Savile Club
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The Savile Club was founded in 1867 as a literary, academic and arts club for men of the newly-enlarged electorate who were unable to join the more prestigious Athenaeum. Though located somewhat out of the way from the main London clubs, closer to the residences of Mayfair than the clubs of Pall Mall and St James's Street, it still contained some prominent names among its members. Possibly because of its location, it retains a more intimate feeling than many clubs, less overtly grand and closer to a converted London townhouse - which is indeed what it is.
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[edit] Changing Premises
For the first three years of its existence the Savile was called the 'New Club,' but adopted its present name when it moved to premises at No. 12 Savile Row. It later moved to No. 106 Piccadilly where it remained for 35 years, until 1917. It finally moved to its present premises, 69 Brook Street, after purchasing the former house of the late Lewis Harcourt, a Liberal cabinet minister who had taken his life on the premises to avert a scandal when his double life as a paedophile and sex offender was in danger of being uncovered. It continues to operate there to this day. (Source: Matthew Parris, Great Parliamentary Scandals (Robson Books, 1995), chapter on Lewis Harcourt.)
[edit] Prominent Members
- Leo Abse
- Max Beerbohm
- Thomas Hardy
- Rudyard Kipling
- Compton Mackenzie
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- H. G. Wells
- W. B. Yeats
