Buck's Club is a
gentlemen's club
A gentlemen's club is a private social club of a type originally established by males from Britain's upper classes starting in the 17th century.
Many countries outside Britain have prominent gentlemen's clubs, mostly those associated with the ...
in London, located at
18 Clifford Street, established in June 1919.
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...
mentions it in some stories and modelled his
Drones Club mostly after Buck's. It is probably best known for the
Buck's Fizz cocktail, created there in 1921 by its bartender McGarry.
Anthony Lejeune in his book ''The Gentlemen's Clubs of London'' (1979) comments that "Buck's Club is the only London Club to have been founded since the First World War which ranks, in social prestige and elegance, with the best of St James's Street clubs: and like them, it is named after its founder." In 2019, the club received media attention for its dinners in which young women are invited to entertain the elderly male members.
History
During the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Captain Herbert John Buckmaster (1881-1966) of the
RHG and some of his colleagues agreed that after the war it would be good to establish a gentlemen's club that was somewhat less stuffy than those that currently existed. Indeed, they particularly wanted a club with an American Cocktail Bar, something then beyond the pale for most traditional gentlemen's clubs.
The club was established in June 1919
[
]
and its American Bar was a focal point. American members were welcome although treated separately from a constitutional standpoint. The club for many years kept its tradition of sourcing members from the
Household Cavalry regiments although its membership is now drawn from many walks of life and is renowned for its exuberance and the youth of its membership.
The Club is probably best known for seeing the creation of the
Buck's Fizz cocktail in 1921 by its first bartender, Mr McGarry (Barman from 1919 to 1941,
sometimes "Malachy McGarry" or "Pat McGarry", or spelled "MacGarry", he is also usually credited with creating the
Sidecar
A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, Scooter (motorcycle), scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. The combination of a motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''rig'', ''outfit' ...
cocktail).
It receives three mentions in the stories of
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...
;
[The Buck's Club is visited by ]Bertie Wooster
Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is a fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. An amiable English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intellige ...
in 1923's '' The Inimitable Jeeves'' and is mentioned in 1931's '' Big Money'' and '' If I Were You''. Wodehouse modelled his fictional
Drones Club after Buck's Club and the Bachelors' Club, even naming his club's barman "McGarry" too.
Bond Street Horticultural Society
The "Bond Street Horticultural Society", also known as "Nieces' Night", is a dinner held several times a year at Buck's. On this occasion, the members are encouraged to invite young women to come along, who are then rotated between tables with each course.
While some women told the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' that they enjoyed the attention by the all-male, mostly elderly members, others described the experience as unpleasant or "vile".
The club discussed discontinuing the tradition after the
Presidents Club scandal in 2018 exposed sexual misconduct at another all-male high-society dinner, but decided against it.
See also
*
List of London's gentlemen's clubs
Notes and references
Further reading
*
*
External links
Buck's Club.co.uk– official website
{{Authority control
Gentlemen's clubs in London
1919 establishments in England