Charles Roach Smith - Learned Societies

Learned Societies

Roach Smith belonged to many learned societies at home and abroad. He was elected Felllow to the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1836. For many years, he compiled the monthly article of "Antiquarian Notes" in The Gentleman's Magazine. He was a writer for the Athenaeum of the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries (of which he was a member), and in the Transactions of several other antiquarian bodies. When, through the medium of his friend, the Abbé Cochet, he intervened successfully with Napoleon III for the preservation of the Roman walls of Dax, a medal was struck in France in 1858 in honour of Roach Smith to commemorate the event. At a meeting in 1890 of the Society of Antiquaries, it had been proposed to strike a medal in his honour, and to present him with the balance of any fund that might be collected. The medal, in silver, was presented to him on 30 July, three days before his death, and there remained for him the sum of one hundred guineas. A marble medallion by G. Fontana belongs to the Society of Antiquaries. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of the North; and a member of the Societies of Antiquaries of France, of Normandy, of Picardy, of the West, and of the Morini.

For more than fifty years, Roach Smith took a keen interest in the work of the London Numismatic Society. From 1841 to 1844, he was one of its honorary secretaries, and from 1852 he was an honorary member. He was the first presenter of the Liudhard medalet to the Numismatic Society in 1844. To the 'Numismatic Chronicle, he made a variety of contributions, and he received, in 1883, the first medal of the society, in recognition of his services in promoting the knowledge of Romano-British coins.

In conjunction with Thomas Wright, he founded the British Archaeological Association in 1843, and he frequently wrote in its journal. After his retirement to Strood, he actively assisted in the work of the Kent Archaeological Society, and contributed many papers to the Archaeologia Cantiana. Much of his earliest work was contributed to the Archaeologia. He was also an honorary member of the Archaeological Societies of Madrid, Wiesbaden, Mayence, Treyes, Chester, Cheshire and Lancashire, Suffolk, Surrey. Roach Smith was an honorary member of the Royal Society of Literature, the Societies of Antiquaries of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and of Scotland, and the Society of Emulation of Abbeville.