Surrey Institution

(A separate and distinct charity, The Surrey Institution was formed in 1812 with aims to discharge persons confined to gaol in the county for debt.

[5] The institution chose its name after a property convenient for its needs was found: the Rotunda Building on the south side of the Thames, at the time part of the county of Surrey.

[6] The building had been the final home of the Leverian Museum, housing the collection of Sir Ashton Lever, but had fallen into disrepair.

[7] The Institution renovated it to include a large lecture hall capable of accommodating 500 people, and a galleried library of 60 feet in length; it opened on 1 May 1808.

[14][15] The Institution offered members and visitors lectures on a variety of subjects, the earliest of which included chemistry, mineralogy and natural philosophy, given by employed and visiting scientists, scholars and artists.

Lecture Hall of the Surrey Institution, c.1808, aquatint by Joseph Constantine Stadler
Area of Blackfriars Road in an 1817 map, oriented with west approximately at the top. The Rotunda was on the west side of the road, very close to the bridge. [ 8 ]
Satirical print by Thomas Rowlandson , Friedrich Christian Accum lectures at the Surrey Institution, about 1810.