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Romney Street Group
Founded1917
PurposeSocial, Political, and Lunch club
Location
  • London
Membership120 (approx.)
Websitehttps://romneystreetgroup.org

The Romney Street Group (also known as RSG) is a British current affairs and lunch club. The RSG was founded in 1917 as an early form of think tank. The first chairman was Thomas Jones, who was Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet under four successive prime ministers. According to a 2007 article in Twentieth Century British History, "dining groups were amongst the most common of [informal] networks; and the Romney Street Group, which has been existence in various guises since 1917, is eminent amongst them."[1] Since the 1960s the RSG has hosted a weekly lunchtime talk during the academic term.

History

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The RSG was founded in February 1917 by J. P. Thorp, who was the drama critic for Punch, to generate policies for the post war reconstruction of Britain for the Lloyd George government.[2][3] Thorp stated his intention was to bring together a "group of interesting men for a weekly lunch and casual discussion",[4] which became the format of meetings.[5] The name came from its first meeting place, the home of the actress Edyth Goodall at 58 Romney Street.[6] Rather than impose on their hostess for too long, the RSG only met in Romney Street for about 18 months, before relocating to the premises of the Garton Foundation in Dean's Yard, Westminster.[7] The first chairman (1917–1933) was Thomas Jones, who from 1916 to 1930 was Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet. Other members were mostly civil servants, academics and journalists.[8][9]

Jones's archive suggests that the chairman would set the agenda for each meeting and outline the topics that were to be discussed during lunch.[10][11] A 2007 history of the first five years of the RSG, up to the fall of the Lloyd George administration, concluded that the RSG "had no direct influence on government policy".[1] However, according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, the RSG "formed the embryo of the staff of the Ministry of Reconstruction under Christopher Addison that was formed by Lloyd George on 17 July 1917".[12] Indeed, a 2006 book and 2018 article on post World War I British industrial relations describe the formation of the RSG as an "important moment in the elaboration of the idea of economic or functional democracy in Great Britain",[13] because of the "seminal importance [of the RSG] to the results produced by the Whitley Committee".[14] The autobiography of Jack Catchpool (who chaired the RSG from 1935 to 1950) notes that various ideas discussed during the inter-war years did eventually get on the statute books,[15] but the RSG's strict use of the Chatham House rule prevented any public recognition.[11] The RSG might have also influenced political discourse through journalist members, which included editorial staff at The New Statesman and The Nation & Athenaeum magazine.[1][9][11] For example, Kingsley Martin, who edited The New Statesman from 1930 to 1960, states in his autobiography that the RSG was his "most important contact ... with different modes of thought",[16] and his biographer describes the RSG as "influential but little known".[17]

Given the connection to the Lloyd George administration, the early membership of the RSG has unsurprisingly been described as liberal or centre-left.[6][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] For example, despite the RSG having never had an affiliation to any political party, Asa Briggs described the RSG in the early inter-war period as "a luncheon club of Labour sympathizers".[27] Notable early members included numerous left-wing luminaires such as G. D. H. Cole (the first Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at Oxford and an influential Fabian), Arthur Greenwood (the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in the 1930s and 40s), Lord Lothian (Liberal politician and ambassador to the United States), R. H. Tawney (an influential economic historian and Christian socialist), and Sir Alfred Zimmern (an academic who coined the term "welfare state" and helped found UNESCO).[1] Other notable members include Professor Lionel Curtis (the founder of Chatham House), Dr Walter Elliot (a Conservative Cabinet minister), Lord Elwyn-Jones (a Labour Attorney General and Lord Chancellor), Professor Harold Laski (chairman of the Labour Party), and E. F. Schumacher (author of Small Is Beautiful).[11]

After the fall of the Lloyd George administration, the RSG continued to meet for lunch and discussion. During the 1920s and 1930s the topics for discussion shifted from post-war reconstruction to foreign affairs and economics.[11] The membership grew during this period, although prior to World War II remained less than 30. During the 1930s, the RSG decided to source non-Spanish sherry so as to not support the Spanish government until the death of Franco in 1976.[11] The minute books show that the RSG continued during World War II, but no records were kept of what was discussed. Since its inception members have brought guests to meetings; notable guests prior to 1950 included James Callaghan, Michael Foot, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Archbishop William Temple.[11]

The nature of the RSG changed radically in the early 50s.[11][6] To keep afloat, the number of members was doubled to around 60. Meetings shifted into more formal discussions led by an external invited speaker, but lunch remained an essential social feature. The first female member was admitted around 1959. In 1967, the RSG celebrated its 50th birthday with a dinner in the House of Lords. The guest speaker was Baroness White, then Minister of State at the Welsh Office, who was the daughter of the RSG's first chairman Thomas Jones.

Since 1984, the RSG has held weekly meetings during academic terms in the Athenaeum Club for an informal sandwich lunch, with a 20-minute talk by a guest speaker followed by 40 minutes of Q&A, all under the Chatham House rule.[6][7][11] The membership has been maintained at around 120 since then,[6] with Athenaeum members and guests welcomed. In 2017 the RSG celebrated its centenary with a formal lunch at the Athenaeum and a talk by the Rt Hon. Alan Johnson MP, a former Labour Cabinet minister.

The archives of the RSG (from 1924 to 2000) are stored at the British Library of Political and Economic Science at the London School of Economics [GB0097].[28] Some earlier records are stored with Thomas Jones's papers in the National Library of Wales.[29]

Membership

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Chairs

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Notable historic members

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Members and Chairs with *’s were founding members.

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Lee, J. M. (1 January 2007). "The Romney Street Group: Its Origins and Influence—1916–1922". Twentieth Century British History. 18 (1): 106–128. doi:10.1093/tcbh/hwl044.
  2. ^ Lee, J. M. (4 October 2007). "Thorp, Joseph Peter". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/74756. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ Snape, R. (2 January 2015). "The New Leisure, Voluntarism and Social Reconstruction in Inter-War Britain". Contemporary British History. 29 (1): 51–83. doi:10.1080/13619462.2014.963060. S2CID 144067529.
  4. ^ Thorp, J. (1931). Friends and Adventures (First ed.). Jonathan Cape.
  5. ^ Mowat, C. L. (1956). "Review of Nine Troubled Years; A Diary with Letters, 1931–1950". The Journal of Modern History. 28 (1): 76–79. doi:10.1086/237870. ISSN 0022-2801. JSTOR 1875805.
  6. ^ a b c d e Barberis, P. (2000). Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups, and Movements of the Twentieth Century. Pinter. pp. 357–8.
  7. ^ a b "Romney Street group". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 24 May 2007. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/96279. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  8. ^ Wood, B. (2011). Alias Papa: A Life of Fritz Schumacher (First ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 198. ISBN 978-0857840356.
  9. ^ a b Rolph, C. H.; Martin, Kingsley (1973). Kingsley: the life, letters and diaries of Kingsley Martin. London: Gollancz. p. 169. ISBN 0575016361.
  10. ^ Ellis, E.L. (1992). T.J: a life of Dr Thomas Jones, CH. Cardiff: University of Wales press. pp. 190–192. ISBN 0708311385.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Morris, R.M. (2017). The Romney Street Group, 1917–2017: A Centenary History. Strathmore. ISBN 9781909277144.
  12. ^ "Nash, Vaughan Robinson (1861–1932)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 3 January 2008. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/40819. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  13. ^ Torreggiani, V. (April 2019). "Governing modern society: The business-corporatist representation in the project of the British Joint Industrial Councils during the inter-war years/Governar a modernidade: A representação corporativo-empresarial no projeto dos conselhos industriais ingleses de entreguerras". Tempo. 25 (1): 179–197. doi:10.1590/TEM-1980-542X2018v250110.
  14. ^ Stitt, J. W. (2006). Joint industrial councils in British history: inception, adoption, and utilization, 1917 – 1939. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. pp. 70–72. ISBN 0313324611.
  15. ^ Catchpool, E.J. (1966). Candles in the Darkness (First ed.). Bannisdale Press.
  16. ^ Kingsley, M (1969). Editor: "New Statesman" Years, 1931–1945. Harmondsworth : Penguin. p. 71. ISBN 0140030328.
  17. ^ Rolph, C. H.; Martin, Kingsley (1973). Kingsley: the life, letters and diaries of Kingsley Martin. London: Gollancz. p. 169. ISBN 0575016361.
  18. ^ Webb, S. & B.P. (2009). The Letters of Sidney and Beatrice Webb: Volume II (First ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521084918.
  19. ^ Lowe, R. (1986). Adjusting to democracy: the role of the Ministry of labour in British politics, 1916-1939. Oxford: Clarendon press. p. 63. ISBN 0198200943.
  20. ^ Bradley, K. (1 August 2014). "'All Human Life is There': The John Hilton Bureau of the News of the World and Advising the Public, 1942-1969". The English Historical Review. 129 (539): 888–911. doi:10.1093/ehr/ceu210.
  21. ^ Croall, J. (2008). Sybil Thorndike: A Star of Life. First: Haus Publishing Limited. p. 87. ISBN 978-1905791927.
  22. ^ "Jones, Thomas (1870–1955)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 23 September 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34238. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  23. ^ "Eady, Sir (Crawfurd) Wilfrid Griffin". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 23 September 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32953. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  24. ^ Feske, V. (2000). From Belloc to Churchill: Private Scholars, Public Culture, and the Crisis of British. University of North Carolina Press. p. 120. ISBN 0807861383.
  25. ^ Briggs, A.; Macartney, A. (2011). Toynbee Hall: The First Hundred Years. Routledge. p. 94. ISBN 978-0415500234.
  26. ^ Clarke, P. (1981). Liberals and social democrats (1. paperback ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. p. 191. ISBN 0521286514.
  27. ^ "Mallon, James Joseph". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 23 September 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34846. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  28. ^ "British Library of Political and Economic Science Archives". Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  29. ^ "Romney Street Group". National Library of Wales Archives and Manuscripts. Retrieved 21 January 2024.

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