Biography

Although for a number of years a body with similar aims had existed under the exhaustive title of the 'Society for the Promotion of the Mechanical and Useful Arts in Scotland, for rewarding Inventions of Public Utility, and disseminating Useful Knowledge among the Industrious Classes of Society', it was not until 1821 that the then 'Society of Arts for Scotland' was formally instituted in Edinburgh. In an early petition to the Government for a grant, the principle aims of the new society were expressed as being, "... to stimulate and reward genius and mechanical industry, and to afford a ready and useful medium of intercourse among men of all ranks, who were engaged either in the pursuit of science or in the various practical departments of the arts and manufactures."

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