Each year, a person of standing and importance in the county is invited to be honorary president of The Devonshire Association. A president's year of office commences in June at the Annual General Meeting (held as part of the annual conference) when a formal induction ceremony takes place. Outgoing presidents chair the AGM and invest the new president with the silver-and-enamel "President's Jewel". Given to the Association in 1935, the splendid President's Jewel is over 70 years old and symbolises the long tradition and heritage of The DA.

Full list of DA presidents since 1862

President, 2009-2010 Mrs Rachel Thomas, CBE, DL, BA, DrSc.h.c, FRGS, Chairman of the Exmoor Society (Dulverton AGM & Conference)

Rachel Thomas is a Devonian by adoption after her marriage to Hugh in 1967 when she moved to North Devon. As a former lecturer in Geography at the North Devon College, her professional background led to her first ministerial appointment to the Exmoor National Park in 1981. Her many appointments since include being a Countryside Commissioner for ten years and chairman of a range of bodies such as England’s Forestry Advisory Committee, the Devon Rural Development Commission, the School of Rural Economy, Cirencester and, more recently, the Chairman of the Exmoor Society. She has served as a trustee of the Woodland Trust and as a member of the National Trust’s National Land Use & Access Panel. Other significant public appointments have included membership of the Geography Working Party for the National curriculum, membership of the final selection board for fast-stream entrance to the Civil Service, and service as an independent advisor for appointments to public bodies. This long experience, both nationally and locally, has led to her giving many speeches and talks, and writing papers, on countryside matters and rural affairs. Her passion for Exmoor, its people and landscape, remains strong. Recognition of her work includes her appointment as CBE, an honorary doctorate, and appointment as a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Devon.

President’s Symposium: Contested Devon Landscapes, Saturday, 24 April 2010, County Hall Topsham Road, Exeter details

President, 2010-2011 Mr Roger F. S. Thorne, JP, CEng, MICE, FSA (Holsworthy AGM & Conference)

Born in Barnstaple at the beginning of the Second World War, Roger Thorne’s ancestry lies mostly within fifteen miles of the town. He was educated at Grammar Schools in Barnstaple and Taunton and then trained as a railway engineer in the former offices of the Great Western Railway at Paddington. After a year at Plymouth, the uncertainties of the railway led him to a career with Plymouth City and then Devon County. Early retirement was an opportunity for voluntary pastoral work for the Methodist Church in Exeter. In the 1960s, he developed an interest in the chapels in and around Plymouth where he preached as a Local Preacher. This interest continued and enlarged after moving to Exeter and he has written and lectured widely about the place of churches and chapels in the local landscape. For nine years, he broadcast regularly on Radio Devon, following a series he entitled ‘Buildings and Belief’. In 1991, he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He is currently a committee member of the Wesley Historical Society and the Chapels Society and is a member of the Listed Buildings Advisory Committee of the United Reformed Church. In retrospect, he can look back over more than forty years actively investigating and advocating the architecture, history, demography, bibliography, worship and archives of the places of worship of Methodism and Nonconformity in the Southwest and beyond. He and Roslyn live in Exeter and have three grandsons.

President, 2008-2009 Mr Anthony Beard, Widecombe-in-the-Moor Farmer, Broadcaster, Historian (Bovey Tracey AGM & Conference)

Tony Beard is a true Westcountry man known universally as 'The Wag from Widecombe'. Born and bred in Widecombe-in-the-Moor, made famous by the song Widecombe Fair, when he isn't entertaining he can be found tending the cattle on his moorland farm. A genuine 'son of the soil', with a true Devonshire voice, a lover of the Devonshire dialect and an ambassador for all that is Westcountry based, Tony Beard is the presenter on BBC Radio Devon of 'The Tony Beard Sunday Request Show' and also the weekly 'My Dartmoor Diary', in which he talks about the many interesting facets of Dartmoor's natural history, archaeology and history, which makes it such a special place.

Tony Beard is a founder member of The Widecombe & District Local History Group and is always much in demand as a speaker on Dartmoor, its history and legends; his collection of locally discovered prehistoric flint implements always creates an interest.

The Dartmoor Society Award for 2004 was presented to Tony Beard for sharing his Dartmoor wisdom, empathy and wit. A unique ceramic plate was awarded to him in recognition of his special contribution to Dartmoor.

President’s Symposium: Telling the Dartmoor Story, Saturday 25 April 2009, County Hall Topsham Road, Exeter details

President, 2007-2008 Mr Justin Leigh, BBC Presenter, Journalist and Broadcaster (Ilfracombe AGM)

Justin Leigh was born in Truro in 1970. He was educated in the city and started his working life there. After a short stint gaining experience at Truro Hospital Radio, he started helping out at BBC Radio Cornwall. This soon became paid employment starting with a one hour a week local music programme.

Justin spent ten years at Radio Cornwall covering a wide range of subjects. He presented the Arts programme, sport, music and news. His final position with the station was presenting the breakfast programme Coast to Coast. During his time at the station he interviewed leading national political figures putting Cornish issues to Government Ministers.

He moved to BBC Plymouth in 1997 to work on the regional television news programme Spotlight as a reporter and became a regular presenter of the programme in 2001. In his time on Spotlight has covered two Tall Ships races, reported from Norway and South Africa, and spent a week in Boscastle covering the flooding.

Since 2000 Justin has also presented the BBC Radio Devon lunchtime phone-in programme which gives people in Devon a platform to air their views and opinions. It proved to be a very useful programme during the Foot and Mouth Crisis when listeners stranded on their farms were able to link up with each other. The programme also linked up with BBC Radio Cumbria to share experiences of Foot and Mouth.

Justin lives on the Devon-Cornwall border and enjoys walking on Dartmoor, canoeing and relaxing on the beaches of Devon and Cornwall.

President's Symposium: The Media details

President, 2006-2007 Mr Anthony Gibson, OBE, MA(Oxon), MSc, ARAgS, Director of the NFU for the South West Region (Salcombe AGM)

Presidential Address: 'The impact of the 2001 outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Devon'

Anthony Gibson was born in Totnes and has lived in Devon for most of his life. He has worked for the NFU since 1972 and was appointed South West Regional Director, based in Exeter, in 1992. In the last ten years, he has led the farming community in the region through two of the biggest crises in modern times: BSE and the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak.

As the original moving spirit for Taste of the West, he has played a key role in the renaissance of local food; as a passionate believer in combining efficient farming with care for the countryside he negotiated environmentally sensitive area agreements covering tens of thousands of acres on the Dartmoor commons; and as a leading advocate for the role of farming and the land-based sector in the regional economy, he was instrumental in setting up both the South West Chamber of Rural Enterprise and the Rural Enterprise Gateway.

In his Presidential Address: 'An ill wind . . . The impact of the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Devon', Rep. Trans. Devon Ass. Advmt Sci., 138, 1-24, he reflected on the Foot and Mouth experience, five years on, and on the extent to which it has had a lasting impact, not only on farming and the rural economy, but also on attitudes, relationships and culture across the county. He also presented the results of his original research on what had happened since the outbreak on the farms that lost their livestock.

President's Symposium: What Farming means to Devon details

President, 2005-2006, (Seaton AGM) Professor Malcolm Hart, Distinguished Geologist & Associate Dean University of Plymouth

Presidential Address: 'Conversation with the Earth: A Personal View', Rep. Trans. Devon Ass. Advmt Sci., 137, 1-35

President's Symposium: The Coast of Devon details