Ashridge Dining Club

The meetings of an English political club 1933-1938

The Ashridge Dining Club was a political club set up in 1933 in West London with the object of extending the associations and activities of the Bonar Law College, Ashridge, by discussion over the dinner table. The Bonar Law College had been opened in 1929 by Stanley Baldwin having been presented to the Conservative Party by Mr Urban Broughton as a training college for Conservative workers. It was named as a memorial to Bonar Law, the British Conservative Party politician and Prime Minister, who had died in 1923.

Associated with the College were regional or county circles or clubs; their activities were reported by The Ashridge Journal.

Ordinary membership was open to those who had attended courses at Ashridge, with others being associate members. Membership was by subscription.[1] Meetings took place at York Mansions Restaurant, Petty France, London. The president of the club was Mr Arthur Bryant, editor of the Ashridge Journal and author of "The Spirit of Conservatism"; the founder and chairman was Miss Sheelagh Dumay Kerr (1908–1995). The organising secretary was Mrs A B P Kerr.[2]

Other members of the committee were:

Vice-Presidents Mr L H Sutton, Mr T N Graham, The Principal of Ashridge.

Hon. Secretary Miss E M Soutter

Hon Treasurer Lt. Col. A. H. Burne, D.S.O.

The speakers and subjects discussed by the dining club illustrate some of the political concerns at that time.[3] Meetings continued until the outbreak of the Second World War.

In London there was also the London Ashridge Circle, which arranged dinners at St Ermin's Hotel, Caxton Street, Westminster,[4][5] and the London Ashridge Club.[6]

Following the fiftieth dinner in 1938 a review of the club was included in the Ashridge Journal on the occasion of Miss Kerr resigning as chairman and Mr W R C Snape taking over.[7]

## Meetings

[edit]

* Extract from the Ashridge Dining Club Register

* Leaflet

* Membership Card

No. | Date | Guest of Honour | Subject

|
|
|

1 | 4 December 1933 | Mr L Sutton | Inaugural Meeting
2 | 22 January 1934 | Mr John Green | Post War Conservatism
3 | 21 February 1934 | Mr Henry Snell | Local Government
4 | 20 March 1934 | Professor F J C Hearnshaw M.A. | Fundamentals of Conservatism
5 | 17 April 1934 | Mr H R Selley J.P. M.P. (Late Chairman, L.C.C. Housing Committee) | Housing & Slum Clearance
6 | 24 May 1934 | Sir John Marriott M.A. | The Empire
7 | 18 June 1934 | Mr Hugh Gilbert R Sellon M.A. | The Future of Conservatism
8 | 9 July 1934 | Commander John Irving R.N. (of the Navy League) | Disarmament
9 | 19 September 1934 | Captain C Waterhouse M.C., M.P. | Unemployment Insurance
10 | 15 October 1934 | Mr Hugh Molson M.P. | The Work of the National Government
11 | 20 November 1934 | Mr G D Amery | Agriculture
12 | 13 December 1934 | Sir Michael O'Dwyer G.C.I.E., K.C.S.I. (formerly Lieut. Governor of the Punjab) | The Future Government of India
13 | 16 January 1934 | Sir A Hamilton Grant K.C.I.E., K.C.S.I. (Chief Commissioner of the North West Frontier Province 1919-22) | The Future Constitution of India
14 | 26 February 1935 | Mr Harold Macmillan M.P. (Chairman Industrial Recovery Council) | Reconstruction: A Plea for a National Policy
15 | 19 March 1935 | Air Commander J A Chamier C.B.,C.M.G.,D.S.O., O.B.E. (Secretary General of the Air League) | Air Defence
16 | 30 April 1935 | Major-General Sir Reginald Hoskins K.C.B., C.M.G.,D.S.O. (Principal of the Bonar Law College) | Italy and Abyssinia
17 | 30 May 1935 | Mr R Cross, M.P., Mrs R Cross | World Affairs: 1910-1935
18 | 19 June 1935 | Mr Douglas Jerrold (Editor of "The English Review") | Peace
19 | 17 July 1935 | Mr Allan Monkhouse, M.I.E.E. (author of 'Moscow 1911-1933'), Mrs Allan Monkhouse | Russia
20 | 18 September 1935 | Mr H G Williams, M.P., Mrs Williams | Dangers of Economic Planning
21 | 22 October 1935 | Sir John Harris (Parliamentary Secretary, The Anti-Slavery & Aborigines Protection Society) | The Present Italo-Abyssinian Dispute
22 | 28 November 1935 | Mr H G R Sellon M.A. | The International Situation
23 | 19 February 1936 | Miss Florence Horsbrugh O.B.E., M.P. | Women's Work at Geneva
24 | 1 April 1936 | Mr J A L Duncan, M.P. | Progress & Prosperity
25 | 30 April 1936 | Dr Vladimir de Korestevelz | Russia & Ukraine
26 | 20 May 1936 | Mr Patrick Donner, M.P. | Some Imperial & Foreign Questions
27 | 11 June 1936 | Lord Mansfield (Imperial Policy Group) | Foreign Affairs
28 | 9 July 1936 | Mr Arthur Bryant | Conservatism
29 | 29 September 1936 | Mr L Sutton (Vice President) | The Demand for Colonies
30 | 19 October 1936 | Dr Fitz Randolph (attache - German Embassy) |
31 | 30 November 1936 | Lord Burghley M.P. | The Political Outlook
32 | 7 December 1936 | Major Cole (The Staff College, Camberley) | Imperial Co-ordination in Defence
33 | 4 January 1937 | Mr Eric Patterson M.A. | The International Situation
34 | 8 February 1937 | Alderman W H Webbe (Leader of the Municipal Reform Party) | The L.C.C. Election
35 | 11 March 1937 | John Boyd Carpenter (Barrister at Law) | The Constitution & the Empire
36 | 13 April 1937 | Mr Bertram B Benas M.A., LL.B | The Law & the Citizen
37 | 26 May 1937 | Mr K W M Pickthorn M.P. | Education & the challenge to democracy
38 | 22 June 1937 | Capt H C Armstrong (Author of 'Grey Wolf', 'Grey Steel' etc.) | The Middle East
39 | 6 July 1937 | Sir Geoffrey Ellis, Bart D.L., J.P., M.P. | Paying our way
40 | 22 September 1937 | Mr C Allport B.A., Mrs Allport | The United States
41 | 28 October 1937 | The Rt Hon. the Viscount Davidson G.C.V.D., C.H., C.B. | Conservatism
42 | 16 November 1937 | Field Marshal Lord Milne G.C.B.,G.C.M.G., D.S.O. | Imperial Defence
43 | 16 December 1937 | Mr & Mrs Wentworth-Shields | Imperial Affairs
44 | 26 January 1938 | Mr T N Graham M.C.C. (Vice-President) | The Humour of Politics
45 | 22 February 1938 | Viscountess Davidson | Women in Politics
46 | 21 March 1938 | Mr Douglas Jerrold (Editor of "The English Review") | Spain
47 | 27 April 1938 | The Lord William Scott M.C., M.P. | The Evolution of Dictators
48 | 31 May 1938 | Mr Eric Patterson M.A. (Principal, The Bonar Law College), Mrs Eric Patterson | Ashridge & the future
49 | 28 June 1938 | Mr William Courtenay (Aeronautical correspondent to the "Evening Standard") | Air Defence[8]
50 | 26 July 1938 | Mr H G R Sellon M.A. | Britain & the International Situation
51 | 26 September 1938 | Mr L Sutton |
52 | 17 November 1938 | Mr Anthony Crossley M.P. | Palestine

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Rules of the Ashridge Dining Club
2. ^ "Obituary of the week. Mrs A B P Kerr". Richmond Herald. 28 December 1935. p. 6.
3. ^ The Ashridge Dining Club Register Book 1933 - 1938. (Now in the archives, Ashridge (Bonar Law Memorial) Trust)
4. ^ "Personal. London Ashridge Circle". The Times (London, England). No. 47398\. 11 June 1936. p. 1.
5. ^ "British Trade with Argentina". The Times (London, England). No. 47411\. 26 June 1936. p. 18.
6. ^ "The London Ashridge 1937 Club". The Ashridge Journal: 45–46\. Autumn 1937.
7. ^ "London Dining Club". The Ashridge Journal. 35: 42–44\. Autumn 1938.
8. ^ "Mr Courtenay". East End News and London Shipping Chronicle. 10 June 1938. p. 6.

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