List of University of Oxford dining clubs

This is a list of current University of Oxford dining clubs. All are social in nature and recruit members by private invitation for a programme of drinking and dining. Members are drawn exclusively from the student body of the University of Oxford. Most have individual costumes and traditions and maintain a high degree of secrecy concerning their membership and activities.

University wide

• The Assassins (known for their debauchery in the 1980s;[1] not to be confused with the unrelated student society, Oxford Guild of Assassins[2])
• The Bullingdon Club[3][4][5] (founded 1780; dress in navy blue tailcoats, with navy velvet collar, ivory silk lapels, brass buttons, mustard waistcoat, and a sky blue bow tie; club tie is sky blue striped with ivory; sometimes called The Buller; male society)
• The Delilahs[5] (female society)
• The Gridiron Club[3][5] (founded 1884; commonly called The Grid; club tie is dark blue with white gridirons; mixed gender society)
• The Piers Gaveston Society[3][4][5] (founded 1977; limited to 12 members; mixed gender society)
• The Stoics[4][5][6] (dress in black tailcoats, with bi-coloured socks, braces, and bow ties of blue and yellow; male society)
• The Viceroys[3][5][7] (dress in black tailcoats, with bow ties of purple with yellow and blue stripes; male society)
• The 9th Prime Club^[citation needed] (postgraduates only; mixed gender society)

College based

• The Abbotts, Corpus Christi[3] (male society)
• The Ace of Spades,^[citation needed] St Edmund Hall (male society)
• The Alices, Christ Church[3] (female society)
• L’Ancien Régime, Merton[3] (mixed gender society)
• The Black Cygnets, St Hugh's[3][5][8] (male society - members wear white bow-ties with cygnet motif; organise 'fox hunt')
• Bugger Ruggers, St Edmund Hall[4][5] (female society)
• The Cardinals, Christ Church[3] (male society)
• The Carolines,^[citation needed] New College (female society)
• The Claret Club, Trinity[3][5] (male society)
• The Dolphins, Jesus[5] (female society)
• The Eaglets, The Queen's[9] (male society)
• The Elizabethan Society, Jesus[10][11][12] (male society)
• The Faeries, Lincoln[5] (female society)
• Flowers and Fairies, Christ Church[3][4][5] (male society)
• The George[5]
• The Goblin Club, Lincoln[5][13] (founded 1902; limited to between 12 and 15 members; extensive silverware collection; club tie in colours of port, champagne, and claret; male society)
• The Halcyon Club, The Queen's[9] (mixed gender society)
• The King Charles Club, St John's[3][4] (claims to be the oldest University dining club; club tie is black, with stripes of pacific blue edged with gold; male society)
• The Loder, Christ Church[3][5] (members drink only from 18th-century silver goblets; male society)
• The Missionaries,^[citation needed] Magdalen (male society)
• The Mantis, Magdalen[5] (female society)
• The Mercurials, Christ Church[3] (male society)
• The Millers, Oriel[5] (male and female society)
• The Myrmidon Club, Merton[5][14] (founded 1865; mixed gender society)
• The Myrmaids, Merton[5] (female society)
• The Musketeers, Oriel[5] (male society)
• The Nondescripts Club, Christ Church[4] (male society)
• The Penguin Club, Hertford[3] (possibly defunct; male society)
• The Phoenix Club, Brasenose[4][5] (claims to be the oldest University dining club; dress in brown tailcoats, and dine with a silver phoenix at the table; limited to 12 members; male society)
• The Preprandials Society,^[citation needed] New College (mixed gender society)
• The Pythic Club, Christ Church (founded by 1845)
• The Regent's Rabbits, Regent's Park College (female society)[15]
• The Reginae Society, The Queen's[9] (female society)
• The Sir Henry Pelham Gentleman's Sporting Society, Hertford[3] (commonly known as Pelhams; male society)
• Somerville Ladies Ultimate Tequila Society, Somerville[5] (female society)
• The Steamers, Keble[3] (male society)
• The Syndicate, St Edmund Hall[16] (male society)
• The Wardens,^[citation needed] Merton (mixed gender society)

References

1. "Assassins were the real rioters, not the Bullers". The Standard. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
2. "Oxford Guild of Assassins". Retrieved 20 October 2024.
3. "Who's afraid of the big, bad club?". Cherwell. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
4. Vaughan, Matt (8 October 2003). "Drinking the town dry". Cherwell. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
5. Bell, Matthew (16 September 2014). "Inside Oxford University's secret drinking clubs". Cherwell. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
6. Wilkinson, Carl (2 October 2004). "You've got to do the rite thing". The Telegraph. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
7. Wynne Jones, Ros (21 September 2015). "My contemporaries behaved appallingly at Oxford university and now they are running the country". The Mirror. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
8. Anonymous (12 March 2020). "Beyond the Bullingdon: A closer look into Oxford's Secret Societies". Cherwell. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
9. Turner, Camilla (22 November 2017). "Oxford college bans student representatives from joining secretive dining societies as it undermines inclusivity". The Telegraph. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
10. Davies, John D. Griffith (1951). "Ronald Winckworth". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. 8 (2): 293–296. ISSN 0035-9149. JSTOR 3087206. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
11. Whitehouse, Jon. "Whitehouse, Trevor (1951)" (PDF). Jesus College Record. 2017: 154. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
12. Sidney, Pippa. "SIDNEY, Malcolm Deryck (1938)" (PDF). Jesus College Record 2011 (2011): 97. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
13. Gauci, Perry (2003). "The Goblin Centenary" (PDF). Lincoln College Record 2001-2002.
14. A short account of the history of the Myrmidon Club
15. Q&A With Regent's Rabbits
16. "The Syndicate slammed for School-girl themed event". 8 May 2013.