Editing Lunar Society of Birmingham (section)

==Membership and status==
[[File:Matthew Boulton - Carl Frederik von Breda.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Matthew Boulton]]]]The Lunar Society evolved through various degrees of organisation over a period of up to fifty years, but was only ever an informal group. No constitution, minutes, publications or membership lists survive from any period, and evidence of its existence and activities is found only in the correspondence and notes of those associated with it.<ref name="Schofield 1957 410–411">{{Harvnb|Schofield|1957|pp=410–411}}</ref> Historians therefore disagree on what qualifies as membership of the Lunar Society, who can be considered to have been members, and even when the society can be said to have existed.<ref>{{Harvnb|Schofield|1966|p=145}}</ref> [[Josiah Wedgwood]], for example, is described by some commentators as being one of five "principal members" of the society,<ref name="ref11">{{Harvnb|Uglow|2008}}</ref> while others consider that he "cannot be recognized as [a] full member" at all.<ref>{{Harvnb|Musson|Robinson|1969|p=143}}</ref> Dates given for the establishment of the society range from "sometime before 1760"<ref name="Schofield 1957 411">{{Harvnb|Schofield|1957|p=411}}</ref> to 1775.<ref name="Robinson 1962 156">{{Harvnb|Robinson|1962|p=156}}</ref> Some historians argue that it had ceased to exist by 1791;<ref name="King-Hele 1998 166">{{Harvnb|King-Hele|1998|p=166}}</ref> others that it was still operating as late as 1813.<ref name="Robinson 1962 156"/>

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 (writer)|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]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Schofield|1966|p=144}}</ref>

[[File:Benjamin Franklin by Jean-Baptiste Greuze.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Benjamin Franklin]]]]While the society's meetings provided its name and social focus, however, they were relatively unimportant in its activities, and far more activity and communication took place outside the meetings themselves – members local to Birmingham were in almost daily contact, more distant ones in correspondence at least weekly.<ref name="Schofield 1957 410–411"/> A more loosely defined group has therefore been identified over a wider geographical area and longer time period, who attended meetings occasionally and who corresponded or co-operated regularly with multiple other members on group activities. These include [[Joseph Pickford]], [[Richard Kirwan]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Musson|Robinson|1969|pp=122–123}}</ref> [[John Smeaton]],<ref name="ref2">{{Harvnb|Musson|Robinson|1969|p=144}}</ref> [[Henry Moyes]],<ref name="ref2" /> [[John Michell]],<ref name="ref9">{{Harvnb|King-Hele|1998|p=165}}</ref> [[Pieter Camper]],<ref name="ref2" /> [[R. E. Raspe]],<ref name="ref2" /> [[John Baskerville]],<ref name="Robinson 1962 156"/> [[Thomas Beddoes]],<ref name="ref5">{{Harvnb|Musson|Robinson|1969|p=177}}</ref> [[John Wyatt (inventor)|John Wyatt]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Robinson|1962|p=157}}</ref> [[William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin|William Thomson]],<ref name="ref5" /> [[Cyril Jackson (priest)|Cyril Jackson]],<ref name="ref5" /> [[Jean-André Deluc]],<ref name="Musson 1969 195">{{Harvnb|Musson|Robinson|1969|p=195}}</ref> [[John Wilkinson (industrialist)|John Wilkinson]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Robinson|1962|p=158}}</ref> [[John Ash (divine)|John Ash]],<ref name="Musson 1969 195"/> [[Samuel More]],<ref name="ref3">{{Harvnb|Schofield|1966|p=149}}</ref> [[Robert Bage]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Porter|2000|p=401}}</ref> [[James Brindley]],<ref name="ref3" /> [[Ralph Griffiths]],<ref name="ref3" /> [[John Roebuck]],<ref name="ref3" /> [[Thomas Percival]],<ref name="ref3" /> [[Joseph Black]],<ref name="ref3" /> [[James Hutton]],<ref name="ref3" /> [[Benjamin Franklin]],<ref name="Schofield 1957 411"/> [[Joseph Banks]],<ref name="ref4">{{Harvnb|Jones|2008|p=88}}</ref> [[James Lind (naturalist)|James Lind]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last=King-Hele|first=Desmond George|date=1992-07-31|title=Shelley and science|url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsnr.1992.0025|journal=Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London|language=en|volume=46|issue=2|pages=257|doi=10.1098/rsnr.1992.0025|pmid=11623027|s2cid=43302716|issn=0035-9149|via=The Royal Society Publishing}}</ref> [[William Herschel]],<ref name="ref4" /> [[Daniel Solander]],<ref name="ref4" /> [[John Warltire]],<ref name="ref4" /> [[George Fordyce]],<ref name="ref4" /> [[Alexander Blair (writer)|Alexander Blair]],<ref name="ref4" /> [[Samuel Parr]],<ref name="ref4" /> [[Louis Joseph d'Albert d'Ailly]], William Emes, [[Louis Joseph d'Albert d'Ailly|the seventh Duke of Chaulnes]],<ref name="ref4" /> [[Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond]],<ref name="ref4" /> [[Grossart de Virly]],<ref name="ref4" /> [[Johann Gottling]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Jones|2008|p=89}}</ref> and [[Joseph Wright of Derby|Joseph Wright]].<ref>Fraser, David. "Joseph Wright of Derby and the Lunar Society", in Egerton, Judy, Wright of Derby (London, 1990)</ref>

This lack of a defined membership has led some historians to criticise a Lunar Society "legend", leading people to "confuse it and its efforts with the general growth of intellectual and economic activities in the provinces of eighteenth century Britain".<ref>{{Harvnb|Schofield|1966|p=146}}</ref> Others have seen this both as real and as one of the society's main strengths: a paper read at the [[Science Museum (London)|Science Museum]] in London in 1963 claimed that

{{blockquote|"of all the provincial philosophical societies it was the most important, perhaps because it was not merely provincial. All the world came to Soho to meet Boulton, Watt or Small, who were acquainted with the leading men of Science throughout Europe and America. Its essential sociability meant that any might be invited to attend its meetings."<ref name="Robinson 1962 160">{{Harvnb|Robinson|1962|p=160}}</ref>}}