There have been two groups called the H. G. Wells Society, both set
up to support the ideas of
Herbert George Wells (1866–1946).
1930s group
The first H. G. Wells Society was set up in 1934 to promote Wells' political ideas. Its members included
Gerald Heard
Henry FitzGerald Heard (6 October 1889 – 14 August 1971), commonly called Gerald Heard, was a British-born American historian, science writer, public lecturer, educator, and philosopher. He wrote many articles and over 35 books.
Heard was a g ...
,
Olaf Stapledon
William Olaf Stapledon (10 May 1886 – 6 September 1950) – known as Olaf Stapledon – was a British philosopher and author of science fiction.Andy Sawyer, " illiamOlaf Stapledon (1886-1950)", in Bould, Mark, et al, eds. ''Fifty Key Figures ...
,
Sylvia Pankhurst
Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (5 May 1882 – 27 September 1960) was a campaigning English feminist and socialist. Committed to organising working-class women in London's East End, and unwilling in 1914 to enter into a wartime political truce with t ...
,
Eden Paul
Maurice Eden Paul (27 September 1865, Sturminster Marshall – 1 December 1944) was a British socialist activist, physician, writer and translator.'Paul, Maurice Eden' in ''Who Was Who''
Early life
Paul was the younger son of the publisher Charl ...
[David C. Smith, ''H. G. Wells: Desperately Mortal: A Biography''. Yale University Press, 1988 (p. 332–333)] and
Vera Brittain
Vera Mary Brittain (29 December 1893 – 29 March 1970) was an English Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse, writer, feminist, socialist and pacifist. Her best-selling 1933 memoir '' Testament of Youth'' recounted her experiences during the Fir ...
.
[ John S. Partington, ''The Wellsian: selected essays on H. G. Wells. ''Equilibris Publishing, 2003. , (p. 10–12).] The group later changed its name to Cosmopolis, then the Open Conspiracy. In 1936, it merged with the
Federation of Progressive Societies and Individuals.
Later group
The later H. G. Wells Society, founded in 1960, is an international association composed of people interested in the life, work and thought of Wells and encouraging a wider interest in his writings and ideas.
The Society has published a comprehensive
bibliography of Wells's published works, and has printed the following other publications, several of which were works by Wells which had previously been out of print for many years:
*H. G. Wells, ''The Last Books of H. G. Wells: The Happy Turning and Mind at the End of its Tether'', ed.
G. P. Wells (1982).
*H. G. Wells Society, ''A Comprehensive Bibliography'', foreword by
Kingsley Martin
Basil Kingsley Martin (28 July 1897 – 16 February 1969) usually known as Kingsley Martin, was a British journalist who edited the left-leaning political magazine the ''New Statesman'' from 1930 to 1960.
Early life
He was the son of (Dav ...
(1985).
*H. G. Wells, ''The Discovery of the Future with The Commonsense of World Peace and The Human Adventure'', ed.
Patrick Parrinder (1989).
*H. G. Wells, ''Select Conversations with an Uncle (Now Extinct) with Two Hitherto Unreprinted Conversations'', ed.
David C. Smith and Patrick Parrinder, foreword by
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...
(1992).
*John Hammond, ''The H. G. Wells Society: A Short History'' (2000).
*H. G. Wells, ''The Betterave Papers'', ed. John Hammond (2001).
*
James Dilloway, ''Human Rights and World Order'', 2nd edn (1998).
The Society's objective is "to promote and encourage universally an active interest in, and appreciation of, the life, work and thought of Herbert George Wells".
Its specific aims are:
*To encourage a greater interest in the works of H. G. Wells on the part of
publishing,
press
Press may refer to:
Media
* Print media or news media, commonly called "the press"
* Printing press, commonly called "the press"
* Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers
* Press TV, an Iranian television network
People
* Press (surname), a fam ...
and
broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting beg ...
organisations.
*To promote a wider knowledge of the
idea
In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of bei ...
s and
ideals of H. G. Wells and to assist in promoting their understanding and
dissemination
To disseminate (from lat. ''disseminare'' "scattering seeds"), in the field of communication, is to broadcast a message to the public without direct feedback from the audience.
Meaning
Dissemination takes on the theory of the traditional view ...
.
*To organise
lecture
A lecture (from Latin ''lēctūra'' “reading” ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical infor ...
s,
meetings and
conferences
A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic.
Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main ...
, to issue
publication
To publish is to make content available to the general public.[Berne Conve ...](_blank)
s, and to engage in such other
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
al work as will assist towards the realisation of the Society's aims.
Each year the Society organises a conference, either in-person or on Zoom, where aspects of Wells's life and work are discussed. All members receive a biannual
newsletter, edited by Eric Jukes and an annual
journal
A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to:
*Bullet journal, a method of personal organization
*Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period
*Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...
, entitled ''
The Wellsian'' edited by Brenda Tyrrell.
Over the years, the Society has accumulated a substantial
collection of
book
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physi ...
s and
pamphlets by Wells, and an
archive
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located.
Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...
of
press cuttings relating to Wells. In 2012 the Society donated 160 volumes from its collection to enhance th
H. G. Wells Collectionat
Senate House Library
Senate House is the administrative centre of the University of London, situated in the heart of Bloomsbury, London, immediately to the north of the British Museum.
The Art Deco building was constructed between 1932 and 1937 as the first phase ...
, University of London. The Society is also closely associated with the Wells Collections at the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
and
Bromley Central Library, South London, the former being the repository of the Wells papers.
The Society was founded by Dr. John Hammond, who served as president for many years. It has also boasted a number of distinguished vice-presidents through the years including
Arthur C. Clarke,
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...
,
Brian Aldiss
Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist, and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for o ...
,
Christopher Priest,
Stephen Baxter, and
Claire Tomalin.
See also
*
Invasion literature
Invasion literature (also the invasion novel) is a literary genre that was popular in the period between 1871 and the First World War (1914–1918). The invasion novel first was recognized as a literary genre in the UK, with the novella '' The ...
*
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. T ...
*
Cosmotheism
{{cleanup, date=November 2022, reason=Is more like an orphan article. Need to merged or deleted.
"Cosmotheism" is an old term for pantheism and it is associated with the beliefs which were adhered to by many people, including:
* Norman Lowell, t ...
*
Noosphere
*
Omega Point
References
Sources
* Information leaflets & Newsletters published by the ''H. G. Wells Society''
* ''
The Wellsian'', official journal, annually published by the ''H. G. Wells Society''
External links
H. G. Wells Society''The Wellsian'', the journal of the H. G. Wells Society
{{H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Organizations established in 1960
Literary societies