London Clubs: Their History & TreasuresNevill, Ralph
History
London Clubs: Their History & Treasures
Nevill, Ralph
Clubs -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
Until 1843 the Fox Club met at the Clarendon, but in that year, on an
application signed by sixteen members of the Fox Club, a rule was passed
granting permission to that body to use the great room at Brooks’s for
their meetings. Of these, the first always takes place on the Thursday
following the meeting of Parliament, the second and third as may be
fixed by the club in the course of the session, and the fourth at
Greenwich in July.
No speeches are allowed, and only the four following toasts are given,
without “note or comment”:
1. “In the memory of Charles James Fox.”
2. “Earl Grey and the Reform Bill.”
3. “The memory of Lord Holland.”
This third toast was added by unanimous resolution on April 24, 1841,
and on June 5 following, on motion previously given by Sir Robert Adair
and Mr. Clive, £200 were voted from the funds of the club towards the
monument proposed to be erected to his memory, now just inside the
railings of Holland House, on the Hammersmith Road.
On the pedestal of the monument in question are inscribed the following
lines:
“Nephew of Fox, and friend of Grey,
Be this my highest fame:
That those who know me best will say,
‘He tarnished neither name.’”
4. “To the memory of Lord John Russell”—added on June 22, 1878, on the
motion of Mr. Grenville Berkeley. As originally proposed, the toast was
to the memory of “Earl Russell,” but at the next meeting it was
unanimously carried that the style by which he had been best known
should be adopted. This was done with the full approval of Lady Russell,
whose wishes in the matter had been consulted.
Before leaving the clubs of St. James’s Street, two quaintly-named
institutions—the Thatched House and the Cocoa-tree—claim some attention.
The latter club-house is remarkable for the golden tree which, spreading
through two floors, is visible from the street.
The Cocoa-tree Club originated from the Tory chocolate-house of the same
name which flourished in the days of Queen Anne. This was converted into
a club, probably before 1746, when the house was the headquarters of the
Jacobite party in Parliament. It is thus referred to in the above year
by Horace Walpole, in a letter to George Montagu: “The Duke has given
Brigadier Mordaunt the Pretender’s coach, on condition he rode up to
London in it. ‘That I will, sir,’ said he, ‘and drive till it stops of
its own accord at the Cocoa-tree.’”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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