Founders, Fellows, Presidents, and Members

On 24 October 1901 a group of 10 people met at University College, London to form a psychological society.

The names of these individuals were:

Robert Armstrong-Jones (CBE, MD, FRCP, FRCS physician)
Sophie Bryant (DSc, DLitt headmistress)
William Ralph Gibson Boyce (MA, DSc lecturer)
Frank Noel Hales (BA scholar)
William McDougall (MA, DSc, MD, FRS experimental psychologist)
Frederick Walter Mott (KBE, MD, FRCP, LLD, FRS pathologist)
William Halse Rivers Rivers, (MA, MD, FRS lecturer)
Alexander Faulkner Shand,(MA barrister)
William George Smith (MA, PhD lecturer)
James Sully (MA Professor)

In 1906 this society officially became known as The British Psychological Society.

Learn more about the Founding Members of the Society

Here is a list of all of the BPS members who have served as President since 1920.

Where possible we have also included links to the text of their Presidential Address and, where appropriate, their obituary.

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If you wish to republish or distribute an article downloaded from this website, or if you would like any other kind of licence, please email [email protected].

2020-2021	Dr Hazel McLaughlin
2019-2020	David Murphy Presidential Address: "What Improv, Ubuntu, and Covid-19 have taught me about leadership"
2018-2019	Kate Bullen
2017-2018	Nicola Gale
2016-2017	Professor Peter Kinderman Presidential Address: "Psychology is Action, Not Thinking About Oneself"
2015-2016	Professor Jamie Hacker Hughes Presidential Address: "Twelve Ways to Make an Impact"
2014-2015	Professor Dorothy Miell Presidential Address: Supporting Our Diverse Membership
2013-2014	Dr Richard Mallows Presidential Address: Challenge
2012-2013	Dr Peter Banister Presidential Address: Annual Report
2011-2012	Dr Carole Allan Presidential Address: Abstract
2010-2011	Dr Gerry Mulhern Presidential Address: "THe BPS at 110: Legacy, Trends, and Back to the Future"
2009-2010	Sue Gardner Presidential Address: Annual Report
2008-2009	Dr Elizabeth Campbell Presidential Address: "Characterising Psychology: Respect, Competence, Responsibility, and Integrity" Obituary (1954-2010)
2007-2008	Professor Pam Maras Presidential Address: "Taking Psychology to Society: Addressing Anti-Social Behaviour and Raising Achievement" (Lecture Unavailable)
2006-2007	Ray Miller Presidential Address: "Fit for the Future"
2005-2006	Dr Graham Powell Presidential Address: "Psychology, the Law, and Capacity to Manage Financial Affairs"
2004-2005	Professor Ken Brown Presidential Address: "The Enemy Within: Threats to the Society and the Discipline of Psychology" (Lecture Unavailable)
2003-2004	Emeritus Professor Alexander Wedderburn Presidential Address: "Shiftworkers: A Minority That Can Be Helped" Obituary (1935-2017)
2002-2003	Professor Graham Davey Presidential Address: "Doing Clinical Psychology Research: What Is Interesting Isn't Always Useful"
2001-2002	Professor Victoria Geraldine Bruce Presidential Address: "Changing Research Horizons"
2000-2001	Dr Tommy MacKay Presidential Address: "The Future Belongs to Psychology"
1999-2000	Patricia Frankish Presidential Address: "Thought and Feeling: You Can't Have One Without the Other"
1998-1999	Dr Ingrid Cecilia Lunt Presidential Address: "Unity Through Diversity: An Achievable Goal"
1997-1998	Professor Christoper Noel Cullen Presidential Address: "The Trouble With Rules"
1996-1997	Margaret Valerie McAllister Presidential Address: "Putting Psychology In Context"
1995-1996	Professor Stephen Edward Newstead Presidential Address: "The Psychology of Student Assessment"
1994-1995	Professor Geoffrey Anthony Lindsay Presidential Address: "Values, Ethics, and Psychology"
1993-1994	Dr Ann Mary Colley Presidential Address: "Psychology, Science, and Women"
1992-1993	Professor Edgar Miller Presidential Address: "Nineteenth-Century Style" Obituary (1939-2015)
1991-1992	Revd Dr Fraser Norman Watts Presidential Address: "Is Psychology Falling Apart?"
1990-1991	Professor Peter Edwin Morris Presidential Address: "Cognition and Consciousness"
1989-1990	Professor Maurice Anthony Gale Presidential Address: "Applying Psychology to the Psychology Degree: Pass With First Class Honours, or Miserable Failure?" Obituary (1937-2006)
1988-1989	Professor Anthony John Chapman Presidential Address: "Assessing Research: Citation Count Shortcomings"
1987-1988	Profesor Lea S. Pearson Presidential Address: "Applying Scientific Psychology" Obituary (1942-1995)
1986-1987	Dr David Legge Presidential Address: "Modelling a Seamless Robe" Obituary (1936-2020)
1985-1986	Professor Robery Maclaughlin Farr Presidential Address: "The Science of Mental Life: A Social Psychological Perspective" Obituary (1935-2013)
1984-1985	Professor Charles Ian Howarth Presidential Address: "Howarth's Laws: A Lighthearted Look at the Current State of Psychology" (Lecture Unavailable) Obituary (1928-2019)
1983-1984	Dr Halla Beloff Presidential Address: "A Social Psychologist in the Camera Culture"
1982-1983	Dr Ralph R. Hetherington Presidential Address: "Sacred Cows and White Elephants" Obituary (1917-2000)
1981-1982	Professor Derek Ernest Blackman Presidential Address: "Psychologists and the Community: Influence and Counter-Culture"
1980-1981	Professor Kevin J. Connolly Presidential Address: "Psychology and Poverty" Obituary (1937-2015)
1979-1980	Professor Peter H. Venables Presidential Address: "Psychology, Physiology, and Psychophysiology" (Lecture Unavailabe) Obituary (1923-2017)
1978-1979	Professor Philip Marcus Levy Presidential Address: "On the Relation Between Method and Substance in Psychology" Obituary (1934-2011)
1977-1978	Professor Alan Douglas Benson Clarke Presidential Address: "Predicting Human Development: Problems, Evidence, and Implications" Obituary (1922-2011)
1976-1977	May Alison Davidson Presidential Address: "The Scientific/Applied Debate in Psychology: A Contribution" Obituary (1914-1982)
1975-1976	Professor Jack Tizard Presidential Address: "Psychology and Social Policy" Obituary (1919-1979)
1974-1975	Professor Oliver Louis Zangwill Presidential Address: "Thought and the Brain" Obituary (1913-1987)
1973-1974	Emritus Professor Brian Malzard Foss Presidential Address: "On Taking Sides" Obituary (1921-1997)
1972-1973	Professor Max Hamilton Presidential Address: "Psychology in Society: Ends or End?" Obituary (1912-1988)
1971-1972	Professor Harry Kay Presidential Address: "Psychology Today and Tomorrow" Obituary (1919-2005)
1970-1971	Professor Harry Gwynne Jones Presidential Address: "In Search of an Idiographic Psychology" Obituary (1918-1985)
1969-1970	Professor Robert John Audley Presidential Address: "Choosing" Obituary (1928-2020)
1968-1969	Boris Semeonoff Presidential Address: "Changing Horizons: An Essay in Autobiography" Obituary (1910-1998)
1967-1968	Professor George Seth Presidential Address: "Dissonance and Stress in the Teaching of Psychology: Reflections of an Accidental Psychologist" Obituary (1905-1990)
1966-1967	Grace Rawlings Presidential Address: "Problems in Applying Psychology" Obituary (1909-1988)
1965-1966	Professor George Westby Presidential Address: "Psychology Today: Problems and Directions" Obituary (1909-1984)
1964-1965	Donald Eric Broadbent Presidential Address: "Perceptual Defence and the Engineering Psychologist" Obituary (1926-1993)
1963-1964	Professor Arthur Summerfield Presidential Address: "Codes and Plans and Organised Behaviour" Obituary (1923-2005)
1962-1963	Professor George C. Drew Presidential Address: "The Study of Accidents"
1961-1962	Professor Edwin A. Peel Presidential Address: "Learning and Meaning" Obituary (1911-1992)
1960-1961	Professor James Drever (Secundus) Presidential Address: "Perception and Action" Obituary (1910-1991)
1959-1960	Emeritus Professor Frederick Viggers Smith Presidential Address: "Social Theory and the Basic Motives" Obituary (1912-2006)
1958-1959	Emeritus Professor Magdalen D. Vernon Presidential Address: "Experimental Psychology in Britain" Obituary (1901-1991)
1957-1958	Professor Alec Rodger Presidential Address: "Psychologists: Non-Medical and Medical" Obituary (1907-1982)
1956-1957	Dr Eric Benjamin Strauss Presidential Address: "The Anatomy of Treachery" Obituary (1894-1961)
1955-1956	Emeritus Professor Leslie S. Hearnshaw Presidential Address: "Temporal Integration and Behaviour" Obituary (1907-1991)
1954-1955	Professor Philip E. Vernon Presidential Address: "The Psychology of Intelligence" Obituary (1905-1987)
1953-1954	Arthur Rex Knight Presidential Address: "The British Psychological Society: Problems and Prospects" Obituary (1903-1963)
1952-1953	Cecil Alec Mace Presidential Address: "A Psychologist's Approach to the Theory of Values" Obituary (1903-1963)
1951-1952	William Brown "Mind, Medicine, and Mathematics" Obituary (1881-1952)
1950-1951	Frederic Charles Bartlett Presidential Address: "Changing Scene" Obituary (1886-1969)
1949-1950	Robert Henry Thouless Presidential Address: "The Place of Theory in Experimental Psychology" Obituary (1894-1984)
1948-1949	Dr Stanley J. F. Philpott Presidential Address: "Fluctuations in Mental Output" Obituary (1888-1962)
1947-1948	Charles WIlfred Valentine Presidential Address: "Some President-Day Trends, Dangers, and Possibilities in the Field of Psychology" Obituary (1879-1964)
1946-1947	Robert John Bartlett Presidential Address: "Mind" 1879-1980
1945-1946	Sir Godfrey H. Thomson Presidential Address: "Factorial Analysis: Recent Advances and a Retrospect" Obituary (1881-1955)
1944-1945	Dr Millais Culpin "Psychology in Medicine" Obituary (1874-1952)
1943-1944	Tom Hatherley Pear Presidential Address: "Social Differences in English Education" Obituary (1886-1972)
1941-1943	Professor Sir Cyril Lodowic Burt "British Psychology in War-Time" Obituary (1883-1971)
1938-1941	Professor Albert William Wolters Obituary (1883-1961)
1935-1938	Professor James Drever (Primus) "The Status and Qualifications of Professional Psychologists" Obituary (1873-1950)
1932-1935	Professor John Carl Flügel Obituary (1884-1955)
1929-1932	Beatrice Edgell Obituary (1871-1948)
1926-1929	Dr F. A. P. Aveling Obituary (1875-1941)
1923-1926	Professor Charles Edward Spearman Obituary (1863-1945)
1920-1923	Charles Samuel Myers Obituary (1873-1946)

Between 1904 and 1945 the Society inducted a number of Honorary Members.

In 1945 all surviving Honorary Members were made Honorary Fellows.

A separate category of Honorary Life Members was created in 1991.

Year of Induction	Inductee(s)
1940	Professor George Dumas (1866-1946) Professor Beatrice Edgell (1871-1948) Professor Kurt Koffka (1886-1941) Professor Carl Emil Seashore (1866-1949)
1937	Professor Samuel Alexander (1859-1938) Sir Henry Head (1861-1940) Professor Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (1857-1937)
1934	Dr (Henry) Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) Dr (Alfred) Ernest Jones (1879-1958) Professor Felix Krueger (1874-1948) Professor William McDougall (1871-1938) Professor Conwy Lloyd Morgan (1852-1936) Professor Charles Samuel Myers (1873-1946) Mr Alexander Faulkner Shand (1858-1936) Professor Charles Edward Spearman (1863-1945) Professor George Frederick William Stout (1860-1944)
1932	Professor James Rowland Angell (1869-1949) Professor James McKeen Cattell (1860-1944) Professor Sante de Sanctis (1862-1935) Professor (Louis) Wilhelm Stern (1871-1938)
1928	Professor Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930)
1927	Baron Albert Eduard Michotte van den Berck (1881-1965)
1926	Professor Edward Claparède (1873-1940) Professor Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Professor Gerardus Heymans (1857-1930) Professor Pierre Janet (1859-1947) Professor Henri Piéron (1881-1964) Professor Edward Lee Thorndike (1874-1949) Professor Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927) Professor Hendrick Zwaardemaker (1857-1930)
1912	Professor Franz Brentano (1836-1917) Professor James Ward (1839-1917)
1911	Professor Oswald Külpe (1862-1915)
1910	Professor James Sully (1842-1923)
1905	Professor Harald Höffding (1843-1931) Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) Professor William James (1842-1910) Professor George Elias Müller (1850-1934) Professor Théodule Armand Ribot (1839-1916) Professor Carl Stumpf (1848-1936)
1904	Dr John Hughlings-Jackson (1835-1911)

All surviving Honorary Members were made Honorary Fellows in 1945.

Below you will find a complete list of all the additional Honorary Fellows inducted since then.

Year of Induction	Inductee(s)
2020	Professor Jonathan A. Smith
2019	Michael Berger Martin Fisher Nicola Gale Ray Miller Jill Wilkinson
2018	Anne Colley
2017	Professor Carolyn Kagan Professor Michael Murray Mr John Oates
2016	Professor Erica Burman Professor Wendy Holloway
2014	Professor Dorothy Bishop
2013	Dr Sathasivan (Saths) Cooper
2012	Professor Dianne Berry Professor David Farrington Professor Glyn Humphreys Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith Professor Peter Saville
2010	Professor Raymond Henry Charles Bull Professor Cary Lynn Cooper
2009	Professor David M. Clark
2008	Professor David Victor Canter
2007	Professor Alan D.B. Clarke (1922-2011) Professor Anne M. Clarke Professor Hannah Steinberg
2006	Professor Uta Frith Professor William Yule Professor Glynis M. Breakwell
2005	Professor Andrew William Young
2003	Professor Miles R.C. Hewstone
2001	Professor Maurice Anthony Gale (1937-2006)
2000	Professor Richard L. Gregory (1923-2010)
1999	Professor Antony John Chapman
1998	Professor Heinz Rudolph Schaffer (1926-2008)
1997	Professor Victoria Bruce Professor John Morton Professor Peter B. Warr
1995	Professor Alan D. Baddeley Professor Patrick Rabbitt
1994	Professor Ulric Neisser (1928-2012) Professor Freda Gladys Newcombe (1925-2001)
1993	Professor Margaret Caldwell Donaldson Professor Klaus Werner Wedell
1992	Professor Michael Argyle (1925-2002)
1991	Professor Elizabeth F. Loftus
1990	Jack Gale Wilmot Davies (1911-1992)
1989	Professor George Armitage Miller
1988	Professor Herbert Alexander Simon (1916-2001)
1986	Donald Eric Broadbent (1926-1993)
1985	Professor Noam Chomsky
1984	Professor Jerome Seymour Bruner
1982	Professor Oliver L. Zangwill (1913-1987)
1981	Professor Robert Hinde
1979	Professor Sir Desmond Pond (1919-1986)
1978	Professor Sir Michael Rutter Professor Philip Ewart Vernon (1905-1987)
1977	Professor James Jerome Gibson (1904-1979) Professor Eleanor J. Gibson (1910-2002)
1974	Dr Michael Fordham (1905-1995)
1972	Professor Raymond Bernard Cattell (1905-1998) Professor Harry Frederick Harlow (1905-1981) Dr Henry Alexander Murray (1893-1988)
1970	Dr Edward George Glover (1882-1972) Rt Hon. Lord John Anthony Hardinge Giffard (1908-2000) Professor Margaret Dorothea Vernon (1901-1999)
1968	Professor Neal Elgar Miller (1909-2002) Professor Erwin Stengel (1902-1973)
1967	Professor Lionel Sharples Penrose (1898-1972)
1966	Professor Sir Aubrey Julian Lewis (1900-1975) Dr Robert Robertson Rusk (1879-1972) Professor Sir Fred Joyce Schonell (1900-1969)
1965	Miss Anna Freud (1895-1982) Professor Cecil Alec Mace (1894-1971)
1963	Professor Otto Klineberg (1899-1992) Mr Robert John Bartlett (1879-1980)
1962	Professor George William Humphrey (1889-1966) Professor Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990) Dr Robert Henry Thouless (1894-1984)
1961	Rt Hon. Lord Walter Russell Brain of Eynsham (1895-1966)
1960	Professor Ernst Ropiequet Hilgard (1904-2001) Professor Roger Wolcott Russell (1914-1998)
1959	Rt Hon. Lord Henry Cohen of Birkenhead (1900-1977)
1958	Dr May Smith (1879-1968) Mrs Melanie Klein (1882-1960) Professor Agostino Edoardo Gemelli (1878-1960) Professor Alexander Rom Luria (1902-1977) Professor Tom Hatherley Pear (1886-1972) Professor Charles Wilfred Valentine (1879-1964) Professor Henry Tasman Lovell (1875-1959)
1955	Professor Albert William Phillip Wolters (1883-1961)
1954	Rt Hon. Lord Edgar Douglas Adrian of Cambridge (1889-1977) Professor Edward Chace Tolman (1886-1959) Professor Robert Sessions Woodworth (1869-1962) Professor Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Professor Edwin Garrigues Boring Professor Sir Cyril Lodowic Burt (1883-1971) Professor Sir Frederic Charles Bartlett (1886-1969) Professor Donald Olding Hebb (1904-1985) Professor Ernst Kretschmer (1888-1964)
1952	Professor Sir Thomas Hunter (1876-1953)
1950	Professor Gordon Willard Allport (1897-1967) Professor Clark Leonard Hull (1884-1952) Professor David Katz (1884-1953) Professor Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967) Professor Karl Spencer Lashley (1890-1958) Professor Gardner Murphy (1895-1979) Professor Lewis Madison Terman (1877-1956) Professor Louis Leon Thurstone (1887-1955)
1946	Professor Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) Professor Sir William Mitchell (1861-1962)

Founders, Fellows, Presidents, and Members

Year of Induction

Inductee(s)

Year of Induction

Inductee(s)