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Venues included Matthew Boulton's home, Soho House, and Great Barr Hall.
The members of the Lunar Society were very influential in Britain in their day. Amongst those who attended meetings more or less regularly were Matthew Boulton, Erasmus Darwin, Samuel Galton Junior, James Keir, William Murdoch, Joseph Priestley, Josiah WedgwoodThis article is about the eldest Josiah Wedgwood. He also had a son (see Josiah Wedgwood II), grandson and great-grandson (see Josiah Wedgwood, 1st Baron Wedgwood) of the same name. Josiah Wedgwood ( July 12, 1730 January 3, 1795) was an English potter, c, James WattThis article is about the Scottish engineer and inventor. For Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Interior, see James G. James Watt ( January 19, 1736 August 19, 1819) was a Scottish mathematician and engineer whose improvements to the steam engine were a ke and William WitheringWilliam Withering ( March 17, 1741 October 6, 1799) was a British physician and the discoverer of digitalis. Trained as a doctor at Edinburgh University, he worked at Birmingham General Hospital from 1779. The story is that one of his patients with dropsy.
More peripheral characters and correspondents included Sir Richard ArkwrightSir Richard Arkwright b. the last of 13 children December 23, 1732, d. August 3, 1792) was an Englishman credited with the Spinning Frame — later renamed the Water Frame following the transition to water power. The spinning frame loosely based on the Spin, John BaskervilleJohn Baskerville ( January 28, 1706 January 8, 1775) was a printer in Birmingham, and an associate of some of the members of the Lunar Society. He directed his punchcutter John Handy in the design of many typefaces of broadly similar appearance. His busin, Thomas Beddoes , Thomas DayThomas Day ( 22 June 1748 28 September 1789), was a British author. His reputation rests mainly on Sandford and Merton ( 1783- 1789), a book for the young, which, though quaintly didactic and often ridiculous, was at one time considered of educational val, Richard Lovell Edgeworth , Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin ( January 17, 1706 — April 17, 1790) was an American journalist, publisher, author, philanthropist, abolitionist, public servant, scientist, librarian, diplomat, and inventor. One of the leaders of the American Revolution, he was well kn, Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson Other images: (, , ) Order 3rd President Term of Office Monday, March 4, 1801 Thursday, March 3, 1809 Followed John Adams Succeeded by James Madison Date of Birth April 13, 1743 Place of Birth Shadwell, Virginia Date of Death Tuesday, Jul, Anna Seward, William Small, John Smeaton, Thomas Wedgwood , John Wilkinson, Joseph Wright, James Wyatt, Samuel Wyatt .
Antoine Lavoisier frequently corresponded with various members of the group, as did Benjamin Franklin, who also visited them in Birmingham on several occasions.As the members grew older & died, the Lunar Society was closed in 1813 - they had all died by 1820.
Among memorials to the Society are the Moonstones; two statues of Watt and a statue of Boulton, Watt and Murdoch, by William Bloye; and the museum at Soho House – all in Birmingham, England.