British Clubs and Societies 1580-1800: The Origins of an Associational World - Peter Clark - Google Books

http://books.google.de/books?id=q1CqekKpfKEC

Modern freemasonry was invented in London about 1717, but was only one of a surge of British associations in the early modern era which had originated before the English Revolution. By 1800, thousands of clubs and societies had swept the country.…