For most of the history of Royal Society publishing, the practicalities of publishing (liasing with the printer, paper merchant, and bookseller; liasing with authors about revisions and proofs) was undertaken by the general administrative staff of the Society: the ‘clerk’ or the ‘assistant secretary’.
In the early twentieth century, this work was gradually transferred to dedicated publishing staff. The origins of the modern editorial and production team lie in the 1930s. The sales and marketing team was created in 1954.
Senior Publishing Staff
| 1925 | [Ronald Winckworth, MA] | (a member of the RS Library staff, with responsibility for publications) |
| 1932-36 | William Diamond PhD, | Publications Clerk (first staff member with a strictly ‘publications’ role – hired because Winckworth was promoted in 1932 to Assistant Secretary to the entire RS) |
| 1937-44 | Ronald Winckworth | Assistant Editor (deputy from 1938: JC Graddon) |
| 1944-46 | Ronald Winckworth | Honorary Consulting Editor |
| 1946-72 | John C ‘Jock’ Graddon BSc | Assistant Editor (deputy from 1947: Gerry Evans) |
| 1972-83 | WG ‘Gerry’ Evans BSc | Assistant Editor (deputy from c.1980: Bruce Goatly) |
| 1983-94 | Bruce Goatly PhD | Assistant Editor, later Executive Editor, later (1990) Head of Publishing |
| 1994-95 | Chris Purdon | Head of Publishing (had been Production Editor from 1989) |
| 1995-96 | Ruth Glynn PhD | Director of Publishing |
| 1996-2004 | John Taylor | Head [?] of Publishing |
| 2004-06 | Ian Russell | Head [?] of Publishing |
| 2006– | Stuart Taylor PhD | Head of Publishing, later (2011) Director of Publishing |