Gresham Club
The Gresham Club was founded in 1843 and dissolved in 1991. It was named after
Formation and membership
The original Gresham Club was founded in 1843 as a dining club for the professional classes of the City of London,
In 1853, Charles Manby Smith located the Gresham Club as a stepping-stone in a successful Londoner's sequence of increasingly elite memberships.
In 1879, the entrance fee was 20
Gresham Club is composed of merchants, bankers, and other gentlemen of known respectability. No candidate is eligible until he has attained the age of twenty-one years. Election by ballot of the members, of whom 30 must actually vote. One black ball
Premises
The newly established club commissioned a clubhouse at 1
John Timbs wrote in 1855[3] –
GRESHAM CLUB-HOUSE, St Swithin's-lane, King-William-street, City, was built in 1844, for the Club named after Sir Thomas Gresham, who founded the Royal Exchange. The Club consists chiefly of merchants and professional men. The style of the Club-house (H. Flower, architect) is Italian, from portions of two palaces in Venice.
The site of the first clubhouse is now occupied by the main London office of
Dissolution
After the
On 23 October 1992, the "Gresham Club (In Dissolution)" was given a listed building consent to remove 11 glass chandeliers on the ground, first, and second floors of 15 Abchurch Lane.[14]
The club's records were deposited in the Guildhall Library, which under accession reference L 24 MSS 28834-28864 holds papers for the years 1844-1845 and 1905–1991, described as: "minute books, subscription books, legal papers, financial papers, Staff Benevolent Fund accounts and misc papers".[2][15]
The Gresham Club today
The re-formed Gresham Club is a private members club for professionals, 'stimulating social and business interaction amongst like-minded members and their guests'.[16] The Club is currently a nomadic dining club that meets monthly for a Club Table at a different venue each month.[17] Venues include The Army and Navy Club,[18] The Caledonian Club[19] and London Scottish Horseferry Road drill hall[20]
Later use of the Abchurch Lane clubhouse
On 18 February 1993, "Abchur Flat Gibr", represented by Wright Hassall & Co., Solicitors, of
On 21 October 1993, Capital Club of London Ltd was given a listed building consent for 15 Abchurch Lane, described as "Repairs and restoration of interior and exterior of building which is to be retained as members' dining club. Installation of new roof plant and screening" and also planning permission for "installation of roof plant and screen".[14] The new interior was designed by Peter Inston.[22] In September 1994, the building was re-opened as the London Capital Club, a private members' club with similarities to the old Gresham Club but a more modern approach and a different management structure.[4] On the death of Peter Parker in 2002, Angela Knight, a former Economic Secretary to the Treasury, succeeded as the club's chairman.[23]
In the spring of 2018 the London Capital Club premises in Abchurch Lane were sold to the
The building contains a memorial to the 77 members of the Gresham Club that served in TheSee also
- List of gentlemen's clubs in London
References
- ^ "Companies House". Companies House. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ a b Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section 21: Clubs and Societies at history.ac.uk (accessed 14 January 2008)
- ^ a b Timbs, John, Curiosities of London: exhibiting the most rare and remarkable objects of interest in the metropolis; with nearly Fifty Years' Personal Recollections (London, David Bogue, 1855), p. 195
- ^ a b c d e f History at londoncapitalclub.com (accessed 14 January 2008)
- ^ a b c 'Bartholomew Lane and Lombard Street', Old and New London: Volume 1 (1878), pp. 522-530, online at british-history.ac.uk report 45063 (accessed 14 January 2008): "The first stone of the Gresham Club House, No. 1, King William Street, corner of St. Swithin's Lane, was laid in 1844, the event being celebrated by a dinner at the Albion Tavern, Aldersgate Street, the Lord Mayor, Sir William Magnay, in the chair. The club was at first under the presidency of John Abel Smith, Esq., M.P. The building was erected from the design of Mr. Henry Flower, architect."
- ^ Smith, Charles Manby, Curiosities of London Life, or Phases, Physiological and Social of the Great Metropolis (1853) online at Victorian London – Publications – Social Investigation/Journalism – Curiosities of London Life, or Phases, Physiological and Social of the Great Metropolis, by Charles Manby Smith, 1853: UNFASHIONABLE CLUBS (accessed 14 January 2008)
- ^ Dickens Jr., Charles, Dickens's Dictionary of London (1879) quoted at Victorian London – Directories – Dickens's Dictionary of London, by Charles Dickens, Jr., 1879 – "Gresham Club" (accessed 14 January 2008)
- Illustrated London News, 17 February 1844.
- ^ Rothschild Global Locations:UK Archived 17 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine at rothschild.com (accessed 14 January 2008)
- ^ Smith, Philippa, (ed.) Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section Electronic Newsletter, Issue No. 4 Summer 2006 (accessed 14 January 2008): "Not unexpectedly, the Vintners' Company kept fine cellars, as did many other livery companies, the Gresham Club and Sion College."
- ^ The Billiard Monthly, January, 1914: Jottings of the Month: online at January, 1914: Jottings of the Month (accessed 14 January 2008): "Mr L. Price, the doyen of billiard stewards, completed sixty years' service at the Gresham Club, Gresham Place, E.C. on 9 November 1913. No member is now living who was connected with the club when Mr Price entered its service in 1853."
- ^ University of Notre Dame London Centre at nd.edu (accessed 14 January 2008)
- ^ Growth Business, Monday 20 June 2005: Network your way to the top at growthbusiness.co.uk (accessed 14 January 2008)
- ^ a b c Corporation of London: Extract from the Planning Register – Site Reference 2092 Archived 18 August 2004 at the Wayback Machine at cityoflondon.gov.uk (accessed 14 January 2008)
- ^ Gresham Club, London at nationalarchives.gov.uk (accessed 14 January 2008)
- ^ "The Gresham Club". The Gresham Club. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ "The Gresham Club". The Gresham Club. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ "Eventbrite". Eventbrite. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ "Happening Next". Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ "League of Angels". Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ Capital Club targets City, dated 27 January 1994, at caterersearch.com (accessed 14 January 2008)
- ^ Secret at caterersearch.com (accessed 14 January 2008): "The Capital Club, a lush, business-oriented club opening in the City in September, is backed by a Far Eastern consortium, CCA International, that owns 170 clubs around the world. This is its first foray into Europe. Peter Inston, hotel stalwart, is designing the reworked interior of a five-storey 1915 building near Bank, that started life as the Gresham Club."
- ^ Q Review, July 2002 Archived 10 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine online at apcims.co.uk (accessed 14 January 2008)
- ^ "The London Capital Club – PERMANENTLY CLOSED The City Bars – Default". innerplace.co.uk. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ "The Society". rpsl.org.uk. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ "War Memorials Trust". Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ "The Royal Philatelic Society" (PDF). Retrieved 10 March 2023.