1828
At the origin of the Circle, in 1828, members of the British colony gathered around a reading room and, on February 26, 1856, they founded The English Literary Society, which in 1859 became The English Club. The club was then located in Place Royale in Pau and was permanently housed from 1871 in a building adjoining the Hôtel de France, until 1955, when it was transferred to the salons of the Hôtel de Gassion. After other stays in historic places in Pau, since 2002 he has been living in the Villa Lawrance. For decades, because its members belonged to the Pau Hunt, the Polo Club or the Pau Golf Club, the Cercle Anglais was the seat of Pau sporting life.
The English Circle of Pau
The life of this place of relaxation and good taste was punctuated for a long time by the great equestrian events of the English and American colony.
Receptions and dinners of the Société des Courses, the Crew Masters of the Pau Hunt, the Société Hippique Française...
The members of the Pau Hunt, in evening dress, a red "tailcoat" over black trousers, gave these social events the colors of a Royal Horses Guards ball.
Nowadays the world of horses finds at the Cercle Anglais a privileged setting and welcome.
Each year on the occasion of the Winter Meeting, the Cercle offers a dinner in honor of the Société des Steeple Chases de France.
The Pau Hunt gives several hunting meals there surrounded by magnificent paintings bearing witness to the great hours of its English past.
The English presence was sufficiently important so that in 1856 the need was felt for the creation of an English library, under the name "English Literary Society". The Society which served as its support was transformed in 1859 into the "English Circle".
The presidency of the Circle remained English or American until 1940, apart from the parenthesis 1914-1918 which saw theBaron d'Esteaccess this position.Camille Dubosq succeededMr. Barronin 1940 and after the war
Mr. Drummond Wolfwas the last Englishman charged with this responsibility.Henry de Vaufrelandbecame president; since the Great War the Circle became more and more French and this movement accelerated
after 1945.
From the Hôtel de France, the Cercle Anglais emigrated in 1870 to the private mansion built for it and bought in 1956 by the Consulate General of Spain; he then settled in the salons of the Gassion hotel and then, at the end of 1989, in those of the Villa Régina. Curiously, he joined there one of the significant places of the artistic life of Pau.Harry the Mountain, Canadian and sculptor of quality lived there and received many artists there.
Excerpt from the book Le Cercle Anglais.
Its current seat is Villa Lawrance. Aiming to perpetuate a certain art of living from the holiday season, the Cercle Anglais perpetuates the traditions of a gentlemen's club. It attaches importance to the development of its collections (furniture, paintings, engravings, sculptures, books, silverware) which constitute a major element of the historical and cultural heritage of "Pau English city". It also seeks to make its collections accessible to the public, especially during Heritage Days... To raise awareness of the place of the Cercle Anglais in the history of Pau and to organize all social, cultural, sporting and recreational activities for its members. Women are of course admitted and are, in many areas, remarkable leaders.
Visit of Villa Lawrance led by caroline barrow.
