Anniversary Dinner 1970, Speech by The Rt Hon. The Lord Boyle at the Anniversary Dinner, The Dorchester, 30 November 1970

Abstract

It is a very great honour to propose the toast of the Royal Society and. I would like at the start tonight to express the gratitude that I feel for the help which the Royal Society gave me when I was for a few months concerned with higher education and science as a Minister, back in 1964. I remember in particular the help and friendship which I received from Lord Florey who was then President of the Royal Society and also from Sir Patrick Linstead who was then the Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society. We celebrate tonight the 310th anniversary of the historic meeting at Gresham College on 28 November 1660 and no doubt we recall the famous entry in the very first journal of the Royal Society: ‘Met together the Lord Brouncker, Mr Boyle, Mr Bruce, Sir Robert Moray, Sir Paul Neile, Dr Wilkins, Dr Goddard, Dr Petty, Mr Ball, Mr Rooke, Mr Wren, Mr Hill. And because they had these frequent occasions of meeting with one another it was proposed that some course might be thought of to improve this meeting to a more regular way of debating things, and according to the manner in other countries, where there were voluntary associations of men into academies for the advancement of various parts of learning, so they might do something answerable here for the promoting of experimental philosophy.’ That was the minute written into the first minute book at this historic meeting on 28 November 1660, and what a remarkable group of men many of them were.