EAST INDIA CLUB CELEBRATES ITS 175TH ANNIVERSARY WITH TRIBUTE BY AIAC CHAIRMAN
For Immediate Release
London, UK - December 13, 2024 – The East India Club commemorated its 175th Anniversary and celebrated the holiday season on Thursday, December 12, 2024, with its annual Christmas Carol Concert and Black Tie Gala Dinner. The evening commenced with Club Chairman Mark Dean’s recital of “A Tribute to the East India Club at 175,” a poetic homage and toast composed by L. M. Levie, Chairman of American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC). Mr. Dean’s recitation set a tone of reverence and celebration, honoring the Club’s rich history and its enduring legacy. The poem is found below:
A highlight of the night was the concert performance by the VOCES8 Scholars, a group of highly talented singers from across the UK, specializing in choral music. The ensemble featured Dominique Saulnier, Laura Newey, Lily Robinson, Sophie Timms, Joseph Hancock, Colin Danskin, Harry Hobbs, and Dominic Felts.
In keeping with tradition, Club members and their guests joined in singing God Rest You Merry Gentlemen and Oh Little Town of Bethlehem. Members enjoyed a reception, full course dinner, dessert and after dinner libations in the main dining room of the clubhouse.
An active member of the East India club for over 25 years, AIAC Chairman Levie is in its History, Art, Chess, and Racing Interest Groups.
Mr. Levie commented, “This year’s festive Christmas Carol Concert and Gala Dinner was a resounding success, reflecting the Club’s camaraderie, good will, and tradition. Chairman Mark Dean, Secretary Alex Bray, and the dedicated members of our Committee skillfully navigated the East India Club to its momentous 175th Anniversary, ensuring it remains as financially and operationally robust as ever. In recent years, our club successfully weathered the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic, a tragic crisis that many businesses and nonprofit organizations would not ultimately survive. For this heroic feat, we owe our club’s leadership and staff our highest praise and sincerest gratitude.”
Mr. Levie continued, “Some of my most treasured memories come from the time spent with dear friends in the dining room and lounge at 16 St. James Square. May the East India Club continue to flourish for another 175 years.”
For further information, please see:
https://eastindiaclub.co.uk ‘’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Club
About the East India Club
The East India Club is a gentlemen’s club established in 1849 and situated at 16 St. James’s Square, London. Originally founded for officers and employees of the East India Company, the club’s membership initially included individuals from the company’s civil, military, naval, and medical services, as well as commissioned officers of Her Majesty’s Army and Navy who had served in India. Its first patron was Prince Albert, reflecting its close ties to Britain’s administration in India.
Following the dissolution of the East India Company in 1874, the club evolved by merging with several other notable institutions, including the Sports Club (1938), the Public Schools Club (1972), and the Devonshire Club (1976). These mergers helped sustain the club as it faced the challenges of increasing maintenance costs for its historic building.
The clubhouse, located in the prestigious St James’s Square, is a distinguished venue with a rich history. The original house on the site dates back to the 17th century and has been home to notable figures such as the Earl of Suffolk, the Marquess of Clanricarde, and the Duke of St Albans. In 1815, the house was the setting for a significant historical event—when Major Henry Percy delivered news of Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Waterloo to the Prince Regent. The current clubhouse was constructed in 1866, replacing the earlier building on the same site.
The club offers an extensive range of facilities and amenities for its members. These include a formal dining room, a luncheon room, and several distinguished bars, such as the American Bar, named in gratitude to American officers who stayed at the club during World War II and later contributed funds for its refurbishment. Similarly, the Canadian Room acknowledges the contributions of Canadian officers who provided timber for the room after the war. Other facilities include a library featuring both antiquarian and contemporary works, a billiard room, a cigar lounge, a gym and sauna, a card room, and 67 bedrooms, including the St James’s Suite. The Rugby Room, once used by the International Rugby Board before its relocation to Dublin, has been converted into a study space.
In keeping with its traditional and international connections, the East India Club maintains reciprocal arrangements with over 100 clubs worldwide, allowing members to access similar facilities at partner clubs across different countries. The club remains a popular venue for private events, regularly hosting functions and gatherings for its members.
Despite its colonial origins, the East India Club has successfully adapted to modern times, preserving its historic traditions while maintaining a vibrant social and sporting environment for its members. Today, it continues to be recognized as one of London’s most distinguished gentlemen’s clubs, offering an exclusive and refined space for its members in the heart of St James’s Square.
Prominent patrons and members of the club have included Prince Albert, Consort to Queen Victoria, Lord Randolph Churchill, Lord Mountbatten, Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes, Jr., Sir Dennis Thatcher, and current Reform Party Leader Nigel Farage.
About American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) is a diversified industrial group with manufacturing and distribution sites in 24 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia. AIAC has acquired and grown non-core subsidiaries and divisions of Boeing, Siemens, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Johnson Controls, Merck, Pfizer, Astellas, Visteon, Carlyle, Ahlstrom, Tolko, Groupe Suez, Groupe Rexel, and many other leading multinational corporations.
AIAC companies serve companies and governmental entities worldwide in all major sectors, including aviation, space, defense, automotive, truck, rail, marine, petrochemical, solar, nuclear, food, confectionary, beverage, civil engineering and infrastructure, commercial construction, mining, dredging, disaster relief, education, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. AIAC companies manufacture materials, components, assemblies, packaging, equipment, and finished products. In addition, AIAC companies are exclusive, authorized distributors of leading branded industrial and consumer products and serve as a critical supplier and subcontractor for major airports, schools, hospitals, performing art and sports centers, offices and hotels throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. AIAC is a leading manufacturer of building, street, and highway signage in Europe, signage and illumination structures in North America, and a distributor of electrical products throughout France.
Of note, AIAC purchased Boeing Canada in 2005 and has produced over 10,000 unique components for every Boeing jet plane ever since, reliably serving Boeing from manufacturing facilities in North America. A leader in ultra-high precision jet engine component manufacturing, AIAC companies produce 2,200 fan blades and blisks for each jet engine produced by GE, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, and Honeywell. AIAC companies produce the critical automotive wire and cable for Tesla, GM, Ford, Chrysler- Fiat, Toyota, and Nissan. In connection with its kraft paper manufacturing interests in Canada and the US, AIAC controls and sustainably manages 22 million acres of Manitoba, Canada forestland, an area equivalent in size to the nation of Hungary.
AIAC companies actively support exploration into outer space, manufacturing critical components for launching and propelling spacecraft and satellites. AIAC customers in this sector include NASA, the European Space Agency, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Boeing. AIAC companies also lead in the design and manufacture of undersea umbilical cables for worldwide oceanographic research.
Another AIAC affiliate, located in Germany, designs, manufactures and distributes high performance emergency portable power generators required during natural disasters, including extreme climate events worldwide. Clients include government agencies and the International Red Cross.
For further information, please see:
About AIAC Philanthropy
AIAC and the AIAC Foundation support a wide range of nonprofit, nonsectarian, bipartisan organizations which promote international conflict resolution, disaster relief, economic development, environmental sustainability, and exploration. The exploration-focused nonprofit organizations which they actively support include the National Geographic Society, the Royal Geographical Society, the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Space Society, and the United States Space Foundation.
AIAC Chairman L. M. Levie is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Explorers Club, a 120-year-old organization whose members have pioneered the exploration of the earth, the oceans, an outer space. AIAC and its affiliates, Bradford Space, Canadian Kraft Paper Industries, Super Alloy Manufacturing Solutions, and Champlain Cable are Partners of The Explorers Club. In 2024, AIAC Companies proudly served as a corporate sponsor of Hubert Sagniere’s historic circumnavigation of the earth in a single-engine plane (www.flightaroundtheglobe.com).
AIAC’s other beneficiaries include the Appeal of the Nobel Peace Laureates Foundation Inc., the Asia Society, the Atlantic Council, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Gates Philanthropy Partners, the Bretton Woods Committee, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carter Center, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, the Foreign Policy Association, the Institut Française des Relations Internationales, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Crisis Group, the International Rescue Committee, the Japan Society, the JFK School of Government of Harvard University, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), the Sierra Club, and the Trilateral Commission.
For further information, see:
https://www.aiac.com/our-values
Media Contact:
Isabel Carro-Toro, Vice President
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
+34 689 295 827 (Spain)
+ 1 787 244 3175 (USA)
icarro-toro@aiac.com
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