Scots society in London votes in favour of female members for first time

The Caledonian Club in Belgravia, where the Caledonian Society of London meets six times a year. | CC

It was founded 185 years ago to “promote good fellowship among Scotsmen in London”.

Now, the Caledonian Society of London has overwhelmingly voted in favour of full membership for women for the first time in its history.

A secret ballot was held to settle the issue which has divided the council and members for many years with the “old guard” pitted against the more “woke orientated brethren” over the matter.

Statements from each side of the argument were put to members to vote on.

The results are in - with 80.39 per cent in favour of opening up full membership to women and 19.61 per cent voting against the change of constitution.

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Malcolm Noble, a past president who led the campaign for change, said: “The result is way beyond our expectations and there has been nothing like it before. It tells you what the mood is, it is unmistakable.”

Mr Noble said the society had suffered a decline in members with a reluctance of new ones to sign up given the male-only membership rule. The loss in members has made it harder to raise money for the society’s charities.

Mr Noble, who is originally from the Borders and spent his career as a headteacher in a large comprehensive in London, added: “Most of the membership was unhappy about being an organisation which was being criticised externally because of its perceived misogyny and a membership that is palpably in decline. I don’t think any effective argument was put up against that.

“I think the old guard, the people who liked it the way it was, they stuck with it, but there is not so many of them now.”

While women have long been allowed to attend “Little Dinners”, which feature a piper and Scottish speakers of note, they were only permitted at the President’s discretion.

The society formally meets at the Caledonian Club in Belgravia six times a year. It has 78 members plus 39 members of council. The average age of members is 61.

A statement from those opposing a change in the constitution, which was written by past president David Guild, said discussions at an earlier AGM showed that “those seeking gender neutrality for our Society” had no issue with exclusively female organisations with The Glasgow University Women’s Club and The Ladies Educated in Scotland society raised as examples.

The statement added: “Unsurprisingly, none indicated any discomfort with these, reaffirming the view that there appears to be an element of inconsistency among those who seek to impose their diversity and inclusion ideology on the rest of us.”

It added: “We are all proud Brothers Caledonian. Is it proposed we are joined by Sisters Caledonian; or as specific expressions relating to a single gender, particularly male, are increasingly taboo, will we be told we are to become ‘Siblings Caledonian’ or simply ‘Caledonians’ or if this is not deemed to be sufficiently inclusive, will we be nothing at all?”

If women were voted in, there would be likely be “an acceleration of the process leading to the appointment of the first female President, an event which would be celebrated gleefully by our more woke orientated brethren,” the statement added.

Following the result, a review of the constitution will now take place in the New Year.

Mr Noble said the society it would likely take “some time and effort to market the society for women”.