Ladies' Alpine Club

The Ladies' Alpine Club was founded in London, England in 1907 and was the first mountaineering club for women. It merged with the Alpine Club of Great Britain in 1975.

History

In December 1907 a group of ladies who were climbers in the Alps met in London and agreed to form a new club, similar to the long-established Alpine Club, which at the time did not accept women members on account of their supposed physical and moral deficiencies in the matter of mountain climbing. The club's first president was Elizabeth Le Blond, who had been praised by T. G. Bonney when he became president of the Alpine Club as one of those "whom our stern Salic law prevents us from numbering among our members", and it was the first club specifically for women mountaineers.Ronald Clark, The Alps (2011), p. 129 Initially, it was the Alpine Section of the Lyceum Club, an intellectual women's club,Thompson, Simon, Unjustifiable Risk? The Story of British Climbing, Cicerone Press, 2010, p. 74 to which Elizabeth Le Blond belonged, but in 1908 it established an independent existence.David Doughan, Peter Gordon Women, Clubs and Associations in Britain (2007), p. 111 The club had its base at the Great Central Hotel, Marylebone, but was seen as affiliated to the Alpine Club and junior to it.Derek Walker, The Evolution of Climbing Clubs in Britain (pdf) at alpinejournal.org.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2014

As well as arranging climbing expeditions, the Ladies' Alpine Club organised a monthly lecture and provided rooms where members could meet for tea. For the duration of the First World War, the club's rooms were taken over by the War Department, but they were restored in 1919. The Alpine Club itself was at first sceptical about the Ladies' Club, but it soon began to take it seriously and to co-operate with it, especially after Queen Margherita of Italy accepted the position of Honorary President. According to Ann Bridge, a friend and climbing partner of George Mallory, the Ladies' Club held an annual dinner at the Great Central Hotel:

At the first such annual dinner, on 7 December 1908, the President of the Alpine Club, Herman Woolley, spoke supportively of the new organisation and noted that ladies could make "ascents of the very first order". A former president of the Alpine Club then added that in his time he had wanted to admit women to membership, and indeed had found that a majority of other members supported this, but he had decided not to force the issue on an "unwilling minority".Ann C. Colley, Victorians in the Mountains: Sinking the Sublime (2013), p. 116

Despite this apparent rapprochement, a certain animus towards women climbers from their colleagues in the senior club remained for many years. Ellen Pigeon stated: "In days gone by many A.C.s refused to speak to us," and one of the leading women climbers of the age, the American Fanny Bullock Workman, found male mountaineers in Britain to be less than friendly to her. In his obituary of Workman, Captain J. P. Farrar remarked:

In 1921 a rival organisation called the Pinnacle Club was founded by the wives of two members of the Climbers' Club. When the British Mountaineering Council was constituted in 1945, both clubs for women, the Ladies' Alpine Club and the Pinnacle Club, were represented on its committee.

Merger with Alpine Club The Alpine Club had long resisted admitting women members, and in 1973 an attempt to have this policy reversed was defeated, the necessary two-thirds majority not being achieved. In May 1974, however, another vote was held and, despite the continued opposition of the influential Bill Tilman, women were at last allowed to join the club. This made the existence of a separate women's club unnecessary, and in 1975 the Ladies' Alpine Club merged with the Alpine Club, the latter gaining 150 new members. The merger was not universally popular, and 37 women resigned in protest in 1975 or soon thereafter, including Joyce Dunsheath, Miriam Underhill and Monica Jackson. The first two women to be elected to membership of the Alpine Club in their own right were Sally Westmacott, wife of Mike Westmacott, who had been on the 1953 Everest expedition, and Betty Seifert.

Ladies' Alpine Club Journal Between 1920 and 1975 the club issued a yearbook, which was absorbed into the Alpine Journal on the merger of the two clubs. Until 1960 the title of the yearbook was simply Ladies Alpine Club, then from 1961 to 1975 it was called Ladies Alpine Club Journal. All issues were indexed in 2000 by Johanna Merz, former editor of the Alpine Journal.

Presidents 1907–1912: Mrs Aubrey Le Blond (1860–1934)Peter H. Hansen, 'Le Blond, Elizabeth Alice Frances (1860–1934)', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, September 2004) 1913–1915: Lucy Walker (1836–1916)Janet Adam Smith, 'Walker, Lucy (1836–1916)', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004) 1916–1919: Margaret Meyer (1862–1924)Ladies Alpine Club Archive at alpine-club.org.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2012 1920–1922: Louise Nettleton (1874–1954) 1929–1931: Katherine Wedgwood (1880–1976) 1938–1940: Beatrice McAndrew (1870–1970) 1941–1943: Katie Gardiner (1885–1974) 1944–1946: Nea Morin (1905–1986)Carol A. Osborne, 'Morin, Nea Everilda (1905–1986)', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004) 1953–1955: Lady Chorley (1897–1986) 1956–1958: Una Cameron (1904–1987)Carol A. Osborne, 'Cameron, Una May (1904–1987)', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004) 1970–1971: Dora de Beer (1891–1982) 1973–1975: Margaret Darvall (1911–1996)

Notable members Anna Pigeon (1832–1917), vice-president from 1910Peter H. Hansen, Pigeon, Anna (1832–1917) in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004); online edition. Retrieved 25 March 2014 Katy Richardson (1854–1927) Fanny Bullock Workman (1859–1925), joined 1908, vice-president for America in 1912. Margaret Lorimer (1866–1954), New Zealand memberLois Voller, 'Lorimer, Margaret' in Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (1996), online edition. Retrieved 25 March 2014 Gertrude Benham (1867–1938), created honorary member in 1935. Phyllis Munday (1894–1990), joined 1937, created honorary member in 1936Kathryn Bridge, A Passion for Mountains: the Lives of Don and Phyllis Munday (2006), p. 8 Mary Dilys Glynne (1895–1991), vice-president 1975 Miriam O'Brien Underhill (1898–1976), joined 1926, vice-president 1931-1970, created honorary member in 1970

Ladies' Alpine Club

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