Funding scientific research

: the Royal Society of London and the development of research grants, 1800-1914

Abstract

This thesis examines the development of grant-making in UK science in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is the first study to focus specifically on grant funding as a means of supporting scientific research before the twentieth century. In the early nineteenth century, there were very few possibilities for acquiring monetary support for scientific research, yet by the start of the twentieth century, researchers could apply both to the Government Grant, administered by the Royal Society of London since 1850, and to a range of philanthropic research funds. Moreover, grants were now available not only for research expenses, but also for ‘personal’ or income support. Previous studies of the support for science in the nineteenth century have tended to focus on state support for scientific institutions and science education. Little attention has been paid to the evolution of research grants as a mode of funding, or to the role of philanthropic funds. This thesis focuses on research grants as a funding mechanism, using the Royal Society’s rich archival records, with the Government Grant as the central case study. It reveals the procedural mechanisms that enabled the grant scheme to work, and analyses the successful recipients, showing that a wider variety of people benefited from grants than one might have expected, including a significant number of non-Fellows, many women researchers, and pairs and groups of collaborators. It also situates the Government Grant within a wider landscape of research funding and considers its relation to other (philanthropic) grant schemes. Overall, it uncovers the historical origins of grant-funding mechanisms that are still used today and shows how the Royal Society became established in its role as a grant funder.

Date of Award	3 Dec 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Aileen Fyfe (Supervisor), Malcolm Petrie (Supervisor) & Keith Moore (Supervisor)