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Judi Dench and Siân Phillips have been named as the first women members of the Garrick Club since it was founded in 1831.
The private members’ club voted in May to admit women after a legal analysis of its rulebook found there was nothing explicitly written that forbade women from joining.
No woman was allowed into Garrick without an invitation and without a man accompanying them around the building until now.
On Monday evening, Dench and Philips were given a fast-tracked membership at the club’s annual general meeting.
Dench, 89, is a renowned actor known for a long career in theatre and films. She won an Oscar in 1998 for her performance as Queen Elizabeth I in the film Shakespeare in Love and two Emmy awards for her roles in Mrs Brown and The Last of the Blonde Bombshells.
Phillips, 91, is known for her early career on stage, playing title roles in Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler and George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan. She won a Bafta and Royal Television Society award for her performance as Livia in the 1976 BBC television series I, Claudius.
Other women nominated as prospective members included classicist Mary Beard, former home secretary Amber Rudd, Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman, and new Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika.
The process of becoming a member is complex and can take between two to five years. This had prompted concern from members that the club would not be able to admit women before 2026.
According to regulation 15 of the club’s rulebook, however, the “general committee may in its discretion elect four members each year in consideration of their public eminence or distinction”. The club can use this rule to add four women to its membership list by the end of this year.
The 193-year-old Garrick Club in Covent Garden was named after the 18th-century actor and playwright David Garrick and was created as a place for actors and patrons of the arts to gather.
The Guardian published the club’s membership list earlier this year. It included the King, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, levelling up secretary Michael Gove, musician Sting and actors Brian Cox and Benedict Cumberbatch.
MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore, cabinet secretary Simon Case and several judges subsequently resigned from the club, which had repeatedly blocked the admission of women since the 1960s.
During the vote in May, members listened to arguments for and against allowing women for two hours, reported The Times.
One member who supported women’s inclusion said: “A remarkable club will become more remarkable and it will continue to thrive rather than die.”
Actors Stephen Fry and Nigel Havers and former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumpton were believed to have spoken in favour of letting women in.
The vote was held at the Connaught Rooms, London, and members who couldn’t make it in person were allowed to join remotely.
