The Ladies Dining Society was a exclusive, private dining and discussion club formed in Cambridge in 1890. Founded by author Louise Creighton and women's rights activist Kathleen Lyttelton, the group comprised 12 prominent women—many married to Cambridge academics—who met regularly to dine without their husbands, discuss intellectual topics, and advocate for women's higher education and voting rights.

The 12 Members

• 1. Louise Creighton (Co-founder): Author, social campaigner, and women’s activist. Co-founder of the National Union of Women Workers, she was married to Mandell Creighton, Professor of Ecclesiastical History.
• 2. Kathleen Lyttelton (Co-founder): Women's rights activist and writer who edited the women's section of The Guardian and actively campaigned for female suffrage. She was married to Arthur Lyttelton, the first Master of Selwyn College.
• 3. Eleanor Sidgwick: Physicist, psychical researcher, and Principal of Newnham College (1892–1910). She was married to philosopher Henry Sidgwick.
• 4. Mary Paley Marshall: One of the first women to take the Moral Sciences Tripos at Cambridge and the university's first female economics lecturer. She was married to economist Alfred Marshall.
• 5. Margaret Verrall: Classicist, Newnham College lecturer, and researcher in psychical phenomena who served as the society's secretary.
• 6. Ellen Wordsworth Darwin (née Crofts): Lecturer in English literature at Newnham College and the second wife of botanist Sir Francis Darwin (son of Charles Darwin).
• 7. Ida Darwin (née Emma Cecilia Farrer): Mental health advocate and co-founder of the Central Association for Mental Welfare. She was married to Horace Darwin, civil engineer and son of Charles Darwin.
• 8. Maud Darwin (née Martha Haskins DuPuy): American-born campaigner who advocated for the establishment of women police officers in Britain. She was married to astronomer Sir George Darwin (son of Charles Darwin).
• 9. Caroline Jebb (née Reynolds): American socialite renowned for her sharp wit and conversation in Cambridge academic circles. She was married to classical scholar Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb.
• 10. Mary Ward (née Martin): Lecturer at Newnham College and the first woman to earn First Class honors in the Moral Sciences Tripos (1879). She also served as Secretary of the Cambridge Women's Suffrage Association.
• 11. Fanny Prothero (née Mary Frances Butcher): An Irish-born member known for her deep personal conversations and close friendship with novelist Henry James. She was married to historian Sir George Prothero.
• 12. Baroness Eliza "Isy" von Hügel (née Froude): Promoter of Roman Catholic education in Cambridge and daughter of hydrodynamicist William Froude. She was married to Baron Anatole von Hügel, the first curator of the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

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