The Chaps Club

The Chaps Club was founded in 1921 making it the oldest of the Imperial Tie Clubs, and has the aim of furthering the interests of its members while they studied and after they leave the Royal School of Mines. Membership has always been by invitation only, and those students who are deemed to have given the most to the RSM, be it on the sports pitch, in the Union office or the Union Bar may be offered the chance to join.

Members can be easily recognised by the distinctive chocolate and duck-egg blue tie worn every Friday by Chaps wherever they are, and the Club provides a strong network of RSM-trained geologists and Engineers throughout the world – indeed, there are more Chaps in Perth, Western Australia than there are in London, and the Club has members on every continent. Above all it provides a great way of staying in touch with alumni, both old and young, through regular events including dinners and an annual trip to the Epsom Derby, and any Chaps passing through London find it hard to resist the urge to return to the Union bar on a Friday.

The objectives of the Club have not changed in 100 years, as per the Constitution

The furtherance of the interests of the Royal School of Mines

The furtherance of the interests of its members

The promotion of goodwill and fellowship amongst its members

The holding of dinners, trips, etc.
Enabling members once they have left the RSM

Whilst not in the early years, to the right is a photograph from 1980/81 of Club members. The photo includes Professors Ball (Dean of RSM), Jeffes and Cohen and various other staff members. The picture illustrates the relationship between staff and students and that staff, at the highest level of the college, were comfortable being members of the Club.

Unfortunately, in recent years, the tie clubs have suffered because of prohibitive attitudes to the Clubs by a dominant IC Union, academic staff seem uncomfortable with becoming members and tankards in the bar are currently a thing of the past, deemed by the IC Union to be ‘elitist’.

Committee 2024-25

President: Tommy Simmons

Vice-president: Jay Haley

Honorary secretary: Patrick Marks

Junior Treasurer: Felix Watson

Annual Editors: Isla Nicolson, Tom Martin

Previous presidents

M.H. CANNING 1921

H.D. VIGEON 1922

D. NICHOLSON 1922

A.W. CLARK 1923

R.O. MADEW 1924

C.A. BOTT 1925

C.F. HATCH 1926

J.R. MARTIN 1927

J.B. PEARCE 1928

A.J. CLASEN 1929

E.R. HUNTER 1930

E.R. HUNTER 1931

J. WALSER 1932

A.H. ROCYN JONES 1933

G. STILES 1934

H.E. JOSSELYN 1935

H.L. PAXTON 1936

L.L. EDWARDS 1937

A.P. HARMAN 1938

C.W. GOLDSMITH 1939

G.E.A. SANFIELD 1940

R. COMYN 1941

J.D. JOHNSON 1942

E.W. PRITCHARD-DAVIES 1943

E.W. PRITCHARD-DAVIES 1944

P. HARDING 1945

P. HARDING 1946

D.H. DAVIDSON 1947

D.A.O. MORGAN 1948

D.G. NORRIS 1949

D. GRIFFITHS 1950

T.H. SCRIMINGER 1951

M.D. MARTIN 1952

J.S. CHESTER 1953

J.S. CHESTER 1954

R.A. APPLEBY 1955

G. GREEN 1956

J.C. DE VILLIERS 1957

O. GILBERT 1958

T.G. BANKS 1959

J.D. FAIRFIELD 1960

B. OLDFIELD 1961

R.W. WILSHAW 1962

J.K. MARSHALL 1963

N. GRAVETTE 1964

R.W. SLATER 1965

H. SMITH 1966

K. MCQUHAE 1967

P.H. VELZEBOER 1968

G. WIDELSKI 1969

1970

T.F. MASON 1971

J. O'LEARY 1972

S. KESLER 1973

T.J.C. WEBBORN 1974

T.J.C. WEBBORN 1975

P.M. WAUGH 1976

S.J. PATERSON 1977

J.H. COATES 1978

J.L. GREGORY 1979

I. BOTTOMLEY 1980

R.D. PARKINSON 1981

K.D. BALDIE 1982

C.J. DOBSON 1983

N.J. FAULKNER 1984

M.J. NAYLOR 1985

D.J. PEARCE 1986

R. PERRY 1987

R. DAVIES 1988

C.H. DAVIES 1989

J.L. RIDING 1990

J.P.H. JONES 1990

H.J. LONGDEN 1991

T.P. COTTON 1992

A.M. JOHNSON 1993

P. HJERTHOLM 1994

G. WALLER 1995

R. KARAMAT 1996

M. BUTTENSHAW 1997

A. HARRISON 1998

J. DUGGIN 1999

M. COCKAYNE 2000

J. McCUSKER 2001

D. SMITH 2002

G. NORTHAM 2003

R. THOMAS 2004

B. STOFFELL 2005

J. FRANKLIN 2006

R. PHILLIPPS 2007

S. TAPSTER 2008

A. PHILPOTT 2009

B. GOLENKOV 2010

F. JAMES 2011

E.G. VAUGHAN 2012

P. BROWN 2013

F. WHITE 2014

J. RANKIN 2015

G. WARNER 2016

O.RODGER 2017

O. PARKER 2018

S. CASEMENT 2019

E. COMPTON 2020

A. MISRA 2021

H. WHITTAKER 2022

E. ZIYAL 2023

T. SIMMONS 2024

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