The English Club of Pau () is a private social club in Pau, France. It owns and conserves a decorative arts and book collection listed as a French

monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

(ISMH). The English Club’s mission includes an annual open house during the Journées de Patrimoine (European Heritage Days) and for reserved non-profit group tours, conferences, member publications and club member activities, all concentrated on the education and promotion of Pau’s former Anglo-American colony. It is housed at the Villa Lawrance by the City of Pau.

History

A British Colony men’s reading room dating back to 1828 was chartered February 26, 1856 as the English Literary Society (Société Littéraire Anglaise) which became The English Club in 1859. Originally, the club was located at

la Place Royale ''La Place Royale, ou l'amoureux extravagant'' () is a five-act comedy written by Pierre Corneille Pierre Corneille (; ; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great 17th-century ...

. It then moved across the Place Royale in 1871 to the building that would be its home until 1957 when it moved into the main salon of the former Hotel Gassion. Addition moves in 1990 to the Villa Regina, then the Villa Riquoir in 1996. In 2002, the City of Pau agreed to host the English Club and its collections at Villa Lawrance. For many years, members were permitted to list the English Club as the seat for sporting clubs, including the

Pau Hunt The Pau Hunt was established in 1842 by the Société d’Encouragement as a spectacle authorized by the government of Louis Philippe I, Louis Philippe to hunt predatory animals such as wolves and foxes. Internationally, the Pau Hunt, dominated by ...

, Polo Club and Pau Golf Club.

Collection

The collection includes 19th and early 20th century English language books (mostly housed at the municipal archives). The English Club’s art collection includes works by Allen Culpepper Sealy (1850-1927), Jean Heîd « Hed » (1890-1957), Harry La Montagne (1869-1959) Paul Mirat (1885 – 1966), Viscount Henri de Vaufreland (1873 – 1957) and Eugene Blocaille (1873 - 1961). It also includes horse racing, cross county and steeple chase memorabilia of the Pau Hunt and portraits of past members.

Notable members and honored guests

* René d'Astorg (1860-1940) - explorer of the Pyrenees * Captain James Barrow (founder) (died 1918) - British soldier, husband of

Frances Elizabeth Barrow Frances Elizabeth Barrow ( Mease; pen name, Aunt Fanny; February 22, 1822May 7, 1894) was a 19th-century American children's writer. Biography Frances ("Frankie Blue") Elizabeth Mease was born in Charleston, South Carolina, February 22, 1822. ...

, pen name Aunt Fanny. * Belle Baruch1 (1899-1964) - American equestrian, philanthropist *

James Gordon Bennett Jr. James Gordon Bennett Jr. (May 10, 1841May 14, 1918) was an American publisher. He was the publisher of the ''New York Herald'', founded by his father, James Gordon Bennett Sr. (1795–1872), who emigrated from Scotland. He was generally known as ...

(1841-1918) - publisher of the

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the '' New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. Hi ...

* Sir

Victor Brooke Sir Victor Alexander Brooke, 3rd Baronet (5 January 1843 – 23 November 1891), was an Anglo-Irish sportsman-naturalist and baronet. He was the father of Field Marshal The 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, and grandfather of The 1st Viscount Brookeborou ...

(1843-1891) - Anglo-Irish naturalist and baronet *

Coco Chanel Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel ( , ; 19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a French fashion designer and Businessperson, businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with populari ...

(1883-1971) - French fashion designer * Lord

John Yarde-Buller, 2nd Baron Churston John Yarde-Buller, 2nd Baron Churston (26 October 1846 – 19 April 1910) was a British peer and soldier. The elder son of the Hon. John Yarde-Buller (eldest son of John Yarde-Buller, 1st Baron Churston) and of Charlotte, a daughter of Edward S ...

(1846-1910) - British peer and soldier. *

Lord Howth Earl of Howth ( ) was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1767 for Thomas St Lawrence, 15th Baron Howth, who was elevated to Viscount St Lawrence at the same time, also in the Peerage of Ireland. The St Lawrence family descended ...

(1827-1909) - Irish peer * Harry La Montagne (1869-1959) - French-American horse owner, artist, sculptor, war veteran and sportsman * Jasper Hall Livingston (1815-1900) - American horse owner, gentleman rider and sportsman *

Ward McAllister Samuel Ward McAllister (December 28, 1827 – January 31, 1895) was a popular arbiter of social taste in the Gilded Age of America, widely accepted as the authority to which families could be classified as the cream of New York society ( The Fou ...

(1827-1895) - popular arbiter of social taste in 19th-century America *

Sir Alfred Munnings Sir Alfred James Munnings, (8 October 1878 – 17 July 1959) is known as having been one of England's finest painters of horses, and as an outspoken critic of Modernism. Engaged by Lord Beaverbrook's Canadian War Memorials Fund after the Grea ...

(1878-1959) - English painter of horses * Sir John Nugent, 3rd Baronet of Cloncoskoran (1849-1929) - lived at Cloncoskoraine, County Waterford, Ireland; died at Pau *

Frederick Henry Prince Frederick Henry Prince (November 30, 1860 – February 2, 1953) was an American stockbroker, investment banking, investment banker and financier. Early life Prince was born in Winchester, Massachusetts, on November 30, 1860, the son of Fre ...

(1860-1953) - American stockbroker, investment banker and financier *

Norman Prince Norman Prince (August 31, 1887 – October 15, 1916) was an American aviator and leading founder of France's Lafayette Escadrille. Biography He was born on August 31, 1887, in Beverly, Massachusetts. He was son of Frederick Henry Prince. ...

(1887-1916) - American aviator * Charles Henry Ridgway (1897-1916) - British army * Sir Henry Russell (1834–1909) - pioneer explorer of Pyrenees * General

Thomas Montagu Steele General Sir Thomas Montagu Steele (11 May 1820, Guilsborough, Northamptonshire – 25 February 1890 Frimley Park, Farnborough) was a British army officer. Life As the eldest son of Major-General Thomas Steele and Lady Elizabeth Montagu, second ...

(1820-1890) - British army officer * Dr. Alexander Taylor (1802–1879) - Scottish physician and author * Lt.-Col. John Talbot Darnley Talbot-Crosbie (1843-1899) - Justice of the Peace for County Kerry; lived at Ardfert Abbey, County Kerry; died at Pau *

William Knapp Thorn William Knapp Thorn, Jr. (April 10, 1848 – November 16, 1910) was an American champion polo player and the grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt.Horace A. Laffaye, ''The Evolution of Polo'', Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2009, p. 2 ...

(1848-1910) - American champion polo player

Notes

References

{{Reflist Clubs and societies in France France–United Kingdom relations Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques Diaspora organizations in France