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The Working Men's College was founded in 1854 by social reformers John Frederick Denison Maurice, John Malcolm Ludlow, Charles Kingsley, Frederick Furnivall and others to promote regular and organised education amongst working class men (women's classes began in 1856). The classes were not intended to be a series of miscellaneous lectures as taught at the Mechanics Institutes, but structured courses comparable to those run by larger established universities such as University College London and King's College London. The college is still extant, and is now situated in Crowndale Road, North London.

The Philological Society was formed in 1842 by Anglo-Saxon scholar Edwin Guest to investigate historical philology, etymology and the philology of other languages.

Founded by Furnivall in 1873, the aims of the New Shakspere Society were to establish the chronology of William Shakespeare's plays, to promote the study of Shakespeare and to publish texts which illustrated his work and era. The Society was disbanded in 1892 after a sharp drop in membership due to an acrimonious and public dispute between Furnivall, Algernon Swinburne and James Orchard Halliwell Phillips

Founded by Furnivall in 1864, the aim of the Early English Text Society was to bring attention to previously unprinted early literature through its publication scheme and to provide source material for the Philological Society's New English Dictionary (later the Oxford English a Dictionary)

Formed in 1881 by Furnivall and Emily Hickey (with the reluctant consent of the poet), the aim of the Browning Society was to promote the works of Robert Browning through publications and staging performances of his plays. Membership fell sharply after the poet's death in 1889 and the Society formally ceased to operate in 1891. However it still met informally in member's houses at least until 1893

Founded by Furnivall in 1886, the primary aim of the Shelley Society was to publish exact but inexpensive facsimiles of the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Alongside these facsimiles were to be reprinted notices and criticisms of the poet's works from lesser known or obscure published sources. The Society staged the first public performance of 'Cenci' in 1886 which attracted many subscribers, however by the next year membership began to dwindle. Increasingly in debt, the Shelley Society closed in 1892

Founded by Furnivall in 1868, the Chaucer Society's aim was to publish the unprinted manuscripts of Geoffrey Chaucer's works for scholars to demonstrate how they varied from the well known printed versions. The Society dissolved in 1912

The Working Men's College Rowing Club was founded in 1860 and relaunched in 1879 as the Maurice Rowing Club (in memory of Frederick Denison Maurice, the first principal of the Working Men's College). The club eventually folded in 1894 due to difficulties in achieving recognition from established rowing clubs. The Hammersmith Girls Sculling Club (later the Furnivall Sculling Club) was founded in 1896 by Furnivall to promote the sport of sculling amongst working class women and was the first all women rowing/sculling club.

Aimed at publishing the works of the early English poets John Lydgate and Thomas Hoccleve, the projected society was never formed, due to insufficient interest from potential subscribers

Furnivall founded the Ballad Society in 1868 after the successful publication of Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript (London: N. Trübner & Co, 1867-1868) with the intention of publishing ballads from the major collections in Britain including the Pepys, Roxburgh and Bagford Collections. The last Ballad Society publication was issued in 1899