Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
The Editor
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© F.Coakley , 2026
[from A.M Harrision's Descriptive List of Insular Societies]
The background to the advertisement of the meeting of the Platonic Society in the Assembly Room at Douglas at six o'clock in the evening of the 24th of January [1805], which Ladies and Gentlemen of the town and neighbourhood of Douglas who wished to become members of 'that agreeable society' were requested to attend, was the contentious correspondence between Platonicus and Gamophanes published in the Manx Advertiser. The two erudite, fashionably highflown, controversialists debated the propriety of the popular cult of platonic relationships between the sexes, alleged to be the basis of 'a society in the town of Douglas of persons of this description'.
An association inviting the active participation of women harked back to eighteenth century aristocratic models when clubs and assemblies in London and Scotland were frequently run by committees of Ladies, and this mode of operation appears to have been the intention of its founder, Platonicus. At the beginning of February it was still hoped that, in spite of the 'severe philippic against that refined society, the Platonic Club, it is most earnestly hoped that they will continue their spiritual meetings, and give to the astonished world, prodigies of refinement and virtue, little known, except in and about Douglas.' The acrimonious debate, descending into personal abuse, continued until February 23 when all mention of the Society ends.
Isle of Man newspapers, Manx Advertiser , January-February 1805.
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Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
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