System Number: 13418
Date: 9 August 1887
Author: Godfrey Lushington[1]
Place: London
Recipient: JW
Place: London
Repository: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Call Number: Archives of Art and Design, RBA Archive, AAD 1997/8/105
Document Type: MsLS
SECRETARY OF STATE
HOME DEPARTMENT
Whitehall
9 August 1887
B16763
Sir,
I am directed by the Secretary of State[2] to inform you that he has had the honour to lay before the Queen the request of the Society of British Artists to be allowed to use the word "Royal[3]" in connection with the title of the Society, and that Her Majesty was pleased to comply with the request & to command that the association in question shall be styled "The Royal Society of British Artists"
I am
sir,
your obedient servant,
Godfrey Lushington
The President of the
Royal Society of British Artists
Suffolk Street
Pall Mall
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. Godfrey Lushington
Godfrey Lushington (1832-1907), lawyer, Permanent Under-Secretary at the Home Office from 1885-1895 [more]. There is another copy of this letter (#01840).
2. Secretary of State
Rt Hon. Henry Matthews (1868-1874), QC, MP, Home Secretary [more].
3. Royal
On the occasion of Queen Victoria's fiftieth Jubilee, JW, as President of the Society of British Artists sent an illuminated Address on behalf of the SBA (see M.1133-6). He then sent a Memorial to the Queen requesting that the Society be called 'Royal'. The SBA received a Royal Charter, thus becoming the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA).