21 
1820-30] ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 
statement made in M.N., 8 , 73, that the dinner was at East Sheen) 
the dinner was probably simply that at Freemason’s Tavern as 
mentioned in Sir John Herschel’s Diary (see p. 1). 
Letter from A. De Morgan, Esq., to the President, on the 
Foundation of the Society 
“ On looking over old papers, I find copies—whence obtained, 
I forget—of two letters connected with the foundation of the 
Society, in the handwriting of Mr. B. Smith, who was Dr. Lee’s 
secretary. With them I found a letter from Dr. Lee (September 
19, 1857) answer to my inquiries. It appears that the originals 
had then been, for many years, in possession of Captain Smyth, 
who entertained, from 1830 to 1834, or thereabouts, the intention 
of writing on the foundation of the Society. The copies are ad 
dressed to Mr. Sheepshanks in the handwriting of Captain Smyth, 
with the postmark ‘ Bedford, May 24, 1834.’ My impression 
is that Mr. Sheepshanks handed them to Mr. Baily, among whose 
papers I should have been sure to have found them. In this I 
am somewhat confirmed by observing that Mr. Sheepshanks, in 
his obituary notice of Dr. Pearson (Annual Report, 1848), shows 
only a general recollection of the first letter, and none at all of 
the second. As Admiral Smyth and Dr. Lee are now gone, and 
probably no one but myself knows of the letters, I think it right 
to put their contents on record. 
“ The first is from Dr. Patrick Kelly (the author of the Cambist) 
to Dr. Pearson, December 12, 1812. He says : ‘ It [a meeting of 
schoolmasters] may be also a very auspicious time for us to lay 
some foundation for your suggestion respecting an Astronomical 
Society. I have mentioned it to two or three scientific gentlemen, 
who all approved very much of the idea ; and one in particular, 
Mr. [Peter] Nicholson, thinks that under good management it 
might become of great importance to science.’ In a postscript 
Dr. Kelly adds : ‘ If the Astronomical Society should ever become 
great, you must not forget that you are the Father of it. There 
are several eminent societies in town possessing inferior objects.’ 
It thus appears that Dr. Pearson had formed the plan by 1812 
and was endeavouring to promote the formation. 
“ Mr. Sheepshanks mentions, as a rumour, that the meeting of 
January 12, 1820, at which the Society came into existence, was 
resolved upon at a dinner given by Dr. Pearson. The second 
letter fixes this rumour as a fact. It is from Mr. (Sir James) 
South to Dr. Pearson, December 13, 1819, giving permission to 
add the writer’s name to a list then in collection, and accepting 
an invitation to dinner ; the date of the symposium is not given.