The 1920 Club was a short-lived

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

ladies and gentlemen's club, which existed in the 1920s. The original London club was established for Liberal supporters of the

Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during ...

government, after the

National Liberal Club The National Liberal Club (NLC) is a London gentlemen's club (traditional), private members' club, open to both men and women. It was established by William Ewart Gladstone in 1882 to provide club facilities for Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Par ...

began systematically blackballing Lloyd George's supporters. This was symptomatic of a deeper schism at the time, between the 'official' Liberal Party in opposition, led by

H.H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of ...

(which retained control of the party machinery), and those led by Lloyd George in a coalition with the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

. The club opened in December 1920, in rooms at 2

Whitehall Court Whitehall Court in the City of Westminster, England, is one contiguous building but consists of two separate constructions. The south end was designed by Thomas Archer and A. Green and constructed as a block of luxury residential apartments in ...

(inside what is now the Royal Horseguards Hotel), neighbouring the National Liberal Club – something the 1920 Club's committee described as 'a coincidence'. It evolved from being just a club for coalition supporting Liberals. It was a relatively unusual club, in that it admitted both men and women as full members. This resulted in a number of prominent Liberal Party women, such as

Margery Corbett Ashby Dame Margery Irene Corbett Ashby, ( Corbett; 19 April 1882 – 15 May 1981) was a British suffragist, Liberal politician, feminist and internationalist. Background She was born at Danehill, East Sussex, the daughter of Charles Corbett, a bar ...

joining.The Liberal Year Book 1929

References

*Feature on the 1920 Club, ''Lloyd George Liberal Magazine'', Vol. 3 (1922), p. 380

References

See also