A Brief Summary
The Cardiff Naturalists' Society is the longest established wildlife organization in the area having been formed in 1867 at the instigation of Robert Drane F.L.S..
he first general meeting was 11 September 1867. There were 24 original members recorded in the minutes.
Early meetings were held in the Museum Room of the Cardiff Free Library, until the National Museum of Wales opened in 1927.
The Cardiff Naturalists Society was the largest scientific Society in Wales in 1905, when it urged the location of the National Museum at Cardiff.
One of the original objectives of the society was the practical study of natural history, geology and the physical sciences, but the society also took an interest in archaeology; an Archaeology Section was formed in 1894.
The Society had links with Gwent and Morgannwg Antiquarian Society, active in the early 20th century, and accumulated records relating to Ely Racecourse (Roman villa) excavation of 1834.
The society started a Geological Section in 1875, a Biological and Microscopical section in 1887 (renamed Biological and Geological Section, 1892) and an Ornithological Section in 1946.
The society published annual Transactions from 1868 to 1986.
The Societies link with the National Museum of wales continues to this day with the Societies library of over 10,000 volumes being housed within the library of the Museum
Members of the Society have been instrumental in protecting many of the wild areas that we all know and love, from Skomer to Forest Farm.
The Society has had close links with the university since it's inception (the university that is, the society is quite a bit older than the University). These links continue today with the biosciences prize
For a fuller description of the earlier days of the society please download this description of the history written by one of our long standing members
Get the History
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Cardiff Castle the traditional logo for the Cardiff Naturalists' Society
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2017 is our 150th year
in 2017 the Cardiff Naturalists' Society is celebrating it's 150th Anniversary and we have an exhibition at the Cardiff Story Museum
These pages are provided to give additional information we were not able to fit in the exhibition.
The colour Logo to the left is one that was re-descovered by members of the society when researching for this exhibition. In that format it was as an embossed letterhead. It has been digitized and coloured by CNS member and accomplished artist Rhian Kendall and is being used again for the first time in over 100 years
The 2017 Annual General meeting of the Society will be held on September 11th, which is precisely 150 years since the first meeting
Go to the 150th Anniversary index
Robert Drane Founder
T.H. Thomas, Artist and Naturalist
Eleanor Vachell, Pioneer Female Botanist
Dr Mary E Gillham, A Dedicated Naturalist
Colonel H. Morrey Salmon, Nature Photographer
The Society Today
The Cardiff Society Library
Our Full list of Presidents
Other Pictures from our Archive
The pages listed above were those which were made available at the opening of our Cardiff Story Museum exhibition, since the exhibition opened there have been additional pages added covering more of our former presidents. These are shown on our 150th index page and are also accessible via the full list of presidents
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