Savage Club

The Savage Club, founded in 1857, is a gentlemen's club in London, named after the poet, Richard Savage. Members are drawn from the fields of art, drama, law, literature, music or science.

Savage Club

The National Liberal Club, which contained the Savage Club from 1990, pictured in 2013
Formation	1857[1]
Type	Gentlemen's club
Purpose	'The pursuit of happiness'.[1]
Location	Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2HE
Website	www.savageclub.com

History

George Augustus Sala (ca. 1860) sent out the invitation letters to the founding meeting of the club in 1857.

The founding meeting of the Savage Club took place on 12 October 1857, at the Crown Tavern, Vinegar Yard, Drury Lane, after a letter by pro tempore honorary secretary George Augustus Sala was sent to prospective members.[2] The letter advised it would be 'a meeting of gentlemen connected with literature and the fine arts, and warmly interested in the promotion of Christian knowledge, and the sale of exciseable liquors' with a view to 'forming a social society or club'.[2] The inaugural gathering would also decide upon the new association's 'suitable designation'.[2]

Richard Savage, poet (c 1697 -1743)

Around 20 attended the first meeting including William Brough, Robert Brough, Leicester Silk Buckingham, John Deffett Francis, Gustav von Franck, Bill Hale, Sala, Dr G. L. Strauss and William Bernhardt Tegetmeier.[3]

Andrew Halliday, joint honorary secretary in 1858, and later club president, wrote in his 1867 anthology, of how the 'suitable designation' was determined:[4]

'When about a dozen of the original members were assembled in the place selected for their meetings, it became a question what the Club should be called. Every one in the room suggested a title. One said the “Addison”, another the “Johnson”, a third the “Goldsmith”, and so forth; and at last, after we had run the whole gamut of famous literary names of the modern period, a modest member in the corner suggested “The Shakespeare”. This was too much for the gravity of one of the company (the late Mr Robert Brough) whose keen sense of humour enabled him, in the midst of our enthusiasm, to perceive that we were bent on making ourselves ridiculous. “Who are we,” he said, “that we should take these great names in vain? Don’t let us be pretentious. If we must have a name, let it be a modest one — one that signifies as little as possible.” Hereupon a member called out, in a pure spirit of wantonness, “The Savage”. That keen sense of humour was again tickled. “The very thing!” he exclaimed. “No one can say that there is anything pretentious in assuming that name. If we accept Richard Savage as our godfather, it shows that there is no pride about us.” And so, in a frolicsome humour, our little society was christened the “Savage Club”.'

Menu card for the Savage Club's 40th anniversary dinner in 1897

Many of the original members were drawn from the ranks of bohemian journalists and writers for The Illustrated London News who considered themselves unlikely to be accepted into the older, arts related Garrick Club, but, within two decades, the Savage Club itself had become 'almost respectable'.[5] The early requirement - 'a working man in literature or art' - was soon broadened to include musicians, and the club's first piano was hired in 1871, prompting Halliday to tell another member 'Hang your piano... it's ruining the Club'.[6] An associated Masonic lodge was established in 1887.

The club has hosted a variety of guests over the years including American writer and humorist Mark Twain,[7] and the Australian cricket team during its 1934 English tour.[8] In 1940, Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists, arrived as a guest of Henry Williamson, author of Tarka the Otter, but was asked to leave.[9] The club features in Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel, The Lost World.[10]

The club moved from its original home at the Crown Tavern, the next year to the Nell Gwynne Tavern. In 1863 it moved to Gordon's Hotel in Covent Garden, then to 6–7 Adelphi Terrace, later to 9 Fitzmaurice Place, Berkeley Square, London W1, and, from 1936 to the end of 1963, Carlton House Terrace in St James's (previously the home of the Conservative statesman Lord Curzon).[11] From 1990, the club has been based in a room of the National Liberal Club, at 1 Whitehall Place, London SW1, although in 2020 it was issued with a year's notice for eviction, which it was claimed was due to the National Liberal Club's refusal to keep hosting a club which does not admit ladies. A source at the National Liberal Club commented on the eviction: "The red line for us is whether one of our members, of any sex, could use the Savage Club's bar whenever it is opened."[12] The Savage Club does, however, admit women as guests to the whole of its premises, and male members of the National Liberal Club who are not also members of the Savage Club are not allowed to use the Savage Club bar unless invited as guests.

The club today

In 1962, the club had around 1,000 members,[11] at present, there are over 300. It remains one of the small number of London clubs that does not admit women as members, although women are admitted as guests. The club maintains a tradition of regular dinners for members and their guests, always followed by entertainment, often featuring distinguished musical performers from the club's membership.[13] Several times a year members invite ladies to share both the dinner and the entertainment—sometimes as performers. On these occasions guests always include widows of former Savages, who are known as Rosemaries (after rosemary, a symbol of remembrance).

Menu card for a dinner in honour of the inventor of the radio, Guglielmo Marconi, in 1903

There are also monthly lunches, which are followed by a talk given by a member or an invited guest on a subject of which he has specific expert knowledge.

Membership

Members are classified into one of six categories which best describes their main interest: art, drama, law, literature, music or science.[1][13] They must be proposed and seconded by two existing members, and if unknown by any other members, are required to attend a club function in order to meet some members. The category of membership might mirror a member's profession, though there are many members with an interest in one or more of the membership categories, but who practise none professionally. There is a range of membership fees depending on membership category.

During the weekend, members are permitted to use the East India Club in St James's Square and the Oxford and Cambridge Club in Pall Mall. There are also reciprocal arrangements with other clubs internationally.[1] Members of the Savage Club may also use accommodation at the Savile, Farmers and Lansdowne Clubs.

Notable members

James Agate Norman Allin Richard Arnell[13] Arthur Askey George Baker Sir J. M. Barrie, Bt.[14] Webster Booth Collin Brooks Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin) Albert Chevalier Alan Civil Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) Sir Hal Pateshall Colebatch Mortimer Collins Wilkie Collins Robert Courtneidge Most of the members of The Crazy Gang Augustin Daly Richard Davey[15] Sir Edward Elgar[16] Herman Finck Sir Alexander Fleming C. B. Fry W. S. Gilbert[17] Dan Godfrey Walter Goodman George Grossmith Weedon Grossmith Charles Groves[13]

Mark Hambourg (pianist) Tommy Handley and the cast of It's That Man Again (ITMA) John Hassall (illustrator) Macdonald Hastings Jack Hawkins Will Hay A. P. Herbert Tom Hood Keble Howard (writer)[18] Sir Henry Irving[19] Alex James C.E.M. Joad panellist on The Brains Trust Evan Rowland Jones Gwynn Parry Jones Mark Lemon (Editor of Punch) Sidney Kilner Levett-Yeats David Low (Colonel Blimp)[20] Arthur Lucan, aka Old Mother Riley Phil May Malcolm McEachern ('Mr. Jetsam') Charles Millward Benno Moiseiwitsch[13] Earl Mountbatten Fridtjof Nansen Prof. R. G. W. Norrish Norman O'Neill E. Phillips Oppenheim Robert Young Pelton King Edward VII King George V King George VI Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh[21] Bertram Prance Dr. Magnus Pyke Sergei Rachmaninov[13]

Arnold Ridley Heath Robinson Carl Rosa L. Arthur Rose Dante Rossetti Rafael Sabatini George Augustus Sala Leonard Salzedo[13] Charles Santley Robert Wilfred Scarff Captain Scott Harry Secombe E. H. Shepard[22] W. Somerset Maugham[16] Dylan Thomas[23] Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree Tommy Trinder Peter Underwood Stanley Unwin Sir Peter Ustinov Edgar Wallace[16] Artemus Ward Alec Waugh James McNeill Whistler Henry Williamson Hugh Ross Williamson Sir P. G. Wodehouse Wee Georgie Wood (music hall comedian) Henry Wood (conductor)[13] Lewis Pinhorn Wood (artist) John Worsley[24] Sir Charles Wyndham Oswald Yorke actor

The Savage Club Masonic Lodge

Menu card for a dinner in honour of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) in 1882

Menu card for a dinner in honour of Lord Kitchener of Khartoum in 1898

On 11 February 1882, the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), attended a dinner in his honour at the Savage Club, before becoming a member.[25] The Prince suggested a Masonic lodge, associated with the club, should be formed.[26]

The Savage Club Lodge received its Warrant of Constitution on 18 December 1886,[27] and was consecrated on 18 January 1887,[28] with war correspondent Sir John Richard Sommers Vine as the first Master.[29] The first treasurer was the actor Sir Henry Irving, followed by the actor Edward O'Connor Terry in 1888.[19] This tendency towards the arts continued to be reflected in the Lodge's membership for many years.[26]

The club and lodge are no longer joined but members of each share regular dinners and social functions.[28] Lodge membership is not restricted to Savage Club members, however most who join still have a professional life in literature, art, drama, music, science or law.[28]

Founders of the Savage Club Lodge

• Sir Francis Wyatt Truscott, PGW
• John Maclean
• Sir J. R. Somers Vine, PGD
• Thomas Catling, PAGDC
• Sir Henry Irving
• Archibald McNeill
• W. E. Chapman, PAGDC
• Raymond Tucker, PPGSB Berks.
• Thomas Burnside
• Earl of Dunraven, PC KP
• John Paige
• Gustav von Franck

References

1. "Introduction". Savage Club. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
2. "The First Letter". Savage Club. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
3. Watson, Aaron (1907). The Savage Club : a medley of history, anecdote, and reminiscence. London: T. Fisher Unwin. p. 18. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
4. Halliday, Andrew (1867). Savage Club Papers. London: Tinsley Brothers. pp. 12–16. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
5. Nigel Cross (9 June 1988). The Common Writer: Life in Nineteenth-Century Grub Street. CUP Archive. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-521-35721-0.
6. Watson, Aaron (1907). The Savage Club : a medley of history, anecdote, and reminiscence. London: T. Fisher Unwin. pp. 26–27. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
7. "Clubbing". The Business Of Being Mark Twain. Cornell University. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
8. Collin Brooks (1998). Fleet Street, Press Barons and Politics: The Journals of Collin Brooks, 1932-1940. Cambridge University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-521-66239-0.
9. Graham Macklin (2007). Very Deeply Dyed in Black: Sir Oswald Mosley and the Resurrection of British Fascism After 1945. I.B.Tauris. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-84511-284-4.
10. A. Conan Doyle, The Lost World (Penguin Classics, 2007)
11. "Savage Club In Search Of A New Home". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 1962-10-27.
12. "Atticus" (Roland White), 'Men-only club too savage for Liberals', Sunday Times, 25 October 2020.
13. Lewis Foreman; Susan Foreman (2005). London: A Musical Gazetteer. Yale University Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-300-10402-8.
14. Lisa Chaney (6 July 2010). Hide-And-Seek With Angels: The Life of J.M. Barrie. Random House. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-4090-6699-6.
15. Who's Who 1910. London: A & C Black. 1910. p. 484.
16. R. Tames, London: A Cultural History (OUP, 2006), p110
17. J. Stedman, W.S. Gilbert: A Classic Victorian and His Theatre (OUP, 1996), p19
18. Keble Howard, My Motley Life, A Tale of Struggle. (T Fisher Unwin Ltd, 1927), p 145
19. Jeffrey Richards (20 January 2007). Sir Henry Irving: A Victorian Actor and His World. A&C Black. p. 288. ISBN 978-1-85285-591-8.
20. "British Cartoon Archive - University of Kent". www.cartoons.ac.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
21. "Royal Match of Tiddlywinks". 3 March 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
22. "British Cartoon Archive - University of Kent". www.cartoons.ac.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
23. D. Birch (ed) The Oxford Companion to English Literature, 7th Edition, (OUP 2009)
24. "John Worsley". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
25. Watson, Aaron (1907). The Savage Club : a medley of history, anecdote, and reminiscence. London: T. Fisher Unwin. p. 235. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
26. Tracy C. Davis (21 June 2007). The Economics of the British Stage 1800-1914. Cambridge University Press. p. 298. ISBN 978-0-521-03685-6.
27. "Savage Club Lodge (2190)". Lane's Masonic Records. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
28. "Savage Club Lodge 2190". Savage Club#The Savage Club Masonic Lodge/The Savage Club Masonic Lodge. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
29. Walter H. Wills (2006). The Anglo-African Who's Who and Biographical Sketchbook, 1907. Jeppestown Press. p. 372. ISBN 978-0-9553936-3-1.

• Bradshaw, Percy V. (1958), Brother Savages and Guests, W. H. Allen & Co.

External links

Media related to Savage Club, London at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website of The Savage Club
• Official website of The Savage Club Lodge
• Article in the New York Times announcing the foundation of The Savage Club Lodge

See also

• List of London's gentlemen's clubs