MEMBERS - A Brief History of the Society

St. George's Society of New York, named after the patron saint of England, was founded by Englishmen living in New York in 1770 to celebrate St. George's Day, April 23rd, and to assist fellow countrymen in distress. It is one of the few pre-revolutionary institutions still in operation.

At first membership was restricted to men who were natives of England but over time included people from the Commonwealth and the United States.  

Despite the American Revolution and the War of 1812, the Society quietly carried out its charitable mission, ranging from the protection of poor English immigrants in the 1830s, 40s and 50s to aiding British war brides in the two World Wars.  Along the way, it advocated the establishment of St. George the Martyr, an Anglo-American free church and St. Luke’s Hospital.  It acquired burial plots for needy British subjects and acted as an employment agency during depressions and times of hardship.  In recent decades the Society has provided stipends and emergency grants to needy people from the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, mainly elderly, living in the New York area.

With today’s government entitlement network, the need for private social services charities has diminished – but not vanished.  The Society’s Beneficiaries Committee authorizes and reviews monthly stipends to approximately 70 beneficiaries.  Half are from the United Kingdom, mainly England, and half from the Commonwealth, chiefly the West Indies.  Beneficiaries with medical problems are referred when possible to St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital, with which St. George’s has been associated for 150 years.  The Society also provides quality-of-life grants, repatriates persons to the United Kingdom, assists others referred by the British Consulate-General, and provides cremation and interment in one of the Society’s three cemetery plots. 

The world has changed enormously since 1770 and the Society has adapted.  Members are Britons and Americans, whether of British descent or having an affinity for Britain.  Women were admitted as members in 1989, and in 2005 the Society elected its first woman president, Natalie T. Pray, and its first woman chaplain, The Reverend Philippa Turner of the Church of the Heavenly Rest in Manhattan.   

Because it believes in helping those who cannot help themselves, the Society has aided thousands of British and Commonwealth persons. This unique record of charity has led to a close working relationship with the British Consulate-General in New York for over a century.  By tradition, the serving Consul-General is the Society’s Honorary President. 

The Society was honored in 2000 with armorial bearings by the College of Arms in London, acting under the authority of the British Crown. 

In 2000, His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester became the Society’s Royal Patron, and subsequently visited the Society in 2002, 2004 and 2006.