Abstract
With the founding of the Society in 1660, and its incorporation by royal charter two years later, Gresham College became the regular meeting place of the original Fellows. But this arrangement was always regarded as no more than a temporary one, and many were the schemes put forward in the sixteen-sixties with the object of providing more permanent quarters for the Society. In 1664 Charles II was petitioned to grant the Society ‘ the college of King James in Chelsey,’ with the lands (amounting to some 30 acres) belonging to it ; but there were legal difficulties as to title, and it was not until 1669 that the Society took possession of the college and its lands. The buildings were so dilapidated and unsuited to the needs of the Society that it was decided to let them off as a prison; and in 1682 they were sold back to Charles II, the President (Christopher Wren) being thanked by the Society ‘for disposing of a property which was a source of continual annoyance and trouble to them.’ In the meantime Henry Howard (later Duke of Norfolk) intimated his willingness to bestow upon the Society a piece of land in Arundel Gardens; and he, as well as Wren and Hooke, prepared plans for its development as a permanent home for the Society. As the necessary funds were not forthcoming the project was dropped.
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