British Academy

British Academy

Formation	1901 (society) 1902 (Royal Charter)
Type	national academy
Legal status	charity
Headquarters	10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London, UK
Membership	900
President	Sir Adam Roberts
Website	www.britac.uk

The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1901 and received its Royal Charter in 1902. It is now a fellowship of more than 900 scholars. The Academy is self-governing and independent.

Purposes

The Academy states its fundamental purposes under four headings:

• As a Fellowship composed of distinguished scholars, elected by their peers, it takes a lead in representing the humanities and social sciences, facilitating international collaboration, providing an independent and authoritative source of advice, and contributing to public policy and debate.

• As a learned society, it seeks to foster and promote the full range of work that makes up the humanities and social sciences, including inter- and multi-disciplinary work.

• As a funding body, it supports excellent ideas, individuals and intellectual resources in the humanities and social sciences, enables UK researchers to work with scholars and resources in other countries, sustains a British research presence in various parts of the world and helps attract overseas scholars to the UK.

• As a national forum for the humanities and social sciences, it supports a range of events, activities and publications (print and electronic) which aim to stimulate curiosity, to inspire and develop future generations of scholars, and to encourage appreciation of the social, economic and cultural value of these disciplines.

History

The creation of a “British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies” was first proposed in 1899 in order that Britain could be represented at meetings of European and American academies. The organisation, which has since become simply “the British Academy”, was established as an unincorporated society on 17 December 1901, and received its Royal Charter from King Edward VII on 8 August 1902.

Since then, many of Britain’s most distinguished scholars in the humanities and social sciences have been involved in the life of the Academy, including John Maynard Keynes, Isaiah Berlin, C. S. Lewis and Henry Moore.

Until 1927-8 the Academy had no premises. Then it moved to some rooms in No. 6 Burlington Gardens. In 1968 it moved the short distance to Burlington House. It subsequently moved to headquarters near Regent’s Park. Then in 1998 the Academy moved to its present headquarters in Carlton House Terrace. One of London’s finest Georgian treasures overlooking St James’s Park, the Terrace was designed by John Nash and built in the 1820s and 1830s. Number 10 was formerly the London residence of the Ridley family and number 11 was from 1856 to 1875 the home of Prime Minister William Gladstone.

In March 2010, the Academy embarked on an ambitious £2.75m project to renovate and restore the public rooms in No. 11, following the departure of former tenant the Foreign Press Association, and link the two buildings together. The work was completed in January 2011 and the spaces, including a new 150-seat Wolfson Auditorium are available for public hire.

The history, problems and achievements of the Academy have been recorded in works by two of its Secretaries. Sir Frederic Kenyon’s slim but useful volume of 37 pages covers the years up to 1951; Sir Mortimer Wheeler’s characteristically incisive, amusing and informative volume covers the years 1949 to 1968 Mortimer Wheeler.

Fellowship

Election as a Fellow of the British Academy recognises high scholarly distinction in some branch of the humanities or social sciences, evidenced by published work. Fellows may use the letters FBA after their names.

Presidents of the British Academy, 1902–present

• The Lord Reay 1902–1907
• Sir Edward Maunde Thompson 1907–1909
• Samuel Henry Butcher 1909–1910
• Sir Adolphus Ward 1911–1913
• The Viscount Bryce 1913–1917
• Sir Frederic Kenyon 1917–1921
• The Earl of Balfour 1921–1928
• H. A. L. Fisher 1928–1932
• John William Mackail 1932–1936
• Sir David Ross 1936–1940
• Sir J. H. Clapham 1940–1946
• Sir Idris Bell 1946–1950
• Sir Charles Kingsley Webster 1950–1954
• Sir George Norman Clark 1954–1958
• Sir Maurice Bowra 1958–1962
• The Lord Robbins 1962–1967
• Sir Kenneth Clinton Wheare 1967–1971
• Sir Denys Lionel Page 1971–1974
• Sir Isaiah Berlin 1974–1978
• Sir Kenneth James Dover 1978–1981
• The Revd Owen Chadwick 1981–1985
• Sir Randolph Quirk 1985–1989
• Sir Anthony Kenny 1989–1993
• Sir Keith Thomas 1993–1997
• Sir Tony Wrigley 1997–2001
• The Viscount Runciman of Doxford 2001–2004
• The Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve 2005–2009
• Sir Adam Roberts 2009–

Secretaries of the British Academy, 1902–present

• Sir Israel Gollancz (1902-1930)
• Sir Frederic G. Kenyon GBE, KCB (1930-1949)
• Sir R. E. Mortimer Wheeler CH, CIE, MC (1949-1968)
• Mr Derek Allen, CB (1969-1973)
• Dr N. J. Williams (1973-1977)
• Mr J. P. Carswell, CB (1978-1983)
• Mr P. W. H. Brown, CBE (1983-2006)
• Dr Robin Jackson (2006-present)

Publication series

• Proceedings of the British Academy
• British Academy Review
• British Academy Occasional Papers
• Schweich Lectures on Biblical Archaeology
• British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Monographs
• Anglo-Saxon Charters
• Auctores Britannici Medii Aevi
• Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture
• Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani
• Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum
• Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi
• Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources
• Early English Church Music
• English Episcopal Acta
• Fontes Historiae Africanae
• Records of Social and Economic History
• Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles
• Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum

Award of prizes

The British Academy awards 12 annual Prizes and Medals:

• Derek Allen Prize - for numismatics, Celtic studies and musicology
• Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies
• Grahame Clark Medal - for prehistoric archaeology
• John Coles Medal for Landscape Archaeology
• Rose Mary Crawshay Prize - for historical or critical works concerned with English literature
• Sir Israel Gollancz Prize - for published work of sufficient value on subjects connected with Anglo-Saxon, Early English Language and Literature, English Philology, or the History of English Language; or for original investigations connected with the history of English Literature or the works of English writers
• Kenyon Medal for Classical Studies - for work relating to classical literature or archaeology
• Leverhulme Medal - for humanities and social sciences
• Serena Medal - for services towards the furtherance of the study of Italian history, literature, art or economics
• Peter Townsend Policy Press Prize - for outstanding work with policy relevance on a topic to which Townsend made a major contribution - poverty and inequality, ageing and the lives of older people, disability and inequalities in health
• Wiley Prize in Psychology
• President's Medal - for signal service to the humanities and social sciences

See also

• Category:Fellows of the British Academy
• Royal Society

External links

• The British Academy
• The British Academy research resources portal