‘Clubbability’: A Revolution in London Sociability?

An anecdote recorded by James Boswell on November 29^th, 1783 revealed the first occurrence of the word ‘clubable’ coined by Samuel Johnson: “I was in Scotland when this Club was founded during all the winter. Johnson, however, declared I should be a member, and invented a word upon the occasion: ‘Boswell (said he) is a very clubable man.’ When I came to town I was proposed to Mr Barrington, and chosen.” Johnson considered Boswell as “the best travelling companion in the world” and, according to him, his liveliness and good nature, his passion for good company and friendship, his sympathy and amiability made him acceptable everywhere. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the adjective ‘clubable’ or ‘clubbable’ as “fit to be a member of a social club, sociable.” Yet, ‘clubbable’ is frequently used as a synonym for ‘sociable’ although being clubbable implies something far more specific than being sociable. ‘Clubbability’ is a quality or attribute which is intrinsically linked to the emergence and success of gentlemen’s clubs in the eighteenth century and, as such, corresponds to a significant shift, a ‘revolution’ in meaning and social practices. If a ‘revolution’ in sociability involves the combination of various political, social and cultural factors, the development of club life in London played a crucial role in the evolution and transformation of social interactions and forms of sociability in the course of the eighteenth century. The aim of this paper is to define and explore the concept of ‘clubbability’ originating from the eighteenth-century London club and to show to what extent this concept can be considered a unique phenomenon in the history of British sociability. The emergence of the club as a new institution from the Restoration period into the eighteenth century will serve as a starting point. Then, identifying the linguistic and cultural shift between ‘sociable’ and ‘clubbable’ will enable us to demonstrate that the sense of exclusive belonging inherent to ‘clubbability’ makes it at the same time a paradoxical concept and a revolutionary phenomenon in London sociability. Starting by tracing the use of the word ‘clubbability’ not only in historical sources but by simply typing it in several search engines proves very telling. One is first confronted with the unstable spelling of the word itself, with either one or two b’s. Most results come with two b’s. One of the first hits is a website called www.clubbability.com. This “new global online magazine” aims to promote “the joys of membership in a private social club to a new younger generation.” While this British website intends to highlight the attractive features of various clubs, it also endeavours to maintain the mystique and mystery of private clubs thanks to different posts on topics that are more or less related to club life and may seem stereotypically masculine: prestige cars, fine cigars and wines, exclusive dining or sports clubs in England and abroad. Another significant hit enables us to find the only academic paper which contains the word ‘clubbability’ in its title. Published in the Journal of British Studies in 2001 by Mrinalini Sinha, entitled “Britishness, Clubbability, and the Colonial Public Sphere: the Genealogy of an Imperial Institution in Colonial India,” this very interesting study analyses the role of clubs in promoting British values in colonial India, thus fashioning a ‘British white identity’ in the nineteenth century. It also demonstrates the influence of ‘clubbability’ in the constitution of a distinctive ‘colonial public sphere.’ Moreover, a chapter on ‘Social Prestige and Clubbability,’ in a book by Philip Waller, Writers, Readers, and Reputations: Literary Life in Britain, 1870–1918, describes how “membership of West End clubs …