by Kate
8. December 2010 06:21
The Georgian era brought with it an increase in gambling amongst the upper classes with card games like faro, piquet, whist, vingt-et-un and baccarat being the favourites. Vingt-et-un was the forerunner to blackjack. Faro was one of the games to fall away because of the ease with which the bank could cheat; the game involved cards being put in a spring-loaded box with the first card to pop up being the losing card and the second card being the winning card.
Gentlemen’s clubs started becoming gambling clubs too, one of the most notably being White’s in London. The club is famous for having a betting book with records of all the members’ wagers, one of which included two members betting on the number of cats to walk down opposite sides of the street.
The Crockford gambling club was frequented by the aristocracy. Opened in 1793, it would grow to become the most notorious in Europe until it was closed in 1845.
In the 18th century, John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, apparently asked his servant to bring him sliced meat between two pieces of bread so that he could carry on gambling without having to stop to eat – this was where the modern day sandwich came from.
Charles James Fox was a statesman who was perhaps the most well-known gambler of this time. One story tells of how during a game of hazard, a dice game, from a Tuesday evening to a Wednesday afternoon, Fox recovered £12,000 worth of losses only to go on to swiftly lose all of it except for a measly £1,000.
Beau Brummel was another character who was known as a flamboyant trendsetter who loved to gamble. He eventually fell into so much debt that he was forced to flee to France. White’s records show that he liked to bet on the outcomes of political and social events. Two such bets were:
• Mr Brummel bets Mr Irby one hundred guineas to ten that Buonaparte returns to Paris (Decr. 12th, 1812)
• Mr. Brummel bets Mr. Methuen 200 gs to 20 gs that Buonaparte returns alive to Paris, (Decr. 12th, 1812)