How We Are Run

Council

2023 council members grouped outside the front of the Burlington House building.

The Society’s Trustees are collectively known as its Council and are elected from the Fellowship. Council usually meets four times a year to decide matters of policy and to review and agree recommendations of the Advisory Committees and Officers.

Elections to Council take place at the Anniversary Meeting, the high point in the Society’s calendar held on St George’s Day or the most convenient weekday adjacent to 23 April.

At least one third of the members of Council must retire and replacements be elected at each Anniversary Meeting.

Current (2024-25) members of Council:

Martin Millett, DPhil, FBA (President) Chair
Carol Bell, MA, PhD (Treasurer)
John Cooper, DPhil, FRHistS (Director)
Shahina Farid, BA (Hon Secretary)
Elizabeth Hallam Smith, CB, PhD, FSA, FRHistS (Vice President)
Robert Bewley, BA, MPhil, PhD
Timothy Schroder, MA, DLitt
Simon Kaner, MA, PhD
Ann MacSween, MA, MA, MSc, PhD, MCIfA, FSA Scot
Thomas Williams, PhD
Jennifer Alexander, BA, PhD
Anthony Musson MA, MusB, LLM, PhD, FRHistS
Andrew Seaman BA, MA, PhD

You can contact our Officers on their dedicated Society email addresses:

President: [email protected]
Director: [email protected]
Treasurer: [email protected]
Hon. Secretary: [email protected]

Governing Documents

Our governing documents are our Royal Charter which we were granted in 1751, our Statutes and our Standing Orders. Our governance documents were modernised in 2015 and revised in 2020.

A list of our updated Governance Documents including all Orders can be found below.

Patron and Royal Fellows

HRH The Duke of Gloucester has been the Society’s Patron since 2001.

The Society’s Royal Fellows are His Majesty King Charles III, Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark and His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester.

Council may propose as Royal Fellows any member of the royal families of any country without ballot. Royal Fellows pay no subscription and ‘have no voice in the management of the Society’.

Committees

Our Committees assist Council with the management of specific areas of the Society’s business:

Publications
Finance
Research
Policy
Library and Collections
Morris
Kelmscott
Fellowship
Ethical Conduct Body
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group

You can download our current Committee Terms of Reference, view our list of Committee members on the Committees page, and see the schedule of Committee Meetings.

Annual Reviews

Our annual review is a summary of how we work to achieve our charitable objectives. Find out more about the highlights of last year in our Annual Review 2022-23 [PDF]

You can find last year’s review here. Annual Review 2021-22 [PDF]