Civilisation/Founders

Year	Organisation	Founder	Notes
1652	Quakers	George Fox	Religious Society of Friends
1660	Royal Society	Christopher Wren and others	The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge
1694	Bank of England	William Patterson
1741	Foundling Hospital	Thomas Coram
1747	The Shakers	Jane and James Wardley	Ann Lee was a member
1750	Jockey Club		Founded as a high society social club
1753	British Museum	Hans Sloane
1768	Royal Academy of Arts		Founded through a personal act of King George III
1780	Sunday School movement	Robert Raikes
1788	Linnean Society		Named after the Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus
1791	Ordnance Survey
1799	Royal Institution	Henry Cavendish and others
1802	United States Military Academy	Thomas Jefferson	West Point
1804	Royal Horticultural Society	John Wedgwood and Joseph Banks
1823	The Lancet	Thomas Wackley
1824	National Gallery
1824	Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)	William Hilary	Founded on Isle of Man
1828	Royal Free Hospital	Richard Marsden
1830	The Mormons	Joseph Smith	Succeeded by Brigham Young
1830	Royal Geographical Society
1843	The Economist	James Wilson	Founded to campaign against the Corn Laws
1844	YMCA	George Williams
1851	Western Union	Ezra Cornell	Completed the first transcontinental telegraph line in 1861
1857	Alpine Club		Probably the world's first mountaineering club
1859	Red Cross	Henry Dunant	After the Battle of Solferino
1860	Battersea Dogs Home	Mary Tealby	In 2002, name changed to 'The Battersea Dogs and Cats Home'
1865	Salvation Army	William Booth	Originally the East London Christian Mission
1865	Ku Klux Klan		Founded in Tennessee by Confederate Army veterans
1866	National Secular Society	Charles Bradlaugh
1866	Howard League for Penal Reform	John Howard
1867	Ladybird Books	Henry Wills
1869	Nature	Norman Lockyer
1875	Theosophical Society	Madame Blavatsky
1876	Mothers' Union	Mary Sumner
1879	Christian Scientists	Mary Baker Eddy
1881	American Red Cross	Clara Barton
1882	Church Army	Wilson Carlile
1883	Boys Brigade	William Smith	Motto - "sure and steadfast"
1884	Fabian Society		Named in honour of the Roman general Fabius Maximus
1891	Crufts	Charles Cruft	Best in Show was first awarded in 1928
1891	National Canine Defence League		Now known as Dogs Trust
1897	Women's Institute	Adelaide Hoodless	Founded in Stoney Creek, Canada. First UK meeting in 1915
1897	World Zionist Organisation
1897	National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies	Millicent Fawcett
1897	Royal Automobile Club (RAC)		Oldest motoring organisation in UK
1903	Automobile Association (AA)
1903	Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU)	Emmeline Pankhurst
1904	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA)	Herbert Beerbohm Tree
1905	Rotary Club		Founded in Chicago
1905	Magic Circle
1908	Mills & Boon	Gerald Rusgrove Mills and Charles Boon
1909	National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People
1912	Calgary Stampde	Guy Weadick
1912	Girl Scouts of the USA	Juliette Gordon Low
1913	New Statesman	Sidney and Beatrice Webb
1916	Paramount Pictures	Adolph Zukor and Jesse Lasky
1917	People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA)	Maria Dickin
1917	Hogarth Press	Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf
1919	Save the Children	Eglantyne Jebb
1919	United Artists	Chaplin, Fairbanks, Pickford and Griffith
1921	British Legion	Earl Haig and others	Granted a Royal Charter in 1971
1922	Reader's Digest	Lila Bell Wallace and DeWitt Wallace
1922	Transport and General Workers’ Union		Merged with Amicus to form Unite in 2007
1923	Warner Brothers	Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack Warner
1923	Interpol		Founded in Austria as the International Criminal Police (ICP)
1928	Flying Doctor Service	John Flynn	Founded in Queensland
1928	Muslim Brotherhood	Hassan al-Banna
1928	Opus Dei	Josemaría Escriva de Balaguer	Founded in Madrid
1934	British Council
1934	Hammer Film Productions	William Hinds
1934	National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL)		Changed its name to "Liberty" in 1989
1935	Alcoholics Anonymous	Bill Wilson and Bob Smith	Founded in Akron, Ohio
1935	American Institute of Public Opinion	George Gallup
1935	Ramblers’ Association	TA Leonard	Rebranded as the "Ramblers" in 2009
1946	Mensa	Roland Berrill and Lancelot Ware	At Lincoln College Oxford
1950	Missionaries of Charity	Mother Teresa	Headquarters in Kolkata
1951	War on Want		Motto - "Poverty is Political"
1953	The Samaritians	Chad Varah
1955	Black Sash	Jean Sinclair	White women's resistance organization in South Africa
1955	Institute of Economic Affairs		Think tank
1957	White Defence League	Colin Jordan	Dissolved in 1960
1957	Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)		Bertrand Russell was the first President
1961	Monday Club		Founded by four young Conservative Party members
1961	Amnesty International	Peter Benenson
1961	World Wildlife Fund		Changed its name to World Wide Fund for Nature in 1986
1964	Organization of Afro-American Unity	Malcolm X
1965	Confederation of British Industry (CBI)
1965	National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (NVLA)	Mary Whitehouse	Now known as Mediawatch-uk
1965	The Landmark Trust	John Smith	Building preservation charity
1966	Black Panthers	Huey Newton and Bobby Seale
1967	Hospice movement	Cecily Saunders	St Christopher’s Hospice
1969	Friends of the Earth	David Brower	Motto - "Think globally, act locally"
1971	Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)		Founded in Ireland
1971	Greenpeace	Bob Hunter	Founded in Vancouver
1971	Médecins Sans Frontières	Bernard Kouchner and others	Formed as an aftermath of the Biafra secession
1977	Sea Shepherd Conservation Society	Paul Watson
1979	Inamrsat		Founded as the International Maritime Satellite Organization
1984	Cirque de Soleil	Guy Laliberte
1985	COTS (Childlessness Overcome Through Surrogacy)	Kim Cotton	Britain’s first surrogate mother
2003	Fathers 4 Justice	Matt O'Connor
2005	Plane Stupid		Want to see an end to airport expansion
2007	Help for Heroes	Bryn and Emma Parry