The Hurlingham Club

For the Argentine institution of the same name, see Hurlingham Club (Argentina).
Hurlingham
Full name The Hurlingham Club
Location London, England
Founded 1869 (1869) [1]
Club colors          
(White, Turquoise Blue)
Activities Backgammon, Bridge, Bowls, Chess, Cricket, Croquet, Skittles, Squash, Tennis
Website hurlinghamclub.org.uk

The Hurlingham Club is an exclusive sports and social club located in Fulham, London, England. It has a Georgian clubhouse set in 42 acres (17 ha) of grounds. It is a member of The Association of London Clubs.

History

Mo Farah at the Night Of Champions Dinner at Hurlingham Club with his wife.

Early history

In 1867 Frank Heathcote received the permission of Richard Naylor to promote live pigeon shooting at his Hurlingham estate.[2] His next step was the formation of the Hurlingham Club for this purpose and 'as an agreeable country resort'.[3] The club leased the estate from Naylor in 1869 and in 1874 acquired the land outright for £27,500.[4] The pigeon today forms part of the club's crest. Until 1905, clouds of pigeons were released in the summer from an enclosure near what is now a tennis pavilion.

The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), an early patron, was a keen shot and his presence ensured the club's status and notability from the beginning. The current patron is HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Polo

In 1873, the club published the rules of polo, which are still followed by most of the world to this day.[4][5][6][7] Polo was first played at the club on 6 June 1874.[4][8] On 18 July 1878, the club along with Ranelagh became the first to play a sports match under floodlights.[9] In 1886, the club hosted the first international polo match between England and the United States.[10] The polo matches for the 1908 Summer Olympics were played at Hurlingham. Three teams entered: Hurlingham, Roehampton Club, and a combined British and Irish team. Roehampton won.[11] The Westchester Cup was played at the club in 1900, 1902, 1909, 1921 and 1936.[4] Before the Second World War, Hurlingham was the headquarters of British polo. The governing body of British polo is called the Hurlingham Polo Association.[4] However polo is no longer staged at Hurlingham after the size of the club was significantly reduced after the war when the polo fields were compulsorily purchased to build council housing (the Sullivan Estate).[4] The Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park has succeeded to the status of the leading British polo club.

Golf

There is a nine-hole par 3 golf course which is open in winter months

Croquet

Hurlingham has been at the centre of world croquet for many years. The Croquet Association had its headquarters in the club from 1959 to 2002.[12] Top-ranking international competitions are regularly held on the lawns, at one time the finest in the country, though the CA headquarters have since relocated to the Cheltenham Croquet Club.

Other sports and events

Other sports include lawn tennis, cricket, bowls, skittles, squash and swimming (with both indoor and outdoor pools) as well as fitness facilities and a gymnasium. Games such as bridge, backgammon and chess are popular indoor pursuits. The club has also hosted the Grand Prix Ball [13] and the Concours d'Elegance.[14]

Membership

Members must be proposed and seconded by two current full members of the club. There is currently a thirteen-year waiting list for membership, but children of current members are given preference when vacancies do arise.

The club's membership is closed. [15]

The club currently has more than 10,000 members.

Notable members

Lord Fowler, Lord Temple-Morris, Adam Raphael, the Carry On actress Liz Fraser, novelist and peer Jeffrey Archer, the actor Trevor Eve and his wife Sharon Maughan are all members of the Hurlingham Club.

Past members include Walter Buckmaster and Air Vice-Marshal Sir William Cushion. In 2011, Charles Nall-Cain, 3rd Baron Brocket was refused membership owing to his stint in prison.[16]

See also

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ "World's Most Exclusive Private Members' Clubs: Hurlingham Club, London" at Casino Man.net, 17 December 2009
  2. ↑ Albert William Money, Pigeon shooting: With instructions for beginners and suggestions for those who participate in the sport of pigeon shooting, Shooting and fishing publishing company, 1896, p. 99
  3. ↑ John Lowerson, Sport and the English Middle Classes, 1870–1914, Manchester University Press, 1995, p. 40
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Laffaye, Horace A. (2012). Polo in Britain: A History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 47–50. ASIN B00873K336. ISBN 9780786465118.
  5. ↑ Edward Darley Miller, Modern Polo, Hurst and Blackett, 1902, p. 333
  6. ↑ Thomas Francis Dale, Polo past and present, Offices of Country Life, 1905, p. 24
  7. ↑ T. B. Drybrough, Polo, Longmans, Green, 1906, p. 1
  8. ↑ Mike Huggins, The Victorians And Sport, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004, p. 25
  9. ↑ Inglis, Simon (2014). Played in London. Swindon: English Heritage. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-84802-057-3.
  10. ↑ George B. Kirsch, Othello Harris, Claire Elaine Nolte, Encyclopedia of Ethnicity and Sports in the United States, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000, p. 147
  11. ↑ 1908 Summer Olympics official report. p. 232.
  12. ↑ Debrett's, Debrett's guide to Britain: where to go and what to see, Putnam, 1983, p. 131
  13. ↑ "The Grand Prix Ball". GP Management. 2010-06-03. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  14. ↑ "Concours D'Elegance". Searcys. 2010-06-03. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  15. ↑ "The Hurlingham Club, Membership". Hurlingham Club. 2015-10-21. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
  16. ↑ Richard Kay, 'The idea of prison is you pay your penalty': Lord Brocket appalled as he is blackballed by the Hurlingham Club, The Daily Mail, 25 August 2011

External links

Coordinates: 51°28′01″N 0°12′03″W / 51.46694°N 0.20083°W / 51.46694; -0.20083

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