Place of the day today…

Guarded by the Patronesses, Almack’s was the place for the best of the best in the ton to gather each Wednesday night during the three month London season for a night of dancing, dining, drinking punch and playing cards. The subscription fee to gain entrance was 10 guineas a year. That was the easy part. Gaining a voucher wasn’t — one had to pass the Patronesses’ muster. Hopes and dreams could be made by receiving a voucher to Almack’s — or be dashed by being blackballed. As the heart of the marriage mart, a voucher to Almack’s was more precious than gold.

Strict rules were enforced, including dress and arrival time by 11pm (dinner). If you didn’t follow the rules, you didn’t gain entry to the rooms. Even Wellington was said to have been turned away one night for not adhering to the code. Alcohol was not allowed, and Almack’s was renowned for serving tea and lemonade along with sliced bread and cakes. Almack’s is referred to in literature and personal accounts as everything from a beautifully decorated, genteel club with fabulous food and drink, to a sparse, unfriendly place with tepid lemonade and dull conversation.

In either case, Almack’s was definitely a colorful part of the Regency period.

Patronesses from around 1814 onward (the ones you will read about most often):
Lady Jersey
Lady Cowper
Lady Castlereagh
Mrs. Drummond-Burrell
Countess Lieven
Princess Esterhazy
Lady Sefton

Wikipedia – interesting bits

Almack’s Assembly Rooms were the only thing in 18th and early 19th century London like a club that was not for men only.
They opened in King Street, St. James, in London, on the 20th of February, 1765. Established by William Macall, to avoid the onus of a Scottish name, then considered foreign and uncouth, he reversed the syllables.

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