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The Souls was a small loosely-knit but distinctive elite social and intellectual group in the United Kingdom from 1885 to the turn of the century. Many of the most distinguished British politicians and intellectuals of the time were members. The original group of Souls reached its zenith in the early 1890s and had faded out as a coherent clique by 1900.
The group formed as a response to the damper on social life caused by the political tension of the Irish Home Rule debate. Existing social circles were rent by angry arguments between proponents and opponents of the Gladstone ministry's efforts in 1886 to bring about full Home Rule. Many people in society wanted a salon where they could meet without fighting about politics. Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, a member of the group, described the aims and objectives of The Souls, and above all, of what they wanted to avoid.
In my disappointment about Egypt I turned with redoubled zest to my social pleasures of the year before, and at this time saw much of that interesting group of clever men and pretty women known as the Souls, than whom no section of London Society was better worth frequenting, including as it did all that there was most intellectually amusing and least conventional. It was a group of men and women bent on pleasure, but pleasure of a superior kind, eschewing the vulgarities of racing and card-playing indulged in by the majority of the rich and noble, and looking for their excitement in romance and sentiment. [1]
The name reportedly came from Lord Charles Beresford, who said: "You all sit and talk about each other's souls—I shall call you the 'Souls'".[ citation needed ]
The original Souls included the following people. It is important to note that most or perhaps all of the women in this list were members of The Souls on their own merits before they married other members.
Percy Wyndham, his wife, Madeline Caroline Frances Eden Campbell, their two sons and three daughters and the children's spouses were all original members of The Souls. Through their mother, the children were descended from Irish nationalist Lord Edward FitzGerald. Wyndham commissioned the now-famous painting of his daughters, The Wyndham Sisters by John Singer Sargent. The trio are the centre of the 2014 book Those Wild Wyndhams by Claudia Renton.
The Coterie, often considered to be the second generation of The Souls, was a celebrated group of intellectuals, a mix of aristocrats, politicians and art-lovers, most of whom were killed in the First World War. There were children of The Souls among them, notably Lady Diana Manners, daughter of Violet Manners, Duchess of Rutland. Officially the youngest daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland, she was in fact the daughter of Harry Cust. She married one of the Coterie's few survivors, Duff Cooper, later British Ambassador to France. After his death, she wrote three volumes of memoirs. Raymond Asquith, eldest son of Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, was a member of the Coterie, but not out of sympathy with his stepmother, Margot Tennant Asquith. He was killed on the Somme.
Julian Henry Francis Grenfell was a British soldier and a war poet of World War I.
The Coterie was a fashionable and famous set of English aristocrats and intellectuals of the 1910s, widely quoted and profiled in magazines and newspapers of the period. They also called themselves the "Corrupt Coterie".
Henry John Cockayne-Cust, JP, DL was an English politician and editor who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Unionist Party.
Lady Cynthia Mary Evelyn Asquith was an English writer and socialite, known for her ghost stories and diaries. She also wrote novels, edited a number of anthologies, wrote for children and covered the British Royal family.
Francis David Charteris, 12th Earl of Wemyss and 8th Earl of March, styled Lord Elcho from 1916 to 1937, was a Scottish peer, landowner and conservationist. From 1946 to 1991, he served as chairman and then president of the National Trust for Scotland.
Henry John Brinsley Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland,, known as Henry Manners until 1888 and styled Marquess of Granby between 1888 and 1906, was a British peer and Conservative politician.
William Henry Grenfell, 1st Baron Desborough, was a British athlete, sportsman, public servant and politician. He sat in the House of Commons first for the Liberal Party and then for the Conservatives between 1880 and 1905 when he was raised to the peerage. He also was President of the Thames Conservancy Board for thirty-two years.
Francis Richard Charteris, 10th Earl of Wemyss GCVO DL, styled as Lord Elcho between 1853 and 1883, was a British Whig politician. He founded the Liberty and Property Defence League.
Sir Charles Clow Tennant, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish businessman, industrialist and Liberal politician.
Dame Edith Sophy Lyttelton was a British novelist, playwright, World War I-era activist and spiritualist.
The Asquiths were originally a middle-class family from the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. They were members of the Congregational church, whose family name derived from the village of Askwith. The first prominent member of the family was H. H. Asquith, who was prime minister from 1908 to 1916. In 1925, Asquith was raised to the peerage as Earl of Oxford and Asquith. His great-grandson Raymond is the present Earl.
Marion Margaret Violet Manners, Duchess of Rutland was a British artist and noblewoman. A granddaughter of the 24th Earl of Crawford, she married Henry Manners in 1882. She was styled the Marchioness of Granby from 1888 to 1906, when Manners succeeded as Duke of Rutland. She had five children, including John Manners, the 9th Duke of Rutland and the socialite Lady Diana Cooper.
Hugo Richard Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss and 7th Earl of March DL, styled Lord Elcho from 1883 to 1914, was a British Conservative politician.
John Neville Manners played cricket for Eton College in Fowler's match in 1910, and died in the early weeks of the First World War on the retreat from Mons. Poem LIV of The Muse in Arms by William Grenfell is addressed to him and entitled "To John".
Ethel Anne Priscilla Grenfell, Baroness Desborough was a British society hostess.
Mary Constance Charteris, Countess of Wemyss and March, styled Lady Elcho from 1883 to 1914, was an English society hostess and an original member of The Souls, an exclusive social and intellectual group.
Kathleen Manners, Duchess of Rutland was an English aristocrat and the wife of John Manners, 9th Duke of Rutland.
Lady Violet Catherine Benson was an English aristocrat, artist and socialite.
Nancy Astor is a British television series which originally aired on BBC Two in 1982. It portrays the career of Nancy Astor, the American-born socialite and Conservative Party politician who pioneered the role of women in the House of Commons.
Sindlesham Court, near Wokingham, is a building of historical significance and is Grade II listed on the English Heritage Register. It was built before 1760, as it is shown on Rocque’s Map of 1761. It was the home of several notable residents over the next two centuries. Today it is a venue for weddings, conferences and special events.