The Gentlemen's Clubs of Victorian England
Where Men of Status and Power Congregated
Gentlemen’s clubs were all the rage in 19th century London and are still in operation today. There are many different types of clubs, but most belong in one of two categories: permanent and residential.
Permanent Clubs
This sort of club was for gents who visited on a regular basis. Sometimes they were attached to coffee houses and often took the name of the founder. Most famous are White’s, Boodle’s, Arthur’s and Brooks’s. White’s has been around the longest having been started in 1693 and is said by many to be the most exclusive London private club. Clubs often contain a bar, a library, a billiards room, parlours for reading or gaming, and a formal dining room for special events.
Residential Clubs
Members of these clubs had more infrequent guests but those men stayed for a longer amount of time. These are the places with bedrooms and other facilities to make long-term stays comfortable. Military men, lawyers, judges, members of Parliament or government officials liked to house themselves in these establishments when visiting London because it gave them a chance to network with other men of their social station.
Hellfire Clubs
The most notorious type of club was a hellfire club—which is kind of like Fight Club in that you don’t talk about it. Suffice it to say that nobody really knew what went on in a hellfire club, but of course rumors abounded of iniquities and revels. The first Hellfire Club was founded in 1719 by Philip, Duke of Wharton, and surprisingly accepted women as well. This gathering died out towards the mid-1700s, but other branches and incarnations continued well into the 19th century. It is said there are some branches meeting at historic educational institutions even today…but are they really? Who knows? No one talks about it.
In The Bride of Blackfriars Lane, heroine Kit Turner gets herself into quite a pickle when she plans to visit a Hellfire Club under guise of being a gentleman—which is definitely not a safe place for a woman. How does she get out of the dilemma? You’ll have to find out in my new release.
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