[4][5][6] An informal preliminary meeting on 21 January 1911 at University College, London was organised by John Addyman Gardner[7] and R. H. A. Plimmer and attended by 32 people.

Brown, H. H. Dale, A. E. Garrod, W. D. Halliburton, Arthur Harden, F. G. Hopkins, F. Keeble, Benjamin Moore, Walter Ramsden and E. J. Russell.

[7] The three earliest women members, elected in 1913, were Ida Smedley, who became the first female chair of the society, Harriette Chick and Muriel Wheldale.

[9][10] In the early years eight annual meetings were generally held, predominantly in London, but also in Oxford, Cambridge, Rothamsted, Glasgow, Edinburgh and elsewhere.

[15] By the late 1960s, according to the American science historian Pnina Abir-Am, the society had established itself as a "well-organized nationwide power base for biochemists", and a "powerful" body whose activities went beyond the usual ones of a learned society to encompass "guarding the professional status, even welfare, of its members".

[17] In 1990, the headquarters of the society moved to Portland Place, and in 2005, to modern offices in Procter Street, Holborn.

[19][20][21] The society's wholly owned publishing subsidiary, Portland Press (established in 1989[16]), publishes a magazine, The Biochemist, and several academic journals: The society holds archives of material from some prominent biochemists, and had recorded oral history interviews on video with around twenty scientists in 1988.

[22] The society published several editions of a "renowned" booklet by V. Booth with advice on how to write a scientific paper.