Dining club
Encyclopedia
A dining club is a social group, usually requiring membership (which may, or may not be available only to certain people), which meets for dinners and discussion on a regular basis. They may also often have guest speakers. Clubs may limit their membership to those who meet highly specific membership requirements, for example the Coningsby Club requires that one was a member of either OUCA or CUCA
, the Conservative Associations at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge respectively. whilst others may require applicants to pass an interview
, or simply pay a large membership fee.
A dining club differs from a gentlemen's club
in that it does not have permanent premises, often changing the location of its meetings and dinners. However, the members of both dining and gentlemen's clubs are often from the same social background.
In the United States
, similar clubs that limit membership to students of a particular university are referred to as eating club
s. Replaced largely by the modern fraternity and sorority system
in United States
, eating clubs are now limited to a few colleges and universities, most notably Princeton University
, Davidson College
, and Mount Olive College
.
Date of founding in brackets
in which his detective Father Brown
solves the riddle of the disappearance of the club's silver.
Cuca
Cuca can refer to:*The Cambridge University Conservative Association*Cuca, a monster in Brazilian folklore*Cuca , a Mexican rock group.* Cuca, a commune in Argeş County, Romania* Cuca, a commune in Galaţi County, Romania...
, the Conservative Associations at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge respectively. whilst others may require applicants to pass an interview
Interview
An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...
, or simply pay a large membership fee.
A dining club differs from a 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...
in that it does not have permanent premises, often changing the location of its meetings and dinners. However, the members of both dining and gentlemen's clubs are often from the same social background.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, similar clubs that limit membership to students of a particular university are referred to as eating club
Eating club
An eating club is a social club found in American universities. Eating clubs date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are intended to allow college students to enjoy meals and pleasant discourse. Some clubs are referred to as bicker clubs because of the bickering process over which...
s. Replaced largely by the modern fraternity and sorority system
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
in United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, eating clubs are now limited to a few colleges and universities, most notably Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, Davidson College
Davidson College
Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. The college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine, although it has recently dropped to 11th in U.S. News...
, and Mount Olive College
Mount Olive College
Mount Olive College is a private liberal arts college located in Mount Olive, North Carolina. Founded in 1951, the college is supported by the Original Free Will Baptist Convention of North Carolina...
.
List of dining clubs
This list is incomplete.Date of founding in brackets
- Kit-Cat ClubKit-Cat ClubThe Kit-Cat Club was an early 18th century English club in London with strong political and literary associations, committed to the furtherance of Whig objectives, meeting at the Trumpet tavern in London, and at Water Oakley in the Berkshire countryside.The first meetings were held at a tavern in...
- Beefsteak ClubBeefsteak ClubBeefsteak Club is the name, nickname and historically common misnomer applied by sources to several 18th and 19th century male dining clubs that celebrated the beefsteak as a symbol of patriotic and often Whig concepts of liberty and prosperity....
(c.1705) - October ClubOctober ClubThe October Club was a group of Tory MPs, active around 1711 to 1714. The group took its name from the strong ale they reportedly drank.After Robert Harley refused to set up an inquiry into the former administrations financial policies, on 5 February 1711 some Tories passed resolutions calling for...
(1711-1714) - Society of Knights of the Round TableSociety of Knights of the Round TableThe Honourable Society of Knights of the Round Table, also known as The Knights of the Round Table Club, is a British society which exists to perpetuate the name and fame of King Arthur and the ideals for which he stood...
(1720) - Society of Dilettanti (1732)
- Divan ClubDivan ClubThe Divan Club was a short-lived dining club in 18th century England, with membership open to gentlemen who had visited the Ottoman Empire. The club took its name from the Turkish "divan"....
(1744-1746) - The Club (1764)
- Lunar SocietyLunar SocietyThe Lunar Society of Birmingham was a dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 in Birmingham, England. At first called the Lunar Circle,...
(1775) - Bullingdon ClubBullingdon ClubThe Bullingdon Club is a socially exclusive student dining club at Oxford University. The club has no permanent rooms and is notorious for its members' wealth and destructive binges. Membership is by invitation only, and prohibitively expensive for most, given the need to pay for the uniform,...
(1780)
- Trinity College Dublin Dining Club, London (c.1810)
- Grillions (1812)
- Geological Society Dining Club (1824)
- Raleigh ClubRaleigh ClubThe Raleigh Club was a dining club founded in 1827. It met at the 'Thatched House', a tavern in the St James area of London as an alternative to the Travellers Club....
(1827) - Pitt ClubPitt ClubThe University Pitt Club, popularly referred to as the Pitt Club, is a club, only open to male students at the University of Cambridge. In the past, most of its membership attended certain private schools, and whilst this is no longer a criterion for membership it is still largely true...
(1835) - Blue Boar Club (1851)
- X-club (1864–1893)
- Myrmidon ClubMyrmidon ClubThe Myrmidon Club is a dining club elected from the male undergraduate members of Merton College, Oxford. Founded in 1865, it is one of the handful of such clubs with an almost continuous existence from the second half of the 19th century...
(1865) - The 16' ClubThe 16' ClubThe 16' Club is a dining club established for male members of St David's College ; also known as "The Sixteens", the "College Sixteen" or simply "16", it has been accused of being a secret society, and though some would agree with that definition, more reputable authors would not.With origins in...
(c.1875)
- Ye Cherubs (Queens' College, Cambridge) (1895)
- Stock Exchange Luncheon ClubStock Exchange Luncheon ClubThe Stock Exchange Luncheon Club was a members-only dining club on the seventh floor of the New York Stock Exchange at 11 Wall Street, Manhattan. Founded at 70 Broadway on August 3, 1898, the club moved to 11 Wall Street in 1903...
(1898-2006) - CoefficientsCoefficients (dining club)The Coefficients was a dining club founded in 1902 at a dinner given by the Fabian campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb. It was a forum for the meeting of British socialist reformers and imperialists of the Edwardian era...
(1902) - Square ClubSquare Club (writers)The Square Club for writers was a monthly dining club that met in London, from 1908/9 to about 1913/4, and included many of the established younger-generation authors. The founders included Edward Garnett, G. K. Chesterton and Conal O'Riordan...
(1908) - The Other ClubThe Other ClubThe Other Club is a British political dining society founded in 1911 by Winston Churchill and F. E. Smith. It meets to dine fortnightly while parliament is in session. Its members over the years have included many leading British political and non-political people.Churchill, who in 1910 was...
(1911) - Cercle de l'Union interalliéeCercle de l'Union interalliéeThe cercle de l'Union interalliée, also known as the Cercle interallié is a social and dining club established in 1917 at No. 33 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, France with Ferdinand Foch, Marshal of France, as its second president...
(1917) - Ratio ClubRatio ClubThe Ratio Club was a small informal dining club of young psychologists, physiologists, mathematicians and engineers who met to discuss issues in cybernetics....
(1949-1958) - Piers Gaveston SocietyPiers Gaveston SocietyThe Piers Gaveston Society is a secret dining club at the University of Oxford with membership limited to 12 undergraduates. It is named in honour of Piers Gaveston, favourite and supposed lover of King Edward II of England. Its members have a reputation for indulging in bizarre entertainments and...
(1977) - The Strafford Club (1995)
Fictional
The Twelve True Fishermen is the name of a fictional club, the title of a short story by G. K. ChestertonG. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction....
in which his detective Father Brown
Father Brown
Father Brown is a fictional character created by English novelist G. K. Chesterton, who stars in 52 short stories, later compiled in five books. Chesterton based the character on Father John O'Connor , a parish priest in Bradford who was involved in Chesterton's conversion to Catholicism in 1922...
solves the riddle of the disappearance of the club's silver.