Corporate Social Responsibility
|
The Society's FoundationThe Society was established in Edinburgh in 1784 as "The Highland Society of Edinburgh", a society for the improvement of the Highlands, and in 1787 it received its first Royal Charter as "The Highland Society of Scotland at Edinburgh".
The original objects of the Society included the improvement of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and the conditions of their inhabitants, an enquiry into the means of their improvement by establishing towns and villages - facilitating communications by roads and bridges - advancing agriculture - extending fisheries - introducing useful trades and manufactures , and the preservation of the language, poetry and music of the Highlands.
In its first year a Professor of Gaelic was elected and competitions in music were held. The Society further supported the culture of the Highlands with the compilation of a dictionary of the Gaelic language. Published in 1828, the dictionary took 14 years to compile and cost nearly £4,000.
The report of a committee of the Society in 1786 was passed on to the House of Commons Committee on the Fisheries; this led to an Act setting up a company for the express purpose of founding coastal villages and towns in the Highlands and Islands. In 1790 and subsequent years premiums were offered for plans for villages.
The Society's agricultural interest dates to 1785 when medals for essays on agricultural subjects were first offered. In 1790 the Chair of Agriculture in the University of Edinburgh was founded on the Society's initiative.
In 1856, the Society was empowered to conduct examinations in agriculture. Encouragement for the improvement of land and the development of machinery and implements followed and prizes were instituted for a wide variety of agricultural skills encompassing livestock breeding, produce production, ploughing and so on. From 1823 the Society patronised the Edinburgh Veterinary School lectures run by William Dick. Dick was installed as the first Professor of Veterinary Studies at Edinburgh in 1840, under the auspices of the Society.
At stages throughout its history, the Society has given financial and other backing to universities and colleges for courses in agriculture, forestry and veterinary science. During its first 125 or so years, the Society put a great deal of effort and money directly into research and grants for the improvement of agricultural practice. As the need for specialisation increased, the Society encouraged the establishment of Agricultural Colleges in Scotland, and the numerous other bodies, each with responsibility for a particular facet of agriculture.
In December 1822 the Society held its first General Show, the first open to competition from any part of Scotland, held on a 1¼ acre site in the back garden of Queensberry House, then a barracks, in the Canongate, Edinburgh. Between sixty and seventy five cattle were exhibited and, having paid one shilling each, 1,052 visitors and members attended the show.
These and other initiatives led to the Society's title changing in 1834 to "The Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland", upon conferral of its second Royal Charter. The change was appropriate and significant; the Society had in its first fifty years become, and was to remain, less of a Highland Society and more of an Agricultural Society.
The final change of name came in 1948 when the Society was honoured with the title "Royal" on the occasion of His Majesty King George VI's visit to the Society's Show in Inverness with members of his family. The Society was further honoured in 1984, its Bi-Centenary year, when Her Majesty The Queen accepted the role as Patron of the Society.
Since the end of the nineteenth century the Society has been recognised by the Inland Revenue as a charity incorporated under Royal Charter.
|
