The Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science or the Devonshire Report was a Royal Commission of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

that sat from 1870 to 1875. The Commission was appointed in May 1870 and was chaired by the

Duke of Devonshire Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This (now the senior) branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has ...

. It also included Lord Lansdowne, Sir John Lubbock, Sir

James Kay-Shuttleworth Sir James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth, 1st Baronet (20 July 1804 – 26 May 1877, born James Kay) of Gawthorpe Hall, Lancashire, was a British politician and educationist. He founded a further-education college that would eventually become P ...

Bernhard Samuelson Sir Bernhard Samuelson, 1st Baronet, (22 November 1820 – 10 May 1905) was an industrialist, educationalist and a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1859 and from 1865 to 1895. Early life Samuelson was born in Hamburg, the e ...

William Sharpey William Sharpey FRS FRSE LLD (1 April 1802 – 11 April 1880) was a Scottish anatomist and physiologist. Sharpey became the outstanding exponent of experimental biology and is described as the "father of British physiology". Early life Sharpe ...

Thomas Henry Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...

(Professor of Natural History at the Royal School of Mines),

William Allen Miller William Allen Miller FRS (17 December 1817 – 30 September 1870) was a British scientist. Life Miller was born in Ipswich, Suffolk and educated at Ackworth School and King's College London. He was related to William Allen and first co ...

(Professor of Chemistry at King's College, London), and

George Gabriel Stokes Sir George Gabriel Stokes, 1st Baronet, (; 13 August 1819 – 1 February 1903) was an Irish English physicist and mathematician. Born in County Sligo, Ireland, Stokes spent all of his career at the University of Cambridge, where he was the Luc ...

(Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge).

Norman Lockyer Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer (17 May 1836 – 16 August 1920) was an English scientist and astronomer. Along with the French scientist Pierre Janssen, he is credited with discovering the gas helium. Lockyer also is remembered for being the f ...

served as Secretary to the Commission. The Commission published its first report in 1871, a supplement and second report in 1872, and a third in 1873. In 1874 it published a fourth and fifth, then in 1875 its sixth and seventh and concluded with its eighth and final report. The Commissioners reported in 1875 that "still no adequate effort has been made to supply the deficiency of Scientific Instruction pointed out by the Commissioners in

1861 Statistically, this year is considered the end of the whale oil industry and (in replacement) the beginning of the petroleum oil industry. Events January–March * January 1 ** Benito Juárez captures Mexico City. ** The first steam- ...

and

1864 Events January–March * January 13 – American songwriter Stephen Foster (" Oh! Susanna", " Old Folks at Home") dies aged 37 in New York City, leaving a scrap of paper reading "Dear friends and gentle hearts". His parlor song ...

. We are compelled, therefore, to record our opinion that the Present State of Scientific Instruction in our schools is extremely unsatisfactory".

Notes

{{reflist Science Instruction Science education in the United Kingdom 1870 establishments in the United Kingdom 1875 disestablishments in the United Kingdom 1870s in science