Thomas Hill, Portrait of Humfrey Wanley, 1711. Wanley was one of the founders of the Society. Society of Antiquaries of London © Society of Antiquaries of London / John Hammond

24 Hour Museum's very own modern antiquarian, Caroline Lewis, goes in search of treasures collected by Britain's first heritage organisation at the Royal Academy.

While Britain is now gripped by a craze for family history research and archaeology makes prime time TV, the study of history was not always either popular or methodical.

Making History: Antiquaries in Britain 1707-2007 at the Royal Academy looks into how a society founded 300 years ago shaped the study of history, and created the first heritage collection before any formal museum existed in Britain. Featuring nearly 200 treasures, artefacts, manuscripts and artworks from the Society of Antiquaries and other national museums, the exhibition runs from September 15 to December 2 2007.

As guest curator and television historian David Starkey puts it, the Society of Antiquaries was originally the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Victoria and Albert and the National Archives all in one, collecting all manner of items that related to history.

The exhibition begins with a section entitled the Mists of Time, with examples of medieval thoughts about history and geography – fanciful 17th century maps; a 350,000-year-old axe head thought at the time of its discovery (1690s) to have been used by the Romans to kill an elephant; a cabinet of curiosities containing an unexplained finger of a Frenchman (rather black and wrinkled). This was an age before carbon dating and complex cataloguing systems.

Hans Eworth, Portrait of Queen Mary I, 1554. Society of Antiquaries of London © Society of Antiquaries of London / John Hammond

Indeed, people believed history went back just a couple of thousand years, to the creation story and Adam and Eve. An incredible long scroll is unfurled with a decorative genealogical tree, showing how King Henry VI was descended from these first two beings. Genealogy was one of the few ways that people did think about their history.

Some concern over the investigation and recording of history began with the Dissolution and Reformation, and early antiquaries began to record monuments, such as the plan of the Avebury henge complex featured here from 1663.

In 1707 the Society of Antiquarians had its beginnings in the Bear Tavern on the Strand, where kindred spirits Humfrey Wanley, John Bagford and John Talman met and agreed on the aim of furthering the study of British history.

The Act of Union that year also spurred on an interest in Britain as a country and its past, and in 1751 the Society received a Royal Charter from George II. In 1780 its meetings moved from a Chancery Lane coffee house to the grand premises of Somerset House (thank you George III). The Society now resides next door to the Royal Academy in Burlington House.

The early members were all freemasons, and we can be further sure the Society was important as they drew the attention of satirical cartoonists Rowlandson and Cruickshank, who depict members as eccentric figures peering at sarcophagi and tombs in various caricatures on show.

The Society also has the accolade of being the precursor to English Heritage: they paid for bollards around Waltham Cross in 1721 – the first monument to be protected in this way.

Edward Burne-Jones, The legend of Goode Wimmen, Cleopatra, c. 1860s. Pair of hand-painted ceramic tiles. Society of Antiquaries of London © Society of Antiquaries of London / John Hammond

And so, the odyssey of the Society’s adventures in collecting takes off with a fabulous gathering of portraits of two Saxon kings, Henry VI (1520), Edward IV and Richard III (both 1510), Mary I (1554) and Henry VIII. Alongside is a thick tome – an inventory of the latter king’s possessions, which included four wedding rings (“no doubt in case of emergency,” quips David Starkey).

The Society was also the pioneer of recording and reproducing historical items, be they architecture, paintings, monuments or artefacts.

The next part of the exhibition brings in many works commissioned by members of the Society (which was after accuracy rather than artistic merit): pen and ink topographies, faithful drawings of Roman mosaics and watercolours by JMW Turner and William Blake. Some reproduced works are believed to be by Blake as he was apprenticed to the Society’s official engraver.

James Basire, Profile of a Roman Cavalry Sports Helmet, 1799. Society of Antiquaries of London © Society of Antiquaries of London / John Hammond

One look at some of these images shows just how much more you can see in an illustration than in a photograph, the modern method of visual recording.

On display are sumptuous reproductions of gold leafed paintings that used to reside on the walls of St Stephen’s Chapel before the Houses of Parliament took over the building, and a plaster cast of William the Conqueror on the Bayeux Tapestry, evincing its texture wonderfully.

Moreover, what the Society chose to record has shaped how we see history, in many ways, for some of these recordings and reproductions are all we have left to know of the lost originals. The St Stephen’s paintings are one example, and others on show are copies of paintings depicting the sinking of the Mary Rose and the coronation of Edward VI, both of which were destroyed in a fire.

This shaping of history may also have influenced the Victorians and their penchant for medieval revival in gothic fantasy architecture such as Pugin’s Houses of Parliament, and the Arts and Crafts / Pre-Raphaelite fondness of medieval styles and motifs – examples of both are on show.

Arts and Crafts designer William Morris had a romantic notion that socialism began in the Middle Ages, while gothic architecture could remind us of political ideals dating back to the Magna Carta.

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(Above) John William Inchbold, Stonehenge from the East, 1866-69. Photo © Society of Antiquaries of London

Modern archaeology also began with antiquaries, who dug up tombs out of interest rather than for treasure as had been done before. A Rowlandson cartoon, Death and the Antiquaries, shows members opening Edward I’s tomb in 1774. An accompanying poem ran: “A curious wish their fancies tickled/ To know how royal folk were pickled.”

The churning up of the land during the Industrial Revolution revealed a treasure trove of finds, so it was lucky the Society was there to take care of finds which came to them, and record details about where they were found. On show are the striking Ribchester Roman cavalry parade helmet (found by a child playing, in 1796) and a beautiful processional crucifix from the Battle of Bosworth.

New knowledge of geology meant the Victorians realised that prehistory went back a long, long way, and scientific archaeology developed from their zealous excavations, combined with the Society’s methodical recording techniques. The exhibition concludes with this development and a room dedicated to Stonehenge featuring depictions ranging from the first aerial photograph of the monument to Constable’s c.1835 watercolour.

The message is this – even with modern investigative techniques, the monuments of history still hold great mysteries and will forever be a fascinating subject of study.

Visit the Society of Antiquaries of London website for more information.