The Royal Statistical Society

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The Statistical Society of London was founded in 1834, right on the heels of the foundation of Section F ("Statistics") of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1833.  The SSL was formed "in pursuance of a recommendation" in March, 1834 by the BAAS "for the purpose of collecting, arranging and publishing facts calculated to illustrate the position and prospects of Society, and especially facts which can be stated numerically and arranged in table....and the condensation, arrangement and publication of those already existing" ("Objects of the Statistical Society", 1876, p.3).   The motto of the SSL -  aliis exterendum ("for others to thresh out") - indicated that the society was concerned with facts  and only facts, interpretation and opinion was to be left to others.

At its founding, the SSL was housed on St. Martin's Lane, in  facilities rented from the Royal Society of Literature. In 1844, the SSL moved briefly to new rented facilities on Regent Street, and then, from 1846, for a considerably longer period of its history, it was at the London Library on St. James Square. (The Institute of Actuaries was a sub-tenant). In 1874,the SSL moved once again, this time to facilities in King's College London, a not-surprising choice given the long association of the society with the college (through Tooke, Newmarch, Thorold-Rogers, Leone Levi, William A. Guy and others (source)).

The Statistical Society of London was incorporated by royal charter in 1887 and was renamed the Royal Statistical Society.

Presidents of the Statistical Society Term President of the SSL   1834-36 Marquis of Lansdowne   1836-38 Sir Charles Lemon   1838-40 Earl Fitzwilliam   1840-42 Viscount Sandon, Earl of Harrowby   1842-43 Marquis of Landsowne   1843-45 Viscount Ashley, Earl of Shaftesbury   1845-47 Lord Monteagle   1847-49 Earl Fitzwilliam   1849-51 Earl of Harrowby   1851-53 Lord Overstone   1853-55 Earl Fitzwilliam   1855-57 Earl of Harrowby   1857-59 Lord Stanley   1859-61 Lord John Russell   1861-63 Sir J.S. Pakington   1863-65 Col. W.H.Sykes   1865-67 Lord Houghton   1867-69 W.E. Gladstone   1869-71 William Newmarch Inaugural Address (1869) 1871-73 William Farr Inaugural Address (1871) Inagural Address  (1872) 1873-75 William A. Guy Inaugural Address (1873) Inaugural Address (1874) 1875-77 James A. Heywood Opening Address (1876) 1877-79 George J. Shaw-Lefevre Inaugural Address  (1877) Dinner Speech (1878) Opening Address (1878) 1879-80 Thomas Brassey Inaugural Address (1879) 1880-82 Sir James Caird Inaugural Address (1881) 1882-84 Robert Giffen Inaugural Address (1882) 1884-86 Rawson W. Rawson   1886-88 George Joachim Goschen   1888- T. Graham Balfour Inaugural Address (1888)                           Guy Gold Medal The Guy Gold Medal, named after King's College physician and  pioneering statistician William A. Guy and awarded only occasionally to exceptional innovators in the field.  There is also a Guy Silver Medal that is awarded more frequently. 1892 Charles Booth 1894 Robert Giffen 1900 Jervoise Athelsten Baines 1907 Francis Ysidro Edgeworth 1908 Maj. P.G. Craigie 1911 George Udny Yule 1920 T.H.C. Stevenson 1930 Alfred W. Flux 1935 Arthur L. Bowley 1945 Major Greenwood 1946 Ronald A. Fisher 1953 A. Bradford Hill 1955 Egon S. Pearson 1960 Frank Yates 1962 Harold Jeffreys 1966 Jerzy Neyman 1968 Maurice G. Kendall 1969 M.S. Barlett 1972 Harald. Cramer 1973 David Cox 1975 G.A.Barnard 1978 Roy G.D. Allen 1981 David Kendall 1984 H.E. Daniels 1986 B. Benjamin 1987 R.L. Plackett 1990 Peter Armitage 1993 George E.P. Box 1996 P. Whittle 1999 Michael Healy 2002 D. Lindley 2005 John Nelder

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