Friedrich Accum

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Friedrich Accum : biography

March 29, 1769 – June 28, 1838

Scandal and lawsuit

The process that ultimately led to Accum’s departure from England and return to Germany began a few months after the publication of his book on the poisoning of foodstuffs. For a long time, many contradictory accounts have been given of the exact circumstances of his exile. Finally in 1951, Cole, in an addendum to the minutes of Royal Institution, proved that the presentation of the events adopted in the article in the Dictionary of National Biography, and also later in the Allgemeinen Deutschen BiographieAlphons Oppenheim, Friedrich Christian Accum, in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, (Historische Commission bei der Königl. Akademie der Wissenschaften:Lepzig) Vol. 1, p. 27, from the Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek Munich. (according to which Accum was embroiled in charges of embezzlement as librarian of the Royal Institution and escaped to Germany), did not correspond to the facts.

Friedrich Accum Nicholson’s Journal

The Magistrate after hearing the whole of the Case observed that however valuable the books might be from which the leaves found in Mr Accum’s house had been taken, yet the leaves separated from them were only waste paper. If they had weighed a pound he would have committed him for the value of a pound of waste paper, but this not being the case he discharged him.Cole, Friedrich Accum, p. 138.

The Royal Institution committee that met on December 23, 1820 was not, however, satisfied with this judgment, and decided to take further legal action against Accum. On January 10, 1821, an open letter directed to Earl Spencer, the president of the Institution, appeared in The Times defending Accum.The Times Number 11140, January 10, 1821, p. 3, available online at the Wikimedia Commons. The letter was signed "A.C", and Cole supposed that the author was the surgeon Anthony Carlisle, who had been friends with Accum since the first years of the latter’s stay in London.Cole, Friedrich Accum, p. 140. This unsought support availed Accum little, as the minutes of the Royal Institution from April 16, 1821 show. These report the commencement of a lawsuit against Accum for theft of paper valued at 14 pence."Mr Moore reported that a Bill of Indictment had been preferred at the last January Westminster Sessions against Frederick Accum for feloniously stealing and taking away 200 pieces of paper of the value of ten pence, and also for feloniously stealing and taking away four ounces weight of paper of the value of four pence, the property of the Members of the Royal Institution of Great Britain", Cole, Friedrich Accum, p. 140. Two of his friends were included in the indictment: the publisher Rudolph Ackermann and the architect John Papworth. These three appeared in court and paid altogether 400 pounds sterling as surety.From the minutes of the Royal Institution: "Mr Accum thereupon appeared in Court with his two Sureties Randolph [sic!] Ackermann of the Strand, Publisher, and John Papworth of Bath Place New Road, Architect, and entered into the usual Recognizances himself in £200, and the Sureties in £100 each." Cole, Friedrich Accum, p. 140f. Accum did not make an appearance at the court session. He had fled England and returned to Germany.

Return to Germany

In the two years before his return to Germany, Accum had published a number of books dealing with nutrition chemistry. In 1820, he published two works, one on beer production (A Treatise on the Art of Brewing) and another on wine (A Treatise on the Art of Making Wine). The following year appeared Culinary Chemistry, in which Accum provided practical information about the scientific basis of cooking. He also published a book on bread (A Treatise on the Art of Making Good and Wholesome Bread). Even when he had returned to Germany, his works continued to be reprinted and were translated into French, Italian and Germany, reaching a wide readership in Europe, as well as in the US after it was reprinted there.Browne, The life and chemical services of Frederick Accum, p. 1022-4, 1145.