Throughout my lifetime I have been a member of various groups such as theatrical groups, a debating society and a highland cadet corps; or more professional associations such as bar associations, the Law Society of Upper Canada and a Chamber of Commerce; or a fraternity such as Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; still others which go by the collective label of “club” such as a swimming club, golf club or the Lions club. I wouldn’t however proclaim to have been a member of a political group, not because I oppose them, rather because I simply hadn’t any interest or objective in them.
The Green Ribbon Club was one of the earliest of the loosely combined associations which met from time to time in London taverns or coffeehouses for political purposes in the 17th century. The green ribbon was the badge of the Levellers in the English Civil Wars, in which many of them had fought, and was an overt reminder of the radical origins of the club’s loyalties.
The club met at the King’s Head tavern at Chancery Lane End and therefore was known as the King’s Head Club. It seems to have been founded about the year 1675 by men of a political faction hostile to the king’s court. These associates wore on their hats a bow, or bob, of green ribbon, as a distinguishing badge useful for the purpose of mutual recognition in street brawls. The name of the club was changed, about 1679, to the Green Ribbon Club. The King’s Head Tavern, described by North as “over against” (meaning opposite) the Inner Temple Gate, was at the corner of Fleet Street and Chancery Lane, on the east side of the latter thoroughfare.
The frequenters of the club were the extreme faction of the country party, the men who supported Titus Oates, and who were concerned in the Rye House Plot and Monmouth’s rebellion. Roger North tells us that they admitted all strangers that were confidingly introduced, for it was a main end of their institutions to make proselytes, especially of the raw estated youth newly come to town. According to Dryden (Absalom and Achitophel) drinking was the chief attraction, and the members talked and organized sedition over their cups.
Having earlier herein disclosed my less than altruistic interest in certain associations I must confess that my admission to Masonry was sparked not by either interest or objective but instead by casual curiosity. My introduction to the Craft arose in the oddest circumstances. I was standing in line at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) in Almonte waiting to pay for some whiskey or other restorative. The cashier (who turned out to be the Manager of the store – and more pointedly a member of Mississippi Lodge No. 147) asked about the provenance of my pocket watch fob, a golden rendition of the square and compass hanging at the front of my waistcoat. The watch (Ponchèlon et frères), 9Kt gold chain and fob formerly belonged to my paternal grandfather George Chapman (whose names I also inherited). I explained this to the Manager. He then enquired whether I were a member of the Craft. I told him I hadn’t any knowledge of or association with Masonry. This wasn’t exactly true as I had once overheard a chap (an Ottawa policeman) speak curiously about his preliminary familiarity with the fraternity but the particulars were too obscure to recount. Apart from that I knew nothing about Freemasonry.
The other group I hadn’t joined was one which marketed itself as a strictly social group not unlike the Rideau Club of Ottawa. When I first frequented the Rideau Club as the guest of a member it was located on Wellington Street across from the House of Parliament. My stinging recollection of the introduction was the member laughing that the staff were unentitled to use the lift. I subsequently learned that the club closed its doors to Jews (and women).
The club building, located for years across the street from the Parliament Buildings, burned down in October 1979. The club is now located on the top floor of a downtown office tower on Bank Street. At the time of the fire, the Government of Canada was attempting to expropriate the club’s property to serve as part of a future U.S. embassy.
It was reported to be the first club in Canada (and one of the first in North America) to disallow the use of the blackball tradition which allowed clubs to subtly discriminate against Jewish potential members, after succumbing to pressure from Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, among others, to admit Louis Rasminsky, Governor of the Bank of Canada.
Similarly, in the 1970s, after seeing controversy over its all-male policy, the club allowed female members and at the same time removed restrictions on female guests. There is a portrait of the first female member, Jean Pigott, in one of the event rooms. She was accepted to the Rideau Club in 1979, the same year as the fire.
Each room on the south side of the club is dedicated to a significant person in Canadian history. Most are named after former prime ministers of Canada, but one is named after Yousuf Karsh. It is filled with famous portraits taken by him and left to the Rideau Club after his death.
Subsequent attendances at the Rideau Club were either celebratory foregathering or latent business transaction. I have some curious connections of my own arising from the Rideau Club. While attending undergraduate studies with Martha Davis at Glendon Hall I took part in a summer tea party on the village green of Rockcliffe Park. Of all the politicians I met that day Prime Minister Lester Pearson was the most affable, by far surpassing the glibness of his less senior cabinet members.
Pearson campaigned during the 1963 election promising “60 Days of Decision” and supported the Bomarc surface-to-air missile program. Pearson never had a majority in the House of Commons, but he brought in many of Canada’s major updated social programs, including universal health care (though that credit should be shared with Tommy Douglas, who as premier of Saskatchewan had introduced the country’s first medicare system), the Canada Pension Plan, and Canada Student Loans. Pearson instituted a new national flag, the Maple Leaf flag, after a national debate known as the Great Canadian flag debate. He also instituted the 40-hour work week, two weeks vacation time, and a new minimum wage for workers in federally-regulated areas.
After graduating from law school I attended the Club at the behest of a drinking companion (Louis C. Audette, QC OC) who amused me by recounting the time he telephoned Lester Pearson to complain about a needed household repair in a residential unit occupied by my friend and owned by Pearson. By further coincidence Audette (former Chairman of the Maritime Pollution Claim Fund) was a friend of Henry Davis (Martha’s father).
Mr. Henry F. Davis
Deceased
Rockliffe Park, Ontario, Canada
Member of the Order of Canada
Awarded on: December 23, 1985
Creator and former head of the Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat and twice Canadian Secretary to Her Majesty during royal visits to this country, his record as a public servant and volunteer worker is outstanding. Author of the Manual of Official Procedure of the Government of Canada he served as an expert to Prime Ministers, Premiers and senior state officials on legal, constitutional and protocol matters.
At approximately the same time I encountered the wife of Yousuf Karsh. The venue was in the ballroom of the Château Laurier Hotel on the walls of which hung many famous photographs by Karsh. It was my custom when articling on Sparks Street to venture at noon hour into the empty ballroom of the hotel to play the concert grand piano. On one occasion my sole audience was a woman clad in a black dress wearing a broad rimmed hat. When I finished I introduced myself and asked whether she were staying in the hotel to which she replied, “We live here”, a celebrity I wasn’t long diffusing.
Years later when we joined the Fraser Highlanders we met Jean Pigott at an annual dinner at the Hunt Club. By another quirk of time and place i had previously met Pigott’s husband Arthur at the Château Laurier Health Club of which we were both members.
Allow me to add only that Angus Morrison, former client, was President of the Rideau Club. He and his wife Carlotta lived in the Burnside mansion on Strathburn Street in Almonte. Carla was a character. Interestingly she came from Texas where she grew up in a house that made Falcon Crest look like a shack.