Savile Club

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The Savile Club was founded in 1867 as a literary, academic and arts club for men of the newly-enlarged electorate who were unable to join the more prestigious Athenaeum. Though located somewhat out of the way from the main London clubs, closer to the residences of Mayfair than the clubs of Pall Mall and St James's Street, it still contained some prominent names among its members. Possibly because of its location, it retains a more intimate feeling than many clubs, less overtly grand and closer to a converted London townhouse - which is indeed what it is.

[edit] Changing premises

For the first three years of its existence the Savile was called the 'New Club,' but adopted its present name when it moved to premises at No. 12 Savile Row. It later moved to No. 106 Piccadilly where it remained for 35 years, until 1917. It finally moved to its present premises, 69 Brook Street, in 1927, after purchasing the former house of the late Lewis Harcourt, a Liberal cabinet minister who had taken his life on the premises to avert a scandal when his double life as a paedophile and sex offender was in danger of being uncovered. It continues to operate there to this day. (Source: Matthew Parris, Great Parliamentary Scandals (Robson Books, 1995), chapter on Lewis Harcourt.)

[edit] Prominent members

• Leo Abse
• William Alwyn
• Richard Arnell
• Malcolm Arnold
• Arthur Balfour
• Max Beerbohm
• Arthur Benjamin
• Humphry Berkeley
• Charlie Chaplin (temporarily made an Honorary Member, in 1956)
• Charles Darwin
• Charles Dilke
• Valentine Dyall
• Edward Elgar
• H. A. L. Fisher
• William Edward Forster
• Edward Fox
• C.B. Fry
• Stephen Fry
• John Gielgud
• Arnold Goodman
• George Goschen
• Winston Graham
• H. Rider Haggard
• Patrick Hamilton
• William Harcourt
• Thomas Hardy
• A.P. Herbert
• Bernard Herrmann
• E.W. Hornung
• Henry Irving
• Henry James
• Rudyard Kipling
• T.E. Lawrence (temporarily made an Honorary Member, in December 1918)
• Stephen Potter
• André Previn
• John le Carré
• Eric Linklater
• Andrew Lloyd-Webber
• David Low
• Compton Mackenzie
• Muir Mathieson
• Joseph McGrath
• John Morley
• Walter Morrison
• Ronald Neame
• Stafford Northcote
• Simon Oates
• William Orpen
• Karl Pearson
• Stephen Potter
• Michael Powell
• J. B. Priestley
• Ralph Richardson
• Anthony Sampson
• C. P. Snow
• Robert Louis Stevenson
• Hugh Trevor-Roper
• Ernest Rutherford
• Peter Ustinov
• William Walton
• Simon Ward
• Evelyn Waugh^[1]
• Victor Weisz
• Huw Wheldon
• H. G. Wells
• W. B. Yeats

As of 2009, the membership subscription costs between £480 and £965 per year, with a sliding scale for younger members between £100 and £370. The entrance fee is an additional £250, but is waived for younger members[1].

[edit] See also

• List of London's gentlemen's clubs

[edit] References

• Garrett Anderson, "Hang Your Halo in the Hall!": The Savile Club from 1868 (The Savile Club, 1993)

1. ^ John Howard Wilson, Evelyn Waugh: A Literary Biography (Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1996), ISBN 0838638856

[edit] External links

• Savile Club Website

Coordinates: 51°30′45″N 0°08′57″W / 51.5124°N 0.1491°W / 51.5124; -0.1491