The Lunar Society founders were radical thinkers, who during their time dramatically changed society, which we continue to benefit from today.

Our forefathers included eminent names such as Matthew Boulton, Erasmus Darwin, James Watt, Josiah Wedgwood, Richard Edgeworth, Thomas Day, Thomas Bicknell, Joseph Priestley to name a few. These men changed the world in every sphere of life from science, engineering and public policy.

Meeting in Soho House in Birmingham on the day of the full Moon, to enable them to get home after their meetings, the ‘lunatics’, as they were commonly known, laid the foundation to the industrial revolution, discovered oxygen, harnessed the power of steam, and pioneered the theory of evolution.

As well as the scientific and engineering discoveries the Lunar men were at the forefront of societal changes. This included being the first to inoculate their children against small pox; Wedgwood opened one of the first female only schools; Thomas Day, the political campaigner wrote and campaigned against political corruption and the extension of the voting franchise.

What is not commonly known is that the Lunar men instigated the anti-slavery movement, with Thomas Bicknell writing an anti slavery poem, ‘The Dying Negro’ (1773), Wedgwood produced medallions showing a chained slave with the motto “Am I not a man and a brother”.

These were passionate, optimistic, idealistic individuals who marked their place in the world, as the new class, the non conformists and reformers whose domination we feel now.