[2][3][4] In 1886, the Times of India reproduced a report from The Statesman the on a meeting held by a group of Englishmen to establish a "Swimming Bath" in Kolkata.

[5] Buckland and Wallis intended to provide amenities for their junior assistants, who lacked the social standing and financial means to gain admission to older and more expensive clubs.

[12] The race required participants to ride a mussuck (inflated with air) in the water "in full costume, with boots and tall hats, any competitor being counted out who arrives at the goal-one hundred feet from the starting point-with head uncovered".

[14][15] Another tradition is a hasya (humorous) kavi sammelan, where prominent Hindi poets and satirists such as Chirag Jain and Arun Gemini have participated.

[8] Among notable overseas guests, the legendary British wartime singer Vera Lynn visited the club while touring India in 1944.

"[24] The situation changed in 1964 (around the time of Bowles' directive), when the Maharaja of Cooch Behar was inducted as the club's first Indian member.

[25] A controversial event in connection with the club's racial policies was an incident involving the Marxist politician (and five-time MLA) Ram Chatterjee in 1969.

To protest against this, Chatterjee brought a busload of Santhal village men, wearing loincloths and armed with bows and arrows, to the club.

[33] The club's then president, Mahabir Prasad Jalan, later clarified that no insult was intended to Shankar and that he was welcome to attend in his "usual clothes".

[30] In 2017, various news outlets reported that Art of Living instructor Khurshed Batliwala had been denied entry into the club for being dressed in a kurta-pyjama.

Notable among them are Satyajit Ray's Seemabaddha (in a scene where the protagonists discuss the club's erstwhile racial admission policies)[40] and Salil Dutta's Ogo Bodhu Shundori,[41] during whose shooting the renowned Bengali actor Uttam Kumar died.