HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY
The society was inorgorated in 1880 and held regular meetings every year except for the disruption caused in WW1 and WW2.
1880 was a period of Victorian England described by the age of prestige and expansion leading to the growth of the modern state. The London depicted by Dickens was rapidly changing and becoming the commercial centre of the world. The railway and waterway networks were building up to a peak and the port of London was among the busiest of the world.
The Times newspaper of October 5th, the date of the society’s first meeting, gives us a glimpse of a stable society through its advertisements. No.34 Leicester Square was offered on lease at £120 from Michaelmas; the Crystal Palace announced its 25th series of Saturday concerts, and a special Brookes benefits and firework display were attractions at Alexander palace. Sailings to India, Australia, and the Americas were offered by the new shipping lines, daily governesses and good plain cooks were in great demand, and Mr Gladstone was the prime minister.
Sidcup reflected the national prosperity and expansion. The opening of the railway line in 1866 had provided the stimulus for the development from a small village to the start of today’s sprawling suburb. By 1880 apart from a settlement in halfway street, the area north of Sidcup station is still mainly farmland, but on the Southside residential development had begun and was continuing apace.
The recently built solid homes were advertised as “half an hour from cannon street” at such prices as £56 for the lease of an “pretty detached house” of six bedrooms, three reception rooms, and garden”. It was for newcomers to this prosperous, growing community that were emerging as middle class employed in the services needed by the capital, such as banking, brokerage, insurance and law- that the Sidcup literary and scientific society was formed and to whom it appealed.
To be continued….