The Abbotsford Club was founded in 1834 on the model of the Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs and printed works of history and antiquities having relation to Scott and the Waverley Novels. Between 1835 and 1864 the club issued thirty-four volumes before it closed. Research Abbotsford Club
The Adams family are a major London crime gang specialising in drugs and extortion. The gang have a reputation for hiring Afro-Caribbeans to carry out the murder of informants and competitors. In July 1991 Frankie Fraser, former enforcer for the Richardson gang was shot at point-blank range as he left 'Turnmill's Nite Club' in Clerkenwell, London, on orders from the Adams family. The Adams family are known to regularly bribe a quantity of Metropolitan Police officers. Research Adams Family
Agricultural Hall is a building in Islington, London. Work commenced on it in 1861, and it opened in 1862 for an exhibition of dogs. It was constructed chiefly for the meetings of the Smithfield Club. Research Agricultural Hall
The Bannatyne Club was a literary society which was instituted in Edinburgh in 1823 by Sir Walter Scott who was its first president, David Laing , who was club secretary until its dissolution in 1865, Archibald Constable, and Thomas Thomson. It started with thirty-one members, subsequently extended to 100, having as its object the printing of rare works on Scotch history, literature, geography, etc. It derived its name from George Bannatyne the 16th century collector of the famous manuscripts of early Scottish poetry. Research Bannatyne Club
The Calves' head club was instituted in ridicule of Charles I. The great annual banquet was held on the 30th of January, and consisted of a cod's head, to represent the person of Charles Stuart independent of his kingly office; a pike with little ones in its mouth, an emblem of tyranny; a boar's head with an apple in its mouth to represent the king preying on his subjects; and calves' heads dressed in sundry ways to represent Charles in his regal capacity. After the banquet the king's book (Icon Basilike) was burnt and the parting toast was 'To those worthy patriots who killed the tyrant'. Research Calves' Head Club
The Carlton Club was a famous political club in Pall Mall, London. It was the recognised headquarters of the Conservative Party, and was founded in 1831 or 1832 by the Duke of Wellington. and held its first meeting in Charles Street, St James's before being removed to Carlton Gardens in 1832 and built a club-house in Pall Mall in 1836. Research Carlton Club
A club, a select number of persons in the habit of meeting for the promotion of some common object, as social intercourse, literature, politics, etc. It is a peculiarly English institution, which can scarcely be said to have taken root in any other country except America. The coffee-houses of the 17th and 18th centuries are the best representatives of what is meant by a modern club, while the clubs of that time were commonly nothing but a kind of restaurants or taverns whero people resorted to take their meals. But while anybody was free to enter a coffeehouse, it wao absolutely necessary that a person should have been formally received as a member of a club, according to its regulations, before he was at liberty to enter it.
Among the earliest of the London clubs was the Kit-cat Club, formed in the reign of Queen Anne, among whoso forty members were dukes, earls, and the leading authors of tho day. Another club formed about the same time was the Beefsteak Club. Originally these two cluba had no pronounced political views, but in the end they began to occupy themselves with politics, the Kit-cat Club being Whig, and the Beefsteak Club Tory. Perhaps the most celebrated club of the 18th century was that which was first called The Club par excellence, and numbered among its members Dr. Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, Oliver Goldsmith, Edward Gibbon, and others.
Clubs are often provided with reading-room and library, and formerly a smoking-room, billiard-room, coffee-room, dining-room, drawing-room, etc, and also may have a certain number of bed-rooms. Besides being convenient for social intercourse, members may obtain their meals in them, served in the best style and at moderate cost. New members are admitted by ballot, and pay a certain entrance fee as well as an annual subscription. Research Club
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Abbotsford Club
