During the later years of his life, a large part of his time was devoted to the affairs of the Royal Geographical Society, of which he was in 1830 one of the founders, and he was president 1843-1845, 1851-1853, 1856-1859 and 1862-1871. He served on the Royal Commission on the British Museum (1847-1849).

Murchison also announced the Permian system to geology in 1841, based on explorations