The Highland Society of London is a charity registered in England and Wales, with "the view of establishing and supporting schools in the Highlands and in the Northern parts of Great Britain, for relieving distressed Highlanders at a distance from their native homes, for preserving the antiquities and rescuing from oblivion the valuable remains of Celtic literature, and for promoting the improvement and general welfare of the Northern parts of Great Britain".[1]
| Short Title: | Highland Society of London Act 1816 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act for the Incorporation of The Highland Society of London; for the better Management of the Funds of the Society; and for rendering its Exertions more extensive and beneficial to the Public. |
| Year: | 1816 |
| Citation: | 56 Geo. 3. c. xx |
| Royal Assent: | 21 May 1816 |
| Original Text: | https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Geo3/56/20/pdfs/ukla_18160020_en.pdf |
| Collapsed: | yes |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act for repealing, altering, enlarging, and amending certain Provisions of an Act passed in the Fifty-sixth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, intituled "An Act for the Incorporation of the Highland Society of London, for the better Management of the Funds of the Society, and for rendering its Exertions more extensive and beneficial to the Public." |
| Year: | 1831 |
| Citation: | 1 & 2 Will. 4. c. xlvii |
| Royal Assent: | 23 August 1831 |
| Original Text: | https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Will4/1-2/47/pdfs/ukla_18310047_en.pdf |
| Collapsed: | yes |
The society was founded in 1778 by Highland gentlemen resident in London and was incorporated by an act of Parliament, the (56 Geo. 3. c. xx) on 21 May 1816.
Within a year of its foundation, its members had come to include a number of notable Scots:[2]
The Presidents over the first 25 years of the Society's existence were:[2]
In 1782, the Society was instrumental in securing the repeal of the Dress Act 1746, the statutory proscription of Highland Dress, introduced after the Jacobite rising of 1745. It has a well known and definitive collection of clan tartans established in the early 19th century. In its early days it was active in the investigations into the authenticity of the poems supposedly by Ossian, which it had also helped to publish.
The Society supports and awards annual prizes for piping, including gold medals at the Northern Meeting and Argyllshire Gathering. Its early records are deposited in the National Library of Scotland.[3]