At first called the Lunar Circle, "Lunar Society" became the formal name by 1775. The name arose because the society would meet during the full moon, as the extra light made the journey home easier and safer in the absence of street lighting.
The members cheerfully referred to themselves as "lunarticks", a pun on lunatics. Venues included Erasmus Darwin's home in Lichfield, Matthew Boulton's home, Soho House, Bowbridge House in Derbyshire, and Great Barr Hall - wikipedia 
Matthew Boulton (1792), by Carl Frederik von Breda. - wikimedia 
Despite this uncertainty, fourteen individuals have been identified as having verifiably attended Lunar Society meetings regularly over a long period during its most productive eras: these are: - Matthew Boulton - Erasmus Darwin - Thomas Day - Samuel Galton, Jr. - James Keir - Joseph Priestley - William Small - Jonathan Stokes - James Watt - Josiah Wedgwood - John Whitehurst - William Withering - Richard Lovell Edgeworth
Among memorials to the Society and its members are the Moonstones (Lunar Society Moonstones); two statues of Watt and a statue of ''Boulton, Watt and Murdoch'' by William Bloye; and the museum at Soho House - all in Birmingham.
# Membership and status
This lack of a defined membership has led some historians to criticise a Lunar Society "legend", leading people to "confuse it and its efforts with the general growth of intellectual and economic activities in the provinces of eighteenth century Britain" - wikipedia
William Bloye's gold-covered statue ''Boulton, Watt and Murdoch'', in central Birmingham
- wikimedia
Others have seen this both as real and as one of the society's main strengths: a paper read at the Science Museum (Science Museum (London)) in London in 1963 claimed that "of all the provincial philosophical societies it was the most important, perhaps because it was not merely provincial.
All the world came to Soho House to meet Boulton, Watt or Small, who were acquainted with the leading men of Science throughout Europe and America. Its essential sociability meant that any might be invited to attend its meetings."