Author: Mark Govier
Govier, Mark, 2024 Political Alignment of the Early Royal Society: 1662–1703, Flinders University, College of Business, Government and Law
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The thesis’s goal was to identify the political alignment of the presidents of Britain’s most important scientific organisation, the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge (‘The Royal Society’), in its early period (1662–1703) to determine whether the institution was politically aligned. What started in the year of the Restoration after 12 ‘founder fellows’ obtained the patronage of King Charles II became the Royal Society to express its Royalist alignment. The king gave it two royal charters of incorporation in 1662 and 1663; the second named him as ‘founder and patron’ and the two named Royalist fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) Viscount William Brouncker as its first president. In addition to being its internal manager, the president acted as the Royal Society’s ‘face’, specifically, its representative, before Parliament, Crown and the Church of England. In the early years 13 FRSs were elected president, 11 of whom accepted. However, the Royal Society’s minutes of its ordinary scientific meetings and administrative council meetings provide no information identifying the political alignment of presidents or the Royal Society itself. This is apparent in almost all writings by historians specialising in the society’s early years, a case of possible ‘methodological oversight’.
To remedy this situation, historical biographical analysis was employed to identify the political alignment of the 13 FRS elected presidents. Though rarely identified in biographical sources such as the Dictionary of National Biography or the Dictionary of Irish Biography, it was in standard biographies of three of the early presidents. However, given that all 10 presidents who accepted election from 1677 to 1703 were a Member of Parliament (MP), the thesis was made possible thanks to History of Parliament: British Political, Social and Local History. This specialist research project provides accurate, in-depth data that identify the political alignment of all MPs from 1660 to 1715, their performances in the House of Commons and, if elevated, the House of Lords and details of all government and other offices held. The findings from applying historical biographical analysis revealed that the eight presidents after Brouncker had been, were or would be Royalist or Tory MPs, the last two were Whig MPs and four of the 10 were elevated to the House of Lords. This suggested that the institution itself was Royalist aligned from 1662 to 1680, Tory aligned from 1680 to 1695 and Whig aligned from 1695 to 1703, and these changes expressed the Royal Society’s adaptation to changes in political control of Parliament for its survival, benefit, and patronage. The conclusion is the early Royal Society was not an apolitical institution, as is presently accepted by the Royal Society and most historians specialising in its early history, and it continued to elect politically aligned presidents well after 1703.
Keywords: political alignment, elected presidents, Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, historical biographical analysis
Subject: Politics thesis
Thesis type: Masters
Completed: 2024
School: College of Business, Government and Law
Supervisor: Professor Adela McMurray