In "The Uses of Experiment: Studies in the Natural Sciences" Secord[4] notes that: The bulk of its membership were 'amateur experimentalists', as founder and first president Sturgeon admitted.
Typical of the group were the instrument-maker Edward M. Clarke, the young Manchester electrician James Prescott Joule, and William Leithead, employed by the Gallery as a demonstrator.
Others, like Walter Hawkins, William G Lettsom, John Peter Gassiot and [Andrew] Crosse were either successful men business or independently wealthy.
Conspicuously absent were the real controlling interests in the London scientific world, men like John Herschel, William Grove and Faraday.
"[6] The London Electrical Society had decided early on that it would not prepare standing Rules and Regulations or formally elect Officers until the membership had reached 50.
This was made worse by the decision to publish many extra copies of the Proceedings and distribute them widely to other organisations in the hope of attracting new members.
These factors, and internal rows over ownership of experimental findings, and the departure of Sturgeon for Manchester, all contributed to the Society's downfall.