James King

In Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey, Henry Tilney is first introduced to Catherine Morland at a ball in the Lower Rooms. When he was “treating his partner to tea,” he laughingly accused her of keeping a journal in which he feared he should make but a poor figure. “Shall I tell you,” he asks, “what you ought to say? I danced with a very agreeable young man introduced by Mr. King; had a great deal of conversation with him; seems a most extraordinary genius.”

James King was a real Bath character. The son of a respectable Irish family, he had served with distinction in the British Army during the American Revolutionary War.

The office of Master of the Ceremonies was a very profitable one. Each Master has a ball in the winter and spring seasons, and subscription books were provided in the Rooms to provide an opportunity for those of the company who did not subscribe to balls, in the words of the New Bath Guide, “an opportunity of shewing those gentlemen marks of their respect.”

For this reason, when  Captain Wade resigned from the office of Master of the Ceremonies on the 8th of July 1777, no less than seven men applied to be his successor. The candidates were eventually whittled down to two: William Brereton and William Dawson, Esq's. To preserve the peace and harmony of Bath, it was proposed that Mr Brereton should officiate at the Lower and Mr Dawson at the New Rooms. Mr Brereton continued in office for about three years. On his resignation, Richard Tyson was elected in his place. On the resignation of Mr. Dawson in 1785, Mr. Tyson was unanimously elected by the New Rooms subscribers, and Mr. King was elected to the Lower Rooms.

Each MC was given a medallion to wear as a mark of office. Mr. King’s medallion was made of fine gold enamelled blue and elegantly enriched with brilliants. On one side was a raised figure of Venus, with a golden apple in one hand and a rudder in the other; the motto Venus deceus. The reverse is a laurel wreath with the motto, Arbiter Elegantia Communi Consensu.

In 1805, Tyson stood down from his position at the Upper Rooms, and James King was elected to succeed him.

The Lower Rooms went into a period of decline following King's departure and did not really recover until the rooms were rented to a new tenant, a musician called Lanza, who appointed a new MC named Francis Guynette. New tenants Finegan and Hobbes, working with Guynette, further enhanced this revival.

Finegan and Hobbes tried to introduce vocal concerts and promenades at the Lower Rooms on Monday nights, something which they agreed with Andrew Nash, the proprietor of the Upper Rooms, but King, to safeguard his Monday Balls, objected. Hobbes retorted that with 10,000 visitors each season, there was room for two simultaneous amusements. King won the day allegedly because King threatened Finegan.

From 1801 to 1816, King divided his time between Bath and Cheltenham.

In the words of the New Bath Guide for 1819, Mr King 'discharged the duties of his office, with distinguished politeness and universal esteem, till the the period of his lamented death in October 1816.'