The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. It is often called the Royal Society of Arts instead of by its long formal name. The front of the building uses the short name too — see photograph. It was founded in 1754 and was granted a Royal Charter in 1847. Notable members have included Benjamin Franklin, Karl Marx, Adam Smith, William Hogarth, John Diefenbaker, Stephen Hawking and Charles Dickens.
The RSA was set up to "embolden enterprise, enlarge science, refine art, improve our manufactures and extend our commerce", but also to reduce poverty and secure full employment.
History
The RSA was founded in 1754 by William Shipley as the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, modelled on the Dublin Society for improving Husbandry, Manufactures and other Useful Arts. In 1774, it moved into a new building near the Strand in central London which had been purpose-designed by the Adam Brothers (James Adam and Robert Adam) as part of their Adelphi scheme. The address was 8 John Street (now 8 John Adam Street). The RSA is still in there, but it also occupies nearby buildings (2-6 John Adam Street, plus 18 Adam Street). The original building includes the Great Room, which features a magnificent sequence of paintings by Irish artist James Barry: The progress of human knowledge and culture. The first occupant of 18 Adam Street was the Adelphi Tavern, which is mentioned in Dickens's The Pickwick Papers. The former private dining room of the Tavern contains a magnificent Adam ceiling with painted roundels by the school of Kauffman and Zucchi.
In its early years, the Society offered prizes — which it called "premiums" — for people who could successfully achieve one of a number of published challenges. Captain William Bligh suffered the Mutiny on the Bounty while attempting to win a premium for shipping breadfruit from the East to the West Indies. He tried again and this time succeeded, and the Society awarded him the prize. The Society offered premiums for a very wide range of challenges including inventing new forms of machinery and agricultural improvements (which included seeking ways to improve the cultivation of opium poppies).
The RSA hosted Britain's first exhibition of contemporary art which was a big success. As a result, the Royal Academy of Arts was formed in 1768 by Sir Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds — two early members of the RSA — as a spin-off organisation.
It was granted a Royal Charter in 1847. In 1908, King Edward VII granted it the right to use the term "Royal" in its name.
The National Training School for Music in London was founded by the Society in 1876. This was later succeeded by the Royal College of Music.
The RSA is probably best known for creating the RSA Examinations Board, now part of the separate OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations) Board, following the Society's launch of the modern world's first public examinations in 1882.
It devised a scheme for remembering the links between famous people and buildings by placing plaques on the walls — these continue today as "Blue Plaques" which are administered by a range of government bodies. The first of these plaques was, in fact, of red terracotta placed on the outside of a former home of Lord Byron (since demolished). The Society erected 36 plaques until, in 1901, responsibility for them was transferred to the London County Council (which changed the colour of the plaques to the current blue) and later the Greater London Council and most recently English Heritage. Similar schemes are now operated in all the constituent countries of the United Kingdom.
The Society was instrumental in the preservation of West Wycombe, purchasing the entire village and handing it over the National Trust.