Kit-Cat Club

Club founded in London in 1703 to encourage literature and art, and named after Christopher Cat (or Katt), at whose tavern it met. Ultimately it became a Whig society to promote the Hanoverian succession. Among its original 39 members were the Duke of Marlborough, Robert Walpole, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, and William Congreve. The membership later increased to 48.

The painter Godfrey Kneller was also a member and painted the portraits of 44 members under the direction of Jacob Tonson (1656–1736), who was secretary and general manager of the club. In 1945 the National Art Collections Fund purchased these portraits for the National Portrait Gallery, London.