The Society's finances - Part I - 1662-1830

Abstract

The material which is at our disposal to-day for compiling an account of the Society’s finances is unfortunately far from being as ample as could be wished. The reports of the Anniversary Meetings and the minutes of Council supply a certain amount of information, but the original account books which were available before the latter half of the nineteenth century apparently no longer exist, and many of the reports that were prepared by various committees are not to be found to-day. The meeting place of the Society was moved from Gresham College to Arundel House and back again ; then Crane Court became its home in 1710 until it moved to Somerset House in 1780 ; in 1857 quarters at Old Burlington House were occupied, and lastly the Society reached its present rooms in 1873. These many moves, and the packing and unpacking of its property which were involved are no doubt responsible for some of the losses which have taken place. A report on the Library in 1836 speaks of many books having been ruined by the damp while they were stored in the cellars of Somerset House, and a similar fate may have overtaken some of the financial records which are no longer in the Society’s possession, though they were in existence about a century ago, and were quoted in writings of that time.