Founded in part due to the lag in post-war reconstruction of England after a series of wars in the early part of the 19th century. The first meeting was held in York on the 26 September 1831, at this meeting it was formally proposed to

"...having for its objectives, to give a stronger impulse and more systematic direction to scientific enquiry, to obtain a greater degree of national attention to the objects of science, and a removal of those disadvantages which impede its progress, and to promote the intercourse of the cultivators of science with one another, and with foreign philosophers".

It is now known as the British Science Association.