This dissertation analyzes Almack's through the scope of membership and gender. It applies the idea of membership to various elements of the aristocratic world and uses gender, particularly through the doctrine of separate spheres, to analyze the role of Almack's patronesses. Gender here is used both as an object of study but also as an analytical tool. It is a major factor in analyzing separate spheres but it is also important to see how gender is used within the sources themselves.

Chapter one analyzes the aristocracy itself and argues that it was an open institution, both in entry and exit. Chapter two analyzes the history of Almack's and argues that the reason the club survived was because William Almack was an efficient club manager, using practices from other clubs in order to strengthen his own. Chapter three examines the patronesses and argues that politics was an essential aspect of Almack's. Chapter four analyzes the literary legacy of Almack's, looking at the sources which influenced literature as well as illustrating how authors used Almack's for the purposes of their stories.

The conclusion of this work is that membership was a key factor not only for Almack's, but for the aristocracy itself. Social boundaries were invisible and thus more vulnerable. By having strict rules, both the aristocracy and Almack's could draw boundaries around polite society in order to demarcate themselves from others. Almack's offered an opportunity for its patronesses to hold significant power in a public space, and thereby the patronesses challenged the traditional notions of gendered spaces and power both at home and in public.