Sir Charles Eastlake 1853-1855
Sir Frederick Pollock 1855-1869
James Glaisher 1869-1874 and 1875-1892
John Spiller 1874-1875
Sir W de W Abney 1892-1894
Sir Henry Trueman Wood 1894-1896
Sir W de W Abney 1896
The Earl of Crawford 1897-1900
Thomas R Dallmeyer 1900-1903
Sir W de W Abney 1903-1905
J Waterhouse 1905-1907
J C S Mummery 1907-1910
Lord Redesdale 1910-1912
Chapman Jones 1912-1914
J Furley Lewis 1914-1916
John H Gear 1916-1918
C Atkin Swan 1918-1920
G H Rodman 1920-1922
W L F Wastell 1922-1923
J Dudley Johnston 1923-1925 and 1929-1931
Thomas H B Scott 1925-1927
F F Renwick 1927-1929
Olaf F Block 1931-1933
A J Bull 1933-1935
Robert Chalmers 1935
Douglas A Spencer 1936-1938
Edmund A Robins 1938-1940
F J Mortimer 1940-1942
D McMaster 1942-1944
Harry Baines 1944-1946
F J Tritton 1946-1948
Percy W Harris 1948-1950
L V Chilton 1950-1951
I D Wratten 1951-1953
Bertram Sinkinson 1953-1955
H. Baines 1955 – 1956
A. L. M. Sowerby 1956-1958
Professor Margaret F. Harker 1958-1960
J. E. P. Bardsley 1960-1962
Victor Gallafent 1962-1964
H. D. J. Cole 1964-1966
G. W. G. Maclennan 1966 - 1968
Tony Axford 1968-1970
Reggie Mason 1970-1972
Peter Wilkinson 1972-1974
Vernon G W Harrison 1974-1976
Derrick Knight 1976 - 1978
Sir George Pollock 1978 - 1980
Leslie Bowcock 1980 - 1982
Chris Roberts 1982-1984
Heather Angel 1984 - 1986
Arthur Downes 1986 - 1988
Brian Bower 1988 - 1990
Michael Austin 1990 - 1992
Edwin Appleton 1992 - 1994
Robert Moore 1994-1996
John Birkett 1996-1998
Professor Raymond Clark 1998 - 2001
John Page 2001-2003
Roger Reynolds 2003-2005
Professor Ralph Jacobson 2005-2007
Dr Barry Senior 2007 - 2009
Rosemary Wilman 2009 - 2011
Roy Robertson 2011 -