The Shikar Club is an international sporting club founded in London in 1909 by former pupils of Eton College and Rugby School to champion the cause of hunting and in particular big game hunting. Its founding members included: Frederick Courtney Selous, PB Vanderbyl and Charles Edward Radclyffe.

Inauguaration

On 7th June 1909 at the Café Royal

Café Royal

The Café Royal was a restaurant and meeting place on 68 Regent Street in London's Piccadilly.-History:The establishment was originally conceived and set up in 1865 by Daniel Nicholas Thévenon, who was a French wine merchant. He had to flee France due to bankruptcy, arriving in Britain in 1863 with...

, Regent Street

Regent Street

Regent Street is one of the major shopping streets in London's West End, well known to tourists and Londoners alike, and famous for its Christmas illuminations...

 in London more than seventy well known hunters and shooters met at an inaugural supper for the Shikar Club. The event was presided over by the Earl of Lonsdale and the The Field (magazine)

The Field (magazine)

The Field is the world's oldest country and field sports magazine, having been published continuously since 1853.The famous sportsman Robert Smith Surtees, the creator of Jorrocks, was the driving force behind the initial publication...

 for June 1909 devoted a page and a half to a description of the event.A discussion took place after the meal at which a committee was formed to write a constitution of the Shikar Club at their own leisure.

Membership

The membership of the club included many high ranking military men such as Sir Claude de Crespigny described as ‘one of the hardest and pluckiest men in England… ready to box, ride, walk, run, shoot, fence, sail or swim with anyone over fifty on equal terms’ the constitution recognised and reinforced the virtues of ‘fair play’ and duty as defined by its essentially public school upper class educated membership.

The Shikar Club promoted shooting at international shooting exhibitions with the clear expression of big game hunting within legitimate class and national identities, The courageous feats of members were celebrated with the emphasis being on danger within a moral philosophy of ‘fair play’. The society championed big game hunters who included: Abel Chapman

Abel Chapman

Abel Chapman was a Sunderland-born hunter-naturalist. He saved the Spanish Ibex from extinction and helped in the establishment of South Africa's first game reserve.-Early life:...

, Alfred Pease

Alfred Pease

Alfred Pease may refer to:* Alfred Pease , American musician* Sir Alfred Pease, 2nd Baronet , British politician...

 and Maurice Egerton who in pursuit of what was for some their obsession travelled the globe hunting. Some members such as H A Bryden and CWL Bulpett published extensive literature on hunting whilst other were artists and naturalists – men such as John Guille Millais

John Guille Millais

John Guille Millais , known as "Johnny" Millais, was an English artist, naturalist, gardener and travel writer who specialised in wildlife and flower portraiture. He travelled extensively around the world in the late Victorian period detailing wildlife often for the first time...

.

The Shikar Club continues to exist and meets regularly at the Savoy Hotel

Savoy Hotel

The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...

 for the purposes of continuing the tradition of hunting and shooting.The emphasis today is on sustainable hunting and the conservation of wildlife. The aristocratic membership perpetuates with the Duke of Edinburgh

Duke of Edinburgh

The Duke of Edinburgh is a British royal title, named after the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, which has been conferred upon members of the British royal family only four times times since its creation in 1726...

amongst its present day members.