Here is a roster of the current members of the Athenæum Club whom you might have the pleasure of meeting at our Open House, or on the streets of London, arranged, for your elucidation, by their principal interest or occupation. Members are engaged in Art, Exploration & Archaeology, Literature, Mysticism, Performing Arts, Photography, the Royal Navy, Science & Mathematics, Technology & Industry, and Domestic Service.
Art
John William Waterhouse – Painter and member of the Royal Academy, known for his beautiful depictions of women in classical, medieval, and literary themes such as The Lady of Shalott, Ophelia, Hylas and the Nymphs, and more. Sometimes called the ‘Modern Pre-Raphaelite.’
Jane Morris – An embroiderer and artist’s model. After her engagement to artist William Morris, she was privately educated to become a gentleman’s wife, and became a model of decorum and good breeding. She is said to have been the inspiration behind the heroine of Pygmalion and My Fair Lady.
Emma Sandys – New Pre-Raphaelite painter. Miss Sandys has been heavily influenced by the style of her brother, Fredrick Sandys, and she is staying at the Athenæum Club in the hopes of expanding her art skills and exhibiting her own paintings.
Mary ‘May’ Morris – English artisan, embroidery designer, jeweler, socialist, and editor. She was the younger daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite artist and designer William Morris and embroiderer, Jane Morris (née Burden).
Exploration & Archaeology
Amelia B. Edwards – Journalist, novelist, Egyptologist, founder of the Egypt Exploration Fund. In London for Christmas and to visit the British Museum and her publisher.
Ida Laura Pfeiffer – Author of five best selling books; admired world-wide. Madame Pfeiffer had many extraordinary adventures. She visited places never before seen by Europeans. What she was up against: ‘To think of a woman’s venturing alone into the wide world, without protection of any kind (and few funds)…it was quite preposterous’.
Madame Belzoni (Sarah Belzoni) – Egyptologist. Traveled Egypt and the Middle East disguised as a man. Responsible for many items shown in the British Museum and elsewhere. Mr. Dickens and others are trying to get her a pension from the British government. Currently selling antiquities.
Heinrich Schliemann – Archaeologist and discoverer of Troy.
Literature
George Sand – Born as Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin in the French countryside to a well to do family. After a miserable marriage and birthing two children, Sand moved to Paris and wrote romance novels by the pen name George Sand. She was infamous for wearing trousers and smoking in public. She also was one of the best selling novelists in Europe during the 19th century.
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell – Writer of novels including Cranford, North and South, and Mary Barton, to name a few. Mrs. Gaskell is also known for a number of short stories and the Life of Charlotte Brontë. Her work was serialized in Mr. Dickens’ periodical Household Words. Mr. Charles Darwin is her cousin on her mother’s side.
Charlotte Brontë – The eldest and only survivor of the three writer-sisters from Haworth, West Yorkshire; author of Jane Eyre, Villette, and Shirley.
Edgar Allan Poe – A poet and author from America who seems to specialize in the morose.
Oscar Wilde – Poet, writer, dramatist, and the greatest wit of his generation (just ask him), Oscar Wilde’s wide-ranging work is as well-loved as his habits are controversial.
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) –
Wilkie Collins – Prolific Victorian author and a close friend of Charles Dickens. Collins is credited with being the first English detective story writer.
William Schwenk Gilbert – Playwright and lyricist whose works satirized the social, political, and cultural trends of Victorian society. Best known for his light opera collaborations with Sir Arthur Sullivan.
Mysticism
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky – Madame Blavatsky, a controversial figure, was a leading spiritualist who not only introduced Buddhism to the world, but was one of the first Europeans to become one. She co-founded Theosophy on a global scale. Madame was vilified as a charlatan and lauded as the mother of new age religion. Always an enigma.
Performing Arts
Madame Jenny Lind – Opera singer, the ‘Swedish Nightingale’
Lucia Elizabeth Vestris – Actress and contralto opera singer. This scandalous beauty known for taking on breeches roles in the theatre has appeared in operas by Mozart and Rossini, among others.
Photography
Julia Margaret Cameron – English photographer who is considered one of the most important portraitists of the 19th century. She is known for her soft-focus close-ups of famous Victorians and for illustrative images depicting characters from mythology, Christianity, and literature.
Royal Navy
Vice Admiral Sir George Greville Wellesley – Celebrated Royal Navy officer in charge of the Deptford Dockyard
Rear Admiral Sir Alexander Armstrong – Director General of Her Majesty’s Royal Naval Hospitals
Captain Sir William Nathan Wrighte Hewett – Served with the Naval Brigade during the Crimean War, receiving the Victoria Cross for his gallantry at the Siege of Sevastopol and the Battle of Inkerman. Expert on the Age of Sail and Naval gunnery.
Captain Sir George Strong Nares – Surveyor, cartographer, hydrologist, deep sea explorer, and leader of the Challenger Expedition
Captain Sir James Clark Ross – Arctic and Antarctic Explorer, leader of the search for the lost Franklin expedition
Commander John Fiot Lee Pearse Maclear – Fellow of the Royal Geographical and Royal Meteorological Societies
Commander Henry Frederick Stephenson – Arctic explorer and excellent seaman
Science & Mathematics
James Clerk Maxwell – Scottish mathematical physicist who focused on electricity and magnetism, light, the viscosity of gases, the human perception of colour, and the dynamic analysis of structures.
H. G. Wells – Scientist, futurist, and writer of The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. Created the genre of ‘Science Fiction’ coupled with ‘Social Responsibility.’
Charles Darwin – English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, who argues that all species evolved from a common ancestor in his landmark book, On The Origin of Species. As a young man, Mr. Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands where his observations provided the insight to challenge traditional scientific thinking.
Mary Somerville – Scottish writer and polymath, was the first person to ever be referred to as a ‘Scientist’! She and Caroline Herschel were also the first women to be elected Honorary Members of the Royal Astronomical Society. Her published works include: The Mechanism of the Heavens, On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences, Physical Geography, On Molecular and Microscopic Science, and Cookery and Domestic Economy. She even has an island named after her!
Alfred Russel Wallace – Naturalist who developed the science of biogeography and co-developed the theory of natural selection.
Charles Babbage – Mathematician, astronomer, and Fellow of the Royal Society. Founding member of the Royal Astronomical Society and recipient of its first Gold Medal. Inventor of the Difference Engine and other calculating machines.
Technology & Industry
Joseph Rowntree – Philanthropist, confectioner, and chocolatier from York. As a member of the Society of Friends, he deems it his duty to promote the welfare of his community and the fair treatment of all in his employ. Rowntree cocoa is a pure and wholesome refreshment — a worthy alternative to the excesses of strong drink, bringing both comfort and vigour to those who partake.
Sir Titus Salt – The Great Paternalist. Developer of Alpaca Cloth. Builder of the second Utopian village in Great Britain. Council member, mayor and then member of Parliament for Bradford.
Athenæum Club Household Staff
Henry Embleton – Steward of the Athenæum Club, dining etiquette maven and volunteer instructor for the Metropolitan Association for the Befriending of Young Servants (MABYS). Also an expert in the art of Champagne service.
Emily Shepherd – Housekeeper for the Athenæum Club for the last 25 years.
Sydney Mears – Porter at the Athenæum Club.
Mollie Ollallieberrie – Head parlour-maid at The Athenæum Club. Former employment: Maid-of-all-work for the Wardle family, Dingley Dell. Packer and sorter at Mister Fezziwig’s Warehouse.
Martha Mitchell – Worked at her aunt’s dry tea and coffee shop for 20 years. Offered a position as parlor-maid at the Athenaæm Club, and happily employed their for the past 9 years!
Interpreting History 