Date context
Founded in 1788; royal charter in 1802
Smith and the foundation
James Edward Smith founded the Society in 1788 with Samuel Goodenough, Thomas Marsham and others and became its first President. Its name commemorated the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, who had died in 1778 and was not a founder.
A royal charter in 1802 incorporated the Society. Establishing the group and obtaining its legal charter were separate stages in its development.
Specimens, books and classification
Collections associated with Linnaeus and Smith include botanical and zoological specimens, books, manuscripts and correspondence. They support work on identification, naming and classification and preserve records of collecting and exchange.
A specimen’s value extends beyond the object itself. Labels, localities, descriptions and related letters help establish how it was observed and named. The collections consequently serve both biological research and the history of science.
Darwin and Wallace in 1858
In 1858 Alfred Russel Wallace sent Charles Darwin a paper concerning the divergence of species. Materials representing their independently developed explanations were brought together and read at the Society on 1 July, before appearing in print.
The episode connects private research and correspondence with meetings and journals. Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in 1859 presented a much larger argument, using a different scale and form of publication.
Work of the learned society
Meetings, journals, collections and educational activities have supported the Society’s exchange of natural-history knowledge. Its taxonomic and biodiversity interests are closely connected with the care and study of collections.
The 1858 presentation was one event within this institutional history. The Society’s continuing work with specimens, correspondence and publication helps explain how scientific arguments could be discussed, preserved and circulated.