University Secret Societies and Vilicus

I just wanted to get some feedback from anyone who knows anything about secret university societies in the UK. There's been a lot in the press recently about the Bullingdon Club at Oxford which has spawned many politicians (e.g. David Cameron, Boris Johnson, etc.), but I was intrigued to find out that there are many societies that most people know little or nothing about.

First, there is the Oxford Assassins whose political and financial connections are rumoured to be extremely extensive. Secret meetings organised only hours before hand, highly illegal debauchery, and an "old boy's" network that includes many MPs, judges, and lords.

But this has, at least, some tiny coverage. I am a postgraduate student at the University of Edinburgh, and recently there have been rumours flying around for several months about an ultra-secret society known as the 'Vilicus.' However, it was only today that I spoke with one of my professors. He said that, supposedly, the society was founded by Jacobites in Edinburgh around the beginning of the 17th century, but has been dormant since the First World War. Among its supposed members are two Prime Ministers (Lord Russel and Lord Palmerston), Sir Arthur Conon Doyle, and Sir Walter Scott.

With the rumours increasing every day, is it possible that this society has been so secret that it has existed for over three hundred years with only one or two professional historians ever commenting on it?

I don't know. The whole thing seems slightly fishy....

[edit on 21-2-2007 by brak076]