The Minerva Club was a residential members club at 28a

Brunswick Square Brunswick Square is a public garden and ancillary streets along two of its sides in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden. It is overlooked by the School of Pharmacy and the Foundling Museum to the north; the Brunswick Centre to the ...

in the

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

district of London. It was established by the

Women's Freedom League The Women's Freedom League was an organisation in the United Kingdom which campaigned for women's suffrage and sexual equality. It was an offshoot of the militant suffragettes after the Pankhursts decide to rule without democratic support fro ...

(WFL) in 1920. The executive meetings of the WFL were held at the club into the 1930s. The club was still used residentially in the late 1940s. The

Brunswick Centre The Brunswick Centre is a grade II listed residential and shopping centre in Bloomsbury, London, England. It is located between Brunswick Square and Russell Square and is administratively in the London Borough of Camden. Planning and design ...

now occupies the site, the building having been demolished in 1962. Elizabeth Knight and a Mrs Fisher founded the club. Knight was responsible for the funding of the club and the purchase of the long lease of the club's Brunswick Square premises. The restaurant of the club served

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat ( red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetaria ...

food. Fellow Brunswick Square resident

E.M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly ''A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stori ...

would frequently breakfast at the club. The WSL's Minerva Café moved to the club at Brunswick Square with the expiration of their High Holborn lease in the 1950s. Marian Reeves managed the club from 1926. Reeves was politically well connected and often hosted international visitors at the club. In 1926 the reunion meeting of the

Suffragette Fellowship A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

was held at the club. Annual birthday parties to raise funds for

Charlotte Despard Charlotte Despard (née French; 15 June 1844 – 10 November 1939) was an Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist. She was a founding member of the Women's Freedom League, Women's Peace Crusade, and the I ...

were held at the club with Despard herself travelling from Ireland each year to attend.

References

{{coords, 51.524, -0.123, display=title 1920 establishments in England 1920 in London 1950s disestablishments in England Buildings and structures in Bloomsbury Women's Freedom League Women's clubs