Assembly Rooms – Famous visitors

The Assembly Rooms received a number of famous visitors in the 18th and 19th centuries. Both Jane Austen and Charles Dickens mention the Assembly Rooms in their novels, while the diarist Francis Kilvert described a reception here in 1873. Concerts were popular and many well-known musicians visited the Assembly Rooms. The most distinguished included Joseph Haydn, Johann Strauss the Elder and Franz Liszt.

Jane Austen
Born at Steventon, Hampshire 1775. Died Winchester, Hampshire 1817.

She visited relatives in Bath as a young girl; later (when her father retired as a clergyman) she came to live in Bath with her parents and sister from 1801 to 1805. They lived at several addresses in Bath such as Green Park and Gay Street, but for the most part at 4 Sydney Place (now opposite the Holburne Museum). Only two of Jane Austen's novels are set in Bath: Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published in 1818. Both mention the Assembly Rooms, which Jane Austen herself visited.

'Mrs Allen was so long in dressing, that they did not enter the ball-room till late. The season was full, the room crowded, and the two ladies squeezed in as well as they could. As for Mr Allen, he repaired directly to the card-room, and left them to enjoy a mob by themselves.' Northanger Abbey, 1818

Charles Dickens
Born Portsmouth 1812. Died Rochester 1870.

He visited Bath on several occasions and mentions the Assembly Rooms in the Pickwick Papers (published 1837). He also gave public readings from his works in the Assembly Rooms.

'In the ball-room, the long card-room, the octagonal card-room, the staircases, and the passages, the hum of many voices, and the sound of many feet, were perfectly bewildering. Dresses rustled, feathers waved, lights shone, and jewels sparkled. There was the music – not of the quadrille band, for it had not yet commenced; but the music of soft tiny footsteps, with now and then a clear merry laugh – low and gentle, but very pleasant to hear in a female voice, whether in Bath or elsewhere.' The Pickwick Papers, 1837

Image: detail from 19th century colour print showing finely dressed dancers at a ball in the Ball Room, the musicians can be seen on the balcony in the distance

'Ball at the Upper Rooms' 1825 print by Robert Cruikshank

Image: coloured 19th century drawing of the back of a dress. The top layer is blue, trimmed with pink lace, the underskirt and sleeves are of a paler blue also trimmed with pink. The lady carries a blue fan and wears a blue necklace.