Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce
Society of Arts
RSA , Royal Society of Arts

Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce
Society of Arts
RSA , Royal Society of Arts

The drawing master and social activist William Shipley published a proposal for a fund to support improvements in the liberal arts, sciences and manufactures, with revenues to be raised through subscription, in 1753. The resulting organisation, the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, first met at Rawthmell's coffee house in Covent Garden in 1754. Awards were offered for drawing, and for the production of cobalt and madder (dye). The Society's first medals were awarded in 1756. Early members (after 1914 known as Fellows, or FRSA) included Benjamin Franklin, William Hogarth and Samuel Johnson. In 1757 the Society conferred awards for spinning in workhouses and for carpet manufacture and - in response to severe deforestation over the previous century and to boost the availability of timber for shipbuilding and industry - began to offer prizes for tree-planting. Its awards were divided into classes in 1758: Agriculture, Chemistry, Colonies & Trade, Manufactures, Mechanics and Polite Arts (painting and the plastic arts). The Society soon became informally known as the Society of Arts. It held London's first exhibition of the works of living artists in 1760. After a period in temporary premises, the Society moved in 1774 to premises in the Adelphi (just behind the Strand) designed by Robert Adam, its Great Room decorated with allegorical paintings (1777-1801) by James Barry, where it remains. Its Transactions were first published in 1783.

The President is the titular head of the Society. The Presidents have been: Viscount Folkestone, 1755-1761; Lord Romney, 1761-1793; the Duke of Norfolk, 1794-1815; HRH The Duke of Sussex, 1816-1843; HRH Albert, Prince Consort, 1843-1861; William Tooke, 1862; HRH The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), 1863-1901; Sir Frederick Bramwell, 1901; HRH The Prince of Wales (later King George V), 1901-1910; Lord Alverstone, 1910; HRH The Duke of Connaught, 1911-1942; Sir Edward Crowe, 1942-1943; E F Armstrong, 1943-1945; Viscount Bennett, 1945-1947; HRH The Princess Elizabeth, 1947-1952; HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, from 1952. Ad-hoc committees set up by the Society discussed a broad range of topics concerned with the programme and administration of the Society. These include the Committee of Correspondence and Papers and the Committee of Miscellaneous Matters. The Council was established in 1845 and formally assumed full responsibility for the Society's management; this body was the same in constitution and personnel as the existing Committee of Miscellaneous Matters. The first Chairman of Council was elected in 1846. Chairmen are elected for two years. The Society was granted a Royal Charter in 1847. Edward VII, as Patron of the Society, granted permission for the term 'Royal' to be used in the Society's title (1908), which became the Royal Society of Arts (RSA). Its many eminent members included George Birkbeck, Charles Dickens and Karl Marx.

Until the mid 19th century the Society offered rewards for innovation. The awards system was discontinued after 1850 when the Society established a lecture programme to promote wide-ranging discussion on contemporary issues such as transport, manufacture, agriculture and food supply, applied art, industrial design, architecture, housing, technological innovation, issues relating to both the natural and the built environment, urban and rural affairs, trade, business, education and the arts. It played a role in instigating the Great Exhibition (1851), which followed its own exhibitions of industrial products. The RSA Journal was published from 1852 to disseminate information about the Society's activities. In 1866 the Society initiated the memorial tablets scheme in London: these 'blue plaques' were mounted on the former homes of prominent figures. The RSA advocated an exhibition to mark the centenary of the Great Exhibition (1851), and the resulting Festival of Britain (1951) created the South Bank arts complex.

In the field of education, the Society's first examination for artisans was held in 1855, and its music examinations in 1859. In 1870 inquiries into the state of education were launched and the findings published in the Journal. In 1872, a paper on the education of women led to the establishment of the Girls' Public Day School Company to provide education for girls at fees affordable to less well-off families. The Society established a National Training School for Music in 1876, which was to become the Royal College of Music. In 1882 the first fee-paying examinations were held. The Society became a major examining body, principally in commercial/office skills and languages (particularly English as a foreign language), at levels ranging from elementary to post-graduate. Growth in the number of entrants led the Society to make its Examinations Board a separate company in 1987, which in 1997 merged to form part of OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations).

For further information on the history of the RSA, see D Hudson & K W Luckhurst, The Royal Society of Arts 1754-1954 (London, 1954), and its website: http://www.thersa.org/rsa/history.asp