Royal Geographical Society

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences, the society has 16,000 members, with its work reaching the public through publications, research groups and lectures.

The RGS was founded in 1830 under the name Geographical Society of London as an institution to promote the 'advancement of geographical science'. It later absorbed the older African Association, which had been founded by Sir Joseph Banks in 1788, as well as the Raleigh Club and the Palestine Association. In 1995 it merged with the Institute of British Geographers, a body for academic geographers, to become officially the Royal Geographical Society with IBG.

The society is governed by its council, which is chaired by the society's president, according to a set of statutes and standing orders. The members of council and the president are elected from and by its fellows, who are allowed to use the postnominal title FRGS. As a chartered body, the RGS holds the Register of Chartered Geographers in the public interest, a source of qualified, practising and experienced professional geographers. Fellows may apply for chartership if they fulfil the criteria.

The RGS was founded on 16 July 1830 under the name Geographical Society of London as an institution to promote the 'advancement of geographical science'. The seven founding members of the society were Sir John Barrow (geographer), Sir Roderick Murchison (geologist), Robert Brown (botanist), Lord Broughton (politician), Mountstuart Elphinstone (colonial administrator), Bartholomew Frere (diplomat), and William Henry Smyth (admiral). The first president of the society was the former prime minister Viscount Goderich and the first secretary was Alexander Maconochie (who became the first professor of Geography at the University College London), with another notable council member being Sir Francis Beaufort. Like many learned societies, it had started as a dining club in London, where select members held informal dinner debates on current scientific issues and ideas. It later absorbed the older African Association, which had been founded by Sir Joseph Banks in 1788, as well as the Raleigh Club and the Palestine Association.

From 1830 to 1840 the RGS met in the rooms of the Horticultural Society in Regent Street, London, and from 1854 to 1870 at 15 Whitehall Place, London. In 1870, the society finally found a home when it moved to 1 Savile Row, London. The society also used briefly a lecture theatre in Burlington Gardens, London which was lent to it by the Civil Service Commission.

Under the patronage of King William IV it later became known as the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) and was granted its royal charter under Queen Victoria in 1859. Another notable early member was Sir John Franklin.

The Society has been a key associate and supporter of many famous explorers and expeditions, including those of:

A new impetus was given to society's affairs in 1911, with the election of Earl Curzon, the former viceroy of India, as the society's President (1911–1914). The premises in Savile Row (once described by Curzon as "cramped and rather squalid") were sold and the present site, Lowther Lodge in Kensington Gore, was purchased for £100,000 and opened for use in April 1913. In the same year the society's ban on women fellows was lifted.