A dining club (UK) or eating club (US) is a

social group In the social sciences, a social group is defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties. F ...

, usually requiring membership (which may, or may not be available only to certain people), which meets for dinners and discussion on a regular basis. They may also often have guest speakers.

United Kingdom

A dining club differs from a

gentlemen's club A gentlemen's club is a private social club of a type originally established by males from Britain's upper classes starting in the 17th century. Many countries outside Britain have prominent gentlemen's clubs, mostly those associated with the ...

in that it does not have permanent premises, often changing the location of its meetings and dinners. Clubs may limit their membership to those who meet highly specific membership requirements. For example, the Coningsby Club requires members to have been a part of either OUCA or CUCA, the Conservative Associations at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge respectively. Others may require applicants to pass an

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" re ...

, or simply pay a membership fee. Early dining clubs include the Pitt Club, the Bullingdon Club, and the 16' Club.

United States

In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, similar

social club A social club or social organization may be a group of people or the place where they meet, generally formed around a common interest, occupation or activity with in an organizational association known as a Club (organization), club. Exampl ...

s are called eating clubs. Eating clubs date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are intended to allow college students to enjoy meals and pleasant discourse. Some clubs are referred to as bicker clubs because of the process of bickering over which applicants to accept as members. Replaced largely by the modern fraternity and sorority system, eating clubs are now limited to a few colleges and universities, most prominently at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, though other universities including

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Davidson College Davidson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after American Revolutiona ...

, the University of Mount Olive, and

Reed College Reed College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, E ...

have the presence of eating clubs. Dining clubs often have reciprocity with other dining clubs across the nation or even worldwide. Some are able to arrange reciprocity with other private social clubs with more facilities besides dining such as overnight guest rooms and a gym. Examples of such social clubs include the Penn Club of New York City, which has reciprocity with the India House Club at 1 Hanover Square.

List of dining clubs

''This list is incomplete.'' ''Date of founding in brackets.'' 18th-century, or earlier, foundations * Hibernian Catch Club () * Kit-Cat Club (before 1705) * Beefsteak Club () * October Club (1711–1714) * Society of Knights of the Round Table (1720) * Society of Dilettanti (1732) * Divan Club (1744–1746) * Friendly Brothers of St Patrick (before 1750) * The Kensington Club () * The Club (1764) * Lunar Society (1775–1813) * Bullingdon Club (1780) * Beaver Club (1785–1830s) 19th-century foundations * Nobody's Friends (1800) * Canada Club (1810) *Trinity College Dublin Dining Club, London () * Grillions (1812) * Société des douze (1823) *Geological Society Dining Club (1824) * Raleigh Club (1827) * Pitt Club (1835) * X-club (1864–1893) * Myrmidon Club (1865) * The Whitefriars Club (1868)http://www.whitefriarsclub.org, and ‘Thursday… The annual dinner of the Whitefriar's Club was held at Radley's, Mr. Tom Hood in the chair.' ''London City Press'', Saturday 20 February 1869, p. 3. * The 16' Club () * Ivy Club (1879) * United and Cecil Club (as the Constituency Union in 1881) * Cottage Club (1886) * Cap and Gown Club (1890) * Tiger Inn (1890) * Colonial Club (1891) * Omar Khayyám Club (1892) * The Astley Society (1895) *

Castaways' Club The Castaways' Club is a dining club for retired Officer Corps of the Royal Navy, warfare officers (previously known as executive or seaman officers) of the Royal Navy who left the service while still junior officers, typically with the rank of Li ...

(1895) * Ye Cherubs (Queens', Cambridge) (1895) * The Chinese Club (1897) * Stock Exchange Luncheon Club (1898–2006) 20th- and 21st-century foundations * Nova Scotia Club (1900) * Princeton Charter Club (1901) * Quadrangle Club (1901) *

Coefficients In mathematics, a coefficient is a multiplicative factor involved in some term of a polynomial, a series, or any other type of expression. It may be a number without units, in which case it is known as a numerical factor. It may also be a ...

(1902) * Princeton Tower Club (1902) * Terrace Club (1904) * Square Club (1908) * Chatham Dining Club (1910) * The Other Club (1911) * Cercle de l'Union interalliée (1917) * Romney Street Group (1917) * Coningsby Club (1921) * Ratio Club (1949–1958) *

Piers Gaveston Society The Piers Gaveston Society, or Piers Gav for short, is a dining club founded in 1977 at the University of Oxford. It is named in honour of Piers Gaveston, favourite of Edward II of England, King Edward II of England. In recent years, parties run ...

(1977) * The Squares (1979) * The University Club (1987) * Strafford Club (1995)

Fictional

* ''The Thursday Club'', a monthly dining club, features in the novel '' The Three Hostages'' by

John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, British Army officer, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. As a ...

. * ''The Twelve True Fishermen'' is the name of a fictional club in the eponymous short story by G. K. Chesterton in which his detective Father Brown solves the riddle of the disappearance of the club's silver. * The annual dinner of ''The Ten for Aristology'' is the scene of a murder in the 1960 Nero Wolfe story '' Poison à la Carte'',

References

External links