The Chemical Society was founded in 1841, but several attempts to allow the admission of women as fellows were unsuccessful. Attempts at change included a legal challenge based on the ambiguous language of the Society’s Charter in 1880, which was defeated because the issue of admitting women as fellows "was not expedient at the present time", followed by an attempt in 1892, defeated by a Council vote of 8 to 7. However, after the election of Marie Curie as a Foreign Fellow of the Society in 1904, 19 women signed a petition for admission of women as Fellows. The petition was organised by three of its signatories: Ida Smedley, Ida Freund, and Martha Whiteley.