Yorkshire Geological Society
The Yorkshire Geological Society is a learned, professional and educational charity devoted to the earth sciences, founded in 1837. Its work is centred on the geology of Yorkshire, and the north of England more generally, ranging from Northumbria and Cumbria in the north to Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire in the south. The Society has around 600 members, the majority living within this region but with significant proportions of UK national and overseas members. It also has working relationships with around 20 Corresponding Societies and other affiliated local geological and conservation societies and organisations, and with many of the universities of the region, as well as with the British Geological Survey, particularly its headquarters at Keyworth, Nottinghamshire. The Society runs a wide-ranging programme of both indoor and field meetings for members, public lectures and conferences in various locations across its region, and coordinates and promotes with the Corresponding Societies a "Yorkshire Geology Month" every May, in cooperation with the Corresponding Societies and other local groups. The Society also publishes on the earth sciences, notably in its biannual Proceedings, published continuously since 1839, and its Circular, published seven times a year. The Society also publishes field guides, conference reports and books from time to time.
History
The Society is the fourth oldest geological society in the United Kingdom, following the Geological Society of London, the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall and the Edinburgh Geological Society. Reflecting the interests of many of its coal-owner and engineer original members the Society and its Proceedings first published in 1839, the Society originally covered mining and general engineering and technology, and then archaeology also. However, from the earliest days its membership was much wider than just the West Riding, and the Society very quickly gained the active support the leading national geological figures of the day as Honorary Members. With the establishment of the Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Society in 1863, the Society gradually ceded its archaeological activities and publishing to the new Society, and 1903 it adopted the present name of Yorkshire Geological Society for both the society and its Proceedings. The Society also organises and coordinates the annual Yorkshire Geology Month, normally held through the month of May each year.From the late 19th century onwards the Society developed ever-closer links with the emerging earth science departments in the university colleges and universities of Yorkshire and adjacent counties and with the Geological Survey, particularly at its former Leeds and Newcastle offices, and these close links remain today with the British Geological Survey's headquarters at Keyworth, Nottinghamshire. The Society has also developed close relationships with what are today twenty-four "Corresponding Societies" -mainly local geological societies and groups which between then cover most of the north of England and parts of central England, from Cumbria and Northumberland in the north to Leicestershire in the south. The Society's 170-year-old geological library is housed in the Leeds University Library.