OLD EDINBURGH CLUBS

Evening Star, Issue 21708, 1 May 1934, Page 1

OLD EDINBURGH CLUBS

HOW SOCIETIES ORIGINATED FROM JOKES The worthy citizens of Edinburgh, about the time of George HI., did not have much in the way of public entertainment, but whatever lack there was in that direction they managed to lead lives that were not too dull (writes Neil M'Callum, in the • AVcekly Scotsman’). Even in these “good old days” most men spent their evenings away from home. The attraction from domestic tranquility was usually a club of some kind, and every self-respect-ing burgher was a member of at least one. These clubs were quite unlike their modern descendants, but had, perhaps, some affinity to the latest development—the cocktail club —for their members devoted themselves to the worship of Bacchus. . The clubs were numerous and quaint, most of them having originated. in some little joke which kept them lively for years on end. Take one of the most popular—the Boar Club. In a tavern kept by a Mr Hogg a few men used to meet. The name of the innkeeper appealing to their sense of humour, they decided to call themselves Boars. To carry the joke, further, their meeting room was the sty, and their talk was grunting. The membership soon grew, and meetings were held every night, when each Boar put a half-penny in the, pig—a true Scots word. Into the pig also went the fines, which were exacted on any small pretext, and once a year the sum thus collected was spent on a grand banquet. The offices in the club were many, including the Grand Boar with his deputy, the Poet Laureate—a common office in these days—and the Chief Grunter. Hogg s Tavern on the night of the election for the last-named office must have been rather redolent of a farmyard, if the post was obtained by practical ability. This peculiar clique had a life of over twenty years. “SPENDTHRIFTS.” Another gathering was known as the Spendthrift. Club, which ate and drank for the magnificent sum of 4jd. Twopence for supper and 2Jd for strong ale and a dram. How times have changed! Cards were evidently as popular then as now, for there was the Antemanum Club, whose members, when playing the game called boasted of their hands, ‘ beforehand. Every night, including Sundays, a group ot men, who formed the Pious Club, met in a piohouse, and waxed merry as to whether they were pious because of their piety, or their liking for pies. Yet another was the Cape Club, and the incident' leading to its formation shows how a trivial affair could become a stock amuse-, ment. One gentleman, living m the Gallon district, had to pass through the Netherbow Port each night when he left ms friends. On account of the sharp turn he took outside the Port to reach bis bouse, he called the journey “ doubling the Cape. His humorous companions used to ask mm every evening how he had doubled the Cape ” the night' before. This became a standing joke, and so arose the Cape Club. SWEATING CLUB. A "really-dreaded organisation was the infamous Sweating Club. 'Hus club marauded the streets at-night and. attacked any luckless wayfarer, often doing him serious injury. Fortunately most associations believed in a lighter form of amusement.” A man wandering along a road and looking as though he needed so be introduced to a good laundry was probably one of the Dirty Club, whose members did not appear in clean linen. The Odd Fellows had the curious habit of writing their names upside down, while two * feoted strange types of headgear, the Bon net Lairds and the Black Wigs. \ Most clubs met in the evening, but one of the strangest gathered at the early hour of 7 in the morning. At that time a party of men used to walk to the Post Office to learn the news of the day. When the tidings were not of great interest, ns often happened, these men amused themselves by circulating spurious pieces of information which they invented on the spur of the moment. As Edinburgh was then quite a small town, it was not long till it was rife with fictitious reports. The party then adjourned for a dram of brandy and laughed over the proceedings. They ironically called themselves the AVhey Club. Perhaps, then, the citizens of Old Edinburgh were not quite so douce and staid as we are sometimes Jed to believe. But, whatever their excesses, they can be excused for attempting to brighten an existence that seems to have been otherwise very uneventful indeed.