London (England) -- Antiquities; London (England) -- History
The United University Club has 1,000 members, of whom 500 belong to
Oxford and 500 to Cambridge. The King is a member. Cabinet ministers,
bishops, judges, etc., may be admitted without ballot. All members of
either University are qualified to be candidates, but only graduates,
persons who have resided in college or hall for two years, holders
of honorary degrees, and students in civil law of above three years'
standing, are qualified to be members. The club has recently rebuilt
its house at the corner of Suffolk Street and Pall Mall East.
The Athenæum was originated by Mr. John Wilson Croker, after
consultation with Sir Humphry Davy, president of the Royal Society,
and was founded in 1824 for the association of individuals known for
their scientific or literary attainments, artists of eminence in any
class of the fine arts, and noblemen and gentlemen distinguished as
liberal patrons of science, literature, or the arts. It is essential
to the maintenance of the Athenæum, in conformity with the principles
upon which it was originally founded, that the annual introduction
of a certain number of persons of distinguished eminence in science,
literature, or the arts, or for public services, should be secured.
Accordingly, nine persons of such qualifications are elected by the
committee each year. The club entrusts this privilege to the committee,
in the entire confidence that they will only elect persons who shall
have attained to distinguished eminence in science, literature, or the
arts, or for public services. The General Committee may also elect
princes of the blood Royal, cabinet ministers, bishops, speakers of
the House of Commons, judges, and foreign ambassadors, or ministers
plenipotentiary of not less than three years' residence at the Court of
St. James's, to be extraordinary members; and may invite, as honorary
members during temporary residence in England, the heads of foreign
missions, foreign members of the Royal Society, and not more than
fifteen other foreigners or colonists of distinction. The ordinary
members of the club are 1,200 in number. The entrance fee is thirty
guineas, and the annual subscription eight guineas. The presidents for
the time being of the Royal Society, of the Society of Antiquaries, and
of the Royal Academy of Arts, if members, are ex-officio members of the
General Committee. An Executive Committee of nine is selected from the
General Committee to manage the domestic and other ordinary affairs of
the club. No elected member can remain on the General Committee more
than three consecutive years, unless he is a member of the Executive
Committee, in which case he may be re-elected for a second term of
three years. No higher stake than half-a-guinea points shall be played
for. No game of mere chance shall be played in the house for money. No
member shall make use of the club as an address in any advertisement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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