The Clarence Club, formerly known as the Literary Union Club, was a gentlemen's club founded in 1826, as a socially exclusive dining society that met in

Conduit Street Conduit Street is a street in Mayfair, London. It connects Bond Street to Regent Street. History The street was first developed in the early 18th century on the Conduit Mead Estate, which the Corporation of London had owned since the 15th centu ...

, Mayfair, by the poet Thomas Campbell, with the objective of the facilitation of social connections between those with an interest in the arts, philosophy, finance, trade, business, and science. Most of its members were English, but, originally, it included a significant core of members of Scottish descent. It is notable for its prohibition, then radical, of the extension of membership to any member of the press. In 1829, it occupied premises in Regent Street, renamed itself the Literary Union Club, and revised its membership statutes to make it less exclusive. It had over 700 members by 1831. After membership became too numerous, it subsequently renamed itself again, as the Clarence Club, occupied 12 Waterloo Place, Pall Mall and limited its membership to 600. It was dissolved in April 1834. Campbell's Literary Association of the Friends of Poland, founded in 1831, took most of its membership from the Clarence Club.

The Literary Union Club

The Literary Union Club was founded in 1829, by the poet Thomas Campbell, as a conversazione society for the arts, science, and literature. Members convened on a weekly basis, and, at each meeting, a member would present a paper, or make a speech, that would be discussed by the other members. Eminent merchants and businessmen were also accepted, but all journalists and press reporters were prohibited from joining. The founders were members of an exclusive dining club that had met in Conduit Street, Mayfair, since 1826, which had decided to expand by revising its membership statutes to make it less exclusive. The reformed Club, termed the Literary Union Club, is variously reported to have had a maximum of 400 or 500 members, and was planned as, "an attempt to restore that state of society which existed in the latter part of the seventeenth and during the greater portion of the eighteenth century ; when all who loved to dabble in ink, sought the coffee-houses frequented by the literary lions of the day, and derived as much amusement from their conversations as they had instructions from their writings." The first meeting of the new Literary Union Club occurred at Campbell's residence at 10 Seymour Street,

Connaught Square Connaught Square in London, England, was the first square of city houses to be built in Bayswater. It is named after a royal, the Earl of Connaught who was from 1805 until death in 1834 the second and last Duke of Gloucester ''and'' Edinburgh, ...

, the second at the residence, in

Soho Square Soho Square is a garden square in Soho, London, hosting since 1954 a ''de facto'' public park let by the Soho Square Garden Committee to Westminster City Council. It was originally called King Square after Charles II, and a much weathered ...

, of

Henry William Pickersgill Henry William Pickersgill Royal Academician, RA (3 December 1782 – 21 April 1875) was an England, English painter specialising in portraits. He was a Royal Academy, Royal Academician for almost fifty years, and painted many of the most notable ...

, R.A., who was admitted as a member. The Club took premises at old Athenaeum House, Regent Street, in 1829, and later moved to 12 Waterloo Place, Pall Mall. Its initial membership consisted of a core of gentlemen who had left the Athenaeum Club, London due to a disagreement with other members of the same: accordingly, the Literary Union Club was described as ‘a sort of Junior Athenaeum’. It was intended that there would be a branch of new Literary Union Society in each of the major provincial towns and cities of the British Empire and in each capital city of Western Europe each of which would send delegates to the Parent Club in London, thereby creating an international Britannic Literary and Scientific Union, based in London, that would ‘bring ��England nearer than she is in resemblance to ancient Greece' (Campbell). However, associated societies were established only in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Each member of the Glasgow Campbell Club was granted an honorary place in the Literary Union Club. It was suggested that the members of the Club would distinguish themselves with a peculiar evening waistcoat, which would be worn, in public, with evening wear. By 1831, the Club had between 700 and 800 members and become so popular that nine out of every ten proposed candidates were blackballed. In addition to the initial distinguished members, numerous men of little distinction in the arts, science, or literature, had been admitted. As a consequence of this, in 1831, the Literary Union Club renamed itself the Clarence Club, expelled some of its previous members, and limited its membership to 600. The new club was governed by an Executive Committee of 100, led by the Chair, Campbell. However, the new, reduced, maximum number of members was deemed to be excessively large by many of the eminent founders, many of whom, dissatisfied with Campbell's incompetent leadership, left and returned to the Athenaeum Club, London as a consequence of which the Clarence closed, in 1834. The membership of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland, also founded, in 1831, by Campbell, was drawn mainly from the Clarence Club.

Behaviour

Known for its 'undue devotion to the juice of the grateful grape', the 1831 Annual Ball of the Club was described thus: Such behaviour led the members of the Athenaeum Club to satirically describe the Literary Union Club as 'anything but Literary or United' and led the periodical ''The Age'' to describe the Literary Union Club as a Club whose meetings were convened on the promise of 'tea and toast' but concluded in 'a bear-garden of a row'.

Members

Thomas Campbell (poet) Thomas Campbell (27 July 177715 June 1844) was a Scottish poet. He was a founder and the first President of the Clarence Club and a co-founder of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland; he was also one of the initiators of a plan to ...

(President) (Trustee) * Prince Cimittilli *

John Wilson Croker John Wilson Croker (20 December 178010 August 1857) was an Anglo-Irish statesman and author. Life He was born in Galway, the only son of John Croker, the surveyor-general of customs and excise in Ireland. He was educated at Trinity College Dubl ...

* George Croly * Allan Cunningham * Prince

Adam Jerzy Czartoryski Adam Jerzy Czartoryski (; lt, Аdomas Jurgis Čartoriskis; 14 January 177015 July 1861), in English known as Adam George Czartoryski, was a Polish nobleman, statesman, diplomat and author. The son of a wealthy prince, he began his political c ...

of Poland (President) * Benjamin Disraeli * Sir George Duckett, 2nd Baronet *

Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere, (1 January 1800 – 18 February 1857), known as Lord Francis Leveson-Gower until 1833, was a British politician, writer, traveller and patron of the arts. Ellesmere Island, a major island (10th in size am ...

KG PC * Sir Francis Freeling, 1st Baronet, FSA * John Hardwick * Thomas Henderson (astronomer) FRSE FRS FRAS *

John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton John Cam Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton, (27 June 1786 – 3 June 1869), known as Sir John Hobhouse, Bt, from 1831 to 1851, was an English politician and diarist. Early life Born at Redland near Bristol, Broughton was the eldest son of Sir ...

(then Sir John Hobhouse, 1st Baronet) * William Holmes MP *Thomas Hood * Bogdan Janski * Dr

Dionysius Lardner Professor Dionysius Lardner FRS FRSE (3 April 179329 April 1859) was an Irish scientific writer who popularised science and technology, and edited the 133-volume '' Cabinet Cyclopædia''. Early life in Dublin He was born in Dublin on 3 Apr ...

FRS FRSE * William Alexander Mackinnon FRS FRA MP * John Martin * Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick KH *

Thomas Moore Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852) was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist celebrated for his ''Irish Melodies''. Their setting of English-language verse to old Irish tunes marked the transition in popular Irish culture from Irish ...

* John O'Connell JP DL MP * Sir Gore Ouseley, 1st Baronet GCH * Robert Owen *

, R.A. * Cyrus Redding * Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet * John Smirnove, Russian Ambassador to Britain (member of the Club's Executive Committee) *

Sir George Staunton, 2nd Baronet Sir George Thomas Staunton, 2nd Baronet (26 May 1781 – 10 August 1859) was an English traveller and Orientalist. Early life Born at Milford House near Salisbury, he was the son of Sir George Leonard Staunton (1737–1801), first baronet, di ...

* Richard Watson MP * John Webster MP *

Charles Molloy Westmacott Charles Molloy Westmacott (c. 1788 - 1868) was a British journalist and author, editor of ''The Age'', the leading Sunday newspaper of the early 1830s. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Bernard Blackmantle. Life Born in 1787 or 1788, Westma ...

* Sir Robert Wilson

References

{{coords, 51.50764, -0.13316, display=title Gentlemen's clubs in London London society History of London 1826 establishments in England