Public Schools Club

The Public Schools Club is a former London gentlemen's club.

The Public Schools Club, Est. 1863, was situated at 100 Piccadilly (above) from the late 1930s

The Public Schools Club was founded in October 1863 at 17 St James's Place, London.[1] As outlined in the British journal The Athenaeum, from its foundation, the club restricted its membership to former pupils of Charterhouse School, Eton College, Harrow School, Rugby School, Westminster School and Winchester College.[2]

By 1885, a "Public Schools Club" was advertising for "suitable premises" in London in which to re-establish their establishment.[3]

The club was re-founded in 1909, based at number 13 Albemarle Street which until very recently had been the home of the Albemarle Club. The Public Schools Club disbanded during World War I as a result of the heavy casualties sustained among its membership.[4][5]

By 1910, the alpine sports club which had been founded c.1905 as the Winter Sports Club by Sir Henry Lunn was incorporated as the Public Schools Alpine Sports Club and under the control of “Alpine Sports, Ltd.”. In 1910, the club advertised that it "devoted its attention to Norway as a field for winter sports".[6][7] Many British gentlemen's sports clubs such as the Yorkshire Ramblers' Club were interested in the activities of Sir Henry Lunn and his son Sir Arnold Lunn.[8]

After the war the club was re-founded in 1920 in Curzon Street, Mayfair. A 1937 road-widening scheme (linked to the 1935 road alterations which necessitated demolishing half of Lansdowne House and creating the Lansdowne Club) forced the club out of its premises, and it moved to 100 Piccadilly, where it remained for the rest of its existence.

Suffering from dwindling membership, the club closed in 1972, merging with the East India Club, and moving to the East India's premises in St James's Square. However, the merger has proved to be something of a takeover, as the East India naturally had no remaining members from the long-defunct East India Company, and the Public Schools Club has imported a steady stream of members.[9] Indeed, the East India currently claims some 40% of its members come under the 'J7' rule imported from the Public Schools Club, whereby students leaving their public school at 18 pay a £360 (as of 2014) fee in exchange for membership until the age of 25.[10]

References
  1. The Athenaeum. The Athenaeum. 31 October 1863. p. 553. Retrieved 31 August 2020. The Public Schools Club is now open...17 St James Place. ..candidates for admission must have been educated at one of the following public schools: Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Westminster and Winchester
  2. "Page 123, Fleming Report (1944)". Gillard D (2018) Education in England: a history.
  3. Buckingham, J. (12 September 1885). "The Athenaeum". p. 552. Retrieved 1 August 2020. A PUBLIC SCHOOLS CLUB desires to obtain suitable premises within half a mile of ...
  4. Royal Blue Book. 1911. p. 126. Retrieved 31 August 2020. Public Schools Club, 13, Albemarle street W . ..
  5. Lejeune, A. (1979). "The Gentleman's Clubs of London". p. 201. Retrieved 31 August 2020. The club was [re] - founded in 1909 to provide an inexpensive meeting place in London for the old boys of the public schools . So many members fell during the war that it went into liquidation , and was not revived until 1920. The original premises ...
  6. Travel and Exploration. Witherby & Company. 1910. p. 140. Retrieved 2 September 2020. The enterprising Public Schools Alpine Sports Club—surely, like an Act of Parliament, this popular club should adopt a “short title " for general use—is now devoting its attention to Norway as a field for winter sports. The beautiful mountain
  7. Lowerson, J. (1993). Sport and the English Middle-Classes 1870-1914. Manchester University. p. 57. ISBN 9780719046513. The Public Schools Alpine Sports Club , founded as the Winter Sports Club in 1905 , published its own Who' s Who ...
  8. "Kindred Journals - The Alpine Club". YRC Journal 1913. 4 No 13. 1913. Retrieved 2 September 2020. The Public Schools’ Alpine Sports’ Club Year Book, 1914 - This handy little volume gives every information about the P.S.A.S. Club and the fun enjoyed by its members and others at Sir Henry Lunn’s centres – Wengen, Mürren, Villars and the rest – and is adorned by numerous snapshots of winter sporting..Mr. Arnold Lunn discusses the use of the rope when ski-ing on snow-covered glaciers....The Public Schools’ Alpine Sports’ Club, founded in 1905, has for its object: “To secure the presence at one or more Swiss resorts during the season of a congenial society of people interested in Winter Sports and to make such arrangements for their comfort and enjoyment as may be desirable.” It is a proprietary club under the control of “Alpine Sports, Ltd.,”
  9. Anthony Lejeune, The Gentlemen's Clubs of London (Macdonald and Jane's, London, 1979) pp. 200-3
  10. "East India Club - Membership - J7 and the East India Club". eastindiaclub.co.uk.

See also
  • List of London's gentlemen's clubs

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