Reform Club

The Reform Club is a private members' club, owned and controlled by its members, on the south side of Pall Mall in central London, England. As with all of London's original gentlemen's clubs, it had an all-male membership for decades, but it was one of the first all-male clubs to change its rules to include the admission of women on equal terms in 1981. Since its foundation in 1836, the Reform Club has been the traditional home for those committed to progressive political ideas, with its membership initially consisting of Radicals and Whigs. However, it is no longer associated with any particular political party, and it now serves a purely social function. The Reform Club currently enjoys extensive reciprocity with similar clubs around the world. It attracts a significant number of foreign members, such as diplomats accredited to the Court of St James's. Of the current membership of around 2,700, some 500 are "overseas members", and over 400 are women. History 19th century The club was founded by Edward Ellice, Member of Parliament (MP) for Coventry and Whig Whip, whose riches came from the Hudson's Bay Company, but whose zeal was chiefly devoted to securing the passage of the Reform Act 1832. The club held its first meeting at No. 104 Pall Mall on 5 May 1836. This new club, for members of both Houses of Parliament, was intended to be a forum for the radical ideas which the First Reform Bill represented: its purpose was to promote "the social intercourse of the reformer of the United Kingdom". The Reform Club's building was designed by renowned architect Sir Charles Barry and contracted to builders Grissell & Peto. The new club was built on palatial lines, the design being based on the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, and its Saloon in particular is regarded as the finest of all London's clubs. It was officially opened on 1 March 1841. Facilities provided included a library which, following extensive donations from members, grew to contain over 85,000 books. 20th century After the Second World War and with the old Liberal Party's further decline, the club increasingly drew its membership from civil servants. The club continued to attract a comprehensive list of guest speakers including Government Ministers Nick Clegg and Theresa May (2011), Archbishop John Sentamu (2012), and Ambassador Liu Xiaoming (2013). Literary associations Besides having had many distinguished members from the literary world, including William Makepeace Thackeray and Arnold Bennett, the Reform played a role in some significant events, such as the feud between Oscar Wilde's friend and literary executor Robbie Ross and Wilde's ex-lover Lord Alfred Douglas. In 1913, after discovering that Lord Alfred had taken lodgings in the same house as himself with a view to stealing his papers, Ross sought refuge at the club, from where he wrote to Edmund Gosse, saying that he felt obliged to return to his rooms "with firearms". Harold Owen, the brother of Wilfred Owen, called on Siegfried Sassoon at the Reform after Wilfred's death. Sassoon wrote a poem entitled "Lines Written at the Reform Club", which was printed for members at Christmas 1920. Appearances in popular culture and literature Books The Reform Club appears in Anthony Trollope's 1867 novel Phineas Finn. This eponymous main character becomes a member of the club and there acquaints Liberal members of the House of Commons, who arrange to get him elected to an Irish parliamentary borough. The book is one of the political novels in the Palliser series. The political events it describes are a fictionalized account of the build-up to the Second Reform Act, passed in 1867, which effectively extended the franchise to the working classes. The club appears in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, published in 1872, as a novel in 1873. The protagonist, Phileas Fogg, is a member of the Reform Club. He sets out to circumnavigate the world on a bet from his fellow members, beginning and ending at the club. The Reform Club was used as a meeting place for MI6 operatives in Part 3, Chapter 1, p. 83ff of Graham Greene's spy novel The Human Factor (1978, Avon Books, ISBN 0-380-41491-0). The Reform Club and its Victorian era celebrity chef Alexis Soyer play pivotal roles in MJ Carter's mystery novel The Devil's Feast (2016, Fig Tree, ISBN 978-0-241-14636-1). The club features in the fourth chapter of Robert Galbraith’s seventh Cormoran Strike novel, The Running Grave. The Filipino novel Revolution: 80 Days (2022) also featured the Reform Club as the affiliation of its protagonist, the British gentleman Richard Haze. Films and television Comedian and travel writer Michael Palin began and ended his televised 1989 journey around the world in 80 days at the Reform Club, following his fictional predecessor. Palin was not permitted to enter the building to complete his journey, as had been his intention, so his trip ended on the steps outside. Palin later explained that he had been refused entry not because he was not wearing a tie but because the club claimed it would 'disturb the members'. Victorian publisher Norman Warne is depicted visiting the Reform Club in the 2006 film Miss Potter. The club has been used as a location in a number of other films, including the fencing scene in the 2002 James Bond movie Die Another Day, The Quiller Memorandum (1966), The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970), Lindsay Anderson's O Lucky Man! (1973), The Avengers (1998), Nicholas Nickleby (2002), 1408 (2007), Quantum of Solace (2008), Sherlock Holmes (2009), Paddington (2014), and Christopher Nolan's Tenet (2020). The club was used in Chris Van Dusen's television series Bridgerton as a filming location. Photoshoot The Reform Club was the location of a photo shoot featuring Paula Yates for the 1979 summer issue of Penthouse. Podcasts In The Magnus Archives, the Reform Club was the possible location of Jurgen Leitner's library, and had secret underground tunnels. Notable members See also List of London's gentlemen's clubs Pera House in Istanbul, said to have been inspired by the Reform Club References Further reading The Reform Club Library: A Retrospect, 1841-1991 (London: Reform Club, 1991). Burlingham, Russell; Billis, Roger (2005). Reformed Characters. The Reform Club in History and Literature. An Anthology with Commentary. London: Reform Club. J. Mordaunt Crook, The Reform Club (London: Reform Club, 1973) Escott, T. H. S. (1914). Club Makers and Club Members. London: T. Fisher Unwin. Fagan, Louis (1887). The Reform Club 1836–1886: Its Founders and its Architect. London: Reform Club. Lejeune, Anthony; Lewis, Malcolm (1979). The Gentlemen's Clubs of London. London: Wh Smith Pub. ISBN 0-8317-3800-6. Lejeune, Anthony (2012). The Gentlemen's Clubs of London. London: Stacey International. ISBN 978-1-906768-20-1. Mordaunt Crook, J. (1973). The Reform Club. London: Reform Club. Sharpe, Michael (1996). The Political Committee of the Reform Club. London: Reform Club. ISBN 0-9503053-2-4. Thévoz, Seth Alexander (2018). Club Government: How the Early Victorian World was Ruled from London Clubs. London: I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-78453-818-7. Thévoz, Seth Alexander (2022). Behind Closed Doors: The Secret Life of London Private Members' Clubs. London: Robinson/Little, Brown. ISBN 978-1-47214-646-5. Thévoz, Seth Alexander (2025). London Clubland: A Companion for the Curious. London: Robinson/Little, Brown. ISBN 978-1472149985. Urbach, Peter (1999). The Reform Club: Some Twentieth Century Members – A Photographic Collection. London: Reform Club. Van Leeuwen, Thomas A P (2020) [2017]. The Magic Stove: Barry, Soyer and The Reform Club or How a Great Chef Helped to Create a Great Building. Amsterdam/Paris: Les Editions du Malentendu/ Jap Sam Books. ISBN 978-90-826690-0-8. Woodbridge, George (1978). The Reform Club 1836–1978: A History from the Club's Records. London: Clearwater. ISBN 0-9503053-1-6. External links Reform Club website Survey of London's entry on the Club "The Reform Club: Architecture and the Birth of Popular Government" Archived 4 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine, lecture by Peter Marsh and Paul Vonberg at Gresham College, 25 September 2007 (available for MP3 and MP4 download) Reform Club library pamphlets Mary Evans Picture Library – The Club's collection of caricatures CBC.CA Paul Kennedy's audio tour of the Club, broadcast in February 2011