The University Women's Club, originally the University Club for Ladies, is a British private members club founded in 1886. As the popular gentlemen's clubs did not accept any women as members, its creation was intended to provide an equivalent club accessible to women. By its own definition, it is a club for "graduate and professional women of varied backgrounds and interests". Members include lawyers, scientists, writers and musicians, as well as businesswomen.
The first meeting of the founders of the University Women's Club was held in 32 Portland Place at the home of Gertrude Jackson of Girton College, Cambridge on Saturday, May 5th 1883.[1] It was attended by approximately 60 ladies, predominantly from London and Cambridge, and the chair was taken by another Girtonian, Miss Louisa (later Dame Louisa) Lumsden.[2] On July 17th, 1886 the membership of the 'Association', as it had been called, reached their target number of 200 and the 'University Club for Ladies' was officially founded. The members set out to locate a suitable premises and, in January 1887, it opened its doors on the 2nd and 3rd floors at 31 Bond Street.[3]
The primary requirements for admittance to the Club were, initially, that applicants were graduates of any University or fully qualified medical practitioners. Considering that there were very few Universities that would admit women to degrees at this time, this was extended to include those with 1 year's residence at Oxford or Cambridge in the women's Halls or Colleges, a degree course at any University followed as far as the first examinations and, for students at the London School of Medicine for Women, a pass in the first professional examination of any Medical Corporation. This, unfortunately, left out the real pioneers who had led the charge to make higher education possible for women but very few of whom had any qualifications. The Club therefore extended an invitation to 'Special members' to join as 'ladies who had taken a prominent part in the education of women' [1] which meant that among our early members were the first principles of nearly all the women's Colleges of Oxford, Cambridge and London.[2] A year later this allowance was amended to 'ladies who have distinguished themselves in Art, Science, Literature or Philanthropy, or who have taken a prominent part in the promotion of education'.[1] In 1899, a new category of membership, 'Associate members', was introduced to extend the requirements beyond strictly academic criteria, leading to the entrance of Henrietta Jex-Blake, niece of the medical pioneer Sophie Jex-Blake. This criteria was later defined as women who 'although not academically qualified for election, are, in the opinion of the committee, of equivalent standing' and then further amended to women 'whose qualifications are deemed to be of an appropriate nature'.
The Clubs first House Committee, composed of two honorary Officers (Secretary and Treasurer) and 12 members. Their names were:[1]
Hon Secretary: Miss G.E.M. Jackson, Girton - who continued to play a large role in the running of the Club, both in a direct then more advisory capacity, until her death in September 1920.[1]
Hon. Treasurer: Miss Winkworth, Newnham (Mrs Lamb)
The Club remained in Bond Street for some years, but soon enough the rooms became too small to serve the purposes of the Club, with Miss Jackson keen that the Club also provide bedrooms for it's members. Adding to this the plumbing problems of 32 Bond Street the Committee began its search for new accommodations, looking first at Princes Street before signing the lease for 47 Maddox Street (with it's one bedroom) and moving into the new premises in February, 1894.[1][2]
They remained in Maddox Street for only 5 years, after looking at property in Grosvenor Street and Conduit Street The Club then turned their eyes to George Street, Hanover Square. The Club had two successive addresses in George Street, the first at Number 32 which was still too small for their needs and the desire for larger quarters pushed the move to Number 4 in 1904, which had the benefit of more bedrooms and even a Smoking Room, where they remained until 1921.[2] By 1913, membership had grown to 797 members.[1] The club now has almost 1,000 members.[citation needed]
By 1919, the club had grown to the extent that larger premises were again considered. With 'young persons of Newnham' looking for rooms to establish their own club and club membership having risen to 900, a meeting was called to discuss another move in the interests of the club, finally settling that when membership reached beyond 950 the matter be reviewed again.[1]
With the growth of the Club to 945 members in 1920, new premises came under consideration. 5 Cavendish Square was seriously considered, but whilst members were being consulted the property was purchased for the Spanish Club. Premises in Lower Seymour Street and 13 Great Stanhope Street were also considered. Throughout 1920 a number of homes were viewed including Portland Place, Cavendish Square, Stratford Place, Upper Berkeley Street, Grosvenor Place and Manchester Square until, finally an Extraordinary General meeting was called by the Committee on April 21st 1921 to approve the purchase of 2 Audley Square, inherited by Flora Russell in 1892 after the death of her father, then ratified in the names of B.A Clough, H.F. Cohen and A.G.E Carthew.[1] It was also at this time that the name of the Club was changed from the 'University Club for Ladies' , so with the move to a new and permanent home at 2 Audley Square, Mayfair the Club also adopted their new name, 'University Women's Club'.[1]
2 Audley Square
The house was built by Lord Arthur Russell in about 1880 to house his large family: the architect was T. H. Wyatt.[4][5] The terrace and garden are now planted with green, white and violet plants, the colours associated with the Suffragette movement. A large London plane tree stands in the middle of the garden, probably originally planted in the grounds of Chesterfield House.
The property was purchased for £22,500, with a £15,000 mortgage to the Misses Russell. Within 2 months a Debenture issue had already raised £14,000 from the members and by 1924 the balance to the Misses Russell had been cleared, with the help of a loan of £10,00 from the Alliance Assurance Company. By 1932, the new mortgage had been paid off, and the Club house was declared to be an unencumbered freehold, held in trust for the Club, on behalf of the Debenture holders. [2]
The Club today
Today, the University Women's Club is the only women's club in the UK to be wholly owned and managed by its Members.[citation needed][6]
Its event schedule includes many dinners and other social events.[citation needed][7]
In March 2014, Fiona Lazareff, a member of the committee, launched the annual Techpreneurs Awards on behalf of the club.[8][9][10]
The Club has close ties with the East India Club, which occasionally co-organises functions for members of both clubs.
Members of the club pay an initial joining fee and an annual subscription category.
Today the club offers varied subscription categories to attract all types of members to its club.
The subscription model’s clever design pricing structure membership by location and demographics are branded with these titles (Town, Out of Town, junior Graduate - from, Age Groups-From 60% of appropriate Membership Category, Senior, Young Member/ junior student Membership, student Membership and Corporate Membership and Associate Corporate Membership).
The membership subscription model is based around maximising your income and age related fees are part of the main source of funding the club enjoys because their brackets margin of entrance to the club is scalable by age starting from 25 years old with a condition that headmistress or headmaster signed the application.
No entrance fee is charged from 25 years old, however, the age fee structure starts from 26 years of age with a 60% of appropriate Memberships Category and increments by 10% per age increment by 1 up to the age of 29 years old where the percentage fee is 90% of appropriate Membership category.
The University Woman Club extended their invitation to companies, charities, others membership organisations…to provide to their qualifying employees/members to have restricted usage of the club.
No official announcement of fee for the latter is mentioned on their website page Becoming a Member.
Membership acceptance is primarily based on referral because the website clearly states “All prospective members must be proposed and seconded by a member in good standing.”
Because of the restrictive rules and criteria of acceptance the University Woman Club extended an invitation to an open evening using their application form if the applicant does not know anyone linked to the University Women Club.
Notable members
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2020)
Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
Anne Jemima Clough was an early English suffragist and a promoter of higher education for women. She was the first principal of Newnham College.
The Edinburgh Seven were the first group of matriculated undergraduate female students at any British university. They began studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1869 and, although the Court of Session ruled that they should never have been admitted, and they did not graduate or qualify as doctors, the campaign they fought gained national attention and won them many supporters, including Charles Darwin. Their campaign put the demands of women for a university education on the national political agenda, and eventually resulted in legislation to ensure that women could be licensed to practice medicine in 1876.
Notting Hill and Ealing High School is a private day school for girls aged 4 – 18 in Ealing, London. Founded in 1873, it is one of the 26 schools that make up the Girls' Day School Trust. It has a Junior Department of 310 girls and a Senior Department of 600 girls. The current Headmaster is Mr Matthew Shoults. Ms Bevan is Head of the Junior School.
The Edinburgh Association for the University Education of Women (EAUEW), originally known as the Edinburgh Ladies' Educational Association (ELEA), campaigned for higher education for women from 1867 until 1892 when Scottish universities started to admit female students. For nearly a quarter of a century it arranged its own classes for women with lecturers from Edinburgh University, and it was connected with a wider campaign across Europe to open universities to women students.
Isabel Jane Thorne was an early campaigner for medical education for women. Mrs Thorne, as she was known, was a member of the feminist Edinburgh Seven, who campaigned and succeeded in securing the right by statute for women to be educated to qualify as doctors. An exemplary Victorian, Thorne's dedication to duty and service was a precursor for the more violent campaigns of the suffragettes to achieve full enfranchisement for women.
The Alpine Club was founded in London on 22 December 1857 and is the world's first mountaineering club. The primary focus of the club is to support mountaineers who climb in the Alps and the Greater Ranges of the world's mountains.
The New Club is a private social club in the New Town area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded in 1787, it is Scotland's oldest club. The club occupied premises on St Andrew Square from 1809 until 1837, when it moved to purpose-built rooms on Princes Street. The 1837 building was replaced with a modern building to a design by Reiach and Hall, which is protected as a category A listed building. Women were admitted in 1970, and offered full membership from 2010.
Dame Jane Frances Dove, DBE, JP was an English women's campaigner, who founded the girls' schools, Wycombe Abbey and Godstowe.
Dame Bertha Surtees Phillpotts was an English scholar in Scandinavian languages, literature, history, archaeology and anthropology.
Dame Louisa Innes Lumsden was a Scottish pioneer of female education. Lumsden was one of the first five students Hitchen College, later Girton College, Cambridge in 1869 and one of the first three women to pass the Tripos exam in 1873. She returned as the first female resident and tutor to Girton in 1873.
Katharine Jex-Blake, was an English classical scholar, and the eighth Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge.
"Steamboat ladies" was a nickname given to a number of female students at the women's colleges of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge who were awarded ad eundem University of Dublin degrees at Trinity College Dublin, between 1904 and 1907, at a time when their own universities refused to confer degrees upon women. The name comes from the means of transport commonly used by these women to travel to Dublin for this purpose.
Elsie Matilda Maude Whetnall was a British analytic philosopher.
Edith Anne Stoney was a physicist born in Dublin in an old-established Anglo-Irish scientific family. She is considered to be the first woman medical physicist.
Henrietta Jex-Blake was a British violinist, and the principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, from 1909 to 1921.
Helen Gladstone was a British educationist, vice-principal at Newnham College in Cambridge, and co-founder of the Women's University Settlement.
Fiona Scott Lazareff is an activist and has created various campaigns to support social justice and women's entrepreneurship in technology.
Ellen Wordsworth Darwin was an academic, a fellow and lecturer in English Literature at Newnham College in Cambridge (1879–1883), a member of the private and scholarly Ladies Dining Society at Cambridge and the second wife of the botanist Sir Francis Darwin, son of Charles Darwin. Their daughter was the poet Frances Cornford.
Ethel Gavin was a British educationist and headmistress. She led several schools including Wimbledon High School and Notting Hill High School.
References
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Carthew, A. G. E. (1936). The University Women's Club Extracts from Fifty Years of Minute Books 1886-1936 (2nded.). London, UK: The University Women's Club (published 1996).{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
1 2 3 4 5 Haselgrove, Evelyn (February 1994). University Women's Club A History. London, UK: University Women's Club (published February 1994).{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
↑ Bradley, Simon; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2003). London 6: Westminster. Buildings of England. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. pp.572–73. ISBN978-0-300-09595-1.
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