The Travellers Club

The Travellers Club celebrates its Bicentenary this year and we are cordially invited by the Club’s Secretary, David Broadhead, for a private tour to learn about the Club’s 200-year history and to spend time in the club’s magnificent library looking at special items from one of the finest collection of travel books, and related items, in private hands in the world.

Founded in 1819, the original concept for the club dates from the return of peace in Europe following the Napoleonic Wars, ‘for gentlemen who had travelled out of the British Isles to a distance of at least five hundred miles from London in a direct line’ to be able to meet together and offer hospitality to distinguished foreign visitors.

 The club secured its present site at 106 Pall Mall in 1828 and is the only St James’s club to have selected its architect through an open competition. As a result, the architect Sir Charles Barry was chosen and in 1832 the present building was opened to much acclaim. Barry’s designs show strong influences from his time doing the Grand tour, notably the Pall Mall elevation, inspired by Raphael’s Palazzo Pandolfini in Florence and the internal cortile in the centre of the building that allows light to reach the depths of the interior.

Our tour includes all the principal rooms of the Club which contain many original features and fine examples of furniture and light fittings designed by Barry himself. We end the tour in the heart of the club, the much-admired Library, which is generally regarded as one of the most charming rooms in London.

For our special bicentenary tour of the Club, Librarian, Sheila Markham, will share with us several of the most important items in their collection including the first book purchased for the Club which was a four-volume set of the 1818 edition of Samuel Johnson’s dictionary and a beautiful framed map (one metre square) dated 1794 which shows the destinations on the Continent within a distance of 700 miles from London. We finish our visit with a glass of sherry in the Library and time to chat with David and Sheila about all we have seen at the Club.

Image credit: Photographs by Justin Paget c. The Travellers Club