William Almack
William Almack (1741–1781) was an
Biography
According to one account he was descended from a Yorkshire family of
Almack's was noted for its high play, and Horace Walpole wrote of it in 1770: ‘The gaming of Almack's, which has taken the pas of White's, is worthy of the decline of our empire.’ The club passed subsequently into other hands, and still survives as ‘
The success of the new rooms was rapidly assured. Under the direction of the leaders of London society, weekly subscription-balls were held there for more than seventy-five years during twelve weeks of each London season. The distribution of tickets, which were sold at ten guineas each, was in the hands of a committee of lady-patronesses—‘a feminine oligarchy less in number but equal in power to the Venetian Council of Ten’.
Almack is said to have lived at
See also
References
- ^ Lower, Patronymica Britannica
- ^ Grantley Berkeley's Life and Recollections, i. 256–7
- ^ Morning Chronicle, 6 Jan. 1781
- ^ "Pitcairn". Retrieved 6 June 2011. (N.B. Does not mention any marriage)
- . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- Chancellor, E. Beresford. Memorials of St James's Street together with the Annals of Almack's. London, 1922.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Almack, William". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.