The Royal Torbay Yacht Club was originally founded through the influence of the first Lord Haldon in the year 1875, under the name of the ‘Torquay Yacht Club,’ and an Admiralty warrant was granted on August 25 for permission for the blue ensign of the fleet to be worn on the vessels belonging to the club. In the following October Her late Majesty granted a warrant to the club to assume and use the title of ‘Royal,’ and commanded that the club should be styled the ‘Royal Torquay Yacht Club.’
The designation of the club so continued until 1885, when it became amalgamated with the old-established social club in Torquay, known as the ‘Torbay and South Devon Club,’ and warrants were granted by the Admiralty sanctioning the change of name to the ‘Royal Torbay Yacht Club,’ and authorizing the blue ensign of the fleet with the distinguishing mark of the club thereon to be worn on board the vessels of the club. The club was the recipient of the last ‘Queen’s Cup,’ given by Her late Majesty in 1900, which was won at the club regatta, August, 1900, by Colonel Bagot’s cutter Creole.