200 Years of the RAS Club

Here I am in Heathrow Terminal 2 waiting for flight back to Dublin. I managed to get to London from Birmingham in time for a special dinner to mark the 200th anniversary of the RAS Club. As I have mentioned in previous posts, according to the brief history published on the RAS website:

The ‘Astronomical Society of London’ was conceived on 12 January 1820 when 14 gentlemen sat down to dinner at the Freemason’s Tavern, in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London. After an unusually short gestation the new Society was born on 10 March 1820 with the first meeting of the Council and the Society as a whole. An early setback, when Sir Joseph Banks induced the Duke of Somerset to withdraw his agreement to be the first President, was overcome when Sir William Herschel agreed to be the titular first President, though he never actually took the Chair at a meeting.

Since the RAS Club always dines on the second Friday of the month after Ordinary Meetings of the Royal Astronomical Society itself, January 10th was the closest date to that first dinner. As expected for such a special occasion, there was a very big turnout with more than double the usual number of diners (and many more guests than usual). It was very nice to see some people I haven’t seen for ages! The food and wine were excellent and we ended with champagne and a slice of a cake baked and decorated for the occasion. Unfortunately it was so crowded in the Gallery Room that I couldn’t get close enough to take a photo of it before it was whisked away to be cut into slices.

After dinner we had some speeches, including one really brilliant one by my former colleague from Cardiff days, Mike Edmunds who had researched the `14 gentlemen’ who attended that first dinner. I had known previously that Charles Babbage and John Herschel were there but here (thanks to Mike) is a complete list:

Charles Babbage, Esq. M.A. F.R.S. L. & E.	No. 5 Devonshire Street Portland Place
Arthur Baily, Esq,	Gray’s Inn
Francis Baily, Esq. F.R.S. & L.S.	Gray’s Inn
Major Thomas Colby, of the Royal Engineers, LL.D. F.R.S. L. & E.	Tower
Henry T. Colebrooke, Esq. F.R.S. & L.S.	Albany, Piccadilly
Olinthus G. Gregory, LL.D. Professor of Mathematics	Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
Stephen Groombridge, Esq. F.R.S. S.R.A.Nap.	Blackheath
J.F.W. Herschel, LL.D. F.R.S.	Slough
Patrick Kelly, LL.D.	Finsbury Square
Daniel Moore, Esq. F.R.S. S.A. & L.S.	Lincoln’s Inn
Rev. William Pearson, LL.D. F.R.S.	East Sheen, Surrey
James South, Esq. F.R.S. and L.S.	No. 11 Blackman Street Southwark
Charles Stokes, Esq. F.R.S. S.A. & L.S.	Gray’s Inn
Peter Slawinski D.P. Proff. University	Wilna

P.S. Because I was attending the LGBTQ+ STEMinar I couldn’t get to the ordinary meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society earlier in the day, which was a shame because it was there that the winners of this year’s awards were announced. You can find a full list here. Congratulations to all!

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