In that year, on the occasion of one of the regiments of the Life Guards being ordered to take part in a course of instruction at Aldershot, a wealthy Captain tendered his resignation. The Commander-in-Chief, however, declined to accept it, and eventually the gallant Captain was persuaded by his Colonel to remain in the regiment, and undergo for a short period the vicissitudes of camp life. At that time it was with some difficulty that officers could be obtained for the Household Cavalry, for to be a military man was often much the same thing as being a man of pleasure. Clubs were thronged with officers at certain times of the year. Though this state of affairs has passed away, the service clubs still retain their popularity. Excellent management distinguishes these institutions, of which the first to be established was the United Service. This was founded in May 1831, as the General Military Club for naval and military officers, by Sir Thomas Graham (afterwards Lord Lynedoch), Lord Hill, and some other officers. Naval men, however, were admitted in the following year, when the name was changed. At first it was only open to officers of field rank, beginning with a Major in the army, and the corresponding rank of Commander in the navy. The club’s original abode was in Charles Street, St. James’s; the site of the present premises in Pall Mall was obtained ten years later on a ninety years’ lease from the Crown. The old club-house was then sold to the new Junior United Service Club for £17,442, which considerable sum went to defray the cost of the new building in Pall Mall. This, with furniture, amounted to £49,743. Nash was the architect, and it was finished in November 1828. An addition was made about 1858 by the acquisition of the lease of the adjoining site, the sum of £34,000 being spent in connecting it with the older house and adapting it for the purposes of a club. The club-house is a fine building with a classical portico in the front facing Pall Mall. The interior is well planned, and is a good specimen of the style popular in Nash’s day. The Senior and Junior United Service, with the Army and Navy, or “Rag,” once received the three nicknames of “Cripplegate,” “Billingsgate,” and “Hellgate”—the first from the prevailing advanced years and infirmity of its members; the second on account of the supposed tendencies of certain officers who followed the traditions of the army which “swore in Flanders”; and the last from its love of high play.