| Activity | Dr Samuel Hitch, who was Resident Superintendent of the Gloucestershire General Lunatic Asylum, suggested the formation of a joint national association of asylums and mental hospitals in 1841. This was agreed the same year with the association's aims being to improve and encourage communication and information sharing between members in order to improve the treatment of the insane. The first annual meeting of the Association of Medical Officers of Asylums and Hospitals for the Insane was held at Nottingham Asylum on 4 November 1841. At a meeting in 1847 an idea to publish a journal was put forward and The Asylum Journal of Mental Science, as it was originally called, was published in November 1853 under the editorship of Dr John Bucknill. This journal was the forerunner of the British Journal of Psychiatry.
In 1865 the name of the Association changed to the Medico Psychological Association and again in 1887 to the Medico Psychological Association of Great Britain and Ireland. Membership of the Association was extended to all legally qualified medical practitioners interested in the treatment of the mentally ill. The Association was involved in lobbying and parliamentary reform, as well as moves to improve the teaching and training of doctors and nurses working with the mentally ill. In 1865 the Association founded the Certificate of Proficiency in Psychological Medicine, which was replaced by a Diploma in Psychological Medicine in 1948. From 1891 the Association started to organise examinations for nurses employed in hospitals for the mentally ill. The qualification was known as the Medico-Psychological Association Certificate of Proficiency in Nursing and was the first to be awarded to nurses nationally as opposed to those awarded by individual hospitals.
In 1894 the constitution of the Association was re-drafted, area Divisions were established, and the Educational and Parliamentary Committees were made Standing Committees of Council. Also at this time membership was opened to female doctors. In the early twentieth century the Association continued to work towards legislative reform and move with the changes and developments in psychiatry.
In 1926 the Association received a Royal Charter changing its name to the Royal Medico-Psychological Association. The Royal charter allowed the Association to have a greater impact politically and it was heavily involved in the Mental Treatment Act, 1930 and the Mental Health Act of 1959.
On 16 June 1971 the Royal Medico-Psychological Association became the Royal College of Psychiatrists after being granted a Supplemental Charter.
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