit. & Phil., is one of the oldest learned societies in the United Kingdom and second oldest provincial learned society (after the Spalding Gentlemen's Society).

Prominent members have included Robert Owen,^[1] John Dalton, James Prescott Joule, Sir William Fairbairn, Tom Kilburn, Peter Mark Roget, Sir Ernest Rutherford, Alan Turing, Sir Joseph Whitworth and Dorothy Hodgkin.^[2]

History

It was established in February 1781, as the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester,^[3] by Thomas Percival, Thomas Barnes, Thomas Henry, Thomas Butterworth Bayley and others.^[4] The first formal meeting of the society took place on 14 March 1781. Meetings were held in a back room of Cross Street Chapel until December 1799, after which the society moved into its own premises in George Street.^[5] John Dalton conducted his experiments at these premises.

The Society's original premises on George Street were destroyed during the Manchester Blitz (around January 1941), at which time its library comprised more than 50,000 volumes as well as historic artefacts, portraits, and archives.^[6]^[7] Its replacement (built in the 1960s) was constructed using high alumina cement (referred to as having "concrete cancer") and was demolished in the 1980s. It became a registered charity (No. 235313) in 1964.^[8]

Membership is open to anyone aged over 16 years and lectures are held both in person at venues in Manchester City Centre, and (since 2020) online. There are on average 30 lectures each season and non-members are welcome to attend. The society has more than 400 members.^[8]

The Society operates from an office situated in Colony Jactin House, Ancoats, Manchester, and has three permanent staff.^[9]

Activities

The Society organises a range of lectures, including the Wilde, Joule and Dalton Lectures and three lectures annually specifically for Young People. The most prestigious lectures are the Percival Lecture and the Manchester Lecture, and in some years the most distinguished speakers are presented with the Dalton Medal. Since the local universities ceased offering extra-curricular courses the Lit. & Phil. has seen an increase in both membership and in the attendance of non-members at lectures.^[10]

Members

Notable Members, in addition to those above, have included the Nobel Laureates, Sir Robert Robinson, Sir Norman Haworth, and Niels Bohr, as well as Chaim Weizmann, Hans Geiger, Sir William Roberts, Lyon, Lord Playfair, William Gaskell, Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney, Charles William Sutton, Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth, Joseph Jordan, Henry Moseley, Sir Adolphus William Ward, Stanley Jevons, James Prince Lee, Sir Edward Leader Williams, William Axon, Sir Henry Hoyle Howorth, Samuel Greg, Sir Edward Frankland, Samuel Hibbert-Ware and Moses Tyson.

Honorary Members have included Stephen Hawking, William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, Robert Bunsen, Sergey Kapitsa, Dmitri Mendeleev, Sir Cyril Hinshelwood, Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw, Jöns Jacob Berzelius and John Mercer.

Memoirs

The society's Memoirs and Proceedings (first published in 1783) was, at the time of its launch, the only regular scientific journal in the United Kingdom except for the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.^[11]

The Manchester Memoirs has been published continuously since the first edition.

It contains the transactions of the society (most notably the text of many recent lectures) and is distributed to members and to similar institutions and libraries throughout the world by subscription. Copies are also available for purchase by non-members.^[12]

Dalton Medal

Named in honour of the Society's longest-serving President, the scientist John Dalton, the Dalton Medal is a distinction rarely bestowed and is the Society’s highest award. It is given to those who have made a distinguished contribution to science.

Since 1898 the medal has been awarded on only fifteen occasions: all recipients have been Fellows of the Royal Society and many have been Nobel Laureates.

Several medallists have had Manchester and University of Manchester/Owens College connections with the Departments of Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry and Engineering.

So far, only one woman has been a recipient of this medal.^[13]

Recipients of the Dalton Medal
No.	Year	Name	Notes
1	1898	Henry Edward Schunck	English chemist and expert on natural dyestuffs. He was born in Manchester and lived in Kersal, Salford. He started his studies with William Henry. He bequeathed his laboratory to Owens College, Manchester and it was moved to Burlington Street (1906) where it is still known as the Schunck Building. The Schunck Library is in the Chemistry Department.
2	1900	Sir Henry Roscoe	English chemist noted for his work on the element vanadium and for photochemical studies. He was the grandson of William Roscoe of Liverpool (cousin of Stanley Jevons and uncle to Beatrix Potter). Educated at the Liverpool Institute for Boys and with Robert Bunsen in Heidelberg. Appointed 2nd Professor of Chemistry at Owens College, Manchester (1857–86), and MP for Manchester South (1885–95).
3	1903	Osborne Reynolds	British engineer, physicist and educator. He was Professor of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at Owens College, Manchester (1868–1904).
4	1919	Sir Ernest Rutherford	New Zealand physicist and is considered to be the father of nuclear physics. He was Langworthy Professor of Physics at the University of Manchester (1907–19) where he split the atom in a building on Coupland Street. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1908).
5	1931	Sir Joseph 'J. J.' Thomson	English experimental physicist born in Cheetham Hill, Manchester who enrolled at Owens College, Manchester (1870). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (1906). His son, Professor Sir George Paget Thomson, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics (1937).
6	1942	Sir Lawrence Bragg	Australian-born British physicist and X-ray crystallographer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (1915), with his father, and became its youngest ever recipient. He was Langworthy Professor of Physics at the University of Manchester (1919–37).
7	1948	Patrick Blackett	English experimental physicist and cosmologist. He was Langworthy Professor of Physics at the University of Manchester (1937–53). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (1948).
8	1966	Sir Cyril Hinshelwood	English physical chemist awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1956).
9	1981	Dorothy Hodgkin	British biochemist who developed protein crystallography and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1964).
10	1997	Sir Harold Kroto	English chemist famous for his discovery of fullerenes and is most famously associated with buckminsterfullerene C60 (buckyballs). Educated at the University of Sheffield, he was a great promoter of science education (particularly for young people) and an ambassador for the public's engagement with science. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1996).
11	2002	Sir Walter Bodmer	German-born British human geneticist who was educated at Manchester Grammar School.
12	2005	Sir Roger Penrose	English mathematical physicist, mathematician and philosopher of science, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (2020).
13	2009	Sir Bernard Lovell	English physicist and radio astronomer who established (and was the first Director of) the Jodrell Bank Observatory at the University of Manchester.
14	2012	Martin, Lord Rees of Ludlow	British cosmologist and astrophysicist. Born in Shropshire, he has been Astronomer Royal since 1995.
15	2016	Sir Konstantin Novoselov	Russian-British physicist, and Langworthy Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (2010).

Officers

Presidents

1781–82 Peter Mainwaring
1781–89 James Massey
1782–86 Dr Thomas Percival (I)
1789–1804 Dr Thomas Percival (II)
1805–07 Rev. George Walker
1807–09 Thomas Henry (I)
1809 Dr John Hull
1809–16 Thomas Henry (II)
1816–44 John Dalton
1844–47 Dr Edward Holme
1848–50 Eaton Hodgkinson
1851–54 John Moore
1855–59 Sir William Fairbairn, Bt
1860–62 James Prescott Joule (I)
1862–64 Edward William Binney (I)
1864–66 Dr Robert Angus Smith
1866–68 Dr Henry Edward Schunck (I)
1868–70 James Prescott Joule (II)
1870–72 Edward William Binney (II)
1872–74 James Prescott Joule (III)
1874–76 Dr Henry Edward Schunck (II)
1876–78 Edward William Binney (III)
1878–80 James Prescott Joule (IV)
1880–82 Edward William Binney (IV)
1882–84 Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe
1884–86 William Crawford Williamson
1886–87 Robert Dukinfield Darbishire
1887–88 Balfour Stewart
1888–90 Osborne Reynolds
1890–92 Dr Henry Edward Schunck (III)
1892–94 Prof. Sir Arthur Schuster
1894–96 Henry Wilde
1896–97 Dr Henry Edward Schunck (IV)
1897–99 James Cosmo Melvill
1899–1901 Prof. Sir Horace Lamb
1901–03 Charles Bailey
1903–05 Prof. Sir William Boyd Dawkins
1905–07 Sir William Henry Bailey
1907–09 Prof. Harold Baily Dixon (I)
1909–11 Francis Jones
1911–13 Prof. Frederick Ernest Weiss
1913–15 Francis Nicholson
1915–17 Prof. Sydney John Hickson
1917–19 William Thomson
1919 Prof. Sir Grafton Elliot Smith
1919–21 Prof. Sir Henry Alexander Miers
1921–23 Thomas Alfred Coward
1923–25 Prof. Harold Baily Dixon (II)
1925 Rev. Aloysius Laurence Cortie
1925–27 Herbert Levinstein
1927–29 Prof. Sir William Lawrence Bragg
1929–31 Charles Edmond Stromeyer
1931–33 Prof. Bernard Mouat Jones
1933–35 John Allan
1935–37 Prof. Reginald William James
1937–39 Robert Henry Clayton
1939–40 Prof. Douglas Rayner Hartree
1940–44 Prof. Herbert John Fleure
1944–46 Prof. Michael Polanyi
1946–48 Prof. Thomas Bertram Lonsdale Webster
1949–50 Dr Eric John Francis James
1950–52 Horace Hayhurst (I)
1952–54 Prof. Sir Geoffrey Jefferson
1954–56 Sir Peter Percy F. R. Venables
1956–58 Dr F. C. Toy
1958–60 C. E. Young
1960–62 Prof. Henry Solomon Lipson (I)
1962–64 Prof. Leonard Cohen
1964–66 Margaret Pilkington
1966–67 Horace Hayhurst (II)
1967–69 Brian Rodgers
1969–71 Dr George N. Burkhardt
1971–73 Dr George James Kynch
1973–75 Dr Edward Noah Abrahart
1975–77 Anthony Edmund Rivers Goulty
1977–79 Prof. Henry Solomon Lipson (II)
1979–81 Harry M. Fairhurst
1981–83 David G. Wilson
1983–85 Dr Lionel J. R. Postle
1985–87 Prof. Sir Netar P. Mallick (I)
1987–89 Dr Brian S. H. Rarity
1989–91 Philip G. Livesey
1991–93 Prof. Donald Stephen Lowell Cardwell
1993–95 Dr Edward Fletcher Cass
1995–97 Prof. Alexander Donnachie
1997–99 Dianne Wilson
1999–2001 Iain E. Gillespie
2001–03 Angus G. D. Yeaman
2003–05 Keith D. Buckley
2005–07 Vivienne Blackburn
2007–09 Mary, Lady Mallick
2009–11 David J. Higginson
2011–14 Prof. Kenneth M. Letherman
2014–16 Prof. Sir Netar P. Mallick (II)
2016–18 Dr Diana M. Leitch
2018–21 Dr Susan R. Hilton
2021–23 Ian Cameron
2023–present Peter Wright

Secretaries

1781–85 George Bew
1781–88 Thomas Henry
1785–87 Rev.Thomas Barnes
1787–92 Dr John Ferriar
1789–91 James Watt Jnr
1791–93 William Simmons
1792–93 Thomas Henry Jnr
1793–94 Samuel Harvey
1793–96 Dr Samuel Argent Bardsley
1794–98 Dr Edward Holme
1797–1800 William Henry
1798–1806 Dr John Hull
1800–09 John Dalton
1807–16 Rev. William Johns
1809–10 Dr William Winstanley
1810–20 John Atkinson Ransome
1817–22 Thomas Henry Robinson
1821–42 Peter Clare
1822–37 Rev. John James Tayler
1838–44 Joseph Atkinson Ransome
1843–48 John Davies
1844–46 John Holt Stanway
1846–50 James Prescott Joule
1848–52 Edward William Binney
1851–55 Rev. Henry Halford Jones
1852–57 Dr Robert Angus Smith
1855–61 Dr Henry Edward Schunck
1857–60 Prof. Richard Copley Christie
1860–74 Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe
1861–85 Joseph Baxendell
1874–84 Prof. Osborne Reynolds
1884–86 James Thomson Bottomley
1885–88 Prof. Sir Arthur Schuster
1886–96 Frederick James Faraday
1888–1900 Reginald Felix Gwyther
1896–1906 Francis Jones
1900–01 Sir Alfred William Flux
1901–05 Charles H. Lees
1905–08 Prof. Frederick William Gamble
1906–19 R. L. Taylor
1908–09 C. Gordon Hewitt
1909–20 Henry George Albert Hickling
1919–22 Hubert Frank Coward
1920–22 Prof. Tom Hatherley Pear
1991–95 Charles J. E. Kempster
1991–94 Mary, Lady Mallick
1995–96 Susan C. Diggines
1997–2001 Dr Ronald E. Catlow
2001–04 Prof. Alexander Donnachie
2001–02 Jean M. Thomson
2004–05 John J. Moscrop
2005–07 Jane F. Hamilton
2005–08 Patricia M. Verdin
2012–16 John Spencer Buckley
2014–16 David Astbury
2016–20 Peter G. Hilton
2020–21 Dr Robert Stansfield-Cudworth
2021–22 Dr F. Peter Fenn
2022–present Niall Power

Treasurers

1783–89 Isaac Moss
1790–91 Thomas Maxwell
1791–95 Benjamin Arthur Heywood
1796–1814 Nathaniel Heywood
1815–50 Sir Benjamin Heywood, Bt
1851–54 George Wareing Ormerod
1855–62 Henry Mere Ormerod
1863–68 Robert Worthington
1868–73 Thomas Carrick
1873–76 Samuel Broughton
1877–95 Charles Bailey
1896–1901 John Jackson Ashworth
1901–02 Charles Bailey
1902–10 Arthur McDougall
1910–21 W. Henry Todd
1921–22 Robert Henry Clayton
2011–13 Michael N. G. Evans
2013–16 David S. Brown
2014–15 David Costley-Wood
2016–21 Greg Mauchline
2016–22 Trevor Rees
2022–present Christine Mbarga

References

Notes

^ Manchester 1786–1799, Robert Owen Museum, archived from the original on 13 January 2023, retrieved 26 August 2011
^ About us, Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, archived from the original on 28 April 2009, retrieved 10 January 2010
^ Makepeace 1984, p. 19
^ The making of a social reformer at OpenLearn
^ Makepeace 1984, p. 75
^ Sheehan 1941
^ "Scientific Treasures Destroyed: Manchester's Raid Losses". The Observer. 19 January 1941. p. 7.
^ ^a ^b "THE MANCHESTER LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY - Charity 235313". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
^ "Organisation". The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
^ "Events". The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
^ Makepeace 1984, p. 20
^ "Library & Archives". The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. 10 May 2016. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
^ Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, archived from the original on 13 January 2023, retrieved 17 July 2016

Bibliography

The Complete List of the Members & Officers of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, from its institution on February 28th, 1781, to April 28th, 1896, Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, 1896
Makepeace, Chris E. (1984), Science and Technology in Manchester: Two Hundred Years of the Lit. and Phil., Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society Publications, ISBN 0-902428-04-7
Pickering, Paul; Tyrell, Alex (2000), The People's Bread: A History of the Anti-Corn Law League, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN 978-0-567-20497-4
Sheehan, Donal (December 1941), "The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society", Isis, 33 (4): 519–523, doi:10.1086/358605, JSTOR 330627, S2CID 144796475