Kit-Cat Club

Supposedly named after a mutton pie, served by Christopher Cat (a London pastry chef and friend of Jacob Tonson), it is difficult to precisely date the origin of the Kit-Cat club. It is clear that by the 1680s Tonson had begun to arrange small meetings in London, catered for by Cat, but it was probably not until the mid 1690s that the group became the large, gentrified Whig club it is best known as, famous for its drinking customs and political sponsorship. No membership lists exist for the club, but its members varied from the aristocratic elite to army officers and diplomats. The closest approximation of a membership list is perhaps the set of 48 portraits commissioned by Tonson and painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller that now hang here at the National Portrait Gallery and at Beningbrough Hall. The portraits were originally displayed in a purpose-built gallery at Tonson's Barn Elms House (which also became the headquarters for the group) and were gifted to him for his work as the club secretary. The group was succeeded by the Whig Hanover Club by 1720, a group which was solely dedicated to parliamentary matters.