Clubs & Societies

The Scriblerus Club lasted only for less than a year, starting in the spring of 1714, and ending in November of that same year, but the ‘Scriblerian spirit’ that was developed in these few meetings never left their participants. The club consisted of Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Arbuthnot, John Gay, and Thomas Parnell, as well as Robert Harley, then the secretary of the treasurer. Working collaboratively, the group created the persona of Martinus Scriblerus, through whose writings they wanted to accomplish their satirical aims.

A circle of amateur antiquarians established the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1780 to lay the foundation of a museum displaying Scottish and world cultural heritage. It would rapidly establish a wide network of Fellows, almost exclusively masculine, Honorary Fellows, and donors across Scotland, Britain, and Europe.

Sporting clubs appeared in the eighteenth century as sports were beginning to organise. Still, their birth was messy, as the very idea of a sports club, as we know it now, took a long time to materialise. They emerged from the more informal gatherings in social places of individuals brought together by their passion for a particular sport – and sometimes by the gambling which this sport made possible.