The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded by the eminent Sanskrit scholar Sir Henry Thomas Colebrooke on the 15th March 1823. It received its Royal Charter from King George IV on the 11th August 1824 'for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia'. It continues as a forum for those who are interested in the languages, cultures and history of Asia to meet and exchange ideas.
The Sir Richard Burton Medal – On 12 April 1921 the Council of the RAS agreed to found a Richard Burton memorial lecture in commemoration, that year, of the 100th anniversary of Burton's birth. A fund was established to finance the lecture and by 1923, £60 had been subscribed. It was decided in March 1923 that part of this would be used to fund the Burton Medal. This would be awarded to the person chosen to deliver the lecture, which was to deal with Burton, his travels or some suitable subject of exploration. The presentation and the lecture would take place triennially. The medal was designed in 1924 by Pinches, to be cast in silver and gilded. In practice those chosen to give the Burton lecture were expected to have undertaken exploration and research in the East, and more particularly in close association with local people, or in difficult circumstances. it has been awarded to:
- 1925 - Harry St John Bridger Philby (1885-1960)
- 1928 - Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael (1882-1967)
- 1931 - Bertram Sidney Thomas (1892-1950)
- 1934 - Dame Freya Madeline Stark (1893-1993)
- 1937 - Sir Arnold Talbot Wilson (1884-1940)
- 1940 - Sir John Bagot Glubb (1897-1986)
- 1943 - William Harold Ingrams (1897-1973)
- 1947 - Colonel David Lockhart Robertson (1876-1962) and Mrs Emily Overend Lorimer (1881-1949)
- 1952 - Miss Gertrude Caton-Thompson (1888-1985)
- 1963 - Cecil John Edmonds (1889-1979)
- 1966 - Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger
- 1969 - Brigadier Stephen Hemsley Longrigg (1893-1979)
- 1973 - Professor Mary Boyce (1920-2006)
- 1978 - William George Archer (1907-1979) and Hugh Trevor Lambrick (1904-1982)
- 1981 - Professor Robert Bertram Serjeant (1915-1993)
- 1992 - Mrs Doreen Ingrams (1906-1997) and Miss Beatrice Eileen de Cardi (1914-2016)
- 1998 - Professor Simon Everard Digby (1932-2010)
- 2004 - Professor David Llewellyn Snellgrove (1920-2016)
- 2009 - Ralph Pinder Wilson (1919-2008)
- 2014 - Professor Dame Caroline Humphrey (1943- )