Charles II tried to shut England's coffee houses and backed down almost immediately
In 1675 King Charles II ordered coffee houses suppressed, blaming them for spreading scandalous rumours about his government. The order proved so unpopular it was withdrawn almost at once. Those smoky rooms, where like-minded men gathered and paid their bill after each meal, became the ancestors of London's grand gentlemen's clubs.
A club is simply people joined by a shared interest, and such groups appear in every ancient state well enough documented to tell, from Greek associations to the Roman collegia. Once people lived in large settlements, they needed ways to associate beyond family ties. Nobody is sure whether the English word comes from a knot of people or from members clubbing together to split the cost of their evenings. By 1659 John Aubrey was using clubbe for a fellowship meeting in a tavern.
The early English versions were informal dining and drinking circles. The poet Thomas Occleve, writing under Henry IV, belonged to one styled the Court of Good Company. The best known met monthly at the Mermaid Tavern and counted John Donne among its members; the frequent claim that Shakespeare attended has no documentary support. Coffee arrived in the mid-17th century and gave clubs a steadier home. Many turned political: the Rota, a republican debating society founded in 1659, was broken up at the Restoration a year later. None of these groups owned property, and each member's obligation ended once his share of the meal was settled.
Two paths followed. Some coffee-house clubs grew until they took over the whole building, which became a permanent clubhouse often still named for its original keeper, as with White's and Boodle's. Residential clubs suited officers, judges and MPs who drifted in and out of London, since running a townhouse was costly and hotels were rare and considered socially inferior. Other clubs kept no premises and existed for a single pursuit such as chess, mountaineering or yachting.
The model spread. Leading figures of the Scottish Enlightenment met at Edinburgh's Poker Club, and one early American example, the Hoboken Turtle Club of 1797, still existed in 1911. In France, clubs became real political forces during the Revolution. Names can mislead: the Jockey Club regulates horseracing rather than serving jockeys, and the Marylebone Cricket Club long governed cricket.
Source: Club (organization)
