A century working for our wildlife In May 1912, Charles Rothschild held a meeting at the Natural History Museum, London to discuss his radical idea about saving places for nature. This meeting led to the formation of the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, which would become the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts. It signalled the beginning of UK nature conservation as we know it. In parallel, the seeds for local conservation organisations, the forerunners to Wildlife Trusts, were beginning to germinate. The first was in Norfolk in 1926, followed by Yorkshire in 1946 and Lincolnshire in 1948. The 1950s saw more and more groups beginning to form and by the end of the decade the Society took on the role of a national association to represent them. The Scottish Wildlife Trust was formed in 1964 and Trusts now covered the whole of Britain. The movement expanded further in 1978 with the formation of the Ulster Wildlife Trust and urban Trusts in the 1980s. There are now 47 Wildlife Trusts across the UK and we have more than 800,000 members. We work for nature’s recovery on land and at sea, manage 2,300 nature reserves and run marine conservation projects around the coast. We are 100 years old in 2012. Rothschild Reserves In 1912, Charles Rothschild started a survey of areas most ‘worthy of preservation’ in the British Isles and Ireland. He identified 284 proposed nature reserves, including Hartslock Wood in Oxfordshire (indicated in red, above, on this archive map). Survey documents and archive maps for all Rothschild Reserves can be found in a new interactive database on our website, as well as further information about our history. Details on other centenary materials including a film and commemorative history book are also available. Visit wildlifetrusts.org/100
Shows back and front of postcard holder. Holder has 100 years logo with spot UV varnish on front.