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The Society of Arts has been described by Professor R. E. Schofield as 'the only national and public organisation' in late eighteenth century England 'deliberately to concern itself with problems of urbanization... through its concern with such problems, the Society of Arts found the trend of the future' ('The Society of Arts and the Lunar Society of Birmingham, i', Jnl. R.S.A., CVII, 1959, p. 512). The debate over the significance of the Society's contribution to the industrial revolution began early in the nineteenth century and still continues. This thesis does not attempt to assess the practical consequences of the Society's awards for industrial and agricultural developments. Instead attention is focused on questions which have been largely neglected by previous writers on the subject: What sort of person chose to support the Society by membership or other means, when and why did some of these withdraw their support and who were those who chose to work especially hard for the institution? and, what were the actual financial limits of the Society's awards? Detailed consideration is given for the first time to the various crises which overtook the affairs of the Society and to the evolution of its administrative practices, in its first three decades. The thesis also extends the author's published account of the relationship between the Society of Arts and the state in the early years of its existence ('The Society of Arts and Government, 1754-1800', Eighteenth Century-Studies, VII, 4,1974, Pp. 434-452) and develops his tentative study of its economic and social policies ('Notions of Economic Policy expressed by the Society's Correspondents and in its Publication 1754-1847', SIS[H]A, II-IV, Jnl. R.S.A., CVI, 1958, p. 800, CVII 1959, PP. 55,217). After an introduction setting out the historiography of the subject, and a preliminary chapter on the Society's pre-history and its foundation, the three main sections follow, each devoted to a decade. These sections are themselves divided into chapters dealing, respectively, with organization and membership, and with finance policies and premiums. An appendix tabulates the years of service of the Society's Presidents, Vice-Presidents and Committee'Chairmen (the active membership) and provides statistical information regarding the general membership and the Society's finances |
