National Trust Timeline

Year	Event	Number of Members
1895	The National Trust is established by Octavia Hill, Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley and Sir Robert Hunter / Acquisition of Dinas Oleu coastline in Wales	100
1896	Acquisition of Alfriston Clergy House, East Sussex	150
1899	Acquisition of two acres of Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire	200
1900	Robert Hunter negotiated the gift of Kanturk Castle	250
1902	Campaign for Brandelhow on Derwentwater, The Lake District	350
1907	The National Trust Act came into force / expensive acquisition of Barrington Court	550
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1912	Death of Octavia Hill / acquisition of Blakeney Point
1915	Drop in membership numbers between years of 1915-1919, from 725 down to 650 (First World War)	700
1927	Stonehenge Down was bought after a national appeal	1,100
1929	The Trust was able to acquire 4,000 acres of the Monk Coniston estate, near Coniston Water in the Lake District. This was made possible by Beatrix Potter and the income from her childrens' books.	1,700
1931	The National Trust for Scotland is established	2,550
1934	West Wycombe in Buckinghamshire became the first village to be protected by the Trust At the Trust's AGM, The Marquis of Lothian proposes that the Trust should be able to accept the gift of country houses.	3,400
1937	The National Trust Act of 1937 enabled the Trust to accept the gift of country houses, with endowments in land or capital which would be free of tax	6,550
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1939	Drop in membership numbers between years of 1939 - 1941, from 7,250 down to 6,500 (Second World War)	7,100
1940	Lord Lothian bequeathes Blickling Hall to the Trust, setting the seal on his Country Houses Scheme, with the help of James Lees-Milne. Many estates were saved rather than being broken up wholesale	6,800
1941	Acquisition of Wallington in Northumberland.	6,500
1944	Acquisition of the Holnicote Estate in Exmoor National Park, Somerset	6,800
1946	The National Land Fund was established by Dr Hugh Dalton, Chancellor of the Exchequer	12,503
1953	The Queen Mother became President of the National Trust	44,454
1965	Neptune Coastline Campaign launched	157,581
1967	First Working Holidays held	170,986
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1968	First National Trust magazine	160,100
1970	The Trust began to sell items such as tea towels at its properties, leading to the formation of National Trust Enterprises	226,069
1981	Trust membership hits the one million mark	1,046,864
1995	National Trust celebrates its centenary / launch of National Trust website / The publication of the National Trust's 'Linking People and Place' report.	2,189,777
1997	National Trust acquires part of Snowdon, thanks to the 'Save Snowdon' Appeal which was launched in 1990 by Sir Anthony Hopkins	2,491,362
2001	'Farming Forward' initiative launched at the time of the foot and mouth crisis	2,728,983
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2002	Tyntesfield acquired after the Trust raised £3 million from over 50,000 donors and secured a grant of £17.5 million from the National Heritage Memorial Fund	2,843,930
2003	Prince Charles becomes President of the National Trust	3,270,020
2005	Opening of new central office in Swindon - Heelis	3,391,934
2006	The launch of the History Matters campaign, over 45,000 wrote an online diary for a day	3,480,188
2007	The National Trust's membership figures reach 3.5 million members.	3,500,000

Dinas Oleu, the first property owned by the National Trust