The Literary Society was founded in the Michaelmas Term of 1906 at the instigation of a student, A.J. Dare. It continued until 1934 although there are no reports of activities and meetings in The Griffin for the last terms. In 1934 a new College society was founded to encourage the study of literature, classical and modern. When the scheme was projected, the old Literary Society voluntarily dissolved itself, thus leaving the way clear for a new, more broadly based group. At its first meeting the society decided to call itself The Doughty Society after Charles Montagu Doughty. The Literary Society was reconstituted in this way by the actions of W. L. Cuttle and under the influence of F. R. Leavis. It became a forum for Leavisian speakers during Leavis's time at Downing College. But the Society appears to have lapsed in around 1960. The Doughty Society was revived again in 1981.