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Letter from the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) with invitation to meeting in Glasgow in 1876
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| Letter from the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) with invitation to meeting in Glasgow in 1876 |
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| "PAID" had stamps of London | The postmark at destination |
Even though, the General Post Office of Great Britain officially required all inland letters, posted since 1853, to be prepaid with postage stamps, this letter has "PAID" hand stamp.
Possibly, because many of these sent out so paid a one off bulk fee and rather then use postage stamps post office just hand stamped paid for convenience a bit like companies use prepaid envelopes or postal franking as payment today.
The letter with the invitation to join the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Glasgow was addressed to
"Mr. Ferguson, Esq. Kinmundy near Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire".
Esq. (Esquire) - by the 19th century, in Britain, "Esquire" was often just a polite way to address a gentleman,
especially in formal or professional correspondence.
It’s a very respectful and formal style of address, typical of high society and scholarly circles in the Victorian era.
Kinmundy is a historic estate in Aberdeenshire in Scotland, purchased in 1723 by James Ferguson who built the mansion in 1736.
The British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS)
The British Association for the Advancement of Science, now called the British Science Association, or BSA was founded in 1831 (in the same year Charles Darwin started his voyage on board of HMS Beagle).The Society played a major role in promoting scientific research and public understanding of science throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its mission was to advance science by organizing annual meetings across Great Britain where scientists, educators, and the general public could gather to discuss the latest developments across disciplines, including paleontology.
In its early decades, the BAAS provided a vital platform for paleontologists to present ground-breaking discoveries.
The annual meetings were divided into “sections” for geology, medicine, statistics, mechanics, chemistry, zoology, and what is now called physics. Papers presented at the meetings were published afterward, along with an annual president’s report on the progress of scientific work over the previous year. These meetings were instrumental in shaping scientific consensus on topics such as the age of the Earth, extinction, and evolutionary biology. The BAAS also commissioned reports and encouraged collaboration between amateur fossil collectors and professional scientists. Through its open and interdisciplinary approach, the association significantly influenced the development and public recognition of paleontology in Britain and beyond.
The Geological Section was the most popularly attended.
This section often featured papers on fossil discoveries, prehistoric life, and the interpretation of Earth’s ancient history.
Charles Darwin had a modest but meaningful role in the early years of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, particularly during the 1830s and 1840s. While he was never a leading figure or office-holder within the organization, his participation reflects his integration into the broader scientific community of the time.
The BAAS served as a platform for Darwin to connect with fellow geologists and naturalists, including Charles Lyell, Adam Sedgwick, and Joseph Dalton Hooker. These connections were crucial for developing and later defending his evolutionary theories.
Though Darwin did not attend BAAS meetings later in life—especially after publishing "On the Origin of Species" in 1859—his supporters, like Thomas Huxley and Alfred Russel Wallace, actively defended and promoted his ideas at these events. Darwin's evolutionary theory became a frequent subject of debate and discussion at BAAS meetings from the 1860s onward.
The British Association for the Advancement of Science was one of the key institutions where the scientific merit of natural selection and evolutionary theory was examined and eventually accepted.
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| Charles Darwin on postage stamp of Ecuador 1986 MiNr.: 2023, Scott: 1120. | Thomas Huxley on postmark of German Democratic Republic 1984 | Alfred Russel Wallace on postage stamp of Great Britain 2010 MiNr.: 2893, Scott: 2752. |
One of the most famous events linked to the Association Meeting was an exchange between Thomas Henry Huxley and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce in 1860, less than a year after Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species".
Wilberforce ridiculed Huxley for believing that he was descended from an ape.
Huxley replied that he would rather have an ape for a grandfather than be descended from a man who refused to use the intellect God gave him and who had opinions in subjects about which he knew nothing.
Although a number of newspapers made passing references to the exchange, it was not until later that it was accorded greater significance in the evolution debate.
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| Sir Richard Owen on the cachet of FDC of UK 1991 |
Another notable figure of the British Association for the Advancement of Science was Richard Owen, who coined the term “Dinosauria” in 1841. In 1858 Richard Owen (at the time, Richard Owen had not been knighted yet) served as President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science during its annual meeting in Leeds.
Professor Owen made several key contributions to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, helping to elevate both the organization's scientific standing and the public profile of disciplines like paleontology, comparative anatomy, and natural history.
Owen used his platform at BAAS meetings to advance paleontology from a descriptive hobby into a rigorous science.
His presentations on extinct animals helped solidify fossil studies as central to understanding Earth's history. Owen's work on extinct mammals and reptiles (including the Glyptodon, Megatherium, and Iguanodon) brought paleontology to national attention.
Owen also frequently contributed to Annual Reports of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, which helped disseminate his research to scientists and the educated public. These reports were widely read and influential in shaping public policy on science funding and education.
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| Letter from Richard Owen to Sir Henry Barkly, 1876. |
In 1876, Professor Richard Owen published a significant work titled
"Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia of South Africa in the Collection of the British Museum".
This comprehensive catalogue detailed various fossil reptiles from South Africa
housed in the British Museum (today Natural History Museum in London), accompanied by 70 lithographic plates, including eight folding
illustrations.
Owen acknowledged contributions from individuals
such as Sir Henry Barkly, the Governor of the Cape Colony,
and Thomas Bain, a notable engineer and fossil collector.
Their efforts were instrumental in acquiring and documenting the specimens described in the catalogue.
This publication underscored Owen's enduring commitment to paleontology and his role in expanding
the understanding of prehistoric life, particularly regarding South African fossil reptiles.
The annual meeting in Glasgow in 1876
The 46th annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science took place in Glasgow between September 6th and 13th 1876, hosted by the University of Glasgow. This gathering brought together leading scientists, scholars, and members of the public to discuss advancements across various scientific disciplines. The purpose of the annual meeting was scientific exchange through section meetings, evening lectures, general assemblies, and contributions of papers. The talks and papers were published in report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in the following year. |
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ABOVE: The text from the letter from the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) with invitation to meeting in Glasgow in 1876. ABOVE-LEFT: Invitation to the meeting in Glasgow. ABOVE-RIGHT: The details of the meeting. RIGHT: Small additional text, included in the letter. |
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The three-page text inside of the letter contained the invitation and the meeting details. The letter reminds the authors to submit their papers before August 16th 1876, members were invited to submit research and summaries to the sections.
The President of the meeting was Professor Thomas Andrews, a distinguished chemist and physicist, who replaced Sir Robert Christison due to his illness. One of the six Vice-Presidents of the meeting was the Duke of Argyll.
The Duke of Argyll at that time was George John Douglas Campbell (1823-1900), who was a Scottish polymath and Liberal statesman. He made a significant geological discovery in the 1850s when his tenant found fossilized leaves embedded among basalt lava on the Island of Mull.
He also helped to popularize ornithology and was one of the first to give a detailed account of the principles of bird flight in the hopes of advancing artificial aerial navigation (i.e. flying machines).
He was a leader in the scholarly opposition against Darwinism although he was not against the theory of evolution, Argyll argued instead for theistic evolution.
In 1855 he became president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and from 1872 to 1874 he was President of the Geological Society.
At the 1876 British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) meeting in Glasgow, paleontology was a significant focus, particularly within the Geology Section (Section C). The Geology Section featured discussions on fossil records and geological formations. Notably, a comprehensive catalogue titled "Catalogue of the Western Scottish Fossils" was compiled by James Armstrong, John Young, and David Robertson, providing valuable insights into the region's paleontological findings.
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| Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) on label attached to a personalized stamp of Malaysia 2013. |
Alfred Russel Wallace was elected as the President of the Biological Section (Section D) on the meeting. In this role, he delivered a significant address titled "The Limits of Natural Selection as Applied to Man", where he argued that natural selection alone could not account for certain human faculties, suggesting the influence of a higher intelligence.
Another interesting fact:
In 1876 Charlotte Carmichael went to Glasgow to help the movement for women's higher education in that city. The trip coincided with a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, which she attended, beginning her long connection with the association. During these meetings she met Henry Stopes, brewer and amateur paleontologist, who, despite his being eleven years the younger, she would marry three years later. Their daughter Marie Stopes became famous palaeobotanist and was featured on a postage stamp of Great Britain in 2008.
Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and coal classification, and was the first female academic on the faculty of the University of Manchester.
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| Palaeobotanist Marie Stopes on stamp of UK 2008 MiNr.: 2676, Scott: 2603 | Glossopteris on stamp on stamp of British Antarctic Territory 1990 MiNr.: 160, Scott: 157 |
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| Robert Falcon Scott on stamps of British Antarctic Territory 1987, MiNr.: 140, Scott: 137. | Robert Falcon Scott on stamps of British Antarctic Territory 2008, MiNr.: 465, Scott: 394. |
Stopes made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and coal classification, and was the first female academic on the faculty of t
he University of Manchester.
During Stopes's time at Manchester, she studied coal and coal balls and researched the collection of Glossopteris (Permian seed ferns).
This was an attempt to prove the theory of Eduard Suess
concerning the existence of Gondwana or Pangaea.
A chance meeting with Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott during one of his
fund-raising lectures in 1904 brought a possibility of proving Suess's theory.
Stopes's passion to prove Suess's theory led her to discuss the possibility of joining Scott's next expedition to Antarctica.
She did not join the expedition, but Scott promised to bring back samples of fossils to provide evidence for the theory.
Robert Scott died during the 1912 Terra Nova Expedition, but fossils of plants from the Queen Maud Mountains found near Scott's
and his companions' bodies provided this evidence.
Between 1903 and 1935 Marie Stopes published a series of palaeobotanical papers that placed her among the leading half-dozen
British palaeobotanists of her time.
References:
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- The British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS):
Wikipedia, dinotracksdiscovery.- Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science of their annual meeting in Glasgow in 1876:
Biodiversity Heritage Library,
- Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science of their annual meeting in Glasgow in 1876:
- 1876 in paleontology Wikipedia, Darwin Project.
- Charles Darwin:
Wikipedia - Thomas Henry Huxley:
Wikipedia - Alfred Russel Wallace:
Wikipedia, people.wku.edu, newdualism. - Richard Owen:
Wikipedia, - Duke_of_Argyll:
Wikipedia, - Stopes family: