ABSTRACT

From a little acorn doth grow a mighty oak. Thus might be described the steady progress of The Royal Entomological Society over the past 168 years. Founded in 1833 as ‘The Entomological Society of London’ it applied for and was granted a Charter of incorporation by Queen Victoria in 1884, after which ‘members’ became known as ‘Fellows’. The Society became ‘Royal’ in 1933 when King George V approved this title on the occasion of the Society’s centenary and he became its patron. The words ‘of London’ were dropped from the title in 1991. It was felt that the now very large number of overseas Fellows – many of whom contributed to the publications and indeed were far more able to attend meetings and other functions of the Society due to the speed and availability of modern travel compared to the past – had made the Society truly an international one. The words ‘of London’ had implications of being rather a ‘local’ society.