The furniture and general appearance of the club is essentially English, and it is pleasant to observe that the air of old-world comfort for which Boodle’s has always been noted remains unimpaired.
A curious feature of Boodle’s is that the billiard-room is upstairs, a somewhat inconvenient arrangement not infrequent in clubs founded in past days.
It should be added that a rule enforcing the wearing of evening dress by members dining in the coffee-room still remains in force; but a smaller apartment is set aside for those who for any reason do not find it convenient to change their day clothes.
Arthur’s Club, in St. James’s Street, was the original abode of White’s, which occupied it from 1698 to 1755, since which date the house has, of course, undergone a good deal of change. In the eighteenth century, owing to the association of a Mr. Arthur with the management of White’s, the latter club was frequently spoken of as Arthur’s; this naturally originated an idea that the two clubs were at one time connected, but such in reality was never the case, the presumed parent of Arthur’s having been a coffee-house of that name.
The records of Arthur’s Club as at present constituted are, unfortunately, somewhat scanty. It would appear, however, that after the migration of White’s in 1755 another club was formed at 69 St. James’s Street, and that it took the name of Arthur’s, which it still retains.
In its present form the club-house was built by Mr. Hopper in 1825, though probably a certain portion of the original coffee-house, erected in 1736, was incorporated in the new building. A room on the ground-floor (at the back of the house) is said to have been the gaming-room of White’s Club during its tenure of the premises up to 1755; but if this is the case the decorative frieze and ceiling must have been added later, as in style they belong to the nineteenth century. During the rebuilding of 1825 everything seems to have been sacrificed to the staircase, which now occupies the very large hall, crowned by an elaborately-designed dome. There are, however, some handsome rooms, notably the library, in which is an eighteenth-century English sideboard of admirable design. In this and other rooms there is a good deal of the heavy, solid mahogany furniture so popular about seventy or eighty years ago. The examples in Arthur’s Club are certainly the best of their kind, and are well in keeping with the design of the house. There are very few pictures or engravings here—a print or two of Arthur’s as it was in old days, a few portraits of members, and an oil-painting of the late Sir John Astley (known as “the Mate”) are about all.
Arthur’s possesses a quantity of very fine silver plate, some of which dates from the eighteenth century.
This club still maintains some of the restrictions as regards smoking which were so general in the clubs of other days, no smoking being allowed in the library or morning-room. There are, however, ample facilities for indulgence in tobacco in other parts of the house—notably in the hall, where a very pleasant lounge has recently been contrived.
Only recently has the regulation which prohibited visitors from being admitted to dinner here been repealed. A room on the ground-floor (the one reputed to have been the old gambling-room of White’s) is now set aside as a dining-room for those privileged to be the guests of a member of this very charming club. There is no tradition at Arthur’s of high play at hazard, but whist was once very popular. “Sheep points and bullocks” on the rubber were, it is said, quite common in the days when so many country gentlemen were members.
Arthur’s, it should be added, has always been a very popular club with Wiltshire men, and its close connection with that county is still maintained.