Royal Bombay Yacht Club During The British Era, 3 Postcards 1890s
Rare 1890s postcards featuring three views of the Royal Bombay Yacht Club during the British-era Bombay (Mumbai). The Royal Bombay Yacht Club (RBYC) remained effectively a Europeans-only club until the late 1950s. It faces the Gateway of India and is adjacent to the Taj Mahal Hotel. Just as the Byculla, Willingdon, and Bombay Gymkhana clubs, the Royal Bombay Yacht Club was also an elite social club.
Oddly, no Indians were allowed entry into the club until the rules were revised in the late 1950s. The club was founded in 1846, with Henry Morland as its commodore.
An interesting incident involving the viceroy Lord Willingdon, who attempted to bring Indian friends to the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, they were refused entry. Lord Willingdon resigned from the club and went on to establish the Willingdon Sports Club in 1917 without a racial colour bar.
The Club’s building opened in 1881, designed by John Adams with the supervision of F W Stevens. Stevens will be remembered for his architectural design of the spectacular Victoria Terminus. His other notable works were the Municipal Corporation Building, Royal Alfred Sailor’s Home, BB & CI Railway office at Churchgate. One of the royal visitors to the clubhouse was the Duke of Connaught in 1903.
Did you know – that the suffix “Royal” was added to the Bombay Yacht Club after obtaining prior permission from Queen Victoria.
