The Lunar Society: The Lunar Society In The 19th Century

The industrial revolution was a transitional era that brought new manufacturing practices in the 19th century. In its social structure, Britain was as aristocratic as other European countries, however the British aristocracy was probably unusual in the respect that it accorded commerce and manufacturing, and the gentry-dominated British Parliament energetically defended commercial and manufacturing interests against foreign competition. British law was certainly unusual in the protections it gave inventors and property holders. Between 1624 and 1791, Britain was the only European nation with a system of patent laws, designed to give inventors the profits of their achievements. The system both encouraged innovation and expressed British society 's admiration for it. In

In the late 18th century, Britain was a parliamentary monarchy, this ideology meant that the parliament passed the laws and maintained expenditure. This encouraged the pursuit of scientific breakthrough where people sought profit. There was an exchange of scientific and revolutionary ideas that did not suffer censorship by church or state in Britain which otherwise happened in other European nations. This is where scientific discovery took over, Newton was able to explain the forces of gravity. This gave birth to the Age of Reason, which challenged the idea of God. The intellectual freedom in Britain saw groups of people sharing ideas and creating revolutionary ideas, one group was called the Lunar Society. One of its members, Matthew Boulton, a manufacturer and a businessman discovered that his factory in Birmingham, Soho Factory, required a source of energy that wasn’t restricted by the climate. This inspired him to switch from water to steam powered engines. Matthew Boulton was a good friend of James Watt, the founding father of the most effective steam engine during its time. Because Boulton had the skilled workers who had the engineering expertise, Watt was able to build his