The Girls' Club was a great success, but in the fall of 1895 Mary and Emmeline Pethick left the mission to set up their own Espérance Club for girls.
The Open Door Council was established by Lady Rhondda of the Six Point Group, Elizabeth Abbott of NUSEC, Sarah Clegg (died 1931) of the London Society for Women's Service, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence of the Women's Freedom League and Virginia Crawford of the St Joan's Social and Political Alliance.