Royal Institution for its founding were given by the Society for Bettering the Conditions and Improving the Comforts of the Poor, under the guidance of philanthropist Sir Thomas Bernard and American-born British scientist Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford. Since its founding it has been based at 21 Albemarle Street in Mayfair. Its Royal Charter was granted in 1800. Throughout its history, the Institution has supported public engagement with science through a programme of lectures, many of which continue today. The most famous of these are the annual Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, founded by Michael Faraday. The Royal Institution was founded as the
Humphrey Spender Humphrey Spender John Humphrey Spender (19 April 1910 – 11 March 2005) was a British photographer, painter, and designer. John Humphrey Spender was the third son of Harold Spender, a journalist and writer. Humphrey's mother, Violet Schuster, came from a German family who had emigrated to Britain in the 1870s. Violet died in 1921 and Harold Spender died in 1926. Humphrey had two brothers, the poet Stephen Spender and the scientist and explorer Michael Spender, and one sister, Christine. As a child, Humphrey learnt photography from his older brother Michael Spender and was given a handsome German camera for his