Regency Gentlemen’s Club

Every respectable Regency gentleman (and a few who weren’t exactly respectable) belonged to a gentleman’s club–which was nothing at all like strip joints in modern-day America

These London clubs were very exclusive. Regency gentlemen gathered to discuss events with those of the same political affiliation, socialize, eat, play games, and sometimes even a place to stay overnight if one’s visit to London was expected to be brief.

Some of the more popular English Gentleman’s Clubs were White’s, Brooks’s, (yes that is the correct spelling and punctuation), and Boodle’s.

Joining the Club

All exclusive gentlemen’s clubs in London used a method of voting for proposed new members. They used a system of back and white balls that each election committee member deposited in secret into a special box. A single black ball was sufficient to deny membership, hence the term “blackballed.”

When a member was accepted into the club, it was known as an “election.” If a gentleman had been a member for 3 years, others would say “three years after his election into so and so.”

White’s

By far the most revered (and oldest) of London’s gentlemen’s clubs during the Regency Era was White’s. An Italian, Francesco Bianco, founded White’s as a chocolate shop in 1693. He had changed his name to Francis White.

White’s was basically conservative, which means mostly Tory membership. Even today it’s considered the most prestigious club. Originally, White’s members frequently played high-stakes card games. Whist, faro, quinze, and hazard were some of the most popular games played. As with all the clubs, obsessive betting occurred frequently. The smallest difference of opinion invariably resulted in a wager and was duly recorded in a book that became famous. Or infamous, depending on one’s point of view.

Brooks’s

This club was basically liberal, which means a large Whig membership. For a while the Prince of Wales favored it. He changed his preference to White’s when Brooks’s blackballed his close friend, Jack Payne. As a gaming club in the eighteenth century, which is just before the Regency Era, it had been in Pall Mall where the stakes had been high. Gamblers played for 50 to 10,000 pounds on the table! Charles Fox and his brothers reportedly lost many thousands of pounds in a single night. Hazard was their customary game of choice.

Boodle’s

With Boodle’s, I’ve seen so many different characterizations of this one that it’s hard to say, but it seems to have offered deeper gaming than the aforementioned two clubs. Some sources say Boodles was the club for country squires and those who ‘rode to hounds’ in the fox hunts. It wasn’t tied to any political party, at least not during the Regency Era. It provided mostly a place to meet with friends, and of course, play games.

Crockford’s

Crockford’s Club on St.James’s Place recently came to my attention thanks to Two Nerdy History Girls blog. The owner, Mr. Crockford, ran his club more like today’s casinos. This club had the unique angle of having the members play against the club “players” or officials, meaning employees of the club, rather than against each other. French hazard was the game of choice and I’m sure Mr. Crockford turned a tidy sum. Reportedly, the food and wine were outstanding and membership was every bit as exclusive as the other clubs which, of course, made it desirable.

Watier’s

Another club was Watier’s which was a short-lived club. The Prince of Wales’s (or Prinny’s) chef created this club. It specialized in fine food and very deep gaming.

There were many, many more clubs, but the above were the clubs with space in St. James’s Street and thus at the core of society.

Lesser-known clubs

There was the Beef-steak (or Beefsteak) club, which had precisely thirty members and met once a week for a fine dinner; their building was open to members for the usual purposes such as conversing with friends, reading the latest papers, gaming, etc.

Athenium Club

The Athenium Club focused on ancient Rome and Greece. Members only spoke Latin there. This likely posed no problem for Regency gentlemen since every school taught Latin.

Gaming “Hells”

These private gaming ‘hells’ qualified as clubs because only members and their guests could enter and play. However, it seemed to have been very easy to join or tag along with a friend who was a member.

Oriental Club

This club was established in 1824 (just after the Regency Era). Its membership consisted of men who had traveled “out East” in India and other areas of the orient.

Alfred Club

There was also the Alfred Club at 23 Albermarle Street. It began in 1808 and attracted writers and other men of letters. The infamous Lord Byron was rumored to be a member. It was a great success, and in 1855 it joined with the Oriental Club which was established in 1824 (just after the Regency Era) as a club for men who’d been “out East” in India and other areas.

Four-Horse Club

My favorite of the lesser clubs was the Four-Horse Club, also called the Four-in-Hand Club. Originally, it was a club of wild young men who raced pell-mell all over. By the early 1800s, become a respectable club for superb drivers. Great fodder for heroes, isn’t it?

Membership was small, somewhere between 30-40 members at its peak. The members met at set intervals to drive coaches-and-four out to Chalk Hill and back. Hard-core Corinthians supposedly exercised with a very specific uniform, but they didn’t have a clubhouse where they met. Corinthians used Jackson’s Salon or Manton’s as their daytime hangout and might spend an evening in Cribb’s Parlor, but all of these places were open to anyone so they hardly qualify as clubs. I have always heard that the Corinthians hung out at the gambling hells more than at the clubs.

This club’s popularity began to fade around 1815 and was disbanded in 1820. It briefly revived in 1822 but finally ended.

So, to which club does your Regency Hero belong?