Pioneer Club (women's club)

The Pioneer Club was a self-consciously progressive women's club founded in Regent Street, London, in 1892 by the social worker and temperance activist Emily Massingberd.[1] "It was strongly associated with the 'higher thought' and such associated issues of the 'New Morality' of the late nineteenth century as theosophy, anti-vivisection, anti-vaccination and above all feminism."[2]

The club was named after Walt Whitman's poem 'Pioneers! O Pioneers!', lines from which were inscribed on a glass screen in the building's hall:

We the route for travel clearing
Pioneers, O Pioneers!
All the hands of comrades clasping
Pioneers, O Pioneers! [1]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference ODNB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

One of the most popular of the Women's Clubs established in London in the late 19th century by 1895 membership exceeded 300. It began in Regent Street but soon moved to 22 Cork Street. Its permanent site was at 22 Bruton Street, Berkeley Square, previously the residence of Lord Hastings.

It had three drawing rooms, four bedrooms and a library. Meals were supplied to members and their guests. Lectures, debates and discussion were held on Thursday evenings on social political and literary themes.[3]

Professional and other working women, typists, dressmakers and milliners joined. Members were called by number to underline the unimportance of social position.[3] "99 might be a Duchess or a Post Office clerk." "On Wednesdays At Homes were given to which men were invited."

It is reported the feminist character of the club was diluted after the early death of the founder in January 1897.[3]

References

  1. ↑ David Doughan, Pioneer Club (act. 1892–1939), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press. Accessed 30 May 2012.
  2. ↑ Gordon, Peter; Doughan, David (2001). Dictionary of British Women's Organisations, 1825-1960. London & Portland, Or.: Woburn Press. pp. 117–8. ISBN 0-7130-0223-9.
  3. 1 2 3 Mark Clement, ‘Massingberd, Emily Caroline Langton (1847–1897)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004
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