Actresses Judi Dench, 89, and Siân Philips, 91, have passed the approval filter that has made them the first female members of the historic Garrick Club in London since its founding in 1831, according to the British newspaper The Guardian. Both interpreters received the admission of the procedure express during the club’s annual general meeting on Monday evening, July 1. Until now, no woman had been allowed into the Garrick unless invited and accompanied by a man.
It was last May that a vote allowed the inclusion of women in this club with a history of 193 years. Sixty percent of its members voted in favor of this change of rules that had been firmly maintained despite the multiple controversies generated in this regard. In a previous vote held in November 2023, 51% of members voted in favor of admitting women in their halls, while 44% were opposed, which overturned the proposal: according to the rules of the Garrick, a two-thirds majority is required to activate a change of rules.
In February 2024, Colin Brough, a retired theatre producer and member of the club for over 40 years, was expelled from the club after sending a series of emails to other members in which he disagreed with the latest vote, claiming that women should be admitted “immediately” and complaining about a “Putin-like” leadership and calling some members “misogynists”. On 18 March 2024, The Guardian publicfor the first time in its history, the list of prominent members of the iconic club, which included dozens of prominent lawyers, directors of cultural institutions, politicians, lords, actors such as Brian Cox, Stephen Fry, Hugh Bonneville or Benedict Cumberbatch, and even King Charles III. The publication of the list provoked a wave of indignation in the United Kingdom at the large number of influential and powerful figures belonging to a club still determined to exclude women.
“The club’s stance on women does not appear to have made it any less attractive to a range of senior figures in government, the arts and the law. Simon Case, the UK’s cabinet secretary since 2020, joined Garrick in 2019, the same year that Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, became a member. Richard Moore, the head of MI6, joined in 2016,” wrote journalist Amelia Gentleman. in March 2024; “Garrick is often seen as more of a harmless curiosity, a final, lonely appendage of an England that forgot to modernise, and whose endless bickering over the inclusion of women offers an amusing look at Britain’s decadent patriarchal elite as it utters its last gasps,” the journalist continued, adding that, however, “this characterisation is not reflected in the powerful names drawn from the list of club members revealed by The Guardian”.
Judi Dench and Siân Philips were not the only candidates to join the club. Since the new rule was approved in May, several women who held leadership positions in British society were nominated as possible female members. Notable among them were Cambridge professor emeritus, 2016 Princess of Asturias award winner and populariser Mary Beard, former UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd, and news presenter Cathy Newman. However, the complex admission process can take between two and five years, which, according to the British newspaper, caused some concern among several members, since, despite the controversial rule having been changed, the membership of the first woman in the club might not have become effective until 2026. Once the law is made, as always, the trap is set. To include the two actresses, the Garrick has drawn on an old article in its book of strict rules which states that “the general committee may, at its discretion, select four members each year on the basis of their eminence or public distinction.” This means that by the end of the year, the club’s list of 1,500 members could include four women.
Located in the very heart of the West End, a district known for grouping together most of the city’s great theatres, the Garrick Club was created in the early 19th century by a group of “literary gentlemen” under the patronage of King William IV’s brother, Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, with the intention of becoming a place where “actors and refined men could meet on equal terms”. Actors, playwrights, theatre directors and even patrons began to meet and share artistic and cultural interests, but also influential personalities from other fields: “The club was named in honour of the great 18th-century actor David Garrick. Attracted by the combination of the traditions of the 18th-century literary society with the advantages of a well-run restaurant and social club, the first members of the Garrick were a sophisticated and cosmopolitan group that included 24 nobles of the kingdom, as well as writers, actors, musicians and editors,” they explain on their website.
All new candidates were and are to be put forward by an existing member for election in a secret ballot, it being a club maxim not to include soporific people: “It would be better to exclude 10 irreproachable men than to admit one dreadful bore.” Membership costs £1,600 a year. Inside, the space is divided into billiard rooms, reading rooms, private and communal dining rooms, and a bar, where “alcoholic drinks may be served between 7am and 1am, but between 7am and 10am only in combination with food,” according to the bylaws.
