White's

This article is about the London gentlemen's club. For other meanings, seeWhites (disambiguation).

White's

White's club
Formation	1693(1693)
Type	Gentlemen's club
Location	37–38St James's Street,London,SW1

White'sis agentlemen's clubinSt James's,London.Founded in 1693 as ahot chocolateshop inMayfair,it is the oldest gentleman's club in London. It moved to its current premises onSt James's Streetin 1778.

Status

White's is the oldest gentlemen's club in London, founded in 1693, and is considered by many to be the most exclusive private club in London. Notable current members includeCharles IIIand thePrince of Wales.FormerBritish prime ministerDavid Cameron,whose fatherIan Cameronwas the club's chairman, was a member for fifteen years but resigned in 2008, over the club's declining to admit women.

White's is a member of the Association of London Clubs. In January 2018, calling themselves 'Women in Whites', a group of female protesters infiltrated the club to highlight its single-sex policy, one managing to gain entry by pretending to be a man. They were removed.

History

The club was originally established at 4Chesterfield Street,offCurzon StreetinMayfair,in 1693 by an Italian immigrant named Francesco Bianco as ahot chocolateemporium under the nameMrs. White's Chocolate House.Tickets were sold to the productions atKing's TheatreandRoyal Drury Lane Theatreas a side-business. White's quickly made the transition from teashop to exclusive club and in the early 18th century, it was notorious as a gambling house; those who frequented it were known as "the gamesters of White's". The club gained a reputation for both its exclusivity and the often raffish behaviour of its members.Jonathan Swiftreferred to White's as the "bane of half the English nobility."

In 1778 it moved to 37–38St James's Street.From 1783 it was the unofficial headquarters of theToryparty, while theWhigs'clubBrooks'swas just down the road. A few apolitical and affable gentlemen managed to belong to both. The new architecture featured abow windowon the ground floor. In the later 18th century, the table directly in front of it became a seat of distinction, the throne of the most socially influential men in the club. This belonged to thearbiter elegantiarum,Beau Brummell,until he removed to the Continent in 1816, whenWilliam Arden, 2nd Baron Alvanley,took the place of honour. While there, he is supposed to have once bet £3,000 on which of two raindrops would reach the bottom of a pane in the bow window. Later, the spot was reserved for the use ofArthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington,until his death in 1852.

Alvanley's was not the most eccentric bet in White's famous betting book. Some of those entries were on sports, but more often on political developments, especially during the chaotic years of theFrench Revolutionand theNapoleonic Wars.A good many were social bets, such as whether a friend would marry this year, or to whom.

The club continues to maintain its tradition as a club for gentlemen only, although one of its best known chefs from the early 1900s wasRosa Lewis,a model for the central character in the BBC television seriesThe Duchess of Duke Street.

There were two American members in the interwar period, one of whom was a general in the U.S. Army. Postwar American members included diplomatEdward Streator.

King Charles III held hisstag nightat the club before his wedding toDiana Spencerin 1981.His elder son,Prince William,was entered as a member of the club shortly after his birth.

Clubhouse

The clubhouse is located at 37–38 St James's Street in theCity of Westminsterand is a Grade Ilisted building.

Notable members

• George Canning(1794)
• Norman Lamont, Baron Lamont of Lerwick(1942)
• Adam Fleming(1948)
• Major General Sir Stewart Menzies(1890–1968)
• Nicholas Elliott(c. 1938)
• Charles III
• William, Prince of Wales
• Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

See also

• List of London's gentlemen's clubs
• List of gentlemen's clubs in the United States

References

• Dod'sParliamentary Companion(various editions)
• Debrett'sPeople of Today,2011

Further reading

• Bourke, The Hon. Algernon (1892).The History of White's.London: Algernon Bourke (privately published), 2 vols.
• Colson, Percy (1950).White's, 1693–1950.London: Heinemann.
• Escott, T.H.S.(1914).Club Makers and Club Members.London: T. Fisher Unwin.
• Gatrell, Vic(2006).City of Laughter: Sex and Satire in Eighteenth-Century London.New York: Walker.ISBN978-0-8027-1602-6.
• Hibbert, Christopher(1969).London: The Biography of a City.New York: William Morrow.
• Lejeune, Anthony;Lewis, Malcolm (1979).The Gentlemen's Clubs of London.London: Wh Smith Pub.ISBN0-8317-3800-6.
• Lejeune, Anthony(1993).White's: The First Three Hundred Years.London: A&C Black.ISBN0-7136-3738-2.
• Lejeune, Anthony(2012).The Gentlemen's Clubs of London.London: Stacey International.ISBN978-1-906768-20-1.
• Margetson, Stella(1971).Regency London.New York: Praeger Publishing.
• Milne-Smith, Amy (2011).London Clubland: A Cultural History of Gender and Class in Late-Victorian Britain.London: Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN978-0-230-12076-1.
• Moers, Ellen(1960).The Dandy: Brummell to Beerhbohm.New York: Viking Press.
• Thévoz, Seth Alexander (2018).Club Government: How the Early Victorian World was Ruled from London Clubs.London: I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury.ISBN978-1-78453-818-7.
• Thévoz, Seth Alexander (2022).Behind Closed Doors: The Secret Life of London Private Members' Clubs.London: Robinson/Little, Brown.ISBN978-1-47214-646-5.

External links

• Architectural history, plans and elevations- from theSurvey of London