I've been asked by a number of people recently to suggest what sort of gentlemen's club might be suitable for this or that character. I think, therefore, it would be helpful to discuss the whys and wherefores of British gentlemen's clubs.

I will begin with this quote:

"It would be far too cynical to say that here the term "gentleman" was simply defined as "someone who can afford five hundred dollars a year"; they also had to be approved of by a great many other gentlemen who could afford the same fee.

And they didn't much like the company of ladies. This was not to say that they were that kind of gentlemen, who had their own, rather better decorated clubs in another part of town, where there was generally a lot more going on. These gentlemen were gentlemen of a class who were, on the whole, bullied by ladies from an early age. Their lives were steered by nurses, governesses, matrons, mothers, and wives, and after four or five decades of that the average mild-mannered gentleman gave up and escaped as politely as possible to one of these clubs, where he could snooze the afternoon away in a leather armchair with the top button of his trousers undone.*"
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*One reason for this was the club food. At his club, a gentleman could find the kind of food he'd got used to at school, like Spotted Dick, Jam Roly-Poly, and that perennial favorite, Stodge and Custard. Vitamins are eaten by wives.


~Terry Pratchett, "Thief of Time"



This quote, while satirical, does contain certain truths. At home wealthy men could be bossed around by their wife, mother, aunt, housekeeper, et cetera. Gentlemen's clubs were where they went to get away from women. Gambling, usually on cards, was central to the activities of many. Others were characterized by their members' interest in politics, literature, sport 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 university. Some of the older clubs were highly aristocratic, but over time more and more were founded, and by the late 19th century any man with a credible claim to the status of "gentleman" was able to find a club willing to admit him. The status of being a gentleman originally did not include those who had to earn their income, but by 1904 such persons were considered of sufficient social position to join certain gentlemen's clubs, unless their character was very objectionable in some way.

So you want to join a club… what club is for you? Well, that depends on several things. First, your political affiliation. These things could begin when you were young. Harrow was the Whig (later Liberal) academy for boys; Tories went to Eton. When it came to clubs the older Whig aristocrats went to Brooks's Club. Liberals joined the Reform Club. White's was originally the Tory club. Over time, the Carlton Club took over the role of the party's headquarters. Although it lost that role by the 1860s, the Carlton Club remained a club for members of the Conservative Party.

Other clubs were for those with common interests. The Alpine Club was probably the world's first mountaineering club. The Athenaeum Club was long regarded as a clergymen's club but also sometimes admitted men "who had gained their social position through intellectual influence and achievement." The Caledonian Club required (and still does) that the potential member have at least one Scottish grandparent, or to have served, in the opinion of the committee of the club, “in an important capacity in the public service of Scotland”. There was a club for Automobile owners founded in 1897 (Edward VII's patronage made it the Royal Automobile Club).

Finally there were clubs one joined based on occupation. These tended to be for military men. Such clubs include the Naval & Military Club, The Guards' Club, and the Cavalry Club (the Naval Club would not be founded until 1919). The East India Club tended to be for civil servants or military personnel who served in India.

The mentioned clubs are merely examples; feel free to research or invent your own, within limits. By 1904 few gentlemen's clubs were really about "affinity" – they were places to escape the wife. Affinity remained but more of as a sorting mechanism to locate men with common interests than as a partisan force. While the changed circumstances would not necessarily keep a conservative out of, say, the Reform Club, it wasn't at all likely for a civilian to join, for example, the Army and Navy Club.

Ladies Clubs did exist but, except for a few clubs like the University Women’s Club for educated professional women, tended not to have a headquarters. They probably met in the residences of their members on a rotating basis.

A partial listing of gentlemen's clubs, real and fictional, is here.