Established since...
Nobody knows for sure exactly when the Club was formed but we do know that the Club boasts over 130 years of history.
The Club's colourful history is captured in The Manila Club, A Social History of the British in Manila by Angus L. Campbell, 1993, ISBN 971-91352-0-4.
Historical highlights
1832. British resident traders had established a club (unnamed) in Manila, that paid taxes to the Spanish colonial government. Probably the original of The Manila Club, because the British abroad always formed clubs, but it cannot be proven.
1877. On 5 March, Dr. Richard Burke paid Mex$4 (equalled USD2) subscription to the Club, which had bought, in January, for Mex$27,000, the large Nagtahan staff house of the bankrupt American trading company, Russell & Sturgis.
1896. The Club moved to a big seashore house in the newly fashionable Ermita district, from whose roof members watched, in 1898, the U.S. Navy fleet of Commodore Dewey beat the antiquated Spanish squadron in Manila Bay.
1898. The U.S.A. bought the Islas Filipinas from Spain as its colony for USD20 million. The 1898 Philippine-American War by Filipinos against the colonizers lasted for at least 6 years.
1908. A large clubhouse was built further inland, on Calle San Marcelino, amid 4 hectares of lawns and tennis courts. The Club remained there until 1962.
1914-1918. During the First World War, 14 members died on active service.
1922. H.R.H. The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), escorted by Lord Louis Mountbatten, attended the Club's garden party and met the British community including 80 ex-servicemen.
1942. The Japanese invaded, members and their families were interned in prison camps. The clubhouse became a Japanese Officers' Mess, the 4 Victorian billiard tables were burned for firewood, and the library books, the biggest non-reference library in the country, were left outside to rot, but the Japanese did not touch the memorial plaque.
1945. U.S. forces recaptured Manila in February, demolished the clubhouse by point-blank artillery, and knocked a hole in the memorial plaque with a rifle bullet. In June, the Tiffin Club, The Manila Club's downtown daytime annex, reopened in a semi-ruined building in the Binondo business district. It had been started originally c.1880.
1948. The clubhouse was rebuilt and partly air-conditioned, with billiard tables, a bowling alley, tennis courts, and 29 bedrooms all of which were en suite. A memorial plaque was unveiled for the 17 members killed on active service from 1939-1945.
1962. The clubhouse and grounds were sold, conforming to a law disallowing ownership of land by foreigners. The Club stayed for 4 years in two adjacent houses on the Manila Bay seafront.
1966. The Club signed a 20-year lease for a former small hotel in an Ermita side street. Although unphotogenic from outside, it had originally been a private house and, once inside, it had the ambience of a home.
1984. By this time, most members and potential members were living and working in Makati. The Club moved to the Magallanes district there, bought "La Mancha Inn", a former Spanish restaurant, and leased the land upon which it stood.
2004. Because the land at Magallanes was to be sold at a price far beyond the Club's means, a lease was signed for a former private house in the Bangkal district of Makati. While the district is rather crowded, the clubhouse has the ambience of a home. Members are particularly fond of the garden, surrounded by bushes. A fountain, a long outside bar, and a wood-fired pizza oven are popular.
