Royal Institution for its founding were given by the Society for Bettering the Conditions and Improving the Comforts of the Poor, under the guidance of philanthropist Sir Thomas Bernard and American-born British scientist Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford. Since its founding it has been based at 21 Albemarle Street in Mayfair. Its Royal Charter was granted in 1800. Throughout its history, the Institution has supported public engagement with science through a programme of lectures, many of which continue today. The most famous of these are the annual Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, founded by Michael Faraday. The Royal Institution was founded as the
John Peters Humphrey a refugee from France who was working on behalf of the Free French. In 1943, Laugier moved to Algeria to teach at the University of Algiers and later became the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. While at McGill University, John Peters Humphrey founded the McGill Debating Union, one of the world's most successful and prominent debate societies. In 1946, Assistant Secretary-General to the United Nations, Henri Laugier, appointed John Peters Humphrey as the first Director of the United Nations Division of Human Rights, within the United Nations Secretariat. Humphrey was a principal drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human