Royal Bath and West of England Society - Foundation

Foundation

In 1775 Edmund Rack, a draper and the son of a labouring weaver, moved from his native Norfolk to the city of Bath. Despite his modest upbringing Rack had developed interests both in literature and agriculture, and especially the application of modern methods to farming. He was struck on his arrival by the poor standard of agricultural practise in the West Country, and in a series of letters to the Farming Magazine and the Bath Chronicle argued that it was in the interest of all involved to make a concerted effort to improve productivity.

Thus on the 28 August 1777 the Bath Chronicle printed a notice addressed to "The Nobility and Gentry in the counties of Somerset, Gloucester, Wiltshire and Dorset in general, and the Cities of Bath and Bristol in particular". This notice, paid for by Rack, proposed the formation of a "Society in this City, for the encouragement of Agriculture, Planting, Manufactures, Commerce, and the Fine Arts...".

A number of philanthropists responded, and at a meeting on 8 September inaugurated the Bath and West of England Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, nominating Rack as the society's secretary. The same year, the Aims, Rules and Orders of the Society were published, which set out the activities of the society for the years to come. These involved the improvement of areas such as animal husbandry, farm implements and country crafts through education, experimentation and prize-giving.

In 1780 a site at Weston, Bath was taken over for use by the society as an experimental farm. Although this particular venture ended around a decade later, for the next 196 years the society's headquarters were located in properties within the city of Bath, until in 1974 its administration moved to a new permanent home in Shepton Mallet.