The Harrogate Club

The Harrogate Club is a private members' club, open to men and women, based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1857, it is located on Victoria Avenue, Harrogate.[1]

The Harrogate Club
Founded atThe Gascoigne's Hotel, Harrogate (1857), then Victoria Avenue, Harrogate (1886)
TypeOriginally: Gentlemen's club. Today: Social club for both sexes.
Location
Coordinates53.9914°N 1.5332°W / 53.9914; -1.5332
Websitewww.harrogateclub.co.uk

History

The club was founded at the Gascoigne’s Hotel, Harrogate in 1857 by a group of professional men. In 1885 the Club’s Committee, with funds raised from the members, decided to construct a Club House,[2] at an ultimate cost of £3,000 (equivalent to £347,674 in 2021).[3][4] The Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale Herald reported that plans were approved by Harrogate Borough Council on 2 April 1885,[5] and the Borough Surveyor certified the building on 17 April 1886, however the architect's name was not given.[6] Since the plans were later found in possession of the architectural firm which was in the 1880s owned by architect Arthur Bown (1851–1916),[7][nb 1] of Harrogate, it has been concluded that Bown designed the building.[4][8] The purpose-built Club House was opened on 25 March 1886 at 36 Victoria Avenue, Harrogate and has remained the Club's home ever since.[2]

Artefacts on display in the club house

The Club displays a number of marble busts and paintings from the Mercer Art Gallery under a 2016 agreement with Harrogate Borough Council,[9] and other artefacts, which are shown to the public regularly as part of tours provided for Heritage Open Days.[10][8]

  • Mayor Richard Ellis by Thomas Holroyd, c.1887
    Mayor Richard Ellis by Thomas Holroyd, c.1887
  • Alderman David Simpson by H. Lewis, 1900
    Alderman David Simpson by H. Lewis, 1900
  • Alderman James Simpson by Thomas Holroyd, 1896
    Alderman James Simpson by Thomas Holroyd, 1896
  • Stained-glass stairwell window
    Stained-glass stairwell window

Membership

Membership is open to both men and women. Membership categories include, full membership, country membership and young members' membership. In return for an annual fee members are entitled to a number of benefits including the ability to entertain friends and guests, attendance at a programme of social events and admission to selected reciprocal clubs.

Notable former members of The Harrogate Club include, Titus Salt, English industrialist and philanthropist; Samson Fox, Engineer, Industrialist and philanthropist; Cuthbert Broderick, British architect,[11] as well as Ferdinand de Rothschild.[12] The late Harrogate historian and writer Malcolm Neesam (d.2022) was an honorary member from the 1990s,[13] and the club's dining room has been named after him: The Malcolm Neesam Dining Room.[14]

Reciprocal arrangements with other clubs

The Harrogate Club has reciprocal arrangements with a number of clubs worldwide, these include The Sloane Club and The National Liberal Club in London, The Liverpool Athenaeum, The New Club and The Royal Scots Club in Edinburgh, The Sociedad Bilbaina in Spain, the Union International Club in Frankfurt, The Brisbane Club in Australia, The National Club in Toronto, Canada, The Cape Town Club and Rand Club in South Africa, The University Club of Chicago and The University Club of San Francisco.[15]

Visitors

Notable visitors to The Club include Scottish physician and author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.[8] The magazine Great British Life has suggested that J. R. R. Tolkien may have been a visitor to the club.[16]

In September 2011 The Club appeared in an episode of Who Do You Think You Are featuring Emilia Fox, the great, great granddaughter of past member Samson Fox.[17]

Notes
  1. Births Mar 1851 Bown Arthur Knaresboro XXIII 434. Deaths Sep 1916 Bown Arthur 64 Knaresbro 9a 108.

References
  1. Greenway, Tony (17 December 2020). "How the Harrogate Club reinvented itself for the 21st century". Great British Life.
  2. "36 Victoria Avenue". The Harrogate Club. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  3. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  4. Chalmers, Graham (7 March 2019). "Harrogate's 'secret' Victorian club is revived". Harrogate Advertiser. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  5. "General Purposes Committee". Pateley Bridge & Nidderdale Herald. British Newspaper Archive. 17 April 1885. p. 5 col.4. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  6. "General Purposes Committee". Pateley Bridge & Nidderdale Herald. British Newspaper Archive. 17 April 1886. p. 6 col.4. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  7. "England census 1871 Ref.RG10/4291 p.17". ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  8. "Restoring Harrogate's mysterious The Club that Sherlock Holmes creator loved". Yorkshire Post. 31 March 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  9. West, Andy; Stonebanks, Samantha (30 June 2016). "Working for You. Appendix 2" (PDF). democracy.harrogate.gov.uk. Harrogate Borough Council. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  10. Neesam, Malcolm (2018). Harrogate in 50 Buildings. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Amberley. pp. 48–50. ISBN 9781445681115.
  11. Chalmers, Graham (7 March 2019). "Harrogate's 'secret' Victorian club is revived". Harrogate Advertiser.
  12. Newton, Grace (11 October 2019). "Inside the inner sanctums: Yorkshire's last remaining Victorian clubs". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  13. Plummer, John (1 July 2022). "Obituary: Malcolm Neesam 1946-2022". The Stray Ferret. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  14. Barrett, Thomas (31 March 2022). "Harrogate Club honours local historian Malcolm Neesam". The Stray Ferret. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  15. "Reciprocal Agreements". The Harrogate Club. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  16. Greenway, Tony (14 April 2019). "Yorkshire life: How the Harrogate Club reinvented itself for the 21st century". Great British Life. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  17. Newton, Grace (11 October 2019). "Inside the inner sanctums: Yorkshire's last remaining Victorian clubs". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 11 August 2021.

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