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CLUB HISTORY
The Malta Union Club was
founded in 1826 by certain officers and civilians who leased the top
floor, less the ballroom, of the Auberge de Provence in Strada Reale,
now Republic Street, Valletta. Membership was restricted to eighty
resident Members plus a number of Honorary Members. A resident Member
paid an entrance fee of £4 and a quarterly subscription of £1. Among the
list of Honorary Members of that period one finds the names of Sir
Walter Scott and Benjamin Disraeli. In 1846 the number of full Members
was increased to one hundred and fifty. The crowded environment of the
Auberge de Provence led to the opening of a country branch at Msida,
near "Casolani's Fishponds" wherever they might have been. It was not
until 1851 that the Club acquired the first floor of the Auberge and in
1862 the ground floor so that by 1871 it was possible to increase the
Membership to three hundred. On the 1st January 1903 the whole of the
Auberge de Provence was taken over on a 99-year lease. The branch in
Msida was given up in 1874 and a branch in Sliema at 19, Ghar-il-Lembi
Street, was opened. In 1889, we find the Sliema branch moving to Ghar-id-Dud,
a much better site overlooking the Parade ground where a military band
played once a week. Ladies were not allowed into the Club until 1907,
when a Ladies Room was sanctioned, though a separate side entrance was
provided for ladies so that their room "would be quite cut off and would
not in any way interfere with the comfort and privacy of members". Three
years later, however, through the influence of H.R.H. the Duchess of
Connaught, a ladies entrance was opened at the front of the Club. The
Tigné Street Club site was taken over in 1919 by the purchase of the
unexpired lease, running to the year 2000, from Miss Hughes-Hallet and
the new Sliema Branch Club House was opened on 14th July, 1923 with a
special dinner and dance. On 31st July 1955, the lease held on the
Auberge de Provence in Valletta was surrendered to the Malta Government
at its request and the Club was transferred to its Sliema Branch. In
1931, the Club took over what was the united Services Ladies' Bathing
Club at Qui-si-Sana. This then became the Ladies Bathing Club Section of
the Union Club. A bye-law provided that a lady might invite a gentleman
to bathe there. The problem of changing rooms for men was solved by the
Marsa Club, which, having changing rooms and a beach for "Men Only" in
the vicinity, offered its amenities for use by Malta Union Club Members,
guests of the ladies next door. Thus started the long association still
existing between the Malta Union Club and the Marsa Sports Club at the
Tigne Bathing Beach, as it is known today. At the Annual General Meeting
held on 26th March 1992 the then Lady Subscribers were made Full
Members. The present building was purposely constructed in 2000, on an
adjacent site in Tigné Street, on the expiry of the lease of the last
Club building. The Club took possession of and moved into the new Club
House in 2002.
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