20 
LAND & WATER 
June 15, 1916 
many members hope the Club will never revert to men- 
waiters. Chief Petty Officer Thompson voiced this wish 
at the annual general meeting in April. He said : " In 
the dining-room it is better to have ladies> or girls as 
we call them, than it is to have men. You are waited 
on nicely. There is no slackness whatever, and I have 
seen here hundreds and thousands who have been attended 
to without any argument or cross word by anyone." 
It was at this meeting that Serjeant-Major Wood re- 
marked that he had heard men say so often until it l;ad 
become a jirovcrb in the army : "If you go to London, 
there is only one place to go to. If you go to the Union 
Jack Club you will receive the proper treatment a man 
should receive from everybody there." Could there 
be higher or truer apprecia- 
tion ? Said a sailor the othcT 
day to the Secretary : "I 
have used the Club since it 
opened ; it is my home." 
A soldier who left by a 
very early train on his return 
to active service, pinned 
this note to his pillow : 
" This is the best place I 
have ever been in. Thanks 
for all." These one or two 
tributes say more for the 
good work the Club is doing 
than volumes of writing 
or talk. It has proved in- 
valuable to the British Navy 
and to men of the Regular 
Army and the New Armies, 
the Naval Volunteers, the 
Territorials while mobilised, 
and to men of the Dominion 
and Colonial Forces. All 
of them are eligible and 
all of them have made free 
use of the Club. Is it any 
wonder that the Clubhouse 
has proved too small ? 
Land & \V.\ter appeals to its readers to help in the 
extension of the Club. That this appeal will be liberally 
responded to we are convinced, and not only by individuals 
but we trust also by communities in a manner we will 
shortly explain. How urgent is the need, and how- 
desirable it is that the work should be put in hand without 
delay can be judged from these messages from Admiral 
Sir John Jellicoe and General Sir Douglas Haig : 
From Admiral Jellicoe • 
T/ie Union Jack Club has been of incslimablc bzncfit 
'la the men of the Fleet since its erection, and its value 
has been beyond words. During the war the urgent 
need for further extension has bsen demonstrated a 
thousand times, and I trust that your appeal for funds 
for this extension will meet with the wonderful success 
which has so far attended all your kindly efforts. 
From General Haig : 
Please accept my best wishes for the success of your 
appeal. The Union Jack Club has for the past nine 
years conferred inestimable benefits on many thousands 
of our sailors and soldiers. Your proposed extension 
scheme comes at a most suitable moment, and will, I 
feel sure, be welcomed by all who wish to perpetuate 
the memory of those gallant men who have fallen in the 
cause of freedom. 
Ihe King, who is patron-in-chief, laid the foundation- 
-stone of the Club, when he was Prince of Wales on July 
2ist, 1004, and it is hoped that next month may sec the 
foundation-stone of the extension laid, possibly by His 
Majesty, accompanied by the Queen, who is Patroness- 
in-Chief, should their numerous engagements permit. 
King Edward, accompanied by Queen Alexandra, opened 
thj Club on July ist, upj. so July is a momentous month 
in its annals. If readers of Land cS: Water were to 
enable tlie coming' month to witness this new function, 
it w,)uld indeed be a splendid achievement. But there is 
no time to be lost. It is more bedrooms that the Club 
re^ijjires most urgently. To have to refuse slee])ing 
accommodation goes grcritly against the grain, but until 
more bedrooms arc in existence this is inevitable. Sir 
Douglas Haig, it will be noticed, speaks of the extension 
The Club-House in Waterloo Road 
scheme as a means to perpetuate " the memory of gallant 
men who have fallen in the cause of freedom." This is 
possible in a simple fashion. Each bedroom is calculated 
to cost £100, and a donation of £iQO gives the privilege 
for one room to be dedicated to whomsoever the donor 
nominates. A small tablet is alhxcd to the door, signify- 
ing in whose honour it has been given, and whosoever 
enjoys a night's repose there must of necessity feci 
gratitude to him or those whose memory it perpetuates. 
Throughout the British Empire to-day memorial 
funds are being raised to commemorate the gallant 
self-sacrifice of men from this or that village, township 
or possibly commercial undertaking " who have fallen 
in the cause of freedom." A bedroom at the Union 
Jack Club should always be 
at least a part of such 
memorial. It is in this way 
that communities are able 
to assist in this good cause. 
We should also like to see 
every one of the ancient 
Guilds of the City of London 
represented at the Club in 
this manner. Their peculiar 
glory is the freedom they 
have tli(^ right to bestow on 
their fellow citizens, a free- 
dom which was only won 
tlirough centuries of struggle 
and which is now being 
maintained and defended 
by members of the Union 
Jack Club. 
As for private individuals, 
many wc know there to be 
who have only to be made 
acquainted with "the urgent 
need for further extension," 
to quote Admiral Jellicoe's 
words, to contribute gener-- 
ously and gladly, rejoicing 
in the opportunity thus 
afforded to pay a persona] , tribute to rank and file of 
Navy and Army. How often and often during the last 
sad months have we heard of officers who lived for their 
men and died leading them into action. There could 
not be a finer or fitter manner of commemoration than 
by consecrating a bedroom to their memory. Think what 
It would mean in practice. Men of the old regiment where 
the remembrance of these .gallant gentlemen shines 
with lustre, would be glad to occupy the rooms and would 
proudly relate to their fellow-members the deed, the 
life and the death of them whose name it bore. Thus 
would the Union Jack Club become as it were, the 
munnnent tower, the record oftice of the most unselfish 
heroism of this great war. The dead would be held in 
remembrance, their glory would not be blotted out, 
through the continuance of that consideration for their 
men's welfare for which they laid down their lives. 
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AH Contributions for iJie U.J.C. Extension 
Fund should he forwarded to : 
The Rditor, 
" LAND & WATER," 
Empire House, Kingsway, 
London, W.C^ 
Envelopes should be nunfied " U.J.C. 
Fund." Cheques should he drawn in favour 
of the U.J.C. Extension Fund, and Crossed 
" Coutts Banfi" 
