The story of the Hellfire club that we read of today is a colourful yet mostly fictional account of illicit sexual acts, drunken revelry, black masses, murders, alleged disappearances, satanic rites, and devil worship. This was all supposedly perpetrated by this secretive society which gathered deep within a series of caves cut deep into the Chiltern Hills, England in the mid to late 1700s. This exclusive club was made up of the political elite and some of the upper classes of society.
Steve Prout explains.
A portrait of Francis Dashwood. By William Hogarth, late 1750s.
During its time, various scandals would create a public outcry and its effects on morality in English society. It resulted in a governmental enquiry and call for Parliament at best to outlaw these organisations or at least severely curtail their actions. The story of the Hellfire Club continues in popular culture such as films and fictional literature. A close study of the club’s true history paints a different picture to one that most are familiar with today. The story of the use of hidden caves, licentious immoral men and dark practices are all myths, and we will see a more diluted and less sensational account of what really happened in a typical Gentleman’s club of the time.
What was the Hellfire Club?
The Hellfire Club was one of the many gentleman’s type clubs that existed in England between 1750 and 1774. It was typical of the other clubs that flourished which were an indulgence of the wealthy and privileged now that the influence of religion on society loosened. The socially well connected, powerful and wealthy individuals used their membership for both social networking and to indulge in all kinds of illicit activities in a safe, secluded environment. There were numerous clubs that used the Hellfire name. One of the most famous clubs was the Hellfire Club and its founder, Francis Dashwood.
The Truth about Francis Dashwood
The Politician
Francis Dashwood (1708-1781) was from a wealthy family in West Wycombe, England. He was a politician who for a brief period, served as Chancellor of the Exchequer for Prime Minister John Stuart, the Third Earl of Bute between 1762 and 1763. In this period Dashwood’s competence would be brought into question on several occasions. Two examples were the issues over the Government’s handling of the Seven Years War and an unpopular Cider Tax. John Wilkes was an MP for near Aylesbury, journalist and more interestingly a fellow club member who unkindly commented that Dashwood “could not settle a tavern bill without trouble” when referring to his competence as a Chancellor. Wilkes also was the main critic of Dashwood’s cider tax that was deeply unpopular among all classes in rural and urban England. Dashwood was not entirely incompetent and any output from Wilkes was far from impartial when it concerned Dashwood and some of his other fellow members. He would be soon become a major annoyance to both the club and Francis Dashwood. It is the Hellfire club however that would earn Dashwood his notoriety not his political career.
The Reveller
Dashwood was a regular on the Gentlemen’s Club scene during the eighteenth-century and he also was no stranger to its excesses. Prior to the Hellfire Club Dashwood undertook a period of lengthy travel during a Grand Tour of Europe in 1726 where he displayed his extravagant and over-indulged behaviour. Separate to this he was also a member and co-founder (the other being John Montagu, Earl of Sandwich) of the Société of The Dilettantes and the Divan Club - both influenced by these travels to Italy and later onto Turkey. All without exception involved heavy drinking, indulgence, and sexual gratification. When he returned to England his travels furnished him with ideas for specific themes and decoration for his estate and his for his own clubs of his own design.
In fairness to Dashwood and to provide a sense of balance he was not solely preoccupied with the hedonistic lifestyle and nor was he the nefarious or pernicious character some claim he was. This is important when we assess the true character of the club. He was by some accounts a devoted husband who nursed his wife through her illness and whom he maintained cordial relations with throughout. He was also an active politician and did many works to benefit the community, the most notable being the labour he employed in the excavation of the caves to ease local unemployment. He was also an advocate of similar public works elsewhere and used his own money to refurbish the church of St Lawrence on Wycombe Hill. Hardly the actions of a devoted, nefarious reveller.
The Eccentric
Dashwood was an eccentric although he was one among many in that era. Such eccentricity and political hostility encouraged writers to create the distorted and sometimes sinister pictures of Dashwood’s activities about Hellfire Club matters. Horace Walpole (1717-1797), a writer and historian was one example of somebody who did just this. His accounts are full of sensationalism and inaccuracies. He had in fact encountered Dashwood infrequently during the Grand Tour of Italy and was certainly no authority on Dashwood’s affairs. Much of Walpole’s accounts are a product of fertile imagination and gossip. The distorted tales that persist more than likely relate to an earlier Hellfire Club which was founded and led by the Duke of Wharton which Dashwood was alleged to have been a member. The Duke of Wharton’s dubious business deals and accumulated debts from these failed ventures together with his lewd public behaviour created public scandal in the 1720s. It is highly likely that later writers may have mistakenly attached Wharton’s dubious reputation to Francis Dashwood and created the embellished accounts of the club’s history that we know of today.
The Location of The Hellfire Club
West Wycombe today now serves a tourist attraction famous for those Hellfire Club caves and other related attractions and structures. The stories of the caves have been exaggerated over the years but make a good story, and it is attractive for tourists. West Wycombe is a quiet and picturesque town in Buckinghamshire England and is placed on an ancient pathway, known as the Icknield Way that runs along the Chiltern Hills, but this town was not the main location where the Club met and carried out its activities. In the beginning, with the absence of any suitable venue, the clubs’ activities were carried out in members’ private residences within London and in nearby taverns such as the George and Vulture. In fact, most of the meetings were at held at nearby Medmenham Abbey which Dashwood leased and refurbished.
Wycombe House remains the home of the Dashwood family, but it is now owned by the National Trust site and is also a tourist attraction. It has been in recent times used as a setting in some period dramas and films. The eerie locality and one time presence of the Hellfire Club has made this town unique and had acquired itself a particular atmosphere. The surrounding landscape is quite peculiar and for miles around is full of curious features. It all adds to the mystery of the Hellfire Club.
On top of Wycombe hill opposite Wycombe House is a large open-air mausoleum that Dashwood constructed with funds left to him by fellow associate Bubb Doddington. This structure immediately catches the eye as the town is approached. Underneath the mausoleum at a depth of approximately three hundred feet are the famous Hellfire Caves accessed by an ominous looking archway entrance which leads to a series of suggestive tunnels.
Behind the mausoleum is where St Lawrence’s Church can be found, which is quietly placed and is partially hidden by trees. Dashwood had the church renovated at his own expense. On top of this church spire is an incongruous looking golden globe which can be seen even from a distance just over the top of these trees. It is a unique feature for a church in England to possess such a decoration and this item alone has attracted occult related speculation. These ideas for the architecture and landscaping were inspired by his travels and not by any occult origins as many fertile imaginations suggest. All this is a suggestion and not factual.
About The Hellfire Club
The Hellfire Club’s heyday lasted from 1750 to 1764 and then it began to decline. By 1774 it had practically disbanded and their famous residency at Medmenham had already been abandoned with the decorations and other traces removed. As an interesting aside there exists a convincing argument that Dashwood’s club was not actually a Hellfire Club, and that this name was incorrectly applied much later after the club disbanded. Its continued association with Dashwood may be incorrect. In fact, during the club’s lifetime Dashwood’s clubs used a multitude of alternative names such as the Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe, Order of the Knights of St Francis, Brotherhood of St. Francis of Wy, Order of Knights of West Wycombe, and The Order of the Friars of St Francis of Wycombe. He never referenced the Hellfire Club name they referred to themselves as the Medmenham Friars.
The members were alleged to have worn mock religious costumes and called themselves brother or friar to heavily indulge in dining, excessive drinking, and sex. They would wear mock religious attire, perform mock religious rituals and the evening dinner would be punctuated with “ribald poems and songs.” Various letters from and between members such as a John Armstrong and William Stanhope refer to female attendees during the club gatherings whom they called “sisters” and were entertained (I will leave to the readers imagination) in Monk-styled cells within the Abbey. It would have been deemed scandalous at the time but not so by more permissive modern perspectives. From what we know there was little more to the clubs’ gatherings than overindulged gratification and nothing criminal or occult appeared to have occurred. The risk of public vilification to the reputation of influential public figures would have been too great and costly.
Dashwood’s activities did not at least initially give the Hellfire Club its notoriety. The Duke of Wharton’s antics had already created a “Hellfire Club scare” from a combination of his uninhibited behaviour, which onlookers viewed as a corrupting, and his poor business decisions that left him heavily in debt and which attracted a greater stigma in those times than today. A combination of Government, Church, and other interest groups (such as the Society for the Reformation of Manners) gathered to demand that legislation should be passed and enforced to restrain these types of clubs. Lord Willoughby championed this cause in Parliament, but its campaign petered out.
By the time Wharton’s Hellfire club ended in 1721 its notoriety had been earned. It was subject of numerous damning publications which included one titled “the Diabolical Masquerade”, another “A Further and Particular Account of the Hellfire Sulphur Club and one by a Thomas Smith of Shaw House who cited in his outraged demeanour “such blasphemies and impieties never been heard and are not fit to be committed to paper”. These articles appear tame to a modern reader being expressed in the language of the time; however the scandal perturbed some people living in the eighteenth century who were less permissive and accepting.
The Hellfire Club Members
The make-up of the membership remains a partial mystery. We are also not able to gather much insight relating to the activities that occurred within the clubs’ gatherings, particularly within Medmenham Abbey. We know for certain of a Paul Whitehead who was the appointed club steward (and little-known poet of his time) who incidentally destroyed most of the records just prior to his death in 1774 as the club neared its end leaving a void for fertile imaginations, various writers, and researchers to produce all manner of wild accounts. The manner of his passing even added a macabre twist to the Hellfire Club tales. Upon his death he requested that his heart be surgically removed, placed in an urn, and kept in the mausoleum on West Wycombe Hill.
From the limited information we know the club was comprised of powerful and influential individuals. Although the membership is unconfirmed it is recorded that Benjamin Franklin visited West Wycombe on two occasions by his recorded compliments of Dashwood’s opulent Medmenham Abbey and Dashwood’s house in West Wycombe. A political and publicized dispute exposed other members for example the 4th Earl of Sandwich (who also was First Lord of the Admiralty) and John Wilkes, who was a journalist and MP. Hogarth the painter was also among those connected to the club, but it is uncertain if he was a member.
There are references to three members of the Vansittart family being associated also, Robert was a juror and former hell raising rake, Henry was a colonial administrator and Governor of Bengal and finally Arthur was a member of parliament. The membership had an impressive array of talent, with poets, painters, and antiquarians and several other politicians such as William Stanhope, John Norris, John Tucker, and Thomas Potter. Although impressive these political affiliations would sour relationships and bring about the downfall of the club.
The Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club
There is a mixture of scattered surviving documents, diaries, and other correspondence that remain to give some limited insight into the club’s activities. These sources indicate that the Club operated no differently to the many other guarded gentlemen’s clubs. The absence of any comprehensive accounts also does not imply that anything sinister occurred such as the accusations of devil worship or satanic rites, as later writers suggest.
The surviving accounts are mainly unsubstantiated and outlandish ones of devil worship, satanic masses, orgies perpetrated by powerful, influential men, many of whom were members of government. Other stories pursue the more outlandish tales about the Devil attending and participating in activities. This obviously makes most written accounts unreliable, and we find some of these stories do not in fact relate to Dashwood’s club, and some, in the case of the Devil’s “visit” can be traced to a Hellfire Club that existed in Ireland that was completely unrelated.
Other dubious revelations originate in a book called Nocturnal Revels that was written in 1779 by a club member who so far has remained unidentified. The book comprises of two volumes that attest to the prostitution and other associated immorality that pervaded the clubs’ meetings and life. The book also contains a few contradictions, and its wording is composed in the language of the time in which the expression is tempered by the less permissive tolerances of the time (modern readers may consider it tame), so this source needs to be approached with caution and not overthought or over interpreted.
Regardless of who the author was the book does discuss some details about the gatherings. That description does not depict a debauched environment but instead references courtesies and restraints that were applied to the participating female company or the “sisters”. It also alludes to specific etiquettes that had to be observed by its members. The belief that the club followed a “do as you wish” in all its activities has been distorted over time. There is no mention of any satanic activity.
Other sources come from scattered quotes and pieces of private correspondence but thanks to Paul Whitehead’s destruction of his papers we will never know fully what transpired but myth and fantasy should not be allowed to fill the void. One publication written in the twentieth century focuses very heavily on the esoteric aspects and meanders off from fact and contains copious references to the arcane and the occult which offers little help about the real history of the club.
Without doubt the club exercised a certain liberal sexual licence at Medmenham but otherwise the activities of this club were no different to that of other clubs. Dashwood’s deeds in the community did not give any indications otherwise. There is certainly no evidence of satanic rituals. We are aware of mock religious rites but that is something entirely different. This is evidenced from surviving portraits displayed in Wycombe House and from the admissions from Francis Dashwood’s admission that mock religious acts were played out alongside drinking, bawdy discourse, and dining. There is a portrait by Nathaniel Dance of Dashwood in eastern attire such as a turban and headwear. There is also one of him by Hogarth depicted as a Friar. The members adopted such as Brother and Friar within their chapter but again all clubs had their unique rituals.
Dashwood’s excavation of the caves for example offered much needed work for the local community and his renovations of St Lawrence Church would certainly not depict a man who has satanic inclinations. A few writers accept that sexual licence, drinking, and excessive feasting took place, but Dashwood’s activities were within the law.
Religion certainly played a restricting role in society, but the times were changing, and Dashwood was said to be just enjoying an “artistic release “as many were in the myriad of clubs that existed. There was no suggestion of anything more sinister. Interestingly the same allegations were made against the Hellfire Club of Dublin, Ireland. With stories of visits by the devil these outlandish stories were muddled and attributed to Dashwood.
The Myth of the Caves and the Real location of the Club’s activities
The West Wycombe caves form a fascinating part of the Hellfire Club story despite their infrequent use. Ironically, the caves play a bigger part of the club’s story today mainly to fuel the tourist trade. There are various tales which meander down fanciful avenues that include murder, sexual licence and even takes of the paranormal. Two examples of resident ghosts are of a maid called Sukie who was supposed to have been accidentally killed following a prank unrelated to the Club and the Hellfire Clubs very own steward Paul Whitehead who still visits the cave in his spectral form, but the truth is that the caves played little part in the actual Hellfire Club gatherings. They were more likely used and only occasionally when the availability of Medmenham Abbey had ended.
The excavation of the caves began in the late 1740s to extract the chalk from the hillside to renew the roads around West Wycombe. It would alleviate the effect of three consecutive failed harvests in 1748, 1749 and 1750 by providing those effected with employment. This project is often overlooked in favour of the more ridiculous and sinister stories. The excavation of the caves even after their completion in 1754 would not have been suitable for the clubs’ activities. The processions from Wycombe House to the caves were too public and would not have provided the privacy and exclusivity required by club members.
There is a quote from a Ms Lybbe Pwoys who, when referencing the caves, simply states that it was a place where the Hellfire Club only “occasionally held its meetings.” A hook for a lamp was discovered in the ceiling of one of the inner chambers which when cross referencing other specious accounts show that the caves were on occasion used. The current Francis Dashwood also confirms this when he reveals that the caves were not excavated until 1748 and continued until 1754. By then the activities were carried out at Medmenham Abbey during the club’s height. In any event, the caves would not have been suitable for regular lavish gatherings.
In fact, the early days meeting s were hosted in public houses such George and Vulture, in the City of London which were close to the residences and places of business of the members. Later the club gatherings would be relocated the more lavishly renovated Medmenham Abbey in Wycombe close to Dashwood’s home in relative exclusion. Dashwood leased the Abbey and funded the renovations at his own expense as he would also do the same with the mausoleum, the local Church of St Lawrence, and his own home. Luxury and appearances of opulence was all important for such a high society membership.
Political differences, John Wilkes, and decline
By 1774 the Club was only a shadow of its former glory. There was nothing sinister or remarkable that caused the club’s demise. It was a simple matter of advancing age and personal political fallouts, particularly the singular actions of troublesome member John Wilkes. His actions brought about the cessation of the gatherings at Medmenham Abbey and unwanted attention to the Hellfire Club.
Wilkes was a constant thorn in the side of Dashwood, and it was also his work outside of the club as a writer that indirectly brought unwanted attention to the activities of the Hellfire Club. In 1763 he wrote a lurid and pornographic piece of work called Essay on Women which almost immediately attracted outrage and his expulsion from serving as a Member of Parliament. Before that he faced prosecution from publishing an anti-government article in a long defunct publication called the North Briton that condemned and damaged the Bute government who Dashwood served with. All this publicity brought attention in Dashwood’s direction and unwanted visitors to the exclusive Medmenham Abbey, so much so it meant that he had to abandon the Abbey and bring the clubs activities there to a close. Wilkes would also be a destabilizing factor with the members.
Wilkes and Sandwich personal dislike for each other did not help the deteriorating relationships between the members, and Wilkes’ written exchanges with Sandwich were particularly venomous although some are claimed to be fabrications or embellishments of a much later date. Wilkes would attempt to derail Sandwich’s political efforts on dockyard reform whilst the latter served as First Lord of The Admiralty in 1762. In retaliation Sandwich was publicly supportive of punitive actions against his fellow member Wilkes and took advantage of the scandals that would fall upon Wilkes. Thomas Potter, another member, brought further ire on the members due his contribution with Wilkes in the infamous Essay on Women.
There would be other altercations. Charles Churchill and John Wilkes (once again) would launch joint written attacks on fellow alleged member William Hogarth in retaliation for publishing unflattering cartoons of them. The feud between Wilkes and Sandwich brought Dashwood to such exasperation that he, the founder, would not attend his own chapters. The animosity between members spread quickly as Churchill would also turn on Whitehead, the club Steward, by publicly humiliating him, calling him a “kept bard”, and accusing him of being indulged at Dashwood’s expense. The club would limp along but only as mere shadow of its former self.
Other factors also contributed to the club’s diminishing prominence. By the mid 1760s most of the original members were either approaching old age, dead or were in poor health. Their respective careers and influence would have also waned as the years wore on meaning that there was little use for the networking opportunities the club offered. For some of the members now there was little desire to continue the excessive dining and alcoholic indulgence. Dashwood himself died in 1781 following a lingering illness that must have been present during the closing years of the club: Churchill in 1759, Thomas Stapleton 1781, Whitehead in 1774, Robert Vansittart in 1789, Henry Vansittart in 1767.
Political infighting took a personal slant that hastened the club’s demise, and it started between John Wilkes and the Earl of Sandwich. The source of this antipathy arose from some articles Wilkes published that alluded to the inner workings of the club that ridiculed Sandwich over a prank carried out on him, and it also exposed the club to the wider public. The club did not come to a sudden end at this point following its infighting as it limped along. Benjamin Franklin referenced his visits to Dashwood and the caves in 1772 in his diaries; however its best days were certainly over by 1774 as Whitehead passed away.
Between 1762 and 1763 Dashwood’s post in Bute’s government brought its fair share of criticism. There would be the inevitable personal differences of opinion that would further fracture the club’s relationships as political allegiances conflicted with their personal loyalties to their fellow club members. Suddenly political divisions arose over particular policies of the Lord Bute administration (according to a 1925 Parish Record Bute may have been a member but it is unconfirmed) over unpopular decisions ending the Seven Years War with the Treaty of Paris and the blow to British prestige that was perceived to come with that. The membership began to morph from a cordial and hellraising gentleman’s club to a politically toxic mix of opposing individuals which spilled out into unwelcome publications that brought the club to a wider view.
The Hellfire Club today and in perspective
In many ways, the Hellfire Club still survives today. It survives and pops up in works of fiction such as the Marvel Comics Franchise. In fact, an X-Men film belonging to that franchise was part recorded on site in West Wycombe Park in 2010 which features a fictitious version of a Hellfire Club.
Other versions have existed but in a remote form since Dashwood’s time. In a more permissive age, its activities seem tame and blend in unnoticed with everyday life. A Phoenix Society existed which was an attempted resurgence of the Hellfire Club by Dashwood’s nephew in 1781 who was keen to continue the tradition. There are references to meetings of this club as recent as 1954 in Brasenose College Oxford. In addition, there were reports of a Phoenix Next Group that formed in the 1940s which took on deeper esoteric themes.
Had it not been for the Duke of Wharton’s behaviour and then the later toxic fallout out from the infighting among Dashwood’s fellow members the Hellfire Club may just have blended in, became just another generic club, and consequently not have stood out as it did. Gentlemen’s clubs in this era had a reputation for extreme revelry and their peculiar ways and the Hellfire Club was no more boisterous that any of the many other clubs, for example the Scottish Beggars Benison or the Society of the Beefsteaks. In Wilkes’ own words a “set of worthy fellows, happy disciples of Venus and Bacchus, got occasionally together to celebrate women in wine and to give more zest to the festive meeting they plucked every luxurious idea from the ancients and enriched their own modern pleasures.” There was no hint of anything sinister, criminal nor seditious to the morals or fabric of society. How such a thing would have even been conceived possible by a group of drunken men in a mock religious role-playing setting is quite another question
The Hellfire Club’s story has endured long after the club’s actual demise thanks to its fictional associations. This is of no surprise because tales of secret societies and conspiracy theories will always find a willing and gullible audience, and this is very much true in current times. We only need to look at more recent examples such as Q-Anon, The New World Order, and Hilary Clinton and the Pizza-gate connection to prove that the fascination with such things will continue. The study of history is a perfect counter to this by seeking facts to challenge the outlandish, embellished, and untrue. Whatever is myth or fact, the story of the Hellfire Club will continue to be an interesting one.
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Sources
The Buildings of England – Buckinghamshire Penguin 1960 – Nikolaus Pevsner and Elizabeth Williamson
The Hellfire Clubs: Sex, Satanism and Secret Societies by Lord, Evelyn (2010) – Yale University Press
Secret Symbols of the Hellfire Club by Eamonn Loughran
The Hellfire Caves Tour Guide – Bt Francis Dashwood
Site visit to the above location
