Bust Oliver Cromwell in the Reform Club, London

The Reform Club is a "Gentleman's Club" founded in 1836 by a Whig MP who had worked to pass the Reform Act of 1832. It was intended as a centre for the radical ideas that the Reform Bill represented and was the centre of liberal thought and indeed the Liberal Party throughout the 19th Century.

There are busts of many prominent liberal statesmen there, and Gladstone and Asquith were members. Lloyd George and Churchill resigned over the "black-balling" (i.e. baring) of Baron de Forest. Guy Burgess and Jeremy Thorpe were also members.

This bust is a romantic rendition of Oliver Cromwell - the Lord Protector much admired by many 19th Century radicals.

The Reform Club although admitting women from 1981(!) still remains rather "traditional", requiring ties to be worn with jackets. This earned me a rebuke when I removed by suit jacket in the Dining Room - shocking behaviour I know!