Founded in 1882 by Prime Minister William Gladstone, the NLC is the international home of Liberalism and a beacon of Liberal values. Welcome to the official page for the National Liberal Club - a traditional private members club co-founded by W.E. Gladstone in 1882, to provide "a home for democracy, void of the class distinction" associated with the other London clubs of the day. The club
remains completely independent, but as the name implies, continues to be closely identified with the historic Liberal tradition and with Liberals worldwide. Overlooking the Thames, the club is in the heart of Whitehall, and is blessed with "the most splendid terrace in all of London." The NLC's roll-call of members has contained seven Prime Ministers (including Winston Churchill and Ramsay MacDonald, as well as every Liberal Prime Minister since Gladstone), while in the literary sphere, members have included G.K. Chesterton, George Bernard Shaw, Bram Stoker, Dylan Thomas, Edgar Wallace and H.G. Indeed, the NLC was the first major London gentlemen's club to admit women on an equal basis; and from its inception, it was the first to admit members without implicit or explicit racial and religious barriers, with early members including Britain's first non-white MP Dadabhai Naoroji, who joined in 1885. Members are either "Political Members" (who sign a declaration that they are Liberal in their politics) or "Ordinary Members" (who pledge that they will not use the club for any cause harmful to liberalism). More information on the club is available through our website at http://www.nlc.org.uk/ including details of the club's facilities, membership rates, and its network of over 300 reciprocal clubs worldwide. A separate members-only group exists at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nlcmembers. As members of that facebook group must be members of the NLC, group applicants will have their names checked against a current list of NLC members.
