The Melbourne Shakespeare Society was founded in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, in 1884 at the suggestion of

Edward Ellis Morris Edward Ellis Morris (25 December 1843 – 1 January 1902) was an English educationist and miscellaneous writer and latterly in colonial Australia. Biography Morris was born in Madras, British India, fourteenth child of John Carnac Morris, ac ...

who was president from 1884 to 1888. Other original members included: William Ievers, James Smith, James Edward Neild (president in 1890). Past presidents of the society include: *

1884–1888 * James Edward Neild 1890 * John Purves Wilson 1901-1903 *Alfred Hart *

Arthur Way Arthur Sanders Way (13 February 1847 – 25 September 1930), was a classical scholar, translator and headmaster of Wesley College, Melbourne, Australia. Arthur Way, son of the Rev. William Way and his wife Matilda, ''née'' Francis, was bo ...

* Edward Sugden 1908"Shakespeare's Birthday", ''The Argus'', 27 April 1908, p. 7. *

Morris Mondle Phillips Morris Mondle Phillips (19 May 1870 – 31 July 1948) was a lawyer, taxing master and equity master at the Supreme Court of Victoria, Victorian Supreme Court, he was also a List of chief presidents of the Australian Natives' Association, Chief P ...

* Philip David Phillips * Archibald Thomas Strong 1913 * Edward Sugden 1914–1915 *

Ernest Henry Clark Oliphant Ernest Henry Clark Oliphant (14 August 1862 – 20 April 1936), commonly referred to as E. H. Oliphant or Professor Oliphant, was an Australian journalist, an authority on Elizabethan literature, a popular public speaker and occasional playwrigh ...

1919–1921 * William Alexander Osborne *Edward Stevens

References

{{Reflist Arts organizations established in 1884 Organisations based in Victoria (Australia) 1884 establishments in Australia William Shakespeare