| AdminHistory | The British Psychological Society was formed in 1901. In 1941 the Society was incorporated under the Companies Act, 1929 as 'as a company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital'
Section 3 (q) of the Society's Memorandum of Association stated that one of the Society's objectives was
'to apply for, promote and obtain, or join in applying for, promoting, or obtaining by Act of Parliament, Provisional Order, Royal Charter or Licence... to furtherance or realization of any of the objects of the Society'.
After years of discussion a Charter Committee was created in 1952 which was advised that there were only two methods worth considering a Royal Charter and an Act of Parliament. It was felt that the Privy Council might regard the Society as suitable but that an Act of Parliament would limit the powers of the society and wold be expensive and time consuming for any future amendments. Legal advice was that twenty years was an appropriate interval between incorporation and a petition and in 1962 work started on drawing up a petition for a Royal Charter, a draft was circulated to members in 1963. The College solicitor advised in January 1964 that the Secretary of State would not recommend the change of title to 'Royal' and so this was not pursued. The British Medical Association were worried that a charter would lead to an attempt by the BPS in the future to licence psychologists to practice as psychotherapists independently of any medical body but withdrew their objection on an undertaking by the BPS that they would not do this. The Privy Council asked for some amendments which were agreed at the 1964 AGM which led to its approval by the Queen on 3 May 1965. A dinner was held to celebrate this event during the BPS London conference of 1965. New rules were submitted to the AGM in 1966.
The Society spent many years campaigning for the legal registration of psychologists [see BPS/001/9/05] and on December 18, 1987, the Queen granted amendments to the Charter, thereby allowing the Society to maintain a Register of Chartered Psychologists. In 2009 the HPC took over the role of maintaining the register of chartered psychologists. |
| Copyright | Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation. Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of the History of Psychology Centre and Archives and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material |