Emily Temple, Viscountess Palmerston
Emily Temple, Viscountess Palmerston, styled The Honourable Emily Lamb from 1787 to 1805 and Countess Cowper from 1805 to 1839, was a leading figure of the Almack's social set, sister of Prime Minister Lord Melbourne, wife of the 5th Earl Cowper, and subsequently wife of another Prime Minister Lord Palmerston.
Portrait of Lady Emily Lamb, aged 16, by Sir Thomas Lawrence
Portrait of Emily Lamb, Countess Cowper by William Owen, ca. 1810
Lord Cowper
Lady Palmerston in 1860
Almack's was the name of a number of establishments and social clubs in London between the 18th and 20th centuries. Two of the social clubs would go on to fame as Brooks's and Boodle's. Almack's most famous establishment was based in assembly rooms on King Street, St James's, and was one of a limited number of upper-class mixed-sex public social venues in the British capital in an era when the most important venues for the hectic social season were the grand houses of the aristocracy. The site of the club, Almack's Assembly Rooms or Willis's Rooms, has become retrospectively interchangeable with the club, though for much of the club's lifetime, the rooms offered a variety of other entertainments with no connection to the club.
London's high society at Almack's
The building was unpretentious.
Longitude and Latitude of St Petersburgh, a caricature of Countess Lieven and a shorter and broader dance partner by George Cruikshank
The First Quadrille at Almack's: a French print supposedly representing Lady Jersey, Lady Worcester, Lord Worcester and Clanronald Macdonald, though Gronow says it was danced by Lady Jersey, Lady Susan Ryder, Miss Montgomery and Lady Harriet Butler, with the Count St Aldegonde, Mr Montagu, Mr Montgomery and Mr Charles Standish.