Close on both counts.
Posted by wendy b on August 21, 1998 at 08:14:24:
In response to Clubs, written by Lucie on August 19, 1998 at 20:45:34
] Can anyone tell me. was White's a mens club or was it another exclusive club like Almacks?
White's was an exclusive gentleman's club, "decidedly the most difficult of entry" (Gronow). In the early 19th c. it was primarily, although not exclusively, Tory (the Government Party); Whigs tended to gather across the street at Brookes's, but a gentleman could be a member of both. Unlike Almack's where (I think) vouchers could be sent even if one of the patronesses thought the recipient not up to par, one blackball at White's meant no entry. The blackball system was also used at Brookes's (and at Watier's?). There is an amusing story of how Sheridan, in order to be elected to Brookes's, got the two men who would have blackballed him (at voting time) out of the club by a ruse for just enough time to get elected. WB
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