Item AMD/4 - Ingoldsby Club

Lambeth Archives hold a collection relating to the Ingoldsby Club as follows:

This club was founded in 1860 by 'several gentlemen' who were or had been members of the elocution and vocal classes of the Walworth Literary and Scientific Insitution, for the entertainment of their friends by amateur dramatic and operatic performances. In a newspaper article of 1936, the Ingoldsby Club was stated to be 'the oldest dramatic club in the United Kingdom'. The club gave its first performance on 7 February 1861 in the lecture hall of the Walworth Institution. As well as annual dramatics, the club held annual dinners, 'cinderella' dances, smoking concerts etc. The venue was changed in about 1887, and eventually settled at the Surrey Masonic Hall, Camberwell New Road. The collection consists of programmes, tickets, annual dinner programmes, club rules, newspaper cuttings about the members, and internal auditing etc. The rules were revised in 1910. Although still very active at the beginning of the 20th century, the club does not seem to have survived World War II; the last programme in this collection is dated 1927.