Seth Thévoz’s Clubland Substack

1 week ago | clubland.substack.com | Seth Thévoz

Map showing the spread of the various Labour-sympathetic clubs of the early 20th century. (Dates refer to the physical location of buildings.)Anthony Sampson, analysing clubs for his landmark 1962 Anatomy of Britain, regarded Labour politicians as being “more pubbable than clubbable” - an observation repeated by Sam Aldred in his 2020 survey of Clubland artefacts - and dismissed the idea of Labour politicians having made significant inroads into London Clubland.

1 week ago | clubland.substack.com | Seth Thévoz

The ‘Biggles’ series, of nearly 100 novels and short story collections by Captain W. E.

2 weeks ago | clubland.substack.com | Seth Thévoz

Scores of London clubs were bombed throughout the Second World War. One of the highest-profile casualties was the Carlton Club. The Carlton - named after its first clubhouse in Carlton House Terrace - was founded in 1832 as the official club for the Tory Party, and mixed social facilities with practical political functions, including electioneering work and whipping operations. Sir Reginald Blomfield’s 1923-4 alterations to the façade of the Carlton Club, pictured in 1927.

3 weeks ago | clubland.substack.com | Seth Thévoz

James Gillray (1756-1815) is widely regarded as “the grandfather of the political cartoon”, his topical etchings by turns witty, erudite, vulgar, and rendered with tremendous technical brilliance. He mocked all the great institutions of the day - and so it should come as little surprise that clubs featured as a recurring trope in his work, especially as he lived and breathed “Clubland.”Gillray conveyed a remarkably consistent image of clubs across more than three decades of practice.

4 weeks ago | clubland.substack.com | Seth Thévoz

While Bertie Wooster’s Drones Club is best-identified with P. G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves stories - and also links many characters in the Wodehouse canon - it is far from being the only club in the canon. Jeeves himself belongs to a Mayfair establishment, the Junior Ganymede Club, for gentlemen’s personal gentlemen - and it plays a key role in the plot of three novels.