The Unionist Club was a short-lived

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

gentlemen's club, now dissolved, which was established in 1886, and had wound up by 1892. For the last four years of its existence, it had a clubhouse at 66-68 Pall Mall. The club was formed shortly after the mass defection of scores of

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

MPs and Peers over the

First Home Rule Bill The Government of Ireland Bill 1886, commonly known as the First Home Rule Bill, was the first major attempt made by a British government to enact a law creating home rule for part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was intr ...

, to create the new

Liberal Unionist The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a politic ...

party. The new party went into an immediate alliance with the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

, but remained a separate body until 1912. Because of this, many Liberal Unionist politicians found they were not wholly welcome in established Conservative clubs like the Carlton, but were equally shunned in traditionally Liberal clubs like the

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

. Consequently, the club was set up for Liberal Unionists, and moved to its Pall Mall clubhouse in 1888. The Clubhouse had originally been built for the short-lived Junior Naval and Military Club in 1875, which accumulated so much debt over the building that it went bankrupt in 1879. The premises were then taken over by a Conservative club, the Beaconsfield between 1880 and 1887. The Unionist Club always suffered from limited membership, as a great many Liberal Unionists stayed on in their old Liberal clubs, seeing themselves as 'true' Liberals - this is illustrated by an incident in 1912 when

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

tried to belittle

Sir Edward Carson Edward Henry Carson, 1st Baron Carson, PC, PC (Ire) (9 February 1854 – 22 October 1935), from 1900 to 1921 known as Sir Edward Carson, was an Irish unionist politician, barrister and judge, who served as the Attorney General and Solicitor ...

's integrity by saying "The right hon. Gentleman forces me to remind him that he was a member of the

National Liberal Club The National Liberal Club (NLC) is a London private members' club, open to both men and women. It was established by William Ewart Gladstone in 1882 to provide club facilities for Liberal Party campaigners among the newly enlarged electorate ...

", only to be told by Carson "I was elected as a Unionist." Heavily in debt, the Unionist Club closed its doors in 1892. The building was eventually taken over by the New Oxford and Cambridge Club, which operated there from 1894 to 1920.

References

{{Coord, 51, 30, 20.44, N, 0, 8, 13.46, W, scale:1563_region:GB Gentlemen's clubs in London 1886 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1886 Political history of the United Kingdom

See also

References