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Some of
the founding members:
John Player, a retired civil servant
from the Naval department, and Jabez Gibson, a Quaker
maltster and banker, were the founders of the institution.
Other members included:
Jeptha Miller, a chemist and wine-merchant,
and for some time secretary to the Saffron Walden
Savings Bank.
Thomas Spurgeon, a doctor and for
many years a town councillor,
Thomas Frye, town treasurer, and
for many years a churchwarden, was a schoolmaster
who conducted an academy at Dorset House, Church Street,
where he established a reputation as a stern disciplinarian
John Thomas Frye, professor of
music and organist for 64 years at the parish church,
lectured several times on musical subjects, notably
January 12th 1849, when he gave “An historical
lecture on Music.”
Joshua Clarke brother of Joseph,
a town councillor, who was mayor 10 times, was a maltster
carrying on business in High Street.
John Mallows Youngman was the son
of a local bookseller, and a noted artist who exhibited
many times at the Royal Academy. For many years two
of his paintings hung in the Town Library.
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