Gentlemen’s Clubs.London's Gentlemen's Clubs reached their heyday in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They originated in the 18th century as coffee shops where London's rich young aristocrats met to talk, drink and gamble, and by the 19th century had evolved into exclusive clubs. The two main locations of these clubs are on Pall Mall and on St James's Street. The name Pall Mall is derived from the popular 17th century Italian game 'pallo a maglio', which translates as 'ball and mallet'. It was a similar game to the modern day croquet and was a particularly favourite game of the court of Charles II (1660-85), who played on this site. Some of the clubs still exist today, for example the Atheneum, the Travellers Club and the Reform Club on Pall Mall and Whites, Brooks and the Carlton Club on St James's Street. The Gentlemen's Clubs represent the stereotype of a Victorian London peopled by men dressed in pinstripe suits, smoking cigars and drinking port. And even today the archaic rules and rituals are often still in place. This means that most clubs are subject to strict and elaborate membership restrictions, out of bounds for women - and closed to the public. British elitist exclusive clubs (most of them in London) combine several functions and provide varied service: a member can stay for the night, so they are a kind of hotels, clubs take pride in their rich libraries and fashionable restaurants and bars, there are comfortable lounges where a gentleman can have a business meeting or just relax after a working day, and these clubs are also a kind of museums, keeping record of their famous members and history of the club. Most of these clubs are in private ownership. Nowadays women are also allowed to become club members, but the rules of admission are very strict.
A particularly well-known club is the very Conservative Carlton Club, made famous by the fact that Margaret Thatcher had to be made an Honorary Man in order to join! It was also considered by the IRA to be important enough to be a target and so was subjected to a bomb attack in 1990.
Brooks is an ultra-exclusive social club that was particularly well known in the 17th century for the gambling exploits of its members - Horace Walpole, the first British Prime Minister, is often quoted as saying 'a thousand meadows and cornfields were staked at every throw'.
The Garrick Club was founded in 1831 by a group of literary gentleman under the patronage of the King’s brother, the egalitarian Duke of Sussex. They announced that the Club would be a place where 'actors and men of refinement and education might meet on equal terms', where 'patrons of the drama and its professors were to be brought together', and where 'easy intercourse was to be promoted between artists and patrons'. The Club was named after the great Eighteenth Century actor David Garrick. Many of the great literary personalities of the Nineteenth Century were members of the Garrick, and the Club was the scene of a famous quarrel between perhaps the two greatest – Dickens and Thackeray. Other members of the Club in the Nineteenth Century included writers such as Trollope, Meredith, actors such as Macready, Charles Kemble, Charles Mathews, Irving, composers such as Elgar and Sullivan and artists such as Millais, Leighton and Rossetti. Today the Club has around 1,300 members including many of the most distinguished actors and men of letters in England. The original assurance of the committee, “that it would be better that ten unobjectionable men should be excluded than one terrible bore should be admitted”, ensures that the lively atmosphere for which the Club was so well-known in the Nineteenth Century continues to invigorate members of the Club. The Club possesses an important theatrical library that includes many manuscripts and documents, a valuable collection of play-texts and tens of thousands of playbills and theatre programmes. However, the greatest treasure of the Garrick Club is the collection of theatrical paintings and drawings, much the largest and most comprehensive in existence.
Travellers Club was founded in 1819 to act as the meeting point for gentlemen who had returned from travels abroad. It is essentially a non-political social club and the only one of the Gentlemen's Clubs to offer guided tours to the public. The Royal Automobile Club remains a private club for the use of its members and their guests. It was founded in 1897 'for the Protection, Encouragement and Development of Automobilism'. As such it is the newest of the Gentlemen's Clubs and it has a reputation for being less class-conscious than many of the other clubs. RAC motoring services is now an entirely separate company from the Club. The two clubhouses, at Pall Mall in central London and at Woodcote Park, Epsom, Surrey, offer members wonderful sporting and dining facilities, as well as accommodation and function rooms. A prospective member, whether a lady or gentleman, must be nominated and seconded by two current members of at least two years’ standing, who have known the candidate for at least two years. There are approximately two hundred staff at the Pall Mall clubhouse, and one hundred at Woodcote Park, comprising chefs, waiting staff, sports staff, administration, engineering, greenkeeping and housekeeping staff. There are often vacancies to be filled. In 1905, the Club organised the first Tourist Trophy (TT) race. This is therefore the oldest race regularly run. The Club became the governing body for motor sport in Britain. In 1913, Woodcote Park near Epsom racecourse, was purchased as a Country Club. Located on the site of a twelfth century abbey, it was a mansion built in 1679. United Oxford and Cambridge University Club. People who have been admitted a member of a College or Hall at the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, or have been granted an Honorary Degree or MA status by these Universities, may become candidates for membership. The application is considered by an election committee. Names are then on view to Members for a month, after which formal election takes place. The unique atmosphere of the Club arises from a combination of a lower average age of Members than most clubs, with a constant refreshment by the election of younger Members, and the very wide range of Members' experiences and interests. The cost of membership is dependent on age and place of residence. The Club was formed in March 1972 by the amalgamation of the United University Club and the Oxford and Cambridge University Club being called the 'United Oxford and Cambridge University Club'. For the first year of its life the Club was housed at 1 Suffolk Street, and thereafter at 71 and 77 Pall Mall. The foundation of the Oxford and Cambridge University Club dates from a meeting of Members of the two Universities held at the British Coffee House, 27 Cockspur Street on 17 May 1830, with Lord Palmerston in the chair. In February 1996 the members of the Club voted to admit women to full membership and in 1997 H.M. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark became the Club's first Honorary Lady Member.
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Atheneum is a club for the "intellectually elite" and so it is named after the ancient Roman Athenaeum, which was the Roman centre for the study of literature and science. Over the years numerous Prime Ministers, Cabinet Ministers, literary figures and church leaders have been members of the Athenaeum. Clubs have strict dress codes. The Athaneum has a sign stating that 'Ties must be worn at all times' below a nude statue.
Reform Club was the Gentlemen's Club for liberals in the 19th Century, and its members were behind the 1832 Reform Act. It is also where the Jules Verne hero Phileas Fogg took his bet to travel 'Around the world in 80 Days'. Even today it is considered to be one of the most liberal of the clubs for it is one of the few that allows women members.
