EXTRAORDINARY HOUSE
MEMORANDUM TO MEMBERS
Reference: MM/2026/005
Date: 1 August 2026
From: The Secretary
To: All Members, Former Members and Persons Following the House for Reasons Not Yet Established
Subject: Establishment of the House’s Instagram Profile
Further to Memoranda MM/2026/002 and MM/2026/003, members are advised that the basic profile of the proposed Extraordinary House Instagram account has now been completed.
The account remains under Committee consideration. Completion of its administrative particulars should not be interpreted as approval of a publishing programme, relaxation of the House rules or evidence that any member of the Committee has personally joined Instagram.
The following particulars have been entered:
Name: Extraordinary House
Account: @extraordinaryhouselondon
Website: extraordinaryhouse.com
Location: St James’s Square, London
Identifying device: The provisional black-and-white EH device
The location has been disclosed only to the extent required by Instagram. It should not be interpreted as confirmation of the present or former address of the House, a claim upon any building in St James’s Square or an invitation to arrive there with luggage.
The profile describes Extraordinary House as a London club under reconstruction. It further records that the private life of the House remains private and that selected records may be released through The Archive.
Several additional questions presented during the establishment of the profile required more extensive consideration than anticipated.
Instagram invited the House to supply information concerning gender and pronouns. The Secretary initially understood this to concern the correct forms of address to be applied to members and their spouses, including Sir, Lord, Mr, Miss, Ms and Mrs, together with the proper treatment of hereditary, courtesy, professional and foreign titles.
A preliminary schedule was accordingly prepared.
A younger member subsequently advised that this was not what Instagram meant.
The schedule has nevertheless been retained, as the Committee agrees that the careless use of titles presents a considerably greater risk to the House than the absence of information requested by a social-media platform.
For the avoidance of doubt:
- Sir is to be used only where the individual is entitled to it and is followed by the person’s first name, not surname alone.
- Lord is not to be applied merely because a member possesses an expensive coat, a country house or an unusually confident manner.
- Mr remains acceptable where no other recognised title applies.
- Miss, Ms and Mrs must be used according to the preference of the person addressed and not according to assumptions made by the Membership Secretary, another member or the seating plan.
- Members possessing professional, military, diplomatic, clerical, academic, hereditary or courtesy titles should state the form in which they wish to be addressed.
- The spouses of titled members do not necessarily acquire corresponding titles, however strongly they may feel that they ought to have done.
- No member may invent a title for use on Instagram and subsequently rely upon its appearance there as evidence of entitlement.
- Where uncertainty remains, the Secretary should be consulted before the member is addressed, announced, engraved or seated.
The House itself has not supplied a gender or pronouns. The Committee considers Extraordinary House, the House and, where historically appropriate, the Club sufficient forms of reference until the separate question of the institution’s proper name has been resolved.
No public telephone number, electronic-mail address or precise premises has been supplied. Correspondence of consequence will continue through the established channels, and material released for public examination will remain available through The Archive.
The profile image consists of the provisional EH device previously reported to members. Its use permits the authorised account to be distinguished from unauthorised representations and does not constitute final adoption of a crest, badge, seal, arms or corporate identity.
The Committee will now consider the objections and recommendations submitted in response to MM/2026/002 before determining:
- whether the account should become active;
- what material may properly be published;
- who may operate it;
- which rules will govern photography, recording and identification;
- and whether the password should be known by more than one living person.
Until those matters have been settled, members, guests and staff should not describe the account as formally launched.
They may, however, acknowledge that it exists if confronted with compelling evidence.
By order of the Committee
The Secretary
Extraordinary House
The profile is complete. The decision to use it remains incomplete.
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