William Shipley

At this point, he also joined the Northampton Philosophical Society, where he began his philanthropic life by raising funds to buy fuel for the poor.

The school proved highly successful, and among Shipley's pupils were Richard Cosway, Thomas Jones, William Pars, and Francis Wheatley.

The resulting organisation first met at Rawthmell's coffee house on the north side of Henrietta Street, in Covent Garden on 22 March 1754.

[3] Founding members included Viscount Folkestone, Lord Romney (1712–1794), Isaac Maddox, Stephen Hales, and Thomas Baker, the naturalist.

Quite simply, the society wanted to enable Britain's most important industry, its textile manufacturers, to be able to dye their cloth at home rather than send it abroad.

Without timber, the Royal Navy could not build ships.The Society carried out this purpose by establishing prizes for the growing of trees, such as Oaks, chestnuts, Elms and Firs.

But it is probable that he became less interested in the society as its sphere gradually became more technical and industrial; At any rate, he resigned his post as registrar in 1760.

He came up with ideas on how to provide inexpensive fuel for the poor, a floating light to save those lost in the sea (for which he received an award), a way to establish new species of fish in ponds around England, and perhaps strangest of all, a method of lining your shoes with tinfoil to keep them dry.

[7] Many credit Shipley with helping to establish the role of private organisations to serve the public; the Crown of England was so preoccupied with war and money dealings, it had little resources to further enhance culture at the time.