The Eccentric Club of Great Britain (est.1781)

I was delighted when, in 2020, I was selected for membership of the Eccentric Club. I was even more delighted when the Committee said yes. It meant that I joined a long line of eclectic figures and original thinkers that includes HRH King George IV, HRH Charles, Prince of Wales, Charles James Fox, Alexander Thynn (The Marquess of Bath), Bernard Delfont (Baron Delfont), Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Max Bygraves, Sir Gerald du Maurier, Bud Flanagan, Lord Montagu, Christopher Lee, Sir Henry Wood, Henry Cooper, William Pitt the Younger, George Robey, Tommy Trinder, Daniel Lismore, Henry Blofeld, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (patron for many years). And lest you think this is a gentlemen's club only, the current membership is around 50/50 men and women and includes Lucy Freud, Patricia Quinn, Sally Franklin, Monica Salvi, Molly Parkin and Kamay Lau, to name just a few. 

Sadly, the Covid pandemic has affected much of the club' activities but, in a lull between lockdowns, I was able to attend a dinner at the club in Mayfair to see Steven Payne awarded his prize as Eccentric of the Year 2020.

The first records of The Eccentric Club begin in 1780s (though there are some earlier references to its conception in the 1760s). Originally, it was an off-shoot of a popular Whig debating club called The Brilliants. They swore not to hold debates on political and religious subjects but to celebrate 'Good Fellowship' and 'True Sociality' because these virtues, they believed, were becoming 'rare and eccentric'. Those rules still apply to this day. No politics. No religion. All are equal.

Between 1799-1803, The Society of Eccentrics was the talk of the town and experienced an unprecedented growth. The industrial revolution opened wide the gates to technological advancements all over the Empire, and many members of the Club have found their rightful parts to play in it. Others became prominent figures in Law, Politics, Literature and Arts. 

By the 1880s the club lost many of its original members and its premises but, in 1890, it was brought back to life by Jack Harrison, a theatrical costumier from Covent Garden, strongly tying the club's name to the theatrical stage in future. The club's new home was at the old Pelican Club in Denman Street, but by 1914 it moved to 9-11 Ryder Street, St James's, where it remained until its closure in 1984 for the renovation during which the club has lost many more of its older members (dying of old age or resigning) and, sadly, the lease of its premises. 

The club membership has changed a lot throughout its existence: in 1780s it consisted primarily of  politicians, lawyers and journalists. In the 1890s it was mostly artists and actors and, by the 1980s, it was a heady mix of business leaders, actors, sportspersons and members of the aristocracy. The club housed for a number of years The Grand Order of Water Rats, the elite professional organisation of  British actors and entertainers, and the Lighthouse Club, the construction industry charitable organisation. 

Then, in 2008, a mix of its original members and new recruits from other London clubs brought it back to life yet again – though, in typically eccentric style, the club has no permanent clubhouse and uses the premises of other London clubs instead. 

And, once the world returns to pre-pandemic normality, the club can return to its charity fundraising activities and eccentric events. The recent Royal Regatta at Henley-on-Thames saw club president Lyndon Yorke winning the Most Eccentric Boat on the Thames Award with his 'Tritania' - a twin-hulled aquatic bath chair.

A good start.
 

More on Lyndon in a future blog post (there is a lot to tell you about his adventures and inventions). 

He was the chap you saw (in his Coronavirus repelling topper) giving the award to Steven Payne at the club dinner. And Steven is definitely worth talking about. In his time he has crossed the Alps on a 1970s Spacehopper, has ridden a penny farthing from Westminster Abbey to Notre-Dame while dressed in 12th century armour, and has swum the English Channel while smoking a pipe. He's raised a great deal of money for charity and is a thoroughly decent man.

I'm proud to be associated with people who do things for the common good and who do things 'their way' if for no other reason sometimes than 'Because it's there'.

Britain can proudly boast that we produce some of the world's greatest original thinkers.

I'll leave you with a link to this marvelous documentary by the late comedian Dave Allen who went in search of the great British eccentric. Several past members of the club are represented. There's also a lovely conversation with the extraordinary Ivor Cutler.

And do listen in to Edward Higgins' excellent podcast The English Eccentric on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. Or just click here.