junior, died on 2 January 1847. The two businesses at the Thatched House Tavern and the assembly rooms were then managed jointly by James Willis's son, Frederick, and William Willis's son, Charles. The Thatched House Tavern appears to have come to an end in 1861. The assembly rooms were managed by Frederick and Charles Willis until 1869, when Frederick appears to have become sole proprietor. The rooms were redecorated by Mr. Kuckuck in 1860, but it was already clear Almack's as an institution was dying; the assemblies are said to have come to an end in 1863. Other uses of the Assembly Rooms through the years From the beginning, Almack's/Willis's Assembly Rooms had many uses beyond the Almack's Balls. Other balls were also held there. In July 1821, a splendid ball was given there in honour of the coronation of George IV by the special Ambassador from France, the Duc de Grammont. The King himself was present, attended by some of his royal brothers, the Duke of Wellington, and a numerous circle of courtiers. "Whatever French taste, directed by a Grammont, could do," writes Mr. Rush in his Court of London, "to render the night agreeable, was witnessed. His suite of young gentlemen from Paris stood ready to receive the British fair on their approach to the rooms, and from baskets of flowers presented them with rich bouquets. Each lady thus entered the ballroom with one in her hand; and a thousand posies of sweet flowers displayed their hues, and exhaled their fragrance as the dancing commenced." Besides balls, the rooms were let for public meetings, dramatic readings, concerts, and for dinners. Saturday 11 February 1792 saw the first of Samuel Harrison and Charles Knyvett's Vocal Concerts, a series that would continue until 1821. Between 1845 and 1858, John Ella's Musical Union gave eight concerts a year of chamber music in the rooms. Hector Berlioz was on the podium at the rooms on 7 April 1848 when he conducted his "Hungarian March" from La damnation de Faust at a concert of the Amateur Musical Society. And the Quartet Association (which included the 'cellist Alfredo Piatti and the pianist/conductors Charles Hallé and Sterndale Bennett) gave concerts at the Rooms between 1852 and 1855 in an attempt to popularise chamber music. Here, from 1808 to 1810, Mrs. Billington, Mr. Braham, and Signor Naldi gave concerts, in rivalry with Madame Catalini at Hanover