Janus: Records of the Cambridge Ethical Society

University contains:
<-- See earlier
SOC.69	Officer's papers for the Hort Society
SOC.70	Accounts of the Cambridge University Medical Society
SOC.71	Officer's papers for the Cambridge University Medieval Society
SOC.72	Records of the Cambridge University Prayer Union
SOC.73	Records of the Cranmer Society
SOC.74	Records of the Cambridge Ethical Society
SOC.75	Records of the Cambridge University Explorers' and Travellers' Club
SOC.76	Records of the Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club
SOC.77	Records of the Cambridge University Jazz Club
SOC.78	Records of the Marlowe Dramatic Society
SOC.79	Records of the Cambridge University Victorian Society
See later -->

More information

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Records of the Cambridge Ethical Society

Title	Records of the Cambridge Ethical Society
Reference	GBR/0265/SOC.74 (former reference: Ms.Add.8776)
Creator	Cambridge Ethical Society
Covering Dates	1888–1896
Extent and Medium	1 pamphlet, 3 volumes, 1 item; paper; The bindings of many of the items are in poor condition. They have adhered to each other and later been forced apart.
Repository	Cambridge University Archives

Content and context

The club was formed on 1 May 1888 ''to stimulate interest in ethical questions and to afford facilities for their discussion''. It aimed to deepen ''the sense of moral obligation, especially in its social aspects''. It ran a programme of lectures and debates, which were generally chaired by Henry Sidgwick in his capacity as society president. Although the majority of society members were senior members, the society did actively seek to encourage junior members (and female students from Girton and Newnham colleges) by setting a reduced a reduced membership fee.

The minute book catalogued as SOC.74.2 was deposited before 1988 by an unknown person and was given the classmark Ms.Add.8776. It was transferred with the other items added to Ms.Add.8776 to the University Archives from the Manuscripts Department on 12 November 2007. These additional items had been given by Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick, widow of Henry Sidgwick, to William Ritchie Sorley, who succeeded Henry Sidgwick as Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy in 1909. Sorley presumably passed them to Richard Braithwaite, also Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy from 1953, for they were subsequently found in his papers and were presented by Professor Dorothy Emmet, lecturer in Philosophy of Religion, to the Manuscripts Department on 8 September 1988.

Access and Use

Please cite as Cambridge University Archives, Records of the Cambridge Ethical Society, SOC.74

Further information

Further printed records are in the Rare Books Department, Cambridge University Library (classmark: Cambridge Papers J 3712).

The online catalogue entry for Janus was completed in November 2007.

Index Terms

Cambridge Ethical Society

University/SOC.74 contains:

SOC.74.1

''Report of the preliminary meeting'' held 18 May 1888. The pamphlet details papers given by Henry Sidgwick and John Henry Muirhead and the ensuing debate on the aims and methods of the society. A list of committee members and the society rules are printed inside the front and back covers respectively.
1 pamphlet; paper.

Apr. 1888-June 1888

SOC.74.2

Minutes of debates, and of public and committee meetings, occasionally signed. The volume includes some early lists of members which are duplicated in SOC.74.4. Speakers of particular note include Sir Leslie Stephen on 30 October 1890 and Arthur James Balfour on 4 March 1893.
1 volume; paper; The cover is becoming detached..

4 Mar. 1888-June 1896

SOC.74.3

Account of receipts and expenditure arranged as termly balance sheets. Bills and receipts are loosely enclosed.
1 volume; paper.

Oct. 1888-June 1896

SOC.74.4

Registers of members.
2 volumes; paper.

1888–1896

SOC.74.5

Circular advertising a debate on the subject of Professor [William] Wallace's previous lecture on the ''Ethics of Socialism''.
1 item; paper.

1889