The Linguists' Club was a language club located in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, which operated between 1932 and 1971.

History

The Club acted as a meeting place and school for

linguists Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures ...

, including

interpreters Interpreting is translation from a spoken or signed language into another language, usually in real time to facilitate live communication. It is distinguished from the translation of a written text, which can be more deliberative and make use o ...

translators Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

, language students, and other members who merely wanted to practise their language skills. The club's motto was Se comprendre, c'est la paix ''(Mutual understanding is peace).'' The club's owner and principal was Teddy Pilley. The club was initially located on Kingsway near to

Holborn tube station Holborn ( ) is a London Underground station in Holborn, Central London, located at the junction of High Holborn and Kingsway, London, Kingsway. It is served by the Central line (London Underground), Central and Piccadilly line, Piccadilly lin ...

, and then later in premises at 20

Grosvenor Place Grosvenor Place is a street in Belgravia, London, running from Hyde Park Corner down the west side of Buckingham Palace gardens, and joining lower Grosvenor Place where there are some cafes and restaurants. It joins Grosvenor Gardens to the ...

(this was the postal address, but the club's entrance was actually in the

mews A mews is a row or courtyard of stables and carriage houses with living quarters above them, built behind large city houses before motor vehicles replaced horses in the early twentieth century. Mews are usually located in desirable residential ...

at the rear at 8/9 Chester Close). The Club provided language classes and less-formal discussion groups in a number of languages, including

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, and

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

. The discussion groups could cover any number of topics, except politics and sex. The Linguists' Club was open 6 days a week, from 11 am to 11 pm. There was a snack bar, no alcohol was served. There was a TV room, a ping-pong room, a small cinema for showing foreign-language films, and Friday evening dances to records. Just after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, some Club dances were held on the roof-garden of the Chester Close location, illuminated by coloured light bulbs. For a time, in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, the Club organised trips abroad for members, and there were also visits to a social venue near

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, known as ''Surrey Crest''. In the early days of the club's life, Teddy Pilley facilitated so called ''Working Parties'', to help train aspiring

. An active ''Translation Bureau'' was also established, to provide commercial services to the general public. Membership in the Linguists' Club could be purchased for periods from one month to a year. Members could opt to suspend membership for periods of absence from the country. There was a Life Membership fee of 100

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...

, and many took this option. There was also a guest membership of one day. The last register of members listed membership numbers in the 70,000s. Under the co-editorship of Teddy Pilley and Hilda Westron, the Linguists' Club published a monthly magazine, The Linguist, which had world-wide circulation. The Club expanded in the 1950s to include a second location at Niddry Lodge, near to

Kensington High Street Kensington High Street is the main shopping street in Kensington, London, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Kensington High Street is the continuation of Kensington Road and part ...

. Programming included a ''School of English'' to help international members learn English. Niddry Lodge had been built in the early 1800s. There was far more room for activities that could not be held at Chester Close. The Lodge had a 1

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

garden (the largest private garden in Kensington at the time), where classes/discussion groups were held in warm weather. There was also a ballroom where Scottish dancing and fencing lessons were held. Niddry Lodge was on a lease from Kensington Council, and when that expired the Lodge was demolished to make way for the new Kensington and Chelsea Town Hall. Some of the trees in the town hall courtyard are from the Lodge's garden.

References

{{Reflist Clubs and societies in London Language schools in the United Kingdom Translation and interpreting schools