The genealogist and obituarist Hugh Massingberd (1946-2007) was a keen devotee of the books of Anthony Powell (1905-2002). The latter was best known for his sequence of twelve novels, A Dance to the Music of Time, which chronicled the decline of the British establishment in the twentieth century. What Massingberd and Powell had in common was that they were both keen, long-term members of the Travellers Club in London.
In 2002, Massingberd delivered a lecture at the Travellers, “A Hero of Our Club: Anthony Powell at the Travellers (1930-2000).”
Massingberd observed that Powell’s Dance series had relatively few references to Clubland, aside from a description of a club lunch hosted by the antagonist Ken Widmerpoole. The narrator notes:
“The name of the club surprised me a little. There was no reason at all why he should not belong there, yet its mild suggestion of cosmopolitan life and high card stakes evoked an environment seemingly unsuited to his nature.”
Massingberd writes, “In Hugh Whitemore's much underrated [1997] adaptation of Dance for Channel Four, the viewer is left in no doubt that Widmerpoole belonged to Brooks's.” (Though ironically, the scenes in the screen adaptation were filmed in the much larger dining room and smoking room of the National Liberal Club.)
The club lunch as seen in A Dance to the Music of Time (1997), as filmed at the National Liberal Club. The filming was done just prior to the dining room’s restoration, so shows its mid-twentieth century colour scheme.
But the bulk of Massingberd’s lecture was devoted to Powell’s real-life adventures in Clubland.
Powell had entered ‘Clubland’ by joining Pratt’s in 1929. Having put his name down for the Travellers Club in 1926, he was elected in 1930.
Powell’s son is quoted, noting that his father valued a club with few other authors at the time, where “he wouldn’t have to talk shop.” Massingberd compares it to John Betjeman revelling in his membership of the Royal Automobile Club, because “One doesn’t know a soul there.”
Yet Powell threw himself into the life of the Travellers over his 70-year membership, particularly its literary life. This included stints as Chairman of the Library Committee, spells on the General Committee and House Committee, and being in charge of “Foreign Literature” in the Club’s library. One of his lasting legacies at the Travellers was to stop charging for additional cups of post-dinner coffee, after the first cup had been served.
Massingberd’s lecture contains various anecdotes relating to Powell’s membership of the Travellers. The text was published in the newsletter of the Anthony Powell Society, with part one to be found here, and part two here. It was also published by the Club in 2007, as part of the pamphlet, A House of the First Class: The Travellers Club and its Members.
Many thanks to Clubland Substack subscriber Torquil Arbuthnot, for drawing this work to my attention.
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