It was during the 19th Century that clubs in London boomed – approximately a dozen existed at the start of the century, and 400 by the end. Clubs in general became less louche, in step with a new, Victorian interest in propriety. Most significantly, they took on a central role in British politics, and scores of political clubs were founded in central London in these years, in a swathe of the city bound by Piccadilly to the north, Pall Mall to the south, St James’s Street to the west, and Haymarket to the east. Several of the most renowned, party-affiliated clubs have endured to this day. The Carlton Club, the Conservative stronghold, founded in 1832, was from the start a hotbed of gossip and political intrigue. The Duke of Wellington, at one time a member, advised on his deathbed: “Never write a letter to your mistress and never join the Carlton Club.”
