LAST OF THE DANDIES

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3290, 9 March 1926, Page 12

LAST OF THE DANDIES

BACHELOR AND BANKER. Mr. William Gillett, London's bestknown bachelor, has died at the age of eighty-six years, states the London correspondent of the Melbourne ‘Argus.’ Born, curiously enough, of a family of Quaker bakers, Gillett chose to adorn the West End, though he might equally wcl lhave adorned the city. The clearing country bankers’ cheques in 1857 bears testimony to Gillett’s capacity for finance. However. he chose a society career, and as an officer of the Middlesex Yeomanry, became attached to the first Life Guards. His regimental dinners were memorable about the time Gillett happened to meet Augustus Lumj ley, the famous Lumley, also known j as Augustus Savile, in the mid-Vic-: | torian era. Augustus allowed the I j wealthy young banker to attach him-! self to the Lumley circle, and slowly William Gillett improved his acquaintance with the aristocracy, until ho became a leader among London bachelors. When hostesses wanted young dancing men they sent round a note to William Gillett, who could easily oblige with a dozen or two. Emboldened by his success, Gillett conceived the idea of a social sortinghouse which should separate the sheep, who really mattered, from the goats, who did not—a club with a membership of only 3,000, but 3,0001 of the ‘best.” Baron Grant,, who: gave Leicester square to London, sup-! ported the plan, but he died a bankrupt before it could be carried out. Instead, Gillett established the Bachelors’ Club, with a Royal prince as president. Of this no lady could be a member unless she happened to Pc of Royal blood, but there were rooms where the bachelors could entertain their women friends, and the Bachelors’ Club made Gillett famous.