He studied at the Middle Temple and was called to the bar on 22 November 1844; but, advised by Sir John Barrow, he became in 1845 assistant secretary and librarian to the Royal Society, a post which he held for sixteen years.
A portrait of Charles Richard Weld is prefixed to the posthumous ‘Notes on Burgundy’ which he was preparing for the press at the time of his death.
His best-known work, A History of the Royal Society with Memoirs of the Presidents, compiled from Authentic Documents (London), appeared in two volumes in 1848 .
He issued in 1850 a lecture on Arctic Expeditions, originally delivered at the London Institution on 6 February 1850, and this was followed by pamphlets on the search for Franklin during 1851.
His report on the Philosophical Instruments and Apparatus for Teaching Science for the Exposition Universelle was printed, and then abridged for the Illustrated London News (5 October 1867).