Archibald Spencer

Spencer was born on January 1, 1698, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Adam, later changed to Archibald.[1][2][3] Some writers on Benjamin Franklin's life have stated that Spencer was a medical doctor,[4][5] and a male midwife[6][7] and specialized in diseases of the eye.[8] Historian Nick Bunker claims he obtained his medical degree from the University of St Andrews of Scotland in 1739 by providing testimonials from two reputable physicians.[9]

May 30, 1743, advertisement in the Boston Evening News promoting his first scientific lecture and demonstrations in Boston.

July 26, 1744, advertisement placed by Benjamin Franklin promoting Archibald Spencer's scientific lecture in Philadelphia.

Spencer was a businessman in the British Colonies of America. From 1743 to 1751 he professionally conducted scientific (natural philosophy) lectures and demonstrations.[10] These were popularized in the colonies after Professor Isaac Greenwood started them in Boston in 1727. Spencer's first lecture was advertised in the May 30 newspapers of the Boston Evening Post and the Boston Weekly Post-Boy. His charge for attending the educational course was expensive, £6 ($1000 in 2020 dollars), but was popular anyway. There are no copies that exist of the Catalogue of the Experiments that he performed, but he did have at least two seminars of science given in Boston.[11]

Spencer's scientific lecture seminars at first were on Isaac Newton's theory of light and the latest techniques in medicine. Benjamin Franklin attended one of Spencer's dramatic lecture illustrations in Boston in 1743 and was not only amused but amazed.[1][8] He then acted as Spencer's agent when he came to Philadelphia in 1744 for his lectures, advertising and selling tickets for them.[8][12][13] Advertisements were run in the Pennsylvania Gazette.[14]

The Leyden jar capacitor for high-voltage storage was invented in 1746 by Pieter van Musschenbroek, whom Franklin would meet later.[15][16][17] Spencer's Philadelphia lecture demonstrations on science included mostly electrical demonstrations and became elaborate showmanship of static electricity illustrations using the Leyden jar.[18][19][20] He would give volunteers mild electrical shocks, caused loud noises with sparks, and caused paper bits and metallic fragments move in the air as if by some magic effect. He would take a long glass tube, rubbed it with a cloth, and held it near brass and gold leaf putting the pieces into a surprising brisk erratic back and forth motion.[21]

Spencer introduced Franklin to the study of electricity through experimentation and was his mentor.[22] Franklin bought all of Spencer's electrical equipment at the end of his American Colony seminar tour and Franklin used it for personal pleasure and scientific experiments.[21][23] He then trained three of his associates on Spencer's Philadelphia electrical illustrations, Samuel Domjen, Ebenezer Kinnersley, and Lewis Evans.[24]

Spencer was a regular science speaker at the Philadelphia Tuesday Club and introduced the principles of electricity to the members, which included Franklin.[22] Spencer was admitted a member to Saint John's Grand Lodge of Boston in 1743 and attended at least two meetings when Franklin was a member.[11]

Spencer joined the South River Club on July 10, 1755. He was a member of the club for about eight months. On September 4 and 18 he provided refreshments and food for the meetings. Spencer announced on January 22, 1756, to supply the club with copies of the Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper at a cost of 5 shillings a year.[25] He furnished the first of the newspapers two weeks later. After that his name was dropped from the club's records. He was no longer an active member and the records show from then on that he was a past member.[26]

Spencer lived in and helped form Anne Arundel County, Maryland. He made investments when he lived in the county. One such investment, with a group of other businessmen, was a supply of tobacco that was kept at Howard's Point Warehouse in the county. It totally burned up in an accidental fire in October 1758. Spencer petitioned the Province of Maryland government on November 29, 1758, that public funds be used to compensate the businessmen and himself for this loss. This request was turned down and no public funds were furnished.[25]

Spencer practiced the Christian religion. He was trained by Kinnersley to become a Baptist minister and preached in Maryland starting in 1750.[22][27]

Spencer was of poor health starting in the summer of 1759. He made out his will in November leaving all his property to his nearest relative Ann Brow, except for his books and papers that he gave to his personal attorney Daniel Dulany.[25] He died at the age of 62 in Annapolis, Maryland, on January 13, 1760.[28]

• Franklin's electrostatic machine
• Experiments and Observations on Electricity

• Bunker, Nick (2018). Young Benjamin Franklin. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 9781101874424. Spencer obtained his medical degree from St. Andrews University in October 1739 by providing testimonials from two physicians who belonged to the Royal Society: William Stukeley, often regarded as the founder of British archaeology, and Robert Taylor, one of the king's doctors.
• Breslaw, Elaine G. (1988). Minutes of the Tuesday Club of Annapolis, 1745-56. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-01334-8. Spencer had been Benjamin Franklin's mentor in experiments with electricity.
• Brock, William Ranulf (January 1982). Scotus Americanus: Links Between Scotland and America in Eighteenth Century. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-85224-420-3.
• Dray, Philip (2005). Stealing God's Thunder: Benjamin Franklin's Lightning Rod And the Invention of America. Random House. ISBN 978-0-8129-6810-1.
• Emerson, Roger L. (13 May 2016). Essays on David Hume, Medical Men and the Scottish Enlightenment: 'Industry, Knowledge and Humanity'. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-14164-8.
• Finger, Stanley (21 December 2012). Doctor Franklin's Medicine. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-0191-8.
• Ione, Amy (13 October 2016). Art and the Brain: Plasticity, Embodiment, and the Unclosed Circle. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-32299-8. Dr. Archibald Spencer, an itinerant lecturer, initially acquainted Franklin with the mysterious powers of electricity in the summer of 1743.
• Isaacson, Walter (4 May 2004). Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-5807-4.
• LeMay, J.A.L. (1964). Franklin's 'Dr. Spence':The reverend Archibald Spencer. Maryland Historical magazine. 59 (2 ed.). Baltimores, Maryland.
• LeMay, J. A. Leo (2009). The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 3: Soldier, Scientist, and Politician, 1748–1757. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-4121-1.
• Lemay, J. A. Leo (3 June 2013). The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 2: Printer and Publisher, 1730-1747. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-0929-7. In the Autobiography, Franklin credited Spencer with awakening his interest in electricity.
• Meador, Roy (1975). Franklin, Revolutionary Scientist. Ann Arbor Science Publishers. ISBN 978-0-250-40121-5.
• Miller, Brandon Marie (1 October 2009). Benjamin Franklin, American Genius: His Life and Ideas with 21 Activities. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-61374-130-6.
• Rose, F. Clifford (2004). Neurology of the Arts: Painting, Music, Literature. Imperial College Press. ISBN 978-1-86094-591-5.
• RUP (1999). Everyday Nature: Knowledge of the Natural World in Colonial New York. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-4379-6.
• Smith, C.U.M. (2012). The Animal Spirit Doctrine and the Origins of Neurophysiology. OUP USA. ISBN 9780199766499.
• Stearns, Raymond Phineas (1970). Science in the British Colonies of America. University of Illinois Press. p. 506. ISBN 978-0-252-00120-8.
• Wages, Jack D. (1979). Seventy-four writers of the colonial South. G. K. Hall. ISBN 978-0-8161-7979-4.
• Warfield, Joshua Dorsey (1905). Anne Arundel & Howard Counties, Maryland: A genealogical review. Kohn & Pollock. p. 202.