During the 1869/70 season myth has it that Hampstead became Harlequins under a lamp post at two o’clock in the morning, although it is more likely that the move was forced and as a growing number of members did not live in the Hampstead area it was decided to search for pastures new.

The break from Hampstead brought about an interesting combination of old and new within the club. The club’s colours changed to largely the same as those worn today. Other aspects of the original club remained. The club motto ‘Nunquam Dormio’ (Never Asleep) was retained. The clubs members seem to have become quite attached to the monogram HFC that had originated with Hampstead and so it was decided to rename the club with a title that would retain this but remove the geographical link. Legend has it that a dictionary was found and all the words beginning with ‘H’ read out until Harlequin was reached and accepted by common assent, although not everyone seems to have approved of these changes, with some members leaving the club to form a new one called Wasps! Despite this membership seems to have risen during the next few years although the club itself was far from settled. From Hampstead Cricket Club Harlequins moved to Highbury and a venue known as the old sluice house, where the conditions were apparently somewhat less than salubrious. This aside it was during the clubs tenure at Highbury that Harlequins, along with the representatives of twenty other clubs attended a meeting held on 26^th January 1871 at the Old Pall Mall restaurant in Charing Cross that resulted in the formation of the Rugby Football Union.

After just two years at the old sluice house Harlequin’s nomadic early existence continued with a move to the Pages Cricket ground at Tufnell Park. This arrangement lasted only for the duration of the 1871/72 season prior to a further move to the Britannia in Swiss Cottage. Only one year later Harlequins were on the move again for the 1873/74 season to the Green Man in Putney Heath. Despite the constant upheaval this season also saw the emergence of a second fifteen at the club. In later years this second fifteen became known as the Wanderers, an appropriate title given the unsettled nature of Harlequins early years. The Harlequins association with the Green Man again lasted only for the duration of one season before a move to the King William the Fourth Tavern in Kensal Green. This venue seems to have been equally unappealing, and again after just one season the club was on the road again to the Queens Grounds in Hammersmith. This venue with the clubhouse located at the Queen of England lasted for three years before the club moved on again staying briefly at Devonshire Park. It was at this ground in 1883 that the first home match was played and won against a visiting Cardiff side. In 1885 the club finally settled at the Chiswick Park Cricket ground. The presence of a pavilion at the ground combined with easy access to the Chiswick Park railway station seems to have been a winning combination as the club remained here for twelve years until 1897 when the ground was sold to St. Thomas’ Hospital.

This period in the clubs history seems to have been a relatively settled and prosperous one. The standard of available opposition was growing and the club was able to spread its wings playing both in Birkenhead and Weston Super Mare shortly after arriving in Chiswick with further recognition in 1891 when the first Harlequin, W R M Leake, was capped by England. By the following year Harlequins was fielding three sides, the 1^st, A and 2^nd fifteens with a membership of 293, although it is likely that many of these were retired from actively playing. With the clubs enforced departure from Chiswick the next stop on the seemingly endless tour by Harlequins around the capitol was at the Catford Sports Ground. After only two years the club was on the move again, this time to Wimbledon Park, and a venue known as the Polo Grounds. This move to Wimbledon found the Harlequins club at a very low ebb. The clubs stay there between 1899 and 1901 coincided with Boer war and it is likely that many playing members of the club volunteered for military service, adversely affecting not only player selection but also the clubs funds. Things became so serious that it appeared that the club would be forced to disband. This crisis was ridden out by the clubs members who managed to raise over sixty six pounds at a general meeting in January 1900 which kept the club solvent. With the immediate future assured the clubs first meeting with the Racing Club de France took place on February 10^th 1901, and although the result has been lost this may well have been the first of it’s many European encounters.

In 1901, after only two years Harlequins again moved grounds, this time to Wandsworth Common and the Heathfield Cricket Club, at a rent not exceeding the princely sum of thirty five pounds a year. This move seems to have settled the club after the turmoil it had faced at Wimbledon, and by the annual meeting in 1902 that the clubs finances were at last in a healthy condition. This turn around was brought about not only by an increase in the clubs membership, but also by temporarily at least suspending some of the clubs more costly excursions. By 1907 with a growing base of supporters and success on the field against teams such as Bath and Blackheath. Team spirit also seems to have been on the increase within the social side of the club with monthly club dinners organised at Simpson’s in the Strand. Harlequin’s success continued in the next season of 1908/09 with victories over amongst others Richmond, London Scottish, Leicester and Blackheath. As a finale to the season the Harlequins again travelled abroad, this time to Frankfurt to play the newly emerging German national fifteen. Following the Harlequins victory a social engagement was organised to cement post match relations, as is commonly the case in the rugby world. Unfortunately, due to an error, the Harlequins team arrived late and were fined 10 glasses of beer each during which C E L Hammond of Harlequins and England was elected beer king of Germany due to his prowess during the forfeit!

Beyond doing their bit for international relations this season also marked the signing of the lease agreement for the club to play its home matches at the new Twickenham Stadium. The Rugby Football Union was keen to have a major club play it’s rugby there to accustom the spectating public to the new amenities that would be available for international matches, and as has already been shown the Harlequins club was in dire need of a permanent residence. The agreement was signed early in 1909 which was to commence from the start of the following season in 1909/10. Twickenham at this time was very different to the modern stadium currently found there. The ground boasted two small stands on the East and West sides and must have been imposing for the average club match, but even so Harlequins now had a place to call their own.

The 1909/10 season commenced with an away fixture, albeit not very far from Twickenham at Old Deer Park against Old Merchant Taylor’s. Having dispatched this opposition by twenty two points to fourteen Harlequins were at last ready to play their inaugural match at the newly constructed Twickenham Stadium. The match was played on October 2^nd 1909 against Richmond. The first kick off was taken by Gordon Carey and the first try scored by John Birkett as Harlequins triumphed in this first match by fourteen points to ten. This seems to have set the scene for the remainder of the season with Harlequins winning eighteen out of twenty three matches overcoming on the way such teams as Blackheath, Rosslyn Park, Bedford and London Scottish. The move to Twickenham brought with it not only success on the pitch for the Harlequins club. Attendance for the first match at Twickenham against Richmond was around the two thousand mark, which only a few years ago would have remained an average gate for the club. At last Harlequins had found themselves a home where they remain to this day, albeit in their own ground the Twickenham Stoop.

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