[1][2][3] The Women's Guild was established with May Morris as its First President and watercolourist and engraver Mary Annie Sloane as its Honorary Secretary.
[6] The founding members of the guild were predominantly around middle-age and had already established an informal professional network through friendships and studying alongside one another.
Prideaux; interior designer Agnes Garrett; painters Marianne Stokes, Annie Swynnerton, and Evelyn de Morgan; and muralist Mary Seton Watts.
Mary Lowndes established the Artists' Suffrage League in the same year that the guild was formed and many members joined both groups.
[3] During World War One the Guild's general meetings continued, but the group shifted towards more public and philanthropic events and activities.
[3] These meetings generally included lectures by members or visiting speakers, providing a rare opportunity for women art workers to showcase and debate their work.