Place ID

The Jaguar Club Shanghai

Region:	Asia
Country:	China
City:	Shanghai

Description

Gentlemen's Club.
The original gentlemen's clubs were established in the West End of London. Even today, the area of St. James's is still sometimes referred to as 'clubland'. Clubs took over the role occupied by coffee houses in 18th century London to some degree, and reached the height of their influence in the late 19th century. The first clubs, such as White's and Boodle's, were highly aristocratic in flavour, and provided a private environment in which to carry out gambling, which was still illegal outside of members-only establishments.
The 19th century brought an explosion in the popularity of clubs, particularly around the decade of the 1880s. At their height, London had over 400 such establishments. This expansion can be explained in part by the large extensions of the franchise in the Reform Acts of 1832, 1867, and 1885. Each time, hundreds of thousands more men were qualified to vote, and it was common for them to feel that they had been elevated to the status of a gentleman - thus they sought out a club. The existing clubs, with strict limits on membership numbers and long waiting lists, were generally weary of such newly-enfranchised potential members, and so these people set about forming their own clubs. Each of the three great Reform Acts corresponded with a further expansion of clubs, as did a further extension of the franchise in 1918.
It should also be noted that many of these new, more 'inclusive' clubs proved just as reluctant as their forbears to admit new members when the franchise was further extended.
An increasing number of clubs were characterised by their members' interest in politics, literature, sport, art, automobiles, travel, particular countries, or some other pursuit. In other cases, the connection between the members was membership of the same branch of the armed forces, or a background at the same school or university. Thus the growth of clubs provides a strong indicator as to what was considered a respectable part of the 'Establishment' at the time.
By the late 19th century, any man with a credible claim to the status of "gentleman" was eventually able to find a club willing to admit him, unless his character was very objectionable in some way or he was "unclubbable" (incidentally, a word first used by Samuel Johnson).[1] This came to include professionals who had to earn their income, such as doctors and lawyers.
Most middle-class men had only one club, which closely corresponded with the trade or social/political identity he felt most defined him, but a few people belonged to several; members of the aristocracy and politicians were particularly likely to have several clubs. The record number of memberships is believed to have been with Earl Mountbatten, who had nineteen in the 1960s.
Public entertainments, such as musical performances and the like, were not a feature of this sort of club. The clubs were, in effect, "second homes" in the centre of London where men could relax, mix with their friends, play parlour games, get a meal, and in some clubs could stay overnight. They allowed upper- and upper-middle-class men with modest incomes to spend their time in grand surroundings; the richer clubs were built by the same architects as the finest country houses of the time, and had the same types of interiors. They also were a convenient retreat for men who wished to get away from their female relations. Many men spent much of their lives in their club, and it was a common feature for young newly-graduated men who moved to London for the first time to live at their club for two or three years before they could afford to rent a house or flat.
Women also set about establishing their own clubs in the late nineteenth century, such as the Ladies' Institute, and the Ladies' Athenaeum. They proved quite popular at the time, but only one has survived to this day as a single-sex establishment; the University Women's Club.
Until the 1950s, clubs were also heavily regulated in the rooms open to non-members. Most clubs contained just one room in which members could dine and entertain non-members; it was often assumed that one's entire social circle should be within the same club.
The class requirements relaxed gradually throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition from the 1970s onwards most single-sex clubs opened to both sexes as guests and as members, partly to help keep up membership levels.

Submitted by: Alessandro Pezzani