The Shadow of Great Britain

Whenever discussing the unique club culture of London, one cannot ignore the discontent many women had towards gentlemen’s clubs at the time.

Ladies often complained about their husbands carousing at clubs until late at night, pursuing pleasures while neglecting the family. Yet, unmarried young ladies evidently held differing views from married ladies. Most young ladies habitually regarded gentlemen’s clubs as ”Britain’s monasteries,” believing that men who mixed in these ”monasteries” for a year or two were more respectful of social etiquette and norms, thus comparatively better suited to adapt to the ”chains” of marriage than other men.

Nevertheless, although many young women regarded members of gentlemen’s clubs as good marriage prospects, joining a gentlemen’s club was not easy.

Take the White Club, the Tories’s stronghold, for example. Even ignoring the annual fee of 11 Pounds and 11 shillings, the requirement of 35 signatures from existing members for a new member’s enrollment was enough to make one’s head spin.

And the Brooks Club, where Whig gentlemen congregated, was equally challenging in this regard; although their fee was 11 shillings cheaper than the White Club’s, during the election of new members, even two opposing votes could revoke the qualifications for membership.

Of course, for most London citizens, missing out on the card tables at the White Club and Brooks Club was not much of a loss. Should you miraculously pass the membership assessments of these two clubs, that would truly be the beginning of a nightmare.

Take the White Club, for instance. The gentlemen there played the game of quinze, with a deposit starting at fifty guineas. The chips used in a single game could easily surpass the annual income of more than half of London’s citizens.

Of course, if you believe yourself to be extraordinarily skilled at cards or particularly lucky, then the White Club is indeed a good place to make a fortune.

Beau Brummell, the royal clothing advisor, once won 20,000 Pounds in a single night at the club, and the Earl of Arlington once wagered 3,000 Pounds, betting with other members on which of two raindrops on the arched glass window would fall first.

The internal decay of the White Club was such that even the master of satirical literature, Jonathan Swift, had to comment, ”At least half of the decline of Britain’s aristocratic class can be attributed to the White Club.”

Of course, for the vast majority of people, there’s no need to worry about contracting the bad habit of living in decadence because at least ninety percent of London’s population doesn’t even know the addresses of these aristocratic clubs.

As the members would rather bluntly say, ”If you’re not privileged enough to know where these places are, then you’re not eligible to go there.”

However...

For up-and-coming talents like Sir Arthur Hastings, knowing the locations of these clubs isn’t particularly difficult. Yet even so, he still chose not to join the White Club or the Brooks Club.

His reason for not joining is quite simple.

The main reason is that the political atmosphere in these two clubs is too strong; joining the White Club or the Brooks Club is basically equivalent to joining the Conservative Party or the Whig Party.

The secondary reason is that he is well aware that whether he applies to join White or Brooks, Arthur Hastings would receive more than two opposing votes.

Over at Brooks Club, there were members of Palmerston’s Canning Faction blocking him; as for the White Club, well... apart from applauding him for the Police Bill Draft last time, the High Tories were generally not on the same page with him.

Of course, not being able to join White and Brooks doesn’t mean Arthur’s experience in London’s club circles was a complete failure.

Because besides White and Brooks, he was unable to ingratiate himself at the Oxford and Cambridge Club at 76 Pall Mall Street either.

The reason being that this club strictly required its members to hold a bachelor’s degree from Oxford or Cambridge; it wasn’t a club that just any student from a mediocre university could join.

However, aside from some clubs that strictly controlled identity and education, the vast majority of London’s clubs were open to Sir Arthur with open arms.

To give an example.

Last year, when Arthur applied to join the civil servant’s club at Thatched House Tavern on St. James Street, he swiftly gathered the required 25 member guarantees within a morning and had the application delivered by a friend before the end of the workday.

During the weekend’s club new member election, Sir Arthur was unanimously approved by several hundred club members. To this day, Arthur doesn’t know the color of a dissenting vote at the civil servant’s club.

I know that whenever one mentions Sir Arthur’s experience of joining the civil servant’s club, there are always miscreants who will jump out to accuse Sir Arthur of using his power to coerce club members into submission.

If you must think so, I won’t forcibly explain.

Because once you see that Sir Arthur is also a member of the Tower Hamlets Freedom Club, the London Science Club, and the Athena Club, those baseless accusations and societal prejudices against Sir Arthur naturally dissipate.

Most notably, Sir Arthur’s membership at the Athena Club was not acquired through a ballot but rather by a committee decision due to ”Sir Arthur Hastings’s longstanding achievements in science, literature, and the arts,” granting him membership without an examination.