On the 18th of February 1828, Dr. Maurice Johnson resigned the office of president, and the Rev. Dr. William Moore was elected to succeed him. The Rev. J. H. Marsden, then an assistant curate of Spalding, was appointed librarian and secretary. At that time the number of members was only fifteen, but seven others were admitted at the same meeting.
At the next meeting, on February 25, the secretary was requested “to examine the Society’s records in order to ascertain the terms upon which certain books were deposited in the church and school.” He gave in his report on March 3, and the members present were unanimously of opinion “that the books appear to have been a free gift.” At this meeting a committee was appointed for the purpose of examining and arranging the museum.
From this time the election of members and the gifts of books to the library are duly recorded. The meetings, however, do not appear to have been held regularly, but all the entries refer to the work of the Society—e.g. on 25th July 1838, “examined Mr. Grundy’s plan of the town of Spalding, the same being in a state of dilapidation, and resolved that it will be advisable to obtain a lithographic fac-simile.” This order was duly carried out, and copies were sold at fifteen shillings each. It was then arranged that the meetings should be held quarterly.
On 14th June 1848, Sir Charles Anderson wrote asking permission to have the minute books sent to Lincoln for inspection at the meeting of the Archæological Institute which was then being arranged. This request was complied with, and accompanied by a paper entitled “The Gentlemen’s Society at Spalding: Its Origin and Progress.” This paper was subsequently printed by the Institute, and afterwards reprinted as a pamphlet by Pickering in 1851. After the meeting, Mr. Albert Way wrote as follows:—
“Wonham, Reigate, August 19, 1848.
“Dear Sir,—I have the honor to convey to you, and to request you to communicate to the Gentlemen composing the Spalding Society, the hearty thanks of the Central Committee of the Institute for the kindness with which you have been pleased to transmit the memorials of the Society to Lincoln for the gratification of our members during the late meeting. I hope that these precious documents have safely reached you: they were committed to the custody of Mr. Swan’s clerk in the absence of that gentleman.
“The Committee request me also to express their acknowledgment and thanks for your interesting and valuable notice of the Society of Spalding, and the character of its early labors in the field of Archæology. The Committee would hail with the utmost satisfaction the re-establishment in full vigor of such a Society in your County for the examination and preservation of historical memorials and ancient monuments or antiquities. They would hope that the names of Maurice Johnson and his contemporaries might yet form the watchword to rally round the Gentlemen of Spalding all those who cherish the memory of ancient times in your County, so rich in historical recollections and examples illustrative of ancient usages or arts. The Committee would most thankfully have esteemed your kindness had it been compatible with the safe custody of the valuable memorials of the Spalding Society sent to Lincoln, to permit any more detail’d examination of them than was feasible at that time, or had it been practicable to select any portion of their curious contents which might have been given in the Lincoln volume about to be published. The memoir, however, which we owe to your kindness and hope you will permit me to publish in that volume, will excite curiosity regarding the labors of the Antiquaries of Spalding, which we would hope you may feel disposed, on some future occasion, to gratify by further notices and extracts.—I have the honor to be, Dear Sir, your obliged and obedient Servant,
Albert Way, Hon. Sec.
“The Rev. Dr. Moore.”
The minute book contains reference to, or has copies of correspondence with, several other antiquaries of note. Amongst them occur the names of Pishey Thompson, the author of the “History of Boston”; Admiral Smyth, author of “A Descriptive Catalogue of a Cabinet of Roman Coins, belonging to His Grace the Duke of Northumberland”; William Hopkinson of Stamford; John Yonge Akerman, Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries; Rev. A. Poole, &c.