King of Clubs (Whig club)

The King of Clubs was a famous Whig conversation club, founded in 1798. In contrast to its mainly Tory forerunner The Club (established by Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke and Sir Joshua Reynolds), it was a predominantly Whig fraternity of some of the most brilliant minds of the day. For an early description of the club see W.P. Courtney's description in 'Lord Byron and his Times'.

The original inspiration for its formation came from the Rev. Sydney Smith's older brother, Robert - nicknamed "Bobus" after gaining the reputation at Eton for being such a clever Latin "versifier". The founding members were a group of friends who first met at the house of James Mackintosh in February, 1798. As well as Mackintosh, the group comprised Samuel Rogers, James Scarlett, 1st Baron Abinger, Richard "Conversation" Sharp, the historian John Allen and Robert Smith and by 1801 what had started as a small clique of friends had become a properly constituted club comprising the following members,

Within seven years the club expanded to include such additional illustrious names as

The King of Clubs had by now become well known throughout London as an exclusive Whig dining club where erudite conversation on all matters pertaining to books, authors and literature took place, but where the discussion of politics was positively excluded. Tom Campbell described the club as "a gathering-place of brilliant talkers, dedicated to the meetings of the reigning wits of London". The annual subscription had originally been set at 2 guineas but this was reduced to £2 in 1804, raised to 3 guineas in 1808, and finally fixed at £3 in 1810. As a dining club, an additional charge of 10 shillings and 6 pence was made for dinner, a considerable sum in those days, and princely suppers were held in Harley Street and later at the Crown and Anchor, Arundel Street, in the Strand. The Crown and Anchor was the very inn where Samuel Johnson and James Boswell had once enjoyed supping together; and it was especially popular among the Whigs after it had hosted a great banquet in honour of Fox's birthday in 1798, when an enormous crowd of 2000 Reformers had toasted The People – the Source of Power!

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