The University Women's Club, originally the University Club for Ladies, is a British private members club founded in 1883. 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 club house is located at 2 Audley Square, on South Audley Street, Mayfair, London.

History
The University Club for Ladies was founded in 1883 by Gertrude Jackson of Girton College, Cambridge. In January 1887, it opened its premises at 31 Bond Street. By 1894, the location was not large enough to serve the purposes of the growing club and it expanded by moving to new premises at Maddox Street. By 1904, the club had moved to 4 George Street, Hanover Square, where a number of bedrooms were available and by 1913, membership had grown to 800 members. The club now has almost 1,000 members.

After the Great War, the club was again looking for new premises and, after a lengthy search, the freehold of 2 Audley Square – the club's permanent home today – was purchased in 1921.  At the same time, it adopted its current name, the University Women's Club.

The house was built by Lord Arthur Russell in about 1880 to house his large family: the architect was T. H. Wyatt. 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 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.

Its event schedule includes many dinners and other social events.

In March 2014, Fiona Lazareff, a member of the committee, launched the annual Techpreneurs Awards on behalf of the club.

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

Gail Horton Calmerton
Caroline Playne

See also
List of London's gentlemen's clubs
East India Club

References

External links

1883 establishments in England
Buildings and structures in Mayfair
Gentlemen's clubs in London
Organizations established in 1883
Women in London
Women's clubs
Women's organisations based in England