Login
Login

The Speculative Society

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}

{{Use British English|date=October 2017}}

The Speculative Society is a Scottish Enlightenment society dedicated to public speaking and literary composition, founded in 1764.{{cite book|author=Alex Benchimol|title=Intellectual Politics and Cultural Conflict in the Romantic Period: Scottish Whigs, English Radicals and the Making of the British Public Sphere|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jaieRM1XRakC&pg=PA56|accessdate=9 December 2012|date=10 April 2010|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-0-7546-6446-8|page=56}} It was mainly, but not exclusively, an Edinburgh University student organisation. The formal purpose of the Society is as a place for social interchange and for practising of professional competency in rhetoric, argument, and the presentation of papers among fellow members. While continuing to meet in its rooms in the university's Old College, it has no formal links to the university.

History

The founding group, in November 1764, consisted of John Bonar, the younger, John Bruce, William Creech, Henry Mackenzie, and a Mr Belches of Invermay. They were encouraged by William Robertson.{{cite ODNB|id=2817|title=Bonar, John|first=Emma Vincent|last=Macleod}}{{cite ODNB|id=3739|title=Bruce, John|first=Michael|last=Fry}}

A split occurred in the Society in 1794, when Francis Jeffrey and Walter Scott urged the inclusion of contemporary politics in the scope of permitted debating topics.{{cite book|author=Marvin B. Becker|title=The Emergence of Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century: A Privileged Moment in the History of England, Scotland, and France|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eUgyYnTmpq4C&pg=PA149|accessdate=9 December 2012|year=1994|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-31129-0|page=149 note 15}} At this period, of political repression, the Society was a venue appreciated by young Whigs.{{cite book|author=Boyd Hilton|title=A Mad, Bad, and Dangerous People? : England 1783-1846: England 1783-1846|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=319pvq3FJxYC&pg=PA349|accessdate=9 December 2012|date=16 February 2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-160682-3|page=349}} They included Henry Brougham and Francis Horner.{{ODNBweb|id=13802|title=Horner, Francis|first=Roland|last=Thorne}}

The National Library of Australia holds a rare limited edition (50 on large paper, 250 on small paper) copy of the History of the Speculative Society (1845) printed for the Society.History of the Speculative Society of Edinburgh from its institution in M.DCC.LXIV, (Edinburgh : T. Constable) https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1024085

Apparently subsequent editions were considered (1864, 1892) but it was not until 1905 that a further history was produced by a Committee of the Society, including a detailed list of ordinary members and Honorary members.The History of the Speculative Society (1764-1904) Edinburgh, printed for the Society by D A. Constable 1905 https://archive.org/stream/historyofspecula00specuoft/historyofspecula00specuoft_djvu.txt

Halls in Old College

The Society continues to meet in the rooms set aside for it when Edinburgh University's Old College was built. The A-listed rooms were designed by Robert Adam and fitted out by William Henry Playfair.{{cite web|url=http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/254527/details/edinburgh%20south%20bridge%20university%20of%20edinburgh%20old%20college%20rooms%20of%20the%20speculative%20society/|title=Edinburgh, South Bridge, University Of Edinburgh, Old College, Rooms Of The Speculative Society - Canmore|publisher=}}

Influence

The Edinburgh Review (second series) was founded in 1802 by a group of essayists who knew each other first in the milieu of the Speculative Society.{{cite book|author=Barton Swaim|title=Scottish Men of Letters and the New Public Sphere, 1802-1834|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q-rgGbIN3XUC&pg=PA94|accessdate=9 December 2012|date=31 March 2009|publisher=Associated University Presse|isbn=978-0-8387-5716-1|page=94}}

The University of Cambridge had a Speculative Society in the early years of the 19th century; it was one of the clubs that merged to form the Cambridge Union Society.{{ODNBweb|id=26784|title=Sumner, Charles Richard|first=W. R.|last=Ward}} Around 1825 Utilitarians and Owenites in London engaged in debates, and a formal Debating Society consciously modelled on the Speculative Society of Edinburgh was set up by John Stuart Mill. It was ambitious, but proved short-lived.{{cite book|author=Bruce Mazlish|author-link=Bruce Mazlish|title=James and John Stuart Mill: Father and Son in the 19th Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m3gIdLgiEiIC&pg=PA200|accessdate=9 December 2012|date=1 November 1988|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-0-88738-727-2|page=200}}

Modern activities

The functioning of this private society as at 2003 was described by Scottish judges as a group of 30 individuals (at that time all men) joining after private invitation and subject to a blackballing procedure; ordinary membership for three years of academic study required the production of three essay papers and the presentation of them for approximately 15 minutes duration for the purposes of a debate, which is voted on; members are offered the opportunity for dinners with occasional guests; after the period of ordinary membership has been completed, the member becomes an extraordinary member with the right to attend debates if desired.Lord Gill (the Lord Justice Clerk), Lords Kirkwood and Wheatley in Robbie the Pict, Petitioner (No.2) 2003 J.C. 78, 13 March 2003; (2003) SCCR 299, Judgment Paragraphs 20-24

The organisation was in practice limited to membership by men through until 2015, when by a majority of three to one women were permitted to become members.{{Cite news |date=2015-05-19 |title=The Speculative Society opens its doors to women |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-32795722 |access-date=2023-03-06}}

Judges when trying cases are not required to declare to the litigants whether they are members of this society; the society was held to be “neither secret nor sinister”; membership could not reasonably be thought to influence the outcome of a case.Lord Gill (the Lord Justice Clerk), Lords Kirkwood and Wheatley in Robbie the Pict, Petitioner (No.2) 2003 J.C. 78, 13 March 2003; (2003) SCCR 299, Judgment Paragraph 26

Membership

Past members of the Speculative Society of Edinburgh include:

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speculative Society, The}}

Category:Rhetoric

Category:Social history of Scotland

Category:Culture of Scotland

Category:Clubs and societies in Edinburgh

Category:1764 establishments in Scotland