Page 117 - Personal Column (Charles Belgrave)_Neat

crowds in the streets of the great cities were such a contrast to the
eventually, through Captain William Royall, of the United States Navy,
leisurely Life in the Bahrain bazaars. I admired the magnificent museums I got in touch with the Secretary of ‘The Guerriere Dinners Club’ of
and picture galleries and some of the houses which we visited. \Ve had Boston, an institution which had existed since August 1813, which was the
been told that we would probably dislike New York but, on the contrary, date on which the first dinner was held. Membership of the club was
we liked it very much. We had no complaints about the manners of the restricted to nine, all of whom were life members, most of them being
taxi-drivers, about whom I had heard many stories, or the rather free and direct descendants of people who were originally connected with the
easy manners of people in the shops and the hotel servants. At the St Constitution.
Regis Hotel, where we stayed in New York, I ordered onion soup for It was so that I could attend a luncheon party which was given for me
luncheon. When the waiter brought it he said to me, ‘Have you a hang­ by the club that we went to Boston, where I had the greatest pleasure in
over?’ I am sure I did not look as if I had. ‘Certainly not,’ I replied. ‘Why meeting seven of the members of the Guerriere Club. I gave to the club a
do you ask?’ ‘Because,’ he said, ‘that’s what folks take to cure a hangover.* reproduction of a portrait, by Richmond, of Admiral Dacres, which I
I cannot imagine such a conversation taking place at Claridges or the possessed, and I was presented with a model 24-pounder cannon made from
Ritz, but the waiter had no intention of being impudent. the wood of the Constitution, but what pleased me exceedingly was the
On the whole we preferred California to the East Coast. Being a
honour which was conferred on me by being elected as the ninth member
keen gardener I was full of admiration for the marvellous gardens in
of the Guerriere Club. After luncheon, with Captain Martin of the United
California; gardens in New England seemed to consist mainly of neat States Navy, Marjorie and I visited the Constitution and I trod the decks
lawns and very few flowers.
as an honoured guest, which 143 years before my great-grandfather had
A visit which we much enjoyed was to Boston. My family had what
trod as a prisoner of war.
might be described as an historical connection with Boston. My great­
I told some of my friends in other parts of the States that I was a
grandfather, Admiral James Richard Dacres, then a captain, commanded
member of the most exclusive club in America, which started in 1813 and
H.M.S. Guerriere, a British frigate, which on August 30th, 1812, fought
had only nine members. Naturally they asked for details. When I told
an engagement with the American frigate Constitution. The Guerriere was
them about the club their comment was: ‘Boston! Well! Of course they
sunk and Dacres with his surviving officers and men became prisoners of
would have a club like that in Boston—that’s Boston all over.’
war and were held at Boston. According to his account they were cx-
tremely well treated, for many of the people of Boston were at that time
opposed to the war with the British. After some time Dacres was ex­
changed, and when he left, as a mark of esteem, his captors returned his
sword to him. Years later, when Dacres was an admiral, he met Admiral
Hull, who as a captain had commanded the Constitution, in the Mediter­
ranean, and the two former enemies visited each other on board their
flagships. The Constitution, known in America as ‘Old Ironsides’, is moored
in Boston harbour in the same manner as H.M.S. Victory is moored
alongside the quay at Portsmouth.
Many years ago I was at a dinner party at the Shaikh’s palace at Rafaa
which was given for a visiting U.S. ship. I sat.next to a young naval
officer who came from Boston. In the course of conversation I told him
about my great-grandfather’s connection with Boston. He then told me
that there was some sort of club in Boston connected with Admiral
Dacres. I pursued the matter for years, writing to various people in
America who might have some information on the subject, and
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