History of the London School of Economics
The history of the London School of Economics dates from 1895, when the School was founded by Fabian Society members Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Graham Wallas, and George Bernard Shaw, with funding provided by private philanthropy, including a bequest of £20,000 from Henry Hunt Hutchinson to the Fabian Society.
School of Economic Science
Founder Leon MacLaren was influenced by the early-20th-century esotericist George Gurdjieff, praised as a charismatic intellectual who brought greater insight to Western thought, and rebuked as an egomaniacal charlatan who worked followers to exhaustion to break down personality. MacLaren joined a group formed by followers of P.D. Ouspensky, a former student of Gurdjieff, and brought what he learned into SES. MacLaren also studied the book "The Realm of Art" (1946), introduced its ideas to the SES and invited the author, Peter Goffin, to give lectures.