Last Updated on 13/02/2026
Following the enormous success of The Pickwick Papers, numerous Dickens‑related societies sprang up across the country. Over time, however, most of these early clubs faded away.
The City Pickwick Club was founded on 16 March 1909 by Sir James Roll, who incorporated an earlier society he had established with twelve friends, the Pickwick Coaching Club. The newly constituted City Pickwick Club adopted an increased but deliberately limited membership of 30, a number that was subsequently raised on several occasions and finally expanded to 100 in celebration of the Club’s Centenary in 2009.
The Club’s inaugural dinner took place at The George & Vulture, the historic City tavern described by Charles Dickens in The Pickwick Papers as the regular meeting place of Mr Pickwick and his companions. Dickens himself was a frequent visitor to the hostelry, and the City Pickwick Club proudly continues to meet there four times a year. In keeping with tradition, every new member is given a personal soubriquet, taking the name of a character from the novel.
Sir James Roll became the Club’s first President, adopting the title Mr Pickwick—a tradition that endures today, with the presidency customarily held, where possible, by a former Lord Mayor of the City of London. Sir James himself went on to serve as Lord Mayor in 1920–21.
The Club has long enjoyed close ties with the Dickens family. Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, Common Serjeant of London and the author’s son, was a regular attendee, and his own son, Philip Charles Dickens, was a member of the Club.
The Club’s four annual gatherings at The George & Vulture follow a cherished and familiar pattern: guests are welcomed with “wanities” (drinks) before being called to dinner by Whiffin’s Bell and the traditional cry of “Wittles!” After dinner, the principal guest delivers a talk on a Dickens‑related theme and then proposes the toast to “the Immortal Memory of Charles Dickens.”
