The Royal Historical Society works closely with a number of other UK and Irish societies dedicated to the study, communication and promotion of historical knowledge and understanding.
Once a year, the Society hosts a half-day meeting of heads of UK history societies to discuss subjects of shared interest, such as publishing, membership and advocacy for the discipline. The Society also holds regular online meetings with its equivalent national organisations worldwide.
In addition, Society promotes the activities of many of these societies and networks through social media. If you are interested in learning more, please see our BlueSky ‘Starter Packs’. These list more than 200 organisations — comprising ‘History societies and groups in the UK and Ireland’, ‘History research centres and institutes in the UK and Ireland’, and ‘International history societies and groups’ — with a BlueSky channel.
A selection of UK and Irish history societies is provided below, which we hope is of use to researchers with specialist interests. In addition, many of these organisations provide memberships and networking for historians.
Of particular note for Postgraduate and Early Career Historians are the organisations History Lab (for PGRs) and History Lab + (for early career researchers). Both based at the Institute of Historical Research, these are membership national bodies, offering events, training and communities for historians at an early stage of their careers. Also of note is the British Academy’s Early Career Researcher Network which is open to those, based in the UK, working in the humanities and social sciences, within 10 years of a PhD.
The Royal Historical Society also provides a listing of Regional History and Record Societies, and their publication series, for:
- UK national
- England, regional
- Wales, national and regional
- Scotland, national and regional
- Ireland, national and regional
For a current record of UK local history societies, please see this listing from the British Association for Local History.
Details of selected national arts and humanities organisations are available from the Arts and Humanities Alliance.
Selected history subject societies and organisations, UK and Ireland (October 2026)
An excel sheet of the following list of c.150 societies and networks is available here.
A to E
Animal History Group https://animalhistorygroup.org/
Army Records Society https://armyrecordssociety.org.uk
Association for Art History https://forarthistory.org.uk/
Association of Business Historians https://www.theabh.org/
Association of Dress Historians https://dresshistorians.org/
Baptist Historical Society https://www.baptisthistory.org.uk/
Bibliographical Society https://bibsoc.org.uk/
Black Country Society https://www.blackcountrysociety.com/
British Agricultural History Society https://www.bahs.org.uk/index.html
British American Nineteenth Century Historians (BRANCH) https://www.branch.org.uk/about-us
British Archaeological Association https://thebaa.org/
British Association for American Studies https://baas.ac.uk/
British Association for Canadian Studies https://britishassociationforcanadianstudies.com/
British Association for Irish Studies https://irishstudies.co.uk/
British Association for Local History https://www.balh.org.uk/
British Association for Romantic Studies https://www.bars.ac.uk/main/
British Association for Slavonic and Eastern European Studies https://basees.org/
British Association for Victorian Studies https://bavs.ac.uk/
British Commission for Maritime History https://www.maritimehistory.org.uk/
British Commission for Military History https://www.bcmh.org.uk/
British International History Group https://www.bihg.ac.uk/
British Records Association https://www.britishrecordsassociation.org.uk/
British Society for the History of Medicine https://bshm.org.uk/
British Society for the History of Philosophy https://bshp.org.uk/
British Society for the History of Science https://www.bshs.org.uk/
British Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies https://www.bsecs.org.uk/
British Society of Sports History https://www.sportinhistory.com/
British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies https://bajsbulletin.wpcomstaging.com/
Burgon Society https://burgon.org.uk/
Castles Studies Trust https://castlestudiestrust.org/
Catholic Record Society https://www.crs.org.uk/
Chetham Society https://www.chethamsociety.org.uk/
Children’s History Society https://www.histchild.org/
Church Monuments Society https://churchmonumentssociety.org/
Construction History Society https://www.constructionhistory.co.uk/
Design History Society https://www.designhistorysociety.org/
Disability History Association https://dishist.org/
Dugdale Society https://www.dugdale-society.org.uk/
Ecclesiastical History Society https://ecclesiasticalhistorysociety.com/
Economic History Society https://ehs.org.uk/
English Catholic History Association https://echa.org.uk/
English Place Name Society https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/epns/
F to R
Folklore Society https://folklore-society.com/
Fortress Study Group https://www.fortressstudygroup.org/
French Colonial Historical Society https://frenchcolonial.org/
Georgian Group https://georgiangroup.org.uk/
German Historical Institute London https://www.ghil.ac.uk/
German History Society https://www.germanhistorysociety.org/
Hakluyt Society https://www.hakluyt.com/
Harleian Society https://harleian.org.uk/
Henry Bradshaw Society https://henrybradshawsociety.org/
Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas https://www.henrysweet.org/
Historians of the Twentieth Century United States (HOTCUS) https://hotcus.org.uk/
Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire https://www.hslc.org.uk/
Historic Towns Trust https://www.historictownstrust.uk/
Historical Association https://www.history.org.uk/
Historical Writers Association https://historicalwriters.org/
History & Policy https://historyandpolicy.org/
History Lab https://www.history.ac.uk/join-ihr/history-lab
History Lab + https://thehistorylabplus.wordpress.com/
History UK https://www.history-uk.ac.uk/
History of Education Society https://www.historyofeducation.org/
History of Geology Group https://historyofgeologygroup.org/
History of Parliament Trust https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/
History Workshop https://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/
Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion https://www.cymmrodorion.org/
Huguenot Society https://www.huguenotsociety.org.uk/
Independent Historians Network https://independenthistorians.org/
Independent Historians Working Group http://machelp.org.uk/INDY_HIST
Institute of Historic Building Conservation https://www.ihbc.org.uk/
Institute of Historical Research https://www.history.ac.uk/
Irish Committee of Historical Sciences http://www.historians.ie/
Irish Historical Society https://www.irishhistoricalstudies.ie/irish-historical-society/
Jewish Historical Society of England https://www.jhse.org/
Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society https://lahs.org.uk/
Levantine Heritage Foundation https://www.levantineheritage.com/
Llafur: the Welsh People’s History Society https://www.llafur.org/
London Medieval Society https://londonmedievalsociety.com/
Methodist Historical Society https://methodisthistoryireland.org/
Midland History / Centre for Midlands History and Cultures https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/midlands-history-and-cultures
Modern British Studies Association https://modbritstud.org.uk/
Museums Association https://www.museumsassociation.org/
Museum Ethnographers Group https://museumethnographersgroup.org.uk/
Museums and Galleries History Group https://www.mghg.info/
Navy Records Society https://www.navyrecords.org.uk/
Nineteenth-Century Studies Association https://ncsaweb.net/
Oral History Society https://www.ohs.org.uk/
Past and Present Society https://pastandpresent.org.uk/
Philological Society https://philsoc.org.uk/Home
Pictish Arts Society https://www.thepictishartssociety.org.uk/
Pipe Roll Society https://piperollsociety.co.uk/
Police History Society https://www.policehistorysociety.com/
Printing Historical Society https://www.printinghistoricalsociety.org.uk/
Railway and Canal Historical Society https://rchs.org.uk/
Raphael Samuel History Centre https://www.bbk.ac.uk/research/centres/raphael-samuel-history-centre
Roman Society https://www.romansociety.org/
Royal Archaeological Institute https://www.royalarchinst.org/
Royal Asiatic Society https://royalasiaticsociety.org/
Royal Engineers Historical Society https://www.instre.org/rehs/
Royal Studies Network https://www.royalstudiesnetwork.org/
S to Y
Scottish Church History Society https://www.scottishchurchhistory.org/
Scottish Historical Review Trust https://scottishhistoricalreview.org/
Scottish History Society https://scottishhistorysociety.com/
Scottish Record Society https://www.scottishrecordsociety.org.uk/
Scottish Society for Northern Studies https://www.ssns.org.uk/
Simon de Montfort Society https://www.simondemontfort.org/
Seaside Heritage Network https://seasideheritage.org.uk/
Selden Society https://seldensociety.ac.uk/
Social History Society https://socialhistory.org.uk/
Socialist History Society https://www.socialisthistorysociety.co.uk/
Society for Army Historical Research https://sahr.org.uk/
Society for Black British Historians https://isrf.org/projects/society-for-black-british-historians
Society for Court Studies https://www.courtstudies.org/
Society for Folklife Studies https://folklifestudies.org/
Society for French Historical Studies https://www.societyforfrenchhistoricalstudies.net/
Society for Medieval Archaeology https://medievalarchaeology.co.uk/
Society for Military History https://www.smh-hq.org/
Society for Post Medieval Archaeology https://spma.org.uk/
Society for Renaissance Studies https://www.rensoc.org.uk/
Society for the History of War https://www.show.org.uk/
Society for the History of Women in the Americas https://shawsociety.net/
Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland https://www.snsbi.org.uk/
Society for Nautical Research https://snr.org.uk/
Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies https://www.byzantium.ac.uk/
Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies https://www.hellenicsociety.org.uk/
Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings https://www.spab.org.uk/
Society for the Social History of Medicine https://sshm.org/
Society for the Study of French History https://frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/
Society for the Study of Labour History https://sslh.org.uk/
Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East https://www.sscle.org/
Society of Antiquaries of London https://www.sal.org.uk/
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland https://www.socantscot.org/
Society of Architectural Historians of GB https://www.sahgb.org.uk/
Society of Genealogists https://sog.org.uk/
Society of the History of Natural History https://shnh.org.uk/
Spalding Gentleman’s Society https://www.sgsoc.org/
Stair Society https://www.stairsociety.org/
Surtees Society http://www.surteessociety.org.uk/
Twentieth Century Society https://c20society.org.uk/
UK Association for the History of Nursing https://ukahn.org/
Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies https://usihs36.com/
Unitarian Historical Society https://unitarianhistory.org.uk/
Urban History Group https://urbanhistorygroup.wordpress.com/
Veterinary History Society https://thevhs.uk/
Victorian Society https://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/
Voluntary Action History Society https://www.vahs.org.uk/
Wallpaper History Society https://www.wallpaperhistorysociety.org.uk/
Welsh Place-Name Society https://www.cymdeithasenwaulleoedd.cymru/en/
Wesley Historical Society https://www.wesleyhistoricalsociety.org.uk/
Women’s Film and television History Network https://wfthn.com/
Women’s History Network https://womenshistorynetwork.org/
Women’s History Scotland https://womenshistoryscotland.org/
Young Historians Project https://www.younghistoriansproject.org/
Please note: the Society is not responsible for content provided by the links listed above. This version is correct as of October 2026. Amendments to the list may be sent to: [email protected].