“paying due honour to the wisest and most virtuous Statesman that ever appeared in any country” *….. the Manchester Pitt Club

Now until today Pitt Clubs were just a footnote in history books on the late 18th and early 19th century.

The Manchester Pitt Medal, 1813

And were something which I always meant to follow up but never did.

They were formed throughout the country in honour of William Pitt the Younger to “keep green the memory of one who had sacrificed so much for his country” and in recognition of his undoubted talents which began “at the age of thirteen [when] he composed a tragedy, at fourteen when he matriculated at Cambridge and became an orator at twenty-one. 

At twenty-three he was Chancellor of the Exchequer at the early age of forty-seven he was proclaimed the “saviour of Europe”.*

The first club was formed in London in 1793 and our own Manchester Club in 1813, and another forty-two were dotted across Britain, including ones in Liverpool, Bolton, Blackburn and Saddleworth.

Pitt addressing the House of Commons in 1794 

William Pitt has always been one of those politicians who I should know more about, especially as I am fond of his despairing comment "Roll up the map: it will not be wanted these ten years.”* on the news that the Austrian and Russian armies had been defeated by Napoleon's army at the battle of Austerlitz in 1805, which pretty much left Britain to face the "Corsican Tyrant" alone.

And it will be his role as Prime Minister during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars which will in part have cemented his reputation and contributed to the spread of the clubs.

All of which has led me to look up the records of the Manchester Club which contain for 1813-31 the minute, account and dinner books, as well as a list of members and are held at Manchester Archives and Local Studies, and Chetham's Library*

Thomas Walker, 1794

The real insight will be the members who I suspect will turn out to be no friends of the French Revolution and may will have applauded the Governments attempts to prosecute our own Thomas Walker for sedition in 1794.**** 

Mr. Walker had in his time held the most important post as Borough Reeve in Manchester, had campaigned against the Slave Trade, supported the revolution in France and had his town house on South Parade attacked by a Church and King mob.

So, I rather think there will be some rich picking in sifting through the story of Manchester Pitt Club.

The clubs had a short life and by the 1820s were on the decline.  But in their hey day they had been the place to go if were both a supporter of William Pitt and an avid ant Revolutionary. 

The focus of activities was the annual dinner which could be an elaborate affair.  The cost of the food and drink held by the London Club in 1808 ran to £841.  

The list of things consumed included 429 bottles of sherry at £139, 613 bottles of Port at £153, , 14 bottles of Madeira, £14 for “lights” , “£12 for “broken China” and another £8 for “broken glass”.  Added to there were the “87 Servant’s Dinner” costing £8 14 shillings and 6, which comes out at roughly shillings a head. And that is less than the brandy or the sugar consumed.

The reverse of the medal, 1813

Admission was by a badge or medal, and the Dudley Club’s cost 30 shillings each and were made of frosted silver while members of the London club paid £1 16s 6d.

And there was a strict protocol which demanded that “each member shall wear it at all meetings of the Club tied on his left breast with a garter of blue ribbon”.

Which brings to the Manchester medal which my old posty friend David Harrop has just acquired, and very impressive it looks.

But I can’t help but feel that back in 1813 I would not have been a member.  After all as Groucho Marx said, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member”, but in reality, I wouldn’t have been able to join and nor would I want to be part of a club which had as its members those who opposed the general principles of the French Revolution.

Location; Manchester, 1813

Pictures; The Manchester Pitt Club medal from the collection of David Harrop, Pitt addressing the House of Commons in 1794. The House of Commons 1793-94, by Karl Anton Hickel (died 1798), given to the National Portrait Gallery, London in 1885 and Thomas Walker, 1794

*Objectives of The London Pitt Club

**Garnett, S. Alan (1927). "Pitt Clubs and their badges" British Numismatic Journal. 19 (Second Series, IX): 213–218.

***Manchester Pitt Club, 1813-31: records, Manchester Archives and Local Studies, NRA 13262 Manchester, and 1813-31: minute, account and dinner books, list of members, Chetham's Library, DDX 354

****Thomas Walker, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Thomas+walker