The Club was founded at a meeting held at the Thatched House Tavern on 30 June 1821 and held its first Annual General Meeting at Willis's Rooms on 27 April 1822, under the chairmanship of Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh [REF].
It was agreed that the Club would admit no more than one thousand members and former members of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, five hundred from each.