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Bullingdon Club
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Bullingdon Club
The Bullingdon Club is a private all-male dining club for Oxford University students. It is known for its wealthy members, grand banquets, and bad behaviour, including vandalism of restaurants, hotels, students' rooms, commercial and private banks. The club selects its members not only on the grounds of wealth and willingness to participate but also by reference to their education.
The Bullingdon was originally a sporting club, dedicated to cricket and horse-racing, although club dinners gradually became its principal activity. Membership is expensive, with tailor-made uniforms, regular gourmet hospitality, and a tradition of on-the-spot payment for damage. Some members have gone on to become leading figures within British society and the political establishment. Former members include two kings of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Edward VII and Edward VIII), three prime ministers (David Cameron, Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, and Boris Johnson), and two chancellors of the Exchequer (George Osborne and Lord Randolph Churchill).
The Bullingdon is often featured in fiction and drama.
The Bullingdon Club was founded more than 200 years ago. Petre Mais claims it was founded in 1780 and was limited to 30 men, and Viscount Long, who was a member in 1875, described it as "an old Oxford institution, with many good traditions". Originally it was a fox hunting and cricket club, and Thomas Assheton Smith the Younger is recorded as having batted for the Bullingdon against Marylebone Cricket Club in 1796. In 1805 cricket at Oxford University "was confined to the old Bullingdon Club, which was expensive and exclusive". This foundational sporting purpose is attested to in the club's symbol. Harry Mount suggests that the name itself derives from this sporting background, proposing that the club is named after the Bullingdon Hundred, a past location of the annual Bullingdon Club point-to-point race. This origin of the club is marked by an annual breakfast at the Bullingdon point to point.
The Wisden Cricketer reports that the Bullingdon is "ostensibly one of the two original Oxford University cricket teams but it actually used cricket merely as a respectable front for the mischievous, destructive or self-indulgent tendencies of its members". By the late 19th century, the present emphasis on dining within the club began to emerge. Long attested that in 1875 "Bullingdon Club [cricket] matches were also of frequent occurrence, and many a good game was played there with visiting clubs. The Bullingdon Club dinners were the occasion of a great display of exuberant spirits, accompanied by a considerable consumption of the good things of life, which often made the drive back to Oxford an experience of exceptional nature".
A report of 1876 relates that "cricket there was secondary to the dinners, and the men were chiefly of an expensive class". The New York Times told its readers in 1913 that "The Bullingdon represents the acme of exclusiveness at Oxford; it is the club of the sons of nobility, the sons of great wealth; its membership represents the 'young bloods' of the university". During the Second World War, an extension of the club was founded at Colditz Castle for imprisoned officers who had been members of the club while at Oxford.
Former pupils of public schools such as Eton, Harrow, St. Paul's, Stowe, Radley, Oundle, Shrewsbury, Rugby and Winchester form the bulk of its membership.
In the 21st century the Bullingdon is primarily a dining club, although a vestige of the club's sporting links survives in its support of an annual point to point race. The Club President, known as the "General", presents the winner's cup, and the club members meet at the race for a champagne breakfast. The club also meets for an annual Club dinner. Guests may be invited to either of these events. There may also be smaller dinners during the year to mark the initiation of new members or in celebration of other occasions. The club often books private dining rooms under an assumed name, as most restaurateurs are cautious of the club's reputation as being the cause of considerable drunken damage during the course of their dinners.
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Bullingdon Club
The Bullingdon Club is a private all-male dining club for Oxford University students. It is known for its wealthy members, grand banquets, and bad behaviour, including vandalism of restaurants, hotels, students' rooms, commercial and private banks. The club selects its members not only on the grounds of wealth and willingness to participate but also by reference to their education.
The Bullingdon was originally a sporting club, dedicated to cricket and horse-racing, although club dinners gradually became its principal activity. Membership is expensive, with tailor-made uniforms, regular gourmet hospitality, and a tradition of on-the-spot payment for damage. Some members have gone on to become leading figures within British society and the political establishment. Former members include two kings of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Edward VII and Edward VIII), three prime ministers (David Cameron, Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, and Boris Johnson), and two chancellors of the Exchequer (George Osborne and Lord Randolph Churchill).
The Bullingdon is often featured in fiction and drama.
The Bullingdon Club was founded more than 200 years ago. Petre Mais claims it was founded in 1780 and was limited to 30 men, and Viscount Long, who was a member in 1875, described it as "an old Oxford institution, with many good traditions". Originally it was a fox hunting and cricket club, and Thomas Assheton Smith the Younger is recorded as having batted for the Bullingdon against Marylebone Cricket Club in 1796. In 1805 cricket at Oxford University "was confined to the old Bullingdon Club, which was expensive and exclusive". This foundational sporting purpose is attested to in the club's symbol. Harry Mount suggests that the name itself derives from this sporting background, proposing that the club is named after the Bullingdon Hundred, a past location of the annual Bullingdon Club point-to-point race. This origin of the club is marked by an annual breakfast at the Bullingdon point to point.
The Wisden Cricketer reports that the Bullingdon is "ostensibly one of the two original Oxford University cricket teams but it actually used cricket merely as a respectable front for the mischievous, destructive or self-indulgent tendencies of its members". By the late 19th century, the present emphasis on dining within the club began to emerge. Long attested that in 1875 "Bullingdon Club [cricket] matches were also of frequent occurrence, and many a good game was played there with visiting clubs. The Bullingdon Club dinners were the occasion of a great display of exuberant spirits, accompanied by a considerable consumption of the good things of life, which often made the drive back to Oxford an experience of exceptional nature".
A report of 1876 relates that "cricket there was secondary to the dinners, and the men were chiefly of an expensive class". The New York Times told its readers in 1913 that "The Bullingdon represents the acme of exclusiveness at Oxford; it is the club of the sons of nobility, the sons of great wealth; its membership represents the 'young bloods' of the university". During the Second World War, an extension of the club was founded at Colditz Castle for imprisoned officers who had been members of the club while at Oxford.
Former pupils of public schools such as Eton, Harrow, St. Paul's, Stowe, Radley, Oundle, Shrewsbury, Rugby and Winchester form the bulk of its membership.
In the 21st century the Bullingdon is primarily a dining club, although a vestige of the club's sporting links survives in its support of an annual point to point race. The Club President, known as the "General", presents the winner's cup, and the club members meet at the race for a champagne breakfast. The club also meets for an annual Club dinner. Guests may be invited to either of these events. There may also be smaller dinners during the year to mark the initiation of new members or in celebration of other occasions. The club often books private dining rooms under an assumed name, as most restaurateurs are cautious of the club's reputation as being the cause of considerable drunken damage during the course of their dinners.
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