The Ladies' Alpine Club was founded in

London, England London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1907 and was the first mountaineering club for women. It merged with the

Alpine Club Alpine clubs are typically large social clubs that revolve around climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Many alpine clubs also take on aspects typically reserved for local sport associations, providing education and training courses, se ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

in 1975.

History

In December 1907 a group of ladies who were climbers in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

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
/ref> 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 World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the club's rooms were taken over by the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet ...

, 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 Ann Bridge (11 September 1889 – 9 March 1974) is the pseudonym of Mary Ann Dolling (Sanders), Lady O'Malley, also known as Cottie Sanders. Bridge wrote 14 novels, mostly based on her experiences living in foreign countries, one book of short ...

, a friend and climbing partner of

George Mallory George Herbert Leigh-Mallory (18 June 1886 – 8 or 9 June 1924) was an English Mountaineering, mountaineer who participated in the first three British Mount Everest expeditions from the early to mid-1920s. He and climbing partner An ...

, 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". 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 Fanny Bullock Workman (January 8, 1859 – January 22, 1925) was an American geographer, cartographer, explorer, travel writer, and mountaineer, notably in the Himalayas. She was one of the first female professional mountaineers; she not only e ...

, 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 The Pinnacle Club is a women's rock climbing club based in the United Kingdom, founded in 1921. History The Pinnacle Club – the UK’s only national rock-climbing club for women – was founded in 1921 by Emily Kelly (known as Pat). In the ...

was founded by the wives of two members of the

Climbers' Club The Climbers' Club is the senior rock-climbing club in England and Wales (outside the Lake District). The club was founded in 1898. The CC one of the largest publishers of climbing guidebooks in many of the main climbing areas of England and Wale ...

. When the

British Mountaineering Council The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is the national representative body for England and Wales that exists to protect the freedoms and promote the interests of climbers, hill walkers and mountaineers, including ski-mountaineers. The BMC ...

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 Major (United Kingdom), Major Harold William Tilman, Commander of the British Empire, CBE, Distinguished Service Order, DSO, Military Cross, MC and Bar, (14 February 1898 – November 1977) was an England, English mountaineering, mountaineer ...

, 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 Miriam O'Brien Underhill (July 22, 1898 – January 7, 1976) was an American mountaineer, environmentalist and feminist, best known for the concept of "manless climbing" – organizing all-women's ascents of challenging climbs, mostly in the Alps ...

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 Michael Horatio Westmacott was born on 12 April 1925 at Coombe House, St George's Crescent, Babbacombe, Torquay, Devon. He died on 20 June 2012 in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria. Westmacott was a prominent British mountaineer who was a member of the ...

, 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 The ''Alpine Journal'' (''AJ'') is an annual publication by the Alpine Club of London. It is the oldest mountaineering journal in the world. History The journal was first published on 2 March 1863 by the publishing house of Longman in London, ...

'' 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) *1913–1915: Lucy Walker (1836–1916) *1916-1919:

Margaret Meyer Margaret Theodora Meyer (September 1862 – 27 January 1924), also known as Maud Meyer was a British mathematician. She was one of the first directors of studies in mathematics, and one of the earliest members of the London Mathematical Society ...

(1862–1924) *1920-1922:

Louise Nettleton Louise Nettleton (née Dyer) (1874–1954) was a British archery champion and a mountaineer. Biography Louise Dyer was born in Surry in 1874, the daughter of Abraham Dyer, a chemist. In 1898 she married Charles William Nettleton (1871–1962) and ...

(1874-1954) *1929-1931 Katherine Wedgwood (the sister of

Tom Longstaff Tom George Longstaff (15 January 1875 – 26 June 1964) was an England, English medical doctor, explorer and mountaineer, most famous for being the first person to climb a summit of over 7,000 metres in elevation, Trisul, in the India/Pakistan ...

and wife of

Felix Wedgwood Arthur Felix Wedgwood (18 July 1877 – 14 March 1917) was an English author, mountaineer and soldier who died on active service during the First World War. Background He was born at The Upper House in Barlaston, Staffordshire, a scion of th ...

) *1941-1943: Katie Gardiner (1885–1974) *1944-1946: Nea Morin (1905–1986) *1953-1955: Lady Chorley (1897-1986) *1956-1958:

Una Cameron Una May Cameron (6 May 1904 – 15 October 1987) was a Scottish mountain climber known for her ascents in the Alps, Caucasus and Kenya. Biography Cameron was born in West Linton, Scotland. Twin daughter of her father Ewen Cameron, a landed pr ...

(1904–1987) *1970-1971:

Dora de Beer Dora Hallenstein de Beer (1891–1982) was an ethnologist, mountaineer and philanthropist. She was born in Melbourne, Australia, was bought up in Dunedin, New Zealand and died in London, England in 1982. Biography Dora Hallenstein de Beer was ...

(1891-1982) *1973-1975: Margaret Darvall (1911-1996)

Notable members

* Anna Pigeon (1832–1917), vice-president from 1910 * Katy Richardson (1854–1927) *

(1859-1925), joined 1908, vice-president for America in 1912. * Margaret Lorimer (1866–1954), New Zealand member *

Phyllis Munday Phyllis Beatrice Munday (née James; 24 September 1894 – 11 April 1990) was a Canadian mountaineer, explorer, naturalist and humanitarian. She was famed for being the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Robson (with Annette Buck) in ...

(1894–1990), joined 1937, created honorary member in 1936 * Mary Dilys Glynne (1895–1991), vice-president 1975 *

Miriam O'Brien Underhill Miriam O'Brien Underhill (July 22, 1898 – January 7, 1976) was an American mountaineer, environmentalist and feminist, best known for the concept of "manless climbing" – organizing all-women's ascents of challenging climbs, mostly in the Alps ...

(1898-1976), joined 1926, vice-president 1931-1970, created honorary member in 1970

References

External links

Club expedition reports#495 Ladies Alpine Club Minute Books
at nationalarchives.gov.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Ladies' Alpine Club Women's clubs 1907 establishments in the United Kingdom Alpine Club (UK) Climbing and mountaineering organizations Climbing clubs in the United Kingdom Alpine clubs Sports organizations established in 1907 Mountaineering in the United Kingdom Women in London History of women in the United Kingdom Female climbers