William Harnett Blanch
Local historian and eccentric club founder.
Location: 55 Denman Road, Peckham, SE15 5NS
Description: London historian William Harnett Blanch (1836-1900) lived here, author of the History of the Parish of Camberwell.
He is better known today as the founder of The London Thirteen Club. The met formally for luncheon to debunk superstitions on the thirteenth of every month, with thirteen dinner tables, each with thirteen settings.
Diners wore green ties with toy skeletons in their buttonholes, and meals were served by two cross-eyed waiters, who announced the start of dinner by smashing two mirrors.
To get to the dining room, guests had to follow an undertaker beneath a ladder and then sit at tables decorated with a centrepiece featuring a black cat, peacock feathers and witches' cauldrons, and were asked to spill salt before eating.
The club had numerous members including leading journalists and politicians, and all membership fees were distributed to the poor of Southwark.
Oscar Wilde famously refused to join saying that I love superstitions. They are the opponent of common sense.
Quirky
|
Local historian and eccentric club founder. |
Ranking This Month: 3/3091
Pages Hit This Month: 117
Your Comments:
Other places nearby:
Where Boswell met Johnson», 3.4km
Shakespeare's Ireland Yard», 3.0km
Lytton Strachey lived here», 4.2km
Home of poet Robert Browning», 5.6km
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's House», 4.6km
Evelyn Waugh lived here», 8.2km
A.C. Doyle The Eye Specialist», 4.7km
Home of Guinness Book of Records», 3.1km
Radical booksellers since 1945», 4.9km
Novelist James Hilton lived here», 9.6km
Location Pinpointed:
Open Street Maps», Google Maps»
pinpointing the forgotten and lost history of London
Shady Old Lady »» Car Reviews »» Classic Telly »» Peckish © 2026 The Shady Old Lady, Privacy Policy
