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London Club Life Through 1900
London Club Life Through 1900
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Vintage monograph originally published in 1902. Short - but has a lot of great info and illustrations seldom seen today.
No city in all the world has so many clubs as London. Nowhere have the social, the political, and the literary elements of national life been so closely associated with Clubland as in the metropolis of Great Britain.
But the real center of Clubland is Pall Mall. Here stand the greatest clubs known to Englishmen. It is almost imperial, this thoroughfare. It certainly is historical. The name it bears comes from the old Italian game of "palle malle," a game that gamins still play in sleepy old Italian cities, pounding their palle with the maglia, or mallet. It was the forerunner of our modern rackets, a sort of medieval tennis. It was introduced into London by Louise Renee de Querouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth and Aubigny, maid of honor to Queen Catharine, mistress to Charles II.
In an Imperial sense, the Carlton is the greatest of London clubs—the Union League Club, of Great Britain. It is most substantial in appearance, clothed in a pale gray. Owing its origin to the illustrious Duke of Wellington, it began in a small way in Charles Street, the thoroughfare from Haymarket into St. James' Square. At that time, 1831, this was a refuse pit, and what has since be¬come Pall Mall petitioned against the introduction of gas into that region.
The Carlton Club was called after the prince regent’s well known house, and as soon as opportunity offered the members removed to Carlton Gardens and then developed into Pall Mall. Sir Robert Smirke, R. A., who, with Barb', afterwards built the Reform Club, designed the present splendid edifice. In this club there still survives some of the political spirit of the Great Duke.
It is severely Conservative. It is not only exclusively Tory, but, like the Conservative Club, a kindred establishment, houses the very creme de la creme of Conservatism. Only Tories of wealth can reasonably be members. Its social ingredients, even where these are linked to the unchallenged right of every Conservative member of the House of Commons to be a member, are above suspicion. The political committee has under its control a fund which may be used for assisting promising candidates fighting tough parliamentary seats. This is, in fact, the largest electioneering fund at the service of an English political party. The amount held in the, club treasury is, of course, the special secret of the committee, but it is said to be about five million dollars. The kitchen of the club has been described as "spacious as a ballroom, kept in the finest order, and white as a young bride."
No city in all the world has so many clubs as London. Nowhere have the social, the political, and the literary elements of national life been so closely associated with Clubland as in the metropolis of Great Britain.
But the real center of Clubland is Pall Mall. Here stand the greatest clubs known to Englishmen. It is almost imperial, this thoroughfare. It certainly is historical. The name it bears comes from the old Italian game of "palle malle," a game that gamins still play in sleepy old Italian cities, pounding their palle with the maglia, or mallet. It was the forerunner of our modern rackets, a sort of medieval tennis. It was introduced into London by Louise Renee de Querouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth and Aubigny, maid of honor to Queen Catharine, mistress to Charles II.
In an Imperial sense, the Carlton is the greatest of London clubs—the Union League Club, of Great Britain. It is most substantial in appearance, clothed in a pale gray. Owing its origin to the illustrious Duke of Wellington, it began in a small way in Charles Street, the thoroughfare from Haymarket into St. James' Square. At that time, 1831, this was a refuse pit, and what has since be¬come Pall Mall petitioned against the introduction of gas into that region.
The Carlton Club was called after the prince regent’s well known house, and as soon as opportunity offered the members removed to Carlton Gardens and then developed into Pall Mall. Sir Robert Smirke, R. A., who, with Barb', afterwards built the Reform Club, designed the present splendid edifice. In this club there still survives some of the political spirit of the Great Duke.
It is severely Conservative. It is not only exclusively Tory, but, like the Conservative Club, a kindred establishment, houses the very creme de la creme of Conservatism. Only Tories of wealth can reasonably be members. Its social ingredients, even where these are linked to the unchallenged right of every Conservative member of the House of Commons to be a member, are above suspicion. The political committee has under its control a fund which may be used for assisting promising candidates fighting tough parliamentary seats. This is, in fact, the largest electioneering fund at the service of an English political party. The amount held in the, club treasury is, of course, the special secret of the committee, but it is said to be about five million dollars. The kitchen of the club has been described as "spacious as a ballroom, kept in the finest order, and white as a young bride."
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