The Selborne Society or Selborne League is Britain's oldest national conservation organization and a registered charity. It was formed in November 1885 to "perpetuate the name and interests of Gilbert White, the Naturalist of Selborne", and followed the philosophy of observation rather than collection. Its object was the preservation of birds, plants and pleasant places.
The society was founded by George Arthur Musgrave (1843 – 29 August 1912) and his wife Theresa of Torquay in Devon and it was inspired by Gilbert White's well-known book, The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne. It amalgamated with the Plumage League which had been founded by the Reverend Francis Orpen Morris and Lady Mount Temple in January 1886 with the full title of the Selborne Society for the Preservation of Birds, Plants and Pleasant Places while the campaigners against the use of birds for fashion formed the Plumage Section with royal patronage from Princess Christian, daughter of Queen Victoria. From 1887 it started producing the Selborne Letters as well as the Selborne Magazine. The organization became more organized after a meeting held on 26 January 1888, when Alfred, Lord Tennyson was appointed as president. The aim of "education" was added at this meeting. The Selborne Magazine was retitled as Nature Notes from 1890 under the editorship of Percy Myles and James Britten. After Britten's death in 1897 the editor was G. S. Boulger. The Parkinson Society founded in 1884 by Juliana Horatia Ewing to encourage wild gardening and the survival of endangered species also merged into the Selborne Society.
