History of the Society

James Glaisher,
Royal Meteorological Society
founder

“The British Meteorological Society” was founded on Wednesday 3 April 1850.

On that day, a small group of gentlemen met in the library of astronomer Dr John Lee’s home, at Hartwell House in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England. 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”. Other founding members present that day included James Glaisher (pictured right) and Samuel Charles Whitbread, who was the Society’s first President.

The next meeting took place on 7 May 1850, by which time the number of members had increased to 90 individuals, and included famous meteorologist Luke Howard, known for naming clouds.

The Society 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.

Membership Growth

In 1900, the year of the Society’s golden jubilee, the number of members exceeded 600. Amalgamation with the Scottish Meteorological Society took place in 1921, with member numbers increasing to 904 that year. After 1921, the annual subscription was raised from £2.00 to 3 guineas (£3.15).

In May 1946, the Society’s monthly magazine, Weather, was first published. After World War II, numbers continued to increase, reaching 1,714 in 1947. The increase in membership both during and after the war resulted from a heightened interest in meteorology, especially amongst those who served in the Royal Air Force.

Membership numbers peaked at 3,691 in 1997, comprising a mix of meteorologists, both amateur and professional, from around the world. HRH The Prince of Wales became the Society’s Patron in 2002. In 2015, the Society celebrated its 165th anniversary.

Today, the Society is open to anyone with an interest in observing and understanding weather and climate with around 3,400 members. The Society remains dedicated to advancing meteorology and climate science through a broad programme of activities.

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/

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 the History Group.

RMetS Past Presidents : 1850 - 2020

Without the dedication and leadership of many distinguished meteorologists and other scientists, the Society would not have survived for over a century and a half. The following is a list of those who have served the Society as President. The list gives the years these people served as President, along with the month and year the pen portrait was published in Weather.

*Name*	*Period in office*	*Pen Portrait in Weather*
Samuel Charles Whitbread FRS	1850-53; 1864	December 1997
George Leach	1853-55	March 2001
Dr John Lee FRS	1855-57	July 1996
Robert Stephenson MP FRS	1857-58	February 1995
Thomas Sopwith FRS	1859-60	-
Nathaniel Beardmore MInstCE	1861-62	September 2000
Robert Dundas Thomson MD	1863-64	August 1998
Charles Brooke FRS	1865-66	January 1998
James Glaisher FRS	1867-68	November 1995
Charles Vincent Walker FRS	1869-70	May 1998
John William Tripe MD	1871-72	March 1996
Robert James Mann MD	1873-75	January 2001
Henry Storks Eaton MA	1876-77	May 1997
Charles Greaves	1878-79	September 2001
George James Symons FRS	1880-81; 1900	March 1993
Sir John Knox Laughton MA	1882-83	January 1999
Robert Henry Scott DSc FRS	1884-85	September 1994
William Ellis FRS	1886-87	-
William Marcet MD FRS	1888-89	March 1997
Baldwin Latham MInstCE	1890-91	April 1997
C Theodore Williams MD FRCP	1892-93; 1900	December 1992
Richard Inwards	1894-95	August 1995
Edward Mawley VMH	1896-97	April 1998
Francis Campbell Bayard LLM	1898-99	October 1999
William Henry Dines FRS	1901-02	November 2005
Captain David W Barker Kt RNR	1903-04	December 1999
Richard Bentley	1905-06	-
Hugh Robert Mill DSc LLD FRSE	1907-08	April 1994
Henry Mellish CB DL	1909-10	November 1996
Henry Newton Dickson DSc FRSE	1911-12	May 1995
Charles John Philip Cave JP	1913-14; 1924-25	October 1993
Sir Henry George Lyons FRS	1915-17	March 1998
Sir Napier Shaw ScD FRS	1918-19	March 1995 & Nov 2004
Reginald Hawthorn Hooker	1920-21	January 1995
Charles Chree ScD FRS	1922-23	June 1994
Sir Gilbert Walker CSI ScD FRS	1926-27	July 1997
Sir Richard Gregory DSc LLD	1928-29	July 1994
R G K Lempfert CBE MA FInstP	1930-31	September 1996
Sydney Chapman MA DSc FRS	1932-33	October 1994
Ernest Gold DSO MA FRS	1934-35	October 2003
Francis J W Whipple MA ScD	1936-37	September 1993
Sir Bernard A Keen DSc FRS	1938-39	November 1993
Sir George C Simpson KCB FRS	1940-41	October 1995
Sir David Brunt MA ScD FRS	1942-44	September 1992
Gordon Manley MA DSc	1945-46	August 1993
G M B Dobson CBE DSc FRS	1947-48	May 2007
Sir Robert Watson-Watt CB FRS	1949-51	November 1992
Sir Charles Normand CIE ScD	1951-53	January 1993
Sir Graham Sutton CBE DSc FRS	1953-55	-
R C Sutcliffe OBE PhD FRS	1955-57	August 2003
P A Sheppard BSc FInstP FRS	1957-59	-
J M Stagg CB OBE MA DSc	1959-61	May 1994
H L Penman OBE PhD FInstP FRS	1961-63	December 1994
J S Sawyer MA FRS	1963-65	June 2006
G D Robinson PhD FInstP	1965-67	February 1999
F K Hare PhD LLD FRSC	1967-68	March 2003
Sir John Mason CB DSc FRS	1968-70	-
Frank Pasquill DSc FRS	1970-72	April 2000
Robert P Pearce PhD FRSE	1972-74	-
Raymond Hide ScD FRS	1974-76	-
Sir John Houghton DPhil FRS	1976-78	-
John L Monteith PhD FRS	1978-80	-
Philip Goldsmith MA	1980-82	-
Henry Charnock CBE FRS	1982-84	-
Andrew Gilchrist MA	1984-86	-
Richard S Scorer PhD	1986-88	-
Keith A Browning PhD FRS	1988-90	-
Stephen A Thorpe PhD FRS	1990-92	-
Paul Mason PhD FRS	1992-94	-
John E Harries PhD	1994-96	-
David J Carson PhD	1996-98	-
Sir Brian J Hoskins CBE PhD FRS	1998-2000	-
David M Burridge CBE PhD	2000-02	-
Howard Cattle PhD	2002-04	-
Chris Collier DSc CMet FRMetS Cenv	2004-06	-
Geraint Vaughan DPhil	2006-08	-
Dame Julia Slingo OBE PhD	2008-10	-
Tim Palmer, DPhil, DSc, FRS	2010-12	-
Joanna Haigh, DPhil, FRMetS	2012-14	-
Jennie Campbell	2014-16	-
Ellie Highwood, PhD, FRMetS	2016-18	-
David Warrilow OBE, FRMetS	2018-20	-
David J Griggs, PhD, FRMetS	2020-22	-
Lesley Gray, PhD, FRMetS	2022-24	-