The King George III Collection

Arriving in London in 1754, Demainbray set up shop in Panton Street and used newspapers to find an audience for his lectures. The Printing Acts, which had limited the number of newspapers, had lapsed by 1700. Within 60 years, the number of papers in London quadrupled. One very successful newspaper, established in 1731, was the Daily Advertiser which carried more advertisements than news. Its readership came from those who patronised taverns and coffee-houses. Between 1755 and 1759, this paper sometimes carried three advertisements a day for lectures on natural philosophy, as well as lectures on chemistry, anatomy and physiology and other gimmicks such as intelligent dogs, automata, mermaids and 'porcupine men'.
 

Advertisements for competing lectures From the Daily Advertiser, Wednesday 5th April 1758.

The cost of attending one of Demainbray's lectures was one shilling and sixpence (7½p) with a ticket for the full course of 34 lectures costing 2½ guineas (£2.63, and equivalent to about £160 today). The audience was probably made up of nobility, gentry and members of the professions, such as doctors and lawyers. Few others would have been able to afford the full course. However, Demainbray was aiming for the top end of the market and some other lecturers were cheaper.

As competition grew, Demainbray offered discounts to try to persuade people to come to his lectures rather than those of his rivals: in 1755, he proposed that every gentleman subscribing to a lecture course would receive a free ticket for a lady. He also boasted about the apparatus he used, asserting that his model of the watermill at the Bazacle in Toulouse was the only model of its kind in England. He relied on his connection with the royal family and with the scientific academies of Europe to give authority to his lectures. This was very important because of the intense competition.