Bretheren in the temple of science - natural history across the class divide, Huddersfield, c1848-1865

摘要

Despite the prominence of known Yorkshire naturalists such as Charles Waterton and the Rev F O Morris, the study of natural history was never the exclusive preserve of clergymen or gentlemen and, by the second half of the 19th Century, increasing interest in the subject was marked by the proliferation of local societies in the industrial towns and villages of the West Riding. The pursuit of natural history accorded well with the rising ethos of self education and improvement, evident in the growth ofMechanics' Institutes. It likewise provided an intellectual outlet for working men detached from the ideologies which had dominated many working class communities during the political and social conflicts of the turbulent 1830s and 1840s. Indeed, natural history provided a forum for all classes of society to meet in a fraternal atmosphere, where a person's merits were judged by the size of his herbarium or insect cabinet rather than social status. The societies brought into contact the autodidact handloom weaver, mill worker, artisan and small shopkeeper together with the educated professional clergyman, teacher and doctor, the wealthy merchant or manufacturer and even the occasional aristocrat. No doubt some degree of deference and observance of social protocols remained, but the picture that emerges is one of a degree of social and intellectual interaction across the class divide which is unparalleled, even at a time when local paternalism meant that events at church and chapel, at the Mechanics' Institute or the annual mill treat, made direct social contact between people of otherwise disparate social backgrounds far more common than it is today.