Historical Summary
Summary of our History
On 3 April 1850, ten gentlemen assembled in the library of Hartwell House, near Aylesbury. According to the minutes of the meeting, they gathered "to form a society, the objects of which should be the advancement and extension of meteorological science by determining the laws of climate and of meteorological phenomena in general".
They called the society the British Meteorological Society and appointed as its first President Samuel Charles Whitbread, a grandson of the founder of the famous brewing firm. The society they formed still exists and flourishes as the Royal Meteorological Society. It became The Meteorological Society in 1866, when it was incorporated by Royal Charter, and the Royal Meteorological Society in 1883, when Her Majesty Queen Victoria granted the privilege of adding 'Royal' to the title.
Besides Samuel Whitbread, those present at the meeting on 3 April 1850 were Dr John Lee, the owner of Hartwell House, the Reverend Samuel King of Latimer, near Chesham, the Reverend Joseph Bancroft Reade of Stone Vicarage, near Aylesbury, the Reverend Charles Lowndes of Hartwell Rectory, James Glaisher, Superintendent of the Magnetic and Meteorological Department of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, Edward Joseph Lowe of Highfield House, near Nottingham, Vincent Fasel of Stone, near Aylesbury, John Drew of Southampton and William Rutter of Haverstock Hill, north-west London. James Glaisher was appointed Honorary Secretary and John Lee Honorary Treasurer.
Society’s Headquarters
For many years, the Society rented rooms as office space. In early 1852, then as the British Meteorological Society, the Society rented rooms at 5 Cavendish Square, London. Before that it was administered from the homes of John Lee and James Glaisher. In 1857, the Society moved to Great George Street, London, SW, renting various rooms at No. 25 (1857 to 1872), No. 30 (1872 to 1891), and finally No. 22 (1891 to 1898).
From 1898 to 1921, the Society rented rooms in a building at Prince's Mansion, 70 Victoria Street, London, SW. In 1921, the Society bought its first property and moved to 49 Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London, SW7.
The property at 49 Cromwell Road was sold in 1971 and the Society moved to temporary accommodation in an old bank on Bracknell High Street in June that year, which it named Cromwell House. In the meantime, it commissioned an architect-designed building in Grenville Place, Bracknell. This was named James Glaisher House. The Society remained there for 19 years until April 1990 when it moved to its current headquarters at 104 Oxford Road, Reading, where it remains today. The Society’s current premises at Oxford Road is a 250-year-old listed building called Mannson House.
Membership Growth
By the end of 1850, the membership of the new society was 145, including those transferring from the Meteorological Society of London. Numbers rose steadily to 200 in 1856, and to 300 by 1864. Interestingly, neither the award of the Royal Charter nor the addition of Royal to our name produced an increase in the membership numbers, and by 1880 there were still about 500 members. By the Society’s golden jubilee in 1900 these had grown to 600 for the first time.
By the end of 1900 only one of the founding members was still alive - James Glaisher. Numbers continued to grow, reaching 700 in 1907, 800 in 1919 and 900 in 1921 following the amalgamation with the Scottish Meteorological Society.
Membership topped 1,000 for the first time in 1944. The increase during the war years was aided by the heightened interest in meteorology among those who served in the RAF. The increase was also partly due to the efforts of Professor Gordon Manley (President 1945-46) who urged Council to encourage meetings of a popular nature and to increase the number of meetings outside London. He also helped to launch the Society’s journal Weather in May 1946. By 1947 numbers had soared to over 1,700 and, boosted by the Society’s centenary in 1950, numbers climbed to 2,000 for the first time in 1953.
The Canadian branch of the Society was dissolved at the end of 1966 to be replaced by the Canadian Meteorological Society, and likewise the Australian branch was dissolved at the end of 1988. Both events caused a temporary decrease in membership, but even so membership continued to flourish in the UK, with numbers topping 3,000 in 1991. By the end of the millennium the Society boasted a membership of over 3,600.
The split in membership category is approximately one third academic, one third professional practitioner and one third amateur enthusiast. In 2011 the Society abolished School Membership, which had very much become a barrier to wider schools’ engagement. This had a positive effect in making the Society’s education resources available free to all schools. We have also seen an upturn in the number of schools who are on the Society contact list, with over 1,000 teachers signed up to receive regular bulletins.
The Society Archive
The Society's archive is located in Exeter, in the National Meteorological Archive, at the Met Office.
The archive holds rare books, personal papers of notable meteorologists and old meteorological photographs as well as Council and committee papers.
The originals of the Beaufort Wind and Weather Scales are also owned by the Society, and cared for by the team at the National Meteorological Archives https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/library-and-archive/
International Meteorological Societies
The Society plays a key role as the custodian of both the science and the profession of meteorology in the UK and has an important role to play internationally as one of the world’s largest meteorological societies.
The Society is a founding member of the European Meteorological Society (EMS), a federation of European meteorological societies which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2025. The Society’s Chief Executive is the current EMS President and the General Secretary is the Society’s representative on their Council.
The Society is also one of the founder members of the International Forum for Meteorological Societies (IFMS). This organisation draws together the national meteorological societies from around the world, and meets opportunistically around other international conferences and events since it was founded in 2010. The IFMS helped to form the African regional Met Society (AfMS), a federation of African meteorological societies founded in 2023.
If you are interested in history, the Society has a dedicated Special Interest History Group. If you would like to learn more about the history of the Society along with the history of meteorology in general, please contact us.
Resources
Notification of acceptance of Royal Patronage
pdf 65.28 KB
Letter granting use of the Royal prefix
pdf 81.12 KB
The Royal Meteorological Society as seen through its membership
pdf 361.43 KB
Members of The British Meteorological Society 1850-51
pdf 1.55 MB
Minutes of the first Meteorological Society Meeting (1850)
pdf 1.24 MB
The Meteorological Societies of London
pdf 604.87 KB
These are a series of scanned membership lists. Please click the date you are interested in to download the list.
