Hellfire Club

For other uses, see Hellfire Club (disambiguation).

Portrait of Francis Dashwood by William Hogarth from the late 1750s, parodying Renaissance images of Francis of Assisi. The Bible has been replaced by a copy of the erotic novel Elegantiae Latini sermonis, and the profile of Dashwood's friend Lord Sandwich peers from the halo.

Hellfire Club was a term used to describe several exclusive clubs for high-society rakes established in Britain and Ireland in the 18th Century. The name most commonly refers to Francis Dashwood's Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe.[1] Such clubs, rumour had it, served as the meeting places of "persons of quality"[2] who wished to take part in what were socially perceived as immoral acts, and the members were often involved in politics. Neither the activities nor membership of the clubs are easy to ascertain. The clubs allegedly had distant ties to an elite society known only as "The Order of the Second Circle".[3][4]

The first official Hellfire Club was founded in London in 1718, by Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton and a handful of other high-society friends. The most notorious club associated with the name was established in England by Francis Dashwood,[5] and met irregularly from around 1749 to around 1760, and possibly up until 1766. The term was closely associated with Brooks's, established in 1764. Other groups described as Hellfire Clubs were set up throughout the 18th century. Most of these arose in Ireland after Wharton's had been dissolved.[6]

  1. ^ Hellfire Holidays: Damnation, Members Only, Tonyperrottet.com 2009-12-15, accessed 18 December 2009.
  2. ^ Ashe p. 48.
  3. ^ Blackett-Ord p. 46.
  4. ^ Ashe p. 111.
  5. ^ "Paul Whitehead". The Twickenham Museum. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2010. "The Monks of Medmenham Abbey" (the Hell-Fire Club, founded by Francis Dashwood) of which he became the secretary and steward.
  6. ^ Ashe p. 60.