In 1822, John Stuart Mill gathered a few friends and founded the Utilitarian Society as a forum where men could gather once every two weeks to read essays and discuss questions surrounding utility. He emphasizes that he did not invent the word “utilitarian” and rather borrowed it from John Galt’s novel, Annals of the Parish. There were originally three members, and Mill states that the society always had less than ten members over the course of its existence. 

Mill mentions the formation of this society in the third chapter of his autobiography, which was a period marking the end of his formal education and beginning of his self-education (Mill 77). This society, founded and led by Mill himself, was a critical stepping stone in that educational transition that showed him how he could simultaneously learn from and lead others. 

Sources:

Anschutz, Richard Paul. John Stuart Mill. 13 Jan. 2021, www.britannica.com/biography/John-Stuart-Mill.

Mill, John Stuart. Autobiography. Penguin Classics, 1989.