The Records of the Detection Club

Biographical History

The Detection Club was formed in 1930 by a group of 26 British crime writers which included Anthony Berkeley, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G. K. Chesterton, A. A. Milne, Ronald Knox, Freeman Wills Crofts, Arthur Morrison, John Rhode, Jessie Rickard, Baroness Emma Orczy, R. Austin Freeman, G.D.H. Cole, Margaret Cole, E.C. Bentley, Henry Wade, H.C. Bailey, Milward Kennedy, A. E. W. Mason, and Victor L. Whitechurch.

G. K. Chesterton was the Detection club's first President. Subsequent presidents included E. C. Bentley, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Agatha Christie.

The Club organised meetings and annual dinners. Over the Club's history, members have also collaborated on various projects. Six members, including Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Anthony Berkeley, collaborated on a radio series called Behind the Screen for the BBC in 1930, and another entitled The Scoop in 1931. Members of the Club also co-wrote the round-robin novels The Floating Admiral (1931), Ask a Policeman (1933), Six Against the Yard (1936), and The Sinking Admiral (2016), several short story anthologies, and The Anatomy of Murder (1936), an investigation into real-life crimes.

In the early 1930s, the proceeds from The Floating Admiral enabled the Club to rent premises at 31 Gerrard Street in Soho, London.

Members are elected by secret ballot and there is an initiation ceremony which involves the taking of an oath on a skull. The wording of this has varied over the years but it was initially: 'Do you promise that your detectives shall well and truly detect the crimes presented to them, using those wits which it may please you to bestow upon them, and not placing reliance on, nor making use of, Divine Revelation, Feminine Intuition, Mumbo Jumbo, Jiggery-Pokery, Coincidence, or Act of God?'

The Detection Club's current President is Martin Edwards and the Club organises three meetings a year. As Honorary Archivist of the Detection Club, Martin Edwards has also organised the collection of the archives of several of the Club's members, including Lionel Davidson, Robert Barnard, and Julian Symons.

Provenance

The original accession of records from the Detection Club to Gladstone’s Library was in 2016. At this point a loan agreement was created starting the 14^th March 2016 for a period of seven years.

Since 2016 there have been periodic accruals to the records.

Access and Finding Aid

This archive is in the process of being catalogued and cannot be viewed at present.

Reprographics

This archive is in the process of being catalogued and no reprographics requests can be received in relation to it at present.