Constitutional Club on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Constitutional Club was a
Like many other London clubs, the Constitutional experienced severe financial difficulties with the passing years. In 1959, they agreed to the demolition of the club's well-known, purpose-built terracotta premises, and its replacement with a new office-style building, which was completed in 1962 – this is the building which still stands on that site today, on the corner of Northumberland Avenue and Northumberland Street, opposite the Sherlock Holmes pub.
Between 1962 and 1964 the club occupied rooms in first the Junior Carlton Club and then the
The Constitutional Club was a 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 ...
gentlemen's club, now dissolved, which was established in 1883 and disbanded in 1979. Between 1886 and 1959 it had a distinctive red and yellow Victorian terracotta building, designed by Robert William Edis
Colonel Sir Robert William Edis (13 June 1839 – 23 June 1927) was a British architect.
Biography
Edis was born in Huntingdon to Emma and Robert Edis. His sister was the preacher Isabella Reaney, his brother was Arthur Wellesley Edis, a gynae ...
, at 28 Northumberland Avenue
Northumberland Avenue is a street in the City of Westminster, Central London, running from Trafalgar Square in the west to the Thames Embankment in the east. The road was built on the site of Northumberland House, the London home of the Percy ...
, off Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...
.
Politics
The club was closely aligned to theConservative party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
, with members having to pledge support. The club was founded in anticipation of imminent franchise reform then being debated in parliament, which was eventually realised as the Representation of the People Act 1884
In the United Kingdom under the premiership of William Gladstone, the Representation of the People Act 1884 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 3, also known informally as the Third Reform Act) and the Redistribution Act of the following year were laws which f ...
. It was anticipated that as many more Conservative supporters would be given the vote, many would want to belong to a Conservative club. Existing Conservative clubs like the Carlton and the Junior Carlton feared that they would become inundated with membership applications from the new voters, so the Constitutional Club was founded with these new electors in mind. (The National Liberal Club
The National Liberal Club (NLC) is a London 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 campaigners among the newly enlarged electorate ...
, just around the corner from the Constitutional Club, was founded in 1882 with the same purpose in mind for the Liberal party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
, as the existing Liberal clubs, the Reform
Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
and the Devonshire
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, ...
, had been similarly oversubscribed.)
Membership
The Constitutional Club's membership was originally limited to 6,500. Despite being avowedly non-political,P.G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jee ...
was a member of the Constitutional Club, and was reputed to have considered it his favourite London club. Seven of his stories describe a fictitious ''Senior Conservative Club'' in Northumberland Avenue, with a similar décor to the Constitutional, and which also features a Turkish bath
A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited ...
, just like the Turkish bath found next door to the Constitutional. These books are ''Psmith in the City
''Psmith in the City'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published on 23 September 1910 by Adam & Charles Black, London.McIlvaine (1990), pp. 22–23, A14. The story was originally released as a serial in ''The Captain'' magazine, between Oc ...
'', ''Something Fresh
''Something Fresh'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published as "Something New" in the United States, by D. Appleton & Company on 3 September 1915.McIlvaine, E., Sherby, L.S. and Heineman, J.H. (1990) ''P.G. Wodehouse: A comprehensive bi ...
'', ''Leave it to Psmith
''Leave It to Psmith'' is a comic novel by English author P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 30 November 1923 by Herbert Jenkins, London, England, and in the United States on 14 March 1924 by George H. Doran, New York.M ...
'' (where the club is said to have 6,111 members), '' Pig-hoo-o-o-o-ey'', ''Full Moon
The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180°). This means ...
'', '' A Tithe for Charity'', and '' Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin'' (which establishes its Northumberland Avenue address).
Like many other London clubs, the Constitutional experienced severe financial difficulties with the passing years. In 1959, they agreed to the demolition of the club's well-known, purpose-built terracotta premises, and its replacement with a new office-style building, which was completed in 1962 – this is the building which still stands on that site today, on the corner of Northumberland Avenue and Northumberland Street, opposite the Sherlock Holmes pub.
Between 1962 and 1964 the club occupied rooms in first the Junior Carlton Club and then the United Service Club
The United Service Club was a London gentlemen's club founded in 1815 for the use of senior officers in the British Army and Royal Navy – those above the rank of Major or Commander – and the club was accordingly known to its members as "The ...
, before acquiring premises of its own on St. James's Street. By the mid-1970s its membership had dwindled to only 1,000, and its financial predicament was serious enough that it had to close in 1979, with its remaining members merging with the St Stephen's Club.
See also
*List of gentlemen's clubs in London
This is a list of gentlemen's clubs in London, United Kingdom, including those that no longer exist or merged, with an additional section on those that appear in fiction. Many of these clubs are no longer exclusively male.
Extant clubs
Defun ...
References