Royal Photographic Society

The Royal Photographic Society is the world's oldest national photographic society and the oldest photographic society in continual existence since its foundation. It was founded in London, United Kingdom in 1853 as The Photographic Society of London with the objective of promoting the Art and Science of Photography. In 1874 it was renamed the Photographic Society of Great Britain, and in 1894 it became The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain. The Royal Photographic Society was granted a Royal Charter in July 2004. and is an educational charity. For most of its history the Society was based at various premises in London. It moved to Bath in 1979 and since 2004 its headquarters has been at Fenton House, 122 Wells Road, Bath, Somerset BA2 3AH, UK. Membership is international and open to anyone with an interest in photography.

The Society offers various levels of distinctions in all aspects of photography and an Imaging Scientist qualification. It runs an extensive programme of over 300 events throughout the United Kingdom and abroad, through local groups and special interest groups. The Society acts as a national voice for photographers and for photography more generally and it represents these interests on a range of governmental and national bodies dealing with areas as diverse as copyright and photographers' rights. The Society's collection of historic photographs, photographic equipment and books was deposited for the nation at the National Media Museum in Bradford in 2003.