Almack's

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The high society of London at Almack's

Almack’s Assembly Rooms was a social club in London that existed from 1765 to 1871 and was one of the first clubs that women and men could join. It was one of the few places in London where women and men of higher society could meet outside the residences of the aristocracy . In 1871 the club was renamed Willis's Rooms after its new owner .

history

Almack's opened on February 20, 1765 on King Street, St. James , London. The Assembly Rooms were intended to compete with the events of Teresa Cornelys in Carlisle House , whose masked balls were famous throughout the city. Initially, the club was known as Brook’s for women , to which women and men had access. Male members proposed and elected female members; vice versa the same was true. During this time Almack's made a profit as a casino . The club was open every night, there was play, and Mr. and Mrs. Almack served a souper . Initially, Almack's suffered from competition from The Pantheon and Ranelagh Gardens . At the time, the club had a rather bad reputation as it was where women met to gamble.

William Almack had previously run Almack's Coffee House on Pall Mall , where the Brooks’s men's club was founded.

The classic Almack's

Longitude and Latitude of St Petersburgh . Caricature of a dance at Almack's, by George Cruikshank

From the 1790s onwards, Almack's changed its character. Game operations declined and the club increasingly served as an elegant meeting place for the sexes and as a marriage market. Membership in the club was now determined by a committee made up of the most influential women in London's high society , the Lady Patronesses of Almack’s .

In 1814, during the Regency period under King George IV , these were:

These ladies created a place of exclusivity for the balls that were held weekly on Wednesdays and were now the only activity of the club. Entry was only possible for those who had been allowed by the patroness to purchase a non-transferable registration for ten guineas . Owning the ticket for Almack’s meant belonging to high society . The bosses met every Monday during the ball season (April to August) to decide who was allowed to enter Almack’s and who had to surrender their card because of bad behavior. A rejection by the patroness was considered a social disaster:

“The elegant world is handcuffed by half a dozen beautiful tyrants in King Street, St. James's. The conclave, which meets around a round table with a red tablecloth every Monday during the season, has the power to make or destroy entire families through its decision. It can open or close the doors to the elegant world by the mere fact of whether the admission ticket to Almack's is granted or denied. "

- James Grant : The Great Metropolis , 1837

Money alone was not a recommendation for the club, whose rules were aimed at excluding the new rich . Having a title of nobility was an asset, but more important was upbringing and good behavior. Three quarters of the hereditary nobility were members of the club, but also the Irish poet Thomas Moore .

The first quadrille at Almack’s

In order to avoid any appearance of impropriety, only rural dances like the Reel were allowed. Later, on the initiative of Lady Jersey, the quadrille and, at the request of Countess de Lieven, the waltz ; the waltz was still considered slightly disreputable and debutantes were only allowed to dance it with the consent of the patroness. To distinguish themselves from expensive private balls, only spartan food such as thinly sliced ​​bread was served, and instead of alcoholic drinks there was only tea and lemonade. Knee breeches were required for men and the club doors were closed at 11pm sharp. Even the Duke of Wellington was refused entry because he was wearing long trousers and arriving seven minutes late. Caroline Lamb was disfellowshipped for describing a character in her novel Glenarvon who was apparently modeled on Lady Jersey.

People came to Almack’s to see and be seen, to demonstrate their high social standing and to exchange ideas with equals. The gentlemen looked for the right bride in the club. At times it was more important for a debutante to be admitted to Almack’s than to be introduced at court.

These strict procedures and rules were in place until the mid-1820s.

The building

The building the club was in

The building the club was in was built in the neo-Palladian style and was on the south side of King Street. During the Second World War it was bombed and completely destroyed. In its place there is now an office building, the Almack House , on which a bronze plaque commemorates the existence of the Almack’s .

Almack's in literature

At his weddings, Almack’s was mentioned in every fashionable novel of that day. The club and its patroness also appear regularly in the Regency Novels by Georgette Heyer and other authors in the genre.

literature

  • Almack's . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 1 : A-Androphagi . London 1910, p. 711 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
  • E. Beresford Chancellor: Memorials of St James's Street together with the Annals of Almack’s . London 1922
  • Christopher Hibbert: London, the Biography of a City . William Morrow, New York 1969
  • Stella Margetson: Regency London . Praeger Publishers, New York 1971
  • Ellen Moers: The Dandy: Brummell to Beerbohm . The Viking Press, New York 1960
  • The Almacks Club in London . In: The Munich bee. Entertaining Sunday paper for all stands , No. 22, 1838, pp. 174–176, Textarchiv - Internet Archive

Web links

Commons : Almack’s  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chancellor: Memorials of St James's Street together with the Annals of Almack’s . Pp. 206-207.
  2. ↑ a b James Grant: Almack’s . In: The Great Metropolis 1837, on victorianlondon.org
  3. ↑ Original text: “All that we read about political slavery in other countries, is not to be compared to this. The fashionable world are bound hand and foot to the half dozen fair tyrants in Kingstreet, St. James's. The conclave who sit there around a table covered with red cloth, every Monday during the season, have the power, by their single fiat, of making or unmaking entire families. They can open or shut the doors [-5-] of fashionable life on them, by the mere circumstance of giving or withholding a ticket to Almack's. "
  4. ↑ a b c Moers
  5. ↑ Chancellor: Memorials of St James's Street together with the Annals of Almack’s . P. 212.
  6. ↑ dukesofbuckingham.org.uk: Almack's Assembly Rooms ( Memento of August 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive )