London SF Con

(For other Loncons, see Loncon (Disambiguation).)

Eastercon 3, London SF Con, was held at the Royal Hotel in London over Whitsun, May 31–June 1, 1952. There was no GoH. The committee was E. J. Carnell, Charles Duncombe, Frank Arnold, and Jim Ratigan. Membership fees were 2/6d to the 'convention society' plus 5/- per day. Teenagers were half-price.

The convention programme book is misleading as it suggests the venue was The White Horse Tavern but this only hosted a preliminary session on Friday 30 May where out-of-town fans included James White, Walt Willis, Fred Robinson, Alan Hunter and Dave Cohen.

Attendees[edit]

The 1952 Eastercon was the first UK convention to have a published membership list. This shows 197 members of the 'convention society'. It seems plausible that there were about 200 people present and maybe even more. Pete Campbell, writing in Operation Fantast #13–14 (Winter 1952) said that the voting for the 1953 site was 'Manchester 26 and London circa 170' and if that's correct then total attendance must surely have been much more than 200.

There are nearly 90 known attendees, people who are named in one of the convention reports, who appear in photos, and/or whose names appear on a signed copy of the programme book. A few of these people don't appear on the membership list. Over 10% of the membership is female.

In the table below names marked (A) are known attendees, names marked (AN) are known attendees who are not on the membership list, and names marked (N) are members who are known to have not been present such as Arthur C. Clarke who was abroad and Lee Hoffman because frankly if she'd been there somebody would have mentioned it. The remainder may have attended. In many cases that's the limit of our knowledge about them and where this is the case there won't be a page for them until and unless we find out some more. Names to which this applies are in italics. Additionally names marked * are family members of attendees who likely weren't fans per se.

This is a work in progress. Unlinked names are being checked to see if they're here under variants or if they need pages.

At the convention proper representatives of local groups reported on fanac in their regions. Arthur C. Clarke did not attend the convention but sent a recorded message from America which was played twice. Robert Conquest was also listed as a member but it's unclear if he attended. The winners of the International Fantasy Awards were announced on Sunday, Fancies And Goodnights by John Collier and The Exploration of Space by Arthur C Clarke.

There was a contested bid for 1953. Cohen and Eric Bentcliffe championed Manchester while White and Willis advanced a not-terribly-serious proposal for 'Gay Paree in '53'. There were reservations about London as a venue during Coronation year but London won easily anyway. The Manchester bid would return the following year.

As Festivention the year before wasn't strictly an Eastercon, and there wasn't one in 1950, the preceding event is Loncon in 1949.

London SF Con publications and photos on fanac.org.
Science Fantasy News conrep.
Conrep by Dorothy Jacobs.
Programme book.
Rob Hansen's page on the convention

____

↑ Probably unrelated to D. Burke below. C. lived in Hertfordshire and D. in London.
↑ This may be Pete Chappell although he wasn't otherwise in evidence until c. 1958.
↑ Clarke was known to have been abroad at the time.
↑ The brother of Arthur C. Clarke.
↑ The wife of Fred Clarke, she was also reportedly Arthur C Clarke's typist.
↑ Some sources say Conquest was present. However there is no first-hand evidence of this. In Relapse #18 Peter Weston records details of a telephone call received from Conquest in which he confirms attendance at a convention. If it really was only one then it was Festivention as his presence there was reported at the time.
↑ This probably isn't Archie Mercer as this A. Mercer lived in London.
↑ It's possible that this is Alan H. Miles. This A. Miles had an address in Gloucestershire whereas Alan H. Miles lived in Bristol, UK in 1955, not all that far away.
↑ Not Fred Smith as this F. Smith lived in Surrey.
↑ This could be Cyril Whitaker but it's several years before his other fanac.

Loncon	Eastercon	Coroncon
	1952

This is a convention page. Please extend it by adding information about the convention, including dates, GoHs, convention chairman, locale, sponsoring organization, external links to convention pages, awards given, the program, notable events, anecdotes, pictures, scans of publications, pictures of T-shirts, con reports, etc.

[1] Probably unrelated to D. Burke below. C. lived in Hertfordshire and D. in London.

[2] This may be Pete Chappell although he wasn't otherwise in evidence until c. 1958.

[3] Clarke was known to have been abroad at the time.

[4] The brother of Arthur C. Clarke.

[5] The wife of Fred Clarke, she was also reportedly Arthur C Clarke's typist.

[6] Some sources say Conquest was present. However there is no first-hand evidence of this. In Relapse #18 Peter Weston records details of a telephone call received from Conquest in which he confirms attendance at a convention. If it really was only one then it was Festivention as his presence there was reported at the time.

[7] This probably isn't Archie Mercer as this A. Mercer lived in London.

[8] It's possible that this is Alan H. Miles. This A. Miles had an address in Gloucestershire whereas Alan H. Miles lived in Bristol, UK in 1955, not all that far away.

[9] Not Fred Smith as this F. Smith lived in Surrey.

[10] This could be Cyril Whitaker but it's several years before his other fanac.

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London SF Con

Attendees[edit]

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