How we are run

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.

Patron and Royal Fellows

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

The Society’s Royal Fellows are Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, 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’.

Council

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.

These are our current (2019-20) members of Council:

  • Paul Drury, MRICS, IHBC (President), Chair
  • Stephen Dunmore, OBE, BA (Treasurer)
  • Christopher Scull, MA, MCIfA (Director)
  • Heather Sebire, PhD, MCIfA, FSAScot (Hon Secretary)
  • Elizabeth Hallam Smith, CB, PhD, FRHistS, FRSA (Vice-President)
  • John Maddison, BA, PhD, Hon. Dr of Arts (Vice-President)
  • Duncan Brown, BA, MCIfA
  • Emma Carver, MPhil, FSAScot
  • John Cooper, DPhil, FRHistS
  • Vincent Gaffney, MBE, PhD
  • Alan Lloyd, DPhil
  • Samantha Lucy, PhD
  • Barney Sloane, BA

Committees

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

  • Publications
  • Finance
  • Research
  • Policy
  • Library and Collections
  • Morris
  • Kelmscott

You can download our current Committee Terms of Reference, view our list of Committee members and 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 2019-20

Statutory Accounts

Read our latest Statutory Accounts

Or watch a recording of the Financial Presentation to Fellows by our Treasurer Stephen Dunmore FSA.

Recent Governance Documents

Menu