| Cox, R (1995). Three black rats, a cuddly cheetah and several persons of distinction, Bull Croydon Nat Hist Sci Soc, 99:2. |
Three Black Rats, A Cuddly Cheetah and Several Persons of Distinction[On 6th April, as part of
our birthday celebrations, Dr Ron Cox delivered a lecture
with the above title. He described it as "a light
hearted look at the Society on its 125th Birthday". Part 1. The Two Henries The Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society was started 125 years ago, not by "The Two Ronnies" [a television comedy act], but by two Henries. Ted Frith, our Sales Officer and Local Studies Section Secretary [and, since the lecture was given, also our President], recently drew my attention to two advertisements that appeared side-by-side in the 5 March 1870 edition of the Croydon Chronicle. One reads: "Henry Lee, Manufacturer of hot water apparatus, stoves, ranges, wrought and cast fencing, and ion work of every description. Gas fitter and bell hanger … Shoeing and smith's work in general". Alongside is a smaller advert which reads : "Teeth scaled, stopped and carefully extracted. Artificial work and repairs done, Henry Long, Dentist, 90 High Street, Croydon". These are the two Henries who cause us to be here this evening. The census of the following year (1871) records Henry Lee as being a master farrier in his middle forties who, at the time, employed 15 men and 8 women in Sturt's Yard, leading off Surrey Street. He became out first President. Henry Long is listed as a High Street Chemist and dentist, in his late thirties, with premises near where the Catherine Wheel is. It was he who put the initial advert in the local paper seeking support for the foundation of what is now the CNHSS. Lee was no ordinary farrier, or stove manufacturer, or gas fitter; he was, or became, a Fellow of the Linnean Society, a Fellow of the Geological Society and a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society. He categorised himself as a "Gentleman" and lived in a newish house in the Waldrons. A farrier was akin to what we would now call a vet; and in Sturt's yard lee ran what he described as an "Infirmary for dogs and horses". It is probable, therefore, that his association with Henry Long came through the purchase from the latter of pills and ointments for the animals he tended. In due course, ill-health took Lee away to Margate, and then Brighton, where - from 1872 - he had been Naturalist to the Brighton Aquarium, which no doubt gave him the idea for a paper that he later read to our Society titled: "The Microscopy of a Fishmonger's Shop". At the inaugural meeting of the Croydon Microscopical Club, as we were at first known, Lee stressed the need for "geniality of disposition, and good fellowship with each other, as well as shared scholarship". There was a lot of public interest; and only six years on, 78 members and 409 friends of members attended a lecture on 'The Antiquity of Man, Illustrated by the Contents of Caves and relics of the Cave Folk'. This was, I suppose, a sort of erudite precursor to the Flintstones [an American television cartoon family who combine features of Stone Age life with modern technology and philosophy]. Ron Cox |
Last updated
November 6th 2000 |