Royal Institute of Chemistry

The Royal Institute of Chemistry was a British scientific organisation. Founded in 1877 as the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland (ICGBI), its role was to focus on qualifications and the professional status of chemists, and its aim was to ensure that consulting and analytical chemists were properly trained and qualified.

The society received its first Royal Charter on 13 June 1885, and King George VI awarded the society royal patronage with effect from 14 May 1943,^[1] from which date it became the Royal Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland (RICGBI). This re-designation was formally confirmed by the grant of a Supplemental Charter on 29 March 1944.^[2]

As well as insisting on thorough professional qualifications, it also laid down strict ethical standards. Its main qualifications were Licentiate (LRIC) (professional training following a course of practical study to a standard lower than an honours degree), Graduate (GRIC) (completion of study equivalent to at least second class honours degree), Associate (ARIC) (LRIC plus professional experience), Member (MRIC) (GRIC plus professional experience) and Fellow (FRIC) (more experience and standing than MRIC) of the Royal Institute of Chemistry. Following a supplemental Charter in 1975, Members and Fellows were permitted to use the letters CChem (Chartered Chemist). It published Royal Institute of Chemistry Reviews from 1968 to 1971, when it combined to form Chemical Society Reviews, and the Journal of the Royal Institute of Chemistry.

At the same time, the Chemical Society had concentrated on the science of chemistry, and publishing learned journals. In 1972 these two organisations, together with the Faraday Society and the Society for Analytical Chemistry, started the process of merger, becoming the Royal Society of Chemistry on 15 May 1980.^[3]

Presidents

Sir Edward Frankland: 1877–1880
Sir Frederick Augustus Abel: 1880–1883
William Odling: 1883–1888
James Bell: 1888–1891
William Augustus Tilden: 1891–1894
William James Russell: 1894–1897
Sir Thomas Stevenson: 1897–1900
John Millar Thomson: 1900–1903
David Howard: 1903–1906
Percy Faraday Frankland: 1906–1909
Sir George Thomas Beilby: 1909–1912
Raphael Meldola: 1912–1915
James Johnston Dobbie: 1915–1918
Sir Herbert Jackson: 1918–1921
Alfred Chapman: 1921–1924
Professor George Gerald Henderson: 1924–1927
Arthur Smithells: 1927–1930
Sir George Christopher Clayton: 1930–1933
Sir Jocelyn Field Thorpe: 1933–1936
Sir Robert Howson Pickard: 1936–1939
William Alexander Skeen Calder: 1939–1940
Sir John Jacob Fox: 1940–1943
Alexander Findlay: 1943–1946
Gerald Roche Lynch: 1946–1949
Sir James Wilfred Cook: 1949–1951
Herbert William Cremer: 1951–1953
Sir Harry Jephcott: 1953–1955
Douglas William Kent-Jones: 1955–1957
William Wardlaw: 1957–1958
Ernest Le Quesne Herbert: 1959–1961
Sir William Kershaw Slater: 1961–1963
Harry Julius Emeleus: 1963–1965
Sir Frank Hartley: 1965–1967
Leslie Henry Williams: 1967–1970
Sir Ewart Ray Herbert Jones: 1970–1972
Frank Arnold Robinson: 1972–1974
Charles Kemball: 1974–1976
Charles Norman Thompson: 1976–1978
Professor Richard Oswald Chandler Norman: 1978–1980

References

^ "Report of the Council: 1943–1944". Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland. 68: 1–48. February 1944. doi:10.1039/RG9446800001. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
^ "Report of the Council: 1944–1945". Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland. 69: 1–52. February 1945. doi:10.1039/RG9456900001. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
^ "RSC Charter and By-laws" (PDF). Retrieved 14 June 2018.

Chemists by profession. The origins of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, C. A. Russell, with N. G. Coley and G. K. Roberts, Milton Keynes, The Open University Press, in association with the Royal Institute of Chemistry, 1977 see review.
History of Royal Society of Chemistry and the former societies