Almack's Assembly Rooms
For any reader or author of the Regency romance set in London, the Almack's Assembly Rooms play a key role. Young misses coveted invitations to Almack's, where highly eligible young gentlemen awaited. Matches were made under the dragon eyes of society patronesses. While today's novels recreate the experience to serve the story, the scenes depicted have a basis in actual history.
From the "Survey of London", we have this description of how Almack's was originally formed and the purpose of the club[1]:
The Ladies' Club or Coterie
From 1769 to 1771 Almack provided accommodation for a club composed of members of both sexes. The club first met on 17 December 1769* and soon attracted a great deal of attention. On 6 May 1770 Horace Walpole recorded that 'There is a new institution that begins to make, and if it proceeds, will make a considerable noise. It is a club of both sexes to be erected at Almac's, on the model of that of the men of White's. Mrs. Fitzroy, Lady Pembroke, Mrs. Meynell, Lady Molyneux, Miss Pelham, and Miss Loyd, are the foundresses. I am ashamed to say I am of so young and fashionable a society.' The most important rules were that all members were admitted by ballot and 'the ladies shall ballot for men, and men for ladies'; thus 'no lady can exclude a lady, or gentleman a gentleman'. The subscription was five guineas; dinner was to be on the table at halfpast four in the afternoon, price eight shillings 'exclusive of the wine, which the men are to pay'. Members met 'every morning, either to play cards, chat, or do whatever else they please. An ordinary is provided for as many as choose to dine, and a supper to be constantly on the table by eleven at night; after supper they play loo. . . .'
By September 1770 this very exclusive club possessed 123 members, including five dukes. It is not certain in which of Almack's two houses in Pall Mall it met; Mrs. Elizabeth Harris placed it at Boodle's (No. 50) but an undated letter of the Hon. Mrs. Boscawen says that it met 'for the present, at certain rooms of Almack's, who for another year is to provide a private house . .,' By December 1771 it had moved to the house in Albemarle Street which had in 1764 been used by Thomas Wildman to accommodate a political club formed in opposition to the Earl of Bute (see page 330n.). It remained there under the management of Robert Sutton until 1775, when it moved to a house in Arlington Street under the management of James Cullen of Greek Street, Soho, upholsterer. The last meeting of the club was held on 4 December 1777. Cullen was left heavily in debt and the Chancery suit which he subsequently brought against certain members contains valuable information about the way in which such shortlived proprietary clubs were managed.
By the Regency era, the tone and structure of Almack's had changed. While the club had always been ruled by a select group of patronesses, six or seven women who ruled society, by 1814, the club was ruled by those ever-popular women who terrify and fascinate heroines of the Regency Romance: Anne Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry, better known as Viscountess of Castlereagh; Sarah Villiers, Countess of Jersey; Lady Cowper (later married Lord Palmerston); Lady Sefton; Mrs. Drummond Burrel (whose husband became Baron Gwydyr after 1816); Countess de Lieven (wife of the Russian ambassador); and, Princess Esterhazy (wife of the Austrian ambassador).
These women met every Monday night to pass judgment on who could and could not grace the rooms of Almack's. The weekly dances, held on Wednesdays during the Season (mid-April through mid-July), were by subscription only, and while those who didn't hold vouchers to the hall were not necessarily social outcasts, those who had their vouchers revoked were considered social pariahs, the revocation of the vouchers indicating a serious social transgression, as defined by the patronesses of Almack's. One famous story has the Duke of Wellington turned away from the doors of Almack's because he had not only arrived at the Assembly Rooms seven minutes late, but he was also wearing trousers rather than the proscribed knee breeches. Whether or not this happened in fact, the story demonstrates the power the patronesses held over certain segments of society during the height of the Regency.
Subscribers to Almack's were permitted to bring guests, who, if approved by the patronesses, were issued "Strangers Tickets". There was no guarantee that a guest of a member would pass muster.
While there was space in the rooms for gaming -- a popular Regency pastime -- the primary activity was dancing. Prior to 1814, dances were Scottish Reels and English country dances. The Waltz, an immigrant from Europe, was reportedly introduced at Almack's in 1814 by Lady Jersey.
Almack's did not aspire to compete with the luxury of private balls, and refreshments were plain. No alcohol was served in the hall, a marked contrast to the drunken revelries of other parties. While popular fiction describes the food and beverage served at Almack's as "...spread with tepid lemonade, weak tea, tasteless orgeat, stale cakes and thin slices of bread and butter..."[2], a description from one Captain Gronow, it's possible that the food was more along the lines of traditional tea party fare, not necessarily stale. Serving as a "marriage mart" in an era where social ranking was a blood sport, Almack's served the purpose of vetting members for breeding and other high society qualities, while excluding the nouveau riche who were rising in the city of London.
As the court of King George III waned in social power, Almack's created a new role for itself: coming out ball for the creme de la creme of debutantes. The powerful patronesses chose dancing partners and conferred social acceptance upon the young women seeking prominent marriages.
- - Note: while the Survey of London cites this date as the beginning of the club, other sources indicate the actual date was February 13, 1765.
