St James's Club

The club was founded in 1857 by the Liberal statesman the second Earl Granville and by the Marchese d'Azeglio, Minister of Sardinia to the Court of St. James's, after a dispute at the Travellers' Club. Most members of the diplomatic corps resigned from the Travellers' and joined the new club. The club's members continued to be largely diplomats and authors, and it became the home of the Dilettanti Society.

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica article Club, in 1902, the club was the smallest London gentlemen's club in terms of numbersEncyclopædia Britannica, 10th Edition (1902): article on Club, online at [http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/C/CLU/club.html Club] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080128224106/http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/C/CLU/club.html |date=28 January 2008 }} at 1902encyclopedia.com (accessed 18 January 2008) - {{cquote|The number of members included in a London club varies from 2200 in the Army and Navy to 475 in the St James's club.}}

The St James's Club was first established in Bennet Street, just off the north corner of St. James's Street. By 1868, it had moved into its clubhouse at 106 Piccadilly which had previously been Coventry House,Walford, Edward, [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45198 Mansions in Piccadilly] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525111421/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45198 |date=25 May 2011 }}, in Old and New London: Volume 4 (1878), pp. 273–90 (accessed 10 January 2008) the London residence of the Earls of Coventry since it had been bought by George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry from Sir Hugh Hunlocke in 1764, for 10,000 guineas. Coventry House had been built in 1761The date is on a lead cistern, according to Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, London, vol I (Buildings of England series; 2nd ed., 1962:573). on the site of an old public house called 'The Greyhound Inn'. The five-bay structure is neo-Palladian in style, with alternating pediments on the grand floor windows, over a rusticated ground floor. The Palladian window on the side façade lights a handsome staircase. There are ceilings by Robert AdamLord Coventry also employed Adam in the country, at his seat of Croome Court, Worcestershire. in rooms on the piano nobile. Thomas Cundy the Elder effected some remodelling, probably in 1810-11.Pevsner, ibid..

According to Charles Dickens, Jr., writing in 1879:Charles Dickens, Jr., Dickens's Dictionary of London (1879)

{{cquote|St James's Club, 106, Piccadilly, W.—Ordinary members of this club are elected by ballot, but members of the corps diplomatique, of the English diplomatic service, and of the diplomatic establishment of the Foreign Office, may be admitted without ballot, under certain restrictions. The entrance fee is £26 5s.; the subscription £11 11s.; and carefully considered reductions are made in the case of members of the English diplomatic service who are employed abroad. The election is by ballot in committee; "six shall be a quorum, one black ball in nine, if repeated, and two above nine, shall exclude." The club occupies the premises once tenanted by the defunct Coventry House Club, also known as the Coventry Club, which had opened on 1 June 1846 Daily News (London), 22 May 1846, p.4f. and closed on 25 March 1854.The Examiner, 18 February 1854, p. 108.}}

During the Second World War, the club was briefly the home of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond.[http://www.obsessional.co.uk/ianfleming.htm Life and Times of Ian Fleming] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080110101139/http://www.obsessional.co.uk/ianfleming.htm |date=10 January 2008 }} at obsessional.co.uk (accessed 10 January 2008)

The club was described by Charles Graves, writing of London clubs in Leather Armchairs (1963), as "the only one in London, or possibly anywhere else in the world, which has a separate room – and a large one at that – devoted solely to backgammon".Graves, Charles, Leather Armchairs: The Chivas Regal Book of London Clubs (London, Cassell & Co. Ltd, 1963, with foreword by P. G. Wodehouse)

The club was also well known as a London venue for chess matches.Harley, Brian, Music and Chess in Music & Letters, Vol. 12, No. 3 (July, 1931), pp. 276–83

In the decades after the Second World War, the popularity of gentlemen's clubs of London gradually fell into decline.[http://www.nd.edu/~ndlondon/londoncentre/history.htm University of Notre Dame London Centre] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109114656/http://www.nd.edu/~ndlondon/londoncentre/history.htm |date=9 January 2008 }} at nd.edu (accessed 9 January 2008) Facing financial problems, the club merged with Brooks's Club in 1978 and vacated its premises.

The grand former club house at 106 Piccadilly later became the headquarters of The International House network of language schools, founded by John Haycraft.[http://www.ihworld.com/about_us/haycraftobituary-guardian.doc Obituary of John Haycraft] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052539/http://ihworld.com/about_us/haycraftobituary-guardian.doc |date=4 March 2016 }} at ihworld.com (accessed 10 January 2008) Since October 2007, it has been the London campus of Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, a private intercontinental university based in Malaysia.[http://www.limkokwing.co.uk/university/contact.asp Limkokwing University Campuses & Contact Centres] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231050429/http://www.limkokwing.co.uk/university/contact.asp |date=31 December 2007 }} at limkokwing.co.uk (accessed 10 January 2008) From September 2017, it will be home to Eaton Square Upper School.{{cite web |author=Rupert Neate |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jul/21/fit-for-an-oligarch-school-for-the-super-rich-opens-in-londons-mayfair |title=Fit for an oligarch: school for the super-rich opens in London's Mayfair | Education |work=The Guardian |date=21 July 2017 |accessdate=21 July 2017 |archive-date=21 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170721144420/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jul/21/fit-for-an-oligarch-school-for-the-super-rich-opens-in-londons-mayfair |url-status=live }}

The St James's Club and Hotel, opened in 2008 in Park Place, has been marketed to evoke the historic club, but has no connection. A St James's Club in Manchester also has no connection.

• Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville (1815–1891), Liberal statesman[http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/biog/D_Az_Mq.htm Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20040718000755/http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/biog/D_Az_Mq.htm |date=18 July 2004 }} at whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk (accessed 10 January 2008)
• Vittorio Emanuelle Taparelli, Marchese d'Azeglio (1816–1890), Minister of Sardinia
• Sir Osbert Sitwell, 5th Baronet (1892–1969), author[https://archive.today/20130209220212/http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6195987 SITWELL, Sir Osbert] in Who Was Who 1897–2006 online (accessed 10 January 2008)
• Sir Sacheverell Sitwell, 6th Baronet (1897–1988), author and brother of Sir Osbert{{cite book|title=Who's Who|date=1951|publisher=Adam and Charles Black|page=2619}}
• Oliver St John Gogarty (1878–1957), Anglo-Irish author[https://archive.today/20130210041259/http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6154071 GOGARTY, Oliver St John] in Who Was Who 1897–2006 online (accessed 10 January 2008)
• Sir Harry Verney, 4th Baronet MP (1881–1974), politician[https://archive.today/20130210032202/http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6204311 VERNEY, Sir Harry (Calvert Williams)] in Who Was Who 1897–2006 online (accessed 10 January 2008)
• Victor Hay, 21st Earl of Erroll (1870–1928), diplomat[http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6148271 ERROLL, Victor Alexander Sereld Hay, 21st Earl of] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130210042747/http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6172841 |date=10 February 2013 }} in Who Was Who 1897–2006 online (accessed 10 January 2008)
• Sir Murdoch Macdonald (1866–1957), politician and engineer[https://archive.today/20130210042747/http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6172841 MACDONALD, Sir Murdoch] in Who Was Who 1897–2006 online (accessed 10 January 2008)
• Alfred Clayton Cole (1854–1920) Governor of the Bank of England"COLE, Alfred Clayton", in Herbert Henry Bassett, Men of Note in Finance and Commerce (1901), p. 59
• Arthur Rowley, 8th Baron Langford (1870–1953), diplomat[https://archive.today/20130209225259/http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6168927 LANGFORD, Arthur Langford Sholto Rowley, 8th Baron] in Who Was Who 1897–2006 online (accessed 10 January 2008)
• Major Cav. Lawrence Edward Lotito (1921–2004), business owner, meteorologist
• Anatole de Grunwald (1910–1967), film producer[https://archive.today/20130209173337/http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6144117 de GRUNWALD, Anatole] in Who Was Who 1897–2006 online (accessed 10 January 2008)
• Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill (1898–1956), cousin of Winston Churchill[http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/manuscripts/search/resultsn.cfm?NID=3609&RID= Manuscripts Catalogue] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060430115920/http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/manuscripts/search/resultsn.cfm?NID=3609&RID= |date=30 April 2006 }} of the University of Glasgow (accessed 10 January 2008)
• Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966), author[https://archive.today/20130209175832/http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6206424 WAUGH, Evelyn Arthur St John] in Who Was Who 1897–2006 online (accessed 10 January 2008)
• Sir Osbert Lancaster, cartoonist, stage designer and author"With an Eye to the Future" (Lancaster's memoirs)
• Harold Soref, politician and businessman

• List of London's gentlemen's clubs

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Category:1857 establishments in England

Category:1978 disestablishments in England

Category:Gentlemen's clubs in London

Category:Defunct clubs and societies of the United Kingdom

Category:Defunct organisations based in London