Antecedents Ethnic-based benevolent societies and fraternal organizations had existed in the
American Colonies and the early
Republic beginning in the mid-eighteenth century. One of the earliest of these was the
Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York and the
St. George Society of Philadelphia. A "St. George's Society of Baltimore" was incorporated as early as 2 April 1799, but it was extinct by the time the present society was organized. In the late nineteenth century, there was a large network of diasporic charitable and fraternal organizations serving
Anglo-American communities. In the United States, the largest of these was the
Benevolent (sometimes called the "American")
Order of the Sons of St. George, and in Canada, its brother organization was the
Sons of England Benevolent Society. These larger mutual aid societies, generally aimed at tradesmen and factory workers existed alongside more socially elite hereditary organizations.
Early history The St. George's Society of Baltimore was organized in late 1866 by the British
Consul, Stewart Darrell, his brother, Charles, and his Vice Consul, J. J. Jackson,
Royal Insurance Company representative for the American South. The initial officers were Stewart Darrell, President; W. H. Perot, Vice-President; George H. Williams, Treasurer; and James Belden, Secretary. The inaugural chaplains were the Rev'd Dr W. A. Hewitt, and Rev'd Dr Milo Mahan, of
Old Saint Paul's Episcopal Church. Since that time, it has ordinarily had member-chaplains from Episcopal parishes in the city and
County, such as the Rev'd Dr Campbell Fair (Church of the Ascension), The organization's purpose, as stated in the charter, was "to afford relief and advice to indigent natives of England or Wales and the British Colonies or to their wives, widows or children; and to promote social intercourse amongst its members." On 8 February 1869, the constitution of the Society was amended to replace "England and Wales" with "the United Kingdom," in order that "Scotch and Irish and their descendants could become members." Other St. George's Societies––of both elite and working-class characters––existed across North America, and in 1880, the Baltimore Society joined the North American St. George's Union, although it appears not to have actively participated in that larger organization.
Twentieth-century development Across the twentieth century, the Society continued to commemorate major events in the Anglo-American world. A young
Winston Churchill was hosted for a lecture on the status of the
Second Boer War in 1900. After the
sinking of the Titanic in 1912, the Society established a fund for widows and orphans of the ship's crew, and in 1913 special commemorations were made for the
Terra Nova Expedition. Services were held and funds were raised during both the First World War (during which a Society member, Montagu Tassel Grant, and his wife perished during the
sinking of the RMS Lusitania), and the Second World War. As constituent parts of
British Empire began to gain independence in the Postwar years, the Society's constituency began to extend to citizens and descendants of the Commonwealth and postcolonial states as well. This began as early as 1942 when
Sir Girija Shankar Bajpai, then British India's Agent General, addressed the society. Throughout the second half of the century, the Society was addressed by other major British and Commonwealth politicians, including
George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe. Prominent members of the Society in the last decades of the twentieth century included the
mayor of Baltimore William Donald Schaefer, and U.S. Senator
George L. P. Radcliffe. == Insignia ==