Geological Society
The Geological Society began as a dinner society with four amateur mineral enthusiasts:
physician William Babington, pharmaceutical chemist William Allen, and Quaker brothers
William and Richard Phillips. The society was inaugurated on 13 November 1807, its goal was to acquaint all geologists with one another, to stimulate their zeal
for geology, induce them to adopt one nomenclature, and to facilitate the communications
of new facts. These aims were officially adopted on 1 January 1808.
Early in its formation, the society moved to Lincoln's Inn Fields in
1810, here it shared a building with the Medical and Chirurgical Society. A year later,
the first volume of the
transactions of the Geological Society
were published. The society began to collect minerals, rocks, and fossils, some of which were sent
by Britain's colonies. In
1859, gold samples were sent from the colony of
British Columbia to the Geological Society.
With the increase in activity, the first permanent officer was appointed in 1812,
his duties included taking care of the society's library and collections. The growth
in the society's collection of maps, sections, and mineral specimens made the society
move again in 1816 to Covent Garden. On 23 April 1825, the society was granted a Royal Charter. The society moved again in 1828 to Somerset House where it stayed until 1874 when it moved to Burlington House, the society remains here today.
Today the Geological Society is the UK national professional body for geoscientists,
and it is the global leader in Earth science publishing.