History & Heritage
The Oriental Club treasures its rich history and the extraordinary characters who have been associated with it, since the Duke of Wellington became the Club’s first and only President in 1824. In literature, it has been a reference point throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century, with novelists such as William Thackeray and Lytton Strachey referencing the Club, and countless others drawing from its stable of colourful characters.
Club Founders
The Oriental Club was founded by returning officers and officials from India and the East for whom the Club was a valued haven in London. It must have seemed at once comfortingly familiar and yet so different to the climate and culture that had become their everyday in the East.
Major General Sir John Malcolm coordinated the founding Committee in 1824 and advertised a Club that would draw its Members from “Noblemen and gentlemen associated with the administration of our Eastern empire, or who have travelled or resided in Asia, at St. Helena, in Egypt, at the Cape of Good Hope, the Mauritius, or at Constantinople.“
A Suitable Home
The first home of the Oriental Club was in Grosvenor Street, where it remained for four years before moving to a suitable site in Hanover Square where a new Clubhouse was built. With an initial membership of four hundred, it was a place where high ranking Members of the East India Company, could meet and do business in pleasant, comfortable surroundings whilst home on leave.
In the 1950s, the Committee considered selling Hanover Square and seeking a more economical home, but the then Chairman – Sir Arthur Bruce, and his Committee developed a plan. Instead of selling the Hanover Square site and enabling a third party to make it profitable, the Club became its own property developer. Thanks to the support of its Members, the existing building was demolished to make way for a new office block which was let successfully for many years.
The Club moved to Stratford House in 1962 and today continues its tradition of providing a welcoming, comfortable home-from-home for its Members in Central London.
Since 1962, the Club’s home has been Grade I listed Stratford House – one of the most impressive surviving examples of Georgian architecture in this part of London.
Join the Oriental Club Team and embark on a unique and rewarding career in the world of Private Members’ Clubs.