The Journal · The Brantford Club
Five Men and a Charter: The Founding of The Brantford Club
The Brantford Club was founded by five men who met in May 1898: Charles Waterous, Manufacturer; Jeffery Hale, Banker; Ralph Henry Reville, Publisher; Alfred John Wilkes, Barrister; and Herbert Rushton Yates, Gentleman. The Club was incorporated by Letters Patent on July 16, 1898, and opened at 98 George Street on December 31, 1898.
The Club’s centennial history opens the story simply: “On a day in May that year five men sat down to discuss the formation of a social club for men of like tastes and similar interests.” The five names stand on the Charter roll the way a proper record keeps people: name, comma, occupation. Everything The Brantford Club is, at 98 George Street since 1898, follows from that afternoon, and every fact below is from the Club’s own book and the City’s own records.
- Manufacturer
- Charles Waterous, of the Waterous Engine Works; later Mayor of Brantford, 1905 to 1906
- Banker
- Jeffery Hale, Canadian Bank of Commerce, Brantford
- Publisher
- Ralph Henry Reville, of the Brantford Courier
- Barrister
- Alfred John Wilkes, Esquire
- Gentleman
- Herbert Rushton Yates, as the Charter roll itself states
Who founded The Brantford Club?
The Brantford Club was founded by the five men above, and the founding is documented twice in the same summer. The Club’s own centennial history prints the Charter roll with each name and occupation, and The Toronto World of August 1, 1898 carried the incorporation notice naming the five provisional directors; the notice itself, as it ran, is reproduced on the Club’s history page. A detail the record enjoys: Ralph Reville, the Publisher, was brother to F. D. Reville, whose 1920 county history remains a standard source for Brantford’s past. The founders made the record, and the family helped write it.
A day in May, and an election at the Kerby House
The organizing meeting that followed was held at the Kerby House, and the ballot chose the Club’s first officers: E. M. Shadbolt, recently appointed manager of the Bank of Montreal, as first President, and George H. Wilkes as first Honorary Secretary. Wilkes served a year; from 1899 the Minutes belonged to Fred W. Frank, who kept them for roughly a quarter of a century and called the work what it was: “It was a labour of love, I suppose, since the Club became my second home.”
The five charter men were not the first executive. The Charter names the five; the ballot at the Kerby House chose the officers. A club that keeps its records keeps the distinction too.
“We were not without funds; we were not without friends; and we were not without influence.”
The Club’s centennial history, on the founders
The Charter, and the house for $4,500.00
The Brantford Club was incorporated by Letters Patent on July 16, 1898, with a purpose clause of seven words: “to establish and maintain a social club.” The Charter, suitably framed, hung in the dining room. The Club then bought its house: the Bown property at the corner of George and Nelson Streets, across from the Court House, for $4,500.00. The house was already old, an Italianate residence built around 1855, which makes it older than the City of Brantford itself, incorporated 1877. The Club has never needed another address.
Opening night: December 31, 1898
The door opened on the last night of the year. The centennial history remembers it as “a bitter cold winter evening, warmed only by the heat from the fireplaces and refreshments. But it was a New Year’s Eve to remember,” and its endnote lists the members present that night, headed by the Honourable A. S. Hardy, then Premier of Ontario, with Harry Cockshutt and Lloyd Harris among the company. A Premier of Ontario at the table on the first night is a fair start for a roll.
Questions the record answers
When was The Brantford Club founded?
It was formed in May 1898, incorporated by Letters Patent on July 16, 1898 per the Club’s centennial history, and officially opened at 98 George Street on December 31, 1898, the date the City of Brantford’s heritage record gives.
Who were the five founders of The Brantford Club?
Charles Waterous, Manufacturer; Jeffery Hale, Banker; Ralph Henry Reville, Publisher; Alfred John Wilkes, Barrister; and Herbert Rushton Yates, Gentleman. The Toronto World of August 1, 1898 corroborates the five as the provisional directors.
Who was the Club’s first President?
E. M. Shadbolt, recently appointed manager of the Bank of Montreal, elected at the organizing meeting at the Kerby House. The five charter men were not the first executive; the Charter and the ballot are two different lists.
Sources: the Club’s centennial history, privately printed for the hundredth year; The Toronto World, August 1, 1898, page 2 (Canadiana); and the City of Brantford’s heritage record.
The roll is still kept
In 1898 the roll read: a Manufacturer, a Banker, a Publisher, a Barrister, a Gentleman. It has been growing ever since, and it has room for another line.
manager@thebrantfordclub.com · 519-752-0931
