Social Network for RSA Fellows

William Shipley Group for RSA History

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This Fellows' network wishes to raise awareness of the history of the RSA from its foundation in 1754 to the more recent past.

Website: http://www.williamshipleygroup.btck.co.uk
Location: London based
Members: 44
Latest Activity: on Wednesday

‘The history of the Society is extremely important to establish at almost every point in time’
Lord Asa Briggs, Honorary Patron, WSG

The William Shipley Group for RSA History was founded in 2004 in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the first meeting of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. In 2009 the WSG was granted the status of an RSA Fellows’ Network.

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Comment by Susan A. Bennett on July 26, 2012 at 6:34: 2012 marks the centenary of the death of the surgeon, author and mountaineer, Clinton Thomas Dent (1850-1912). Dent’s medical career included serving as Chief Surgeon to the Metropolitan Police and Consulting Surgeon at the Belgrave Hospital for Children. His writings include studies of post-surgical insanity and heart surgery, and an account of the wounded in the Transvaal War, to which he had been posted as a correspondent for the British Medical Journal. Dent was also one of the most prominent British climbers who attempted the few remaining unclimbed mountains in the Alps. He served as President of the Alpine Club from 1886 to 1889, and may have been the first person to have written in 1885 that an ascent of Mount Everest was possible. In 1897 Dent gave the RSA’s Christmas Juvenile lecture on ‘The Growth and Demolition of Mountains’. There is a memorial tablet to him on the Britannia Hut above Saas-Fee in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

Comment by Susan A. Bennett on July 26, 2012 at 6:32: 2012 marks the fifteenth anniversary of the opening of the reconstructed Shakespeare’s Globe theatre on the south bank of the River Thames. In 1988 the American actor and director, Sam Wanamaker, came to the RSA to tell Fellows the significance behind his project to rebuild the Globe as close to its original site as possible. The following year the RSA awarded Wanamaker its Benjamin Franklin medal for his ‘outstanding energy, dedication and vision over nearly twenty years in pursing the objective of establishing …a reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and associated study centre’.

Comment by Susan A. Bennett on July 1, 2012 at 16:20: If you find yourself in Cornwall late July/early August the RSA's Honorary Historian, Dr David G.C. Allan, will be giving his illustrated talk:

ROYAL JUBILEES COMMEMORATED FROM GEORGE III TO ELIZABETH II

AN ILLUSTRATED TALK

in The Reading Room, West Street, Polruan

entrance fee £2.00

26 July 2012 meeting is in aid of the South West Region of the RSA

2 August2012 meeting is in aid of the RNLI

Everyone is welcome to come to either date

Comment by Susan A. Bennett on June 29, 2012 at 17:21: Queen Victoria’s Journals

In this year of her Diamond Jubilee HM Queen Elizabeth II has made available on-line the complete collection of Queen Victoria’s journals from the Royal Archives. Dating from Victoria’s childhood to her own Diamond Jubilee these thirteen volumes are written in her own hand. The Queen has expressed the hope that this historic collection will make a valuable addition to the unique material already held by the Bodleian Libraries at Oxford University and will be used to enhance our own knowledge and understanding of the past’. http://www.queenvictoriasjournals.org/

Comment by Susan A. Bennett on June 18, 2012 at 13:06: Obituary

In April this year the noted craftsman, designer, educator, former POW and FRSA Lawrence G. Copeland died at the age of 89. Copeland interacted with some of the most important personalities of the mid-century American crafts movement, and contributed to several of the most prominent craft institutions and enterprises. A silversmith, who had studied with the Court Silversmith to His Majesty the King of Sweden, Copeland, his work in silver and pewter was selected for the initial ‘Craftsmanship in a Changing World’ exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts (now the Museum of Arts & Design). His work was also exhibited in the United States Pavilion at the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels and his pieces are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution

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Comment by Susan A. Bennett on June 3, 2012 at 11:51: On the Jubilee weekend I’m delighted to tell you that the WSG has published a collection of Jubilee papers and poems by David G.C Allan. See this linkf or flyer for ordering information .flyer%20for%20Jubilee%20papers.pdf

Comment by Susan A. Bennett on May 22, 2012 at 6:21: This Saturday (26 May) the RSA's Historian, Dr Allan will be giving a talk on 'Royal Jubilees Commemorated from George III to Elizabeth II', in which he considers the RSA's contribution to the celebrations. This open meeting is being held at 3pm at Twickenham Library, Garfield Road, Twickenham TW1 3JT. £2 on door - includes refreshment

Comment by Susan A. Bennett on May 17, 2012 at 19:42: I am emailing from Benjamin Franklin House, a small historic house and museum just around the corner on Craven Street. We have been fortunate enough to have very good links with the RSA in the past and I am emailing about an event we have planned for next week.

We would be pleased to offer RSA Fellows concession priced ticket to our 2012 Robert H. Smith Lecture in American Democracy in association with the Eccles Centre for American Studies featuring speaker Lord Hannay of Chiswick. The lecture will be held at the British Library on Monday 21 May at 6.30pm. Distinguished diplomat Lord Hannay, former Minister at the British Embassy in Washington and former British Ambassador to the United Nations, will discuss ‘Some Thoughts on the Diplomacy of a Great Democracy by an Outside Observer.’

Tickets are £7.50 for adults, but RSA Fellows will be able to receive tickets for just £5. Booking: phone +44(0) 20 7839 2006/ +44(0) 20 7925 1405 or email info@BenjaminFranklinHouse.org. Send cheques made payable to ‘Friends of Benjamin Franklin House’ to the address below. To redeem the offer members just need to indicate they are a Fellow.

With appreciation for your consideration,

Sally

Sally James

Operations Manager

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HOUSE

36 Craven Street

Comment by Susan A. Bennett on May 7, 2012 at 20:05: Is anyone interested in a set of the RSA Journals from 1960 to the present? The owner has downsized and needs the space.

Comment by Susan A. Bennett on April 23, 2012 at 13:57: Robert%20H.%20Smith%20Lecture%20Poster%2C%2021%20May%202012.pdf

Benjamin Franklin House lecture on American Democracy will be held at the British Library on 21 May - see flyer for details.