The Honorary Foreign Fellows
The Society has, on twelve occasions in its history, resolved to confer Honorary Fellowship on a non-British public figure in recognition of their services to the English language. The list is one of the Society’s principal markers of taste, and is published in each Quarterly Statement.
1. Henry James (1903)
Accepted by post. James’s letter of acceptance, dated 14th October 1903, is reproduced in the Society’s archive; the Curator notes that the letter contains, on the Society’s analysis, “no fewer than four constructions which the Society would, in its formal correspondence, have queried; the Society did not, on the occasion, query them.”
2. Edith Wharton (1916)
Accepted by telegram, in haste. Wharton’s telegram, in its entirety: “AM HONOURED. ACCEPT.” The Society’s reply was, in keeping with the medium, of similar brevity.
3. T. S. Eliot (1922)
Accepted in person, at a small ceremony in the anteroom on 11th November 1922. Eliot is recorded as having spoken for approximately seven minutes on the proper position of the apostrophe in “1920s”. The Society’s then-President is recorded as having found the remarks “of considerable interest”.
4. H. L. Mencken (1934)
Accepted, with reservations on grounds of nationality, under the Salzburg Compromise. Mencken’s letter of acceptance noted that “the Society’s standards are American in their seriousness, even where the language they apply to is not”. The Society did not reply.
5. Vladimir Nabokov (1958) — declined
Declined, in writing, with great courtesy. Nabokov’s letter of declination, dated 17th April 1958, runs to two pages and concludes:
“I am unable to accept the honour, on the ground that my own use of English is, in many respects, the very kind of usage the Society would, in its correspondence, have occasion to query. To accept the Society’s Fellowship would be to invite, on the Society’s part, a series of gentle but firm corrections to my prose, which I am not, on the present view, ready to receive. I remain, however, the Society’s most respectful admirer.”
The Society framed the letter and hung it in the basement library. It is the only declination in the Society’s history to have been hung.
6. Jorge Luis Borges (1961)
Accepted, in Spanish, the Society having corresponded with the Real Academia Española for the formal text. Borges’s reply, in the English translation provided by the Real Academia at the Society’s request, reads in part: “The Society writes, I am told, with great care; I receive the honour with great gratitude; the language we both serve is, in this respect, the host of our acquaintance.” The Society regards Borges’s acceptance as the most thoughtful of any Honorary Fellow’s response.
7. Anthony Burgess (1971)
Accepted; Burgess subsequently corrected the wording of his own admission letter, by post, observing that it had used “yourself” where “you” was indicated. The Society apologised for the error informally — see the Standing List of Apologies for the Society’s position on the formal kind — and reissued the letter. The Society regards the exchange as a model of the relationship it wishes to maintain with its Honorary Fellows.
8. Iris Murdoch (1985)
Accepted; Murdoch’s subsequent correspondence with the Society ran to thirty-one letters over fifteen years, principally on points of usage in her own work. It is, on the Curator’s view, “the most substantial intellectual exchange the Society has conducted with any Honorary Fellow”. The letters are filed in a separate folder, marked “Murdoch”.
9. Seamus Heaney (1995)
Accepted in writing. The reply contains a poem, on the gift of accepting an institutional honour, which the Society has not republished, on the grounds (as recorded in the relevant Sub-committee paper) that “the Society does not, on principle, publish poetry; the poem is, in this respect, the gift of its author to the Society’s archive, and the Society regards it as such.”
10. Susie Dent (2009)
The first Honorary Fellow conferred in the modern era. The admission was, however, deferred from the date of conferral (2009) to the date of the Society’s establishment in correspondence by internet (2026), on the ground that the conferral letter could not, in 2009, be sent in a manner befitting the Society’s standards. The 2026 letter has, at the time of writing, been drafted and is awaiting dispatch. Dent’s response is anticipated.
11. Reserved
No conferral has been made; the slot is held in waiting.
12. Reserved
No conferral has been made; the slot is held in waiting.
The two reserved slots are held, on the Society’s standing practice, against the possibility of “a future Honorary Fellow of unimpeachable distinction whose service to the language warrants admission without further deliberation”. No such candidate has, in the thirty-one years since Heaney’s admission, presented themselves to the Society’s satisfaction. The Curator’s view: “The reserved slots are, in this respect, the most exclusive form of recognition the Society has on offer. The Society’s not having filled them is, in itself, a recognition of standards.”
Honorary Fellowship is conferred; it cannot be sought. Ordinary Fellowship, by contrast, can. The certificate is the same shape.