By Paul H. Vickers, Friends of the Aldershot Military Museum
“The Commander-in-Chief has given his permission for the formation of a club at Aldershot for the accommodation of the officers. The club will be subject to military regulation.” This short announcement from the War Office was published in most of the major newspapers on 17 July 1855, and marked the beginning of an institution which was to be at the centre of Aldershot society for the next 100 years.
The demand for a club came from the officers who were posted into the Camp in its early days, when the usual officers’ accommodation was a single room in a wooden hut, dining was in a mess hut, and there was no provision for social or recreational activities. The officers petitioned General Knollys, General Officer Commanding, for a suitable club, who in turn obtained the permission of the Commander-in-Chief. The club was built as a commercial venture by entrepreneur Thomas Stapleton, near the Farnborough Road. Construction work began on 28 July 1855 and only one month later it was ready to receive the first furniture and fittings. The Club House was a large single-storey building made of wood and corrugated iron, painted green and white. Inside were a dining room, reading room, coffee room, fencing room, three billiard rooms, a card room, a smoking room, and offices. The total cost was some £4,000.
HRH Prince Albert took an interest in the venture, and after visiting the building he gave permission to use the title of “the Royal Aldershot Club”.
The club opened with a grand inaugural ball on 15 October 1855 with some 600 guests in attendance. Music was provided by two military bands augmented by a string quadrille band. The Times reported that the main venue for entertainment was the long-room, “brilliantly illuminated”, while “the card-room and library were placed at the service of the ladies, for robing and retiring rooms. The spacious elegant salle a manger was divided into refreshment and lounging rooms, while the tennis-room was devoted to the use of a supper-room, beautifully decorated, the tables literally groaning with wine, edibles, fruit and plate.”
Membership was open to all officers, who paid ten shillings to join and a monthly membership fee of five shillings. A comprehensive set of rules and regulations was published setting out how the club would be managed, the privileges and duties of members, and how they were expected to conduct themselves. The latter included strictures that “no game of hazard shall on any account be played, dice used in the Club House, nor higher stake than two shillings and six pence played for”. Anyone who broke these rules would be liable to “immediate expulsion”.
The Officers’ Club was an immediate success, with over 400 officers joining in the first month, and it quickly became the social centre for Aldershot. Owing to its popularity the club expanded with the addition of a ballroom with sprung floor and many sporting facilities such as tennis courts, squash courts, a hockey ground and a cricket ground. The Royal Engineers developed the area at the side of the club house as “an agreeable promenade” with ornamental trees and shrubs, described in the 1859 ‘Guide to Aldershot’ as “a place of general resort for the military lounger and the civilian looker-on or lady admirer”.
The large rooms of the Club House were ideal for functions and events, including musical performances such as the Aldershot Promenade Concerts, and productions of the amateur dramatic society, grandly styled the ‘Theatre Royal’, which moved from a hut in Z Lines to the more comfortable surroundings of the Club.
In 1863 one of the more unusual events was the court-martial of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Crawley, commanding officer of the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoon Guards. At the time the regiment was stationed in India, and Crawley was accused of imposing unnecessarily harsh conditions on the Regimental Sergeant Major while he was under arrest, causing his death. The story became such a huge national scandal that the War Office decided the court-martial had to be a public trial in England. The main room of the Club House became the court-room, two-thirds of its area allotted to the court and the remainder to the press and public. Most of the witnesses, including 12 officers, 61 NCOs and privates, one woman and three Indians, had to be brought back from India. For the duration of the trial, Crawley was given accommodation in the Club House.
Proceedings began on 17 November and dragged on for a month. The venue was not without some difficulties. On 3 December gale force winds pounded the iron structure making it almost impossible to hear what was being said, while the short winter days exposed the inadequacies of the lighting, which was from three large glass chandeliers. One afternoon a witness was to explain certain entries in a book when the President said he would have to wait until next morning as it had become so dark that nothing in the book could be seen.
Crawley was found not guilty, a verdict which divided opinions in the press. He returned to command of his regiment until retiring in 1868.
In 1906 the original club house was rebuilt, the only part of the original building retained was the ball room with new premises built around it. The new building had all the dining and leisure facilities of the club, but larger and more comfortable. A new extension provided overnight accommodation with 13 bedrooms on three floors. The Aldershot News declared that “the new Club House has a distinct charm of its own”, while Lloyd’s Weekly Register thought it “the most delightful club and grounds in the South of England”. The new Club House opened in fine style with the Spring Race Ball on 8 May 1906.
Further modifications and extensions were made during the 1930s. During the Second World War the club was used as an officers’ mess by the Canadian forces stationed in Aldershot. After the war it resumed its original role and remained a prime venue for major functions, such as the Annual Mayoral Banquet and Ball which was held at club from 1958 to 1972.
In the later years of the twentieth century a combination of changing attitudes to the notion of an officers’ club, improved facilities across the garrison, and rising costs, combined to put the club’s future in doubt. A statement from the management in February 1983 said that the club would have to close as it had insufficient reserves to meet a £15,000 deficit forecast for the coming year. One of the issues was a sharp decline in the number of serving officers who were members, the membership at this time being 66 serving officers, 166 retired officers, and 292 civilians. However, members were determined to save their club and mounted a spirited campaign throughout the 1980s to keep it open, through a full programme of events and publicity to attract new members. They had some success and the club remained open for another 10 years, but the underlying issues remained and by the 1990s it was not financially viable. The club was sold to local businessman Bob Potter, who replaced the club house with Potter’s International Hotel, retaining part of the building including the ball room but replacing most of it with new hotel accommodation. A room at the back of the building was kept for use by Officers’ Club members, the last vestige of the institution which had once dominated Aldershot social life.
Credits
Article originally published in the The Garrison, Summer 2024
Copyright © Paul H. Vickers. This article, including the accompanying pictures, may not be reproduced or republished, in whole or in part, either in print or electronically, including on any websites or social media sites, without the prior permission of the author.