White's
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
White's is a London gentlemen's club, established at 4 Chesterfield Street in 1693 by Francesco Bianco. It moved to 37-38 St James, on the east side of the street, in 1778. From 1783 it was the unofficial headquarters of the Tory party, facing the Whigs' Brooks's club on the other side of the street. A few apolitical and affable gentlemen managed to belong to both.
The new architecture featured a bow window on the ground floor. In the later 18th century, the table directly in front of it became a seat of privilege, the throne of the most socially influential men in the club. This belonged to the arbiter elegantiarum, Beau Brummel, until he removed to the Continent in 1816, when Lord Alvanley took the place of honour. It was here that Alvanley bet with a friend £3,000 as to which of two raindrops would first reach the bottom of a pane of the bow window.
This was not the most eccentric bet in White's famous betting book. Some of those entries were on sports, but more often on political developments, especially during the chaotic years of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars. A good many were social bets, such as whether a friend would marry this year, or whom.
In the later 1970s, the exterior was painted azure with white trim.
[edit] Famous members
[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
