The earliest members were T. W. Rolleston (Honorary Secretary), T. W. Arnold, Leighton Cleather, A. K. Coomaraswamy, Walter Crane, E. B. Havell, Christiana Herringham, Paira Mall, and William Rothenstein.
[4][5] "In 1910 he [Coomaraswamy] became involved in a very public controversy, played out in the correspondence columns of The Times and elsewhere, on the status of Indian art.
Everything will be done to promote the acquisition by the authorities of our national and provincial museums of works representing the best Indian art.
The society proposes to publish works showing the best examples of Indian architecture, sculpture, and painting, and hopes to co-operate with all those who have it as their aim to keep alive the traditional arts and handicrafts still existing in India, and to assist in the development of Indian art education on native and traditional lines, and not in imitation of European ideals."
The India Society organised a conference on Indian Art at the British Empire Exhibition, at Wembley, on 2 June 1924.