The Sunday Lecture Society was a British-based society that gave a number of influential lectures on Sundays. The first incarnation of the society met at St. George's Hall, Langham Place for members to hear lectures on arts, history, science and literature. It was formed in November 1869 by solicitor William Henry Domville. The society came about because during November 1865, the National Sunday League (NSL) held a series of lectures for the general public entitled "Sunday Evenings for the People". This was fiercely opposed by the

Lord's Day Observance Society Day One Christian Ministries, formerly known as the Lord's Day Observance Society (LDOS), is a Christian organisation based in the United Kingdom that lobbies for no work on Sunday, the day that many Christians celebrate as the Sabbath, a day of r ...

(LDOS), which had the lectures cancelled after only four had been given. This was done by threatening the management of

St Martin's Hall The Queen's Theatre was a London theatre established in 1867 on the site of St Martin's Hall, a large concert room that had opened in 1850. It stood on the corner of Long Acre (formerly Charles Street) and Endell Street, with entrances in Wils ...

with legal action, as lectures on a Sunday were forbidden under the Sunday Observance Act 1780. In the aftermath, it was sometime later that the Sunday Lecture Society was formed, replacing the NSL. The vice presidents included

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

Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English polymath active as a philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in '' ...

William Spottiswoode William H. Spottiswoode HFRSE LLD (11 January 1825 – 27 June 1883) was an English mathematician, physicist and partner in the printing and publishing firm Eyre & Spottiswoode. He was president of the Royal Society from 1878 to 1883. Biogr ...

John Tyndall John Tyndall (; 2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was an Irish physicist. His scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he made discoveries in the realms of infrared radiation and the physical properties of air ...

, and

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

. Gerald Parsons notes that "Huxley also presided over the organisational meeting, although he declined to serve as president in 1884 while holding the same office in the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

." The Sunday Lecture Society soon branched out to

Tynedale __NOTOC__ Tynedale was a local government district in Northumberland, England. The district had a resident population of 58,808 according to the 2001 census. The main towns were Hexham, Haltwhistle and Prudhoe. The district contained part of ...

, and established itself in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

where it held meetings at the

Coliseum Theatre The London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre) is a theatre in St Martin's Lane, Westminster, built as one of London's largest and most luxurious "family" variety theatres. Opened on 24 December 1904 as the London Coliseum Theatre ...

, situated at Cookridge Street. In 1894 the LDOS forced the prosecution of the Leeds branch of the Sunday Lecture Society under the Sunday Observance Act, leading to the fining of two members of the Society, Alderman Ward and Mr. Gavazzi King, as well as the proprietor of the Coliseum, a Mr. Wilson. The Sunday Lecture Society later had this verdict overturned on appeal, and the actions of the LDOS were dismissed with costs. John Wigley, writing about this in his book ''The rise and fall of the Victorian Sunday'', says he considers this to have been a "tactical blunder" because after the prosecution another group, the Sunday Society, formed a National Association of Sunday Societies in order to better defend themselves. Furthermore, the prosecution galvanised one of the Sunday Lecture Society's members, Lord Hobhouse, to put forward a Sunday Bill to the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

, where on its second reading it was put to committee. Wigley says that the Sabbatarians did not "make a good impression, rather letting down their side". Nonetheless the bill was not enacted, and a second Sunday Bill introduced by Hobhouse in 1897 also failed.Wigley, p.157

Lecturers

* Eliza Orme *

Anna Kingsford Anna Kingsford (; 16 September 1846 – 22 February 1888) was an English anti-vivisectionist, Theosophist, a proponent of vegetarianism and a women's rights campaigner. She was one of the first English women to obtain a degree in medicine, aft ...

* George Wotherspoon *

William Benjamin Carpenter William Benjamin Carpenter CB FRS (29 October 1813 – 19 November 1885) was an English physician, invertebrate zoologist, and physiologist. He was instrumental in the early stages of the unified University of London. Life Carpenter was bor ...

George Simonds Boulger George Simonds Boulger (1853–1922) was an English botanist. Boulger wrote articles as the Kew Gardens Correspondent of ''The Times'', and other works on botany and natural history. Life George Boulger was born at Bletchingly, Surrey, the son of ...

Thomas William Rhys Davids Thomas William Rhys Davids (12 May 1843 – 27 December 1922) was a Welsh scholar of the Pāli language and founder of the Pāli Text Society. He took an active part in founding the British Academy and London School for Oriental Studies. Ea ...

Henry Maudsley Henry Maudsley (5 February 183523 January 1918) was a pioneering English psychiatrist, commemorated in the Maudsley Hospital in London and in the annual Maudsley Lecture of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Life and career Maudsley was b ...

Henry Nottidge Moseley Henry Nottidge Moseley FRS (14 November 1844 – 10 November 1891) was a British naturalist who sailed on the global scientific expedition of HMS ''Challenger'' in 1872 through 1876. Life Moseley was born in Wandsworth, London, the son of Hen ...

George Romanes George John Romanes (20 May 1848 – 23 May 1894) was a Canadian-Scots evolutionary biologist and physiologist who laid the foundation of what he called comparative psychology, postulating a similarity of cognitive processes and mechanisms ...

* Gustav Zerffi *

William Kingdon Clifford William Kingdon Clifford (4 May 18453 March 1879) was a British mathematician and philosopher. Building on the work of Hermann Grassmann, he introduced what is now termed geometric algebra, a special case of the Clifford algebra named in his ...

* John Wentworth *

John Mackinnon Robertson John Mackinnon Robertson (14 November 1856 – 5 January 1933) was a prolific Scottish journalist, advocate of rationalism and secularism, and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Member of Parliament for Tyneside (UK Parliament constituency), Tyneside ...

Karl Pearson Karl Pearson (; born Carl Pearson; 27 March 1857 – 27 April 1936) was an English biostatistician and mathematician. He has been credited with establishing the discipline of mathematical statistics. He founded the world's first university ...

John Addington Symonds John Addington Symonds Jr. (; 5 October 1840 – 19 April 1893) was an English poet and literary critic. A cultural historian, he was known for his work on the Renaissance, as well as numerous biographies of writers and artists. Although mar ...

* Florence Miller *

Edward Aveling Edward Bibbins Aveling (29 November 1849 – 2 August 1898) was an English comparative anatomist and popular spokesman for Darwinian evolution, atheism, and socialism. He was also a playwright and actor. Aveling was the author of numerous ...

Elizabeth Blackwell Elizabeth Blackwell (3 February 182131 May 1910) was an English-American physician, notable as the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States, and the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council for the Un ...

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book, url=https://archive.org/details/risefallofvictor0000wigl, url-access=registration, title=The rise and fall of the Victorian Sunday, first=John, last=Wigley, year=1980, publisher=Manchester University Press, isbn=9780719007941, page=146 {{citation, chapter-url={{Google books, JRtcAAAAQAAJ, plainurl=yes, page=244, title=Reports from Select Committees of the House of Lords and Evidence, volume=6, chapter=Appendix C. (9), year=1895, publisher=Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords {{cite book, url={{Google books, LnaFDwAAQBAJ, plainurl=yes, title=A Chronology of the Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, page=27, edition=Revised 2018, first=Brian W., last=Pugh, isbn=978-1780922850, publisher=MX Publishing, year=2018 {{cite book, url=https://archive.org/details/dickenscharity00pope, url-access=registration, title=Dickens and Charity, first=Norris, last=Pope, year=1979, isbn=1349034363, oclc=1033650826, page=91, publisher=Palgrave Macmillan {{citation, surname=Moore, first=James, url=https://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1993/PSCF6-93Moore.html, publisher=

American Scientific Affiliation The American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) is a Christian religious organization of scientists and people in science-related disciplines. The stated purpose is "to investigate any area relating Christian faith and science." The organization publi ...

, year=1993, title=Speaking Of Science and Religion Then and Now, citing: * T. Huxley to F. D. Dyster, 10 October 1854 L. Huxley, Life and Letters (ref. 7), i, 113 * "Sunday Lecture Society Proceedings from 1869 to 1889," British Library, Department of Printed Books, 4355.d.f.17 * C. J. Ellicott, "Explanatory Paper," in illiam Thomson Lord Archbishop of York, et al,. * Modern Scepticism: A Course of Lectures Delivered at the Request of the Christian Evidence Society (London, 1871), 505-27. {{Citation , first=Alan, last=Pert, title=Red cactus: the life of Anna Kingsford, year=2006, publisher=Books & Writers, location=Watson's Bay, New South Wales, isbn=978-1-74018-405-2, page=94 {{Citation , author1=Parsons, Gerald , editor-first=James R., editor-last=Moore , url=https://archive.org/details/religioninvictor0000unse, url-access=registration, title=Religion in Victorian Britain , publication-date=1988 , publisher=Manchester University Press in association with the Open University , chapter=C. M. Davies on Professor Huxley's Sunday Lecture, year=1988, isbn=978-0-7190-2944-8, page=456 {{cite journal, url=https://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/atlantis/article/download/5125/4323/, title="Sound-Minded Women": Eliza Orme and the Study and Practice of Law in Late-Victorian England, surname=Howsam, first=Leslie, location=Toronto, Ontario, journal=Atlantis, volume=15, issue=1, date=Fall 1989, page=48 {{citation, url= https://wellcomecollection.org/works/hrkhgnkf, first=George, last=Wotherspoon, author-link=George Wotherspoon, title= Cremation, ancient and modern : the history of fire-funeral a lecture delivered before the Sunday Lecture Society, St. George's Hall, Langham Place, on Sunday afternoon, 14th March, 1886, date=14 March 1886, publisher=Sunday Lecture Society, via=

Wellcome Collection Wellcome Collection is a museum and library based at 183 Euston Road, London, England, displaying a mixture of medical artefacts and original artworks exploring "ideas about the connections between medicine, life and art". Founded in 2007, the W ...

{{citation, url= https://wellcomecollection.org/works/fmhdta9w , first=William Benjamin, last=Carpenter, author-link=William Benjamin Carpenter, title= The doctrine of human automatism : a lecture (with additions) delivered before The Sunday Lecture Society, on Sunday afternoon, 7th March, 1875, date=7 March 1875, publisher=Sunday Lecture Society, location=London, via=

{{cite book, title=A Selection of Lectures Delivered Before the Sunday Lecture Society: Fourth Selection, publisher=Sunday Lecture Society, location=London, date=January 1876, url={{Google books, X3FEAQAAMAAJ, plainurl=yes {{citation, url={{Google books, S9QiHQAACAAJ, plainurl=yes, title= Body and Mind: A Lecture Delivered Before the Sunday Lecture Society, on Sunday Afternoon, 1st November, 1874, date=1 November 1874, publisher=Sunday Lecture Society, first=William Kingdon, last=Clifford, author-link=William Kingdon Clifford, location=London {{cite book, first=John, last=Wentworth, author-link=John Wentworth (Illinois politician), title=Early Chicago: A Lecture Delivered Before the Sunday Lecture Society at McCormick Hall on Sunday Afternoon, May 7th, 1876, publisher= Fergus Printing Company, location=Chicago, year=1886, url={{Google books, PkOO0oiCr_sC, plainurl=yes {{cite book, first=John Mackinnon, last=Robertson, author-link=John Mackinnon Robertson, title=Over-population: A Lecture Delivered for the Sunday Lecture Society, London, Oct. 27th, 1889, Under the Title "The Law of Population, Its Meaning and Menace" , year=1900, url={{Google books, lkc_AQAAMAAJ , plainurl=yes {{cite book, first=Karl, last=Pearson, publisher=Sunday Lecture Society, location=London, author-link=Karl Pearson, title= Matter and Soul: A Lecture Delivered Before the Sunday Lecture Society, St. George's Hall, Langham Place, on 6th December, 1885, date=6 December 1885, url={{Google books, abrVZwEACAAJ, plainurl=yes {{citation, first=John Addington, last=Symonds, author-link=John Addington Symonds, publisher=Sunday Lecture Society, location=London, title=Renaissance of Modern Europe: A Review of the Scientific, Artistic, Rationalistic, Revolutionary Revival, Dating from the 15th Century: Being a Lecture Delivered Before the Sunday Lecture Society, the 24th November, 1872, date=24 November 1872, url={{Google books, TkKTswEACAA, plainurl=yes {{citation, first=Florence Fenwick, last=Miller, author-link=Florence Miller (writer), publisher=Sunday Lecture Society, location=London, title=The Lessons of a Life, Harriet Martineau, a Lecture Delivered 11th March 1877, date=11 March 1877, url={{Google books, 18CkVBQyxAcC, plainurl=yes {{citation, first=Edward Bibbins, last=Aveling, author-link=Edward Aveling, publisher=Sunday Lecture Society, location=London, title=The Borderland Between Living and Non-living Things: A Lecture Delivered Before the Sunday Lecture Society, on Sunday Afternoon, November 5th, 1882, date=5 November 1882, url={{Google books, Yp6-twAACAAJ, plainurl=yes {{Cite book, title=On the religion of health: a lecture delivered before the Sunday Lecture Society, February 19, 1871, last=Blackwell, first=Elizabeth, author-link=Elizabeth Blackwell, publisher=Office of "The Examiner", year=1871, location=London, language=en, oclc=926090108

External links

Sunday Lecture Society (London)
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Organizations established in 1869 Educational organisations based in London British lecture series Sunday events 1869 establishments in England Sabbath in Christianity