8-12 Niddry Street South, Edinburgh, EH1 1NS
This weekly dining club for scientists and philosophers met regularly throughout the 1770s. It had been established by the great economist and political philosopher Adam Smith, the chemist Joseph Black and the geologist James Hutton. The club was attended by a veritable constellation of Edinburgh’s most brilliant thinkers, including John Playfair, Adam Ferguson, David Hume and Sir James Hall. It also payed host to a wide variety of visiting international scientists, including the French geologist Barthélémy Faujas de Saint Fond, James Watt the engineer and inventor from Glasgow, and Benjamin Franklin the American scientist and inventor.
Now a private venue – no free public access.
4 Responses to “The Oyster Club”
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[…] Fact – Black was one of the founders of an elite weekly dining club in Edinburgh called The Oyster Club. The city’s best thinkers, philosophers, scientists and the Edinburgh ‘literati’, […]
Very interesting – the venue is owned by Norrie Rowan, a retired Scottish international rugby player. It’s still very lively – unfortunately continuing on occasion into the small hours and disturbing people living in the adjacent flats on Infirmary Street. Which, unsurprisingly given its name, also has an important role in the development of medical science in Edinburgh.
[…] Fact – Black was one of the founders of an elite weekly dining club in Edinburgh called The Oyster Club. The city’s best thinkers, philosophers, scientists and the Edinburgh ‘literati’, would […]
I am a US geologist, past president CEO and author of Amazon book The Dunn Geoscience Story Book.
Am in process of “Founding” Cape Cod Oyster Club modeled after the original 1770.
Would be interested in developing relationship with existing Scotland Club.
My grandfather William Thomas Henderson was from Edinburgh