Club History
The United University Club was founded in 1821, and the Duke of Gloucester chaired its first Annual General Meeting. The original membership was 1,000 but its waiting list became so long that steps were soon taken to form a second university club. The Oxford and Cambridge University Club was founded in 1830 at a meeting chaired by Lord Palmerston. A third club, the New University Club, was established in 1864 and amalgamated with the United University Club in 1938. The United University Club and the Oxford and Cambridge University Club amalgamated in March 1972 as the "United Oxford and Cambridge University Club".
The Pall Mall Club house was designed by Sir Robert Smirke (the architect of the British Museum) for the Oxford and Cambridge University Club in the newly fashionable Greek Revival style and completed in 1838. The Club retains possession of Smirke’s original plans. In 1907 Sir Reginald Blomfield was commissioned to make alterations, including the lining of the staircase walls with yellow marble from Scyros. The Club house escaped damage during the Second World War – a bomb fell on the kitchens but, fortunately, did not explode. In 1952 the Club acquired the adjoining premises at 77 Pall Mall, the former home of Princess Marie Louise, and joined them with the main Club house. In 1989 the Crown Estate extended the Lease of the Club house until 2087.
In 2002 the Club’s name was shortened to the “Oxford and Cambridge Club”.
The Club, which is open to membership for both men and women, currently has over 3,700 members spread throughout the world.
The nineteenth century saw an enormous growth in the demand for membership of London clubs. By 1900 probably two hundred clubs existed with a total of 200,000 members. The multiplicity of clubs catering solely for members of Oxford and Cambridge reflected this trend. The United University Club was founded in 1821, the Oxford and Cambridge University Club (“the Club”) in 1830 and the New University Club in 1864. Two more university clubs were founded later in the nineteenth century.
Enter Lord Palmerston and Sir Robert Smirke
By 1830 the waiting list for the United University Club had become unacceptably long and Lord Palmerston, a member of the United University Club’s founding committee, chaired a meeting at which the Oxford and Cambridge University Club was formed.
The Club took temporary premises at 18 St James’s Square. In 1834 it declined an offer of the freehold and instead the Committee decided on an ambitious project to acquire a Crown Lease for a new site in Pall Mall with the intention of building a substantial Club house. Sir Robert Smirke (1781 -1867) was appointed as architect. Smirke had an immense practice by 1836. He was the son of a painter, had studied briefly under Soane and had travelled in Greece. He was responsible for many substantial buildings but is best remembered today for the British Museum. Smirke’s design took the form of a large and imposing Greek revival building. Construction began in 1836. It proceeded at a rapid pace and the building was completed in 1838. Smirke produced a handsome façade, adorned with panels over the upper windows illustrating “those exalted labours of the mind which it is the peculiar province of the universities to foster and promote.” These are (1) Homer declaring his epic (2) Bacon recommending his philosophy (3) Shakespeare attended by Tragedy and Comedy (4) Apollo and Athene with the nine Muses (5) Milton dictating his verses (6) Newton explaining his system and (7) Virgil reciting his Georgics. Gladstone’s name appeared in the 1833 list of members and he was on the General Committee when the new building was being constructed. However, his main concern appears not to have been the work in progress, but a wish that all the Club staff should be able to go to church on Sundays.
Over the years little has been changed. The house was solidly built, and has stood up well to alterations. The Club was also fortunate that, although a land mine fell on the kitchens in the Second World War, it failed to explode. In 1907 Sir Arthur Blomfield changed the character of the staircase to give more light, exceeding both his instructions and his estimate, and a second bedroom storey was added in 1912. In 1952 the Club acquired the adjoining premises at 77 Pall Mall, the former residence of Princess Marie Louise, granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
In 1971, when many clubs in London were struggling financially, the United University Club voted to merge with the Club and the money realised by selling the lease of its club house in Suffolk Street paid for renovating and improving the combined Club in Pall Mall. Another nineteen bedrooms were added together with two new squash courts.
Contemporary Club life.
The Club has about 3750 members of whom approximately 1,000 are located overseas. Members must either (1) be graduates of Oxford or Cambridge University or (2) have been granted MA status or (3) have been admitted as members of a college or hall. Men and women enjoy equal membership rights.
As befits Smirke’s vision, the external façade is complemented by a magnificent interior of understated elegance containing high quality facilities. The Club is a Grade I listed building and any changes must reflect its architectural significance and also comply with the meticulously high standards of the ground landlord, the Crown Estate. The use of some of the rooms has changed over the years but the Committee strives to ensure that any changes and alterations are in keeping with the general atmosphere and ambience of the Club.
The guiding principle of the Club is that it should be a home from home in London for its Oxbridge members. The challenge faced by its governing Committee is to ensure that high quality facilities reflecting contemporary life are provided, without compromising the ambience of the Club’s unique interiors.
The Club has a magnificent dining room, known as the Coffee Room, and two bars. The 43 bedrooms provide a convenient base for members visiting London. Princess Marie Louise’s accommodation has now been fully integrated to provide an elegant drawing room and second dining room. A number of smaller rooms have been created on the lower ground floor for use as meeting rooms and to accommodate events such as private dinners and receptions.
The Club has always treated its Library as one of its most important assets and has one of the best book collections of any club in London, with over 25,000 volumes located in four rooms on the first floor. The collection has its own full time Librarian and he, together with the members of the Library Committee, go to great lengths to ensure the existence of a well-balanced and useful choice of books, newspapers and magazines. The Library is almost unique for a club because members can borrow books from its shelves and read them away from the Club premises. One of the rooms housing the library is designated as a silent area where conversation is strictly forbidden, thus aiding members to concentrate, undisturbed, on their reading.
The Club has two basement squash courts and special access to a nearby fitness centre. It has also recently set aside an area on the lower ground floor for business use. Several computers have been provided and members can also use the accommodation to work on their own laptops and make telephone calls. If a member needs to hold a business meeting at the Club it is possible to book a small private room for this purpose.
Club Events
It is likely that Lord Palmerston would approve of the range of organised events now available to members, even though they were not a feature of the Club in his time. The Club tries to cater for a wide variety of intellectual interests and it therefore holds events such as discussion dinners, writers’ lunches and early evening lectures. A recent list of guest speakers includes university Heads of Houses, a former Cabinet Minister and a former Head of the Home Civil Service.
The need for conviviality is not forgotten, and the Club often organises wine tastings, special dinners and seasonal celebrations such as the Shrove Tuesday Feast. The Club has an active Wine Committee and considerable thought and expertise is deployed in stocking the extensive cellars.
Reciprocal clubs
Over the years a worldwide network of reciprocal clubs has been developed. A significant number of members are frequent travellers and appreciate the ability to stay, drink or dine in a central location in a foreign city. It is an excellent way to get to know local people and often much more pleasant and interesting than staying in an ordinary hotel. Currently there are 150 reciprocal clubs in 35 countries. A visitor to New York, for example, could choose between the Harvard, Yale and Princeton University Clubs as their preferred location in central Manhattan.
In the United Kingdom reciprocal arrangements exist with a number of clubs outside London and, for those working in the square mile, two clubs in the City.
The future
The last ten years have seen significant changes in the nature and extent of the dialogue between the two universities and their alumni. New university and college alumni magazines have been established and the two universities have had to deal with important issues relating to fund raising and the need for networking in the wider world. The Club feels that it must respond both to these changes and to shifts in the composition of the university population. Accordingly, it is attempting to raise its profile in the universities and increase both the number and the mix of its members. It is hoped, for example, that more women and young graduates will join the Club and play a significant role in deciding how it should be run.
Subscription rates have been set at affordable levels for those still at university or who have recently left. The Club is also keen to make contact with graduates who may have gone down from their university with little or no desire to join a London club but have subsequently found that their circumstances have changed and membership has now become an attractive option for them.
The Club also wishes to assist, wherever it can, in the development initiatives of the universities. It therefore plans, for example, better links with college and university development officers and hopes it will be seen as an attractive choice of venue for those organising university-related central London events, such as dinners or receptions.
One hundred and seventy-seven years have now elapsed since Lord Palmerston’s inaugural meeting at the British Coffee House in Cockspur Street. The Club has seen many changes but it remains in sound financial health, continues to thrive and has exciting plans for the future. Lord Palmerston was a Cambridge man, educated at St John’s. He would be delighted that the Club, which he played a part in founding, has stood the test of time and is still fit for purpose at the start of the twenty-first century.
