C.G. Jung Club London

About the Jung Club*

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The Club, originally called the Analytical Psychology Club London, was founded on September 15th, 1922, at the London home of Esther Harding, with four other founder members, Drs Mary Bell, Helen Shaw, Adela Wharton and 'Peter' Godwin Baynes. They were all close associates of C.G. Jung and wanted to further the feeling of community and 'kinship libido' shared by those who had had an analysis with Dr Jung or Toni Wolff. Soon after they were joined by Drs McKenzie, T.T. Wilson, Mr J. M. Thorburn and Miss N.G.R. Taylor. By the early 1930s there were around 25 members and meetings were held fortnightly at a given member's home in London.

Esther Harding, who was born in Shropshire, was a medical doctor and became a prodigious writer on diverse subjects relating to womanhood. In 1923 she and Peter Baynes arranged a seminar in Polzeath in Cornwall with Jung, his wife Emma and Toni Wolff. The following year she relocated to New York with Eleanor Bertine and her friend Kristine Mann. In 1936 Dr Harding was involved in founding the Analytical Psychology Club in New York.

It would seem that initially the Club was a place where those in the 'Jungian' community could share their clinical insights and concerns. At an undated meeting in London, in which Jung was present, the question as to how the Club should be structured was summed up by Dr Baynes who stressed the need for both individual expression and responsibility to the outer collective - a balance of introversion and extraversion. This led to a more democratic basis, the formation of a committee and adoption of a constitution.

One of the other dilemmas at this time was the question of identity and the wish of many members to break free from a dependence on the "Zürich School." There were also calls to provide seminars, study groups and lectures. In 1936 Baynes suggested forming a medical centre run by doctors and lay analysts, a project that continued to be discussed in the 1940s at a meeting chaired by Michael Fordham. A major difference of opinion was whether the Club should be led by medical doctors or by Jungian analysts.

In 1946 Michael Fordham was instrumental in founding the Society of Analytical Psychology (SAP). The Club was now a non-medical, non-professional body. At a meeting in 1957 it was noted that the membership was predominantly female, there were about 160 members, and some blamed the lack of community feeling on too much introversion. At a 1964 Club meeting it was noted that there were 180 members, some from the SAP, some from the Guild of Pastoral Psychology, and just five members who had been analysed by Jung. Discussions involved the question of the aspirations and focus of the Club and an acknowledgment that there was a lack of funds to obtain premises.

At that meeting Gerhard Adler said "It is not the role of the Club to spread Jung's teachings in an active way. That should be left to professional analysts and professional writers. It is not the role of the Club."

Much has changed since then!

* Partly extracted from a Club Booklet now in the Library entitled "Archive Papers1922 -1964"

 

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