October Club

views updated

October Club. A ginger group of Tory MPs formed after the election victory of 1710 to watch Harley and the moderates and hound the Whigs. They took their name from October ale, beloved of country gentlemen, and met regularly at the Bell Tavern, Westminster. At its peak, the club numbered 150 and its greatest triumph was the expulsion of Walpole in 1712 on charges of corruption. But it was weakened by the defection of the March Club, even more hostile to the ministers, and it did not long survive the electoral disaster of 1715.

J. A. Cannon

More From encyclopedia.com