In May 16, 1912, a month after the Titanic sank, banker and expert naturalist Nathaniel Charles Rothschild (1877-1923) held a meeting at the Natural History Museum in London to discuss his idea for a new organisation to save the best places for wildlife in the British Isles. This meeting led to the formation of the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves – to identify and secure protection for important wildlife sites in Britain.
By 1915 they had compiled a list of 284 sites ‘worthy of preservation’ – the Rothschild Reserves. In 1942 the The Government’s Nature Reserves Investigation Committee was formed then in an 1949 the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act is passed, which established the first National Parks and Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Today the organisations form The Wildlife Trusts found thoughout the United Kingdom.
[It’s unclear why The Wildlife Trusts of UK, has the same logo as WildLife Trust of 1971, the latter becoming EcoHealth Alliance in 2010, further investigation required here]