Hellfire Club - Duke of Wharton's Club

Duke of Wharton's Club

Lord Wharton, made a Duke by George I, was a prominent politician with two separate lives: the first, "a...man of letters" and the second, "...a drunkard, a rioter, an infidel and a rake". The members of Wharton's club are largely unknown. Blackett-Ord assumes that members included Wharton's immediate friends: Earl of Hillsborough, cousin – the Earl of Lichfield and Sir Ed. O'Brien. Aside from these names, other members are not revealed.

At the time of the London gentlemen's club, where there was a meeting place for every interest, including poetry, philosophy and politics, Philip, Duke of Wharton's Hell-Fire Club was, according to Blackett-Ord, a satirical "gentlemans club" which was known to ridicule religion, catching onto the then-current trend in England of blaspheming religion. The club was more a joke, meant to shock the outside world, than a serious attack on religion or morality. The supposed president of this club was the Devil, although the members themselves did not apparently worship demons or the Devil, but called themselves devils. Wharton's club admitted men and women as equals, unlike other clubs of the time. The club met on Sundays at a number of different locations around London. The Greyhound Tavern was one of the meeting places used regularly, but because women were not to be seen in taverns, the meetings were also held at members' houses and at Wharton's riding club.

Despite rumours of devil worship and other dark arts being practised during the meetings, there is no evidence to prove this. According to a number of sources their activities included mock religious ceremonies and partaking in meals containing dishes like Holy Ghost Pie, Breast of Venus, and Devil's Loin, while drinking Hell-fire punch. Members of the Club supposedly came to meetings dressed as characters from the Bible.

Wharton's club came to an end in 1721 when George I, under the influence of Wharton's political enemies (namely Robert Walpole) put forward a Bill "against 'horrid impieties'" (or immorality), aimed at the Hellfire Club. Despite the fact that there has never been proof that Wharton's Hellfire Club ever did more than hold mock religious ceremonies and drink excessively, Wharton's political opposition used his membership as a way to pit him against his political allies, thus removing him from parliament. After his Club was disbanded, Wharton became a Freemason, and in 1722 he became the Grandmaster of England.