Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne

Founded in 1793 as a "conversation club" by the Reverend William Turner and others – more than fifty years before the London Library – the annual subscription was originally one guinea. The Lit and Phil library contained works in French, Spanish, German and Latin; its contacts were international, and its members debated a wide range of issues, but religion and politics were prohibited.[http://www.litandphil.org.uk/html_pages/LP_history.html Lit & Phil History – Independent Library Newcastle] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114230048/http://www.litandphil.org.uk/html_pages/LP_history.html |date=2007-11-14 }} Women were first admitted to the library in 1804.{{cite news|author=Editorial |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/sep/25/newcastle-lit-and-phil |title=In praise of… Newcastle's Lit & Phil | Opinion |work=The Guardian |date=24 September 2009 |access-date=2017-06-05}}

In February 2011, actor and comedian Alexander Armstrong became President of the Lit & Phil. He launched their funding appeal at a special gala event.{{cite news|title=Interview: Alexander Armstrong, president of the Lit & Phil|url=http://www.journallive.co.uk/culture-newcastle/arts-news/2011/12/15/interview-alexander-armstrong-president-of-the-lit-phil-61634-29956824/#ixzz2CkReETDb|publisher=The Journal|date=15 December 2011|access-date=20 November 2012|archive-date=30 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530140923/http://www.journallive.co.uk/culture-newcastle/arts-news/2011/12/15/interview-alexander-armstrong-president-of-the-lit-phil-61634-29956824/#ixzz2CkReETDb|url-status=dead}}

At the start of 2012, membership of the Library reached 2,000, the highest number since 1952.

File:Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle.jpg

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Lit & Phil was host to a long list of the intelligentsia of the era. Engineer and inventor George Stephenson showed his miner's lamp there, and in 1879, when Joseph Swan demonstrated his electric light bulbs, the Lit and Phil building became the first public building to be so illuminated.

The Society received in 1800 the country's first specimens of the wombat and the duck-billed platypus from John Hunter, Governor of New South Wales and honorary member of the Lit and Phil.[http://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/banks/series_38/38_11.cfm Series 38.11 Copy of a letter received by the Literary and Philosophical Society... 5 August 1798]Page 270 of Magazine of Natural History, edited by John Claudius Loudon, Edward Charlesworth, John Denson, published 1829 by Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green. ([https://books.google.com/books?id=MFVIAAAAMAAJ Google's version])

Between 1822 and 1825, a new building was created for the Society on Westgate Road, designed by John Green. The building is still in use today, with many original features including iron-work second-floor galleries.

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• 1793–98 John Widderington
• 1798–1838 Sir John Swinburne, 6th Baronet
• 1838–51 Charles William Bigge
• 1851–55 Thomas Emerson Headlam
• 1855–59 Robert Stephenson
• 1860–1900 William, Lord Armstrong of Cragside
• 1901–11 Robert Spence Watson
• 1911–14 Joseph Swan
• 1914–16 Richard Oliver Heslop
• 1916–31 Charles Algernon Parsons
• 1931–40 G. M. Trevelyan
• 1940–61 C. H. Hunter Blair
• 1961–66 A. D. S. Rogers
• 1967–68 P. L. Robinson
• 1969–79 J. Philipson
• 1979–87 S. T. L. Harbottle
• 1987–98 D. T. Turnbull
• 1998–2005 P. J. Turnbull
• 2005–08 B. R. Bennison
• 2008–09 W. L. Bower
• 2009–11 Mrs J. R. Sharp
• 2012–present Alexander Armstrong

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Amongst the historic and contemporary members are the following:{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

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• David Almond (born 1951)
• William Armstrong (1778–1857)
• John James Audubon (1785–1851)
• Thomas Bewick (1753–1828)
• Sid Chaplin (1916–1986)
• John Dobson (1787–1865)
• Ruth Dodds (1890–1976)
• Richard Grainger (1797–1861)
• Charles, 2nd Earl Grey (1764–1845)
• J. Thomas Looney (1870–1944)
• James Losh (1763–1833)
• Harriet Martineau (1802–1876)
• Robert Stephenson (1803–1859)
• Joseph Wilson Swan (1828–1914)
• Neil Tennant (born 1950)
• Elizabeth and Robert Spence Watson (1837–1911)
• Thomas Masterman Winterbottom (1766–1859)

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071015050455/http://www.independentlibraries.co.uk/dir_lpsnt.htm Association of Independent Libraries]
• [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archon/searches/locresult_details.asp?LR=1135 The National Archives]

{{commons category|Literary and Philosophical Society building, Newcastle upon Tyne}}

• [https://www.litandphil.org.uk/ Society website]

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Category:Regional and local learned societies of the United Kingdom

Category:Buildings and structures in Newcastle upon Tyne

Category:Culture in Newcastle upon Tyne

Category:Philosophical societies in the United Kingdom

Category:1793 establishments in England

Category:Organizations established in 1793

Category:John and Benjamin Green buildings and structures

Category:Charities based in Tyne and Wear

Category:Subscribing libraries in the United Kingdom