Many became acquainted with the Hellfire Club through the film in 1960 and more recently the group of super villains from Marvel Comics’ “X-Men” series.

Both were loosely based on the real thing, which were several exclusive clubs, likely linked together by membership, that began in Britain in the 18th century.

These clubs were reportedly scenes of debauchery, drunkenness, and sexual hedonism in which the elite of British government gathered to participate.

The first known meeting of the club was founded in London in 1719 by Philip, Duke of Wharton, and became known as merely the “London gentleman's club.”

This early incarnation started as nothing more than a social gathering, playing on the popular comedy of the day in satirizing religion, and admitting both men and women equally, often dressed as characters from the Bible and eating dishes with names like Holy Ghost Pie and Devil's Loin.

In 1721, the club was disbanded when King George I succumbed to the wishes of Wharton's political enemies and issued a decree which effectively outlawed the club and gave Wharton's enemies the ability to remove him from parliament.

Wharton, a Freemason, became Grandmaster of England in 1722.

The gatherings, however, continued, the club's functions now passed to Sir Francis Dashwood (the Duke's co-founder and friend).

THE ORDER OF THE KNIGHTS OF WEST WYCOMBE

At this point, the club began to be called The Order of the Knights of West Wycombe or the Brotherhood of St. Francis of Wycombe when Dashwood leased Medmenham Abbey near West Wycombe.

During this time, in the early 1750s, the meetings were held more regularly and always at the abbey, underneath which Dashwood had commissioned a series of caves to be carved from the existing abby.

Decorated with mythological (and very sexual) themes; rites, and rituals to the gods Bacchus and Venus were performed and ritualized clothing was adopted.

Prostitutes, heavy drinking, and all manner of debauchery were undertaken as the nobility and ruling classes came together to party.

This club eventually became notorious amongst British nobility and government and a series of failures by Dashwood in various government offices began to offer it a bad name. Compatriots and club members were closely associated with what was then known as the Medmenham Monks.

JOHN WILKES

The Earl of Sandwich was implicated as one of those who authorized the arrest and exile of John Wilkes for seditious libel, shedding light on some of the political workings inside the club membership.

Then a series of stories titled “Chrysal, or the Adventures of a Guinea” by Charles Johnstone were published, many of which were easily identified as Medmenham members and Sandwich himself was ridiculed. This was when the name “Hellfire Club” first became attached to the group.

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE HELLFIRE CLUB

The club seemed to have disbanded at that time, though some believe that it may have gone underground in a less conspicuous manner or changed into one of the many other secret societies of the time.

In 1781, Joseph Anderson (Dashwood's nephew) founded the Phoenix Society at Brasenose College, Oxford, in honor of Sir Francis, who'd died that same year. That club still exists today.

While little is known of the inner workings of the Hellfire Club during their heyday in the abbey, it is known that an inner “chapter room” was given much importance.

Almost nothing is known of what went on there and speculation abounds, but it's likely it was used for primarily Masonic ceremonies because members of the club were known to congregate (secretly) in the room regularly.

The more hedonistic and debauched activities of the club were well-publicized and often over-emphasized by Dashwood's detractors, including the ex-member John Wilkes, mentioned earlier.

The now-famous “Essay on Woman” for which Wilkes was castigated is believed to have been printed for distribution to some of his former Medmenham friends.

Whatever the original intent and the later uses of the Hellfire Club, it's apparent that the club died out and that most of its members moved on to other pursuits. The Masons, Jacobites, and other groups all had heavy ties with the Hellfire Club in England, so that may be where they were absorbed.