One of the last prominent ones gentlemen’s clubs in the United Kingdom it is no longer ‘men only’. The fifteen hundred members of The Garrick Club in London agreed on Tuesday evening to admit women. This was preceded by a two-hour private debate. Nothing was allowed to leak, but British media reported that the mood had been quite tense: forty percent wanted to continue banning women.
The Garrick Club was founded in 1831 by “literary gentlemen”, including King William IV’s brother, Prince Augustus Frederick. The club was to be a place, according to the club’s website, where “actors and men of refinement and education would meet on equal terms.” The club is named after the eighteenth century actor David Garrick. Many prominent judges, lawyers, journalists, writers and actors were and are members.
Since the 1990s, members have made several attempts to admit women, but the board has always prevented this. For example, House of Representatives member Anthony Lester nominated the writer Mary Ann Sieghart, but he was only allowed to take her for lunch. Actor Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Paddington) wrote in 2011 as the name of Joanne Lumley, best known for the British series Absolutely Fabulous, in the book for candidate members, but that led to major protests. One angry member wrote: “Women are not allowed here and never will be.” A petition for women’s membership three years ago received support from Cherie Blair, a lawyer and the wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair. The majority remained against: women were only allowed to come as a guest of a man.
Embarrassed
A revelation from The Guardian six weeks ago caused the turnaround. The newspaper revealed a list of sixty names of prominent members, such as actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Stephen Fry, musicians Mark Knopfler and Sting. Some of them were seriously embarrassed. The head of the MI6 intelligence service and the director of the Royal Opera House canceled their membership.
Also The New York Times delved into the story and noted that there was still a lot of resistance to changing policy. Former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption told the reporter: “The Garrick Club is not a public body and the whole matter is too trivial to make such a fuss about.” But he turned out not to have a good sense of the spirit of the times. Seven women with prominent positions in the United Kingdom, from science, politics and journalism, registered as candidates. This led to Tuesday evening’s vote. A group of members, including Mark Knopfler, Sting and Stephen Fry, according to British media, threatened to cancel their membership if the club stuck to the old rules. So that didn’t happen.
There are still some less obvious clubs in the UK where women are banned, such as White’s, Boodle’s, The Beefsteak Club and the Savile Club. Guardian reporter Amelia Gentleman predicted in an analysis on Wednesday that they will also come under pressure to change their policies. She left open whether this will also apply to ‘women-only clubs’.
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