Benjamin Franklin, Debauchery, & the Hellfire Club, UK

Dark & seedy place where British aristocrats hung out

Just down the road from my home are some notorious caves. Known as the Hellfire Caves, they are associated with 18th century devil worship and debauchery, not to mention the ghosts and paranormal investigations! Lots of questionable activities have taken place down there, and it wasn’t all eccentric Brits!

The Founding Father of the USA, Benjamin Franklin, spent a considerable amount of time in London during the 18th century. He was known for his intellectual pursuits and social engagements and was a good friend of Sir Francis Dashwood, a British politician and a member of the English aristocracy who owned West Wycombe Park and Estate.

Francis Dashwood was the founder of the Hellfire Club and the Society of Dilettanti (an art appreciation club). He invited his friends and acquaintances to join him for riotous parties, mock religious ceremonies, and strange rituals at Medmenham Abbey in Buckinghamshire, and later, in the Hellfire Caves on his estate.

Benjamin Franklin visited Dashwood’s caves regularly, to take part in the Hellfire Club activities. He’s thought to have been a member of the club, although some argue he might only have been a guest.

The Hellfire Club was notorious for drunken parties, fornication and revelry. Set up to mock religion and polite society, the leader would dress as a devil character and members would attend dressed as monks.

Sir Francis Dashwood was famously regarded as a “genius for obscenity,” with a love of drama and promiscuity. It was all rather theatrical, and the British aristocrats and their lady friends loved it.

It was 1751 when Dashwood first leased Medmenham Abbey near his home in West Wycombe and renovated the building in Gothic style for use by his new club. At that time it was called the Order of the Friars of St Francis of Wycombe. It later became known as the Hellfire Club.

Activities included ceremonies and rituals, risqué behaviour, and members would enact parodies of religious and political figures.

Members, included many influential people of the time, all engaging in scandalous behaviours. They weren’t just ridiculing religion. They were pushing sexual boundaries with perverse acts, prostitutes, and promiscuity, most of which would probably still be frowned upon today.

Medmenham Abbey’s walls were adorned with erotic artwork, depicting club members engaging in sexual activities. The library contained a collection of infamous pornography.

The members, all men, were invited to bring ladies of “a cheerful, lively disposition,” to enjoy the liberating activities of the club. They would travel across the River Thames to reach the Abbey in Gondolas. It was all very dramatic.

In darkened rooms, wearing masks and cloaks, members would drink brandy and brimstone to honour the Gods of Darkness. Satirical rituals, orgies and sordid activities with ‘women of the night’ were all part of the experience.

Devil worship and sacrifice may have been playful or in jest, as much of it was for high drama, rather than an act of serious devotion to a deity or a demon. The club was a place for people to let their hair down and do whatever they liked. The club motto was Fais ce que tu voudras, which means ‘Do what thou wilt’.

Horace Walpole described the Hellfire Club as, ‘rigorously pagan: Bacchus and Venus were the deities to whom they almost publicly sacrificed’.

As the night drew on, activities inside the walls of the Abbey became more ‘obscene’, with MP John Wilkes getting a fright when a Baboon dressed as the devil leapt from a chest. He asked the devil to spare him, but it was just a monkey and a bad case of drunkenness.

After a burst of bad publicity in 1760, Francis Dashwood moved the Club onto his own estate and their activities continued inside the Hell Fire Caves at West Wycombe.

Here, they dined in the Banqueting Chamber, feasting on Holy Ghost Pie, Breast of Venus, and Devil’s Loin, all in the flickering light of candles.

The members engaged in strange and sordid activities. Conducting the meetings in caves added a new element of mystery and excitement to proceedings.

Activities at West Wycombe were described as “obscene parodies of religious rites”. By 1762 the Hellfire club and its members had a notorious reputation for scandalous goings on.

However, the club was abandoned in 1766 after being utterly disgraced, while some of the members were ruined politically because of its notoriety.

Some of the activities may have been exaggerated over the years, while others have been covered up. Little was written down about what actually happened in the depths of those caves, so much is left to snippets of information, erotic paintings, and leaps of imagination!

Other Hellfire Clubs did exist in the UK, always characterized by their clandestine and often controversial activities.

Another Hellfire Club was connected to Sir William Stourton at Stourhead in Wiltshire in the 1740s. Like the Medmenham Abbey club, the Stourhead Hellfire Club was known for its secretive and exclusive nature, with members engaging in potentially scandalous activities.

What was Benjamin Franklin’s role exactly? He may have been a laid back observer. He may even have been a guest, or he may have been a fully fledged member, enjoying the debauchery as much as anyone else!

The Hellfire Caves tour today suggests he was a fully fledged member of the club, and he was certainly friendly with its founder. However, what exactly went on down there is largely speculative, and the truth is as dark , murky and mysterious as the caves themselves…

Sources: The Conversation; Wikipedia

© Susie Kearley 2024. All Rights Reserved.

See photos inside the caves and read about the ghosts…