Editing Royal charter (section)

===Guilds, learned societies, and professional bodies===

Guilds and livery companies are among the earliest organisations recorded as receiving royal charters. The Privy Council list has the [[Saddlers Company]] in 1272 as the earliest, followed by the [[Merchant Taylors Company]] in 1326 and the [[Skinners Company]] in 1327. The earliest charter to the Saddlers Company gave them authority over the saddlers trade; it was not until 1395 that they received a charter of incorporation.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Development of the Company |publisher=Worshipful Company of Saddlers |url=http://www.saddlersco.co.uk/thesaddlerscompany/development.html |access-date=19 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220062905/http://www.saddlersco.co.uk/thesaddlerscompany/development.html |archive-date=20 February 2019}}</ref> The Merchant Taylors were similarly incorporated by a subsequent charter in 1408.<ref>{{cite web |title=About the Company |publisher=Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors |url=http://www.merchant-taylors.co.uk/home/about-the-company/ |access-date=19 February 2019}}</ref>

Royal charters gave the first regulation of medicine in Great Britain and Ireland. The [[Barbers Company]] of London in 1462, received the earliest recorded charters concerning medicine or surgery, charging them with the superintendence, scrutiny, correction, and governance of surgery. A further charter in 1540 to the London Guild – renamed the Company of Barber-Surgeons – specified separate classes of surgeons, barber-surgeons, and barbers. The London Company of Surgeons separated from the barbers in 1745, eventually leading to the establishment of the [[Royal College of Surgeons]] by royal charter in 1800.<ref name=Ross>{{cite journal |title=From Trade Guild to Royal College |journal=[[Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England]] |date=June 1958 |volume=22 |issue=6 |pages=416–422 |author=[[James Paterson Ross]] |pmid=19310142 |pmc=2413659}}</ref> The [[Royal College of Physicians of London]] was established by royal charter in 1518 and charged with regulating the practice of medicine in the City of London and within seven miles of the City.<ref>{{cite web |title=Timeline |publisher=Royal College of Physicians of London |url=https://history.rcplondon.ac.uk/timeline |access-date=23 February 2019}}</ref>

The [[Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland|Barbers Guild]] (the ''Gild of St Mary Magdalen'') in Dublin is said to have received a charter in 1446, although this was not recorded in the rolls of chancery and was lost in the 18th century. A later charter united the barbers with the (previously unincorporated) surgeons in 1577.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=25507303 |title=The Ancient Corporation of Barber-Surgeons, or Gild of St. Mary Magdalene, Dublin |author=Henry F. Berry |journal=The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland |series=Fifth Series |volume=33 |issue=3 |date=30 September 1903 |pages=217–238}}</ref> The [[Royal College of Physicians of Ireland]] was established by royal charter in 1667<ref>{{cite web |title=History of RCPI |publisher=Royal College of Physicians of Ireland |url=https://www.rcpi.ie/about-us/rcpi-timeline/ |access-date=30 January 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131040146/https://www.rcpi.ie/about-us/rcpi-timeline/ |archive-date=31 January 2019}}</ref> and the [[Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland]], which evolved from the Barbers' Guild in Dublin, in 1784.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of RCSI |publisher=Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland |url=http://www.rcsi.ie/history |access-date=30 January 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190112010658/http://rcsi.ie/history |archive-date=12 January 2019}}</ref>

The [[Royal Society]] was established in 1660 as Britain's first [[learned society]] and received its first royal charter in 1662. It was reincorporated by a second royal charter in 1663, which was then amended by a third royal charter in 1669. These were all in Latin, but a supplemental charter in 2012 gave an English translation to take precedence over the Latin text.<ref>{{cite web |title=Supplemental charter |date=2012 |publisher=The Royal Society |url=https://royalsociety.org/~/media/Royal_Society_Content/about-us/history/2012-Supplemental-Charter.pdf |access-date=23 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129020429/https://royalsociety.org/~/media/Royal_Society_Content/about-us/history/2012-Supplemental-Charter.pdf |archive-date=2014-11-29}}</ref> The [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] was established by royal charter in 1783 and the [[Royal Irish Academy]] was established in 1785 and received its royal charter in 1786.<ref>{{cite web |title=History |date=12 October 2015 |publisher=Royal Irish Academy |url=https://www.ria.ie/about/history |access-date=30 January 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131092923/https://www.ria.ie/about/history |archive-date=31 January 2019}}</ref>

New professional bodies were formed in Britain in the early 19th century representing new professions that arose after the industrial revolution and the rise of ''[[laissez-faire]]'' capitalism. These new bodies sought recognition by gaining royal charters, laying out their constitutions and defining the profession in question, often based on occupational activity or particular expertise. To their various corporate objectives, these bodies added the concept of working in the public interest that was not found in earlier professional bodies. This established a pattern for British professional bodies, and the 'public interest' has become a key test for a body seeking a royal charter.<ref>{{cite book |pages=114–125 |title=Professionalism for the Built Environment |author=Simon Foxell |publisher=Routledge |date=2018 |isbn=9781317479741 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QhpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT114 |access-date=19 March 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822190424/https://books.google.com/books?id=1QhpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT114#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>