Brooks's
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Brooks's is a London gentlemen's club, founded in 1764 by 27 men, including four dukes. From an early date, it was the meeting place for Whigs of the highest social order.
They bought Almack's Coffee House in Pall Mall for their original premises. Their current building on the west side of St. James's Street was designed by Henry Holland and opened in 1778. It faces, across the street, Boodle's, and is 50 yards from the Tory club of White's. Some few apolitical and affable gentlemen managed to belong to both.
Its primary purpose was to provide a home away from home for the gentleman of the time, who was normally not at all domestic. At Brooks's, he could meet his friends (and avoid his and others' ladies) at any time of the day or night. The club provided substantial but ordinary meals, to the point that complaints about the everlasting sameness led to the founding of Watier's in 1806.
One of the main services was the provision of gaming rooms. At several tables in one, gentlemen would stake fortunes on whist and hazard. Gambling all night was common; all day and all night, not unheard of. When the stakes far exceeded any ordinary expenses, club accounts were commonly deducted from the winnings, so that no bills were rendered to members.
Gaming is no longer a substantial basis for gentlemen's clubs; it might be asked how far the members have changed the current ethos in other respects, but of course a gentleman cannot discuss his club in public.
In the middle 1970s the penurious St James's Club amalgamated with Brooks's to add a less traditionally Whig (not to say actively rakish) aspect to its membership.
[edit] References
- Christopher Hibbert; London, the Biography of a City; 1969; William Morrow, NY
- Stella Margetson; Regency London; 1971; Prawger Publishers, Inc. NY
- Ellen Moers; The Dandy: Brummell to Beerbohm; 1960; The Viking Press, Inc., NY
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