| Authorised form of name | Priestley; Joseph (1733 - 1804) |
| Dates | 1733 - 1804 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Fieldhead Farmhouse, parish of Birstall, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Date of birth | 13 March 1733 |
| Place of death | Northumberland, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Date of death | 06 February 1804 |
| Dates and places | Burial:
Quakers' burial-ground, Northumberland, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Occupation | Presbyterian Minister |
| Research field | Chemistry |
| Electricity |
| Natural philosophy |
| Theology |
| Activity | Education:
Batley Grammar School (1745), Daventry Academy (1751)
Career:
Minister, Needham Market, Suffolk; Minister, Nantwich, Cheshire; taught in Warrington; librarian-companion to Lord Shelburne (1774); Minister of the New Meeting, Birmingham (1780-1790)
|
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 12/06/1766 |
| Royal Society activity | Medals and prizes:
Copley Medal 1772 |
| Relationships | Married the sister of one of his pupils; three children: Sarah (1803), Joseph (1768-1833), William |
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB
References:
W H G Armytage, 'Science and Education: a Note' in NR 1956-57 vol 12 pp 226-229
W A Smeaton, 'Louis Bernard Guyton de Morveau, FRS (1737-1816) and his Relations with British Scientists' in NR 1967 vol 22 pp 113-130
T E Allibone, 'The Club of the Royal College of Physicians, the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers and their Relationship to the Royal Society Club' in NR 1967 vol 22 pp 186-192
Robert E Schofield, 'The Lunar Society of Birmingham; A Bicentenary Appraisal' in NR 1966 vol 21 pp 144-161
R E W Maddison and Francis R.Maddison, 'Joseph Priestley and the Birmingham Riots' in NR 1956-57 vol 12 pp 98-113
John Thomas, 'Josiah Wedgwood's Portrait Medallions of Fellows of the Royal Society' in NR 1963 vol 18 pp 45-53, plate
Douglas McKie, 'Priestley's Laboratory and Library and Other of his Effects' in NR 1956-57 vol 12 pp 114-136
D McKie, 'A Note on Priestley in America' in NR 1953 vol 10 pp 51-59
Anon, 'A Portrait of Joseph Priestley, FRS, by James Millar, 1789' in NR 1939 vol 2 pp 32-33, plate
J S Rowlinson, review of R G W Anderson and C Lawrence (eds), Science, Medicine and Dissent: Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) in NR 1989 vol 43 pp 275-276
Stephen F Mason, 'Jean Hyacinthe de Magellan, FRS, and the Chemical Revolution of the Eighteenth Century' in NR 1991 vol 45 pp 155-164
J Edmund White, 'The Priestley Memorial Volume' in NR 1994 vol 48 pp 85-96
Alan Q Morton, 'Previous Public Perceptions of Science', review of Larry Stewart, The Rise of Public Science: Rhetoric, Technology and Natural Philosophy in Newtonian Britain, 1660-1750 and Jan Golinski, Science as Public Culture: Chemistry and Enlightenment in Britain, 1760-1820 in NR 1994 vol 48 pp 157-159
A V Simcock, '"Reason's Dim Telescope": A Poetic Tirade Against Joseph Priestley, FRS' in NR 1995 vol 49 pp 79-84
Linde Katritzky, 'Coleridge's Links with Leading Men of Science' in NR 1995 vol 49 pp 261-276
Paul Elliott, 'Abraham Bennet, FRS (1749-1799): A Provincial Electrician in Eighteenth-Century England' in NR 1999 vol 53 pp 59-78
J B Morrell, 'Professors Robison and Playfair, and the Theophobia Gallica: Natural Philosophy, Religion and Politics in Edinburgh, 1789-1815' in NR 1971 vol 26 pp 43-63
Maurice Crosland, 'Explicit Qualifications as a Criterion for Membership of the Royal Society: A Historical Review' in NR 1982-83 vol 37 pp 167-187
R V Jones, 'Benjamin Franklin' in NR 1976-7 vol 31 pp 201-225
William P Griffith, 'Priestley in London' in NR 1983-84 vol 38 pp 1-16, plate
L B Glyn, 'Israel Lyons: a short but starry career. The life of an eighteenth-century Jewish botanist and astronomer' in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 275-305
R W Jones, 'Dalton's unfortunate choice' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 15-33
N G Coley, 'George Pearson MD, FRS (1751-1828): 'The greatest chemist in England'? in NR 2003 vol 57 pp
161-175
D King-Hele, 'Makers of the future. The Lunar Men: the friends who made the future, by J Uglow' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 348 - 350
J S Rowlinson, 'Displacing Phlogiston. Robert Siegfried, From elements to atoms: a history of chemical composition' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 242-243 |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/120696744 |
| Royal Society code | NA8274 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| MM/5/18 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 16 January 1784 |
| MM/5/12 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 8 January 1783 |
| MM/5/3 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 31 May 1781 |
| MM/5/9 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 16 September 1782 |
| MM/18/143 | Letter from Arthur Bennett and E James Hall, Warrington Society, to Thomas Edward Thorpe | 1 February 1904 |
| MM/5/2 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 26 May 1781 |
| IM/003673 | Priestley, Joseph | 1996 |
| MM/18/142 | Letter from Arthur Bennett, Warrington Society, to Thomas Edward Thorpe | 29 January 1904 |
| IM/003670 | Priestley, Joseph | nd |
| MM/5/33 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Clapton, to Thomas Wedgwood | 5 May 1792 |
| MM/5/27 | Letter from Joseph Priestley to Josiah Wedgwood | October 1790 |
| CB/2/164 | Copy of a letter from Charles Blagden to Joseph Priestley | 11 June 1788 |
| IM/003669 | Priestley, Joseph | nd |
| CB/2/117 | Copy of a letter from Charles Blagden to Joseph Priestley | 8 February 1788 |
| IM/003672 | Priestley, Joseph | nd |
| IM/003668 | Priestley, Joseph | nd |
| MM/5/23 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 8 January 1788 |
| MM/5/22 | Copy of a letter from Josiah Wedgwood to Joseph Priestley | 25 August 1787 |
| CB/2/409 | Copy of a letter from Charles Blagden to Joseph Priestley | 5 May 1790 |
| MM/5/14 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 23 January 1783 |
| MM/5/10 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 10 October 1782 |
| MM/5/15 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 7 March 1783 |
| MM/5/28 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 16 February 1791 |
| MM/5/26 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 9 October 1788 |
| MM/5/31 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, London, to Thomas Wedgwood | February 1792 |
| MM/5/4 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 26 June 1781 |
| MM/5/13 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 16 January 1783 |
| MM/5/32 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Clapton, to Thomas Wedgwood | 13 March 1792 |
| MM/5/11 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 8 December 1782 |
| MM/5/17 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 24 July 1783 |
| MM/5/5 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 8 August 1781 |
| MM/5/19 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 23 January 1784 |
| MM/5/24 | Letter from Joseph Priestley to Josiah Wedgwood | September 1788 |
| MM/5/30 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, London, to Josiah Wedgwood | 7 September 1791 |
| MM/18/144 | Priestley centenary invitation card, produced by The Warrington Society | 1904 |
| CB/2/157 | Copy of a letter from Charles Blagden to Joseph Priestley | 2 June 1788 |
| CB/2/305 | Copy of a letter from Charles Blagden to Joseph Priestley | 5 September 1789 |
| MM/18/13 | Letter from W Cameron Walker to RB Knott | 4 June 1951 |
| MM/18/5 | Letter from W Cameron Walker to Emma Frances Knott | 3 July 1933 |
| MM/18/10 | Letter from Emma Frances Knott to W Walker Cameron | 14 June 1934 |
| MM/5/1 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 30 November 1780 |
| MM/18/7 | Letter from Emma Frances Knott to W Walker Cameron | 25 November 1933 |
| CB/2/252 | Copy of a letter from Charles Blagden to Joseph Priestley | 8 June 1789 |
| P/0104 | Portrait of Priestley, Joseph | 1789 |
| MM/18/14 | Letter from RB Knott to W Walker Cameron | 2 January 1952 |
| CB/2/315 | Copy of a letter from Charles Blagden to Joseph Priestley | 1 March 1790 |
| MM/5/25 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 18 August 1788 |
| MM/18/11 | Letter from W Cameron Walker to RB Knott | 30 May 1951 |
| MM/20/50 | Letter from Josiah Wedgwood to Joseph Priestley | 30 July 1791 |
| MM/18/145 | Edgar F Smith, Printed lecture circular | c.1904 |
| MM/18/6 | Letter from W Cameron Walker to Emma Frances Knott | 22 November 1933 |
| MM/5/29 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 26 February 1791 |
| MM/14/27 | An extract from the will of Robert Cappe | 1802 |
| CB/1/2/10 | Letter from Charles Blagden, Paris to Joseph Banks, Soho Square, London | 27 June 1783 |
| IM/005886 | Hauksbee, Francis and Priestley, Joseph | nd |
| CB/2/193 | Copy of a letter from Charles Blagden to Joseph Priestley | 15 December 1788 |
| CB/2/149 | Copy of a letter from Charles Blagden to Joseph Priestley | 23 May 1788 |
| CB/2/215 | Copy of a letter from Charles Blagden to Joseph Priestley | 20 February 1789 |
| MM/5/8 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 21 March 1782 |
| P/0105 | Portrait of Joseph Priestley | |
| IM/003667 | Priestley, Joseph | nd |
| IM/003666 | Priestley, Joseph | nd |
| IM/005380 | Priestley, Joseph | 1993 |
| IM/003671 | Priestley, Joseph | 1860 |
| IM/005385 | Priestley, Joseph | 1993 |
| IM/005387 | Priestley, Joseph | 1993 |
| MS/654/2 | Three letters from Joseph Priestley | nd |
| NLB/19/409 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Reverend Alexander Gordon, Memorial Hall, Manchester | 25 September 1899 |
| MC/27/347 | Letter from Miss S.P. Wainewright, Spring Hill, Malvern Wells, to Alfred [Bray] Kempe, [Royal Society], Burlington House | 21 October 1912 |
| MC/8/48 | Letter from James Yates, Lauderdale House, Highgate, to Wm [William] Allen Miller, Treasurer of the Royal Society | 24 May 1867 |
| L&P/9/160 | Paper, 'Observations on respiration' by Joseph Priestley | 1790 |
| L&P/5/12 | Paper, 'Account of Dr Priestley's new experiments in electricity drawn up by Benjamin Franklin' | 1768 |
| L&P/6/120 | Letters, 'Discoveries on air' from Joesph Priestley | 24 May 1775 |
| L&P/5/168 | Paper, 'Observations on charcoal' by Joseph Priestley | 1769 |
| L&P/5/167 | Paper, 'Of lateral explosions in an electrical discharge' by Joseph Priestley | 22 February 1770 |
| L&P/6/153 | Paper, 'Observations of respiration and on the use of the blood' by Joseph Priestley | 1775 |
| L&P/5/78 | Paper, 'Experiments on the latent force of electriccal explosions' by Joseph Priestley | 1769 |
| L&P/5/13 | Paper, 'An account of rings of prismatic colours formed by electrical explosions on metal surfaces' by Joseph Priestley | 1768 |
| L&P/5/284 | Paper, 'Observations on different types of air' by Joseph Priestley | 1772 |
| L&P/9/198 | Paper, 'Further experiments on the decomposition of dephlogisticated and inflammable air' by Joseph Priestley | 1791 |
| L&P/6/8 | Letter, 'Effluvia of putrid marshes' from Joseph Priestley to John Pringle | 1773 |
| L&P/8/138 | Paper, 'Experiments and observations relating to air and water' by Joseph Priestley | 1785 |
| L&P/8/31 | Letter, 'Experiments on phlogiston' from Joseph Priestley to Joseph Banks | 21 April 1783 |
| L&P/9/13/1 | Letter, 'Description of a new electrometer' from Abraham Bennet to Joseph Priestley | 14 September 1786 |
| L&P/9/105 | Paper, 'Objections to the experiments and observations on the principle of acidity and the composition of water considered' by Joseph Priestley | 1788 |
| L&P/9/86 | Paper, 'Additional experiments and observations relating to the principle of acidity, the decomposition of water and phlogiston' by Joseph Priestley | 1788 |
| L&P/9/77 | Paper, 'Experiments and observations relating to the principle of acidity, the composition of water and phlogiston' by Joseph Priestley | 1788 |
| L&P/8/75 | Paper, 'On Priestley's and his own experiments on and views as to the nature of phlogiston' from James Watt to Jean Andre De Luc | 26 November 1784 |
| L&P/7/264 | Letter, 'Of some remarkable electrical phenomena' by Joseph Priestley to Paul Henry Maty | 14 October 1775 |
| L&P/9/122 | Paper, 'Description of experiments on the phlogistication of spirit of nitre by heat' by Joseph Priestley | 1789 |
| MS/426/537 | Copy letter from W [William] Sharpey, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Edwin Canton | 28 April 1855 |
| MOB/035 | Joseph Priestley's spectacles | 18th century |
| M/112 | Copley Medal of the Royal Society to Priestley | 1773 |
| IM/005383 | Priestley, Joseph | 1993 |
| IM/005386 | Priestley, Joseph | 1993 |
| IM/005381 | Priestley, Joseph | 1993 |
| MM/5/7 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 6 March 1782 |
| MM/5/16 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 23 March 1783 |
| MM/20/46 | Letter from Joseph Priestley to Josiah Wedgwood | 22 July 1781 |
| MM/5/20 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 8 November 1784 |
| MM/5/6 | Letter from Joseph Priestley, Birmingham, to Josiah Wedgwood | 18 August 1781 |
| MM/20/48 | Letter from Joseph Priestley to Josiah Wedgwood | 26 August 1787 |
| MM/5/38 | Copy of letter from James Watt, Birmingham, to Joseph Priestley | 26 April 1783 |
| IM/003674 | Priestley, Joseph | nd |
| IM/005384 | Priestley, Joseph | 1993 |
| NLB/11/862 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Philip Joseph Hartog, Owens College, Manchester | 21 October 1895 |
| L&P/6/226 | Letter, 'An account of persons who could not distinguish colours' from Joseph Huddart to Joseph Priestley | 15 January 1777 |
| IM/003675 | Priestley, Joseph | c 1904 |
| MM/18/141 | Letter from Arthur Bennett, Warrington Society, to Thomas Edward Thorpe | 19 January 1904 |
| MM/20/49 | Letter from Joseph Priestley to Josiah Wedgwood | 26 June 1791 |
| MM/20/47 | Letter from Joseph Priestley to Josiah Wedgwood | 6 May 1783 |
| IM/003665 | Priestley, Joseph | nd |
| IM/005382 | Priestley, Joseph | 1993 |
| MS/654 | Priestley Papers | |
| EC/1766/12 | Priestley, Joseph: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| P/0103 | Portrait of Priestley, Joseph | c 1763 |
| MOB/034 | Electrical machine by Joseph Priestley | c.1767 |
| AP/4/8 | Unpublished translation, 'Physical researches on fixed air' by Felice Fontana | 1775 |
| L&P/7/251 | Letter, 'Analyses of toadstone and Rowley rag' from Joseph Priestley on behalf of William Withering to Joseph Banks | 28 March 1782 |
| MC/8/50 | Letter from James Yates, Lauderdale House, Highgate, to Wm [William] Allen Miller, Treasurer of the Royal Society | 29 May 1867 |
| MC/8/69 | Letter from James Yates, Lauderdale House, Highgate, to Walter White, [Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society] | 13 July 1867 |
| AP/28/25 | Unpublished paper, 'On phlogiston and the decomposition of water' by W F [William Ford] Stevenson | 14 January 1846 |
| AP/32/18 | Unpublished paper, 'Water and its supposed constituents' by William Ford Stevenson | 19 March 1850 |
| MC/8 | Volume 8 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1867-1869 |
| L&P/5/304 | Letter, 'Of a new electrometer by William Henley; and of several experiments made by him' from Joseph Priestley to Benjamin Franklin | 26 October 1770 |
| L&P/7/93 | Letter, 'Of the plan to recover people in Russia apprently deprived of life by the burning of charcoal' from Mathew Guthrie to Joseph Priestley | 12 October 1778 |
| L&P/7/102 | Letter, 'Airs from different kinds of waters' from Felice Fontana to Joseph Priestley | 9 February 1779 |
| L&P/9/87 | Letter, 'Additional experiments and observations relating to the principle of acidity, the decomposition of water and phlogiston' from James Keir to Joseph Priestley | 26 March 1788 |
| L&P/9/88 | Letter, 'Additional experiments and observations relating to the principle of acidity, the decomposition of water and phlogiston' from William Withering to Joseph Priestley | 22 February 1788 |
| L&P/9/143 | Paper, 'Experiments on the transmisison of the vapour of acids through an hot earthen tube, and further observations relating to phlogiston' by Joseph Priestley | 1789 |
| L&P/9/150 | Letter, 'An account of some luminous arches' from William Hey to Joseph Priestley | 31 December 1783 |
| MC/17 | Volume 17 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1897-1899 |
| MC/27/348 | Letter from Miss S.P. Wainewright, Spring Hill, Malvern Wells, to the [Royal Society] | 5 November 1912 |
| MC/28/150 | Letter from [Thomas] Holgate, 61 Calton Road, Dulwich, S.E, to The Librarian, Royal Society | 8 May 1913 |