238 Presidentship of Sir Joseph Banks i8ir 



balance due to him of 3 2s. 8d. He called attention to 

 the price of wine having been raised sixpence a bottle, 

 and the consequent increase in the cost of the dinners. 

 It was agreed that the contribution of the members for the 

 ensuing year should be two pounds. 



The Treasurer reported the death of the Earl of Dart- 

 mouth, Dr. Maskelyne and Sir William Young, also that 

 Mr. Williams desired to resign his place in the Club. There 

 were three vacancies to be filled, and on the candidates 

 being successively put to the ballot, Roger Wilbraham, Sir 

 Richard Hussey Bickerton, Bart., and Richard Chenevix 

 were declared duly elected. As the late Astronomer Royal 

 was a member ex officio, his demise caused no vacancy in 

 the membership, his place in the Club being taken by his 

 successor in the Royal Astronomership, John Pond, who 

 now became ex officio a member. 



Of the members thus added to the Club, Roger Wilbraham 

 was a man of letters with a great love of Italian literature 

 and the possessor of a valuable library. He had been elected 

 into the Royal Society in 1782. Admiral Sir Richard Bicker- 

 ton entered the navy as far back as 1771, and after an 

 active career at sea and on shore became admiral in 1810. 

 Between 1805 and 1812 he had duties at the office of the 

 Admiralty in London, and it was during that interval that 

 he chiefly attended the meetings of the Club. He became 

 F.R.S. on 22nd February 1810 and was made K.C.B. in 

 1815. 



Richard Chenevix, of Huguenot descent, was born in 

 Ireland, but resided chiefly in France, where he wrote 

 papers in French publications and also in English journals 

 on chemical and mineralogical subjects. He was elected 

 into the Royal Society in 1801. As he did not attend 

 the meetings and lived abroad, it was decided at the anni- 

 versary of 1814 that he was no longer a member of the 

 Club. 



John Pond had in his youth shown an extraordinary 

 grasp of astronomy, even detecting errors in observations 

 made at Greenwich Observatory. When about thirty years 



