The History of Our Club

 

It was in the year 1839 that Aylesbury Literary and Mechanics Institute came into being, at the time occupying a space in the old Kingsbury Manor, a building long gone but situated where Kingsbury Square is today. It moved to its current location in 1880 when its president Lord Rothschild who owned most of the land in this part of Aylesbury decided to give one of the new buildings to the Institute. The foundation stone which can still be seen today, was laid the previous year by Lady Rothschild.

 

The common idea of a Mechanics Institute was to offer education to adults, and this took the form of lectures on science and the arts by invited speakers. The concept was first introduced by George Birkbeck in 1821. He founded the first institute in Edinburgh that year and this would later become Heriot Watt University. He also founded one in London in 1823 and this, of course, is known today as Birkbeck College. The tradition of mechanics institutes within many universities and other prominent educational establishments still exists to this day, but it would seem that by the 1880’s the establishment in Aylesbury was simply known as the Aylesbury Literary Institute, although its founding ethos to offer education to adults was still very much a part of its raison d’etre. There would have been lectures given at various times of the year on all kinds of subjects, and of course it offered a library and reading room for its members. Periodicals and newspapers were also purchased regularly, and each year at the annual general meeting it was the tradition to sell these off to the highest bidder.

 

14th March 1903

 

On March 14th 1903 the 64th AGM announced to the members the opening of the new wing of the Institute which was reported in the  Bucks Herald. The Herald said  “the year which has just closed is indeed important in the annals of the Institution, for owing to the kindness of the President, the Right Honourable, Lord Rothschild, the committee have been able to bring about the much desired extension of the building, thus enabling them to cater more efficiently in the future for the recreation of the members”.

It was in fact a year before this that the Institute had first approached Rothschild with the idea of an extension, and upon agreeing this he had given them the two shops next door to the existing building, which are in fact the space now occupied by our current bar. He also gave them £500 and a further loan of £1000 to spend on the ensuing renovation work. We know also from this report in the Herald that the work was carried out by a Messrs G and T Cannon for a total sum of £1197.

Work began in May of 1902 and the foundation stone was laid by Lady Rothschild a month later in the June.

 

March 22nd 1903

The opening of the newly renovated building was, of course, carried out by Lord Rothschild accompanied by his wife Lady Rothschild, and their son Walter, himself also an MP at this time. It was a well-attended event and the report in the Bucks Herald tells us that the new wing contained a club room, a smoking room, a ladies room and a scullery and lavatories. This was all on the ground floor. Then upstairs there is mention of a billiard room and caretaker’s apartment. Records suggest that a billiard table had been purchased before this new wing was open but it is not clear where it was. What we do know is that within a year a second table was also purchased and that regular in-house and external tournaments were taking place.

We also know that lady members were playing billiards as well although it would seem that on most occasions the ladies played at separate times to the men.

The idea of a club room at this time was simply a place where mostly men could gather for informal conversation. It would also have been used for what were then referred to as ‘smokers’.

A ‘smoker’ is an old Victorian slang word for an informal concert or singing recital at which men were allowed to smoke, and it would seem that these were popular under this name right up until the 1950’s.

 On the day of the opening various speeches  took place in this room, but it would seem that many within the club already had ideas about expanding its use beyond this. Within a year there were hot debates taking place that would change the very nature of the club when it was proposed that it be registered to sell ‘excisable liquors.

 

 1904

 

1904 was a leap year, and on 29th February a special general meeting was held to consider changes to the Institute and Club’s rules. Specifically, this meant applying for a license to sell alcohol and also a change to exclude ladies from becoming full members. Furthermore, from then on it was proposed that only full members (therefore men only) could frame and propose new rules for the organisation.

According to the law at this time for any institution to serve alcohol required every member to be registered, and this seemed to be a major objection of many on the Literary side and would indeed later that year see the formal separation of the two organisations. (More of which later).

One thing that came up in the meeting was the letter sent by Lord Rothschild in December of the previous year. This letter is still on view on the bar today and states his wish to offer no opinion either way on the future direction of the club. Some members felt it ‘improper’ that the Lord’s name should be used at all in the deliberations of this meeting and others further felt that such was the controversy of the meeting that it should not be open to the press. However this latter proposal was obviously dismissed as the Bucks Herald reported the meeting in full. Indeed this report goes into quite some detail about many of the matters discussed. It can be seen that amongst those present were a number of women. Sadly, it is not clear who Miss Payne was but it was mentioned that the secretary of the Institute had refused to take a full subscription from her recently as he felt that this matter needed to be resolved first. This would suggest that there was some confidence that eventually it would be settled in favour of those who wanted a separate club serving alcohol, for gentlemen only.

In the end the vote taken resulted in 88 voting for and 69 against. But this was not enough to pass any of the proposals because Institute rules required a two thirds majority.

So it was that things remained the same for a while but by the 6th June another meeting was held in which it was specifically proposed that any further changes to rules be agreed by a simple majority rather than two thirds. The vote here was won by 90 to 34 and led the way for the earlier rule changes to be implemented.

It was not until October 17th of that year however that the Club and the Institute formerly separated and elected their own committees. In the agreement at this time no one could become a member of the club unless they were already full members of the Institute, and in all matters regarding the building itself the Institute would have priority.

 

We know that the club’s first elected chairman was a Mr E.T Mackrill.

 

 Our First Chairman E.T Mackrill

 

Born in Hackney in 1841 Edward Thackray Mackrill was a gas engineer married to Sarah and already having two daughters by 1869 when he moved to Aylesbury. He was, it would seem, a very prominent member of the community being president of the horticultural society, a member of the board of guardians and an elected councillor for Aylesbury’s Eastern Ward. We know also that by 1881 he had 8 children and within his engineering firm he employed 12 people. He was living and working at the time from 48 Kingsbury Square and since this was close to the old Kingsbury Manor where the Institute was first housed this is no doubt how he came to be a member.

His eldest son Edward Samuel branched out from his father’s business as a gas engineer to move into the modern world of electrics, and would find himself elected as chairman of the club on three separate occasions, before during and  just after the second world war.