The Flyfishers' Club is a gentlemen's club in London which was founded in 1884 for enthusiasts of flyfishing. In 1894, the club had more than three hundred members, while in 1984 this had risen to between eight and nine hundred.

History

The club's library has been described as one of the finest of its kind in Europe; it has a collection of around three thousand works on the subject of fishing, including works such as the successful '' Floating Flies and How to Dress Them'' and ''Dry Fly Fishing in Theory and Practice'' by F.M. Halford, one of the club's co-founders. Many well-known anglers are club members, and have contributed signed copies of their publications to the library. According to Basil Field, the founding president, the original prospectus described the club's purposes as follows: :"To bring together gentlemen devoted to fly-fishing generally. :"To afford a ready means of communication between those interested in this delightful art. :"To provide in the reading-room, in addition to all the usual newspapers, periodicals, &c., catalogues, and books, foreign as well as English, having reference to fishing, particularly to fly-fishing so as to render the club a means of obtaining knowledge about new fishing places and vacancies for rods, and making it a general medium of information on all points relating to the art." The club publishes a long-standing magazine, the ''Flyfishers' Journal''; writers included

G. E. M. Skues George Edward MacKenzie Skues, usually known as G. E. M. Skues (1858–1949), was a British lawyer, author and fly fisherman most noted for the invention of modern-day nymph fishing and the controversy it caused with the Chalk stream dry fly d ...

, who has been described as "one of the greatest trout fishermen that ever lived." Skues dedicated his 1921 book, '' The Way of a Trout with the Fly'' to The Flyfishers' Club "in gratitude for many happy hours and some priceless friends". In 1938, a debate was held at the club on Skues's controversial theories about the use of nymphs in fly-fishing, which led him to publish ''Nymph Fishing for Chalk Stream Trout''. The club also has a museum of fishing memorabilia which holds a

rod Rod, Ror, Ród, Rőd, Rød, Röd, ROD, or R.O.D. may refer to: Devices * Birch rod, made out of twigs from birch or other trees for corporal punishment * Ceremonial rod, used to indicate a position of authority * Connecting rod, main, coupling, ...

used by

David Garrick David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...

and a case of flies reputed to have belonged to

Izaak Walton Izaak Walton (baptised 21 September 1593 – 15 December 1683) was an English writer. Best known as the author of ''The Compleat Angler'', he also wrote a number of short biographies including one of his friend John Donne. They have been colle ...

. Other items include a rod box originally exhibited in The Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace in 1851 and a

pirn A Pirn is a rod onto which weft thread is wound for use in weaving. Unlike a bobbin, it is fixed in place, and the thread is delivered off the end of the pirn rather than from the centre. A typical pirn is made of wood or plastic and is slight ...

(used as an alternative to a fishing reel) which belonged to the "Ettrick Sheppherd" James Hogg.

Premises

The Flyfishers’ has had a number of homes. It had no permanent home of its own for the first four years of its existence, but opened its first rooms of its own in the Arundel Hotel in 1888, then moved to No. 8 Haymarket in 1889 and remained there until 1907, when it moved to Swallow Street, Piccadilly. It stayed there until destroyed in The Blitz in 1941. Since then it has leased premises in several other London clubs. Today, the Club leases rooms in the Savile Club, 69 Brook Street in central London.

Notable members

* Basil Field *

R. B. Marston R. or r. may refer to: * ''Reign'', the period of time during which an Emperor, king, queen, etc., is ruler. * '' Rex'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning King * ''Regina'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning Queen * or , abbreviat ...

Frederic M. Halford Frederic Maurice Halford (13 April 1844 – 5 March 1914), pseudonym Detached Badger, was a wealthy and influential British angler and fly fishing author. Halford is most noted for his development and promotion of the dry fly technique on Englis ...

Henry Batten Huddleston Lieutenant Colonel Henry Batten Huddleston OBE VD (22 January 1864 – 7 March 1944),Death Notice, ''The Times'', March 10, 1944, p.1 also known as H.B. Huddleston, was Chief Agent and later a Director of the Burma Railways. During World War I, ...

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, (25 April 1862 – 7 September 1933), better known as Sir Edward Grey, was a British Liberal statesman and the main force behind British foreign policy in the era of the First World War. An adher ...

* Francis Francis *

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

Eric Taverner The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...

* Hugh Falkus *

Donald Overfield Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

* Charles Sinclair, chairman of

Associated British Foods Associated British Foods plc (ABF) is a British multinational food processing and retailing company headquartered in London, England. Its ingredients division is the world's second-largest producer of both sugar and baker's yeast and a major pr ...

. * Richard Walker * William Daniel Its current patron is Charles, Prince of Wales.

Notes

References

*Anonymous, ''The Book of the Flyfishers' Club, 1884-1934'' (Croydon: Croydon Advertiser Printing Works, 1934) *Jack Chance and Julian Paget (ed.), ''The Flyfishers’: An Anthology to mark the Centenary of The Flyfishers’ Club 1884–1984'' (1984) *Ken Robson (ed.), ''Flyfishers’ Progress''

External links