Natural history and the philosophical societies of late Victorian Yorkshire

Abstract

Natural history, so popular a pursuit in nineteenth-century Britain, was a thriving part of the activities of the literary and philosophical societies that epitomized urban middle-class cultural life. The “lit and phils” are most famous for their museums, but this paper outlines the range of other activities pertaining to natural knowledge that went on within their walls, focusing on the thriving societies in England's largest county, Yorkshire. Foremost among these were regular lectures: this paper discusses the speakers, audience and content, as well as the significance of the architecture of the halls in which they were staged. More exclusive meetings and didactic classes are also examined, as well as their (often extensive) libraries. After a brief examination of the purported decline of the philosophical societies around the turn of the century, a conclusion outlines the importance of science within these voluntary associations both to the provincial middle classes and the emerging professional men of science.