It is a registered charity[1] and has its headquarters in the office of the British Academy at Carlton House Terrace in London.
Further fundraising in 1929 added £14,000, and although the Great Depression left the fund depleted, the school was established in 1932.
[2] Its initial purpose was to fund excavations by archaeologists and provide scholarship to British students working on archaeological projects in Iraq.
The School was funded by a grant from the British Government starting in 1946, which allowed it to establish a base in Baghdad.
[2] In 2011 the BISI sold one-third of its collection of Nimrud Ivories, discovered between 1949 and 1963 in excavations led by Sir Max Mallowan, to the British Museum for £1.17 million.
The Gertrude Bell Memorial Gold Medal is awarded by the BISI for "outstanding services to Mesopotamian archaeology".