The Years of the Presidency of the Royal Society, 1920–1925

Abstract

In 1920 Sherrington assumed the presidency of the Royal Society — that ancient body chartered by Charles II in 1662, and successor to the Invisible College of Christopher Wren’s day. On October 28 Sherrington received a letter from the retiring president, J. J. Thomson, the distinguished physicist and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge:

Dear Professor Sherrington:

I am writing at the unanimous request of the Society Council to ask you to allow yourself to be nominated at the Anniversary Meeting for the office of President. I think that some explanation is required that this request has not been forwarded to you earlier. What has happened is this. When the question of the vacancy in the Presidency was considered by the Council, they were of the opinion that the next man of science to be offered the Presidency should be a biologist and were unanimous that you should be that biologist; it seemed however, to the Council that at the present time there were special reasons why Mr. Arthur Balfour should be asked to take the office, and the nomination was offered to him. Unfortunately he has been away from England for some time and it was only yesterday that a reply was received saying that he was grieved to say that the proposal was impractical.

The Council then, as I have said, decided unanimously to ask you to undertake the office at once instead of after a short interval. I hope you will see your way to accept as I am sure the proposal will receive the approval of every member of the Society and that you will receive a most cordial welcome from all your colleagues who are engaged in the work of the Society.