| | 1 | Name: | Stephen Adye | | | Year Elected: | 1772 | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Deceased
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Stephen Adye (d. 24 March 1794) was a British military officer, a scholar of the military justice system, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1772. He was educated at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich beginning in 1757, and, by 1780, he had become a captain in the Royal Artillery of the British Army. Adye experienced active service throughout his career, including a stint as a brigade major during the American Revolutionary War, but he is most well-known for his writings on and participation in the military judicial system. He worked as a deputy judge-advocate-general in North America throughout the 1760s. In 1769, he published an influential treatise on the judicial procedures of the army. He was interested in both the historical development of the army’s legal process and its contemporary applications. He believed that all soldiers should be treated equally in the eyes of the law, regardless of their rank, and that courts-martial could guarantee just outcomes to an even greater extent than civilian jury trials. Adye and his wife, Elizabeth Hitchcock, had three sons, all of whom joined the Royal Artillery and continued their father’s legacy. He retired from the army in 1790 and died in 1794 on the island of Jersey. (DNB) | |
| 2 | Name: | Peter Dolland | | | Year Elected: | 1772 | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1730 | | | | |
| 3 | Name: | Timothy Lane | | | Year Elected: | 1772 | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1734 | | | Death Date: | 7/5/1807 | | | | | | |
Timothy Lane (June 1734–5 July 1807) was an inventor, scientist, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1772. His father was an apothecary, and Timothy followed in his footsteps, becoming a member of London’s Society of Apothecaries in 1757. His scientific interests were far-reaching; he was as curious about natural philosophy and chemistry as he was about medicine and botany. He was particularly interested in experiments and research on the uses of electricity that were being conducted by colleagues like APS Member Joseph Priestley. In the 1760s, Lane invented an instrument that could measure the strength of the electricity discharged from a Leyden jar. Benjamin Franklin used this device—known as “Lane’s electrometer”—in his study of atmospheric electricity. In collaboration with his colleague Henry Cavendish, Lane also created a torpedo that could dispense electric shocks. It was on the strength of his research on electricity that he became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1770. This research also led to his 1777 selection for a committee charged with discovering the ideal shape for lightning rods; this committee comprised several other prominent scientists of the day, including high-ranking members of the Royal Society and APS Member Edward Nairne. In 1801, Lane invented and patented “Measuring glasses for compounding medicines,” which were thought to be more reliable and accurate than comparable products on the market. That same year, he became the Master of the Society of Apothecaries. Lane married Ann Halford in 1763 and they had one child, Mary Aubrey Lane. He died at Mary’s home in Hampstead in 1807. (DNB) | |
| 4 | Name: | John Montresor | | | Year Elected: | 1772 | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 4/6/1736 | | | Death Date: | 6/26/1799 | | | | | | |
John Montresor (6 April 1736–26 June 1799) was a British military engineer and officer, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1772. John spent his early years in Gibraltar, learning the basics of military engineering from his father, who was a colonel of engineers. In 1754, his father arranged for John to accompany him on a military expedition led by General Edward Braddock at the beginning of the French and Indian War. In 1755, Braddock’s troops attacked the French-held Fort Duquense, and John was badly wounded; he would suffer from this injury for the rest of his life. He served on several other expeditions throughout the war, some of which were marked by dangerous and nearly deadly conditions: on a mission in Quebec under General James Murray, John suffered a month of freezing and nearly starving circumstances. In 1766, while on leave in England, he was promoted, earning the titles captain-lieutenant and engineer-extraordinary. Montresor served with the British army throughout the Revolutionary War, occasionally destroying fortresses, including Castle William near Boston, that he had helped to fortify just a few years before. John had married in 1764 and made his home on an island near New York, but in 1778 decided to return to England, resigning his post and hoping to live out the rest of his life peacefully. However, in 1782, the commissioner of public accounts became suspicious of some of John’s expenditures during the war; it seemed that he had spent tens of thousands of government pounds for which he could not account. He fought this audit and tried to clear his name for nearly a decade, but was thrown in Maidstone prison for his misdealings, where he died in 1799. (ANB, DNB) | |
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