WILLIAM SHIPLEY and the ROYAL SOCIETY of ARTS: the History of an Idea
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JOURNALOF THE ROYALSOCIETY OF ARTS I ITH MARCHI949 object whichwould be beautifulto look at, suitablefor its purpose,and, at the same time,practical to make. Exhibition An Exhibitionof winningand commendeddesigns is to be held at the Society's House from21 March-2 April,and will be opento thepublic from 10 a.m.-5.3op.m. on Mondays to Fridays,and 10 a.m.-12. 30 p.m. on Saturdays.It is hoped that Fellows will be able to findan opportunityof visiting this Exhibition, but the Board would liketo stressthat the real benefits of the Bursaries are revealedin theprogress made and experiencegained by winningcandidates during their visits abroad, rather than in the entriessubmitted, by which the fullvalue of theseCompetitions can hardlybe judged. As an example of this, the Juryof the Domestic Solid-Fuel- BurningAppliances Section were able to reportthat Mr. R.T.J. Homes,the winning candidate in this Section, who had also been awarded a Bursaryin the 1947 Competition,had made a greatdeal of progressduring the year, and clearlybenefited fromhis visit to Sweden last summer. Copies ofthe full Report, which contains details of the subjects set, the number of entries,the names of the commended candidates and thecomments and composition of the Juries,may be obtainedon applicationto the Secretary. 1949 Competition A furtherannouncement will be made shortlyof the details of theBursaries to be offeredin the 1949 Competition. WILLIAM SHIPLEY AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS: The History of an Idea A lecturedelivered on Monday,17th January, 1949 By K. W. Luckhurst,m.a., Secretaryof the Society Founded in 1754." Behindthe prosaic phrase which appears so regularlyon tfye the Journalof Royal Societyof Arts lies a romanticand generallyunsuspected Our story. founder,William Shipley, was no influentialfigure in London society who could quicklyand easilygather round him a groupof kindredspirits. He was an obscure drawingmaster living in a distantprovincial town and withonly the in slightestfooting London who, nevertheless,succeeded in establishingthere a whichwithin five Society yearsbecame one ofthe leading institutions of the country. And, done he having this, retiredgracefully and returnedto his teachingof drawing. s Shipley achievementwas not attained by the force of personal ambition. 262 This content downloaded from 130.113.111.210 on Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:00:28 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions I ITH MARCH1949 WILLIAMSHIPLEY AND THE ROYALSOCIETY OF ARTS WilliamShipley y"whose public spirit gave rise to thisSociety ". Fromthe painting by Cosway He showed, it is true, a quiet persistenceand determination,but these were promptedby a deep and genuinepatriotism without the least desirefor personal aggrandisement.When his fellow-memberspaid theirtribute to him by awarding him one of the firstof the Society'sgold medals,the inscriptionthey determined upon was "To William Shipley,whose public spiritgave rise to this Society", and most appropriatelya similardescription still appears beneathhi$ portrait,by his pupil Cosway,in the entrancehall of the Society'sHouse. 263 This content downloaded from 130.113.111.210 on Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:00:28 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions JOURNALOF THE ROYALSOCIETY OF ARTS I ITH MARCHI949 The Birth of an Idea The success of Shipley'sproject, however, is due ultimatelynot so much to the forceof his characteras to the Tightnessof the idea, simple,indeed naive, though it was,which he conceivedand on whichhe based his Society.It is fortunate,therefore, thatwe possess,in a pamphletdated 1763 and entitled"A Concise Accountof the Rise, Progressand PresentState of the Societyfor. the Encouragementof Arts, Manufacturesand Commerce",a detailedstory of how theproject gradually formed in his mind. It reallygrew from two ideas, the firstof whichcame to him as he watchedthe horsefair which was held twicea year at Northampton,where he resided.When he saw all the buyingand sellingthat went on at the fair,involving large sums of money,he began to enquireinto the cause of its success. He was told that it was largelydue to the institutionof horse-racingmeetings; and that many of these had recentlybeen promotedby the King and otherswho had presentedplates or prizes for the various races. From this it occurredto Shipley that the giftof a comparativelyfew prizes had thus stimulateda whole industry;and impressed by this discoveryhe began to ask himselfwhether this, same principlecould not be applied to stimulateother industries. He decided thatit could, and subsequent historyproved that he was right,but in the meantimethere remained a second question- where was the money for even a few modest prizes to come from? Until Shipleycould findthe answerto that,the firstidea had to be shelved. His second idea- the solutionto thisproblem - came to him,like the first,from a local circumstance.Shipley was shockedat the highprices which the poor people of Northamptonhad to pay for theirwinter fuel, and as he ponderedthe matter he realisedhow thiscame about. Everysummer the merchantsof the townused to buy in largestocks of fuelat low priceswhich they kept until the winterand then sold at high prices. Shipley probablyhad no generalquarrel with the common principleof buyingin the cheapestmarket and sellingin the dearest.But he was concernedabout the hardshipsuffered by the poor. He decided thereforeto try to raise a fundfrom public-spirited individuals which would enable him, like the merchants,to buy stocksof fuelat summerprices and then,unlike them, sell them to poor people withoutprofit in the winter.The plan succeeded,and in 1751 and 1752,thanks to him and the charitablepeople who supportedhim, the poor people of Northamptonbought their fuel in the winterat summerprices. And then suddenlythe two ideas came togetherin his mind,and Shipleysaw thatthe way to financehis schemefor stimulating industry by meansof prizeswas to raise a fundfrom public-spirited people in the same way as he had raiseda fund for his coal scheme. Convincedthat he had now arrivedat a workableplan, and determinedto put it into practiceon nothingless thana nationalscale, he set out forLondon, realising that only there could he finda sufficientnumber of influential people to supporthim. Shipley already had three friendsin London- none of them men of great - eminence buthe had beengiven an introductionto a Rev.Dr. StephenHales, f.r.s., a distinguishedscientist, and he lost no time in calling upon him. Fortunately, Hales welcomed Shipley's proposals and promisedto mentionthem to various 264 This content downloaded from 130.113.111.210 on Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:00:28 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions I ITH MARCH1949 WILLIAMSHIPLEY AND THE ROYALSOCIETY OF ARTS influentialfriends, including Viscount Folkestone and Lord Romney,who subse- quentlybecame respectivelythe firstand second Presidentsof the Society.In the meantime,however, he asked Shipleyto put his ideas downin writingand getthem printed,so that he would have somethingdefinite to put beforethose whom he should endeavourto interestin the scheme. Shipley accordinglyprepared two leaflets,one of thementitled "Proposals forraising by subscriptiona fundto be distributedin Premiumsfor the promotingof improvementsin the liberalarts and sciences,manufactures, etc.", and the other"A schemefor putting the Proposals in execution".In the formerhis generalideas are set forth,in the lattera definite schemefor a society,and rules forthe conductof the proposedcompetitions are laid down, worked out in remarkableand very practicaldetail. When the groundhad been preparedfor him by the privatecirculation of his pamphlets,Shipley returned to London,this time to reside.He now paid a successful visitto Lord Romney,who promisedhis own supportand to obtainthat of Viscount Folkestone.Shipley then settled down to threemonths of hard canvassing.The resultswere not encouraging.Only fifteenpeople promisedto join the scheme,but, nothingdaunted, Shipley felt that the timehad come to call a meeting,and eleven of these fifteen,including Lord Romney,Lord Folkestoneand Dr. Hales, came togetherat Rawthmell'sCoffee House, HenriettaStreet, on 22nd March, 1754, at what is generallyregarded as the firstmeeting of the Societyof Arts. The storythus far has been told in some detail,not merely for its intrinsic human interestbut becauseof thelight which it throwson thebasis ofthis unique as well as ancientSociety, which is the converseof thatof almostall othersocieties. Whereas othersare foundedto promotesome definiteobject , and occupythemselves in finding the best meansto promotethat object, the Societyof Artswas foundedon a means and has occupied itselfsince in discoveringthe best objectsto whichto apply the - means. Hence,the importance of grasping the twoideas or "plan" as theywere so oftenjointly termed - which sent our founderon his way fromNorthampton to London: first,the use ofpremiums as a meansof encouragement ; second, the raising of a public fund to provide these premiums.As we shall see later,the idea of premiumsquickly gave birthto otherideas forthe employment of thefund, but it is upon thesevarious practical conceptions, and notupon theirparticular applications, thatthe long historyof the Societyhangs together. The History of the Society as a Society Before,however, we considerthe directionsin whichthese ideas actuallyled in practiceit will be as well to surveybriefly the historyof the Societyas a Society. For thefirst year of its life there was butlittle growth, but from early 1755 onwards a rapidexpansion of membershiptook