| Administrative History | In 1824 the Council decided to apply for a Royal Charter in order to allow it to bestow Fellowships of the Society. The charter was granted on 23 April 1825 and the Rev William Buckland, Arthur Aikin, John Bostock MD, George Bellas Greenough and Henry Warburton were nominated as the first Fellows and formed the first 'official' Council. At the following meeting of Council, the other 367 Society members were also granted Fellow status. Ironically many of these new Fellows, such as Greenough, held republican views hence why 'Royal' was never adopted into the Society's name. The formal incorporation took place in February 1826 at the Anniversary Meeting when the proper Council was elected.
Towards the end of 2004 it became clear that some amendment to the Charter was required to enable the Society to enter into a lease on its Apartments, and the Society was granted a supplemental Charter in 2005. To ensure continued good governance, Council wished to determine if the current Bye-laws were working effectively and if any new Bye-laws were needed as a consequence of the supplemental Charter. At its meeting on 29 June 2005, Council set up a small Review Group to assess the effectiveness of the current Bye-laws which were adopted in May 2000. The Review Group met on three occasions and produced a report presented to Council on 23 November 2005. |