Remarks on the Royal Society’s finances 1660-1768

Historians of the Royal Society ⁽¹⁾ have always been handicapped by the scarcity of concrete and reliable information about its finances. No ledgers or account books have been preserved in the archives, and the only source of financial information has been the reports of the annual audits of the Treasurers’ books. Sir Henry Lyons, the principal subject of whose book The Royal Society was the history of the Society’s corporate life and administration, made the fullest possible use of this information, though he found it scanty in quantity and unsatisfactory in quality ⁽²⁾. In March 1957, however, Mrs M. West deposited in the Society’s library, for examination, some account books and loose papers ⁽³⁾ which she thought might be of interest to the Society. It was at once apparent that these books and papers were indeed of very great interest, since, they contain the yearly accounts of the Treasurers of the Society from 1660 to 1768, carefully entered up and in most cases bearing the signatures of the auditors. Mrs West has allowed the Society to make full use of this material, and has given permission for this article to be compiled and published. The Society’s thanks are due to her for this courtesy. This article presents firstly, a general survey of the Society’s finances from 1660 to 1768, in the form of tables with some notes and explanatory matter; and secondly, some remarks on one or two special topics closely connected with finance, using information both from Mrs West’s material and from other sources.