Garrick Club
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The Garrick Club is a private members' club in London, founded in 1831. 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. The Garrick was a gentlemen's club with membership restricted exclusively to men. However, in May 2024 the club voted to allow women to be members.
Garrick Club
The club in 1864
Charles Sims, Dame Lilian Braithwaite (c. 1902)
David Garrick
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David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Samuel Johnson. He appeared in several amateur theatricals, and with his appearance in the title role of Shakespeare's Richard III, audiences and managers began to take notice.
Portrait by Thomas Gainsborough, 1770
Have mercy, Jesu! Soft! I did but dream. O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me! – Shakespeare's Richard III Act V, Sc. 3. David Garrick in 1745 as Richard III just before the battle of Bosworth Field, his sleep having been haunted by the ghosts of those he has murdered, wakes to the realization that he is alone in the world and death is imminent. Painting by the English painter William Hogarth (which is on display at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool).
Joshua Reynolds, David Garrick Between Tragedy and Comedy, 1760–61 at Waddesdon Manor
Garrick (right) as Abel Drugger in Jonson's The Alchemist painted by Johann Zoffany