Arthur's
Encyclopedia
Arthur's was a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 gentlemen's club
Gentlemen's club
A gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...

, now dissolved, which was established in 1811 and was disbanded in 1940. Between 1827 and 1940 it was based at 69 St James's Street. It is now best remembered for having built the London clubhouse currently occupied by the Carlton
Carlton Club
The Carlton Club is a gentlemen's club in London which describes itself as the "oldest, most elite, and most important of all Conservative clubs." Membership of the club is by nomination and election only.-History:...

.

The club was first formed at a meeting at a bank at 16 St James's Street on 8 May 1811, with the resolution 'That a New Club be forthwith established, to consist of 300 Members.' The club is notable for being the first to be a members' club wholly owned by the members, as opposed to the proprietary clubs which previously existed, like White's
White's
White's is a London gentlemen's club, established at 4 Chesterfield Street in 1693 by Italian immigrant Francesco Bianco . Originally it was established to sell hot chocolate, a rare and expensive commodity at the time...

, Boodle's
Boodle's
Boodle's is a London gentlemen's club, founded in 1762, at 49-51 Pall Mall, London by Lord Shelburne the future Marquess of Lansdowne and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the club came to be known after the name of its head waiter Edward Boodle....

, and Brooks's
Brooks's
Brooks's is one of London's most exclusive gentlemen's clubs, founded in 1764 by 27 men, including four dukes. From its inception, it was the meeting place for Whigs of the highest social order....

, and it accordingly served as the mould for most of the nineteenth century members'-owned clubs which followed.

The original club committee consisted of eleven members. Six were Scots
  • Sir David Hunter Blair, baronet (son of Sir James Hunter Blair
    Sir James Hunter Blair, 1st Baronet
    Sir James Hunter Blair, 1st Baronet was a Scottish banker and politician.Born John Hunter, the son of an Ayr merchant, he became a banker in the banking company of Sir William Forbes, and acquired the estate of Robertland...

    , the banker and friend of Robert Burns)
  • James Hunter Blair (brother of the above, later M.P. for Wigtonshire)
  • Thomas Harvie Farquhar (a member of the banking firm of Herries and Co., on whose premises in St. James's Street the meeting was held)
  • The Hon. Archibald Macdonald
  • The Hon. James Macdonald
  • Lord Montgomerie


The other five members of the committee were
  • The Hon. Thomas Brand
    Thomas Brand, 20th Baron Dacre
    Thomas Brand, 20th Baron Dacre was a British peer and Whig politician.-Background:Dacre was the eldest son of Thomas Brand, of The Hoo, Hertfordshire, and Gertrude, 19th Baroness Dacre, daughter of the Hon...

    , M.P
  • Sir Charles Burrell, Bt
    Sir Charles Burrell, 3rd Baronet
    Sir Charles Merrik Burrell, 3rd Baronet was an English Conservative politician, who represented the seat of New Shoreham for fifty-six years, becoming Father of the House of Commons....

     (M.P. for Shoreham, from a Sussex landowning family)
  • Walter Burrell (from the same Sussex landowning family)
  • Lieutenant Colonel John James
  • William Jones
  • The 10th Earl Waldegrave


The building was completed in 1827, and housed the club until financial pressures led to its closure in 1940. In 1941, the Carlton Club's own clubhouse in Pall Mall
Pall Mall, London
Pall Mall is a street in the City of Westminster, London, and parallel to The Mall, from St. James's Street across Waterloo Place to the Haymarket; while Pall Mall East continues into Trafalgar Square. The street is a major thoroughfare in the St James's area of London, and a section of the...

suffered a direct hit from a bomb, and the Carlton acquired the old building of Arthur's. It was thus somewhat ironic that one of the main parties of state should acquire Arthur's to house its 'official' club, as the Arthur's membership was always of an avowedly non-political character. The Carlton has since then made numerous internal modifications to the building, and none of the original furniture from Arthur's remains.
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