RSWT History

In 1912, Charles Rothschild (1877-1923) formed the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves (SPNR), with the view:

"The only effective method of protecting nature is to interfere with it as little as possible..."

The Society, granted a Royal Charter by George V in 1916, acquired its first nature reserve in 1919 and assisted in the establishment of the first Trust - Norfolk in 1926.

By 1964 there were 36 Trusts under the umbrella of the SPNR, giving complete coverage of Great Britain and supported by a total of 18,000 members. In 1976 the organisation changed its name to the Society for the Promotion of Nature Conservation (SPNC) - to better reflect its wider role as the association of Trusts; the year also saw the granting of a Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth II. A name change again in 1981, to the Royal Society for Nature Conservation (RSNC), lasted 23 years until June 2004, when the organisation became the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts. This change, approved by HM The Queen, came about as part of a revision of the Royal Charter, and was made to reflect the organisation’s role in relation to the Wildlife Trusts and as part of its modernisation programme.