The Hellfire Clubs: Sex, Satanism and Secret Societies

by Evelyn Lord

Overview

The first authoritative account of the Hell-Fire Clubs, who joined them, and which notorious legends about them are true

The Hell-Fire Clubs scandalized eighteenth-century English society. Rumors of their orgies, recruitment of prostitutes, extensive libraries of erotica, extreme rituals, and initiation ceremonies circulated widely at the time, only to become more sensational as generations passed. This thoroughly researched book sets aside the exaggerated gossip about the secret Hell-Fire Clubs and brings to light the first accurate portrait of their membership (including John Wilkes, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Prince of Wales), beliefs, activities, and the reasons for their proliferation, first in the British Isles and later in America, possibly under the auspices of Benjamin Franklin.

Hell-Fire Clubs operated under a variety of titles, but all attracted similar members—mainly upper-class men with abundant leisure and the desire to shock society. The book explores the social and economic context in which the clubs emerged and flourished; their various phases, which first involved violence as an assertion of masculinity, then religious blasphemy, and later sexual indulgence; and the countermovement that eventually suppressed them. Uncovering the facts behind the Hell-Fire legends, this book also opens a window on the rich contradictions of the Enlightenment period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300164022
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	04/06/2010
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	250
Sales rank:	574,900
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Evelyn Lord has published widely on local history and is the author of The Knights Templar in Britain and The Stuart Secret Army. She lives in Cambridge, UK.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

List of Illustrations ix

The Hell-Fire Clubs Time Line xi

Introduction xix

Chapter 1 Prelude to the Fires of Hell 1

Chapter 2 Gentlemen's Clubs, Journalistic Hacks, the Mohocks and Change 19

Chapter 3 The Hell-Fire Clubs 45

Chapter 4 Interlude Abroad: the Grand Tour, Dilettanti and Divans 75

Chapter 5 The Medmenham Friars 97

Chapter 6 Essay on Woman: the Friars Exposed 115

Chapter 7 Public Men and Private Vices 131

Chapter 8 Scotland and the Fires of Hell 157

Chapter 9 Beefsteaks, Demoniacs, Dalkey and Colonial America 187

Conclusion 211

Notes 215

Bibliography 233

Index 243

Editorial Reviews

Lord (Knights Templar in Britain) charts the rise and fall of the secret Hell-Fire Clubs, dispelling myths and exaggerated tales to present an accurate portrait of the upper-class male members, their activities and the events that led to club formations in Britain and America during the 18th century. The author sifts fact from fiction as she provides an entertaining catalogue of various clubs-the Mohocks, the Medmenham Friars, the Beggar's Benison. Readers looking for sordid tales of orgies and satanic rituals may be disappointed by Lord's findings, which reveal that the clubs were more preoccupied with drinking, costumes, politics, dirty poetry and blasphemous jokes than with sacrificing virgins. However, the book is peppered with salacious tidbits, as the clubs did enjoy boxes of imported leather dildos, strippers, violent and random attacks on strangers, erotic literature and Bibles decorated with phallic symbols. This well-researched work-which also profiles important club members and explains the demise of the clubs in the 19th century-is a must-read for anyone interested in uncovering the truth about the legendary Hell-Fire Clubs. (Nov.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

Lord (The Knights Templar in Britain) presents a history of several mysterious and exclusive societies that began in 18th-century Britain. These hellfire clubs purportedly encouraged their members, men who were usually of upper-class persuasion, to participate in immoral and sometimes dangerous activities. In an attempt to demystify the hellfire clubs, Lord scrutinizes their emergence in British society and looks closely at specific ones, including the Divan Club, the Society of Dilettanti, and the Medmenham Friars, as well as some of their more prominent members. One chapter, tellingly titled "Public Men and Private Vices," sums up the whole premise of these clubs. Lord states that her goal is to sift fact from fiction, and she does so quite well; her thorough research relies heavily on both primary and secondary sources. She makes it clear that these clubs were neither as satanic nor as sexually depraved as previously thought-readers looking for the decadence and immorality that the name of the book implies may be disappointed. An optional purchase for academic libraries.
—Susanne Markgren

Library Journal

"In fitting the clubs into more general eighteenth-century concerns, Lord has done historians of the period a service."--Jeremy Gregory, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History

The Journal of Ecclesiastical History - Jeremy Gregory

"Neatly structured and scrupulously written." - Frances Wilson, Sunday Times

Sunday Times - Frances Wilson

"A superb book with exemplary scholarship... I doubt very much once you've opened it that you will be able to put it down." - Birmingham Post

Birmingham Post - Richard Edmonds

"A fine excursion into one of the more unlikely contributions to culture. . . . Lord runs through the influences, varieties, and members of various Hell-Fire Clubs and their increasingly louche predecessors."—Katherine A. Powers, Boston Sunday Globe

Boston Sunday Globe - Katherine A. Powers

"In fitting the clubs into more general eighteenth-century concerns, Lord has done historians of the period a service."--Jeremy Gregory, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History

— Jeremy Gregory

The Journal of Ecclesiastical History

"Neatly structured and scrupulously written." - Frances Wilson, Sunday Times

— Frances Wilson

Sunday Times

"A superb book with exemplary scholarship... I doubt very much once you''ve opened it that you will be able to put it down." - Birmingham Post

— Richard Edmonds

Birmingham Post

"A fine excursion into one of the more unlikely contributions to culture. . . . Lord runs through the influences, varieties, and members of various Hell-Fire Clubs and their increasingly louche predecessors."—Katherine A. Powers, Boston Sunday Globe

— Katherine A. Powers

Boston Sunday Globe