The Association of British Neurologists was founded at a meeting held in the house of Dr Gordon Holmes at 9 Wimpole Street, London on July 28th 1932. At this meeting there were present: W J Adie, E Bramwell, E F Buzzard, H Cohen, J S Collier, D E Core, A Feiling, R G Gordon, J G Greenfield, G Hall, W Harris, W Johnson, F J Nattrass, C Worster-Drought, S A Kinnier Wilson and G Holmes.

The first Scientific Meeting of the Association was held in the Medical Society, London, in 1933; at this time there were 51 Ordinary Members. By 1967 there were 125 Ordinary Members and the criteria for membership were rationalised to include all consultant neurologists practising in the United Kingdom. In 1972 Associate Membership was introduced to allow senior registrars in neurology full access to meetings, and then in 1987, registrars in neurology who had presented a paper to the Association became eligible for this category of membership. Honorary Membership was established from the start of the Association's existence. Overseas Membership was introduced in 1937 to accommodate members of the Association who had taken up appointments abroad. Honorary Foreign Membership was introduced in 1955 and two years later Senior Membership was offered to Ordinary Members who had retired or attained the age of 65 years. The Services Subcommittee was constituted in 1984, the Training and Education Subcommittee in 1993 and most recently the Clinical Research and Academic Committee in 1999.

Meetings of the Association were held annually between 1933 and 1949, except for the war years 1940-1944. From 1950 meetings have been held twice annually, usually one in London and one elsewhere in the United Kingdom. In addition, a number of meetings have been held abroad, jointly with other neurological societies.

The Association currently has 1139 members.