The Lunar Men

See this link: The Lunar Men, Jenny Uglow.

Date marker: 1760. It pops up often in the book.

Chapter 2: read what Birmingham was all about, page 21 - 23. 

Large arc, Leeds to the north, very center of England, and then the arc swings to the west, down to Manchester, and then southeast to Birmingham, via Stoke-on-Trent.

Darwin, Boulton, and Wedgwood: all born in the heart of England, all descended from "yeomen," small landowners and farmers. They came from different sides of the Midlands, where the counties curve around the Derbyshire Peak. 

• at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire.

On the road to Birmingham, one would meet Manchester manufacturers, Sheffield cutlers, Staffordshire potters, traveling together to protect themselves against highwaymen.

• glassworks, salt-pans, and potteries: clustered along the Firth of Forth
  

The Lunar Society of Birmingham:

• genesis: 1760 - 1775
• formally recognized by one of the original members: 1775
• ceased to exist: 1791
• others say it lasted until: 1813

Global dates/important events:

• Seven Years War: war between France and England for global domination; Britain, the big winner
• French and Indian War: colonists name for Brits fighting the French and their Indian allies in North America; Britain, the big winner
• American Revolution: first shots, April 19, 1775; declaration, 1776
• King George III: 1760 - 1820
  

Dates:

• 1760 - 1830: first industrial revolution
• 1870 - 1914: second industrial revolution
• first lunar bond:
• 1767: CO2 discovered
• 1774: oxygen discovered

Map of England

• the Midlands
• Peak District

Name: Erasmus Darwin

• Vocation: physician
• Location: near Neward-on-Trent, NE of Nottingham, northeast of Birmingham;
• born, 1731, Old Hall, Elston, ten miles NE of Nottingham
• nearest town, Newark-on-the-Trent; river to Hull!
• elementary school: Chesterfield, twenty miles north; on the edge of the Pennines, close to the Yorkshire border
• Derby: northeast of Nottingham, near Newark -- known for its clock-making trade.
• to Cambridge for medical training
  
• Age, 1760:
• Disposition: polymath, gregarious, extrovert, hyperactive, athletic
• Wives
• Children
• Comments

Name:  John Whitehurst
Vocation: clock-maker
Location: moved to Derby in 1736
1735: John Harrison perfected his famous chronometer
the next big interest was electricity in the 1740s, and discovery followed discovery
1746: Leydon jar
Age, 1760:
Disposition
Wives
Children
Comments

 

 

Name:  Matthew Boulton (think Birmingham metal worker)
Vocation: toy-maker; metal-worker
Location: Birmingham, but married in Lichfield
born 1728, Whitehall Lane, now Steelhouse Lane, northern fringes of Birmingham
three years older than Darwin
when Darwin was at Cambridge, Boulton setting up his "study"
Boulton senior was a "toy-maker" -- Matthew followed in his footsteps; metal-trades;
Birmingham: city where fortunes were made; a city of makers and traders
Boulton senior had come from cathedral town of Lichfield, eighteen miles to the north of Birmingham
iron workers and coal in immediate area
friends/three mentors: the influential button-and hardware-maker Samuel Garbett, his partner John Roebuck, a pioneering industrial chemist, and the great printer John Baskerville
Garbett: how to finance expensive projects
Roebuck: science could pay
Baskerville: art could be combined with experiment
japanning, p. 23
tall, dark, handsome; on the make
married his distant cousin May, the daughter of Luke Robinson, a wealthy mercer with a farm at Whittington, three miles outside the city
scooped a great deal of money and married into an influential family
initially lived in Lichfield (home of Mary) but the moved back to Birmingham
Age, 1760:
Disposition
Wives
Children
Comments

 

 

Name:  James Watt, seven years younger than Boulton
Vocation:
Location: Scotland; Greenock; west central lowlands of Scotland, northwest of Glasgow; truly far away;
Greenock: fishing village and then triangular trade with Glasgow
Age, 1760:
Disposition
Wives
Children
Comments

 

 

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Name: Joseph Wright
Vocation: painter
pp. 6, 12, 18

Name: John Baskerville
Vocation: printer
one of Boulton's circle of friends

Name: Samuel Garbett, highly influential
Vocation: button- and hardware-maker
big factory east of Edinburgh on Firth of Forth
one of Boulton's circle of friends
partnership culminated in 1760 in Scotland's first major ironworks by the river Carron in Stirlingshire

 

Name: John Roebuck
Vocation: partner of Samuel Garbett
big factory east of Edinburgh on Firth of Forth
partnership culminated in 1760 in Scotland's first major ironworks by the river Carron in Stirlingshire
one of Boulton's circle of friends