ABSTRACT
The Society of Women Musicians held its inaugural meeting at the headquarters of the Women’s Institute at 92, Victoria Street, London, on 15July 1911, followed by its first full meeting in on 11 November 1911.2 It was organised by the three women who dominated its early years, Gertrude Eaton (1861-?), Katherine Emily Eggar (1874-1961) and Marion Margaret Scott (1877-1953). During the rest of its 60-year existence, it attracted hundreds of musical women members and some males. This chapter will consider its first nine years, when members initiated debates on women’s role in music; it will enquire who its members were at this time; how much influence it wielded on musical society, what its political position was and how this affected the image of women composers in general, as well as their chamber music output. Were SWM composers typical of contemporary women composers? Why might a women composer have chosen not to become a member of the SWM? How did the SWM reflect the development of chamber music by women?
