The Royal Institution : Its Founder and its First Professors

Published in 1871, this account by Bence Jones (1814–73) of the founder and early professors of the Royal Institution reflects his admiration for his professional forebears. Covering the lives of Count Rumford and Humphry Davy among others, it offers a history of one of Britain's most important scientific organisations.

A graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, and University College, London, Henry Bence Jones (1814–73) was a distinguished physician and chemist, as well as a chronicler of his colleagues' accomplishments. Well-known and popular in Victorian London, he was a fellow of both the Royal Society and the Royal College of Physicians, and counted Florence Nightingale among his friends. Written during his term as secretary to the Royal Institution, this account of the organisation's foundation and early members reflects his admiration for his professional forebears. Published in 1871, a year after his two-volume biography of Faraday (also reissued in this series), his account covers the lives of Count Rumford, Thomas Young, Humphry Davy and the troubled President Thomas Garnett. Incorporating a substantial appendix containing letters and papers pertaining to the Institution, this history provides a glimpse into the early years of one of Britain's most important and learned scientific organisations.