A HISTORY OF THE
COTTESWOLD NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB

The early years of the nineteenth century saw the rise (and often the early demise) of numerous societies and other associations of workers in various branches of science. It is true that the Royal Society, "The dignified parent of all our Scientific Societies," expressly instituted for the promotion of natural knowledge, was formally founded in 1660, and the Linnean Society, for the study of all branches of Biology, in 1788. But in the early nineteenth century the extension of the taste for Nature Studies and increasing specialization of scientific workers resulted in the foundation of numerous Societies; for example, the Geological Society in 1807, the Zoological in 1826, the Geographical in 1830 and the Entomological in 1833. Such Societies, all centred in London, attracted those who were devoted to a particular branch of Science but scarcely met the needs of those interested especially in the Natural History of their own districts.

The next step, therefore, was the formation of Local Societies to carry out such objects. The Berwickshire Naturalists' Club was one of the first of these, Volume 1 of its Proceedings having been published as early as 1834 and it was on the pattern of the Berwickshire Club that the Cotteswold Club was formed, the first idea of the formation of the Cotteswold Club being put forward by Sir Thomas Tancred, and its foundation honoured by the presence of Mr. P.T. Selby, one of the original members of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club.

FOUNDATION OF THE CLUB

The Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club was founded on Tuesday 7th of July 1846, at the Black Horse Inn, Birdlip. A detailed account of the breakfast, the committee meeting and the walk through the woodland is recorded in the Minutes of the first meeting (Proceedings, Volume I, 1847-1853). It transpires that the Club was the first of its kind in England. Not only did it prosper but three years after its formation, when membership of new bodies often flags, it was becoming even more popular. Already there were concerns that numbers attending meetings might have to be restricted. The early minute books, once feared lost, are preserved in Gloucester City Library. Their record of what transpired at meetings is a wealth of information. But there is no direct record of the informal discussions that led up to its formation. But who had the inspiration in the first place? With whom was it discussed? How much correspondence was called for to secure a membership adequate to be viable?

The Club was inspired by, and took many of its rules of conduct from, the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, the members of which were drawn from both England and Scotland. They in turn had grown out of the Plinian Society of Edinburgh, founded in 1823. Prideaux John Selby, a prime mover in the Berwickshire club, was no stranger to Gloucestershire, and his youngest daughter married Thomas (later Sir Thomas) Tancred, our Club's first Honorary Secretary. Charles, the son of the Rev. James Daubeny of Stratton, Cirencester, became Professor of Chemistry at Oxford, and had known all the contemporary scientists of note and brought the Club to their attention.

At that first meeting, 25 members were elected and the rules of the Club agreed to. Of those 25 members, many were very closely involved with the foundation of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, explaining why agriculture was included as one of the subjects of the Club, the others being natural history, geology and archaeology. Interest in the latter has been ever present, though rarely stepping into the realms of serious archaeology. From the time of the second meeting, a month later, it became obvious that there would be a shift from natural history towards geology. The first volume of the Proceedings contained no less than eight articles on the subject by Dr. John Lycett (1804-82) and the trend was strengthened by the appointment in 1848 of James Buckman (1816-84) of the Birmingham Philosophical Institute as Prof. of Geology, Natural History and Botany at the Royal Agricultural College. His contribution to the archaeology of Cirencester is still unsurpassed, and he became Hon. Sec. of the Club from 1855 to 1860.

This fossil starfish Astropectan cotteswoldiae is the design which appears on all notices of Club meetings and has been adopted as the clubs logo. A Great Seal was made and used as a stamp by the Club and its impression has been observed on a number of Proceedings and books formerly held in the Clubs library, but the whereabouts of the 'Great Seal' itself is unknown!

In W.C. Lucy's "The origin of the Cotteswold Club..." he writes (1880, p.20):

"The Club met for breakfast at Cirencester, and afterwards visited the Royal Agricultural College, where Mr Buckman had numerous trays of fossils exhibited, which were explained in a series of instructive short lectures by himself and Mr Brodie. It was decided that the Astropectan cotteswoldiae should be adopted as the Great Seal of the Club."

The early field meetings were very energetic, as were many of their type in Victorian England. As a result the early Proceedings are a mine of geological research, and for many years were one of the most prestigious journals for geological papers. Regular authors included Prof. James Buckman, Dr. John Lycett, Rev. P .B. Brodie, Rev. W. S. Symonds, Robert Etheridge, Dr. T. Wright, Linsdall Richardson and Hugh Strickland to mention but a few.

Cotteswold Naturalists Field Club Jubilee,
July 7th, 1896, Black Horse Temperance Hotel, Birdlip.
(Proc. C.N.F.C. Vol. XII)

In the later part of the 1900's the club's focus drifted away from the Earth Sciences and the content of the Proceedings reflected this. In the mid 1990's the club made a conscious decision to rediscover its former status in the geoscience world and has made big strides to improve its lecture programme, its field meetings and its publishing. With the appointment of Dr Adrian Parker (Oxford) as the Journal's editor in 1996 there began a rapid move back to the balance that formerly existed. The last 6 volumes of the Proceedings have reflected this and the Club now publishes annually. The Proceedings have been published annually since 1846 and have produced some 600 geology papers over the last 150 years from in and around Gloucestershire, a tradition that is now very much alive again. The recent Proceedings have contained about half a dozen geology related papers per volume from sources such as the BGS (following their recent remapping programme) and academic researchers working in the area.