About The Wodehouse Society: Our Mission, Our Members, Our History

What Ho!

Founded in 1980 by William (Bill) Blood, The Wodehouse Society (TWS) is, as described in our founding constitution, an association of agreeable folks who share an admiration of the great author and humorist P. G. Wodehouse (PGW).

Our members range from lifelong fans to people who have only recently discovered his works, from serious book collectors to literary scholars, and from those who go around warbling his songs to folks who don’t even know Wodehouse was involved in musical theatre.

All fans of Wodehouse share a genial outlook on life and a high fizziness of spirit, which leads to quite a bit of fun whenever and wherever they congregate.

TWS Founding Constitution, created by Bill Blood

The Wodehouse Society is an association of agreeable human beings who, regardless of age, sex, race, creed, or other idiosyncrasies, share an admiration of Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (hereinafter referred to as Plum) and the rich products of his imagination.

The Society strives to keep the literary legacy bequeathed by Plum fresh in the public mind. It encourages young readers to read, confirmed readers to continue reading, publishers to publish, booksellers to supply, and libraries to lend the books of this master of gentle satire and sparkling humor.

The Society encourages secondary schools, colleges, and universities to include Plum in their curricula as one of the few authors who deserve inclusion in both English and American Literature. The Society encourages the establishment of chapters and branches in all counties of like-minded men, women, and children who possess a passable degree of literacy, a sense of humor which was not stifled at birth, a congenial disposition, and general agreement with the objectives outlined here.

In the unlikely event of a dissolution of the Society, assets remaining in its treasury after payment of indebtedness shall be transferred to the Library Fund, Delaware Valley College of Science and Agriculture, Doylestown, PA.

This constitution shall serve as a guide to The Wodehouse Society until such time as it is amended or superseded by the membership.

Members of TWS gather in person in two ways: via local chapters and at our biennial conventions. We have an international membership—from Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe, and a few as far-flung as India, Russia, Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia. Many have become fast friends after meeting at conventions.

What links all our members throughout the year is our quarterly journal, Plum Lines. This website is also home to an archive of past issues, with all but the last three years’ worth free to view for anybody visiting the site. Learn more on the Plum Lines page.

Another way of gathering members together is via the Internet. To this end, TWS has been maintaining a mailing list, called PGWnet, since the early 1990s. More than 200 people around the world subscribe to PGWnet, many of them taking “noms de Plum” from the Wodehouse canon to identify themselves. Since the growth of teleconferencing during the Covid pandemic, a couple of chapters have been conducting monthly internet conferences, attracting intercontinental participation. Additionally, we have a social media presence on Facebook.

TWS’s volunteer governing committee consists of our president, vice president, treasurer, membership secretary, Plum Lines editors, website editor, Convention Committee chair, and publicity/social media lead. To get in touch any member of our committee, see our Contact page.

In line with our mission to promote the life and work of P. G. Wodehouse, TWS has engaged in a number of initiatives over its 45-year history, including, most recently, helping to establish the P. G. Wodehouse Collection at Vanderbilt University. See Society Initiatives for descriptions and pictures of other projects TWS has undertaken over the years.

While you’re here, be sure to visit our blog as well as our Resources page, where scholars and fans will find a plethora of useful information.

A Short History of The Wodehouse Society

It all started in 1979 (or perhaps 1980) with a chance encounter in an auction house somewhere in Pennsylvania. On that day, Edna Axe was browsing through books for anything by Wodehouse for her Plum-loving husband, Frank. Soon she encountered a tall chap with a mustache also looking for Wodehouse books. They fell into conversation, and the chap—Captain William [Bill] Blood (U.S. Army, Ret.)—asked Edna to bring Frank to the next week’s auction so they could meet.

Bill and Frank hit it off at once. Before long, discussing Wodehouse and his books became such a pleasant pastime that they decided they should invite others to join them. Bill took on the task and soon determined that it should be not just a local group but a national society for Wodehouse fans. Accordingly, he began a campaign of letters and advertisements, first regionally and then across the United States. He and his wife, Mary, traveled a lot and spent much time recruiting members for what Bill had decided to call (strangely enough) The Wodehouse Society.

By August 1980, the fledgling society numbered 26 members, as well as one honorary member: Plum’s widow, Lady Wodehouse. The majority of TWS’s first members resided in Pennsylvania, but there were others from Vermont, New York, Maryland, and even Canada. Wodehouse collector and publisher James Heineman was among the names that appeared on the first published membership list, dated August 14, 1980. At the end of that same month, Bill sent out the society’s first newsletter, entitled Comments in Passing (later called Plum Lines).

By September 1981—little more than a year after the society was formed—the membership list topped 120 and boasted recruits from all over North America and from Europe as we acquired our first Swedish member along with several from England. The roster even included a P. G. Wodehouse, with a note written alongside his name: “Call him Paul.” Well-known names in the world of Wodehouse had begun to join: Plum’s first biographer, David Jasen; future biographer Barry Phelps; the renowned illustrator Ionicus (Jos. Armitage); Peter Schwed, Plum’s publisher at Simon and Schuster; Wodehouse scholar Richard Usborne; and, happily for us, Plum’s grandson, Sir Edward Cazalet, who would later be joined by other members of the Cazalet family.

English Wodehouse scholar Norman Murphy joined in 1982. Seven years later, he led a group of TWS members from the USA, U.K., and Netherlands on a tour of Wodehouse’s England that would be the start of innumerable Plummy friendships forged on an international scale. Tony Ring, another Wodehouse scholarship luminary, joined in 1990; both he and Norman became frequent speakers at our biennial conventions, and both were founders of The P G Wodehouse Society (UK) in 1997.

Over the years our membership rolls have been augmented with well-known names from the worlds of literature, entertainment, government, and even royalty. In 1988, HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, became an honorary member; years later, she reputedly engineered Wodehouse’s knighthood. Like the author Isaac Asimov, she remained a TWS member until her death.

Meanwhile, TWS went from strength to strength under the guidance of the inimitable Bill Blood. He was ably assisted by his wife, Mary, who oversaw the society’s membership list and other clerical tasks. Bill drew up a founding constitution, encouraged the formation of chapters, and began organizing meetings that evolved into conventions. He served as the society’s official president for its first three years (unofficially for much longer) and passed on stewardship of TWS’s official record, known as the Tome, to his presidential successors. Giving himself the moniker Oldest Member (always shortened to OM), he edited Plum Lines for the first seven years before passing the reins—and the title of OM—over to Ed Ratcliffe. And, of course, he remained a devoted TWS member until his death in October 1991.

TWS’s membership reached its apex in the mid-1990s thanks to the popularity of the TV series Jeeves and Wooster. It has declined since then, but our conventions continue to be popular and well attended. And we are proud of several initiatives we have undertaken to help keep the world and words of P. G. Wodehouse alive. Today, with members from all over the globe, TWS is the oldest society devoted to Wodehouse in the world. As the majority of Plum’s books remain in print and new generations are discovering him, it seems certain that The Wodehouse Society will be around for many years to come.