Allegations of financial irregularities

• Reference:GB 1716 RSA1/9/2

• Scope and Content

  This episode, which potentially threatened the very survival of the Academy marked the culmination of almost 20 years of disharmony between the Academy and the Trustees of the Board of Manufacturers. It appears to have been triggered by the moving to a position deemed less advantageous in the RSA Annual Exhibition of a work submitted by the son of the Secretary of the Trustees, and erupted into a widely publicised scrap. It was the first, but not the last time, that unfounded and ill-informed allegations of financial impropriety were levelled against the Council of the Academy. The outcome was an unreserved apology from the Board and following a change of personnel harmonious relations were finally achieved.