History
A public meeting was held on 11 October 1881 in Truro Town Hall to discuss the formation of a beekeeping association for Cornwall.
The Chair was taken by the Hon. & Rev. J.T. Boscawen. Mr. Charles Kent of the Royal Cornwall Gazette was appointed Honorary Secretary and was instructed to draw up a circular to be forwarded to clergy, magistrates etc convening a meeting for this purpose.
This meeting, again in the Town Hall, was held in November 1881 when the association was formally inaugurated and Rules were drawn up, Officers and Committee were elected and the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe was invited to become the first President.
There was a planned First Beekeeping Show to be held at Launceston in June 1882 in conjunction with the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Society and in 1883 a second Exhibition was held at Truro. Various reports indicate that the CBKA was active for a number of years but at some time prior to the 1st World War the Association seems to have become defunct.
Subsequently at another public meeting at County Hall, on 13 February 1919, convened by the Horticultural sub-committee of the Cornwall Agricultural committee, following an address by the noted Mr. William Herrod Hempsall, the beekeepers present decided to form a Beekeepers Association for Cornwall. The first Chairman of the association was appropriately named Rev J. H. Beecroft.