The Coterie was a fashionable and famous set of English aristocrats and intellectuals of the 1910s, widely quoted and profiled in magazines and newspapers of the period.
[1] Its members included Lady Diana Manners, then considered a famous beauty in England; Duff Cooper, who became a Conservative politician and a diplomat; Raymond Asquith, son of the Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and a famed barrister; Maurice Baring; Patrick Shaw-Stewart, a managing director of Barings Bank and war poet; Julian & Billy Grenfell, Nancy Cunard and her friend Iris Tree; Edward Horner and Sir Denis Anson.
[9] In the early years of the group Asquith was the leader, moderating them to take pride in their learning and erudition, while enjoying wild parties and pranks.
[11] The members indulged in treasure hunts, fancy dress balls, and poker evenings, while holding riotous parties until dawn, with their actions documented by the press.
[10] Their behaviour at one such party was documented by Asquith's stepmother who recorded that, "After dinner, Diana ejaculated, 'I must be unconscious tonight' and went away in a taxi to fetch chloroform from the chemist.
This sentiment was followed by some of their parents, as Raymond Asquith's stepmother wrote to Hilda Harrisson, calling the group "...a rotten social gang...who lead a futile and devastating life.