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East India Club
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The East India, Devonshire, Sports and Public Schools' Club, usually known as the East India Club, is a gentlemen's club founded in 1849 and situated at 16 St. James's Square in London. Membership of the club is by selection and former pupils of British public schools (independent schools which are members of the Headmasters' Conference) are encouraged to become members.
Founded in the middle of the 19th century, the club's original members were "the servants of the East India Company and Commissioned Officers of Her Majesty's Army and Navy". The Club still provides meeting and social facilities for business and leisure, but it had already lost its military flavour within the first two decades of its foundation, with the East India Company having wound up entirely by 1874.
Since then, the club has amalgamated with the Devonshire, the Sports and the Public Schools Clubs, all of which ran into financial trouble in the 1970s and were forced to close. With the disappearance of the East India Company, the public school influence has recently become an important one and although the club occupies the original building of the East India Club and maintains its fixtures and fittings, its composition today is primarily as a continuation of the old Public Schools Club.
Its facilities include dining rooms, bars, a library, lounges, a gymnasium, snooker rooms and 67 bedrooms. The East India Club is also a private venue and offers conference facilities. The club has a restaurant, drawing room for women visitors, and a library of antiquarian and contemporary books. Most public schools offer membership of the club at a reduced rate for seven years to their former pupils, under the "J7" scheme. Other people gain membership through being nominated and seconded by existing members.
The Clubhouse is situated in St James's Square, close to the West End.
The club does not admit lady members and, whilst there are some rooms that are exclusively for gentlemen, the Drawing Room is open only to gentlemen accompanying ladies.