Bio1.J. Linn. SOC.,
3, p p . 343-368
December 1971
The minute books of the Linnean Club, from 1811 to 1955
T O M M. HARRIS
AcceptedJune 1970
Sometime during the early spring of 1970 I was asked to write an account of our old
minute books and was given a large box containing many books and sundry papers.
All the old books were there and in good condition, except the first-1811 to 1815.
So I wrote a report lamenting the absence of this book, but afterwards it turned up.
I t had never been lost, but being rather different from all the others it was not
recognized. I now think this was rather fortunate, for the first book which is the most
interesting, deserves ampler treatment. My report is kept strictly on the books, and
only very occasionally have I drawn on information from the Society’s records, or from
the introduction to the list of the Club compiled by H. W. Monckton in 1922, using
the Society’s records.
BOOK 1, 1811-15
T h e first book is of small size (7 x 5 inches) ;it is bound in red leather and composed
of superb paper (bearing Watmans name and a crown as watermarks). O n the inside
of the cover is a small label ‘Made and sold by E. Williams, Stationer to the Duke and
Duchess of York, No. 11, T h e Strand’. No later book is at this level.
Page 1 (see Plate 1) begins thus (a few titles, degrees and fuller names taken from
Monckton) :
Dec. 17, 1811. The following members of the Linnean Society of London, viz.
1. Aylmer Bourke Lambert, F.R.S., V.P.
2. William George Maton, M.D., F.R.S., V.P.
3. Thomas Marsham, V.P. and Treasurer of the Society
4. Alexander MacLeay, Esq., Secretary
5. John Baker, Esq., F.R.S.
6. William Pilkington, F.A.S.
7. Joseph Sabine, F.R.S., F.A.S.
8. George Shaw, M.D., F.R.S.
being assembled at the British Coffee-House in Cockspur Street, and Dr Maton,
being called to the Chair, Resolved to form themselves into a Club to be called the
Linnean Club, and to establish the following regulations for the same, viz.
1. That the Club shall consist of twenty members.
2. That every member shall have the privilege of introducing one visitor [and
then the next 26 words crossed out. See meeting of January 19,18131. The crossed
words read: ‘but the visitor must be either an Honorary Member of the Linnean
Society or a member of the same not resident within 10 miles of London’.
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TOM M. HARRIS
3. That the Club shall meet to dinner at the British Coffee House, in Cockspur
Street, on the Third Tuesday in every month, from November to June inclusively,
except in the month of May, when the dinner shall be on the first Tuesday, at
5 o’clock precisely; and that the Club shall break up not later than a quarter before
8 o’clock.
4. That every member shall deposit in the hands of a Treasurer, at the first
meeting in every session, the sum of two guineas towards defraying the expenses of
the Club; the Treasurer to have the power of calling upon every member from time
to time, for such additional contributions as may appear to him to be necessary,
when the above sum is expended.
5. That the Chair shall be taken by the President of the Linnean Society, if he
be a member of the Club, or, in default of the President, by the Senior Vice-president
of the same who may happen to be present, or, in default of Vice-presidents, by the
Senior member of the Club present.
6. That, in the case of a vacancy, or vacancies, occurring in the Club, there shall be
prepared a list of such persons, members of the Linnean Society, of London, who
may have been nominated to the Treasurer of the Club, from time to time, as
candidates for admission. A copy of this list being delivered to every member of
the Club present at the last meeting of the Session, he shall draw his pen through
such names as he may object to and leave no more on the list than are equal in number
to the vacancies; he shall then put this list folded up into a box provided for the
purpose, from which, when all the members present shall have voted, the Chairman
shall take out all the lists, and announce the names that are left in each, rejecting
any lists that contain more names than there may be vacancies in the Club, and he
shall declare those persons only duly elected who have the votes of two thirds of the
number of members present.
It was Resolved that Dr Maton be requested to undertake the office of Treasurer.
Resolved also that the following members of the Linnean Society should be
considered as members of the Club, without ballot, provided they assent to the
application, viz9. The President of the Linnean Society
[James Edward Smith, F.R.S.] [addition in another’s writing “= Doctor
Smith”]
10. The Lord Bishop of Carlisle V.P.L.S. [Samuel Goodenough]
11. John Barrow, Esq., F.R.S.
12. Mr. Robert Brown
13. Henry Ellis, Esq.
14. Edward Forster, Esq.
15. The Rev’d. Robert Hodgson, F.R.S.
16. Sir Abraham Hume Bart., M.P., F.R.S.
17. George Milne, Esq.
18. The Rev’d. Thomas Rackett, F.R.S.
19. Edward Lord Stanley
20. George Viscount Valentia, F.R.S.
[All these accepted except the Bishop of Carlisle.]
[The minutes are not signed, nor is there any record in this book of their being
passed by the next meeting.]
January 21, 1812. Lambert was in the chair and 13 others [named] were present.
T h e Treasurer read the regulations passed at the first meeting. It was resolved that
no proposition for the abolition or alteration of an established regulation of the Club,
or for the formation of a new one, should be put to the ballot until the meeting succeeding
THE MINUTE BOOKS OF THE LINNEAN CLUB
345
that at which the proposition may be made. [Later, where a motion is duly passed I
record it on that date only.]
February 18, 1812. Lambert in the chair, and 13 others were present and also
three visitors. [In general I omit names of members present, of visitors and of those
introducing them.]
On March 17, 1812, the Club resolved unanimously that Dr Smith, President
of the Linnean Society, being a non-resident member of the same, be considered an
honorary member of the Club.
On May 5 the Club agreed that if any member should neglect to attend the Club
during the year he shall be considered as having vacated his place in the same.
June 16, 1812. The Club agreed that, after the present session, every person present
at the dinner shall pay the sum of half a guinea towards defraying the expenses of the
Club.
A letter of resignation from D r Shaw was read. The Club then balloted and filled
three vacancies (four names having been proposed).
November 17, 1812. The Club agreed that all members of the Linnean Society
be admissible as visitors of the Club, but that no resident member be admitted oftener
than twice in one season.
December 15, 1812. The Club agreed that in future all business of the Club should
be transacted before dinner, previous to the admission of visitors, and that for this
purpose the members should meet at half past four o’clock. [Occasional minutes
record the resignation of a member but I omit this.]
January 19, 1813. It was agreed to alter the second law of the Club, by omitting all
words after ‘Visitor’.
March 16, 1813. Three motions (made in February) were agreed unanimously,
namely that-‘No person shall be capable of being elected a member who has not been
proposed a candidate at least three meetings previously to the day of election.’
‘That in case of a vacancy occurring in the Club notice shall be given at the first
meeting after receiving information thereof, and at the following meeting the election
shall take place.’
‘That each candidate be proposed and seconded at some meeting of the Club, and
the names of all candidates be announced from the chair at every succeeding meeting
until they are elected.’
On April 20, 1813 it is mentioned that the members present agreed that the ballot
for the election to supply the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr Ellis should
close at five minutes past five o’clock. The election of Sir Thomas Cullum, Bart., is
recorded. [He had several times been present as a visitor.]
At several meetings in 1813 numbers dining fell to ten or less and on November 16,
1813 Lord Seaforth not having attended during one year (and the Club being told that
it was unlikely that he would be able to attend), a vacancy was declared. This was
formally announced again at the next meeting. At the next meeting (in January) a
ballot is recorded as Mr Alexander 4 ;Mr Anderson 4 ;Mr Kent 1. As none of the above
gentlemen had the votes of two thirds of the number of members present, in his favour,
there was, of course, no election.
February 15, 1814. The Club agreed that in case any member should be absent
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TOM M. HARRIS
from England during the whole period of meetings of the Club for one session or
more, he should not thereby absolutelycease to be a member, but the vacancy occasioned
by his absence should be filled according to the regulations of the Club, and on the
return of the absent member, he should be readmitted (on paying the annual
subscription of the year of his return only) as a supernumerary member until a vacancy
should occur, and in that case no ballot should take place, the vacancy being filled by
the old supernumerary member, it being understood as a condition of this privilege
to the member so to be admitted that he should have declared his intention of being
absent, during the season in which he does go abroad, so as to secure a vacancy and
ballot for another member within the season. [Those responsible for proposing this
notable rule are unfortunately not named.]
[Lord Valentia who was in Ireland and Sir Thomas Staunton who was going to
China came under this rule in February 1814.1
June 20, 1814. The Chairman announced that a member who had not attended a
Club meeting during the session had ceased to be a member. [I omit occasional later
entries of this kind.]
On November 15, 1814 only five dined and they decided not to transact business.
However ‘our worthy Vice President Mr Marsham’, wrote to say he must resign
because his residence was now fixed in the country. He was told the Club hoped
he would dine with them as a general visitor whenever it was convenient to him and
without a particular introduction.
On December 20, 1814 and on subsequent meetings various motions that had been
duly proposed were emended or successfully opposed. Up till then it would seem that
proposals (even ones which now look odd) were agreed and often unanimously. The
special way in which business was transacted, proposal at one meeting with a record
in the minutes and voting at the next, makes it sure that changes of mind could not
be covered over. Thus on June 20 Sabine proposed and MacLeay seconded that the
Club should in future dine together every day of the regular meetings of the Linnean
Society. But on December 20 there was an amendment adding the words ‘as soon as
the number of members of the Club is increased to 40’. This having been put by
the Chair was passed unanimously. Then a motion was proposed that the first law of the
Club be abolished and the following law be substituted, vizThat the number of members of the Club shall not exceed 40. (There is a pencil
addition-see November 21, 1815-and the motion was moved and passed unanimously by show of hands.) So that was that and several meetings followed with no
business apart from an occasional resignation or election.
June 20, 1815. Dr Maton (who had been very faithful in attending) wrote to resign
as Treasurer. The President and Club unanimously asked him to continue and the
next minutes (the last in the book) are again in Maton’s hand. The Club, however,
agreed that it must nominate a new Treasurer. Two motions proposed were :
‘That the Club should in future meet on every day of the meetings of the Linnean
Society.’
and ‘that the number of the Club should be increased from 20 to 25.’ This time the
proposers of the first motion were Milne and Kent and both proposals were agreed at
the November meeting. The Club decided to fill only two of the five vacancies. They
THE MINUTE BOOKS OF THE LINNEAN CLUB
347
also agreed to pay three guineas to the Treasurer at the first meeting of the session.
Sabine was chosen as Treasurer.
After this minute (November 21, 1815) there are half a dozen blank pages and then
follow the accounts, also kept in Maton’s hand (Plate 2). I n 1812, we have on the
income side two levies of E2 2s. Od. per member, the first on January 21 and a few were
late, the second on April 24, and a good many were paid later. Four were still unpaid
by June. On the payment side we have ‘bills’ for sums between 410 and El4 and three
for ‘waiters’ at 14s. Total payment was E74 16s. 6d. and the number of dinners eaten
was 89 (of which 14 were by visitors). Thus the total cost was rather less than El a
time. In 1813 there was just the one levy of E2 2s. Od. but about A50 was raised by
‘contributions’ after each dinner, mostly of a half guinea per member dining but some
for odd sums for which I see no explanation. These ‘contributions’ were evidently
paid also for visitors’ dinners. I n full years the sum handled was about E100; there
was a small balance left with the Treasurer and the item of ‘arrears’ was very small.
At the end of the accounts we have Maton’s signature and that of Sabine who received
the accounts but these are the only signatures in the book.
It would seem that while Maton kept careful and accurate minutes and accounts,
these were to help him run the Club satisfactorily. He had not the idea of minutes
as the notes of a meeting which when agreed by the next meeting and signed by the
Chairman become a sacred record of fact. Sometimes a minute which was no doubt
a perfectly good one is crossed out or altered months later because a rule has then been
changed. The accounts make this book interesting but we do not meet accounts again
until quite recent times.
BOOK 2, 1815-19
I n the 1815 session there were 12 meetings and in subsequent years the number
was sometimes 15. Sabine’s record is brief and strictly business-like and thus dry.
He gives the date of meeting and the names of members and visitors dining. Only
occasionally do we have proposals of members and a statement that on ballot they
were elected-or not ;and only rarely do we have motions to be recorded. T h e numbers
dining were sometimes low-for instance at Sabine’s first meeting there were only
five, but more normally between seven and twelve. Nearly always there were visitors
(often spelt visiters in the early books but called guests from 1920 on). [I sent a list of
the early ‘visiters’ to M r O’Grady who was good enough to look them up in the
Society’s minute books. I t appears that most of the ‘visiters’ were Fellows of the Society,
but at this early time they had not read papers at the Society’s meetings. Papers were
read in some manner by the Secretaries.] As a rule the minutes of the first meeting of
the session, early in November, mention that the accounts were presented and signed
but the accounts themselves are not included. T h e minutes were written by Sabine
and signed by him.
During the early years of Sabine’s time the Club took elections very seriously, and
when two or more names were proposed no one got the two thirds majority (this
happened seven times in the 1815-16 session). However, occasionally there were
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TOM M. HARRIS
happily as many vacancies as candidates and they were all elected and the Club remained
nearly full.
The Club adhered strictly to its rule that a member should cease if he had not
attended one meeting in the session and dropped two of the first twenty members in
1816-Mr Baker and George Annesley who was later Lord Valentia and by this time
Earl Mountmorris. The latter member was however ‘permitted’ on consideration of
the particular circumstances of his case to be restored to the Club without a ballot.
This did him little good: he dined just once the following session and later was out
again for the same cause. It is interesting to note that the rule suspending a member
who was away from England for a session was applied strictly; it even happened to
Charles Mackenzie who went to Scotland. He was duly readmitted on his return.
Another, Captain, later General, Sir Edward Sabine LL.D, F.R.S. who was engaged
in mapping Arctic coasts for the Government was in and out of the Club repeatedly,
sometimes after very short intervals.
On December 19, 1815 the rule governing admission of visitors was changed. In
future any member could introduce one visitor.
On March 19, 1816 the Club agreed ‘that the Club shall be increased from 25
to 30’, and on June 18, 1816 ‘that when a gentleman has been elected into the Club after
the Anniversary, no subscription shall be considered as due by him till the next session’.
March 4,1817. The present rule of election was done away with and instead members
were to be elected with two black balls excluding. However, I find no record of any
election under this rule and on June 2, 1818 the old rule was restored.
June 16, 1818. The Club agreed that no visitor should be introduced at the first
and last meeting of any session and that any other meeting could on the proposal of
any two members be a close meeting.
There are repeated references to the Club’s dissatisfaction with the place where
they dined. On May 6, 1817 there was a proposal that the Club should dine next
session at the Thatched House Tavern in St. James Street. The matter proved difficult;
it was undecided at the next meeting, agreed on June 17; but on November 5, 1817
the Treasurer said he could not get a room at the Thatched House Tavern, so they
would meet again at the British Coffee House Tavern till a new place was found.
On February 2, 1819 it was agreed that it was expedient that the Club do remove
from the British Coffee House, and on February 16 it was agreed to remove and to
meet at the Thatched House. However on June 16, 1819 there was an agreement that
Club members and their friends might dine at the British Coffee House on the first
and third Mondays in July, August, September at the hour of five.
During the whole period of this minute book the Club had a healthy membership,
with never more than three vacancies. Occasionally there is an explicit record, for
instance on November 5,1816 the Club had 22 paying members with three vacancies.
Three members abroad were in abeyance and there was one honorary member.
Withdrawals from membership are occasional, and a very few disappear by death.
More leave through the rule on absence for the whole session.
I note that on November 4, 1817 the subscription was reduced from A3 3s. Od.
to E2 10s. Od. and each dinner was 10s. instead of 10s. 6d. There are no accounts or
statements about the Club’s balance.
THE MINUTE BOOKS OF THE LINNEAN CLUB
349
BOOK 3,1819-23
The dinner of February 15 was adjourned to February 22 because of the death of
King George I11 and it was agreed that the Treasurer should pay the resultingexpenses
of members.
On May 2, an additional subscription of E l was collected.
June 20, 1820. The meeting was adjourned to June 30 because of the death of Sir
Joseph Banks.
November 7, 1820. On this day six members resigned. (The letter of one was
mislaid and announced at the next meeting.) Most of these were men who had been
faithful in attending meetings, some frequently in the Chair and some being 1811
members. [I note that certain of these men were readmitted some years later. One of
them, Lambert, became President and for several years took the Chair at many
meetings, and when he died full notice of his loyal service to the Club was made in the
minutes. Though no reason is given for these resignations, I wondered whether the
alternative Club-‘The Linnean Society Club’ might have drawn off the members.
That club is mentioned occasionally in this report.] The numbers were made up in the
subsequent meetings. On April 17, 1821 it was proposed to increase the Club from 25
to 30 and this was agreed on May 1.
On June 19, 1821 it was agreed that two members who had not attended a meeting
during the session should not vacate their places because they had not been in London
on the day of a meeting. Another was retained because of ‘particular circumstances’.
Also on June 19 the Club agreed to meet at the British Coffee House till Christmas.
November 6, 1821. The Club met at the Freemasons’ Tavern. The Treasurer
explained that the British Coffee House had ceased to be a Tavern and with the help
of a committee he had decided to meet at this place until a permanently suitable place
was found.
November 20, 1821. The Treasurer announced his discussions with members of
the ‘Linnean Society Club’ but mainly it would appear with Charles Stokes, Treasurer
of that Club, who said they would like to unite with the Linnean Club. Sabine drew
up a detailed proposal designed to be scrupulously fair to both clubs. This is along
document given in full in the minute book. T h e total membership of the combined
Club was not to exceed 50; it was to dine at the Thatched House; after uniting the
balances of the two clubs, the subscription should be E2 10s. Od. and the cost of dinner
10s. The announcements were to be made to the two clubs simultaneously. Sabine
did, however, propose that the rules of the ‘Old Club’ which I take to be the Linnean
Club should be used for the combined Club.
On the next meeting (November 27, 1821) there is a copy of a letter from Charles
Stokes to say that they did not think it right to proceed in the absence of the President
and most of the members of the Linnean Society Club.
Sabine gives a cautious letter to Stokes making it plain that so far the matter is
just his personal proposal and does not commit the Linnean Club. He is sure the
union would help the interests of the Linnean Society. [It appears in this letter that
our Club is the older.] Since the Linnean Society Club had not (by November 27)
made any decision, Sabine held up his proposals. However the Linnean Club expressed
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TOM M. HARRIS
the view that the union would be beneficial to the Linnean Society. I t also said it would
be ready to consider any proposition from the Linnean Society Club.
December 4,1821. Sabine gives a letter from Charles Stokes who gives the resolution
‘That the proposal which has been transmitted by Mr Sabine for uniting the Linnean
Club with the Linnean Society Club is inadmissible.’ The letter concludes by assuring
the Linnean Club of the absence of hostile feelings but only the wish to promote the
welfare of the Society.
After this I find no further reference to this Linnean Society Club in our minute
books. The only man mentioned by name, Charles Stokes, was never a member of our
Club.
Many years later, in 1899, there is a paper in our book headed ‘Linnean Society
Club, Founded 1871’. Plainly the original club had died but its name had been revived,
and I suspect it had died again by 1899. There is only room for one Linnean dining
Club in London!
BOOK 4, 1823-27 A N D BOOK 5, 1827-33
These books record very little business indeed, but just attendance and occasional
proposals of new members or announcements of withdrawals or deaths. One year
there was to be a third excursion, to Penzance, to be held after the B.A. meeting.
Towards the end of the book there is no mention at all of excursions. Elections were
unanimous. On December 6, 1825 the Club consisted of 25 paying members, one
honorary, three in abeyance abroad and one extra member (whose status I do not
grasp). At this meeing Sabine announced that he wanted to cease as Treasurer and
recommended William H. Lloyd who was duly elected at the next meeting. Sabine
was warmly thanked for his orderly and punctual work [but I could wish that his
minutes had included personal and irrelevant matters].
When Sabine left, the Club sank low. In 1826 the ordinary members had sunk to
23 and Lloyd asked to resign but was persuaded to stay on and he did for a few meetings,
but resigned again in December 1826 and Dr Waring was appointed. He lasted till
1833. During this whole period meetings were ill attended-often about five members,
and once there were just two (with two more for tea only). Minutes are very brief
and sometimes missing (the page being blank) and it is unlikely there is any loss.
For example in 1830 two pages merely have dates and between them a page has been
cut out.
However, on June 19, 1827 there was evidently an attractive meeting of the Society,
when 14 members and six visitors dined. The visitors included Charles Lucien
Bonaparte, Prince of Musignang. At this well attended meeting a special meeting was
called for July 3 to consider how to strengthen the Club. All were urged to attend and
11 did so. The minutes are uninformative. Waring offered to resign but was persuaded
to stay on. A subscription of El was voted in addition to the normal one of E3. Subsequently there does seem slight improvement in numbers at dinner, quite often 10 or
12 dine, the range being 4-18. Unfortunately we are not given any statement of the
Club’s accounts, though we are sometimes told they were examined and passed
THE MINUTE BOOKS OF THE LINNEAN CLUB
351
and the whole record of the business meeting is endorsed by the Chairman. More
often though, they are unsigned or signed by Lloyd or Waring themselves.
There is some legislation in these books (I give the meaning briefly).
April 6, 1824. T h e dinner hour was changed to 5.30.
November 7, 1826. T h e rule about the transaction of business before dinner was
repeated. (Characteristically it is not made clear just what has been altered.)
April 5, 1831. Fellows only (and the Librarian) are eligible as members.
All these are embodied in Bell’s new rules of 1833.
There are few other items of interest. One man duly proposed and balloted for
and elected, refused to join. [It seems a point of weakness of our Club that a man
may be elected who knows nothing about the Club, has never dined as a guest, and has
never considered joining. At later dates the Club took the precaution of introducing
candidates to dinner and of getting their consent, but these sensible practices were
merely governed by minutes, and with change of Treasurer and of minute books were
forgotten. I am sure the Club was not too delicate to do these things for there was a
meeting when the Bishop of Norwich was present as a guest, and was proposed (he
was duly elected at the next meeting).]
O n November 5, 1833 Waring retired and Bell took over as Treasurer and things
slowly began to look up. T h e meeting of December 17 was taken as the twenty-first
anniversary of the Club (1811) [but on my reckoning it would be the 22ndl. O n this
occasion Bell circulated the old laws of the Club to all members with a view to the
preparation of ‘permanent laws’. A copy of these permanent laws was pasted in the
beginning of the next minute book.
Rules of the Linnean Club (pasted in the 1834 book)
1. The Club shall consist of not more than thirty [altered to 251 members.
2. Fellows of the Linnean Society only (with the especial exception of the
Librarian thereof) shall be eligible as Members of the Club.
3. The Club shall meet at the Freemasons’ Tavern, Great Queen Street, on
every Tuesday on which an Ordinary Meeting of the Linnean Society is held.
Dinner shall be on the table at Half-after Five o’clock precisely, and the Club
shall break up not later than a Quarter before Eight.
4. Every Member shall deposit in the hands of the Treasurer, at the first Meeting
in every Session, the sum of Three Guineas to defray the expenses of the
Club during the Session; and in case that sum be found insufficient for the
purpose, the Treasurer shall have the power of calling on every Member, from
time to time, for such further contributions as seem to him necessary.
5. Every person present at dinner shal! pay the sum of Ten shillings. [Ten crossed
and altered to 12 and altered again to Ten.]
6. The Subscription of each Member shall be due on the first day of the Session,
unless he shall, on that day, give notice of his intention to withdraw from the
Club.
7. The Subscription of every newly elected Member shall be due at the next
meeting after his election, unless he be elected after the Anniversary of the
Linnean Society, in which case no Subscription shall be called for until the
next Session.
8. The President of the Linnean Society for the time being shall be an Honorary
Member of the Club.
24
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TOM M. HARRIS
9. The Chair shall be taken by the President of the Linnean Society; or in default
of the President, by one of the Vice-presidents, being a member of the Club;
or in default of Vice-presidents, by the Senior Member of the Club present.
10. No person shall be elected a Member who has not been proposed and seconded
at a previous Meeting. The Election shall take place by Ballot in the order
in which the Candidates have been proposed, and two black balls shall exclude.
No Election shall take place unless six Members be present.
11. If any Member should be absent from England during the whole of one Session
of the Club, or more, he shall not thereby cease to be a Member, but the vacancy
occasioned by his absence shall be filled up according to the regulations
of the Club, and on his return he shall be readmitted, upon paying the annual
subscriptionof the year of his return only.
12. If any Member shall neglect to attend the Club, or to pay his Subscription,
during a whole Session, he shall be considered as having vacated his place in
the same.
13. Every Member shall have the privilege of introducing one Visiter at each
Meeting, whose name shall be given to the Treasurer before dinner.
14. On the proposition of the Treasurer, or of any two Members, notified at a
previous meeting, any Meeting shall be considered as close, at which no Visiters
shall be admitted.
15. No new Rule, or alteration of a former Rule, shll be considered as Valid until
it shall have been agreed to by a subsequent Meeting to that at which it was
proposed.
BOOK 6,1834-39
O n the page after the pasted-in rules, the Treasurer, Thomas Bell, gives a list of the
Toasts usually given at the Club.
1. T he King our Patron
2. T he prosperity of the Linnean Society
3. T h e President
4. Absent members
5. T h e Memory of Linnaeus
January 21, 1834 begins well with 13 members and a visitor. T h e meeting discussed
and altered the rules and agreed that the new rules be printed and circulated to members.
T h e minutes are written by Thomas Bell and are orderly but very brief. T h e number
of members declined at first. On November 17, 1835 there were 18 resident ordinary
members, three honorary and five abroad. On November 5, 1839, the number was
down to 16 resident (subscribing) members, four honorary and one abroad. I n spite
of this the numbers at meetings seldom fell below eight. This small number of members
caused the Treasurer to announce a considerable deficit (at a close meeting on February
19).This he said arose because of the small number of members, and the high proportion
of visitors at meetings. [I note that they were sometimes as many as and occasionally
exceeded the dining members.] T h e Club agreed that dinner be ordered for 9 instead of
12,that the Treasurer should discuss with M r Cutt how to reduce the cost of dinners,
and that 12s. 6d. be collected from each member dining instead of 10s. O n March 5
when this was agreed the Treasurer said that he was ordering dinner for eight and the
cost of each was [left blank].
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On June 18, 1839 the Club agreed to hold two excursions during the recess, the
first to be at High Beech on Monday, July 1, the second at Drapmore. Other items of
interest :
T h e accounts for the year were presented and approved on June 16, 1835. On
November 1, 1836 M r MacLeay, who had been away for 11 years, resumed his
membership.
On April 7, 1835 the death of Dr Maton, founder of the Club, was recorded and
on February 7, 1837 the death of Joseph Sabine, also one of the founder members
and Treasurer. Both had been faithful in attending meetings for many years.
BOOK 7, 1840-46
T h e toast list now has the Queen as Patron. Under Bell as Treasurer remarkably
little business is recorded. This book has but one resolution changing rules. About
ten members usually dine, with a few visitors. We have evidence of financial success
for on November 18,1845 the annual subscription was reduced to AT2 and on February
3,1846 the Treasurer proposed to limit the Club to 25 instead of 30 and this was agreed.
The Club membership was nearly always complete, or nearly so, with two or three
men proposed for when there should be a vacancy. These were nearly always taken in
order and each was duly elected.
Items recorded include :
November 1, 1842. ‘On this occasion M r Bookers was specially invited to dine
with the Club on the occasion of his expected departure for Tasmania, as Colonial
Secretary.’ Six other guests also dined.
November 7, 1843. A letter from W. Buchannan was read stating that he wished
to resign because Mrs Buchannan’s illness would prevent his attending. T h e Club
agreed to regard him as an absent member and hoped he would later rejoin it.
Occasionally the lapsing of a member through non-attendance for a whole session
is recorded in this and other books and there is no comment except that a vacancy is
created. However, there is one case which roused Thomas Bell. O n October 5, 1844
he reported that D r Edward Blundell had ceased both because he had not attended for
a session and had not paid his subscription. Then on December 17, 1844 he reported
further that Dr Blundell owed k8 13s. Od. and after repeated letters replied ‘desiring
that he would not give himself further trouble about the matter’. Blundell who was
elected in 1840 attended just twice, and though I have not checked all the annual
subscriptions I should think he must have been considerably in arrears. [This seamy
side of a Treasurer’s life is never mentioned again in all 15 books I have examined,
surely a tribute to someone!]
T h e Club held two excursions in the summer of 1844. Both had their places changed
after initial decision. T h e first (July 3) was actually to Black Notley, the home of
John Ray. Twenty-one were present, they met at Witham for breakfast, then went
to John Ray’s home and his burial place in the church, were invited to lunch by M r
Pattison at Ray’s home and then returned to Witham for dinner.
Later (November 5) this M r Pattison of Witham was proposed as an honorary
member of the Club, but subsequently his name was withdrawn because he was not a
Fellow of the Linnean Society.
354
TOM M. HARRIS
On July 24, eleven members met at Pangborne for breakfast and walked till dinner
at four o’clock. [I wish they had given details of these meals. I am told that at a rather
earlier time at any rate breakfast might have been very slight, just coffee, but dinner
in the afternoon very heavy, the one considerable meal in their day.]
BOOK 8,184651
The toasts now include Prince Albert and other honorary members.
The Club remained almost full, usually with several candidates awaiting ballot.
The subscription was E2. Meetings were usually well attended and apart from names
nothing was as a rule recorded.
On November 3, 1846 the Club resolved that in view of Mr Milne’s state of health
he should be considered as a supernumerary member and his place filled as in the case
of a member absent from England. (This means that he would pay no subscription.)
March 21,1848. The Treasurer proposed that a portrait be taken of each member of
the Club, to be lithographed, and that each member have copies of the set. The Club
agreed and appointed a committee to carry this into effect. However, I find no further
record of the picture in this book, or later. Apart from this business the only activity
outside routine was excursions. I n 1847 the first to Ashford had five at breakfast and
another at lunch.
The second was to Ampthill and the party breakfasted at the White Hart, Ampthill,
visited the ruins at Houghton Conquest and the house of Lord de Grey, and dined at
Ampthill.
In 1848 there were three excursions. The first to St. Albans breakfasted there,
visited Verulam and the church and Abbey.
The second to Brentwood (eight to breakfast) looked at the Royal ferns growing
abundantly (one rhizome mass being 11 feet round) and later looked at the hollow
elm which had 29 feet circumference.
There was a third excursion to Saffron Walden but no details are entered.
In 1849 an excursion on July 17 to Worth visited the early Saxon church. There
were eight members and eight visitors. An excursion to Bayfordbury was agreed but
there is no record of its occurrence.
BOOK 9, 1852-58
Bell seems to be tiring. The number of meetings in a session remains about fourteen
but rather frequently nothing is written in the book-there are just blank pages without
even the date.
On November 2 the accounts were considered and showed a deficit of E26 so the
subscription was increased to A3. I n June Bell gave up being Treasurer just before
becoming President of the Society. (He had been Treasurer for 18 years.) C. B.
Buckton became the new Treasurer and Bell often attended Club dinners (as President).
The Club’s finances soon became satisfactory again for the subscription was reduced
to E2 10s. Od. in November 1853. On May 1, 1855 Mr Darwin was introduced as a
visitor by Mr Bell. On November 5, 1857 the Club met at the Thatched House in
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355
St. James Street which they felt would be more convenient than the Free Masons
Tavern.
The minute book records resolutions to hold summer excursions, usually two a
year, but unfortunately there is no record of where the Club actually went or what they
did (blank pages being left in the hope that something would be added). Earlier when
such reports were given the place was often changed after the Club had settled on
something. In this book excursions were to visit Richmond, Dorking, Horsham,
Cookham, Great Marlow, Guildford. At Richmond Prof. Owen had invited the party
to breakfast.
BOOK 10,1858-67
The book begins with a useful list of members arranged according to date of election
(Bell the Senior in 1818). During the course of the book a number are crossed off,
having withdrawn. Buckton continued as Treasurer but did not sign his minutes
(which are left bare). Both Sabine and Bell signed their own minutes including those
written for them by someone else.
On November 17, 1859 an additional subscription of E3 was voted (but only for
members elected before last June). At this same meeting Bell, the President, asked the
Club to rescind the rule making him an ex oflcio honorary member of the Club. On
one of the summer excursions (to Maidenhead) the Club was told of Bell’s wish to
retire from the Presidency of the Society. Here the Club decided it would like to get
him to sit for a bust in marble. On November 7, 1861 the Treasurer announced that
Bell was willing to sit and Mr Slater would execute it. Past members of the Club were
given permission to subscribe. On November 6, 1862 the finished bust was presented
to the Linnean Society in the name of the Club and on November 20 the Club received
the thanks of the Society (Plate 3). On April 16, 1863 two letters were placed on the
table and are given in full in the minute book. One was from Thomas Bell, the other
from his wife Jane. Both are deeply moving. Mrs Bell said that she shed tears of gratitude
and Bell wrote that the Club had been a source of unmingled happiness to him ‘as
long as it shall please God to spare my life, already prolonged to the ordinarily assigned
limit I shall consider this [the presentation of the bust and the address] as the most
gratifying event of my scientific life’. The Club visited the Bells at Selborne on one of
their summer outings in 1863, but we do not meet Bell’s name again in this book or
indeed later. [I happened to see a tablet in Selborne village church commemorating
Thomas and Jane Bell who had lived in Gilbert White’s house. Our own book does not
record Bell’s death. It happened at a low ebb in our minute books when little is recorded.
The address, a lovely illuminated parchment bound in stiff covers, is in our archives
(Plate 4). It is a thing any Club would be proud to possess.]
On November 17,1864 Buckton resigned as Treasurer and Mr Salter was appointed
as his successor.
On May 24, 1865 the Club decided to hold a special dinner on May 24 for the
Society’s anniversary. However, on May 24, 1866 the Linnean Society itself revived
its anniversary dinner so the Club did not meet. However, on May 24,1867 it did hold
a dinner when the President, Librarian and Secretary (I presume) were special guests,
and there were seven other guests as well.
356
TOM M. HARRIS
I note that on November 6, 1862 the accounts of the Club are stated to have been
audited and approved. It is many years since this formality has been mentioned at all
in the minute book, though occasionally during the low periods it is mentioned that
accounts are late because several members are in arrears.
Proposals to hold two summer excursions each year are recorded, but again there is
nothing written after the event. Among the furthest places are Poole and Peterborough.
Among the guests recorded are Mr Darwin on April 16, 1861, and Mr Lubbock
on November 21, 1861. (Later Sir John Lubbock became President and a member,
ex oficio I suppose, but there is no record of his election in our minutes.)
BOOK 11, 1868-80
A remarkably uninformative book! It has no financial statements whatever, the main
feature of interest is the names of places to be visited on summer excursions. On one
of these excursions (at Watford, 1868) a member was elected, so evidently it was
deemed a meeting. One excursion was to last from August 18-22 inclusive and to
visit Salisbury, Stonehenge, Christchurch, Poole. Rather frequently the Treasurer
was absent and there was no minute, or the minutes were on a sheet of notepaper
pasted in. On May 24, 1871 there is pathetic entry in faint pencil ‘Messrs Hudson,
Godman, Salvin and Stainton attended May 24, but found the Club so feebly represented that they did not venture on an expenditure of pen and ink’. One other meeting
in the book had only three members dining but in general numbers seem fairly good.
Notable guests include Frank Buckland.
BOOK 12,1880-93
Often minutes are very incomplete or missing. We no longer have the name of the
man introducing a guest. On February 16, 1882 Salter (who I gather had been ill for
some time) resigned and after a brief interregnum Dr Mivart was elected Treasurer.
There are two loose papers in the book, one a letter from Salter to Mivart giving the
balance (E106) and the other outlining Salter’s methods of doing his private businessextracting subscriptions and so on. He thinks it important that proposals of new
members should all be made first to the Treasurer, so that undesirables can be snuffed
out in decent privacy. Salter says he made attendance at the Club his first duty and never
missed at all save when he was too ill.
There are some hotel bills pastedin the book. One of April 17,1884for the Free Masons
Tavern, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, W.C.2, has eight dinners at 10s. each, sherry 6s.,
apollinaris 6d., stationers 3s. 6d., waiters 3s.
A later bill of the Burlington House Hotel, Cork St., W.l, is less detailed. The
dinners are still 10s. ; I note they drank sherry, claret, hock, port and apollinaris and
the waiters cost 4s. On November 20, 1884 there is this entry, ‘The Treasurer having
on many occasions received complaints from various members as to the distance of
the Free Masons Tavern from Burlington House and having been requested to seek
for other accommodation for the Club, now reported the results of the enquiries he
had made in compliance with such a request. It was therefore proposed by Mr Frank
Crisp and seconded by Mr Howard Saunders that the Club should meet next time at
THE MINUTE BOOKS OF THE LINNEAN CLUB
357
the Burlington House Hotel Cork Street with the intention of there continuing as
long as matters were found to be satisfactory to the Club’.
On December 3, 1885 Mivart resigned but agreed to carry on. One interesting
change is that members and guests wrote their own names in the book. This is the
pleasant side of the fact that the Treasurer was often absent and did not have a proper
record.
Notable guests include K. Goebel, F. 0. Bower and F. W. Oliver.
After reading this book I ask myself what are the minutes for ? Plainly not evidence
of financial probity since there is no mention of accounts. T h e list of members dining
has lost its meaning when the Treasurer ceases to apply the rule that those absent for
a session forfeit their membership (a rule always applied with discretion). There is
no mention of a member going abroad and his membership going into suspense, nor
his return. Even elections are not always recorded, in fact the most useful thing in the
book is the list of names and dates of election of members; this does give dates of
retirement and many names are crossed through. Some of these may have ceased by
d e a t h - o r have they just lapsed ? In the minutes there is no notice of interesting things
done by members or congratulations on honours, nor condolence on sickness nor
notice taken of their deaths. Neither Bell’s death nor that of men who seem to be
currently active members is recorded.
BOOK 13, 1893-1906
I am glad I wrote that depressed paragraph, the book deserved it. Now we have a
book that looks forward.
On November 3,1898 at 4.30 p.m. there was a special meeting in Burlington House,
the President, D r Gunther, in the chair.
Three matters discussed were :
1, change of dining place;
2, reduction in price of dinner ;
3, increase in number of members.
T h e Club agreed to increase from 30 to 35. D r Mivart was told to talk to the Manager
of the Burlington Hotel (but the Club would dine there till the end of the session
anyway). A committee was appointed to find a better place to dine after the summer of
1899.
T h e Treasurer’s health was drunk.
At a second special meeting at Burlington House in May 1899, D r Gunther again
in the Chair, the resignation of Dr Mivart was accepted, (He tried to resign in 1885
but kept on to help the Club.) Professor G. B. Howes was appointed Treasurer. H e
was given the same instructions-to talk to the Hotel Manager about reducing the
price of dinner and to reduce the members’ subscription. T h e instructions were
indeed the same but Howes took action. If I may moralize, I think a man who wants
to resign should be let go. Each time a Treasurer has been kept on between the earliest
days and 1950 the Club has stagnated, and it is silly to expect the poor fellow to act
with enterprise and vigour. The Club may have thought it inconvenient to change but
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TOM M. HARRIS
the next appointment showed that the right man was at hand ; I think specially of Bell,
Howes and Monckton. The main business of this meeting was to receive the report
of the committee (Howes, Monckton and Murray). They gave a typewritten report in
clear English for which I am grateful for it has gone a long way to make me understand
the job of those early Treasurers and the price of meals.
They pointed out that there were in fact 23 members, the subscription was 42s.
There were 14 dinners last session and 92 people dined in 1897-98. The total sum
raised from subscriptions was 966s.-slightly over 10s. per dinner. The Hotel received
E l for each dinner, 10s.from the member dining and 10s. from the Club. The committee
pointed out that there were various local hotels where instead of members paying
10s. they might pay 7s. 6d. or 7s. or even less. As I understand the paper this 7s. 6d.
would cover the entire cost, at any rate of food. The committee found that the consumption per head of wine was 0.09 bottle of sherry, 0.16 of claret, 0.33 of hock and 0.17 of
port. The total cost was about 5s. a head. They thought that a subscription of 30s. a
year should provide sufficient funds to support the dinners. On November 29 the
Treasurer reported his encounter with the manager of the hotel and he stuck a letter in
the book. (Unfortunately this letter has been torn out, apart from some polite
assurances. Anyway the subscription was fixed at 30s.)
The Treasurer then laid on the table the current rules. These are not quite the same
as the printed rules of 1834 drawn up by Bell but I find no discussion of the changes.
The differences are very small. One change is that the hour of dinner was a quarter to
six instead of half past five o’clock precisely. The Linnean President was an honorary
member (instead of just an ex o&io member). A member who was up for election
must have been introduced as a visitor (not required in the earlier rules). [To me this
last seems thoroughly sound and it would have saved a lot of disappointment if it
had been remembered and acted on in later years.]
The committee drew up a provisional set of new rules. In the book there is an
interesting document, a typewritten sheet headed
Linnean Society Club
Founded 1871
Rules, as emended November 1899
It is also stamped Confidential. Draft Scheme only.
I suppose this is the draft of the new rules but the heading shows that it belongs to
our sister dining club. The date shows that this is not the same as the Linnean Society
Club which in Sabine’s time (1821) half tried to amalgamate with us, was provisionally
welcomed, then hesitated and insisted on remaining separate. That club must have
vanished. The rules in this typed sheet are nearly identical with our own and must be
based on them, but are slightly smoothed. The sheet is emended in ink, in Howes’
hand I think, and I suppose these emendations are what our Club was invited to
consider. The main difference from our rules is that the affairs were run by a committee
of two members and the Treasurer, not just the Treasurer. (This I am glad to say
seems soon to have been forgotten.)
The subsequent emendations in ink are mostly trifling changes of wording but the
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359
rule about absence from a whole session is much softened. It now reads ‘His name may
be removed from the list of members by a majority of members present at any meeting
at which not less than 6 members are present and of which notice has been given’.
I feel that the old rule gave those going away from England a privilege, because the
members regarded them as a leaven to the stay at home majority. It is fitting that the
first sufferer under the change should be committee member Monckton who when he
went away for two years resigned and on his return was meticulously introduced as a
visiter and later duly proposed and balloted for. He got in all right but he had to wait
several weeks.
I note that the new rules confined membership to Fellows; our old ones allowed the
Librarian to be admitted and the Linnean Society Club rules allowed the ‘officers’.
Though the Librarian was frequently a guest he never was a member.
Apart from this business the Treasurer was occasionally asked to write letters of
sympathy to widows of members and also when R. C. A. Prior resigned because of infirmity after 46 years of membership, the Club made him an honorary member. H e
wrote back gratefully. Unfortunately all these letters have been roughly torn out of
the book (being destroyed in the process); I have no idea who was the author of this
vandalism or why. But the entries must have been written as though by Sabine or by
Bell ;our book has recovered its soul.
There are other items of interest: in 1900 the Club apparently decided to visit D r
Godman’s house during the summer but cancelled it in duty to the memory of M r
Percy Sladen. T h e letters concerned are torn out. Then in 1901 there was another
letter from Dr Godman (also torn out), which caused the Club to write expressing
sympathy and to cancel the visit again. However, Murray invited members to visit
the Discovery, about to sail for the South Pole.
An election is noted as having been black-balled. This was evidently personal
and not caused by competition for a single place, as happened in early books. I know
nothing about the candidates but it is evident that the Club felt strong enough to
choose, as it had done in earlier years (in fact this gentleman was duly elected some
weeks later).
BOOK 14, 1906-24
From 1906-14 there is a remarkable absence of recorded business, apart from a
few elections. I am sure, however, some business has been forgotten and omitted,
particularly resignations. I note, for example, former members who vanish and then
reappear as visitors. There is a note after 19 February, 1914 and before 4 June, 1914.
‘During this interval the Burlington Hotel was “renovated” and no meetings of the
Club were held.
Frank Crisp
Treasurer. ’
I find no record of the appointment of Frank Crisp, but I note that the hand-writing
of the minute headings changes in the previous book between January and February
1903. Monckton in his list of the Club gives as dates 1898-Thomas Howes; 1903
Herbert Druce; 1913 Sir Frank Crisp; 1919 Horace Monckton. Thus Druce also is
3 60
TOM M. HARRIS
missing from my record. What I take to be Druce’s writing first appears in February
1903. Meetings continued with falling numbers till January 1915 when just two
dined. On this page is the entry :
Meetings of the Club were in abeyance during the remaining period of the Great
War of 1914-18, and until the year after the end of the War. See separate file of papers
‘Linnean Club Resuscitation’. A. L. Gage 17. VIII. 1928. (This file of papers was
handed to me at the same time as the minute books. The letters do give personal
opinions but there is nothing of general significance beyond what the minute book
states.) [It is good to see that a Treasurer reads our old minute books.]
The next entry in the book is November 20, 1919. Meeting at Les Maurieurs,
26-27 Jermyn St., S.W.l.
Present : Smith Woodward (President), B. D. Jackson, H. W. Monckton, D. Prain,
H. N. Ridley, 0. Stapf.
H. W. Monckton was appointed Treasurer, Frank Crisp having died. The subscription fixed was E2 but members who had paid in 1914-15 were exempt. The Clerk of
the Linnean Society was to be paid E2 to do the clerical work for 1919-20. The next
meeting on December 11, 1919 was at the Criterion Restaurant. Ten were present,
all the surviving members together with the four new ones elected on November 20.
For the next meetings the Club worked steadily at electing new members, but I
see no mention of their having been introduced as guests and then proposed before
election. I imagine that the Club forgot or waived these rules. On February 5 the
Club dined at the Comedy Restaurant, 38 Panton St., S.W.l. A very high proportion
of members continued to dine.
I note that Monckton returned to the old way of giving the list of members dining
in his own hand, and he made plain who introduced which guest. Also he initialled
his own minutes of ordinary meetings and even of the business meetings-a thing
he should not have done! Still it is far better than totally unsigned minutes.
On March 18, 1920, the Club dined at Stewart & C0.k Restaurant at 50 Old Bond
Street and continued there till March 1922 when they dined at Carter’s Hotel, 4
Albermarle Street.
On November 4, 1920 (close meeting) accounts were not mentioned but the
subscription was fixed at El for old members and E2 for new members. The next
year (November 3, 1921) accounts were again not mentioned but the subscription
was fixed at 30s. There was another close meeting on March 2, 1922, when they kept
the ordinary subscription at 30s. and decided that members new for the current
session should be charged 10s. only.
On 11 May, 1922 the Club made an excursion to the R.H.S. gardens at Wisley.
Five members and two guests were present.
On November 16, 1922 at a close meeting we are told The Rules of the Club were
revised and passed, but we are not told what the changes were. This time the minutes
mention that the Treasurer’s report was adopted. The subscription for 1923-24
was to be El, and this was maintained next year except for Major Chipp (who was
absent from England for a long time) and he was charged 15s.
In 1922-23-for the first time-we meet the Club’s accounts. On the credit side is
a balance of about E40,28 subscriptions at 30s. (E42) and certain smaller subscriptions ;
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361
on the debit side are 13 dinners for E26, and various small items leaving a balance of
E50. These are not the audited and signed accounts, but a synopsis. Again we are told
these accounts were adopted (November 1, 1923) and that Monckton was reappointed
Treasurer, and there is a new item. T h e President was requested to entertain five
guests of the Club during the present session at the cost of the Club. T h e book ends with
another synopsis of accounts for 1923-24 and the admirable list of members compiled by
Monckton for the Club in 1922.
T h e fact that this book covers 18 years instead of about five is partly explained by
its being closed during four years of the Great War and immediately after. T h e almost
complete absence of business recorded before 1915 helped ; and after 1919 though
Monckton was generous in giving information about the Club’s business and human
touches (like the President mentioning a death), he was remarkably economical of
paper. He wrote on both sides and began the new meeting immediately below the last,
not on a new right-hand page. I would say that Monckton’s minutes gradually
improved as the years went by.
BOOK 15, 1924-34
T h e book begins with a printed list of members with dates of election. We are told
that Monckton was re-elected Treasurer on November 6, 1924 but not about the
accounts, nor does Monckton initial his own minutes any longer. However, we get
the synopsis of accounts for 1924-25 again; the balance has crept up and is now
E74. After this fine record Monckton resigned as Treasurer (because of pressure on
his time) and was warmly thanked. Lt.-Col. A. T. Gage was appointed to succeed
him. Other items are much as before.
At Gage’s first meeting (November 19, 1925) Lloyds were appointed the Club’s
bankers. There is a long and dry legal document obviously drawn up by Lloyds’
lawyers as standard for this kind of work. Occasional references suggest that previous
Treasurers held the credit balance or deficit in their private accounts.
I n this book the Club’s procedure was tidied and throughout the minutes were
kept meticulously. Meetings were of two sorts-ordinary ones where there was no
business but the President sometimes did announce a death or some other personal
matter and appropriate letters were sent. And then there were the close meetings for
business. T h e main one was at the beginning of November (or as the years went by,
late in October) and the other about the middle of January. Occasionally there was a
third. Accounts were presented at the first with all due entries in the minute book,
and in many of the Treasurer’s Reports a resum6 of the accounts was written in the
book, T h e subscription was settled, at El to E l 10s. Od., according to the balance.
Proposals to alter rules were made at close meetings only (and settled at the next)
and proposals for membership were made at one close meeting and balloted at the
next. At these meetings only, resignations were accepted ‘with regret’ though they
were often received much earlier. We are told which members have not attended during
the session ; no violent action was taken but letters were sent asking their wishes.
Some at once resigned, others who had been ill asked to keep on and were allowed to
stay. The business records of the close meeting were duly signed by the President as a
362
TOM M. HARRIS
correct record but the lists of names at ordinary meetings were just written down
by the Treasurer and not signed after Monckton’s time (he initialled most of his).
Such signing is pleasant but a trivial point.
During the period covered by this book we have two changes of Treasurer, from
Monckton to Gage, and then on November 7, 1929 to J. H. Burkill. Burkill’s
minutes are even more meticulous, He went beyond what I can reasonably ask for
he briefly reported points in debates, not merely the concluding motion. There was
evidently much discussion about past-Presidents as potential honorary members and
Burkill produced his estimate of the cost to the Club of the group of past-Presidents
so as to give them a solid basis. On another occasion he worked out the cost of an
average guest’s wine-only 2s. There was apparently much debate about whether
non-paying past-Presidents might vote, perhaps on a basis of no representation without
taxation, but in the end the Club generously decided that though paying no subscription
they should enjoy full members’ rights (because they might probably be sensible and
therefore their votes be useful).
In February 1933 the Club was told that Carter’s Hotel lease was expiring and they
must go elsewhere. Apparently they considered eleven places and the first they tried,
Washington Hotel, Curzon Street, suited them for they kept on there till the end of
the book.
The book records a good deal of legislation which it would appear gave the members
pleasure at the close meetings. (I suspect that there was more time available in these
meetings than was needed for the real business.) In 1927 the Club agreed to spend
its balance on entertaining its guests, but later rescinded it. Other motions were to
guide the Club in elections. The Club agreed that before any candidate was balloted
for there should be a vote on how many places they wished to fill. Another and clearly
sensible rule in view of the long time elapsing before the ballot at a close meeting was
that members should be reminded of names. Another and entirely new one was a
resolution that after two unsuccessful ballots a candidate had exhausted his nomination
and needed to be proposed again. This was in fact followed for the Club was in no
hurry to fill its vacancies and there were commonly contested elections decided on a
majority (not by black balls). Eventually the losing candidate usually got in and
proved a good member. Other motions added the words ‘and the President if he is not
already a member of the Club’ to rule 1-and this at best is merely slight tidying.
In fact this was quietly dropped and no change was made when rule 1 was reprinted.
None was needed. The long and much discussed rule 4 changes are the only material
difference between the 1929 rules (pasted in after the October 1932 meeting) and the
rules of 1933 (pasted in after the November 1933 meeting). The new rule 4 adds ‘Any
past President of the Club’, the other changes are trivial ones of wording. Discussion
had chiefly dealt with former Presidents’ powers of voting and whether they should be
called ‘supernumerary’or honorary. Their voting powers were specifically covered by a
motion (both being settled October 1933).
Among many details of possible interest are facts about the costs of dinners. Medoc
was 5s. 6d. and Graves 5s. and the average cost of the wine drunk was just over 2s.
The Club’s balance gradually increased to about 414, evidently it was policy to keep
the total low but with a small annual increase. Numbers of those dining in a session
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363
were sometimes given; for example 1929-30, 172 members and 34 guests. I am sure
that the number of members was greater than it had been during the last century but
I fancy the guests were no more or fewer ; hence our solvency and low subscriptions.
One Treasurer worked out average attendance of members over a session as 16. This
is very good when we remember that the Club still met after every Society meeting,
nearly 14 times a session. Once when numbers fell very low (only six) there is a note by
the Treasurer that this was owing to extreme cold, but six would have been a fair
number in much of the last century.
I n 1930 the Treasurer was instructed to write down an unusual item referring to
the proposal of Middlesex County Council to make Syon Park into a sewage farm.
A lampoon had been written.
A song of Syon
By the river of New Babylon, we sat down lamenting Syon;
We hanged our harps upon banks of concrete in face of Kew :
From the home of the Northumberlands we looked down a disgruntled Lion
Dropped his tail over flats of sewage, and smelled the view.
BOOK 16,1934-57
This, the last of our old minute books, records chequered history.
U p to the end of the 1937-38 session Burkill was Treasurer and his detailed and
meticulous minutes are a delight to a Club historian, possibly also to the Club. H e
evidently furnished the material of the October 1938 meeting and minutes but he
doubtless omitted to record votes of thanks to himself and so on, and nothing of the
sort is given. I feel sure this was pure omission for Burkill continued to attend, often in
the Chair. He was replaced by T. A. Sprague who continued only till May 1940 when
the Club went into abeyance. Numbers were good till the last meeting which had
only nine. Sprague’s minutes are orderly but dry.
I n 1947 the Club had just a brief period of life, February-March, and ran in low
gear. It ceased again till March 1952, and during 1947 D. M. Reid was Treasurer.
Its resuscitation in 1947 began with an informal meeting at Burlington House on
January 23, 1947; there is no record of attendance. Reid was there but not Sprague
who was then replaced. Though informal this meeting proposed and elected three.
The first formal meeting was at Schmidt’s Restaurant in Charlotte Street, W.C.l.
F. E. Weiss was in the Chair and those present wrote their names in the book-A. H. G.
Alston, J. Hutchinson, G. Hale Carpenter, Hugh Scott, Seymour Sewell, J. L.
Chaworth Musters, D. M. Reid. At other meetings other old-time members attended
including Burkill, Hardy, Ramsbottom, G. S. Carter. Elections took place frequently,
without the formalities of previous introductions or proposals. No guests were present
during this period. The subscription was 10s. and each member paid for his drinks.
Numbers attending were low, averaging perhaps nine, and after one dinner at Schmidt’s
they met at the Cafb Royal, Regent Street once and after that at the Criterion in
Piccadilly.
On March 13,1952 the Club members gathered at the Society’s rooms for a business
meeting. Here they decided to resume full activity. Weiss was again in the Chair and
364
TOM M. HARRIS
Burkill, Scott, Hutchinson and Reid were present. There was another business meeting
on March 20 (for elections) and another on April 3, and then they elected six. They
had decided to make E l the subscription and not to dine till they could muster 15.
On 8 May they did dine-at the Society of Visiting Scientists in Old Burlington
Street and continued there till February 1953, after which they went to Brown’s
Hotel. The 15 dining at the first meeting included several who had been elected in
1947, the most useful thing accomplished in that spell of life. On October 23, 1952
the Club was told that it had 20 ordinary members. Proposers were asked to find out
if their nominees would accept election. This entry explains a good deal, for the
numbers of members should on my calculation have been forty or more, since there is
no mention of withdrawals or of people snuffed out for non-attendance nor of deaths
and avery considerable number of new members was elected. Of course the explanation
is the minutes do not record these things and that a lot of those elected had refused.
The Treasurer pointed out that the number of botanists and zoologists was about
equal and this the meeting thought good. On November 20, ten were elected (having
been proposed previously though this was not previously recorded). As usual in this
period no accounts were given but the minutes of the business meeting were at least
signed by the President, Seymour Sewell, but dated October 8, 1953, since those of
the intervening meetings (though some of them recorded elections) were not presented
to the President for signature.
On October 8, 1953 there was an important meeting at Brown’s. Dr C. R. Metcalfe
(who had previously filled the gap when Reid retired during the spring) became
Treasurer. We have more complete minutes again.
Instead of meeting each fortnight, that is after every Society meeting and therefore
13 or 14 times a session, the Club decided to reduce its meetings. It decided:
1. T o have a close meeting on the evening of the first Society meeting of the session.
2. T o meet the same day as the President’s Reception, when each member could
bring one man or woman guest (not necessarily a Fellow).
3. A date early in the New Year when each member could bring a male Fellow of
the Society or a male overseas visitor.
4. Anniversary meeting, each member to bring a guest, man or woman but all
Fellows.
5. There may be one or more additional meetings, as fixed by the President.
The President can bring additional guests.
Membership may be up to 40 but this matter is to be reviewed in a year.
I take this limitation of the number of meetings to about half as a major break
between the old Club as it ran for over a century, and the Club as we now know it.
I greatly regret I was never a member in the days of Burkill so that I might assess what
spiritual changes have happened-minute books do not record that sort of thing.
I must say that had I been present on October 8, 1953 I would certainly have voted
for this change because I would have been unwilling to give the time or to spend the
money on fortnightly meetings. But I admire the old-timers who did it!
The Treasurer announced that the Club’s finances were sound and a balance sheet
would be circulated, as it doubtless was, but it was not stuck in the book. I feel that
THE MINUTE BOOKS OF THE LINNEAN CLUB
365
important papers should all be in the book for when separate they are sure to be lost.
(The balance is in fact given in next year’s minutes as A15 approx.)
I n 1954 the balance sheet was produced at the right moment and we are told that
the credit balance had sunk to El 1.
T h e Club decided to reduce expenditure, port would no longer be charged to the
Club and members must order wines as they wish. Two resignations were tendered
and accepted. Certain men who had been elected had declined membership-all this
information is in the best tradition of our minutes. T h e Club reinstated an old member,
Hamshaw Thomas. There was unusual procedure over fresh elections-five men
were duly proposed and the Club decided that they were all accepted as members if
they said they wished to join. Doubtless they were duly balloted for but this is not
stated.
As the number of dinners had been reduced the Club decided that a member was
only to be regarded as defaulting if he failed to attend in two years.
At the business meeting of October 6, 1955, the Treasurer was able to report an
increase in our balance. He dealt with those elected in the last year, some had accepted,
some declined. One had failed to attend in two years and there was a death. T h e
membership stood at 34 ordinary, three honorary and three vacancies. T h e Club
was to write to the member who had failed to attend to ask his views. By next year
he had resigned but made a donation of E5.
A new venture was agreed that the Club should have an additional five ‘youthful’
members, that is men under 35, who should only pay 5s.
At the business meeting of October 4,1956 the balance was E22. Business of the usual
kinds was recorded and then the Treasurer resigned, was thanked, and succeeded
by L. J. Audus. This ends the book.
I have not yet given a number of items of general interest which arose during the
period 1934-40.
Burkill’s minutes during the previous book were not only a part of his service of
perfection, but I felt that the business itself might have been arranged so as to keep
the record tidy. Anyway in the present book there is some rebellion or at least relaxation
in procedure. As a rule there were just two business (close) meetings, the first dealing
mainly with accounts, but also proposing new members and the second, after Christmas,
when the main business was balloting for them. T h e ordinary meetings merely recorded
those dining. However, in this book the President started to interpose little bits of
business at the ordinary meetings, for example when a member was honoured, or fell
ill or died, the Treasurer was asked to write a letter, and subsequently a reply would be
mentioned. Then nominations of candidates began to appear in ordinary meetings
open to guests, but confidential business was excluded. A partial solution was found of
the difficulty caused by the need for a second close meeting (where business though
important was likely to be brief). At the business meeting after Christmas, guests
were told to stay in the dining room while the Club members went off, did their work,
speedily I hope, and then brought the guests in.
T h e function of the Club as the organization that entertained the Society’s guests
(speakers) was only worked out gradually and as it seems to me is not yet completed.
This function was evidently recognized in early times and while there was a Club
366
TOM M. HARRIS
meeting after each Society meeting the relation was easy (apart from the financial
strain on the Club). At this time there was no question of women guests to alarm the
Club members. Then the Club started to dine on Linnaeus’ birthday (May 24). This
had been a Society’s feast day but the custom had been dropped. T h e Club began it
again, very hesitantly at first, and indeed this stimulated the Society to hold the dinners
once more and the Club did not of course compete. Soon the Society decided to leave
it to the Club which started to hold a much more considerable dinner that day. This
caused certain problems. We find at each business meeting a motion voting the
President a limited number of guests, perhaps five or eight or as many as there are
ordinary open meetings (eleven or so). Then to cope with possibilities at the anniversary
meeting he must have an unspecified number of additional guests. Guests cost the
Club money and according to what the Treasurer and Club felt about the balance
at the business meeting a number of guests would be specified. Thus it fluctuated
considerably. The balance varied between about E20 and E6 and the Treasurer was
only happy when he could look forward to a small increase-a pound or two was
enough. Where the balance looked like falling he would offer the Club alternatives,
fewer guests, raised subscription (say from E l to El 5s. Od.) or less expenditure on
themselves. Practice varied from year to year. Never, however, do we see anything
like the costs to members of the early days, often a subscription of E3 3s. Od. a year
with occasional E l levies in addition. As I have seen no early accounts I do not understand these figures, but plainly the dinners were paid for differently. On the minute of
10 December, 1936 there is a little note that Edward VIII had that day abdicated. No
suggestion was made that the Club should do without its dinner. At the same meeting
M r Ridley was congratulated on his 80th birthday.
During Burkill’s time we first meet Ladies as a possible menace. T h e books do
indeed mention their existence ; there was Lady Honywood of Washington Hotel
where they dined for a good many years. She gave members dining just before
Christmas ‘little presents’ and endeared herself by continuing this for some time.
T h e only other women mentioned are safely in the background as wives, usually when
newly widowed.
At the January business meeting of 1935 the Club arranged to entertain the Society’s
medallists and some others when someone pointed out that a woman might be given a
medal. T h e Club was evidently perturbed and the debate confused, at one time they
decided that May 24 should be a Ladies’ night but this ‘should not be a precedent’.
They then decided that no woman could be a guest after all. Not until the October
meeting of 1953 when many new ideas were accepted did the Club steel itself to
accept women as guests on the nights of the President’s Reception and of the May 24
anniversary of Linnaeus’ birthday. A small number of women did dine on December 2
and the next May 24, just two at each, but rather more on December 1, 1955. T h e
Club survived.
Another matter of general interest is the use of the rule that members absent for a
session should cease. I n the old days of Sabine, Bell and others this was applied strictly
unless the Treasurer knew a good reason (usually illness) why the member could not
dine. Sometimes expedients were adopted and the Club preferred to use these when
it could in advance of the need, for example a faithful member who wrote to explain
THE MINUTE BOOKS OF THE LINNEAN CLUB
367
that some trouble would prevent his coming was considered as though absent from
England. But those who did not dine because they were not interested were out.
Then with less vigorous Treasurers I think a good deal of the absence of certain
members was just overlooked and in 1899 when new rules were passed the feeling had
evidently changed and absentees were given much latitude (but there is no mention of
nonpayment of subscriptions, doubtless an occasional headache for a Treasurer).
In the present book, the absence of Lord Wakehurst through illness is recorded. H e
offered to resign and the Club decided to keep him on, he wrote gratefully and shortly
after died. T h e Club had behaved well! Then, as mentioned, another member did not
turn up in two years-he in eventually resigning sent &5 as conscience money.
Normally when members were written to because they had been absent, they wrote
resigning, and I don’t think that the lack of disciplinary sanction did harm. I may
mentioned an instance where our modern procedure has not worked so well. One
member was written to after a year. He duly attended a meeting but then after another
year was written to again. He resigned, but characteristically came to the autumn
business meeting and rescinded his resignation ;but he came to no more meetings and
later he resigned again and this was accepted ‘with regret’. This ridiculous but harmless
episode could not have happened under Bell. We hear a good deal nowadays about the
modern permissive society but what I notice in our books is a very gradual progress
to easy good nature.
Perhaps I may be allowed a few comments on minutes in general. I do not make
the mistake of regarding the minute book as the primary function of the Club, and I
am sure that members could dine happily though the minutes were appalling. I do,
however, note a relation and I feeel sure firm and clear minutes reflect a Treasurer’s
mind. One of the worst entries I saw was a meeting attended by just two-but they
proceeded to elect and the new member was accepted without comment: in that
period the average number was very low. T h e best period in the old Club (before
dining nights were reduced) was in Burkill’s time when one year the average number
was 17-quite half the total of all members and we must remember they met every
fortnight.
Whatever a Treasurer regards as the function of minutes, I hardly imagine he will
place the needs of a historian very high. More important I think is that the minutes
should be full enough to be interesting, for then there is a hope that people will read
the old ones. For this purpose some brief report of important debates is good-not
merely the dry conclusions, and letters received are often moving, and above all the
accounts (or a summary of them) are interesting. Of course much added paper makes a
bulgy and awkward book, but separate papers are lost.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am indebted to D r D. Cutler and Miss Mary Gregory of the Jodrell Laboratory,
Kew for their careful reading of the manuscript. T h e photographs were taken by
Mr T. A. Harwood.
25
368
TOM M. HARRIS
EXPLANATION OF PLATES
PLATE
1
The first entry o the first minute book of the Linnean Club, Decet-._ er
181
PLATE2
The first accounts of the Linnean Club, 1812.
PLATE3
Marble bust of Thomas Bell by Slater, presented by the Linnean Club to the Linnean Society in November, 1862.
PLATE4
The first page of the illuminated address given to Mrs J. Bell on the occasion of the presentation of the
bust of her husband to the Linnean Society, 1862.
Bio1.J. Linn. Soc., 3 (1971)
T. M. HARRIS
Plate 1
(Facing p . 368)
Bio1.J. Linn. SOC.,
3 (1971)
T. M. HARRIS
Plate 2
Bio1.J. Linn. SOC.,
3 (1971j
Plate 3
I
T. M. HARRIS
Biol. Linn. SOC.,3 (1971)
T. M. HARRIS
Plate 4