This 1840s drawing shows the corridors around the central saloon at first floor level

The Reform Club in London viewed from Pall Mall, with the Travellers Club immediately to its left

The Reform Club is gentlemen's club on the south side of Pall Mall (at number 104), in central London. Originally private, it has admitted ladies since 1981. In 1977, its subscription fees were among the highest in London. Image File history File links This 1840s drawsing shows the corridors around the central saloon of the Reform Club at first floor level. ... Image File history File links This 1840s drawsing shows the corridors around the central saloon of the Reform Club at first floor level. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 726 KB) Summary The Reform Club in London viewed from Pall Mall, with the Travellers Club immediately to its left. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 726 KB) Summary The Reform Club in London viewed from Pall Mall, with the Travellers Club immediately to its left. ... The noted gentlemans Reform Club A Gentlemens club is a members club originally designed for male members of the English upper class. ... Pall Mall is a street in the City of Westminster, London. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

It was founded in 1836 by Edward Ellice, a Whig whip, whose riches came from the Hudson Bay Company but whose zeal was chiefly devoted to securing the passage of the Reform Act 1832. The new club, for members of both Houses of Parliament, was meant to be a centre for the radical ideas which that bill represented; a bastion of liberal and progressive thought that became closely associated with the Liberal Party, which had largely succeeded the Whigs by the middle of the 19th century. Edward Ellice, the elder, (1781-1863) was a British merchant and politician. ... The Whigs (with the Tories) are often described as one of two political parties in England and later the United Kingdom from the late 17th to the mid 19th centuries. ... The Hudsons Bay Company building in Montreal The Hudsons Bay Company (HBC) is the oldest corporation in Canada and is one of the oldest in the world still in existence. ... The Representation of the People Act 1832, commonly known as the Reform Act 1832, was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of the United Kingdom. ... The Houses of Parliament, as seen over Westminster Bridge The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. ... This article is about the historic Liberal Party. ...

Brooks's Club, the headquarters of the old Whig aristocracy, was not prepared to open its doors to a flood of new men, so preliminary meetings were held in Ellice's house to plan a much larger club, which would promote "the social intercourse of the reformers of the United Kingdom". When a Liberal Member of Parliament "crossed the floor" to join or work with another party, he was expected to resign from the club. The Club no longer requires any particular political view of its members, and is purely social. The interior of John Adams barrel-vaulted Great Subscription Room at Brookss, 1808 print Brookss is a London gentlemens club, founded in 1764 by 27 men, including four dukes. ...

Until the decline of the Liberal Party, it was de rigueur for Liberal MPs to be members of the Reform Club, which almost constituted another party headquarters, although the National Liberal Club, formed under William Gladstone's chairmanship, was established in 1882, designed to be more "inclusive", and was geared more towards Liberal grandees and activists in the country. The National Liberal Club is a London gentlemens club, now also open to women, which was established by William Ewart Gladstone in 1882 for the purpose of providing club facilities for Liberal Party campaigners among the newly-enlarged electorate after the 1882 Reform Act. ... William Ewart Gladstone (December 29, 1809 - May 19, 1898) was a British Liberal politician and Prime Minister (1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1886 and 1892-1894). ...

The building, like its neighbour the Travellers Club, (number 106), was designed by Sir Charles Barry and opened in 1841. The new club was palatial, the design being based on the Farnese Palace in Rome. The Reform was one of the first clubs to have bedrooms, and its library contains some 50,000 books, mostly political history and biography. Overview The Travellers Club is a gentlemens club standing at 106 Pall Mall, London. ... The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster, Barrys most famous building. ... A mid-18th century engraving of Palazzo Farnese by Giuseppe Vasi Palazzo Farnese, Rome (housing the French Embassy), is the most imposing Italian palace of the sixteenth century (Sir Banister Fletcher) (1). ...

With the decline of the Liberal Party in the mid-20th century, the club increasingly drew its membership from civil servants in the Treasury, as a counterpart to the neighbouring Travellers Club, which became synonymous with Foreign Office officials. This article is about the historic Liberal Party. ... Overview The Travellers Club is a gentlemens club standing at 106 Pall Mall, London. ...

It is used fictionally in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days; the protagonist, Phileas Fogg, is a member of the Reform Club who sets out to circumnavigate the world on a bet from his fellow members, beginning and ending at the club. Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828–March 24, 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science-fiction genre. ... Around the World in Eighty Days (French: Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is a classic adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in 1873. ...

Michael Palin, in imitation of his fictional predecessor, also began and ended his televised journey around the world in 80 days at the Reform Club. Michael Edward Palin, CBE (born May 5, 1943) is an English comedian, actor and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries. ...

Its members have included:

• H.H. Asquith
• Hilaire Belloc
• Guy Burgess
• Sir Menzies Campbell
• Winston Churchill, who resigned in 1913 in protest at the blackballing of a friend, Baron de Forrest.
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Sir Charles Dilke
• Edward Ellice (1783-1863)
• E. M. Forster
• William Ewart Gladstone
• William Harcourt
• Sir Henry Irving
• Henry James
• Lord Hattersley
• Roy Jenkins
• David Lloyd George, who resigned with Churchill over Baron de Forrest's blackballing.
• Lord Palmerston
• Stella Rimington
• Lord Rosebery
• William Makepeace Thackeray
• Jeremy Thorpe, who was expelled in the 1970s
• H. G. Wells

Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (September 12, 1852 - February 15, 1928) served as the Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. ... Photograph of Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (July 27, 1870–July 16, 1953) was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. ... Guy Francis De Moncy Burgess (16 April 1911 – 30 August 1963) was a British-born intelligence officer and double agent who worked for the Soviet Union and was part of the Cambridge Five spy ring that betrayed allied secrets to the Soviets before and during the Cold War. ... Sir Walter Menzies Campbell, CBE, QC (born 22 May 1941, Glasgow), commonly known as Ming Campbell, is a British politician. ... Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an English statesman, soldier and author. ... Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and the adventures of Professor Challenger. ... Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, 2nd Baronet (September 4, 1843 - January 26, 1911) was an English politician, son of Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, 1st Baronet. ... Edward Ellice, the elder, (1781-1863) was a British merchant and politician. ... Edward Morgan Forster, OM, (January 1, 1879 – June 7, 1970) was an English novelist, short story writer, and essayist. ... William Ewart Gladstone (29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British Liberal Party statesman and Prime Minister (1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886 and 1892–1894). ... Sir William Harcourt Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon Harcourt (October 14, 1827 - October 1, 1904) was a British Liberal statesman. ... Henry Irving, as Hamlet, in a 1893 illustration from The Idler magazine John Henry Brodribb Irving (February 6, 1838–October 13, 1905), better known as Sir Henry Irving, was one of the most famous stage actors of all time. ... For other uses of this name, see Henry James (disambiguation). ... Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley, PC (born December 28, 1932), is a British Labour Party politician, writer and journalist. ... Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, OM, PC (November 11, 1920 – January 5, 2003) was a British politician and a prominent Labour Member of Parliament in the 1960s and 1970s, and founding member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). ... David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor, OM, PC (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was a British statesman who guided Britain and the British Empire through World War I and the postwar settlement as the Liberal Party Prime Minister, 1916-1922. ... Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. ... Dame Stella Rimington in her official photo as Director-General of MI5 Dame Stella Rimington, DCB (born May 1935) was the Director-General (DG) of MI5 from 1992 to 1996. ... Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG, PC (7 May 1847 – 21 May 1929) was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister, also known as Archibald Primrose (1847-1851) and Lord Dalmeny (1851-1868). ... William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was an English novelist of the 19th century. ... John Jeremy Thorpe (born April 29, 1929) is a British politician, who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976. ... Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was an English writer best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau. ...

See also

• Lejeune, Anthony, with Malcolm Lewis, The Gentlemen's Clubs of London, Bracken Books, London, 1979 (reprinted 1984 and 1987), ISBN 0-946495-14-9
• Burlingham, Russell & Billis, Roger (eds), Reformed Characters. The Reform Club in History and Literature. An Anthology with Commentary (London, 2005)
• Woodbridge, George, The Reform Club 1836-1978. A History from the Club's Records (London, 1978)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Reform Club

• List of London's gentlemen's clubs

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... See Gentlemens club (traditional) for an explanation of this particular sort of club. ...

External links

• Reform Club website
• Survey of London's entry on the Club

Coordinates: 51°30′24″N, 0°08′00″W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...