History
The current hotel describes itself as having "first opened its doors, as a gentlemen's chamber for the English aristocracy, in 1892". [3] At that time the original St James's Club was elsewhere, and the buildings at 7-8 Park Place were erected as blocks of flats in 1891-92. [4] They were originally planned with forty-four sets of residential chambers, plus service rooms. [5] The sporting Sir John Dugdale Astley, 3rd Baronet, died in his chambers at 7, Park Place, 10 October 1894. [6]
Before the building's construction, a club known as the Field Club operated at the 7 Park Place address in 1889. On 13 May of that year, police raided the club and found baccarat in progress. Twenty-one persons were arrested, "among whom were three English and several French and Belgian noblemen..." Among those arrested were the Earl of Dudley (later Governor-General of Australia), William Brownlow, 3rd Baron Lurgan, son of Charles Brownlow, 2nd Baron Lurgan, 'Lord Paulet' (probably a son of the 15th Marquess of Winchester) and Baron Ferraro. [7]
By 1960, the 7-8 Park Place flats were being called Old St James's House, a name apparently without historical support. In the spring of 2008, following extensive renovation, the building was reopened as 'The St James's Hotel and Club'. [3] Within the hotel is the renovated and repurposed space St James's Club founded by Peter de Savary, who marketed it to resonate with the panache associated with the historic St James's Club founded in 1857 by Earl Granville and the Marchese d'Azeglio. The team of the St James’s Hotel and Club received the Olympic torch on the day before the opening of the Games.
On 5 November 2010, Pakistani Nishat Group bought the hotel for £60 million. [8]
Belton House is a Grade I listed country house in the parish of Belton near Grantham in Lincolnshire, England, built between 1685 and 1688 by Sir John Brownlow, 3rd Baronet. It is surrounded by formal gardens and a series of avenues leading to follies within a larger wooded park.
Lurgan is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about 18 miles (29 km) south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population of about 25,000 at the 2011 Census and is within the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon district. For some purposes, Lurgan is treated as part of the "Craigavon Urban Area" along with neighbouring Craigavon and Portadown.
Marquess of Exeter is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1525 for Henry Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon. For more information on this creation, which was forfeited in 1538, see the Earl of Devon.
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The United University Club was a London gentlemen's club, founded in 1821. It occupied the purpose-built University Club House, at 1, Suffolk Street, London, England, from 1826 until 1971.
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The St James's Club was a London gentlemen's club which operated between 1857 and 1978. It was founded by two leading diplomats and its members continued to be largely diplomats and authors. It was first established in Charles Street and moved to 106 Piccadilly by 1868. In the final quarter of the twentieth century many gentlemen’s clubs of London suffered from declining membership, and in 1978 the St James's Club merged with Brooks's Club and vacated its premises.
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Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London is a five-star hotel, located in the Knightsbridge district of London, owned and managed by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. Housed in a historic, Edwardian-style building, the hotel originally opened in 1908 as the Hyde Park Hotel and in 1996 the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group purchased the property and conducted a full renovation, consequently re-opening in May 2000.
Charles Brownlow, 1st Baron Lurgan PC, was an Irish politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1818 to 1832 and was raised to the peerage in 1839.
Wimbourne House is a historic townhouse at 22 Arlington Street in St James's, a district of the City of Westminster in central London, England. Designed in the Palladian style by William Kent, it was built between 1743 and 1754, being completed after the architect's death. It is a Grade II* listed building, and the west front overlooks Green Park. The building now houses special event rooms for the adjacent Ritz Hotel.
William Brownlow, 3rd Baron Lurgan KCVO was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, landowner, hotel proprietor, and sportsman.
The 1821 Coronation Honours were appointments by King George IV to various orders and honours on the occasion of his coronation on 19 July 1821. The honours were published in The London Gazette on 14, 24 and 28 July 1821.
