Chetham Society

The Chetham Society is the oldest historical society in North West England. It was founded by a group of gentlemen (including the lawyer James Crossley and the clergymen Thomas Corser, Richard Parkinson, and Francis Robert Raines), who wished to promote interest in the counties' historical sources. The society held its foundation meeting on 23 March 1843 at Chetham's Library, in Manchester, which was established in 1653 by the will of the philanthropist Humphrey Chetham. The society became a registered charity (No. 700047) in 1988.

The Chetham Society was amongst the earliest antiquarian and historical societies to be established in Britain during the nineteenth century, and appears to have been modelled, in part, on the Durham-based Surtees Society founded in 1834.

During its early years, the society enjoyed the support of patrons such as the Prime Minister of the day Sir Robert Peel, the Bishop of Chester, the Earls of Balcarres, Burlington, and Derby, Lord Stanley of Bickerstaffe, Lord Francis Egerton, as well as several other peers and MPs who became members.

Many distinguished historians and scholars have been involved in the life of the society, including John Eglington Bailey, C. R. Cheney, John Parsons Earwaker, Edward Hawkins, Sir Henry Hoyle Howorth, George Ormerod, Sir Frederick Maurice Powicke, William Stubbs, Thomas Frederick Tout, J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, and Joseph Brooks Yates, amongst many others.