Spalding Gentlemen's Society

It is Britain's oldest such provincial body, founded in 1710 by Maurice Johnson (1688–1755) of Ayscoughfee Hall.

Membership is open to anyone aged 18 or over: the term "gentlemen" in the title is historical – there is no discrimination between men and women.

Its Grade II listed museum in Broad Street, Spalding, was designed by Joseph Boothroyd Corby and opened in 1911; additions to the building ensued in 1925 and 1960.

They talked about local antiquities and discussed the popular London newspaper The Tatler.

[3] Noteworthy and early members of the "Gentlemen's Society at Spalding" include:

A Letter from Cromwell Mortimer, M.D. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians London, Secretary to the Royal Society of London, Member of the Gentlemen's Society at Spalding, &c. to William Bogdani, (14592358717)
Jetton of John Ray, who was grandfather of the Rev. Benjamin Ray, Perpetual Curate of Cowbit and Surfleet (elected a member of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society in 1723), and a relative of the founder, Maurice Johnson