ABOUT THE WALPOLE SOCIETY
Our History
HISTORY
The Walpole Society was formed in 1911 chiefly through the efforts of Alexander Finberg (1866-1939), who had been employed to arrange the paintings in the bequest of J.M.W. Turner. In the course of his work, Finberg saw that many artists of the 18th century lay unrecognised, and established the Society to address this lack of knowledge and to shine a light on earlier periods which were then entirely neglected.
Membership List, 1939-47
The Society was named after Horace Walpole (1717-97), who published the first history of art in Britain, basing his work on the manuscript notebooks of George Vertue (1684-1756), which he had acquired. One of the first goals of the Walpole Society was to publish the notebooks in their original form, which included much material that Walpole omitted. This took up six volumes as well as an index volume, and was finally completed in 1950. This publication is the single most important source of information concerning art collections, artists, architects and craftsmen working in Britain before the mid-eighteenth century. They form part of more than 80 volumes that the Society has so far published containing articles, catalogues and editions of original documents.
PAST PRESIDENTS
The 2nd Earl of Lytton (1911-22)
The 7th Earl Bathurst (to 1942)
The 6th Earl of Ilchester (to 1959)
The 7th Earl Spencer (to 1975)
Sir Ellis Waterhouse (to 1984)
Sir Brinsley Ford (to 1998)
Sir Oliver Millar (to 2007)
Sir Nicholas Goodison (to 2021)
1975 AGM Minutes recording the death of the Society’s President, 7th Earl Spencer (1892-1975) who was succeeded by Sir Ellis Waterhouse (1905-85)