The Lunar Men: The Friends Who Made the Future 1730-1810

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This was no esoteric, academic, other wordly gathering of people. These fine minds came together to apply their knowledge or the knowledge of others to the newly emerging industrial and manufacturing world. They knew they and Britain were on the cusp of momentous change and they wanted to harness it for the good of mankind. They saw the Industrial Revolution as an opportunity to do a great deal of good for a great number of people. By pulling together all the threads they believed that everyone could benefit from a more enlightened society brought about by the sharing and application of brilliant ideas and processes. Despite this uncertainty, fourteen individuals have been identified as having verifiably attended Lunar Society meetings regularly over a long period during its most productive eras: these are Matthew Boulton, Erasmus Darwin, Thomas Day, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Samuel Galton, Jr., Robert Augustus Johnson, James Keir, Joseph Priestley, William Small, Jonathan Stokes, James Watt, Josiah Wedgwood, John Whitehurst and William Withering. [8] Benjamin Franklin The list goes on: the astronomer William Herschel, who discovered the planet Uranus. He was a also a famous organist. John Smeaton, designer of the Eddystone lighthouse and the most advanced engine designer before Watt. The Lunar Society, or Lunar Circle as it was first called, was one such club. It met in and around Birmingham, England between 1765 and 1813. It was the members of this club however, that would set it apart from any other. They cheerfully referred to themselves as the ‘lunatics’, but this could not have been much further from the truth, as the revolutionaries involved would change the face of the world forever.

Erasmus Darwin (1731 – 1802), poet, inventor and botanist. He published a theory of evolution 60 years before his grandson Charles. He developed a steering system that was used by Henry Ford and a mechanical copying machine. A visionary, who predicted the use of steam powered propulsion. The Lunar Society, in collaboration with specialist solicitors VWV, has drawn together a varied panel to celebrate the way that the car and other forms of transport have shaped Birmingham and the West Midlands, and to explore the changes required to deliver mobility and urban wellbeing in years to come. An extension of the patent to 1800 resulted in success and wealth. Watt developed the concept of horsepower and the SI unit of power, the watt, was named after him. Lunar Society" redirects here. For society on the Moon, see Colonization of the Moon. For the society promoting colonization of the Moon, see Lunar Explorers Society.What ran through it was a simple faith: the good life is more than material decency, but the good life must be based on material decency. The nature of the group was to change significantly with the move to Birmingham in 1765 of the Scottish physician William Small, who had been Professor of Natural Philosophy at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. There he had taught and been a major influence over Thomas Jefferson, and had formed the focus of a local group of intellectuals. His arrival with a letter of introduction to Matthew Boulton from Benjamin Franklin was to have a galvanising effect on the existing circle, which began to explicitly identify itself as a group and actively started to attract new members. [29] Porter, Roy (2000), Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World, London: Penguin Books (published 2001), ISBN 0-14-025028-X

Schofield, R. E., The Lunar Society at Birmingham: a social history of provincial science and industry in eighteenth-century England, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963. The Lunar Society bringing together brilliant minds happened because of a full moon. Those who joined together to become the ‘Lunar Circle’ or ‘Lunar Club’ as it was formerly known in 1775. Ben Franklin had helped to set the pattern very early in the game. His life was centered both on revolution and on tying scientific knowledge to practical social change. And The American Philosophical Society started out as his study group. It comes as a jolt to see these dedicated capitalists as part of a revolutionary cabal. But capitalism was revolution in the late eighteenth century. When this group of writers, intellectuals, scientists, and industrialists consciously joined forces, it was precisely because they meant to shape a decent life for everyone.

Yet it wasn’t until the untimely death of Dr Small in 1775 that the group of friends decided to meet monthly on the Sunday nearest to the full moon, so as to have enough light to ride home by. They had dinner at two and would continue until at least eight in the evening. As well as meeting they would often write to each other. When Darwin was unable to attend due to a fever he wrote a letter of lament for his absence: The Lunar Society of Birmingham met monthly in the 1780s. It was called the Lunar Society because it met during the full moon. That way, roads were better lit for members who had to travel at night. Watt became interested in steam power whilst working as an instrument maker at the University of Glasgow. He saw that engine designs wasted a great deal of energy by repeatedly cooling and reheating the cylinder. Watt introduced a design enhancement, the separate condenser, which avoided this waste of energy and improved the power, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of steam engines. Eventually he adapted his engine to produce rotary motion, greatly broadening its use beyond pumping water. It was only when he went into partnership with Matthew Boulton that Watt was able to make his invention commercially viable. Watt’s previous supporter was declared bankrupt and Matthew Boulton, who at this time owned the Soho Foundry works, acquired his patent rights. The Boulton Watt partnership lasted 25 years. Jones, Peter M. (2008), Industrial Enlightenment: Science, technology and culture in Birmingham and the West Midlands, 1760–1820, Manchester: Manchester University Press, ISBN 978-0-7190-7770-8 It comes as a jolt to see these dedicated capitalists as part of a revolutionary cabal. But in 1785 capitalism was revolution. When these late-18th-century intellectuals and industrialists consciously joined forces, it was because they wanted to shape a decent life -- for everyone.