The Royal Society: Officers and Council

Abstract

THE anniversary meeting of the Royal Society was held on Saturday, November 30, being St. Andrew's day, and the following officers and members of council were elected: President: Sir William Henry Bragg; Treasurer: Sir Henry George Lyons; Secretaries: Sir Frank Edward Smith, Prof. Archibald Vivian Hill; Foreign Secretary: Prof. Albert Charles Seward; Other Members of the Council: Prof. Edgar Douglas Adrian, Mr. David Leonard Chapman, Prof. Arthur William Conway, Dr. William Henry Eccles, Prof. Arthur Stewart Eve, Prof. Louis Napoleon George Filon, Dr. James Gray, Sir Alfred Daniel Hall, Dr. Stanley Wells Kemp, Sir Patrick Playfair Laidlaw, Sir Gerald Ponsonby Lenox-Conyngham, Dr. Gilbert Thomas Morgan, Prof. Robert Robison, Dr. Bernard Smith, Prof. Walter Stiles, Mr. Wilfred Trotter. An unusually large number of fellows took part in this election on account of a notification that it was to be contested. Several months ago, a group of about ninety fellows of the Society signed a memorial advocating certain changes in the methods of nominating and electing the officers and members of council and in their periods of service. Following up their suggestions, the memorialists substituted other names for those of fellows nominated officially as president, treasurer, two secretaries, and foreign secretary, and of four members of council. Fellows were not asked to support the individual claims of those included in the unofficial list, but to record their votes for them as an expression of no confidence in the existing methods of selecting officers and council. The result of the ballot was nearly ten to one in favour of the Council's list printed above, the number of votes for each officer and member of council in this list being about 190 and that of fellows in the unofficial list being about 20. In the absence of a postal vote, it may therefore be assumed that the general body of fellows of the Society are satisfied with the existing rules and with the statement issued by the Council after full discussion of the changes suggested by the memorialists.