text: * Sir Joseph Swan: 1903–1904
  * Lord Kelvin: 1905–1907
  * Sir William Henry Perkin: 1907
  * Sir Oliver Lodge: 1908–1909
  * Sir James Swinburne: 1909–1911
  * Sir Richard T. Glazebrook: 1911–1913
  * Sir Robert Abbott Hadfield: 1913–1920
  * Professor Alfred W Porter: 1920–1922
  * Sir Robert Robertson: 1922–1924
  * Sir Frederick George Donnan: 1924–1926
  * Professor Cecil Henry Desch: 1926–1928
  * Professor Thomas Martin Lowry: 1928–1930
  * Sir Robert Mond: 1930–1932
  * Professor Nevil Vincent Sidgwick: 1932–1934
  * William Rintoul: 1934–1936
  * Professor Morris William Travers: 1936–1938
  * Sir Eric Keightley Rideal: 1938–1945
  * Professor William Edward Garner: 1945–1947
  * Professor Arthur John Allmand: 1947–1948
  * Sir John Lennard-Jones: 1948–1950
  * Sir Charles Goodeve: 1950–1952
  * Sir Hugh Taylor: 1952–1953
  * Professor Ronald George Wreyford Norrish: 1953–1955
  * Ronald Percy Bell: 1956–1957
  * Sir Harry Work Melville: 1958
  * Dr Edgar William Steacie: 1959
  * Sir Harry Work Melville: 1960
  * Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood: 1961–1962
  * Professor Alfred Rene Ubbelhode: 1963–1964
  * Sir Frederick Sydney Dainton: 1965–1966
  * Professor Cecil Bawn: 1967–1968
  * Professor Geoffrey Gee: 1969–1970
  * Professor John Wilfrid Linnett: 1971–1972