Science Fiction Association membership 1937-1939

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The Science Fiction Association (SFA) was the UK's first national fan organisation. It was founded at the January 1937 Leeds Convention and had about 151 members of whom four were honorary through to January 1939 when the last issue of its official organ, Novae Terrae, was published. The Association was suspended after the outbreak of the Second World War and never reconvened. It was succeeded by the British Fantasy Society (BFS) in 1942.

If a full membership list was ever published, it hasn't been located as of 2024. However, the names of new members were published in Novae Terrae starting with #11 (April 1937) and also occasionally in the Science Fiction Gazette, and others can be extrapolated as members based on names of officers and reports of branch meetings.

Unfortunately, the founder members are especially murky. Novae Terrae #10 reported that 'we have fourteen members, and one branch has been formed.' That branch was Leeds and accounted for eleven of the fourteen but the only members who are named are the branch officers (George Airey, Harold Gottliffe and Herbert Warnes) and the headquarters officials (Airey and Warnes, and Douglas W. F. Mayer). The remain ten founders are not explicitly identified. There were fourteen people at the 1937 Leeds Convention and at first that seems like more than coincidence. Most of the convention attendees clearly also became members of the Association although in some cases their becoming so was never formally announced in Novae Terrae. However, Maurice K. Hanson is explicitly not among the the founders, being announced as joining in March 1937, and anyway, six of the fourteen 1937 conventioneers were from outside the Leeds area so it doesn't quite add up. We can be confident that Ted Wade was one of the one of the 'first fourteen' (although he wasn't at the 1937 convention). His obituary in Futurian War Digest #1 (October 1940) says 'He was member number 12 of the SFA, which was founded just after he left Leeds.' This in turn invites the question, was he one of the eleven Leeds members or of the three from elsewhere? Albert Griffiths isn't formally noted as a member anywhere but it's certainly plausible that he was one of the first fourteen. A. Miller is another contender. His joining date was never formally noted but in a 1988 letter to Rob Hansen[1], Herbert Warnes described Miller as 'one of our stalwarts being with us from start to finish.'

SFA publications did occasionally announce total numbers of members. Novae Terrae #12 (May 1937) gave the total membership as 52 and there are 35 people identified as joining by that date. However Science Fiction Gazette #4 (unofficial version, July 1937) said the number had reached 71 and there are 70 names listed below for dates up to that point, and if A. Miller was indeed a founder member that makes 71. Although is Albert Griffiths was indeed a founder then that makes 72.

What follows is a likely reasonably complete, alphabetical listing of SFA members. The Association seemingly did issue membership numbers although the only evidence for this is that Ted Wade was 'member number 12'. Other membership numbers aren't known and so the numbering in the list is for orientation only. The date after each name is the earliest issue of Novae Terrae or Science Fiction Gazette in which their membership is noted in one of the ways described above. The SFA included about 40 members, over a quarter of the total membership, from other countries, mostly the United States; overseas members are asterisked * and less usual countries footnoted.

There were 147 ordinary members:

  1. Forrest J Ackerman * (July 1937)
  2. George Airey (February 1937)
  3. MayBelle Anshutz * (September 1938)
  4. Ronald A. Armitage (August 1937)
  5. Frank Arnold[2] (August 1938)
  6. G. W. Axworthy (October 1937)
  7. Claire P. Beck * (August 1937)
  8. P. W. Berry (April 1937)
  9. Sid Birchby (May 1937)
  10. D. Black (August 1938)
  11. H. J. Blakeley (May 1937)
  12. Abraham Bloom (June 1937)
  13. Sydney Bounds (October 1937)
  14. P. W. Buckerfield (March 1937)
  15. John F. Burke (September 1938)
  16. E. J. Carnell (June 1937)
  17. Anthony Chapman (July 1937)
  18. G. Ken Chapman (March 1937)
  19. Hal Chibbett (November 1937)
  20. Arthur C. Clarke (August 1937)
  21. Wilfred P. Cockcroft (April 1938)
  22. Bernard H. Cohen (April 1937)
  23. S. Conning (January 1938)
  24. F. Coueslent (March 1937)
  25. Maurice T. Crowley (March 1937)
  26. W. W. Crafer (January 1938)
  27. Stanley Davies (October 1937)
  28. S. E. Dench (August 1937)
  29. W. Alan Devereux[3] (March 1938)
  30. H. O. Dickinson [4] (May 1937
  31. Frank Dobby (May 1937)
  32. Myrtle R. Douglas (Morojo)[5] * (July 1937)
  33. John C. H. Drummond (October 1937)
  34. A. G. Dunn (January 1938)
  35. George Ellis (August 1938)
  36. Gerald Evans (September 1938)
  37. I. O. Evans (August 1937)
  38. Frances Fairchild * (July 1937)
  39. John Russell Fearn (June 1938)
  40. Alicia Feather [6](June 1937)
  41. Nancy Featherstone * (December 1938)
  42. Ron Fishwick (July 1937)
  43. E. W. Fits * (November 1937)
  44. Les Flood (April 1937)
  45. Ernest Gabrielson (December 1938)
  46. W. Arthur Gibson (March 1937)
  47. Vic Gillard (November 1937)
  48. Walter H. Gillings (April 1937)
  49. James. H. Gilmour (July 1937)
  50. J. Gordon (September 1938)
  51. Harold Gottliffe (February 1937)
  52. Mary Corinne Gray (Pogo) * (September 1938)
  53. J. T. Greenwood (October 1937)
  54. L. Grieve *[7] (September 1938)
  55. Albert Griffiths [8]
  56. H. Griffiths (August 1938)
  57. S. Hallett (July 1937)
  58. Maurice K. Hanson (March 1937)
  59. Laurie L. Harris (January 1938)
  60. Vernon Harry *[9] (April 1937)
  61. Dale Hart * (August 1938)
  62. Leslie V. Heald (January 1939)
  63. Jean Heitt * (July 1937)
  64. Phil Hetherington (April 1937)
  65. E. Hiller (May 1937)
  66. Russ Hodgkins * (July 1937)
  67. Ron Holmes (December 1938)
  68. Maurice G. Hugi (March 1938)
  69. Dennis Jacques (March 1937)
  70. J. B. Jepson (June 1937)
  71. Leslie J. Johnson (May 1937)
  72. S. Johnstone (September 1938)
  73. Francis H. P. Knight (September 1938)
  74. H. C. Koenig * (August 1937)
  75. Louis Kuslan * (November 1938)
  76. E. G. Lane (May 1937)
  77. F. C. Lennox (August 1938)
  78. Bert Lewis (January 1939)
  79. Perry L. Lewis * (December 1937)
  80. Wyndham Lewis (August 1938)
  81. J. Lightbrown (March 1938)
  82. E. Longley (November 1937)
  83. Karl Edward Först von Lutz * (July 1937)
  84. Colin H. Macklin (January 1938)
  85. F. Mallen (July 1937)
  86. H. T. May (November 1937)
  87. Douglas W. F. Mayer (February 1937)
  88. David McIlwain (September 1938)
  89. G. H. Miles (March 1937)
  90. A. Miller (May 1938)[10]
  91. F. Montgomery (October 1937)
  92. D. C. Moore (January 1938)
  93. T. J. Morgan (July 1937)
  94. Eric Moss (July 1937)
  95. J. Moss (July 1937)
  96. D. Nash (March 1937)
  97. M. L. Neale (January 1938)
  98. Eric Needham (January 1938)
  99. S. Nyman (May 1937)
  100. R. W. Parrish (September 1938)
  101. W. J. Passingham (December 1938)
  102. S. Peck[11] (August 1937)
  103. Harold Penfold (May 1938)
  104. J. L. Pope (August 1938)
  105. Festus Pragnell (April 1937)
  106. E. Rose (July 1937)
  107. J. Michael Rosenblum (April 1937)
  108. Alan J. W. Rozelaar (November 1938)
  109. Oliver Saari * (September 1938)
  110. Andrew Salmond (July 1937)
  111. B. A. Scarff (January 1938)
  112. M. C. Schmidt * (September 1938)
  113. D. R. Smith (March 1937)
  114. Leslie Smith (October 1937)
  115. Virgil Smith * (July 1937)
  116. Austyn G. Snowden (July 1937)
  117. Jack Speer * (August 1937)
  118. Reg Stevens (May 1937)
  119. J. I. Stevenson (June 1937)
  120. William G. Stone (January 1938)
  121. James V. Taurasi * (December 1937)
  122. R. Taylor (July 1937)
  123. William F. Temple (October 1937)
  124. Roy Test * (July 1937)
  125. G. Thompson (July 1937)
  126. Thomas C. Toy (July 1937)
  127. Fred Tozer (August 1938)
  128. Harry Turner (October 1937)
  129. L. Turner (April 1937)
  130. R. E. Vincent (November 1938)
  131. Ted Wade[12] (February 1937)
  132. Herbert Warnes (February 1937)
  133. J. Watts (July 1937)
  134. Doug Webster (January 1938)
  135. Norman Weedall (December 1938)
  136. J. D. White (September 1938)
  137. Olon F. Wiggins * (October 1937)
  138. Eric C. Williams (April 1937)
  139. Angus Wilson (July 1937)
  140. Frank Wilson (March 1938)
  141. Richard Wilson * (October 1937)
  142. C. E. Windsor (November 1937)
  143. P. F. Wober (May 1937)
  144. Donald A. Wollheim * (June 1937)
  145. Dmitri de Woronin *[13] (July 1937)
  146. T. Bruce Yerke * (July 1937)
  147. C. S. Youd (June 1937)

The four honorary members of the Association were:

  1. John W. Campbell, Jr. * (December 1937)
  2. Professor A. M. Low (June 1937)
  3. Olaf Stapledon (June 1937)
  4. F. Orlin Tremaine * (August 1937)


Notes

Eric Frank Russell and B. Saffer had been at the 1937 Leeds Convention but were never formally identified as SFA members. The same is true of Albert Griffiths but there is at least circumstantial evidence for his membership whereas Saffer is never mentioned in Novae Terrae.

Novae Terrae #11 (April 1937) notes Miss D. E. Essam attending a meeting of the Nuneaton branch as a prospective member. There is no evidence that she did in fact join but had she had done so she would likely have been the SFA's first female member, ahead of Alicia Feather who joined with #13 (June 1937).

Novae Terrae #26 (September 1938) lists a new member 'F. Brady (Los Angeles)'. Brady was a pseudonym of Forrest J Ackerman who was already a member.

____

  1. ↑ Quoted at 'Map of pre-War Leeds Fandom' at faiwol.org
  2. ↑ Novae Terrae #25 reports 'F. J. Arnold' as a new member. Other issues include contributions credited to 'Frank Arnold', 'Frank E. Arnold' and 'Frank Edward Arnold'. As J was also one of his middle initials it seems at least likely that F. J. Arnold is Frank Arnold.
  3. ↑ Misspelled in Novae Terrae #21 as 'W. A. Devereaux'.
  4. ↑ 'H. O. Dickenson' is identified as one of 'our ... author-members' in Science Fiction Gazette #3 (May 1937) but there is no mention of him being a member in Novae Terrae.
  5. ↑ Morojo albeit spelled 'Morogo' is mentioned as a new member in Science Fiction Gazette #4 (unofficial version). Her name is missing from the corresponding Novae Terrae #15 which lists all the other Los Angeles members but not her. The assumption is that this is simple oversight as the Gazette is explicit that 'all' LASFL members had joined the SFA.
  6. ↑ Feather was the first female member and likely the only one from the UK. There were at least six overseas female members.
  7. ↑ Mrs (Louise?) Grieve lived in Sydney, Australia.
  8. ↑ Griffiths was never formally identified as an SFA member in the pages of Novae Terrae. However, he was a regular contributor to the fanzine and was identified as addressing the Leeds branch on December 4, 1937, so he likely was a member and even a founder.
  9. ↑ Harry was the first overseas member of the SFA.
  10. ↑ While the earliest reference in to Miller's membership Novae Terrae is May 1938, a letter from Bert Warnes at least implies he was a founder.
  11. ↑ Novae Terrae #16 definitely gives the name as 'S. Peck' but there is a possibility that this is a typo. See entry for details.
  12. ↑ Wade's obituary in Futurian War Digest #1 (October 1940) says 'He was member number 12 of the SFA, which was founded just after he left Leeds.' This is the only evidence for his membership and indeed for the existence of membership numbers.
  13. ↑ de Woronin lived in Southern Rhodesia.
Club 1937—1939
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