Initial membership included: Prof. Thomas Bell, Frederick E. Edwards, Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton, Hugh Falconer, William H. Fitton, J.W.
Notable members of the Society included Robert Heddle, William King, Charles Maclaren, Gideon Mantell, Sir Roderick Murchison and Reverend Adam Sedgwick.
In the following years, eminent scientists such as Richard Owen, Charles Darwin, Robert Chambers and Laurent-Guillaume de Koninck joined the ranks of the Society.
[4] The Edward Forbes Prize is awarded for publication excellence by early career researchers in the field of taxonomic and systematic palaeontology; is presented at the Society’s Annual General Meeting.
The Palaeontographical Society Medal is awarded biennially in recognition of a sustained and important series of contributions to the taxonomic and systematic palaeontology of Great Britain and Ireland, especially those which address problems of palaeogeography, palaeoecology and phylogeny.