150th anniversary

2020 marked the 150^th anniversary of the formation of our society.

History

It was in February 1870 that Henry Long, a chemist of the High Street Croydon since 1857, placed an advertisement in the Croydon Chronicle calling for gentlemen interested in a society for conversation and the exhibition of objects to contact him. For a transcript click on ‘About the Society’ above. Henry Lee was chosen as the first President and on 6^th April 1870 the inaugural meeting was held. In those early days membership was for men only but remarkably for the time it was stated that the club “must be totally free from exclusiveness as regards the social position of those desiring to become members”.

At the time microscopy was a growing interest due to great strides that had been made in its development, hence our original name of the Croydon Microscopical Club. Many similar societies were formed around this time, but few have survived. With a couple of name changes along the way, to Croydon Microscopical and Natural History Club in 1877 and to Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society in 1902, we are pleased to say that we have continued meeting and publishing even through the two world wars.

Events

Our anniversary year was marked in 2022 by special events including for each of the Society’s areas of interest and on the context of our formation. Special opening and closing events were held at the Old Palace Croydon.