Presidents of The Folklore Society since 1878

• 2020–current Owen Davies
• 2017–20 Patricia Lysaght
• 2014–17 James H. Grayson
• 2011–14 Robert McDowall
• 2008–11 Eddie Cass
• 2005–08 W. F. Ryan
• 2002–05 Marion Bowman
• 1999–2002 W. F. H. Nicolaisen
• 1996–99 Juliette Wood
• 1993–96 Jacqueline Simpson
• 1990–93 Roy Judge
• 1987–90 John Widdowson
• 1984–87 Venetia Newall
• 1982–84 Carmen Blacker
• 1979–82 W M S Russell
• 1976–79 J R Porter
• 1976–79 J R Porter
• 1973–76 Hilda Ellis Davidson
• 1970–73 Stewart Sanderson
• 1967–70 Katharine Briggs
• 1964–67 Douglas Kennedy
• 1963–64 Peter Opie
• 1961–63 Mary Williams
• 1959–61 Sir Arthur Waugh
• 1956–59 Sona Rosa Burstein
• 1956 (No president)
• 1955 T W Bagshawe
• 1953–55 Margaret Murray
• 1951–53 Arthur Allan Gomme
• 1948–51 Walter Leo Hildburgh
• 1947–48 H J Fleure
• 1945–47 FitzRoy Somerset, 4th Baron Raglan
• 1943–45 L F Newman
• 1939–43 John Henry Hutton
• 1939–43 John Henry Hutton
• 1937–39 Mary MacLeod Banks
• 1935–37 S H Hooke
• 1932–35 H J Rose
• 1930–32 E O James
• 1928–30 R M Dawkins
• 1926–28 A R Wright
• 1924–26 J L Myers
• 1922–24 Henry Balfour
• 1920–22 W H R Rivers
• 1918–20 Alfred Cort Haddon
• 1913–18 Robert Ranulph Marett
• 1911–13 William Crooke
• 1909–11 Charlotte Burne
• 1907–09 Moses Gaster
• 1904–07 W H D Rouse
• 1903–04 Frederick York Powell
• 1901–03 Edward Brabrook
• 1899–1901 Edwin Hartland
• 1897–99 Alfred Nutt
• 1895–97 Edward Clodd
• 1892–95 Laurence Gomme
• 1888–92 Andrew Lang
• 1885–88 George Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford
• 1880–85 Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp
• 1880–85 Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp
• 1878–79 James Grimston, 2nd Earl of Verulam