RICS traces its history to 1792, when a group of 20 practitioners formed the Surveyors Club in London to represent the growing property profession. Founding firms including Drivers Jonas and Cluttons emphasized need for more stringent checks and balances in the face of rapid development and expansion of the industrializing world. 

An expanded group of 49 members met at the Westminster Palace Hotel on June 15, 1868 to approve resolutions and elect a Council. John Clutton was elected the first president of the Institution of Surveyors, which leased offices at 12 Great George Street.  The building, expanded by Alfred Waterhouse in 1899, is still part of the RICS Headquarters building today.

Queen Victoria granted RICS a charter in 1881. A series of mergers followed with associations across the property disciplines.  In 1946, the title Royal was granted, creating the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the RICS Coat of Arms, with motto ‘Est modus in rebus' (There is measure in all things).  In 2006, RICS celebrated 125 years of holding a royal charter with a visit from Queen Elizabeth to the headquarters at Great George Street.