Garrick Club
The Garrick Club is a former gentlemen's club in London founded in 1831. As of May 2024 the club is now admitting women as members.
It is one of the oldest members' clubs in the world. Its 1,500 members include at least 160 senior legal professionals and members of the judiciary including King's Counsel (KCs), Supreme Court and Court of Appeals judges, at least 10 serving members of parliament (MPs) and dozens of members of the House of Lords, many heads of public institutions alongside many actors, members of the arts, and businessmen.
New candidates must be proposed by an existing member and seconded by another member, before supporting signatures are collected from members and the prospective member goes in front of a series of committees followed by a secret vote on membership. According to the club website, the original assurance of the committee is "that it would be better that ten unobjectionable men should be excluded than one terrible bore should be admitted".
Admission of Women
In March 2024 the club came under public scrutiny due to its apparently reluctance to accept women as members. In early May the club held a closed-door meeting for members in which they discussed the admission of women and then voted on the question. Approximately 200 members including Stephen Fry and musician Gordon Sumner (better known as Sting) indicated they would resign if women were not admitted as members.[1][2]
The club had reportedly held several votes from the 1980s onwards on the admission of women as members. All before the recent vote had been defeated.[3][4]
See Also
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