Bowood Circle
Members
- André Morellet cleric economist freemason philosopher teacher translator writer
- Benjamin Vaughan diplomat editor journalist jurist physician politician translator writer
- Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord cleric diplomat entrepreneur politician writer
- Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope politician scientist translator
- Etienne Clavière abolitionist entrepreneur journalist politician
- Honoré-Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau abolitionist freemason pamphleteer politician translator writer
- Jeremy Bentham economist jurist philosopher publisher translator writer
- Joseph-Mathias Gérard de Rayneval diplomat politician translator
- Joseph Priestley philosopher scientist
- Pierre-Étienne-Louis Dumont cleric journalist translator writer
- Richard Price cleric philosopher translator writer
- Samuel Romilly abolitionist jurist politician translator writer
- William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne economist military politician
Notes
The Bowood Circle was a loose, international group of intellectual figures drawn around the Earl of Shelburne (British Prime Minister in 1782-83, made marquess of Lansdowne in 1784), named after his residence at Bowood House, near Calne in Wiltshire. All its members had a common interest in political reform, some of whom were gifted their place in Parliament through Shelburne's patronage of a powerful faction of Whig members in Parliament. Sometimes, proposals from the circle were publicized in its house journal 'The Repository', edited by Benjamin Vaughan (1788-89). Other members included Jeremy Bentham, Francois d'Ivernois, John Dunning, Thomas Jervis and Jacques-Antoine Duroveray.
For a good account of Shelburne's links with Geneva and France, see Derk Jarrett, 'The begetters of Revolution: England's involvement with France, 1759–1789' (1973).