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London Clubs 1889

Page history last edited by Michael 5 years, 10 months ago

Clubs and Clubland

 


     If even the best hotels are just not good enough for you, or if you need a long-term lodging in London (but can't afford or don't want to be bothered by keeping a house), consider joining a club.

 

      "The building is a sort of palace, and is kept with the same exactness and comfort as a private dwelling. Every member is a master without any of the troubles of a master. He can come when he pleases, and stay away as long as he pleases, without anything going wrong. He has the command of regular servants without having to pay or manage them. He can have whatever meal or refreshment he wants, at all hours, and served up with the cleanliness and comfort of his own house. He orders just what he pleases, having no interest to think of but his own. In short, it is impossible to suppose a greater degree of liberty in living." - Walker's "The Original."

 

     Odd customs, rules and traditions abound; one nearly universal rule is "no tipping." Waiting lists for membership run from months to several years long; while the rules are varied and complicated, essentially all clubs require a 90% 'aye' vote of all members present to admit a new member.

     Many younger sons of the upper class, with incomes of 'only' £200 to £400 per year, find residential club dues and fees (typically totalling £20 to £100 per year) to be the most economical way of setting up a proper London lifestyle. A fine dinner, only 5 shillings in a good club, can cost four or five times that in a hotel restaurant. And, there are other benefits, like ancient wine cellars, billiards tables, card playing at all hours, the squash court, and the club tent at Ascot ...

     Another amenity offered by some clubs (notably White's) are betting books. Some of the wagers are in poor taste, or entirely ridiculous (White's was known, in Regency times, for booking bets on saucers thrown across the street into another club's front windows).>

     There are many famous clubs (though none on the above list) which possess no premises, or only a single dining room, or a room in another (larger) club, even though they may employ a chef and have a large wine stock. These clubs mostly meet for dinners: the Dilletanti Society (arts & literature - "the nominal qualification for the Dilettanti is having been in Italy and the real one being drunk" according to Walpole, and there is still a boyish, secret society element), London Pitt Club (very old), Shikar (adventurers, founded 1908), Literary, Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and Cranium, are some examples.

     Tattersall's has a "Subscription Room" which is in effect a private betting-club; admittance to membership is by election from a committee, and costs £3 3s.

     Various clubs allow use of some or all of their facilities to members of certain other clubs. Almost all clubs allow members to bring guests (though often only one at a time); a few allow gentlemen of one type or another (military officers, or high nobility, for example) to come by as guests "uninvited," so to speak. Most extend honorary membership to members of the Royal family, and foriegn ambassadors.

     Many (but not all) of the clubs that don't explicitly accept women will have ladies as associate members, although most will allow female guests for meals.

     In Space 1889 terms, it is assumed these clubs require at least Social Level 5 unless otherwise stated. Some of the notable London clubs as of 1889 include the following (along with their entrance fee and annual subscription fee):

 


 

Aerial

  • 119 Piccadilly, W1.  Founded 1880, and open to men and women connected with aerial flight or space travel(by liftwood, balloon, dirigible, or whatever). The club sponsors various races, tests, and experiments, and has a certain "enthusiastic crackpot" element. Members must have Social Level 4+ and one of the following at level 1 or more:  Piloting:  Aerial Flyer; Piloting:  Cloudship; Piloting:  Zeppelin; or Piloting:  Interplanetary Ether Flyer.

 

Albemarle

  • 37 Dover Street, W1. Open equally to men and women, and a center for suffragette activity.

 

The Alexandra

  • 12 Grosvenor St. Established in 1884, by 1888 it had 600 members. Members are all women who "must not be precluded from attending Her Majesty's Drawing Rooms." No smoking, no male guests permitted. Entrance £5, sub £4.

 

Alpine

  • 8 St. Martin's Pl., Trafalgar Sq. Founded 1857 with the object of encouraging exploration and travel. The mountaineering and educational qualifications for membership are severe (must have Mountaineering skill 1+ and Intellect 43+). Entrance £1, sub £1. 

 

Anglo-Indian Club

  • 45 Acacia Road, NW8. Founded in 1864 in the lacquer-wood and brass furnished basement of an old Regency townhouse near St. Johns Wood, the Anglo-Indian Club serves a select group. Most colonial returnees prefer the Oriental or East India; others find for some reason that their service in India has affected them more deeply than others might imagine. Initial membership was predominately officers and diplomats that had survived the Indian Mutiny and its aftermath. Membership is open to both sexes, as long as they have lived in India for at least 20 years, or are otherwise considered to have sufficient ties to the sub-continent. Wives -- or husbands -- are admitted as guests, or associate members.

 

Army and Navy

  • 36 Pall Mall. Almost always known as "the Rag," members are military men only. Has extensive accommodations for members, a squash court, a ladies' drawing room and a ladies' dining room.. Entrance £40, sub £10.

 

Arthur's

  • 69 St. James's St. Founded 1756, no foreigners, no guests, men only, requires Social Level 6. Entrance £31, sub £10.

 

Arts

  • 17 Hanover Sq. Art, literature, and science, very uproarious on Saturday nights. Entrance £15, sub £6.

 

Athenæum

  • 107 Pall Mall. Intellectuals, scientists, CofE bishops, judges, poor food ("all the arts and sciences are understood there, except gastronomy"), extremely grave and respectable (but Richard Burton is a member!); best club library. Talk Dinners monthly in season. There's a 16 year waiting list for membership (and Intellect 5+ is also required)... Entrance £31, sub £8.

 

Bachelors' Club

  • 8 South Audley Street, Grosvenor Square, W1. All members are unmarried when they join, although they may pay a fine to remain members if they get married. Men only, mostly young, very boisterous.

 

Beefsteak

  • 24 King William St., the Strand. Founded 1735; dinner club with excellent food and conversation; "there is no particular object in this club, nor is there any particular qualification", despite which members are typically peers, politicians, diplomats, writers, actors, and academics; to be a member, one has to be "a relation of God - and a damned close relation at that" (i.e., Social Level of 6, or Social Level 5 and Intellect 5+ required); no gambling, no visitors, and all waiters are called 'Charles.' In theory a woman could be a member, in practice it has never happened. Entrance £10, sub £5.

 

Boodles

  • 28 St. James's St. Founded 1762, a bastion of County society & the lesser peerage, no library, very good service. No women are permitted either as members or as visitors. An architectural description and floor plan can be found here.

 

Brooks's

  • 60 St. James's St. Founded 1778, politically liberal, many aristocratic members (600 in number); guests only allowed in a small room just inside the door, and women may not visit or become members. Entrance £31, sub £11, Social Level 6 required. 

 

Carlton

  • 94 Pall Mall. Conservative politicians & financiers, and in fact essentially the Conservative party headquarters; peers and M.P.s preferred (Social Level 6 required); no guests, no bedrooms. Entrance £30, sub £10; no women permitted as members (although there is talk of founding a Ladies' Carlton).

 

City of London

  • 19 Old Broad St. Shipowners, businessmen, bankers & financiers, usually not open evenings. Entrance £31, sub £10 .Women may not become members.

 

Conservative

  • 74 St. James's St. Every member must be, of course, a Conservative; however, solicitors have difficulty joining. Entrance £33, sub £10, women may not become members.

 

East India United Service

  • 14 St. James's Sq. Founded 1849. Soldiers, sailors, churchmen, and civil servants who served Britain in India; but women may not become members. Entrance £31, sub £8.

 

Ether

  • 10 Carlton House Terrace. Founded 1887, and open to anyone -- male or female -- who has left the orbit of the Earth. The first members were naval and military officers and colonial administrators, and they're still about half the members by 1890. A couple of the staff are Canal Martians, and a few of the menu items approximate Martian food items. Social Level 4+ required. Entrance £15, sub £8.

 

Garrick

  • 15 New King St., Covent Garden. Fine food, 650 artistic, literary and theatrical members (men only); no bedrooms or female guests. Entrance £21, sub £10.

 

Grafton

  • Grafton St. A proprietary grill club, for good dinners, smoking and conversation. Entrance £5, sub £3.

 

Green Room Club

  • 46 Leicester Square. A club for actors and lovers of theatre and the arts. Men only.

 

Gresham

  • Lombard St. Business & finance, good food and cellar, a status symbol for the City -- members are merchants, bankers and other gentlemen "of known respectability" . Entrance £21, sub £8, men only.

 

Guards

  • 70 Pall Mall. Only current & retired officers of the Grenadiers, Coldstream, and Scots Guards, very strict protocol is observed . Entrance £31, sub £11.

 

Hurlingham

  • Ranelagh Gardens, Fulham. 40 acres nr. Putney, six miles from the center of London, this club caters to sports of all types: croquet, swimming, badminton, lawn bowling, lawn tennis, American skittles, boating, fencing, squash, cricket, archery, fly casting, and especially pigeon shooting (April through July). Membership is open to men and women who must be "received in general society" (Social Level 4+). In 1874 this club was the site of the first polo match played in England. Entrance £15, sub £5.

 

Junior Carlton

  • 30 Pall Mall. Conservatives and "gentlemen of position" only, many peers and M.P.s, very politically active; they have just last year moved into a huge new building, impressive and oppressive; the library contains Disraeli's (Shadow Cabinet) Table. Entrance £39, sub £10, Social Level 6 required; no women may become members.

 

Junior United Service

  • 11 Charles St., St. James. Only current or retired military officers, many from the Indian Army. Very easy about guests, associate memberships, etc.. Entrance £40, sub £7.

 

London Athletic

  • Stamford Bridge, Fulham. Members partake of various sports and exercises (running, boxing, fencing, rowing, gymnastics, etc.). Indoor practice takes place in the "Iron House" on the club grounds. Entrance £10, sub £2; only Social Level 4+ is required to obtain membership.

 

Marylebone Cricket Club

  • St. John's Wood Road, N.W.8 (Lord's Cricket Ground). Sporting types in general; the Gentlemen vs. Players matches have been organized by this club since 1806 - but a grandstand for the public was only felt needed since 1866; in 1874 the Tennis and Rackets Sub-Committee drew up the rules for lawn tennis. There's a 20 year long waiting list to become a member, and there are no female members. They have one of the few "real tennis" courts, and a squash court; members play a lot of golf and tennis, as well (though there's no gold course at Lord's).

 

National Liberal Club

  • 1 Whitehall Place, SW1. Established by Gladstone in 1882, members only need Social Level 3+, and (of course) to swear not to engage in political activities adverse to liberalism. However, women may not become members.

 

Naval & Military

  • 22 Hanover Sq. Active or retired military officers only, but a very friendly atmosphere, no 'rank pulling'; many Regimental dinners and wedding receptions held here. Entrance £36, sub £8.

 

Oriental

  • 18 Hanover Square. Has 800 members, who have served, traveled, or resided in the East, and are "noblemen, M.Ps., and gentlemen of the first distinction and character" (Social Level 6 required); senior members of the Colonial Office and the India Office are common. Entrance £31, sub £9, women may not become members.

 

Oxford & Cambridge

  • 71 Pall Mall. Male or female graduates of those two universities only (requires Intellect at least 4). Entrance £42, sub £8.

 

Pelican

  • Shaftesbury Avenue, Soho. Very raffish and 'fast', interested in wine, women, gambling and song; many pugilists and theatrical types. Founded 1887, only requires Social Level 4+, but men only.

 

Portland

  • This club has rooms at the Naval & Military Club. The members are 250 old, rich whist players, many doctors & lawyers - nobody in England plays bridge until it was introduced here in 1894. However, "no game of hazard shall be played, nor shall dice be used in the club." Entrance £10, sub £7, an income of at least £10,000 per year is thought wise, men only, requires Social Level 6 and Intellect 5+.

 

Pratt's

  • 14 Park Place, St. James's St. Conservative senior dinner club, very select (Social Level 6 required), long waiting list (members tend to be Guards officers and Tory peers, men only), opens 7 p.m. One of the rules provides "that no member bring a stranger into the Club under any pretence whatever." Entrance £2, sub £5.

 

Reform

  • 104 Pall Mall. Politically liberal, very high class (members must be "socially eligible"), excellent food, tremendous architecture, Phileas Fogg's club. Guests allowed only in the Strangers' Room. Entrance £40, sub £10, Social Level 6 required, men only. 

 

Royal Thames Yacht

  • 7 Albemarle St. Est. 1775. To encourage yacht building and sailing; the Prince of Wales is the Commodore. Entrance £21, sub £7, Social Level 6 and Piloting:  Sailing Vessel 1+ required. The club members may fly a special flag from their yachts.

 

Savage

  • King St., Covent Garden. Members must be writers, artists, musicians, theatrical performers, scientists or lawyers (must have either Intellect 4+ or Charisma 4+, but only requires Social Level 4+). Entrance £5, sub £5.

 

Savile

  • 15 Savile Row. An intellectual lot (Intellect 4+ required), whose object is "good fellowship"; it is said that no one can get in unless they are an atheist, or have written a book. Roast beef and beer for dinner; all present dine at one table. Entrance £10, subscription £5.

 

Scottish

  • 39 Dover St., Piccadilly. Members are landowners in Scotland, or gentlemen otherwise connected with that country by property or marriage. Entrance £10, sub £7, men only.

 

Sports'

  • 8 St. James Sq. Sporting types; a focal point for rugby and cricket.

 

St. James's

  • 106 Picadilly. Mostly diplomats (including several dozen members of HBM Diplomatic Service) and foreign aristocrats, much genteel gaming till all hours. Entrance £26, sub £11, men only.

 

St. Stephen's

  • 34 Queen Anne's Gate. Just founded this year, with support from Disraeli, as a convenient club for Conservative M.P.s. Entrance £31, sub £10.

 

Thatched House

  • 86 St. James's St. Established 1865; deliberately apolitical. Entrance £26, sub £10.

 

Travellers'

  • 106 Pall Mall. Each of the 725 members must have traveled more than 500 miles from London. 20% are from the Foreign Office; many of the rest are foreign diplomats and statesmen. Entrance £32, sub £10; Social Level 6 is required, and formal dress must be worn by members at all times within the club. No women are members.

 

Turf

  • 85 Picadilly. Aristocratic racing set, also excellent whist players (both for money). Entrance £31, sub £15, Social Level 6 required, men only. 

 

Union

  • Trafalgar Square. Very jolly. Entrance £31, sub £7, men only.

 

United Service

  • 116 Pall Mall. Known as "The Senior;" all members must be at least majors (Army or Royal Marines), or commanders (Royal Navy); no guests are allowed to dinner (except those invited by the club), very 'stuffy,' all of the staff are former enlisted men. A very large building, with lots of full-length portraits, busts, statues, mementos, etc. Entrance £40, sub £7.

 

United University

  • 1 Suffolk Street. All members are graduates of Oxford or Cambridge (Intellect 5+ required); one of Gladstone's favorite clubs. Entrance £31, sub £8.

 

University Club For Ladies

  • 2 Audley Square, Mayfair. Open to female graduates of British universities.

 

Victoria

  • Wellington St., Strand. Horse-racing and other gambling bookies club - in fact, a great part of the commission betting in Europe takes place here. Entrance £5, sub £5, male members only.

 

White's

  • 37 St. James's St. Founded 1693, long waiting list, no bedrooms available, excellent dinners and wine cellar. Entrance £19, sub £11, Social Level 6 required, men only. 

 


 

     Several overseas clubs are considered on a social par with London's best clubs: the Royal Cork Yacht Club; the Nouveau Cercle, Jockey Club of France (very aristocratic), and Travellers' in Paris; the Sporting Club in Monte Carlo; the Caccia in Rome; the Casino in Berlin; the British-American Club at Biarritz; the Union in Port Said; the Madras in India; the Knickerbocker, Harvard, Brook, Wall Street, Players', Union, Bankers' and Yacht Club in New York City; the Union and Harvard in Boston; the Reading Room in Newport; and the St. James in Montreal among them. All of these require Social Level 6.


     Primary Sources: The Gentlemen's Clubs of London, by Anthony Lejeune; pub. Macdonald & Janes, London, 1979; Dickens's Dictionary of London 1888, by Charles Dickens; pub. Macmillan & Co., London 1888 (in facsimile by Old House Books, Newton Abbot, 1993); Baedeker's London and Its Environs, by Karl Baedeker; pub. by Karl Baedeker, Leipzig, var. dates; Kelly's Handbook to the Upper Ten Thousand 1879, 5th Edition; pub. by Kelly and Co., London, 1879.

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