Hellfire Club

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For other uses, see Hellfire Club (disambiguation).

Entrance to the "Hellfire Caves" in West Wycombe, site of later Hellfire Club activities
(2005)

The Hellfire Club was the popular name for an exclusive English club that met irregularly from 1746 to around 1763, run by Sir Francis Dashwood. During the time of the club's operation, they were commonly thought to hold notorious, orgiastic and satanic meetings at Medmenham Abbey, beside the Thames.

The term was not invented by the 1750 club; they first met to celebrate an earlier club founded in 1720 by Charles Edward. Other clubs using the name were set up throughout the 18th century.

The club was founded by Sir Francis Dashwood after he returned from his Grand Tour of Europe. According to the 1779 book Nocturnal Revels, on the Grand Tour he had visited various religious seminaries, "founded, as it were, in direct contradiction to Nature and Reason; on his return to England, [he] thought that a burlesque Institution in the name of St Francis, would mark the absurdity of such Societies; and in lieu of the austerities and abstemiousness there practised, substitute convivial gaiety, unrestrained hilarity, and social felicity."

At the first gathering in May 1746, they met at the George and Vulture public house in Lombard Street, London, the meeting place of the 1720s group. The initial membership was limited to twelve but it soon increased. Of the original twelve, seven have been almost certainly identified: Dashwood, Robert Vansittart, William Hogarth, Thomas Potter, Francis Duffield, Edward Thompson, and Paul Whitehead. Though not a member, Benjamin Franklin occasionally attended the club's meetings. The later membership is potentially immense, including John Wilkes and John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.

They did not call themselves the Hellfire Club, but used a number of mockingly religious titles, initially the Brotherhood of St. Francis of Wycombe. Other titles used included the Order of Knights of West Wycombe and later the Monks of Medmenham. The members called each other brothers and referred to Dashwood as abbot; female guests were nuns. Unlike the more determined Satanists of the 1720s the club motto was Fay ce que vouldras (Do what thou wilt) from François Rabelais, later used by Aleister Crowley. Although indulging in pseudo-Satanic rites the 'monks' were keener devotaries of Bacchus and Venus.

The George and Vulture burned down in 1749, possibly owing to a club meeting. However, it was rebuilt shortly afterwards and survives as a City chop house off Cornhill. Dickens lived and wrote here for some while and the Pickwick Club still meets there to this day. After a hiatus meetings were resumed at members' homes. Dashwood built a temple in the grounds of his West Wycombe home and nearby 'catacombs' were excavated. The first meeting at Wycombe was held on Walpurgis Night, 1752; a much larger meeting, it was something of a failure and no large-scale meetings were held there again. Despite this and the factionalising of the club Dashwood acquired the ruins of Medmenham Abbey in 1755, which was rebuilt by the architect Nicholas Revett in the style of the 18th century Gothic revival. In 1762 factional stresses and political rivalries turned the affairs of the club into public clashes and under heavy pressure the club finally disbanded.

[edit] Other uses of the name

Goth/Industrial Club Trondheim - Norway
It is also the name of an Edguy album.
A recreation of the Hellfire Club is the main focus of an episode of The Avengers, called A Touch of Brimstone, infamous for the risque outfit Diana Rigg wears. Peter Wyngarde - the main guest-star of the episode - has an official fanclub also named after the club.
- This episode (and the original club) also inspired the Hellfire Club in the X-Men comic book that depicted an exclusive club run by the world's elite, who dressed in colonial/fetishistic garb, engaged in debauchery, and conspired toward world domination. Notable members with an Avengers link are Ms. Steed and Jason Wyngarde.
The name Hellfire Club has since been used by numerous other unrelated swingers' and BDSM clubs in cities around the world.
In Australia, loosely-connected Hellfire Clubs with a BDSM theme were founded in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane by underground film director and producer Richard Wollstonecroft.
The Industrial band Electric Hellfire Club is headed by Thomas Thorn, a priest in the Church of Satan.
There have been an electronica band and a country band called The Hellfire Club, as well as one band called The Little Hellfire Club, and another called The Infamous Hellfire Club
British comedy programme Blackadder references the club in Blackadder the Third, with Prince George making numerous comments about spending time at 'The Naughty Hellfire Club'.
Doctor Who Audio Drama #019 Minuet in Hell (from Big Finish) features a modern-day Hellfire Club based in the USA.
The Hellfire Club is the name of a 1995 horror novel by Peter Straub which uses as background the nebulous activities of a group possibly modeled on the legend of the original Dashwood club.
The suspense of Olivier Assayas film Demonlover (2002) partly regards The Hellfire Club both as a critical element and as a metaphorical border between reality and virtual world.
Kathy Reichs' novel Fatal Voyage involves a Hellfire Club spinoff in the US begun in the early 20th century by Prentice Dashwood, a descendant of Sir Francis. This group, which calls itself H&F, practices ritual cannibalism to impart wisdom to its leaders. According to the novel, the group met its demise in 2001.

Hellfire Club was also a heavy metal band started by Raven of Killing Joke & included members such as Dave Lush, Trash De Garbage (aka Paul Bailey) of Zodiac Mindwarp, Steve Holland who also played with the Screaming Jets for a UK tour & Ex-Psychedelic Furs guitarist Marty Williamson. In 1989 the band released the single 'Heaven Can Wait.'
Hard NRG VII, also called The Hellfire Club, is an album by DJ Proteus. The album also contains a track called "The Hellfire Club".
Diana Gabaldon's short story "Hellfire", written in 1998, was the first of her Lord John Grey mystery stories set in 18th century London. While trying to solve a murder mystery, Lord John finds himself being initiated into the Hellfire Club at Medmenham Abbey.