A

(National) Anti-vivisection League / Independent Anti-Vivisection League	AVL/NAVS
Formed 2 December 1875 by Frances Power Cobbe under the name of the Victoria Street Society (renamed National Anti-Vivisection Society on 6 October 1897) to demand the abolition of vivisection. In 1898 the Council resolved to continue to aim for total abolition but also campaign for ‘lesser measures, having for its object the saving of animals from scientific torture’. Cobbe, then left the NAVS and formed the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) calling for total abolition as the only goal.   Key women connected to Bloomsbury who were involved: Anna Kingsford, Mona Caird Campaigner against vivisection becoming, for a short period, President of the Independent Anti-Vivisection League.   NAVS : About us : History : The history of the NAVS

Association of Women Pharmacists	NAWP	Later National Association of Women Pharmacists (NAWP) Now network of the Pharmacists Defence Association
Founded 1905 by women pharmacists who met in Isabella Clarke’s home at 5 Endsleigh Street to improve the opportunities for, and conditions of, employment for all women in pharmacy and establish a register of qualified women. 1st President Isabella Clarke-Keer, 1st Vice President Margaret Buchanan.

British Association for the Advancement of Science	BAAS	Now British Science Association (BSA)
Founded 1831 as an alternative to the Royal Society ‘to bring together a more diverse range of views and opinions’ and ‘to create better access to science for more people’ Download.ashx (britishscienceassociation.org)  Some women connected to Bloomsbury: Agnes Arber, Charlotte Brown Carmichael Stopes first woman to speak at a BAAS meeting when she spoke out at annual meeting Sept 1889, Edith Anne Stoney, life member, Hertha Ayrton who 1900 spoke at the International Electrical Congress in Paris which led to the British Association for the Advancement of Science allowing women to serve on committees, Maria Lathbury.

British Economic Association		Royal Economic Society
Founded 1890 at a meeting at UCL attended by ten (or eleven)* women. The Association established the Economic Journal with Caroline Foley on its staff from 1890-1895 and other women contributing.   *Ada Heather-Bigg, Caroline Foley, Clara Collet, Constance Jones, Helene Bochardt, Malvina Borchardt, Mary Paley, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Octavia Hill, Sophie Bochardt, Sophie Bryant. Collett, Heather-Bigg and Foley were involved in setting up the Economic Club at UCL in 1890.

Egypt Exploration Fund	EEF / EES	Renamed Egypt Exploration Society in 1919
The Egypt Exploration Society founded in Doughty Mews, Bloomsbury, in 1882 by Amelia Edwards to explore, survey and excavate sites in Egypt and Sudan.  Committee member from 1888 Lady Helen Tirard, English honorary secretary in the United States of America for the Egypt Exploration Fund Mary Brodrick. Our history | EES Egypt Exploration Society: records (nationalarchives.gov.uk)

F

Fabian Society	FS	An off-shoot of the Fellowship of the New Life
Founded 4 January 1884 by intellectuals including George Bernard Shaw and Stanley James Webb to establish a democratic socialist state in Great Britain.   Early women members with a Bloomsbury connection include: Alice Louisa Zimmern, Amy Levy, Annie Besant, Beatrice Webb (nee Potter), Bertha Newcombe, Caroline Townshend, Clementia Black, Constance Garnett, Dorothy Miller Richardson, Edith Bland/ E Nesbit (pseudonym Fabian Bland), Eleanor Marx, Emma Brooke (served on executive committee mid 1890s), Emmeline Pankhurst. https://fabians.org.uk/about-us/ Fabian Society founders (act. 1884–1900) | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (oxforddnb.com)

Female Middle Class Emigration Society	FMCES	Absorbed into Colonial Emigration Society in 1886.
Founded May 1862 by Bertha Newcombe, Bessie Rayner Parkes, Emily Faithfull, Jane E Lewin, Maria Rye, with fund raising assistance from Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon to assist middle class women who did not benefit from government sponsorship by providing loans to enable educated women to emigrate. Further info: Records of the Female Middle Class Emigration Society – Archives Hub (jisc.ac.uk)

I

Independent Anti-Vivisection League	IAVL
A breakaway group from the Anti-Vivisection League founded in 1903 with a focus on independence and autonomy in its advocacy against vivisection. Founded by Mona Caird. Prominent women: Mona Caird, Annie Besant. https://www.ea.sinica.edu.tw/eu_file/133240337814.pdf  https://heritage.humanists.uk/mona-caird/

K

Kensington Society	KS
Founded May 1865 (ceased 1868) by Alice Westlake and Emily Davies, secretary, as a discussion society ‘to serve as a sort of link between persons, above the average of thoughtfulness and intelligence who are interested in common subjects, but who have not many opportunities of mutual intercourse.’ Had strong associations with Bedford College and members connected to the college. Those involved in its founding and development with a Bloomsbury connection include Annette Beveridge, Anna Swanwick, Charlotte Manning (President), Elizabeth Anne Bostock, Frances Martin. Significant members include Adelaide Manning, Annie Keary, Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, Bessie Rayner Parkes, Dorothy Beale, Elizabeth Wolstenholme, Elizabeth Garret, Emelia Russell Gurney, Emily Bowell, Frances Buss, Frances Martin, Frances Power Cobbe, Gertrude King, Helen Taylor, Isa Craig, Jane Crowe, Jessie Boucherett, Mary Eliza Porter, Sophia Dobson Collet, Sophia Jex-Blake.   Kensington Society (act. 1865–1868) | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (oxforddnb.com)

L

Ladies London Emancipation Society	LES
Founded 20 August 1863, the first national female anti-slavery society Hon Sec Clementina Taylor. On the executive committee: Charlotte Manning, Emily Davies. Elizabeth Malleson joined 1864 as Honorary Auditor. Members include Claudia Jones, Frances Power Cobbe, Isa Craig, Sarah Remond.

Ladies’ National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts
Established in December 1869 by Elizabeth Wolstenholme and Josephine Butler to repeal the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1864, 1866, 1869 which aimed to stop the spread of venereal disease in the British armed forces. They allowed the examination of prostitutes or suspected prostitutes in military and garrison towns and the confinement of those women who were infected. No action was taken against men. The National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act set up in 1869 did not initially include women in the organisation. So, the Ladies’ Association was set up with a focus on moral rather than statistical arguments. On 1 January 1870 the Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts published an article title “Women’s Protest” in the Daily News, which gave a detailed explanation of what exactly the LNA felt was unjust and unlawful about the Contagious Diseases Acts: ‘This manifesto document opposed the acts on several grounds: they gave unbounded powers over women to the police; they identified and penalised the wrong sex as the source of vice; they withdrew moral restraints on conduct without tackling the moral causes of disease; they posed a serious danger to civil liberties; and finally, the group claimed, they were incapable of diminishing disease.’ Records of the Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts – Archives Hub (jisc.ac.uk) Elizabeth Malleson was on the executive committee.   Members and other supporters of the appeal included: Agnes Garrett, Alice Vickery, Clementia Taylor, Elizabeth Blackwell, Emily Davies, Florence Nightingale, Harriet Martineau, Lydia Becker, Mary Carpenter, Millicent Garrett, Rhoda Garrett, Sarah Amos. Supporters of the Acts include Elizabeth Garrett   Records of the Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts – Archives Hub (jisc.ac.uk) The British Contagious Diseases Acts (1864, 1866, and 1869) | Towards Emancipation? (unc.edu)]

Langham Place Group
Founded in  1857 by Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon supported by Elizabeth Rayner Parkes. Members comprised middle class women who came together to campaign for the improvement of the women ’s condition with a focus on education and employment. They publicised issues through the English Woman’s Journal. Members included: Adelaide Procter, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Emily Davies, Millicent Fawcett.  Langham Place group (act. 1857–1866) | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (oxforddnb.com)

London Ethical Society	LES
Founded 1886 by James Bonar, J. H. Muirhead, first meeting in University Hall in Gordon Square. 19th century women in Bloomsbury connected include: Clare Collet, Caroline Rhys Davids, Sophie Bryant.   UCL Bloomsbury Project

London Mathematical Society	LMS	(originally called London University Mathematical Society, then University College London Mathematical Society) British Mathematical Society
Founded 1865 by Arthur Ranyard & George Campbell De Morgan  – for ‘the advancement, dissemination and promotion of mathematics’. History | London Mathematical Society (lms.ac.uk) First women elected members: 1881 Charlotte Angas Scott first woman member and 1881 Christine Ladd Franklin, outstanding mathematicians. 1882 Sophie Bryant and first woman to read a paper at a Society meeting in 1885.

London National Society for Women’s Suffrage	LNSWS London Society for Women’s Suffrage.
Founded by Clementia Taylor with founding member France Power Cobbe in 1867 (Cobbe resigning shortly afterwards disagreeing with other committee members). Aim to campaign for women’s suffrage. The first committee of the society included: Clementia Taylor, Frances Power Cobbe, Katharine Hare, Margaret Bright Lucas and Millicent Garrett Fawcett . Elizabeth Malleson was on the executive committee until the LNSWS stopped members becoming campaigning for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Mabel Sharman Crawford central committee member.   Other members included: Alice Westlake, Anne Clough, Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, Caroline Ashurst Biggs, Catherine Winkworth, Dorothea Beale, Eliza Orme, Elizabeth Garrett, Emily Davies, Frances Mary Buss, Helen Blackburn, Helen Taylor, Jessie Boucherett, Kate Amberley, Lilias Ashworth Hallett, Louisa Garrett Smith, Lydia Becker, Priscilla McLaren, Rhoda Garrett. https://www.lse.ac.uk/library/collection-highlights/womens-suffrage

London Schoolmistresses’ Association	LSA	Became the London Association of Schoolmistresses in 1867
Founded 1866 to advocate the professional development of women educators. Emily Davies, founder and Secretary. Involved in its establishment: Frances Buss, Octavia Hill, Elizabeth Whitehead Malleson, Jane Chessar, Charlotte Manning, and Fanny Metcalfe. Members include Lucy Harrison.

Married Women’s Property Committee	MWPC	1876-82
Founded December 1855 by Bessie Rayner Parkes and Millicent Garrett Fawcett to collect signatures to support a Married Women’s Property Bill that was to be put before Parliament. Women involved include: Barbara Bodichon, Clementia Taylor, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy (honorary secretary 1868-1874), Emmeline Pankhurst, Isa Craig, Jessie Boucherett, Lydia Becker who served as treasurer. https://blog.bham.ac.uk/legalherstory/2018/03/21/bessie-rayner-parkes-and-the-married-womens-property-act /#:~:text= In%201855%2C%20Parkes%2C%20along%20with,to%20be%20put%20before%20Parliament.   26,000 signatures were collected, 3,000 from London including: Harriet Martineau, Marion Evans, Anna Jameson, Mary Howitt.

National Association for the Promotion of Social Science	NAPSS
Formed 1858, one of the first societies that welcomed women as full members. Isa Craig appointed assistant secretary in 1857. Female members included Lydia Becker, Dorothea Beale, Helen Blackburn, Jessie Boucherett, Mary Carpenter, Frances Power Cobbe, Jane Crowe, Emily Davies, Emily Faithfull, Elizabeth Garrett, Rhoda Garrett, Maria Grey, Florence and Rosamond Hill , Florence Nightingale, Bessie Rayner Parkes, Maria Rye, Emily Shirreff, Barbara Leigh Smith, Louisa Twining , Elizabeth Wolstenholme. 1859 the NAPSS appointed Adelaide Procter, Jessie Boucherett, Bessie Rayner Parkes, Emily Faithfull, Isa Craig and Matilda Hays to be on a committee ‘to consider and report on the subject of Female Employment’. 322498716.pdf (core.ac.uk)

National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies		NUWSS
The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) was founded in 1897 by the merger of the National Central Society for Women’s Suffrage and the Central Committee. It aimed to engage the support of all parties for a private member women’s suffrage bill. The initial demand was for equal voting rights for men and women under existing franchise laws. Many, however, wanted full suffrage for women  It developed a network of branch societies across the country. Prominent figures include: Alice Vickery, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Millicent Fawcett (President), Catherine Marshall, Eleanor Rathbone, Kathleen Courtney, Margaret Ashby. Other members included: Edith Downing, Constance Markievicz. https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/2015-parliament-in-the-making/get-involved1/2015-banners-exhibition/alinah-azadeh/1897-founding-of-the-nuwss-gallery/#:~:text=1897%20Foundation%20of%20the%20National%20Union%20of%20Women’s%20Suffrage%20Society,-Video%20interview%20with&text=From%20the%20mid%2D19th%20century,to%2050%2C000%20members%20by%201913. https://hist259.web.unc.edu/nationalunionofwomenssuffragesocieties/ https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/nuwss/

R

Rational Dress Society	RDS
Founded 1881 by Viscountess Florence Wallace Pomeroy, also known as Lady Harberton, President of the Society and Emily King ‘to promote the adoption, according to individual taste and convenience, of a style of dress based upon considerations of health, comfort, and beauty, and to deprecate constant changes of fashion, which cannot be recommended on any of these grounds’.   The Rational Dress Society – Untold lives blog Supportive of the movement: Ada Sarah Ballin, Charlotte Carmichael Stopes, Adelaide Claxton (who invented the Claxton Classical Corset), Constance Wilde (Secretary), Elizabeth Blackwell, Florence Wallace Pomeroy, Lady Harberton, Mabel Sharman Crawford, (Amelia Sarah Blandford Edwards), Sarah Grand. The Society published the Rational Dress Society Gazette overseen by Constance Wilde which ran for two years and to which women such as Charlotte Carmichael Stopes contributed. The Gazette was discontinued as financially unviable.

Royal Pharmaceutical Society	RPS
Founded 1841 by William Allen and Jacob Bell. In 1842 the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain founded the College of the Pharmaceutical Society at 17 Bloomsbury Square with a library and museum. 1877 Women Rose Minshull, Louisa Stammwitz and Alice Hart won fight to allow women to access the Society’s chemistry laboratories 1879 women finally granted membership with Minshull and Clarke becoming first women members. (first woman President elected 1947)   Women Pharmacists Become Members of the Society | RPS (rpharms.com) Women Pharmacists in Bloomsbury – Pascal Theatre Company (pascal-theatre.com)

Society for Promoting the Employment of Women	SPEW	Later renamed the Society for Promoting the Training of Women 1926 Now Future for Women
Founded 1859 in Bloomsbury by Jessie Boucherett and Adelaide Procter to encourage women towards economic independence through employment. Supported female suffrage and equality. Women involved include: Bessie Rayner Parkes helped set up and was on Committee, Adelaide Proctor, Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, Eliza Orme, Elizabeth Malleson, Emily Faithfull, Gertrude King, Harriet Martineau, Helen Blackburn, Jane Crowe, Maria Susan Rye, Matilda Hayes Cttee Member. Set up bookkeeping classes initially in Charlotte Street then moved to Great Ormond Street. Set up law copying classes in Queen’s Square Founded the Victoria Press March 1860 in Great Coram Street.   Supported Rose Minshull, Louisa Stammwitz and Isabella Clarke develop their careers as pharmacists. Mary Harris Smith attended bookkeeping classes organised by SPEW in Charlotte Street and later audited their accounts. Emily Davies set up the Northumberland and Durham branch of SPEW

Society for Promoting the Return of Women as County Councillors		1893 became the Women’s Local Government Society (WLGS)
Formed in 1888 by twelve women including Annie Leigh Browne, Mary Kilgour, Elizabeth Lidgett, Mary Bunting, Sarah Amos. Annie Leigh Browne helped with funding and acted as honorary secretary. Mary Kilgour was honorary treasurer. Its main objective was ‘to promote the return, independently of party politics, of women as county councillors’. 1889 Jane Cobden and Lady Margaret Sandhurst were elected to the London County Council but a court overturned their election. The Society campaigned against this decision. In 1893 the society was renamed and their aim adapted to securing that women ‘shall be equally with men eligible to be elected and serve on local governing bodies’. 1894 Local Government Act gave women ratepayers the right to vote for and allowed women to stand for election in district council elections. 1894 Legislation allowed married women to stand for school boards. 1907 An act gave women the right of election to borough and county councils. Members included: Elizabeth Lidgett, Mary Kilgour, Mary Lidgett, Millicent Fawcett, the Marchioness of Aberdeen.

Society of Female Artists	SFA/ SLA/ SWA	From 1865 Society of Lady Artists, from 1899 known as Society of Women Artists
Founded 1855 by Harriet Grote and Jenny Lind to offer women artists the opportunity to exhibit and sell their works. First exhibition held 1857 and repeated annually throughout 19th century. In 1865 the Society was reorganised in response to criticism of its lack of professionalism. The new society, Society of Lady Artists (SLA), was founded in 1869 with the Duchess of Cambridge as patron. 1867 Madeline Francis Jane Marrable joined the Committee. Became first president in 1886 holding post for 40 years. 1913 became Honorary President. Women associated with Bloomsbury members and exhibitors include: Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, Adelaide Claxton, Anna Mary Watts (nee Howitt), Annie Swynnerton, Edith Downing, Eliza Bridell, Emily Osborn, Fanny McIan, Jane Berntham Hay, along with students from the Female School of Design in Queen Square, Kate Perugini, Madeline Marrable, Margaret Carpenter. HISTORY | SWA Site (society-women-artists.org.uk)

The Ladies Sanitary Association		Founded by the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science (NAPSS)
Founded 1858 by Elizabeth Garrett, Isa Craig and Lady Stanley of Alderley supported by SPEW to raise standards of hygiene and educate women about the basic principles of health. Supported by the English Woman’s Journal . Members included: Louisa Twining.

Theosophical Society
Founded 17 November 1875 in New York by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Henry Steel Scott, William Quan Judge. Annie Besant leading member (becoming International President 1907) and Mona Caird active member.

Women’s Employment Defence League
1891 Founded by Ada Heather Bigg, Helen Blackburn, Jessie Boucherett opposing ‘protective’ legislation for women workers.

Women’s Franchise League	WFL
Inaugural meeting of WFL held at Emmeline and Richard Pankhurst’s home in Russell Square, Bloomsbury 25/7/1889. Their aim was to advocate for married women’s right to vote in local elections. Up to the 1894 Local Government Act voting in municipal elections was only available to some single women. President 1889 Harriet Mcqlluham. Members included Mona Caird. The organisation was dissolved in 1903. https://hist259.web.unc.edu/womensfranchiseleague/ https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2020/03/the-womens-movement-to-gain-the-parliamentary-vote-part-1/

Women’s Liberal Associations – opened through the country, the first in Bristol in 1881, joining together in the WLF in 1887. Eliza Orme was a founding member. Members included Emmeline Pankhurst, Sarah Amos.

Women’s Liberal Federation		WLF
Formed between 1886 and 1887. First President Catherine Gladstone. Members included Eliza Orme, Violet Bonham Carter. A breakaway group the Women’s National Liberal Federation (WNLF) was formed in protest at the decision to support the campaign for women’s suffrage.

Women’s Printing Society	WPS
Founded 1874 (or 1876) by Emma Paterson and Emily Faithfull to train women through an apprenticeship programme to work in the printing trade. It became the chosen printer for many women, different women’s societies and colleges. Other key women include: Agnes Zimmermann, Annie Leigh Browne, Louisa Lady Goldsmid, Sarah Prideaux.   The Women’s Printing Society | The British Library (bl.uk)

Women’s Trade Union Association	WTUA
Founded in 1889 by Clementina Black to campaign for legal reforms

Workhouse Visiting Society	WVS
Established by Louisa Twining* ‘to promote the moral and spiritual improvement of workhouse inmates’ (The English Church Union Kalendar, 1863)1858, Twining Honorary Secretary. 1863 Based 23 New Ormond Street. Served as supervising organisation for institutions such as Home for Workhouse Girls and Home for Incurables   *who also supported Society for Promoting the Return of Women as Poor Law Guardians and worked with Sophia de Morgan.   UCL Bloomsbury Project