Henry Thrale Henry was born in Southwark at the Alehouse, Harrow Corner [4] adjacent to the Anchor Brewery [5]. His birth date was between 1724 and 1729. His epitaph [6] shows 1724. However, he entered University College, Oxford on 4 June 17441 giving his age as fifteen. If correct, this would make his birth year 1728 or 17292.
Henry Thrale was the son of the rich brewer Ralph Thrale [8] (1698 - 1758) and Mary Thrale née Dabbins, Dobbins or Dobbinson.
As a child, Henry was sent to stay with his grand relations at Stowe [9]. After he was educated at Eton and University College, Oxford. His tutors were Joseph Wood and Henry Hobson. He matriculated on 4 June 17443 and left Oxford in December 1745.
As a young man, he travelled on the European continent with Lord William Henry Lyttleton Westcote (1724-1808), the expenses of both being met the generous £1,000 annual allowance that Henry received from his father. He was ambitious, had a taste for gambling, and was an occasional visitor to Carlisle House in Soho Square - Teresa Cornelys' lavish assemblies, masquerades and concerts for the rich.
According to James Boswell [11], Henry was tall, well-proportioned and stately in appearance. He was deeply religious and a good sportsman.
Henry Thrale had several prestigious homes [12], most well known of which is his country house Streatham Park [13]. He also kept a pack of hounds and hunting box near Croydon.
During the spring of 1763 Henry was held up by a highwayman, Samuel Beaton, whilst in his coach. He was robbed of 13 Guineas, his watch and silver shoe buckles. Beaton was hanged on 12 August 1763 on Kennington Common for this crime4.
Henry's father was the owner of the Anchor Brewhouse [8], Southwark. His obituary in a popular contemporary magazine described Ralph Thrale as…
the greatest brewer in England.
He brewed Thrale's Intire Porter [19]; which was well known as delicious…
from the frozen regions of Russia to the burning sands of Bengal and Sumatra.
Ralph died in April 1758 and was buried in the Thrale family vault [21] at St Leonard's Church, Streatham [22]. Henry Thrale then became the owner of the Anchor Brewhouse. [23]
Dr. Johnson, said that Henry Thrale had…
Good sense enough to carry on his father's trade.
His education at Oxford gave him the habits of a gentleman; his amiable temper recommended his conversation, and the goodness of his heart made him a sincere friend.
The brewery was situated in a 9 acre compound, with the clerks' quarters, store houses, vaults and vats, dung pits and stabling for nearly 100 horses. Here was brewed Thrale's Intire Porter which was well known as delicious…
from the frozen regions of Russia to the burning sands of Bengal and Sumatra.
Henry once said to Samuel Johnson…
I would not quit the brewery for an annuity of ten thousand pounds a year. Not that I get ten thousand a year by it, but it is an estate to a family.
On 31 May 1781, after Henry's death, the brewery was sold by H. Thrale & Co. for £135,0001 and started trading as Barclay, Perkins & Company.
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[34]
In late 1761 or early 1762 Henry was invited to Offley Place [35] by Hester's uncle, Judge Sir Thomas Salusbury [36] and was introduced to Hester Lynch Salusbury [37]. Sir Thomas proposed their marriage whilst her father, John Salusbury, was away in Ireland with George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax [38], President of the Board of Trade. This was agreed by Hester's mother [39] after Sir Thomas promised to make a settlement [40] of five thousand pounds1 in favour of Hester should they be wed.
Although Hester thought Henry to be "nearly the handsomest man in England", she did not want to marry him. Hester appealed to her father upon his return. John Salusbury had no intention of marrying his daughter to Henry Thrale, whose father [8] and grandfather2 had lived in the cottage now being used by his younger brother, Sir Thomas Salusbury, as a dog kennel.
[41]
John Salusbury quarrelled with his brother Sir Thomas [36] and took his wife and daughter to London. Shortly afterwards, Hester wrote verses in lament at leaving Offley [42].
On 18 December 1762 John Salusbury died suddenly. He left the North Wales Bach-y-graig estate [43] to his wife, and five thousand pounds to Hester. Hester later suggested that his death was hastened by irritation at her proposed marriage and Sir Thomas's intention to remarry, as this ultimately resulted in Hester being disinherited from Offley Place [35].
After Salusbury's death, Henry Thrale wrote to Hester [44] and her mother, on 28 June 1763 asking to call on them both. They accepted and he proposed marriage. On 9 October 1763, Henry Thrale met with Sir Thomas Salusbury and they agreed Hester Lynch Salusbury's dowry [45].
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On 11th October 1763, Henry and Hester were wed by Thelwall Salusbury at St. Anne's Chapel, Soho, London [56] aged 35-391 and 22 respectively. The Gentleman's Magazine announced2 …
Henry Thrale of Southwark, Esq;—to Miss Salusbury, niece to Sir Thomas Salisbury.
Nearly the handsomest man in England.
Henry was a solid respectable man who was kindly towards Hester. Hester once said that Henry Thrale only married her because other ladies to whom he proposed had refused to live in the Borough [57]. Hester complained that she was not allowed to ride or to manage the household, and was driven to amuse herself with literature and her children. Together they had 12 children [58], most of which died in childhood, and those that lived to maturity were distant and gradually estranged from Hester after her second marriage [59]. Boswell quotes Samuel Johnson as saying of Henry Thrale…
I know no man… who is more master of his wife and family than Thrale. If he but holds up a finger, he is obeyed.
In June 1777 Hester wrote the following account of Henry Thrale's traits in Thraliana [14]…
> As this is Thraliana—in good Time—I will now write Mr Thrale's Character in it: it is not because I am in good or ill Humour with him or he with me, for we are not capricious People, but have I believe the same Opinion of each other at all Places and Times. Mr Thrale's Person is manly, his Countenance agreeable, his Eyes steady and of the deepest Blue: his Look neither soft nor severe, neither sprightly nor gloomy, but thoughtful and Intelligent: his Address is neither caressive nor repulsive, but unaffectedly civil and decorous; and his Manner more completely free from every kind of Trick or Particularity than I ever saw any person's—he is a Man wholly as I think out of the Power of Mimickry. He loves Money & is diligent to obtain it; but he loves Liberality too, & is willing enough both to give generously & spend fashionably. His Passions either are not strong, or else he keeps them under such Command that they seldom disturb his Tranquillity or his Friends, & it must I think be something more than common which can affect him strongly either with Hope, Fear Anger Love or Joy. His regard for his Father's Memory is remarkably great, and he has been a most exemplary Brother; though when the house of his favourite Sister was on Fire, & we were alarmed with the Account of it in the Night, I well remember that he never rose, but bidding the Servant who called us, go to her Assistance; quietly turned about & slept to his usual hour. I must give another Trait of his Tranquillity on a different Occasion; he had built great Casks holding 1000 Hogsheads each, & was much pleased with their Profit & Appearance—One Day however he came down to Streatham as usual to dinner & after hearing & talking of a hundred trifles—but I forgot says he to tell you how one of my great Casks is burst & all the Beer run out. Mr Thrale's Sobriety, & the Decency of his Conversation being wholly free from all Oaths Ribaldry and Profaneness make him a Man exceedingly comfortable to live with, while the easiness of his Temper and slowness to take Offence add greatly to his Value as a domestic Man: Yet I think his Servants do not much love him, and I am not sure that his Children feel much Affection for him: low People almost all indeed agree to abhorr him, as he has none of that officious & cordial Manner which is universally required by them—nor any Skill to dissemble his dislike of their Coarseness—with Regard to his Wife, tho' little tender of her Person, he is very partial to her Understanding,—but he is obliging to nobody; & confers a Favour less pleasingly than many a Man refuses to confer one. This appears to me to be as just a Character as can be given of the Man with whom I have now lived thirteen Years, and tho' he is extremely reserved and uncommunicative, yet one must know something of him after so long Acquaintance. Johnson has a very great Degree of Kindness & Esteem for him, & says if he would talk more, his Manner would be very completely that of a perfect Gentleman.
Their friend Mr Pepys composed verses to commemorate their 13th wedding anniversary in 1776 [61]. In 1779, Hester who had also lost several children, was unhappy in the thought that she had ceased to be appreciated by her husband. She became jealous of his regard for Sophy Streatfeild of Chiddingsone (1754-1835), a rich widow's daughter. In January, 1779, she wrote in Thraliana [14]…
Mr. Thrale has fallen in love, really and seriously, with Sophy Streatfield; but there is no wonder in that; she is very pretty, very gentle, soft, and insinuating; hangs about him, dances round him, cries when she parts from him, squeezes his hand slily, and with her sweet eyes full of tears looks so fondly in his face - and all for love of me, as she pretends, that I can hardly sometimes help laughing in her face. A man must not be a man but an it to resist such artillery.
Queeney [62] in a letter to Fanny Burney [63] in 1813 wrote that she believed that Hester hated Henry. While there was no great passion, they loved and respected each other. Hester wrote that their match was …
mere Prudence and common good Liking, without the smallest pretensions to Passion on either side.
On the date of her wedding anniversary with Henry, in the first year of her widowhood, 11 October 1787, Hester wrote in Thraliana [14]…
Why do the people say I never loved my first husband? 'tos a very unjust conjecture. This day on which 24 years ago I was married to him never returns without bringing with it many a tender Remembrance: though 'twas on that Evening when we retired together that I was first alone with Mr. Thrale for five minutes in my whole life. Ours was a match of mere Prudence; and common good Liking, without the smallest Pretensions to passion on either Side: I knew no more of him than any other Gentleman who came to the House, nor did he ever profess other Attachment to me, than such as Esteem of my Character, & Convenience from my Fortune produced. I really had never past five whole Minutes Tête a Tête with him in my life till the Evening of our Wedding Day,—& he himself has said so a Thousand Times. yet God who gave us to each other, knows I did love him dearly; & what honour I can ever do to his Memory shall be done, for he was very generous to me.
The next day, 12 October 1781, Hester Thrale wrote in Thraliana [14] …
> Yesterday was my Wedding Day; it was a melancholy thing to me to pass it without the Husband of my Youth.
and …
Long Tedious Years may neither moan Sad—deserted and alone; May neither long condemn'd to stay Wait the second Bridal Day!!!
[60]
Henry [25] and Hester Thrale [37] had 12 children most of which died in childhood. It was speculated by Hester that Jeremiah Crutchley [67] was Henry's illegitimate son. However, modern historians think this unlikely.
Child | Image | Born | Died | Age at death | Buried |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hester Maria Thrale (Queeney). Story [68]. Family tree [69]. | 17 September 1764 Southwark [70]. | 31 March 1857. 110 Picadilly, London | 92 | Keith Mausoleum [71] | |
Frances Thrale. Story [72]. Family tree [73]. | 27 September 1765 Southwark [70] [13]. | 6 October 1765. Southwark [70]. | 9 days | St Leonards Church, Streatham [22] | |
Henry Salusbury Thrale Story [74]. Family tree [75]. | 15 February 1767 Southwark [70]. | 23 March 1776. Southwark [70]. | 9 | St Leonards Church, Streatham [22] | |
Anna Maria Thrale Story [76]. Family tree [77]. | 1 April 1768 Streatham [13]. | 20 March 1770. Dean Street [78], London. | 23 months | St Leonards Church, Streatham [22] | |
Lucy Elizabeth Thrale Story [79]. Family tree [80]. | 22 June 1769 Streatham [13]. | 22 November 1773. Streatham. [13] | 4 | St Leonards Church, Streatham [22] | |
Susannah Arabella Thrale Story [81]. Family tree [82]. | 23 May 1770 Southwark [70]. | 5 November 1858. Knockholt, Kent. | 88 | St Leonards Church, Streatham [22] | |
Sophia Thrale Story [83]. Family tree [84]. | 23 July 1771 Streatham [13]. | 8 | November 1824. Sandgate, Kent. | 53 | St Leonards Church, Streatham [22] | |
Penelope Thrale Story [85]. Family tree [86]. | 15 September 1772 Streatham [13]. | 15 September 1772. Streatham [13]. | 10 hours | St Leonards Church, Streatham [22] | |
Ralph Thrale Story [87]. Family tree [88]. | 8 November 1773 Streatham [13]. | 13 July 1775. Brighton [89]. | 20 months | Unknown | |
Frances Anna Thrale Story [90]. Family tree [91]. | 4 May 1775 Streatham [13]. | 9 December 1775 Streatham [13]. | 7 months | St Leonards Church, Streatham [22] | |
Cecilia Margaretta Thrale Story [92]. Family tree [93]. | 8 February 1777 Streatham [13]. | 1 May 1857. Brighton Railway Station. | 80 | St Leonards Church, Streatham [22] | |
Henrietta Sophia Thrale Story [94]. Family tree [95]. | 21 June 1778 Streatham [13]. | 25 April 1783. Streatham [13]. | 4 | St Leonards Church, Streatham [22] | |
Stillborn son Story [96]. | Miscarried 10 August 1779 Streatham [13]. | Unknown |
Hester also miscarried a daughter [97] and adopted a son [98] with her second husband Mr Piozzi.
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Henry - also known as Harry - was born on 15 February 17671 in Southwark [70].
Named after his father, he was also described in his mothers journal as being very intelligent for his age. He had an attractive personality, was lively, dutiful and loving.
One entry described his physical appearance as …
Strong made, course and bony: - not handsome at all, but of perfect Proportion; and has a surly look with the honestest and sweetest Temper in the World.
Don't scream so, I know I must die.
By age three Henry had apparently already memorised many facts about religion; able to recite the different heathen Gods, the muses, his Catechism, grammar facts, and various other trivia. Around the age of eight 'Harry' had developed into an avid reader and been a person of a forward nature to which his mother had to warn him on what was appropriate conversation topic. He attended St Thomas's School (he refused to board).
Henry died at Brewery House [70] in Southwark between 3 and 4 o'Clock in the afternoon of the 23 March 1776 aged ten. The day before he died he went with a family party to the Tower of London [119] jumping in an out of 'every Mortar till he was black as the ground'. The next day he breakfasted with his father's clerks, bright as a berry. Later during the he suffered intense pain. A physician administered a medicine Daffy's Elixir [120]. As he became desperately ill, his mother rushed to his bedside where he lay in agony. He spoke to his nurse and said "Don't scream so, I know I must die".
It is a total extinction of the family. I would have gone to the extremity of the earth to have preserved this boy.
The cause of death has been speculated as being a ruptured appendix or fulminating septicaemia or meningitis. Today these would be treated with antibiotics with expected cure, but during the time a child often died within hours of a serious infection. He was buried on 28 March 1776 in St Leonard's Church, Streatham [22] and has a monument.
Samuel Johnson, learned of his death, in a letter received whilst having breakfast with James Boswell and Miss Porter on 25 March 1776. Johnson exclaimed:
Sir! one of the most dreadful things that has happened in my time!
Boswell asked…
What is it Sir?.
Johnson replied…
Why Sir Mr. Thrale [25] has lost his only son. It is a total extinction of the family. He'll no more value his daughters than … why sir, he wishes to propagate his name … I would have gone to the extremity of the earth to have preserved this boy.
His mother [37] slowly recovered from his death, although it is known that her disappointment in the behaviour of her friend Herbert Lawrence2 following her son's death led to the ending of their friendship [122]. In contrast, although Henry Thrale [25] lived for a further five years after the death of his son, his father his father never really recovered from his death.
Born on 1 April 1768 in Streatham [13], and named after Lady Anna Maria Salusbury (née Penrice) 1718-1759.
Wonderfully passionate and intelligent.
Christened on 17 April 1768 at St Leonard's Church, Streatham [22]. Anna Maria was the first Thrale child to be christened in the Streatham rather than at The Borough in London. Her service was held at St Leonard's, close to Streatham Park, the rector, James Tattersall, officiating. Mrs. Salusbury was again a godmother, and the other was Thrale's aunt Anne, the widow of Richard Smith, who had come with her nephew on his courting visit to Offley Place [35] nearly six years before. Jeremiah Crutchley [67] was Anna's godfather.
Anna Maria Thrale was described as very thin, not very pretty, but wonderfully passionate and intelligent. She lived mainly with her Grandmother, who would spoil her. In her Children's Book her mother described her thus…
Remarkably small bon'd & delicately framed, but not pretty, as she has no plumpness … her spirit uncommonly high, wonderfully passionate from the very first & backward in her Tongue tho' forward in general Intelligence: She could kiss her her hand at 9 months old, & understand all one said to her: could walk to perfection, & even with an Air at a year old, & seems to intend being Queen of us all if she lives which I do not expect she is so very lean.
On 20 March 1770 aged almost two Anna died from meningitis in Dean Street [78], London. On the same day Her mother's Children's Book described Anna as having died from "a dropsy of the brain". Since she suffered for awhile the sickness may possibly have originated in tuberculosis. She also may have lacked sweat glands, a rare congenital condition.
She was buried on 23 March 1770 in St Leonard's Church, Streatham and has no monument.
Born on 22 June 1769 in Streatham [13], and Christened on 16 July 1769 at St. Leonard's Church, Streatham [22]. She was described as a sickly child but also abundant in softness and kindness.
She acquired her name after Johnson insisted on her being called Elizabeth, in Memory of his late wife Elizabeth (known as 'Tetty). Lucy was very pretty and wonderfully active with her feet although not very talented concerning matters of grammar and English.
Lucy died aged four on 22 November 1773 due to a brain abscess caused by an inflammation of both middle ears and mastoids resulting from a cold. She was buried on 26 November 1773 at St. Leonard's Church, Streatham without any monument.
[130]
Susannah was born on 23 May 1770.
She had crooked legs and an umbilical rupture which made her irritable. Because of this she was called 'Little Crab' by the other children and 'Gilly' by her father from a Gilhouter, the Cheshire word signifying an owl.
She was a favourite of Johnson, who in 1777 said "I was always a Suzy, when nobody else was a Suzy". Johnson defended her as being strong and beautiful, against the opinion of her mother. Her mother described Susannah as "small, ugly & lean as ever; her Colour is like that of an ill painted Wall grown dirty." As she grew up, she was described by her mother as becoming pretty.
In July 1779 - when Susannah was nine - Hester wrote in Thraliana…
Susan & Sophy are fine Girls, and promise to be a Credit & Comfort to their Parents, neither do I yet see any Disposition in the Eldest [68] that need give one pain.
Susannah was knowledgeable on many things and had a talent for reading elegantly. She was able to speak French and English by age five. She attended Mrs Stevenson's school in Queens Square, London, and Mrs Cumyns's boarding school in Kensington, London.
I was always a Suzy, when nobody else was a Suzy.
On 20 January 1779, her mother wrote of her in Thraliana [14] …
My second Daughter Susanna1 Arabella who will not yet be nine Years old till next May, can at this moment read a French Comedy to divert herself, and these very holy days her Amusement has been to make Sophy [83] & sometimes Hester help her to act the two or three 1 st Scenes of Moliere [131]'s Bourgeouis Gentilhomme [132]: add to this that She has a real Taste for English Poetry, and when Mr Johnson repeated some of Dryden [133]'s Musick Ode the other day, She said She had got the whole poem & Pope's too upon the same Subject by Heart for her own Amusement.—Her Knowledge of Arithmetick goes no farther than the four Rules, but She has worked a Map of Europe, and has a Comprehensive Knowledge of Geography that would amaze one.
On 14 July 1780 Hester wrote in Thraliana…
Susan is three parts a Beauty, & quite a Scholar for ten Years old: few passages in History or poetry,—I mean English Poetry—are new to her, & She is a Critick in Geography & French.
In January 1781 - when Susannah was eleven - Hester wrote in Thraliana…
Susan has a surprising turn for Letter writing; her compositions are relly elegant, & She delights—odd enough—in reading Voiture [134] & Sevigné [135]. They both2 have obtained the French Accent very completely , considering they have never been out of England. I should like to treat them to with a run to the Continent.
On 17 December of the same year Hester wrote…
Susan is already taller than me, & three parts a Beauty.
In 1790, John Fuller [136], better known as "Mad Jack" Fuller, proposed marriage but was rebuffed. She remained unmarried.
In 1832, together with her other sisters, she founded the Thrale Almshouses [137].
Susannah Thrale lived with watercolourist William Frederick Wells, a widower and father of seven, but did not marry him. She "joined him at his house", Ash Cottage, in Knockholt, Kent. Wells' name does not appear in the Thrale family correspondence. Susannah's mother Hester refers to him as "Mr Ash Grove". What the nature of their relationship was is open to speculation.
Wells was a drawing instructor to young aristocrats and had exhibited at the Royal Academy. He founded the Society of Painters in Watercolours, now the Royal Watercolour Society in 1804.
Susanhah Thrale lived at Ash Grove Cottage for the rest of her life, remaining there even after Wells retired to Mitcham, Surrey.
Susannah died on 5 November 1858 aged 88 and was buried at St Leonard's churchyard, Streatham. She also has a monument at Knockholt Church [138], Kent inside the church.
[141]Born on 23 July 1771 in Streatham [13] and was Christened on 11 August 1771 at St. Leonard's Church, Streatham [22]. Sophia was also a favourite of Johnson [121], who called her:
dear, sweet, pretty, lovely, delicious Miss Sophy.
Sophia was a very large baby, common in overdue children. Johnson said of her during pregnancy…
This naughty baby stays so long that I am afraid it will be a giant, like King Richard.
As she grew she became very stout and…
handsome enough, though not eminant for beauty.
In July 1779 - when Sophia was eight - Hester wrote in Thraliana [14]…
Susan [81] & Sophy are fine Girls, and promise to be a Credit & Comfort to their Parents, neither do I yet see any Disposition in the Eldest that need give one pain”;.
Dear, sweet, pretty, lovely, delicious Miss Sophy.
Also at age four, she was memorising hymns, her multiplication tables and various Psalms.
On 6 August 1780 Hester wrote in Thraliana…
Sophy has a Turn for making Verses, bad enough to be sure, yet such a Turn shews Genius in a Girl who was nine Years old only a fortnight ago
In January 1781 Hester wrote in Thraliana…
Sophia, who is a more natural Character, finds no Entertainment in writing at all; but works hard at her Needle, and Harpsichord, and gets to spouting Fingal for her Diversion—they both1 have obtained the French Accent very completely , considering they have never been out of England. I should like to treat them to with a run to the Continent.
On 17 December 1781 Hester wrote…
My Sophy Thrale has begun to study Musik in good earnest; She will learn to play & sing very well I fancy, Piozzi has great hopes of her. Sophy is an Epitome of all the Cotton family—'tis odd that none of my children should resemble my Father.
She attended Mrs Stevenson's school in Queens Square, London, and Mrs Cumyns's boarding school in Kensington, London. [142]
In Bath on 19 November 1783, when Sophia was aged 12, Hester wrote in Thraliana…
Heavens! a new Distress! my Child, my Sophia will dye: arrested by the hand of God—apparently so: She will die without a Disease—Fits, sudden, unaccountable, unprovoked; Apoplectic, lethargic like her Father. Woodward and Dobson are called: they say her Disorder should be termed Allonitus. 'tis an instant Cessation of all Nature's Pow'rs at once. I saved her in the first Attack, bya Dram of fine Old Usquebough given at the proper Moment—it reviv'd her, but She only lives I see to expire with fresh Struggles.
Oh spare my Sophia, my Darling, oh spare her gracious heaven—& take in Exchange the life of her wretched Mother!
She lives, I have been permitted to save her again; I rubbed her while just expiring, so as to keep the heart in Motion: She knew me instantly, & said you warm me but you are killing yourself—I actually was in a burning Fever from exertion, & fainted soon as I had saved my Child.
Hester [68] has behaved inimitably too, all our Tenderness was called out on this Occasion: dear Creatures! they see I love them, that I would willingly die for them; that I am actually dying to gratifie their Humour at the Expence of my own Happiness: they can but have my Life-let them take it !”;
Sophy has a Turn for making Verses, bad enough to be sure, yet such a Turn shews Genius in a Girl who was nine Years old only a fortnight ago.
Johnson's letters show that he, and perhaps the physicians, regarded this attack of Sophia's as hysterical. On 27 November 1783 he wrote…
I had to-day another trifling letter from the physicians. Do not let them fill your mind with terrours which perhaps they have not in their own; neither suffer yourself to sit forming comparisons between Sophy and her dear father; between; whom there can be no other resemblance, than that of sickness to sickness. Hystericks and apoplexies have no relation.
Sophie's illness recurred for at least a year. It was mentioned again by Johnson in his March 1784 letters.
[143]
On 13 August 1807, Sophia married Henry Merrick Hoare (1770 - 1826). He was the 3rd son of Baronet Sir Richard Hoare [144] and Henry was a banker in the family firm [145] founded by his great great grandfather. Henry was also the 15th great grandson of King Edward I (1239-1307) [146] and 16th great grandson of Henry III (1297-1272) [147]. On hearing of the wedding, which she did not attend, Sophia's mother wrote of Sophia's kindness and civility.
In return Hester gave Sophy an original Gainsborough [148] landscape painting. This painting was later owned by the Marquis of Lansdowne [149] and displayed in London at 1936 Gainsborough exhibition. On 17 October 1807, Hester wrote of the painting…
"The Subject Cattle driven down to drink, & the first Cow expresses Something of Surprize as if an Otter lurked under the Bank. It is a naked looking Landschape—done to divert Abel the Musician by representing his Country Bohenia in no favourable Light, & the Dog is a favourite's Portrait….
In 1805 Sophia sent her mother a gift of pens, to which her mother wrote some verses in response, by way of thanks [150].
Sophia died on 8 November 1824 aged 53. Her portrait is believed to be at Bowood House [152].
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Born at 1pm on 15 September 1772. Penelope was born with a blackened face and unable to breathe properly. She survived just 10 hours, and died just before midnight the same day.
It was said that Mrs. Thrale had driven herself to total exhaustion during her previous pregnancy [83] and had not recovered by the time Penelope was born.
Penelope was buried in St. Leonard's Church, Streatham [22] without any monument.
His mothers' Children's Book records that she had suspected that Ralph was imbecile since 31 December 1773 and that Dr Pott the surgeon confirmed this in April 1775, suggesting that the cause was congential [162]. Ralph was said by Hester1 to have suffered from confluent smallpox [163].
During the last few months of his life, Ralph's state overshadowed the life of the Thrales taking everybody's mind off the fact that Frances Anna [90] was born two months earlier.
Ralph died of a brain disorder that caused his head to enlarge. Doctors now think that the cause of death was either congenital hydrocephalus [164], where there is an increase in the fluid in the ventricles of the brain, or hydrancephaly, where the a bag a clear fluid between the brain and skull distort the shape of the head.
He was buried in St. Leonard's Church, Streatham [22] and has a monument. Ralph Thrale was born on 8 November 1773 at Streatham [13]. He died on at the Thrale's Brighton home [165] on 13 July 1775 aged twenty months.
Born on 4 May 1775 at Streatham [13], she was named after Mrs. Thrale's niece, daughter of Mrs. Plumbe, Frances Plumbe Rice.
Sadly, Frances died of influenza at Streatham on 9 December 1775 aged seven months. At the time, most of the Thrale family had come down with the sickness but all recovered except Frances and her wet nurse who also died a few days later. Mrs. Thrale took the death as being normal in that during the time, infant mortality was high and death was always half expected with birth.
She was buried in St. Leonard's Church, Streatham [22] without any monument.
[170]
Cecilia was born on 8 February 1777 at Streatham [13]. Her Godparents were Miss Owen, Mrs. Hester D'Avenantfn [171], daughter of Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton, later Lady Corbet. and William Seward1.
In July 1779 - when Cecilia was two - Hester wrote in Thraliana [14]…
Cæcilia improves daily and is a lovely girl of the fair delicate kind … their is not a fault to find with either of them2 person or Mind; and I thank God who gave them me, their health is excellent.
On 28 March 1783 Hester wrote in Thraliana…
poor Cæcilia has got the Hooping Cough.
On 14 April 1783 she again wrote…
poor Cæcilia and Harriett; I fear those poor babies will dye, notwithstanding the efforts of Jebb3 & Pepys4 to relieve them:—Thank Heav'n they are with Dear Mrs Ray5
On 30 December 1789 - when Cecilia was twelve - Hester wrote in Thraliana…
Cæcilia grows more amiable, She has some fondness, & much flexibility: Amica di ognuno, Amica di nessuno6. should be Cæcilia's Motto. we teize her, & say She is like her own favourite Spaniel, who fawns upon everybody, & upon ev'ry body alike—but She says Phillis has her Distinctions.
On 29 April 1787 Hester wrote of Gabriel Piozzi's relationship with Cecilia in Thraliana…
The little Cecllia is his Darling, & while She is at School will honour us with her Visits no doubt, but her Tenderness will end there I trust, as her Spirit is the same to that of her Sisters. Well! never mind, my heart is vastly more impenetrable to their unmerited Cruelty than it was when last in England. Let them look to their Affairs, & I shall look to mine: the World is wide enough I'll warrant it for Miss Thrales and Mrs Piozzi.
Cæcilia improves daily and is a lovely girl of the fair delicate kind.
On 3 January 1791 - when Cecilia was fourteen - Hester wrote in Thraliana…
Every body tells me that Cæcilia Thrale improves, & so I think She does; tho’ not because they say so: were She less altered for the better, no less would be said about her perfections I suppose. but She has lost much of the savage Manners She brought from School: is tamer, & handsomer, and grows very like what her Sisters were when they lived with me.—The Exterior is best tho’ with Cecilia; her Mind recovers more slowly than her Person, from a severe Shock certainly given to Both in the Year 1783 by the Hooping Cough & Measles together, when her younger Sister lost that Life which was preserved to this Girl only by Sir Lucas Pepys’s4 extreme Skill & Care. She will however be a fine Woman, with Accomplishments & Beauty & Virtue enough to accompany forty or fifty Thousand Pounds—although her Memory is far from strong, and her Spirit of Application to any Study much too weak ever to attain at Eminence I think.
Her Temper when unthwarted is sweet, but She arms against opposition even instinctively; and will do nothing because She is commanded, but the contrary, while the same surly Independent Soul inhabits her Bosom with equal Rapacity to obtain, and Rage to appropriate, as in the hearts of any of her Family. Cecilia seems however to love Mr Piozzi—in her way of loving—but no one accuses her of partiality towards me I believe, whose Company She studiously avoids; & I therefore say nothing, but provide Refuges for her to recur to, that are no less improving Companions than myself—while She has Miss Weston, Miss Williams, Miss Lees, or Dear Siddons [172] only for Confidents—She can hear of nothing but Literature, so I care not.
The Greatheeds too, so much her favourites! with whom can She be better? We keep no Company but that by which something must be obtained to a Young Mind, of Knowledge or of Virtue.—
Three weeks later, on 27 January 1791 Hester wrote in Thraliana…
Here's my Birthday returned; the first I have spent at Streatham for many Years, and quite the happiest I ever did spend there: Our daughter who lives in the house with us—Cecilia—much improved, & growing handsome as well as tall & rich; good as her Neighbours too, for ought I see; though without much Love of Study, or Regard for me, all goes well between us; and her Papa7 as She calls him, has a very solid kindness & true Goodwill towards her. I find he is of Opinion that Cator is no honest Guardian to those Girls, but I suppose they would rather be robbed by him, than saved by us.
On 1 September 1794 - when Cecilia was seventeen - Hester wrote in Thraliana…
Cecilia does not indeed trouble herself to disguise her Sentiments, She has, and She shews She has, an ineffable Contempt for us both8; but why do I say of us? She despises every body, I know, except her own Sisters & her Father's Family (I suppose‚ twas they taught her to hate us so, She was only indifferent to us till She knew them—but ’twas an easy Lesson to any of the Family), Cecilia is however a very charitable Girl, and loves the poor : which will produce her many Blessings I humbly hope, and certainly will cover a Multitude of Faults—for the rest, one can only say with Andromache—
Youth and Prosperity have made her vain9.
In 1784 when her mother [37] left England Cecilia was left with Miss Nicholson.
In the summer of 1786 she moved to Mrs Stevenson's school in Queens Square, London.
In August 1794 Hester Thrale became Godmother to Cecilia Siddons - named after Cecilia Thrale - daughter of Sarah Siddons [172]. Cecilia Margarita Battiste10 was also named after Cecilia Thrale.
Cecilia was admired by many, including Samuels Rogers who met her at Edinburgh [173] and Streatham.
On 6 June 1795 aged 18, Cecilia ran away and on 8 June 1795 was married in Gretna Green [174] in Scotland to John Meredith Mostyn (1775-1807). On 9 June, Cecilia wrote a letter to Hester which said…
We arrived safe here yesterday evening after an amazing long journey as you know & faster even than the mail—we were married immediately, stay here all today & set out on our road to Llewesog Lodge tomorrow
Hester Thrale’s account of this in Thraliana was…
“;Oh Lord! Oh Lord! Mosty & Cecilia are run away to Scotland sure enough, and here is M r Piozzi [59] in an Agony about his Honour wch he fancies injured by the step, Susan [81] & Sophy [83] are in Care for the Money which they unjustly fear is endanger’d ; Miss Thrale [68]11 behaves best, & I suffer most—on Acct of her Health & Youth & Inexperience—Oh my poor Cecy!—for the 1st five Minutes I knew not but Drummond might have tricked her off with him pretending to be the other: but No, She is in safe & honourable Hands, and happy with her Dear Mostyn at Llewessog Lodge, where all seem rejoyced to receive & court her Attention.—This Business then is happily over, & I might sleep if Nervous Complaints did not hinder me—for now the other Girls are kind & good, & stuff Cecy, so do I, with bridal Presents; and nobody is otherwise than happy & content.
'Fedele & costante, felice e contento12' as my Master says.
Her Temper when unthwarted is sweet, but She arms against opposition even instinctively; and will do nothing because She is commanded, but the contrary.
On June 17 1795 Cecilia wrote to Hester, from Llewesog, that she had been…
frightened into fits on her wedding night, and that her husband had kindly and considerately got Dr. Haygarth to prescribe for her at Chester. 'I am got quite well now & am learning to behave better & an only as usual not to hurried & flurried but left to myself by Dr. H’s orders & then I shall soon be as good as he himself could wish.
On 11 October 1796 Hester wrote in Thraliana about an alleged illegitimate child sired by Mostyn …
Cecy Mostyn is a foolish Girl, & cannot rule her own Household — all our unfashionable Neighbours cry Shame! to see Mason her Maid with Child by the Master of the Mansion & the Gay Mistress protecting this Partner in her Husband's Person because it is the Way She says; & all those who understand genteel Life think lightly of such Matters. When I offered to speak my antiquated Sentiments upon the Subject, She forbid me (smartly) to say another Word about it; & told my Maid that if Mrs Piozzi plagued her any more concerning such Nonsense She would leave the House into wch She never came to say the Truth except for mere Conveniency.
They had three boys. The first died at birth on 28 August 1797 after her mother was in labour for "Three Days and Nights in Torture".
The second was Henry Meredith Mostyn, also known as Harry, who was born in November or December 1799. Henry Mostyn had a distinguished career in Royal Navy and died in 1840.
The third was Thomas Arthur Bertie, born 11 July 1801, named after Bertie Greatheed, second son of Samuel Greatheed, Whig [175] Member of Parliament for Coventry and Lady Mary Greatheed. Bertie was a man of science interested in the latest inventions; and a writer. He wrote a play called The Regent in which he persuaded Sarah Siddons to take the leading part, but she miscarried on stage and the play was withdrawn. Thomas died early in life.
On 12 October 1804, Cecilia miscarried a girl after falling from a horse.
Cecilia visited her mother at <a href=brynbella">Brynbella and on 21 October 1804, Hester wrote of the visit in Thraliana…
Cecilia Mostyn has been here on a Three Days Visit & made herself as it appeared to me, studiously agreeable. cecy complains of her Husband grievously, accuses him of gross Avarice and rough Behaviour—scruples not to confess her dislike of the Man & her Resolution to live with him only till The Boys go to School: yet something says to my heart that half of this is Fable, & spoken with Design of some sort to dig out how far I should grieve at, or resnt his Treatment of her if it was absolutely & truly what She represents. I listn'd however with Expressions of Wonder only, & just such Indignation as one could not avoid—Cecy is false as Water— and since She told Mr Mostyn long ago that I wished his Neck broke when such a word has never cross'd my Tongue—what will she not say now? I do not like a Tête a Tête with any but Truth-tellers—& what this fashionable Lady says, must be taken with a Grain of Salt. The worst is I cannot sleep since the Visit—such staring tales has She related—& of poor Susan [81] too!! Who can believe as fast as Cis can talk??—
Cecilia and John Mostyn separated in 1805, once the boys were placed in Mr Davies' Streatham school. Cecilia took residence in Cheltenham, whilst John went to live in Bath for the health-improving spas. They were reconciled, but they separated again in Autumn of 1806. John Mostyn died of Tuberculosis [176] on 19 May 1807 in Bath.
In 1832, together with her other sisters, she founded the Thrale Almshouses [137].
Cecilia died on at Brighton Railway Station on 1 May 1857 aged 80. She was buried in St. Leonard's Church, Streatham [22] and has a monument. Her collection of curiosities and relics of Mr. Thrale and Dr. Johnson was sold at Silwood Lodge, Brighton, in the autumn of 1857.
The last of the Thrale full-term pregnancy children, Henrietta was born at Streatham [13] on 21 June 1778. Her mother called her Harriett.
Her godmother was Mrs Elizabeth Montagu [180].
In July 1779 - when Henrietta was one year old - Hester wrote in Thraliana [14]…
;Harriett is brown, rosy, fat and stout--their is not a fault to find with either of them1 person or Mind; and I thank God who gave them me, their health is excellent”;.
On 17 December 1781 Hester wrote…
Harriet much resembles the young Rices I think--She is a pretty creature!
On 28 March 1783 - four weeks before she died - Hester wrote in Thraliana…
my youngest child Henrietta is ill;.
On 14 April 1783 she again wrote…
poor Caecilia and Harriett; I fear those poor babies will dye, notwithstanding the efforts of Jebb2 & Pepys3 to relieve them:--Thank Heav'n they are with Dear Mrs Ray4”;.
She was ill before 22 March 1783, as that day Sanuel Johnson wrote…
I hope, Harriet is well;.
On 31 March 1783, Johnson wrote…
I hope to hear again that my dear little girl is out of danger;.
Henrietta died at Streatham Park on 25 April 1783 aged four. In Thraliana, Hester wrote…
Henrietta’s Death however was inevitable; She came home with a slight glandular Swelling in her Neck which was succeeded by the Measles & Hooping Cough: these united fell very heavy on an Infant so tender, & falling on her Lungs particularly, produced an Abscess which was the immediate Cause of her Death.;.
Surprisingly - by today's standards - during the period of her illness and death Hester was in Bath whilst Henrietta and Cecilia were in Streatham.
She was buried in St. Leonard's Church, Streatham [22] and has no monument.
In 1779 Hester Thrale wrote in the Family Book…
I think I am again pregnant.
She had a difficult pregnancy, which she prayed was a son. During most of the pregnancy she was confined to the house.
On 10 August 1779, she was a few days away from being full-term, but problems with the clerks had arisen at the brewery. In Thraliana [14], she wrote1…
Mr Thrale wished me to go, nay insisted on it, but seemed somewhat concerned too, as he was well apprized of the Risque I should run. I went however, & after doing the Business I went to do, beg'd him to make haste home, as I was apprehensive bad Consequences might very quickly arise from the Joulting &c. -- he would not be hurried … no Pain, No Entreaties of mine could make him set out one Moment before the appointed hour -- so I lay along in the Coach all the way from London to Streatham in a State not to be described, nor endured; -- but by me: -- & being carried to my Chamber the Instant I got home, miscarried in the utmost Agony before they could get me into Bed, after fainting five Times.
The stillborn child was a full term, perfectly formed, boy. Henry's inaction seemed to have caused, or contributed to the loss of his last chance to have a male heir.
John Perkins who was present at the scene in the brewery, said that Henry seemed to be…
"Planet-struck".
It is likely that the son was buried in St. Leonard's Church, Streatham [22] and has no monument.
In 1774, the Thrales went with Samuel Johnson [121] on a tour of Wales.
In September 1775 Hester, Henry, Queeney Thrale [62] (Hester and Henry's eldest child) together with Samuel Johnson and Joseph Baretti [187] went to Paris.
On the 27th they narrowly escaped serious injury during a coaching accident [188].
On 19th October the party were admitted to the Court of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette at Fontainebleau, and enjoyed dinner and an evening at the theatre with them [189].
To bring you a more reliable & user-friendly experience by mid-2024, we are significantly improving Thrale.com.
Consequently, this page has temporarily been moved here [192].
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To bring you a more reliable & user-friendly experience by mid-2024, we are significantly improving Thrale.com.
Consequently, this page has temporarily been moved here [195].
Sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.
[198] Henry Thrale owned several large well appointed homes. Henry once considered - but decided against it - buying Bardsey Island [199]. At various times, he also lived in several other leased or rented properties. See also Hester Lynch Thrale's homes and properties [200].
[203]
Streatham Park, or Streatham Place, was built in 1730 by Ralph Thrale (1698-1758) [8] on 89 acres of land bought from the local Lord of the Manor - the fourth Duke of Bedford [204]. It was rumoured that the sale price was a ten-year supply of ale and porter for the Duke's home, Woburn Abbey [205].
The estate was six miles from London on the edge of the common between Streatham and Tooting in a district which then was wholesome, green and rural. In 1811 Streatham's population numbered just 2,729. Around this time, regular coach services commenced to Westminster. By the time of Streatham Park's decline, the population had risen ten-fold. The land that formed Streatham Park is now bounded by Tooting Bec Common [206] to the north, Thrale Road [207] and West Road to the west, and the London to Brighton railway to the east. This area is still known as Streatham Park today. Google map of area » [207]
The house was in a park of 109 acres. The kitchen gardens, Henry's pride, were surrounded by fourteen feet high brick walls. At the back of the home were farm buildings, domestic offices, large greenhouses, stables, and an ice-house. Behind these and to the west was the kitchen garden with forcing-frames for grapes, melons, peaches, and nectarines. Later the an extensive meadow was created which was separated from the adjoining heavily wooded park by a three acre lake. The lake contained an island, accommodated a boat and drawbridge. In winter the lake was used for skating. The grounds were elegantly planted, with a two mile long circular gravel walk, shrubbery and a ha-ha1.
[209]
A sweeping drive of a hundred yards led from the lodge gates to a compact three-story brick house. Streatham was a comfortable country house, though far removed from the luxurious mansion it later became; for it then had no spacious parlour or library, no extensive lawn, pond, or summer house. These - together with a white stucco exterior covering - were added as the family and income increased. The house finally consisted of a main central block with a pedimented front; two low extensions, with a balustrade on each side of it.2
[210] Johnson lived here in his own apartment with the Thrale's almost as part of their family from 1765. On the occasion of James Boswell's [11] first visit on 6th October 1769, Boswell wrote…
I found, at an elegant villa, six miles from town, every circumstances that can make society pleasing. Johnson, though quite at home, was yet looked upon with awe tempered by affection, and seemed to be equally the care of his host and hostess. I rejoiced at seeing him so happy.
Henry Thrale [25]'s home at Streatham Park [13] became the focal point of the Thrale's social life, and a country retreat for Samuel Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds and other distinguished members of Thrale's intellectual and artistic circle. On 24 July 1771 Samuel Johnson asked the builders to leave about 100 loose bricks as…
I can think of no better place for Chimistry in fair weather, than the pump side in the kitchen Garden.
[211]
Between 1771-1773 Henry several improvements were made, including the addition of a library [212] and several other rooms. In July 1773, Samuel Johnson's new room - a bow windowed room above the library - was completed. There was also a summer house [213] which was much loved by Samuel Johnson. In August 1777 Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu wrote …
On Wednesday I dined at Streatham … We had a most elegant dinner, and the best of all feasts, sense and wit and good humour. Mrs Thrale is a woman of very superior understanding, and very respectable as a Wife, a Mother, a friend and a Mistress of a Family… Mr Thrale has a fruit garden and a kitchen garden that may vie with the Hesperian Gardens for fruit and flowers.
[214]
In August 1778, Fanny Burney first visited Streatham. She wrote of this:
August.--I have now to write an account of the most consequential day I have spent since my birth: namely, my visit. Mr. Thrale's house is white, and very pleasantly situated, in a fine paddock. Mrs. Thrale was strolling about, and came to us as we got out of the chaise. "Ah," cried she, "I hear Dr. Burney's voice! and you have brought your daughter?—well, now you are good!" She then received me, taking both my hands, and with mixed politeness and cordiality welcoming me to Streatham. She led me into the house, and addressed herself almost wholly for a few minutes to my father, as if to give me an assurance she did not mean to regard me as a show, or to distress or frighten me by drawing me out. Afterwards she took me upstairs, and showed me the house, and said she had very much wished to see me at Streatham, and should always think herself much obliged to Dr. Burney for his goodness in bringing me, which she looked upon as a very great favour. When we returned to the music-room, we found Miss Thrale3 was with my father. Miss Thrale is a very fine girl, about fourteen years of age, but cold and reserved, though full of knowledge and intelligence.4
[215]It was at Streatham that Fanny Burney later wrote the verses of the Streatham Flasher [216] in March 1779.
Fanny Burney said5 of Streatham Place:
I know not how to express the fullness of my contentment at this sweet place.
Sometime after Henry Thrale's death in 1781, the Thrale's spent some time in Grosvenor Square. Streatham Park was leased and had new occupants [217]. Prestigiously, the first was Prime Minister Shelburne from September 1782. Streatham Park was leased until 1828, aside from six years between 1790 and 1795 when Hester and Gabriel Piozzi resumed occupancy.
Streatham Park was let until April 1790, after which Gabriel and Hester Piozzi returned. Much damage was done during the seven and a half years during which it had been rented. £2,000 was spent on restoration which was completed by the time of their seventh wedding anniversary when the Piozzi's threw a grand party. The numbers at the party gives some concept of the size of the house. 36 people sat down to dine at a long table in the library, and 12 people were seated for dinner in the adjoining dressing room.
On 28 July 1790 Hester wrote in Thraliana…
We have kept our seventh Wedding Day, and celebrated our Return to this House with prodigius Splendor and Gayety. Seventy People eat at our Expence, Thirty six of which dined at an immensely long Table in the Library6 —The Plate so fine too, the China so showy, all so magnificent, and at the Time of Dinner Horns Clarin &c wch afterwards performed upon the Water in our new Boat that makes such a beautiful, such an elegant Figure. Never was a pleasanter Day seen, nor Weather half as favourable: the Setting Sun, the full moon rising, were wonderfully happy Additions; and at Night the Trees & Front of the House were illuminated with Colour'd Lamps, that called forth our Neighbours from all the adjacent Villages to admire & enjoy such Diversion. Many Friends swear that not less than a Thousand Men Women & Children might have been counted in the House & Grounds, where tho' all were admitted, nothing was stolen, lost, broken, or even damaged—a Circumstance almost incredible; & which gave Mr Piozzi a high Opinion of English Gratitude and respectful Attachment.
On 12 October 1790 Hester wrote of Streatham in Thraliana…
On the Morning of this Day twenty seven years ago I first opened my Eyes in this House, to wch my Mother, myself, my Uncle & distant Relation the Rev: Thelwall Salusbury who had married us—were brought by Mr Thrale [25] to reside. And what a House it was then! a little squeezed miserable Place with a wretched Court before it, & all these noble Elm Trees out upon the Common. Such Furniture too! I can but laugh when it crosses my Recollection. Yet how serious and how thankful should every Thought of my heart be, at the Remembrance that every Year has produced some singular Improvement, & that here I am, blessed with Health to enjoy all that has been done by both my Husbands for my Satisfaction and Comfort. Poor Piozzi [59] has sure enough, a little over-done the Business; & put us into a little Distress for Money, to pay these last Bills: which amount to no less than two thousand Pounds.
On 3 January 1791, Hester wrote in Thraliana…
Streatham looks divinely itself; my present Master has been an admirable Steward for my past Mistresses, who I hope will approve his Works, tho’ I'm told they always censure mine. Our Nursery Garden, Shrubbery &c. is in the finest Order I ever yet saw them; & the House has an Appearance of Gayety never attempted in Mr Thrale's [25] Time. Constant Company, elegant, expensive and tasteful Furniture; splendid Dinners and fine Plantations. I am glad that Hanover Square [221] house is let, or going to be Let to Lord Dumfries ; our Establishment here is too magnificent for the admission of other Expences, and if we are prudent even Bath must be given up for this Season, for one cannot do every thing; tho' by Dint of Management I see that a great Deal may be done with 3000£ o'Year. M r Piozzi [59] is a capital Manager.
On 27 January 1791, Hester wrote in Thraliana [14]…
We are going to Bath for the Season, most of our great Debts paid, & our Hearts at Ease: the Servants always plague one I think— but that's of small Consequence.
In Thraliana on 17 September 1791, on Queeney's [222] 27th birthday, Hester Thrale wrote of the improvements at Streatham since her birth 27 years previously in 1764…
Here was then neither Lawn, nor pond, nor Shrubbery without doors; nor Eating Parlour, Drawing Room or Library within—but a little Brick House with four Walls, & there a Gate. The Park divided into Fields or Closes, & all the Pleasure Ground Common.
In Thraliana on 17 April 1795, Hester curiously wrote that her bedchamber at Streatham was 31 of her steps wide and 28.5 long - remember that she was only 4 feet 11 inches tall - while Brynbella's was 26x26 steps.
[223]
The famous portraits [212] by Sir Joshua Reynolds in the library were sold by Hester Thrale in May 1816. Later that year it was leased to Mr. Elliott who rented the unfurnished house at a rent of £260 a year. Just before she died in 1821, Hester wrote to Madame Fanny D'Arblay 1752-1840 (née Burney), as follows…
You would not know poor Streatham Park, I have been forced to dismantle and forsake it; the expenses of the present time treble those of the moments you remember; and since giving up my Welsh estate [43] my income is greatly diminished. I fancy this will be my last residence in the world, meaning Clifton [224], not Sion Row, where I only live until my house in the Crescent is ready for me … The village of Streatham is full of rich inhabitants, the common much the worse for being spotted about with houses.
The contents of the library [212] were sold in Manchester on 17 September 1823.
In 1825 the property was sold to Michael Shepley, and the deeds of sale included this plan [225].
Streatham Park was demolished and the materials sold in May 1863. The site of the estate was replaced by a residential area of housing known as Streatham Park. In 1946 the houses came under the control of the London County Council [226].
In June 1773 Thrale completed the building of a two-storey extension to Streatham Park [67]. This incorporated new a west-facing library with a bow-front and three large windows, with a guest room for Johnson [238] above the library.
Here Thrale kept a tidy wig kept for Johnson's special use, because his own was apt to be singed up the middle by close contact with the candle, which Johnson put, being short-sighted, between his eyes and a book.
Reynolds's portraits of the friends of Henry Thrale were produced over a period of about ten years, beginning with the novelist and playwright, Oliver Goldsmith, and concluding in 1781 with the composer and music historian, Charles Burney. In addition to the twelve bust-length male portraits Reynolds also painted a double portrait of Henry Thrale's wife and eldest daughter, which was designed to hang over the library's chimneypiece.
The novelist and diarist Fanny Burney, a close friend of Mrs Thrale and daughter of Charles Burney, nicknamed Henry Thrale's collection the 'Streatham Worthies' - a reference to the celebrated 'Temple of British Worthies [67]' at Stowe [238].
Reynolds's portraits were positioned high on the walls, above the bookshelves, following the practice adopted in the celebrated painted frieze in the Upper Reading Room at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and the arrangement of portraits in aristocratic libraries, such as Woburn, Badminton, Petworth and Chesterfield House, London. According to Fanny Burney…
Thrale resolved to surmount these1 treasures for the mind by a similar regale for the eyes, in selecting the persons he most loved to contemplate, from amongst his friends and favourites, to preside over the literature that stood highest in his estimation.
On 10 May 1816 Hester [239] sold all portraits except Arthur Murphy [240]'s.2
As Fanny Burney noted, the price each one fetched was dictated by 'the celebrity of the subjects' - all of whom were now dead. Johnson once more prevailed, followed in descending order by Burke, Burney, Garrick, Goldsmith and Reynolds. To Mrs Thrale's intense disappointment her own portrait went cheaply, causing her to complain that it was worth twice the price 'even as a History-Piece'.
Hester Thrale described in Thraliana [241] the characters of the people depicted in the portraits as follows …
I will now write out the Characters of the People who are intended to have their Portraits hung up in the Library here at Streatham. I write them in ye order they are to hang.
Lord Sandys3 first appears at the head of the Tribe
But flat Insipidity who can describe?
When such Parents and Wife as might check even Pindar [67],
Form Family-Compacts his Genius to hinder;
Their Oppression for Forty long Years he endured,
The Nobleman sunk, and the Scholar obscured:
While Rank, Reason, Virtue, endeavouring in vain,
To fling off their Burden, & break off their Chain;
Could at last but regret--not resist their harsh fate,
Like Enceladus [238] crush'd by the mountainous Weight.
Another time Hester wrote…
Lord Sandys is a quiet man with a low-toned Voice, but when I want a Fact, or good Information as to Ecclesiastical History--I go to Lord Sandys for it--He is more a reading Man than a Thinking Man but he really is a full Man as Bacon expresses it.
This is really a fair Description of poor Lord Sandys's Situation & Abilities: tho' a dull Converser, he is versed in many Branches of Learning: and an admirable Scholar.--his Friendship with Mr Thrale is of long standing, we must turn the Page for Lord Westcote.
Next him on the right hand, see Lyttelton4 hang;
Polite in Behaviour, prolix in harangue:
With power well-natur'd, with Science well bred,
He had studied, had travell'd, had reason'd, had read;
Yet the Mind as the body was wanting in Strength,
For in Lyttelton every thing ran into Length:
Of his long wheaten Straw thus the Farmer complains
When the Chaff is still found to outnumber the Grains.
My own & my eldest Daughter's portraits in one Picture come next, and are to be placed over the Chimney.—
In Features so placid, so smooth, so serene,
What Trace of the Wit—or the Welch-woman's seen?
Of the Temper sarcastic, the flattering Tongue,
The Sentiment right—with th' Occasion still wrong.
What Trace of the tender, the rough, the refin'd,
The Soul in which all Contrarieties join'd?
Where tho' Merriment loves over Method to rule,
Religion resides, and the Virtues keep School;
Till when tired we condemn her dogmatical Air,
Like a Rocket She rises, and leaves us to Stare.
To such Contradictions d'ye wish for a Clue,
Keep Vanity still—that vile Passion in view;
For 'tis thus the slow Miner his Fortune to make,
Of Arsenic thin scatter'd pursues the pale Track;
Secure where that Poyson pollutes the rich Ground,
That it points to the Soil where Some Silver is found.
The Portrait of my eldest Daughter deserves better Lines than these which follow—She is a valuable Girl.
Of a Virgin so tender; the Face or the Fame,
Alike would be injur'd by praise or by Blame;
To the world's fiery Tryal too early consign'd
She soon shall experience it, cruel or kind.
His Concern thus the anxious Enameller hides,
And his well finish'd Work to the Furnace confides;
But jocund resumes it secure from Decay,
If the Colours stand firm on the dangerous Day.
Mr Murphy [67] who comes next in Order, will just fill up this page:--his Character is as like as his Portrait.
A Manner so studied, so vacant a Face,
These Features the Mind of our Murphy disgrace;
A Mind unaffected; soft, artless and true,
A Mind which though ductile—has Dignity too:
Where Virtues ill-sorted are huddled in heaps,
Humanity triumphs, and Piety sleeps;
A Mind in which Mirth can with Merit reside,
And Learning turns Frolic with Humour his Guide:
While Wit, Follies, Faults, its Fertility prove,
Till the Faults we grow fond of, the Follies we love,
And corrupted at length by the sweet Conversation,
Protest there's no honesty left in the Nation.
An African Landschape thus breaks on our Sight,
Where Confusion and Wildness increase the Delight;
Till in wanton Luxuriance indulging our Eye,
We faint in the forcible Fragrance, and die.
Arthur Murphy [245] (1727-1805). Barrister, journalist, actor, biographer, translator and playwright.
Sir Joshua Reynolds' unsigned oil on canvas portrait of Arthur Murphy, is a head and shoulders in semi profile looking to his right, wearing white lace cravat with red velvet jacket and waist coat. It is inscribed verso [246] "Portrait of Arthur Murphy Esquire painted by Joshua Reynolds for Mrs Thrale (afterwards Mrs Piozzi) of whom I purchased it in 1819-George Watson Taylor", Thomas Agnew and Sons paper label and no. 1014, and paper label giving provenance, 29" x 24".5
The painting was seen in public in 1917 and was listed as untraced in an art book in 2000. However, it was sold to the art dealer and agent Arthur Sulley, in 1917, who passed it to a Mr Rolston-Mitchell, then by descent to the 2005 private vendor of the painting, who lived in the Driffield area.6
The portrait was sold at auction7 on 16 September 2005 to Sidney Green of London for £305,000.
Saleroom manager Pippa Whiteley said…
When we found it in the Driffield area, it was very exciting. It is really nice to sell a beautiful painting and it is had very little restoration to it - it hasn't even been re-lined. It is marvellous. It is a beautiful painting and the quality of the brush strokes is fabulous.
All the action was captured on film by cameraman Pete Cook, who filmed at the Exchange Street sale room for The Auction Year.8
After writing the Characters of all his Friends in the Retaliation Poem [67], and after Garrick's9 Verses upon him; how difficult is it to draw Dr Goldsmith! yet I will say these Lines are not bad.
From our Goldsmith's anomalous Character, who,
Can withhold his Contempt—and his Reverence too?
From a Poet so polish'd, so paltry a Fellow,
From Critick, Historian, or vile Punchinello?
From a Heart in which Meanness had fix'd her Abode,
From a Foot that each Path of Vulgarity trod;
From a Head to invent, and a hand to adorn,
Unskilled in the Schools—a Philosopher born.
By Disguise undefended, by Jealousy smit,
This Lusus Naturæ—Non-Descript in Wit;—
May best be compar'd to those Anamorphoses [67],
Which for Lectures to Ladies, th' Optician proposes,
All Deformity seeming in some points of View,
In others quite regular, uniform, true:
Till the Student no more sees the figure that shock’d her,
But all in his Likeness—our odd little Doctor.
Oliver Goldsmith [67]. 1730 - 1774. Frances Reynolds' (Joshua's sister) thought this was the most flatterring picture her brother painted. The portrait was sold by Hester on 10 May 181610 to the Duke of Bedford [239] for £133 and 7 shillings; the Duke of Bedford sale, Christie's 19 January 195111, bought in; sold by the Trustees of the Bedford Estates, Christie's 1 November 199412, bought by National Gallery of Ireland [240], Dublin.
For Sir Joshua [67] we must again turn the Page I see, for short as his Character is, there is not room for it on this Side; and! won't break uniformity by writing some Lines in one Leaf, some in another:--I have hardly said good enough of Sir Joshua, but let it go--I wish it were more favourable too.
Of Reynolds what Good shall be said?—or what harm?
His Temper too frigid, his Pencil too warm;
A Rage for Sublimity ill understood,
To seek still for the Great, by forsaking the Good;
Yet all Faults from his Converse we sure must disclaim,
As his Temper ’tis peaceful, and pure as his Fame;
Nothing in it o’er flows, nothing ever is wanting,
It nor chills like his Kindness, nor glows like his Painting;
When Johnson by Strength overpowers our Mind,
When Montagu dazzles, or Burke strikes us blind;
To Reynolds for Refuge, well pleas’d we can run,
Rejoyce in his Shadow, and shrink from the Sun.
Hester altered the harshness of these opening four lines, in the version given to Sir James Fellowes, and published by Hayward as follows…
Of Reynolds all good should be said, and no harm;
Tho' the heart is too frigid, the pencil too warm.
Her comments of false sublimity was omitted.
Sir Joshua Reynolds [67]. Painter and first President of Royal Academy of Art [238] 1723-1792. Portrait sold by Hester on 10 May 1816 to Richard Sharp, Esq. MP for £128 and 2 shillings, who bequeathed it to his ward, Maria Kinnaird; by descent to Miss Emily Drummond, who bequeathed it to the National Gallery [239] in 1930; transferred to the Tate Gallery [240].
Of Sir Robert Chambers' peculiarities I know little, Suffice it that he is esteem'd a Man who made Virtue amiable: his Person—& perhaps his Mind—resembled Dr Burney's13
In this luminous Portrait requiring no Shade,
See Chambers' soft Character sweetly display'd;
Oh quickly return with that genuine Smile,
Nor longer let India's Temptations beguile;
But fly from those Climates where moist Relaxation
Invades with her Torpor th effeminate Nation;
Where Metals and Marbles will melt and decay,
Fear Man for thy Virtue, and hasten away.
Sir Robert Chambers [67]. 1737 - 1803. Born and educated in Newcastle. At the age of 17, he won a scholarship to Lincoln College [238], Oxford, and in 1761 he joined the Middle Temple [239] as a barrister. Five years later, he was appointed Vinerian [240] Professor of Law and principal of New Inn Hall [241] at Oxford.
From 1774 to 1799 he was in India where, for most of the time, he acted as Chief Justice to the Supreme Court in Bengal. He returned to England in 1799, having lived in India for 25 years and having played a key role in the establishment of the British judiciary system there.
The portrait was sold by Hester on 10 May 1816 to Sir Robert Chambers' widow for £84, thence by descent. Auctioned at Sotherby's in 2004 14, outcome unknown.
With Garrick I had no close Acquaintance, and could therefore give nothing but in general:—Goldsmith had likewise forestalled everything one cou’d have said I suppose; had I been intimate with him, which I never was.
Here Garrick's lov'd Features our Mem'ry must trace,
Here Praise is exhausted, and Blame has no Place;
Many Portraits like this, would defeat my whole Scheme,
For what can be said on so hackney’d a Theme?
’Tis thus on the Ocean whole Days one may look,
Every Change well-recorded in some well-known Book,
Till with vain Expectation fatiguing our Eyes,
Not an Image uncommon or new it supplies.
David Garrick [67]. Actor 1717-1779. Portrait sold by Hester on 10 May 1816 to Dr. Charles Burney, the younger for £183 and 15 shillings. It remained in the Burney family for more than a century and is now part of the Hyde Collection.
Poor dear Mr Thrale! may his Verses fail of being prophetick! and may he live long after I am gone, to read his own Character in the Thraliana [67].
See Thrale from Intruders defending his Door,
While he wishes his House [13] should with People run o'er.
Unlike his Companions the Make of his Mind,
In great Things expanded, in small Things confin’d;
Yet his Purse at their Call, & his Meat to their Taste,
The Wits he delighted in, lov’d him at last;
And finding no prominent Folly to fleer at,
Respected his Wealth, and applauded his Merit.
Much like that empirical Chemist was he,
Who thought Anima Mundi [67] the grand Panacee,
Yet when every kind Element help'd his Collection,
Expir'd while the Med'cine was yet in Projection.
The following Verses need no Comment I trust—they are most to my Liking of the whole Collection.
Baretti hangs next, by his Frowns you may know him,
He has lately been reading some new-publish'd Poem;
He finds the poor Author a Blockhead, a Beast,
A Fool without Sentiment, Judgment or Taste;
Ever thus let our Critick his Insolence fling,
Like the Hornet in Homer, impatient to sting,
Let him rally his Friends for their Frailties before 'em,
And scorn the dull praise of that dull Thing Decorum;
While Tenderness, Temper, & Truth he despises,
And only the Triumph of Victory prizes.
Yet let us be candid, and where can we find,
So active, so able, so ardent a Mind?
With your Children more soft; more polite with your Servant,
More firm in Distress, or in Friendship more fervent.Thus Etna enrag'd his Artillery pours,
And tumbles down Palaces Princes and Towers;
While the Peasant more happy who lives at its foot
Can make it a Hothouse to ripen his Fruit.—
The portrait of Giuseppe Marc' Antonio Baretti [67], Queeney's [238] Italian tutor was sold by Hester on 10 May 181615 to George Watson Taylor, Esq. for £86 and 2 shillings; Christie's 13 June 1823, bought in; sold 1832 by Robins to Taylor acting for the Marquess of Hertford [239]; exchanged by him in 1843 for a portrait by Reynolds of Lady William Gordon in Holland House; Lady Holland; thence by descent, (private collection).
Next follows Dear Doctor Burney; let me try not to be too partial to a Friend from whom I never did receive any thing but Pleasure. his sweet Daughter [67] whom I dearly love, will scarce think the portrait sufficiently favourable--yet She might trust him with me: 'tis lucky enough that he so closely follows his perfect Opposite Baretti [238].
See here happy Contrast! in Burney combine,
Every Power to please, every Talent to shine;
In professional Science a second to none,
In social—if second—thro’ Shyness alone;
So sits the sweet Violet close to the Ground,
While Holyoaks and Sunflowers flant it around:
This Character form’d free, confiding, & kind,
Grown cautious by Habit, by Station confin’d,
Tho’ born to improve and enlighten our days,
In a supple Facility fixes its Praise:
And contented to sooth, unambitious to strike,
Is the favrite of all Men,—of all Men alike.'Tis thus while the Wines of Frontiniac impart,
Their sweets to our Palate, their Warmth to our heart;
All in Praise of a Liquor so luscious agree,
From the Monarch of France to the wild Cherokee [67].
Charles Burney [67]. 1726 - 1814 musician, writer and Queeney's [238] music tutor. Portrait sold by Hester Thrale on 10 May 181616, bought by Burney's son, also Dr Charles Burney for £84; by descent to Miss Burney; bought from J.C. Burney-Cumming by the National Portrait Gallery [239] London 1953.
Tis now Time [to] turn over a new Leaf for the great Orator Mr Edmund Burke—who—after I had ran from Gentleman's house to Gentleman's house all over Wales in the Year 1774—was the first Man I had ever seen drunk, or heard talk Obscænely—when I lived with him & his Lady at Beaconsfield among Dirt Cobwebs, Pictures and Statues that would not have disgraced the City of Paris itself: where Misery & Magnificence reign in all their Splendour, & in perfect Amity. That Mrs Burke drinks as well as her Husband, & that their Black a moor carries Tea about with a cut finger wrapt in Rags, must help to apologize for the Severity with which I have treated so very distinguished a Character.
See Burke's bright Intelligence beam from his Face,
To his Language give Splendor—his Action give Grace;
Let us list to the Learning that Tongue can display,
Let it steal all Reflexion, all Reason away;
Lest home to his House we the Patriot pursue,
Where Scenes of another Sort rise to our View;
Where Meanness usurps sage Œconomy's Look,
And Humour cracks Jokes out of Ribaldry's Book;
Till no longer in Silence, Confession can lurk,
That from Chaos and Cobwebs could spring even Burke.
’Twas by Accident thus deep conceal'd in the Ground,
And unnotic’d by all the proud Metal was found;
Which exalted by Place, and by Polish refin'd,
Can comfort, corrupt, and confound all Mankind.
When Fanny Burney met and fell in love with Burke, in June of 1782, she wrote to Mrs. Thrale17:
I must try to get at the Thral-na & burn some certain scandalous verses upon him, by the first opportunity for I am now bent upon considering them as a Lampoon':
Here comes dear Doctor Johnson and his Character; if I have not done him justice, tis only because nobody can do him Justice: God preserve his Life, he will want no one to battle for his Character.
Gigantick in Knowledge, in Virtue, in Strength,
Our Company closes with Johnson at length;
So the Greeks from the Cavern of Polypheme past,
When wisest and greatest, Ulysses [255] came last.
To his Comrades contemptuous, we see him look down,
On their Wit & their Worth with a general Frown:
While from Science proud Tree the rich Fruit he receives,
Who could shake the whole Trunk, while they turn'd a few leaves;18
The inflammable Temper—the positive Tongue,
Too conscious of right for endurance of Wrong;
We suffer from Johnson—contented to find,
That some notice we gain from So noble a Mind;
And pardon our hurts, since so often we've found,
The Balm of Instruction pour’d into the Wound.Tis thus for its Virtues the Chemists extoll
Pure rectified Spirit—sublime Alcohol;
From noxious Putrescence preservative pure,
A Cordial in Health, and in Sickness a Cure;
But expos'd to the Sun, taking Fire at his Rays,—
Burns bright to the Bottom, and ends in a Blaze.
A portrait of Samuel Johnson by Joshua Reynolds circa 1775 showing Johnson pulling a book's cover back and concentrating intensely on its words.
Hester Thrale wrote of this painting in _Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson, L.L.D …
When Sir Joshua Reynolds had painted his portrait looking into the slit of his pen, and holding it almost close to his eye, as was his general custom, he felt displeased, and told me 'he would not be known by posterity for his defects only, let Sir Joshua do his worst'. i said in reply that Reynolds had no such difficulties about himself , and that he might observe the picture which hung up in the room where we were talking, represented Sir Joshua holding his ear in his hand at his ear to catch the sound. 'He may paint himself as deaf (replied Johnson); but I will not be blinking Sam.”
Samuel Johnson [67]. 1709 - 1784. Portrait sold by Hester on 10 May 181619 to G. Watson Taylor for £378; Taylor sale by Robins at Eristoke, 25 July 183220, bought by Sir Robert Peel [238]; bought by the National Gallery [239] in 1871; transferred to the Tate Gallery [240].
So much for the Library Portraits! Sir Philip21 teized me to add his to the Number, tho' I have none of his Picture Dear Creature: I will however get me half a Dozen Drawings of six particular fav'rites for my Dressing Room, some day that my Money and Kindness for the Rogues runs over.—
From Wits, Authors, Criticks, to Jennings we haste,
For Courage with Gentleness-Candour with Taste;
Well pleased in the Form one delights in, to find
That Grace which adorns his more elegant Mind:Whence Honour his Standard shall never remove,
Though tempted by Vanity, Interest, or Love.
This Character's Coolness refreshes our Eyes,
By Brilliancy dazzled, or pain'd by Surprize.When with Harmony thus and her complicate Charms,
Bold Handel [67] astonishes, awes us,--alarms:
A Minuet' soft Movement our Nerves can relieve,
And Pleasure unmix'd with Anxiety give.
So here are all our friends described—without Prejudice or partiality; and who will say that any of them are such Characters as one would wish to be oneself? but let any other Set be produced, & the manifest Superiority of ours will speedily be acknowledged. I have not gloss'd nor spar'd my own Portrait—it is as like as any of them.
In addition to those painted by Reynolds, other guests included:
Hester Thrale's 1806 manuscript catalogue of books at Brynbella [266] indicates that texts in the Thrale library included …
The library was stocked with books purchased on Johnson's recommendation. The 17 September 1823 sale catalogue shows that the Thrale's library included the following texts…
On 6 October 1782, Samuel Johnson left Henry Thrale's library [280] - and family - for the last time, some 18 months after the death of his good friend. On doing so he said the following prayer to the Thrale family …
"Almighty God, Father of all mercy, help me by thy grace, that I may, with humble and sincere thankfulness, remember the comforts and conveniences which I have enjoyed at this place; and that I may resign them with holy submission, equally trusting in thy protection when thou givest, and when thou takest away. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, have mercy upon me.
To thy fatherly protection, O Lord, I commend this family. Bless, guide, and defend them, that they may so pass through this world, as finally to enjoy in thy presence everlasting happiness, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.
James Boswell [11] continued …
In one of his1 memorandum-books I find…"Sunday, went to church at Streatham [22]. Templo valedixi cum asculo".
This translates as…
I bade good-bye to the church with a kiss".2
[283]
Streatham Park featured a summer house loved by Samuel Johnson [121], who did much of his writing here.
On Queeney's [68] 16th birthday in 1780, Hester Thrale wrote in Thraliana [14]…
It is this day given me by God to see my first born offspring, my dear Hester,—sixteen Years old— virtuous in Heart, prudent in Behaviour, pleasing in Person, & accomplished in Knowledge……
We always have a Dance on her Birthday for the Servants, and they shall have it this Year too—in spite of past Sorrows. Mr Johnson's Birthday is the next day to hers, & we keep them together, &. fill the Summer House with Food, Fiddles &c, today being Sunday, the Balls must be tomorrow & Tuesday. Sure nothing will ever happen that will keep me from rejoycing on the 17: & 18: of September, the Birthdays of my Daughter & my Friend.,—.
The summer house was moved to Ashgrove in Knockholt, Kent in 1826 by Susannah Arabella Thrale [81], who died on 5 November 1858 aged 88 and was buried in Knockholt Church. In 1962 it was bought in a tumbledown condition by Mr. W.H. Wells who presented it to London County Council1.
After restoration, the summer house was relocated to Kenwood House [285] in 1968.
The summer house was destroyed by fire sometime after 1984.
A similar copy of the summerhouse has since been rebuilt by a Johnson enthusiast [287].
In September 1782 Streatham was let to the Prime Minister of the day, Lord Shelburne [290], for three years. Hester Thrale and Dr Samuel Johnson left Streatham shortly afterwards on 7 October 1782. Shelburne became Prime Minister in July 1781. Shelburne used Streatham because his own home at Bowood in Wiltshire [291] was too far away.
Peace with France, with whom Britain was then at war, was negotiated at the Thrale's Streatham Park whilst Prime Minister Shelburne was in residence. Jeremy Beptham tells of meeting the Viscount de Vergennes, son of the French Prime Minister, in Henry Thrale's library, and hearing him ask, "Are there any such people in England as authors?" while Sir Joshua Reynolds portraits [212] of Samuel Johnson and the Streatham worthies looked down upon him as sufficient answer.
Shelburne resigned from Government in 1783, after which he had little use for Streatham, and he returned to Bowood. The following year he was created 1st Earl of Lansdowne.
Streatham Park was let the following year to Major-General Dalrymple for a year.
On 10 October 1786, Streatham was let to Thomas Steele of the HM Treasury [292] by John Cator [293] (Henry Thrale's executor) at an annual rental of £300 until April 1790.
In April 1790 Gabriel and Hester Piozzi returned. Much damage was done during the seven and a half years during which it had been rented. £2,000 was spent on restoration which was completed by the time of their seventh wedding anniversary when the Piozzi's threw a grand party [13].
Between 1795 and May 1807 Streatham Park was let to Mr Giles of Mark Lane Tower Street, a Cornfactor for £550 per year. Mr Giles left when he was unwilling to pay the increased rent Mrs. Piozzi asked to offset the new war taxes. During Mr Giles tenure, the Piozzi's regularly stayed with Mr Giles at Streatham Park during the weekend.
On 7 April 1801, Hester wrote about Streatham Park and Mr Giles in Thraliana [14] as follows…
At Streatham Park, our long not tedious Journey came to an End. Mr Giles was not at home, but had so provided for our Reception that it seemed as if we were at home; & we sent for Mr Davies & little Dear1,& behaved as we would have done, had the Place been still our own.—A Billiard Table somewhat crouds up the Library—else everything appeared changed rather for the better than the worse—Books of enormous Value drove my old Rums behind them, & for Collections of curious engravings—Oriental Landshapes, Chinese Dresses & Customs, fine Holbein [294] Heads & exquisite Specimens of Natural History: we must I think go to Peter Giles the Cornfactor, & his Friend Mr Ewen—a broken Apothecary as I understand; who purchases & arranges Things for him, with very solid Judgement & very excellent Taste.
Since I was connected with Men in Trade,—or in the Commercial Line as the present wretched Phrase is; they are most exceedingly improved in their Desire of Improvement—yet ’tis not wholly for Improvement neither that they collect these Books & Prints and Rareties. There is a Spirit of Emulation among the rich ones, who shall possess the finest Things of every Sort, & since Mr Giles does not (as I have heard Mr Thrale [25] say he did)— regulate his Taste of Women by the Rule of which Girl was most in Fashion: He sleeps wth a fat Housekeeper at home—& commits the Choice of his dead Friends, instead of his living Mistresses, to Fancy of a Person upon whose Skill in Selection he relies. The Voyages are bound with a Curiosity of Elegance wholly new to me; a Ship upon the Back of each Volume going out, or coming home—So beautiful!
But not the House only, the Garden gains surprisingly by our Tenants heavy Purse & liberal Hand; He has new planted the Espaliers [296]—new clothed the Wall & even brought Earth at an immense Expence to promote the Growth of Trees he takes no visible Delight in—any more than the Books—& I think rather less of the two. He goes not round His Plantations twice in a Season—lives in London getting Money all Morng and comes home on a Saturday to drink hard & play Billiards till 5 or 6 o'Clock o’ Monday—when the earliest Workman's Bell rings not till he has been arrived in Town some Moments, & been busied in the Corn Market:—leaving old Streatham Park a Brothel for his Servants: each of whom is a Relation: Brother, Sister, Niece or Nephew to the fat Bedfellow who stays behind, when better Sport offers not; —& whose Absence is much desired by her Family—who follow her with Curses to the Door.
So live the Rich Men of England!—& so I lived with them! & shared in the good Dinners given by the Master of the House: whether Business carried him to London, or desire of Pleasure in our Company brought him back into the Country wch seem'd always as if illumined by his Return, who I believe cannot be ill-humour'd even for an Instant. Never did my Eyes contemplate a Character of such perennial Sweetness without Insipidity: for Mr Giles is no polish'd or varnish'd Mortal, but endow’d with a Temper desirous of Enjoyment, & willing to find it in every thing that offers. My Time pass'd much less unpleasantly in his—& his coarse Friends’ Society, than my own fine friends could easily perswade themselves to believe;—but He really so liked our being there, & it was so convenient in Point of Expence—I made myself very happy, & let him the Place again most willingly for six Years more, & he is to pay any new Taxes which may be put on, while we go forward as accountable for the old ones—his Rent 550£ o'Year.
In 1807 Mr. Gilles let Streatham Park to Mr Abram Atkins who leased the house for seven years at £500 per year, plus all the taxes except the property tax. At the end of this lease there was so much dilapidation that extensive repairs were necessary.
The house was then leased to Count Lieven [297] the Russian Ambassador for three years at £600 per year. He cancelled his lease on 14 March 1815, because he could no longer afford the rental.
In 1798 some land from Streatham Park was leased to Reynold Davies who built Streatham University a school for children under 12 years old. A further field was leased to him in 1802. His lease expired in 1828.
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Ralph Thrale [8] bought a cottage in West Street, Brighton (or Brighthelmstone as it was then known) in 1755. Brighton was on the south coast, and was a very fashionable town, famed for its sea bathing. Upon his death, Ralph left the cottage to his son Henry Thrale [25].
[303]
Henry loved Brighton for the bathing and hunting on the Sussex Downs. As he grew more affluent he outgrew his father's cottage and needed a larger house to accommodate his servants, family and entertaining. He therefore sold the cottage and bought a larger house on the east side of West Street at number 64.
This was a three storey, roomy house with two bay windows and a portico. It was a light-coloured stone structure. It had iron chains dangling from a row of posts in front. It was a very respectable house, despite its proximity to the King's Head.
[304]
Henry Thrale, also had a pew in the local Church of St. Nicholas. After Henry's death, this house was inherited by his youngest daughter Cecilia Thrale [305].
The property has long since been demolished1 and is now the site of a night club called Creation. Outside the club, a tethering post remains [306] from the Thrale days.
Known as "The Manor or Lordship of Preston Crowmarsh" or "Crowmarsh Battle". Crowmarsh had by the terms of the Thrales’ marriage settlement [40], been set aside for an annual payment to Hester Thrale [37] of £200 during Mr. Thrale’s life, and £400 after his death.
Because the marriage settlement was not revoked by Henry Thrale’s will, which left this property to Queeney, the income remained legally Hester Thrale’s, and was later the subject of a legal dispute between Hester Lynch Thrale and her daughter Queeney [68]. Queeney paid Hester £420 annual rental until 1795 and £450 a year afterwards.
In 1795 Queeney disputed the legality of her mother's claim. She was persuaded to withdraw her claim under the terms of her marriage settlement in 1808. Under this settlement they agreed to waive the rent arrears, and set the future rental to be paid by Queeney to her mother at £400 per annum.
After Henry Thrale [25] lost his parliamentary seat in the 1780 election [314], the Thrales decided to distance themselves from the brewery. Initially Henry wanted to rent Lord Shelburne [315]'s house in Berkeley Square, known as Lansdowne House [316]. However, the settled upon 1 Grosvenor Square which they took furnished from Sir Richard Heron, Chief Secretary for Ireland [317] at a cost of 11 guineas a week in January 1781.
At that time Henry Thrale was the sole businessman in Grosvenor Square. The others were the aristocracy and ruling class, like Lord North [318], the Marquess of Rockingham [319] - like Shelburne, both were Prime Ministers. There were also a future Archbishop of Canterbury1, two bishops, a field-marshal; four Dukes (including the Duke of Beaufort [320]), Lord Grosvenor [321], the Earl of Thanet [322], dowager Duchess of Chandos, and numerous Members of Parliament and other lesser peers.
On 29 January 1781 in Thraliana [14] Hester wrote…
So we are to spend this Winter in Grosvenor Square; my Master2 has taken a ready furnished Lodging house there, and we go in tomorrow: He frightened me cruelly a while ago, he would have Lady Shelburne's House—one of the finest in London: he would buy, he would build, he would give 20, 30 Guineas a Week for a House.
Again on 1 February 1781 she wrote…
We are at last settled in a ready furnished House Grosvenor Square for the three following months.
Their children went with them.
This was then - and is now - a very fashionable and desirable part of Central London. Nowhere could be more congenial than this, the most fashionable address in London, the antithesis of Bankside. In fact, from Hester's joy was muted by worries about her husband and the future of the brewery [5]. It was, however, much easier to see her friends. And the Square garden was more fun for her daughters Cecilia [305] and Harriett [323] to play in than 'Palmyra'3, the garden the Thrales had constructed out of rubble on the far side of Deadman's Place [324].
In April 1787 Hester and Gabriel Piozzi [59] were staying at 30 Lower Grosvenor Square, London.
After their return from Italy in March 1787 Hester and Gabriel Piozzi briefly moved into a large leased house in fashionable Hanover Square. On 3 January 1791, Hester wrote in Thraliana [14]...
I am glad that Hanover Square house is let, or going to be Let to Lord Dumfries; our Establishment 1 here is too magnificent for the admission of other Expenses.
The Hanover Square house was on the South side of the square at the corner of St. George's Street. The building stood until after World War II, when it was pulled down. Vogue House now stands in its place.
After Henry Thrale's death, Hester Thrale rented a house in Harley Street between January and March 1782, in which she lived with her daughters. The house was too small to accommodate Johnson. On 4 January 1782, Hester Thrale wrote in Thraliana…
I have taken a House in Harley Street for these three Months next ensuing, & hope to have some Society--not Company tho'; crouds are out of the Question, but People will not come hither on short Days, & 'tis too dull to live all alone so. The World will watch me at first, & think I come o' husband hunting for myself or my fair Daughter: but when I have behaved prettily for a while, they will change their Mind.
During the winter of 1782, Hester Thrale rented a house in Argyle Street.
In early 1783 Hester Thrale and her daughters lived in a house in Russell Street.
In Thraliana Hester wrote on 28 October 1783…
I live in Duke Street now not Russell Street--that house was so far from the 2 pump: & now the People say Miss Thrales will be in Danger from Blacklegs.
After their marriage in 1784, Henry and Hester Thrale had their own lodgings in Welbeck Street.
Hester Thrale took temporary residence her in the days immediately preceding her marriage to Gabriel Piozzi [59] on 25 July 1784.
Hester Thrale wrote3…
I was thinking to Day how many Places had seen me resident in London:
[254]
Henry Thrale's best friend, Arthur Murphy, first recommended Samuel to the Thrales advising them:
to wish for Dr. Johnson's conversation, extolling it in terms which that of no other person could have deserved, till we were only in doubt how to obtain his company and find an excuse for the invitation.
Henry Thrale was a sensible, unassuming man, whom Johnson loved and esteemed, and who returned Johnson's attachment with the sincerest regard.
Ten years after his single-handed production of his epoch making English dictionary, Samuel Johnson was introduced on to the Thrales on the 9th or 10th of January 1765, invited to meet a young shoemaker who was also a poet. The evening was a success and every subsequent Thursday night during the winter of 1764-5 Johnson was a guest of the Thrales.
The friendship continued until the summer of 1766, when following a very severe bout of depression, Johnson spent four months recuperating with the Thrales at their Streatham [13] country house. From this time until 1782 there was always a room set aside for Johnson's use at Streatham and at Brewery House [70], where he usually stayed in the middle of each week, reserving Friday for his literary club [332] and staying the weekends at his Fleet Street house [333].
Johnson's regard for the Thrales was very real, and it was heartily returned. Of Hester, Johnson wrote…
Her colloquial wit was a fountain of perpetual flow.
After this, Johnson became a part of the Thrale household and Streatham Park became a country retreat for a wide intellectual circle. Johnson was the lion-in-chief.
The library [212] became the focal point of the Thrales social life. Mrs. Thrale had a taste for literary guests and literary guests had on their part, a taste for the good dinners. James Boswell described…
The witty and the eminent who assembled in numerous companies.
In August 1777 Mrs Elizabeth Montagu wrote…
On Wednesday I dined at Streatham … We had a most elegant dinner, and the best of all feasts, sense and wit and good humour. Mrs Thrale is a woman of very superior understanding, and very respectable as a Wife, a Mother, a friend and a Mistress of a Family … Mr Thrale has a fruit garden and a kitchen garden that may vie with the Hesperian Gardens for fruit and flowers.
The novelist and diarist Fanny Burney [63], a close friend of Mrs Thrale and daughter of Charles Burney, nicknamed Henry Thrale's collection the 'Streatham Worthies' - a reference to the celebrated 'Temple of British Worthies' at Stowe [9]. When she was admitted to the circle her beloved Samuel Crisp wrote …
Where will you find such another set? Oh, Fanny, set this down as the happiest period of your life.
Some years later in a letter to Sir Robert Chambers, Johnson wrote…
One great abatement of all miseries was the attention of Mr. Thrale, which from our first acquaintance was never intermitted.
Johnson also wrote about Hester Thrale on the occasion of her thirty-fifth birthday [336] and he later wrote a Latin Ode to Hester Thrale [337].
Lichfieldrambler.co.uk [338]
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One of Henry Thrale [25]’s sisters was Lady Mary Lade [351] (1733-1802), who married Baronet Sir John Lade [352], MP for Camelford, on 27 May 1756. It was said1 that Lady Mary Lade bore an illegitimate child for Colonel Sir Philip Jennings Clerke M.P. (died 1788) after the death of her husband. As Sir John the younger was born after the death of his father Sir John Lade, it is possible that Sir John Lade the younger was the illegitimate son of Colonel Sir Philip Jennings Clerke.
They had a son, also called John [354] who inherited his father’s fortune and Baronetcy. Sir John Lade the junior was made ward of Henry Thrale, but when freed of this he took Samuel Johnson’s advice and became a notorious rake [355].
It was of Sir John Lade the junior that Samuel Johnson wrote the following poem in 1780…
To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age 'A short song of congratulation'
Long-expected one and twenty
Lingering year at last is flown
Pomp and pleasure, pride and plenty
Great Sir John, are all your own.Loosened from the minor’s tether,
Free to mortgage or to sell,
Wild as wind, and light as feather,
Bid the slaves of thrift farewell.Call the Bettys, Kates, and Jennys
Every name that laughs at care,
Lavish of your grandsire’s guineas,
Show the spirit of an heir.All that prey on vice and folly
Joy to see their quarry fly,
Here the gamester light and jolly,
There the lender grave and sly.Wealth, Sir John2, was made to wander,
Let it wander as it will;
See the jockey, see the pander,
Bid them come, and take their fill.When the bonny blade carouses,
Pockets full, and spirits high,
What are acres?
What are houses?
Only dirt, or wet or dry.If the guardian or the mother
Tell the woes of wilful waste,
Scorn their counsel and their pother3
You can hang or drown at last.
Lade later married Letitia Derby [357] (or Smith, the sources are unclear) who was at one time mistress to highway man John Rann [358] and later to the Duke of York [359]. They between them got through the immense fortune left by the first Sir John.
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On 1 April 1777 Henry's death was falsely reported in the newspapers, and threw James Boswell [11] into…
> a state of very uneasy uncertainty.### June 1779 stroke
In the second week of June 17791, Henry Thrale's visited his youngest sister Susannah in London. The visit was to comfort her after the death of her husband, Arnold Nesbitt MP for Cricklade, and hear the will, of which Henry was an executor. Here Henry suffered his first stroke [370]. Hester later speculated that this was brought on by the shock of hearing about Nesbitt's insolvency which had potentially calamitous implications for Thrale. Afterwards Hester Thrale [37] wrote…
Mrs Nesbitt is very silly She always was; but any fool might have had Wit enough to send for a Surgeon one wd think when they saw a Man drop down in a Fit: but No; She called the Carriage to bring him home-& so lost Time in wch He might have been bled: We were forced to send back to London for help, little Kitchen could not be found; the Apothecary of the Village. Bromfield came in two Hours, but two Hours is an Age in such a Case. What a Natural that Mrs Nesbitt is! Duce take her!
[3]
She also later wrote in Thraliana [14] about the events…
11: June 1779.] Here is a dreadful Event indeed in the Thraliana! Mr Thrale suddenly struck with the palsy as he sate at Dinner sister Nesbitt last Tuesday: his Brain is apparently loaded if not for ever injured by the blow. poor dear Master! this day I been married sixteen Years and eight Months: & last Tuesday was he brought me home apparently Paralytick. I am not yet able to write about it I see, though he has mended ever since the Attack; thanks to Bromfield who first administered Relief, & afterwards called in both Huck & Heberden [371]. I'm confident he will recover, he has Youth and Strength, and general Health on his Side; but his Temper is strangely altered: so vigilant; so jealous, so careful lest one should watch him, & so unfit to be left unwatched.—Oh Lord have mercy on us! this is a horrible Business indeed. five little Girls too, & breeding again, & Fool enough to be proud of it! ah Ideot! what should I want more Children for God knows only to please my Husband, who now perhaps may be much better without them.—Distress shews one's Friends; Seward2 was the first to fly to our Assistance ; fetch Physicians, carry Reports, turn out troublesome Enquirers, attend Mr Thrale in all his Operations: Dear Creature how kind he is! 3 Johnson is away-down at Lichfield or Derby, or God knows where, something always happens when he is away; but Mr Seward has supplied every body's neglect. I expected more Attention from 4 Burney! Murphy's5 a dissipated Rogue & loves his Friends while they can talk & hear; but Dr Burney's Indifference disgusts me. I kept Sir Philip 6 away, or he would have done all in his Power. he has sent, & written, & run about with honest and unaffected Agitation, but I shall never love Doctor Burney as I have loved Him, for there I expected Kindness, & deserved it-his Daughter 7 has behav'd better than he, but 8 Seward & Mrs D'avenantfn [171], daughter of Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton, later Lady Corbet. shew'd the true Concern ; they came directly & have staid with me ever since: Seward's Sensibility & Attention is the Cordial of my Heart-a Friend in Distress is the sweetest of Things—he came I remember when my Son [74] died.—Good Creature! he would not have come to a Concert or a Dinner, but when there is Sorrow to be assisted, alleviated rather; then he Can come; & put off a Journey to Cornwall, by way of devoting himself wholly to the Duties of Friendship. Sir Philip Jennings Clerke is a Conquest I shall long be proud of, he is a Conquest made by Virtue; his Regard for me is boundless, & it is founded in a Notion that I am better & wiser than other Women are; while I continue good & wise therefore, I shall have his Esteem, & he is an extremely amiable respectable Character.— Touched by God's Grace I think in the latter part of his Life, & brought to a Conviction of Sin by the Affliction of his Daughter's untimely Death, he flies to Religion & to Friendship for Comfort, & he shall never want one to speak Peace to his Soul while Life is lent to H:L:T 9. NB—I will make him leave off wearing Black so; 'tis a Singularity that can do no good; is I should fear displeasing to God, & at best but an ill Compliment to his other Children:—
Later Hester wrote…
22: June 1779. Mr Thrale has recovered his paralytick Stroke: Doctor Heberden thinks him now wholly out of Danger, as so much Time has elapsed, & the Attack has not been renewed. his Head is as good as ever, his Spirits indeed are low, but they will mend: few People live in such a State of Preparation for Eternity I thin, as my dear Master has done since I have been connected with him; regular in his publick & private devotions, constant at the Sacrament, Temperate in his Appetites, moderate is Passions-he has less to apprehend from a sudden Summons than any Man I have known, who was young and gay, & high in health & Fortune like him.-I think he will have another of these Strokes sometime, but perhaps I may not live to see the Day; let us not then anticipate Misfortune, nor when God sends a chearful hour-refrain.### February 1780 stroke
Eight months later10 on 19 or 21 February 1780, Henry Thrale suffered a second stroke and received the contemporary medical treatment of 'bleeding'. He was delirious for five days, only speaking again when receiving a visit from Sophy Streatfeild.
On 13 August 1780 Hester wrote in Thraliana [14]…
My Master is got into most riotous Spirits somehow; he will go here & there, & has a hundred Projects in his Head, so gay, so wild; I wish no harm may come on't.
Soon afterwards on 29 August 1780 she wrote…
Mr Thrale would go to Mitchel Grove the Seat of Sir John Shelley; I did not half like the Expedition, but Pepys11 bled him first 13 ounces, & gave some rough Medcines too—We just pulled up in Time the Dr says, or here would have been another Stroke.
On Sunday 10th September 1780, Henry has minor a third stroke while canvassing - ultimately unsuccessfully - constituents at St. George's church. The strokes were largely caused by Henry's voracious appetite for large indulgent meals, accompanied by large quantities of ale.
Henry Thrale died on 4 April 1781 between 5am - 6am, with his wife and Samuel Johnson [24] by his side.
On the Sunday 1st of April I went to hear the Bishop of Peterborough preach at May Fair Chapel: & though the Sermon had nothing in it particularly pathetic, I could not keep my Tears within my Eyes: I spent the Evening however at Lady Rothes's, and was chearful; found Sir John Lade, Johnson and Boswell [24] with Mr Thrale [375] at my return to the Square: on Monday Morning Mr Evans came to breakfast, Sir Philip and Dr Johnson to Dinner--so did Baretti [11]: Mr Thrale eat voraciously--so voraciously--that encouraged by Jebb & Pepys1 who had charged me so to do--l checked him rather severely, & Mr Johnson added these remarkable Words,
Sir—after the Denuriciation of your Physicians this Morning, such eating is little better than Suicide.
He did not however desist, & Sir Philip said he eat apparently in Defiance of Controul, & that it was better for us to say nothing to him: Johnson observed that he thought so too, & that he spoke more from a Sense of Duty than a Hope of Success. Baretti & them two spent the Evening with me, & I was enumerating the People who were to meet the Indian Ambassadors on the Wednesday—I had been to Negri's & bespoke an elegant Entertainment.
On Wednesday 11, was buried my dear Friend Thrale who died on Wednesday 4, and with him were buried many of my hopes and pleasures.
On the next day Tuesday 3d Mrs Hinchliffe called on me in the Morning to go see Webber [24]'s Drawings of the S: Sea Rareties--we met the Smelts, the Ords, & numberless Blues there, & displayed our Pedantry at our Pleasure: going & coming however I quite teized Mrs Hinchliffe with my lowspirited Terrors about Mr Thrale, who had not all this while one Symptom worse than he had had for Months; tho' the Physicians this Tuesday Morning agreed that a Continuation of such dinners as he had lately made, would soon dispatch a Life so precarious & uncertain. When I came home to dress--Piozzi [375],--who was always admitted to the Toilette, & sate in the next Room teaching Hester [11] to sing; began lamenting that he was engaged to Mrs Locke on the following Evening when I had such a World of Company to meet these fine Orientals: he had however engaged Roncaglia & Sacchini to begin with--and would make a point of coming himself at nine o'Clock if possible.
I gave him the Money I had collected for his Benefit 35£ I remember, it was—a Bankers Note, and I burst out o'crying & said I was sure I should not go to it: the Man was shocked, & wondered what I meant; Nay—says I—'tis mere lowness of Spirits, for Mr Thrale is very well now, & gone out in his Carriage to spit Cards as I call'd it—sputar le Carte2.
Just then came a Letter from Dr Pepys, insisting to speak with me in the Afternoon; & tho' there was nothing very particular in the Letter considering our Intimacy—I burst out o'crying again, read the Letter to Piozzi who could not understand it, & threw myself into an Agony, saying I was sure Mr Thrale would dye. The tenderhearted Italian was affected, bid me not despair so, but recollect some precepts he had heard Dr Johnson give me one Day; & then turn'd to me with a good deal of Expression in his Manner, rather too much-it affected me.—and sung Rasserena il tuo bel Ciglio &c &c Well! he left us in a quarter of an hour, & Miss Owen came to Dinner, and Mr Thrale came home so well! & in such Spirits! he had invited more People to my Concert or Conversatione or musical party of the next day, & was delighted to think what a Show we should make. He eat however more than enormously;—six things the Day before, & eight on this Day, with Strong Beer in such Quantities! the very Servants were frighted, & when Pepys came in the Evening he said this could not last—either there must be legal Restraint or certain Death. Dear Mrs Byron spent ye evening with me, & MrCrutcheley [24] came from Sunninghill to be ready for the morrow's Flash. Johnson was at the Bishop of Chester's.
I went down in the Course of the Afternoon to see after my Master as usual, and found him, not asleep, but sitting on his Bed with his Legs up—because as he express'd it. I kiss'd him, & said how good he was to be so careful of himself—he enquired who was above; but had no Disposition to come up Stairs. Miss Owen & Mrs Byron now took their Leave; the Dr had been gone about 20 Minutes when Hester3 went down to see her Papa, & found him on the Floor. what's the meaning of this? says She in an Agony—I chuse it, replies Mr Thrale firmly;
I lie so o'purpose;
The best Consolation is the perfect Amity in wch we have lived 17 Years together, the few disputes or Subjects of Complaint either of us have endured from the other.
She ran however to call his Valet who was gone out—happy to leave him so particularly well as he thought—when my Servant went instead, Mr Thrale bid him be gone, in a firm Tone: & added that he was very well, & chose to lie so. by this Time however Mr Crutchley was ran down at Hetty's Intreaty, & I had sent to fetch Pepys back; he was got but into Upper Brook Street, & found his Friend in a most violent Fit of the Apoplexy from which he only recovered to relapse into another, everyone growing weaker as his Strength grew less till six o'Clock on Wednesday Morning 4: April 17814. Sir Richd Jebb, who was fetched at the beginning of the Distress, seeing Death certain, quitted the House without even prescribing; Pepys did all that could be done, & Johnson who was sent for at 11 o'Clock never left him, for while breath remain'd he still hoped. I ventured in once, & saw them cutting his Clothes off to bleed him, but I saw no more.
The next Morning early I drove to Streatham [24], but finding myself pursued thither by officious Friendship, I ran forward to Brighthelmston [375] where Mr Scrase, who like me had lost all he cared for in earnest; was a comfortable & useful Companion. There I had Time to collect my scattered Thoughts, to revise my past Life, & resolve upon a new one. the best Consolation is the perfect Amity in wch we have lived 17 Years together, the few disputes or Subjects of Complaint either of us have endured from the other, & the Notion I always perswaded myself into, of having been an humble Instrument in the Almighty's hand-to turn the heart of my Husband towards heaven whither he is gone, & whither I hope one day to follow him.
He has been very generous to me in his Will [11], but my being entangled with the Trade perplexes me greatly--perhaps I may rid my hands of it however, perhaps we may sell it without much Loss: my Coadjutors5 are all willing to assist while I carry it on, and willing to quit when I wish to part with it: never were Men more obliging to be sure, & I am half inclin'd to hope for Happiness once more, when I see their Disposition to comply with my Desire.
God forbid though that my Pride or Delicacy should so far influence me as to make me quit the Business at any Rate: My Children have a Claim to all that I can do & suffer-yet how will they be benefited by keeping their Money at hazard? Mr Scrase says 'tis Madness to try at carrying on such a Trade with only five Girls; so says Cator, so says Crutcheley: Mr Johnson did wish my Continuance in Business, but I have pretty well cured him of his Wishes; though when I was obliged Yesterday to go & court a dirty Goaler to suffer our Brewhouse to serve his Tap, & when I complained even with Tears to Mr Johnson of the Indignity; Dearest Lady says he your Character is exalted by it; I tell you it advances in Heighth, Yes replied I, it advances indeed, & rises from the Side Box to the upper Gallery.
Streatham [24]. I have now appointed three Days a Week to attend at the Counting house, & wish I could defecate my Mind of Borough Dirt, when I pass the Laystalls at the Stones End; but it will not be yet, it will not be-- > The vile Ideas where I fly pursue: Rise in the Grove, even in the Thicket rise, Stain all my Soul, and grovel in my Eyes.
If an Angel from Heaven had told me 20 Years ago, that the Man I knew by the Name of Dictionary Johnson should one Day become Partner with me in a great Trade, & that we should jointly or separately sign Notes Draughts &c. for 3 or 4 Thousand Pounds of a Morning, how unlikely it would have seemed ever to happen!— unlikely is no Word tho'—it would have seemed incredible: neither of us then being worth a Groat God knows, & both as immeasurably removed from Commerce, as Birth Literature & Inclination could set us. Johnson however; who desires above all other Good the Accumulation of new Ideas, is but too happy with his present Employment; & the Influence I have over him added to his own solid Judgment and Regard for Truth, will at last find it in a small degree difficult to win him from the dirty Delight of seeing his Name in a new Character flaming away at the bottom of Bonds & Leases.
The funeral took place on 11 April 1781. The bill for the funeral expenses, including the cost of '6 Men in mourning on horseback', '2 mourning Coaches & Six Horses', and the lining of the pews of St Leonard's Church [24] in black, amounted in all to £130 5s. 4d6. Henry was buried in the crypt of St Leonards Church, [375] Streatham. Henry's epitaph [11] was written by Samuel Johnson. In line with the fashion of the day, friends of Henry Thrale, including Samuel Johnson, were given mourning ring [376] in fish skin case.
After Henry Thrale's death, Johnson said…
I felt almost the flutter of his pulse, and looked for the last time upon a face that for fifteen years had never been turned upon me but with respect and benignity”;.
... and …
I am not without my part of the calamity. No death since that of my wife has ever oppressed me like this. … My part of the loss hangs upon me. I have lost a friend of boundless kindness at an age when it is very unlikely that I should find another”;.
Johnson wrote in his Prayers and Meditations on Good Friday, 13 April 1781…
On Wednesday 11, was buried my dear Friend Thrale who died on Wednesday 4, and with him were buried many of my hopes and pleasures. On Sunday 1st his Physician warned him against full meals, on Monday I pressed him to observance of his rules, but without effect, and Tuesday I was absent, but his Wife pressed forbearance upon him, again unsuccessfully. At night I was called to him, and found him senseless in strong convulsions. I staid in the room, except that I visited Mrs. Thrale twice. About five (,I think), on Wednesday morning he expired; I felt almost the last flutter of his pulse, and looked for the last time upon the face that for fifteen years had never been turned upon me but with respect or benignity …
Johnsons entered a prayer for the family on 22 June 1781, and an unfinished 'meditation' about Thrale's death on 2 September 1781.
Henry's good friend, Arthur Murphy [24], wrote …
…a more ingenuous frame of mind no man possessed. His education at Oxford gave him the habits of a gentleman; his amiable temper recommended his conversation, and the goodness of his heart made him a sincere friend.
The poet James Beattie [375], wrote …
He was a most respectable character; intelligent, modest, communicative and friendly.
In his biography of Johnson, James Boswell [11] mentions Henry Thrale's worthy principles, sound scholarship, business acumen, general intelligence and polished manners. He also added his impressive looks, dignified bearing and generosity towards his wife in his allowance to her for entertaining those guests of her own choosing7. A week after Henry's death, Boswell wrote his disrespectful Ode by Dr. Samuel Johnson to Mrs. Thrale upon their Supposed Approaching Nuptials [376].
After Henry's death, Hester received a proposals of marriage from:
Several epitaphs to Henry Thrale are known to exist, including a mourning tablet written by Samuel Johnson [121], and written accounts in Thraliana [14], Gentleman's Magazine [381], and several testimonials by friends.
After Henry Thrale's death, Johnson said…
I am not without my part of the calamity. No death since that of my wife has ever oppressed me like this. … My part of the loss hangs upon me. I have lost a friend of boundless kindness at an age when it is very unlikely that I should find another”;.
Johnson wrote in his Prayers and Meditations on Good Friday, 13 April 1781…
On Wednesday 11, was buried my dear Friend Thrale who died on Wednesday 4, and with him were buried many of my hopes and pleasures. On Sunday 1st his Physician warned him against full meals, on Monday I pressed him to observance of his rules, but without effect, and Tuesday I was absent, but his Wife pressed forbearance upon him, again unsuccessfully. At night I was called to him, and found him senseless in strong convulsions. I staid in the room, except that I visited Mrs. Thrale twice. About five (,I think), on Wednesday morning he expired; I felt almost the last flutter of his pulse, and looked for the last time upon the face that for fifteen years had never been turned upon me but with respect or benignity…
Johnsons entered a prayer for the family on 22 June 1781, and an unfinished 'meditation' about Thrale's death on 2 September 1781.
A more ingenuous frame of mind no man possessed.
Henry's good friend, Arthur Murphy [24], wrote …
…a more ingenuous frame of mind no man possessed. His education at Oxford gave him the habits of a gentleman; his amiable temper recommended his conversation, and the goodness of his heart made him a sincere friend.
The poet James Beattie [375], wrote …
He was a most respectable character; intelligent, modest, communicative and friendly.
In his biography of Johnson, James Boswell [11] mentions Henry Thrale's worthy principles, sound scholarship, business acumen, general intelligence and polished manners. He also added his impressive looks, dignified bearing and generosity towards his wife in his allowance to her for entertaining those guests of her own choosing1.
A week after Henry's death, Boswell wrote his disrespectful Ode by Dr. Samuel Johnson to Mrs. Thrale upon their Supposed Approaching Nuptials [382].
[383]
A tablet monument to Henry Thrale [384] was erected on 20 September 1782 in St Leonard’s Church, Streatham [22], London. The monument is by Joseph Wilton [385] R.A. stage coach carver to the King who made George III [386]'s coronation coach.
The Latin epitaph one of only three written by Samuel Johnson. The other two being Oliver Goldsmith [387] and Hester Maria Cotton. The epitaph in Latin and English, together with contemporary commentaries is available here [384].
See also our article on Thrale family burial vault [389].
Henry Thrale [25] died died on 4 April 1781 between 5am - 6am. His executors were…
The will was read by the male executors on 5 April 1781 and Hester Thrale was informed of its provisions by Samuel Johnson.
Dated 17 March 1781, the will left Streatham [13] to Mrs. Thrale for life only, but the contents of both the houses - Streatham and Brighton [165] - were hers unconditionally, including all Sir Joshua Reynolds's paintings [212]. She was also to receive £2,000 a year from the profits of the brewery [5], and, for the maintenance of the children, £150 a year for each one under fifteen years, and £200 for each after she had passed her fifteenth birthday, until she came of age. From other assets Hester Thrale was left the interest from £50,000 for life.
If the brewery were sold, Mrs. Thrale was to receive £30,000 outright, and the rest of the proceeds was to be held in trust for the daughters. The daughters' inheritances were £20,000 each, to be held in trust until they came of age, and if any should die without marrying her share was to be divided among the surviving sisters.
Their mother and Mr, Thrale's executors were named as joint guardians, but the will requested in addition that all the daughters be made wards in Chancery.
Crowmarsh [392], the Oxfordshire estate, was willed to Queeney [68]. This property had, however, by the terms of the Thrales' marriage settlement [40], been set aside for an annual payment to Mrs. Thrale of £200 during Mr. Thrale's life, and £400 after his death. Because the marriage settlement was not revoked by the will, this income remained legally Mrs. Thrale's, and later became the cause of a unsuccessful lawsuit brought by Queeney.
Another provision of the marriage settlement was an allowance to Mrs. Thrale of a lump sum of £13,400 from Henry Thrale's estate, if his wife survived him. Cator, either through oversight, or, as Hester later believed, deliberately, failed to make over this sum to her, and it became another cause of recrimination when she discovered her right to it in August 1786.
Hester wrote of this on 24 August 1786 whilst in Milan…
Mr Cator writes me word at last at Michaelmas [393] we shall not have a Debt in the World—so young Ladies are paid; & I am discharged from an Obligation wch Mr Crutcheley told me was very great, tho' not a Jew in the Alley would have refused me the Money at the same Price—he told me so when they were in the Room too I remember, & they took Care never to forget it while I lived with them at Bath—& try'd to save Money to get rid of the Incumbrance—but Lady Salusbury's cruel & unjust Rapacity, insisting on payment when such was the Situation of Public Affairs Novr 1782 that no Cash could be borrow'd without Land Security, & scarcely with it: Mr Crutcheley's unmerited Roughness towards me, insisting not only on five per Cent to the Misses, but on my paying 800£ of the principal the 1st Year, a Thing scarcely possible; his Censures of me afterwards for not living grand enough, when he himself had cramped my Power of living better; he and Cator all the Time tacitly agreeing to keep me ignorant of my Claim to no less than thirteen Thousand Pounds, settled on me at marriage wch I had forgot—have much sour'd my Temper towards my Daughters Guardians: who could not urge in Defence of their Conduct my future Marriage, because Crutcheley never heard of any such thing till the Janry after, when he came to me open mouthed about it, & said he had heard on't by Miracle; and Cator had not an Idea of the sort, till M r Piozzi [59] arrived at Dover in June184. & I wrote a circular Letter to each of my kind Coadjutors—How glad I am now that all debts are discharged however! & that I paid the Attorney's Bill even before I married Mr Piozzi—it is a comfort to me to think on't to be sure. Now let the Mortgage Deeds be destroyed, and these Mortifications be forgotten for ever.—
Hester also found fault later with the guardians for concealing her sole authority to receive and utilise the girls' maintenance payments. Ten years later on 3 January 1791, Hester wrote…
See Page 41 of this Volume& admire at the Compiler's Folly— I have got an Extract of Mr Thrale's Will at last, & find out that for the 150£ a piece of his Daughters to be annually paid till they attain the Age of 15. and for the 200£ o'Year a piece from that Age till the Day they become 21. nobody has a Right to receive it except myself—nor am I accountable to any Person whatever for what I please to do with it—Yet have I tacitly suffered them & their Other Guardians to manage it how they thought fit, and Mr Cator had the Assurance to advise me a Twelvemonth ago in Hanover Square [78], to take 50£ o'Year for Cecilia's [305] Maintenance, if I would have her with me was the Phrase; & plague him no more about the Bills, which were enormous he said,—in good Time! because they amounted to 80£. One could not credit such Usage, was it related of another—& such Submission to ill Usage is I believe wholly unexampled. but Charity seeketh not her own.
The Anchor Brewhouse [5] along with The Anchor [394] inn, were quickly sold [395]. However, Samuel Johnson, when challenged about the value of the business by the wary bankers, famously replied…
We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice.
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[1] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/360%23comment-form
[2] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/360%23comment-form
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[4] https://www.thrale.com/image/harrow_corner_southwark
[5] https://www.thrale.com/anchor_brewery
[6] https://www.thrale.com/henry_thrales_testimonials
[7] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/documents/harrow_corner_southwark.png
[8] https://www.thrale.com/ralph_thrale_mp_owner_1729_1758
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stowe_House
[10] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/henry_thrale_1770-1780_francis_wheatley.png
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Boswell
[12] https://www.thrale.com/henry_thrales_homes_and_properties
[13] https://www.thrale.com/streatham_park
[14] https://www.thrale.com/thraliana_diary_mrs_hester_lynch_thrale
[15] http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17631207-5&div=t17631207-5&terms=thrale#highlight
[16] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags/between_1724_and_1729_1781
[17] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/330%23comment-form
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[21] https://www.thrale.com/thrale_vault
[22] https://www.thrale.com/st_leonards_church_streatham
[23] https://www.thrale.com/henry_thrale_mp_owner_1758_1781
[24] https://www.thrale.com/arthur_murphy
[25] https://www.thrale.com/henry_thrale_17249_1781
[26] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/214%23comment-form
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[28] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/henry_thrales_parliamentary_career
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[30] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/49%23comment-form
[31] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/henry_thrales_parliamentary_career#Election%20address
[32] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/298%23comment-form
[33] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/298%23comment-form
[34] https://www.thrale.com/book/export/html/360
[35] https://www.thrale.com/offley_place
[36] https://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI428%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[37] https://www.thrale.com/hester_thrale_1741_1821
[38] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Montagu-Dunk,_2nd_Earl_of_Halifax
[39] https://www.thrale.com/image/hester_maria_cotton_mourning_tablets_mourning_tablet
[40] https://www.thrale.com/hester_lynch_salusburys_dowry
[41] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/henry_thrale_the_southwark_macaroni.png
[42] https://www.thrale.com/offley_park_1761
[43] https://www.thrale.com/bach_y_graig
[44] https://www.thrale.com/henry_thrales_1763_letter
[45] https://www.thrale.com/hesters_dowry
[46] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags/1741_1821
[47] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/131%23comment-form
[48] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/131%23comment-form
[49] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/history/uk-thrale/streatham-and-southwark/henry/Courtship+and+dowry#Letter%20of%20request%20for%20a%20proposal%20meeting
[50] https://www.thrale.com/category/help_wanted_1
[51] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/51%23comment-form
[52] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/51%23comment-form
[53] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/history/uk-thrale/streatham-and-southwark/henry/Courtship+and+dowry
[54] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/362%23comment-form
[55] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/362%23comment-form
[56] http://www.londonancestor.com/views/vc-ann-soh.htm
[57] https://www.thrale.com/borough_or_brewery_house_1833
[58] https://www.thrale.com/henry_and_hesters_children
[59] https://www.thrale.com/hester_and_gabriel_piozzi
[60] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/hester_and_queeney_thrale_by_joshua_reynolds_in_1777_to_1778.jpg
[61] https://www.thrale.com/thirteenth_wedding_anniversary
[62] https://www.thrale.com/queeney
[63] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Burney
[64] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/hester_lynch_thrale_engraved_by_samuel_freeman_1842.png
[65] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/301%23comment-form
[66] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/301%23comment-form
[67] https://www.thrale.com/jeremiah_joseph_crutchley
[68] https://www.thrale.com/hester_maria_thrale
[69] https://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI94%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[70] https://www.thrale.com/brewery_house
[71] http://www.brookwoodcemetery.com/restoration_projects_2.htm
[72] https://www.thrale.com/frances_thrale
[73] https://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI216%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[74] https://www.thrale.com/henry_salusbury_thrale
[75] https://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI670%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[76] https://www.thrale.com/anna_maria_thrale
[77] https://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI217%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[78] https://www.thrale.com/other_london_homes%23OtherLondonresidences
[79] https://www.thrale.com/lucy_elizabeth_thrale
[80] https://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI218%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[81] https://www.thrale.com/susannah_arabella_thrale
[82] https://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI93%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[83] https://www.thrale.com/sophia_thrale
[84] https://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI95%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[85] https://www.thrale.com/penelope_thrale
[86] https://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI219%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[87] https://www.thrale.com/ralph_thrale_1773_1775
[88] https://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI220%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[89] https://www.thrale.com/brighton%23WestStreet
[90] https://www.thrale.com/frances_anna_thrale
[91] https://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI91%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[92] https://www.thrale.com/cecilia_margaretta_thrale
[93] https://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI96%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[94] https://www.thrale.com/henrietta_sophia_thrale
[95] https://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI82%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[96] https://www.thrale.com/stillborn_thrale_son
[97] https://www.thrale.com/hester_and_hester_and_gabriel_piozzi%23Theirchildren
[98] https://www.thrale.com/sir_john_salusbury_piozzi_salusbury
[99] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/206%23comment-form
[100] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/206%23comment-form
[101] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/hester-maria-thrale
[102] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags/1764_1857
[103] https://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/pictures/according_to_queeney_0.png
[104] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/708%23comment-form
[105] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/708%23comment-form
[106] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/according_queeney
[107] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/213%23comment-form
[108] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/213%23comment-form
[109] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/according_beryl
[110] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags_23
[111] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/245%23comment-form
[112] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/245%23comment-form
[113] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/thrale_almshouses
[114] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/113%23comment-form
[115] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/113%23comment-form
[116] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/frances_thrale
[117] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/424%23comment-form
[118] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/424%23comment-form
[119] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London
[120] http://www.thomaspynchon.com/mason-dixon/alpha/d.html
[121] https://www.thrale.com/samuel_johnson
[122] https://www.thrale.com/hester_thrale_song_by_herbert_lawrence
[123] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apothecary
[124] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/425%23comment-form
[125] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/425%23comment-form
[126] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/292%23comment-form
[127] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/292%23comment-form
[128] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/426%23comment-form
[129] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/426%23comment-form
[130] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/susannah_arabella_thrale.png
[131] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moliere
[132] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Bourgeois_gentilhomme
[133] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dryden
[134] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Voiture
[135] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_de_Rabutin-Chantal%2C_marquise_de_S%C3%A9vign%C3%A9
[136] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_%27Mad_Jack%27_Fuller
[137] https://www.thrale.com/thrale_almshouses
[138] http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/MIs/MIsKnockholt/MIsKnockholt.htm
[139] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/419%23comment-form
[140] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/419%23comment-form
[141] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/sophia_thrale.png
[142] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/sophia_thrale_2.png
[143] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/179-1800_henry_merrick_hoare_by%20john_rising.png
[144] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Richard_Hoare
[145] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Hoare_%26_Co
[146] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_I_of_England
[147] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_III_of_England
[148] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gainsborough
[149] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_of_Lansdowne
[150] https://www.thrale.com/pens
[151] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/headstones/sophia_thrale_mourning_tablet_by_flaxman.png
[152] http://www.bowood.org
[153] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/237%23comment-form
[154] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/237%23comment-form
[155] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/convolvulus_sophia_thrale
[156] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/291%23comment-form
[157] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/291%23comment-form
[158] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags_41
[159] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags_53
[160] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/306%23comment-form
[161] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/306%23comment-form
[162] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congential
[163] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox
[164] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrocephalus#Congenital_hydrocephalus
[165] https://www.thrale.com/brighton
[166] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/305%23comment-form
[167] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/305%23comment-form
[168] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/418%23comment-form
[169] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/418%23comment-form
[170] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/cecilia_margaretta_thrale.png
[171] https://www.thrale.com/1748-1822
[172] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Siddons
[173] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh
[174] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretna_Green
[175] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whig
[176] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuberculosis
[177] https://www.thrale.com/hester_and_hester_and_gabriel_piozzi
[178] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/417%23comment-form
[179] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/417%23comment-form
[180] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Montagu
[181] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags_48
[182] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/308%23comment-form
[183] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/308%23comment-form
[184] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/391%23comment-form
[185] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/391%23comment-form
[186] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/hester-lynch-thrale_by_james_sharples.jpg
[187] https://www.thrale.com/image/giuseppe_marcantonio_baretti_1773_sir_joshua_reynolds
[188] https://www.thrale.com/henry_and_queeney_thrales_accident
[189] https://www.thrale.com/thrales_meet_king_louis_xvi_and_queen_marie_antoinette
[190] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/97%23comment-form
[191] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/97%23comment-form
[192] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/history/uk-thrale/streatham-and-southwark/henry/Henry+and+Hester's+travels#Coaching+accident
[193] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/234%23comment-form
[194] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/234%23comment-form
[195] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/thrales_meet_king_louis_xvi_and_queen_marie_antoinette
[196] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/341%23comment-form
[197] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/341%23comment-form
[198] https://www.thrale.com/../sites/default/files/pictures/test.jpg
[199] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardsey_Island
[200] https://www.thrale.com/hester_thrales_homes_and_properties
[201] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/409%23comment-form
[202] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/409%23comment-form
[203] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/streatham_park_1863.png
[204] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Russell%2C_4th_Duke_of_Bedford
[205] http://www.woburnabbey.co.uk
[206] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooting_Commons
[207] http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=THRALE+ROAD&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&client=firefox-a&ll=51.426186,-
[208] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/documents/streatham_park_1822_plan.png
[209] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/documents/streatham_park_deed_sale_plan_1822.jpg
[210] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/streatham_park_by_w_h_brooke.png
[211] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/streatham_park_by_edward_walford_1880.jpg
[212] https://www.thrale.com/library_and_streatham_worthies
[213] https://www.thrale.com/johnsons_summer_house
[214] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/streatham_park_c1775_by_c_stanfield_engraved_by_e_finden.png
[215] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/streatham_park_by_william_ellis_1792.png
[216] https://www.thrale.com/streatham_flasher
[217] https://www.thrale.com/streatham_park_tenants
[218] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/streatham_park_unknown_artist.jpg
[219] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/streatham_park_c1820_engraving_landseer_drawing_s_prout.jpg
[220] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/streatham_park_augustus_butler.png
[221] https://www.thrale.com/other_london_homes
[222] https://www.thrale.com/hester_maria_queeney_thrale
[223] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/books/samuel_johnson_by_reynolds_1756-57.jpg
[224] https://www.thrale.com/bath_and_bristol_homes
[225] https://www.thrale.com/image/streatham_park_survey_1822
[226] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_County_Council
[227] https://www.thrale.com/gallows_make_hang_them
[228] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags_40
[229] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags/1698_1758
[230] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags_3
[231] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags/1709_1784
[232] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags_54
[233] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags_55
[234] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags_56
[235] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags/1740_1809
[236] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/421%23comment-form
[237] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/421%23comment-form
[238] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cator
[239] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gallery%2C_London
[240] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topham_Beauclerk
[241] http://www.samueljohnson.com/hawkins/intro.html
[242] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/books/lord_edwin_sandys_by_joshua_reynolds.jpg
[243] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/books/1772_William_Henry_Lyttleton_by_Joshua_Reynolds.jpg
[244] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/pictures/arthur_murphy_by_joshua_reynolds_0.jpg
[245] https://www.thrale.com/../arthur_murphy
[246] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verso
[247] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/books/Oliver-Goldsmith_by__Joshua_Reynolds_in_1772.jpg
[248] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/books/1775-00-00_reynolds_self_portrait.jpg
[249] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/books/sir_robert_chambers_by_joshua_reynolds.jpg
[250] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/books/david_garrick_by_joshua_reynolds.jpg
[251] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/books/giuseppe_baretti_by_joshua_reynolds_1773.png
[252] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/books/1781-00-00_charles_burney_by_joshua_reynolds.png
[253] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/pictures/Edmund-burke_by_joshua_reynolds_in_1774.png
[254] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/books/1772-00-00_samuel_johnson_by_joshua_reynolds.png
[255] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus
[256] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Seward_(anecdotist)
[257] http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/bennet-langton-17371801-171410
[258] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Percy_(bishop)
[259] https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nugent,_Christopher_(d.1775)_(DNB00)
[260] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Dyer_(translator)
[261] https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Woodhouse,_James_(DNB00)
[262] http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp56974/sir-william-weller-pepys-1st-bt
[263] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harris_%28Grammarian%29
[264] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Richard_Jebb,_1st_Baronet
[265] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wallace_(politician)
[266] https://www.thrale.com/brynbella
[267] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Sandys,_2nd_Baron_Sandys
[268] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Lyttelton,_1st_Baron_Lyttelton
[269] http://www.antiquestradegazette.com/Catalogues/ItemDetails.asp?ItemID=1907275&EventID=2668877
[270] http://www.driffieldtoday.co.uk/news/39Lost39-Reynolds-could-raise-up.1119555.jp
[271] http://www.dee-atkinson-harrison.co.uk/
[272] http://www.driffieldtoday.co.uk/news/Going-going-gone--for.1197801.jp
[273] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Garrick
[274] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Burney
[275] http://www.sgallery.net/news/10_2004/29.php
[276] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags_33
[277] https://www.thrale.com/category/tags_60
[278] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/373%23comment-form
[279] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/373%23comment-form
[280] https://www.thrale.com/streatham_park%23ThelibraryandtheStreathamworthies
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[285] http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/filestore/VisitsEvents/asp/visits/Details.asp?Property_Id=107&js=yes
[286] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/pictures/the_times_sep_25_1968_pg12_issue57365_col_d.png
[287] http://www.johnsonsocietyoflondon.org/Dr-Johnson-summerhouse-photos-and-narrative
[288] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/405%23comment-form
[289] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/405%23comment-form
[290] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Petty,_2nd_Earl_of_Shelburne
[291] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowood
[292] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Steele_%28politician%29
[293] https://www.thrale.com/john_cator
[294] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holbein_the_Younger
[295] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/pictures/streatham_park_by_j_landseer_afters_prout.png
[296] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_tree_forms
[297] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lieven
[298] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/125%23comment-form
[299] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/125%23comment-form
[300] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/borough_or_brewery_house
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[305] https://www.thrale.com/cecilia_thrale
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[307] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/brighton_blue_plaque.png
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[314] https://www.thrale.com/election_address_1780
[315] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Shelburne
[316] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansdowne_House
[317] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Secretary_for_Ireland
[318] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_North
[319] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquess_of_Rockingham
[320] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Somerset,_5th_Duke_of_Beaufort
[321] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Grosvenor,_1st_Earl_Grosvenor
[322] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sackville_Tufton,_8th_Earl_of_Thanet
[323] https://www.thrale.com/harriett_thrale
[324] https://www.thrale.com/borough_or_brewery_house
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[331] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/382%23comment-form
[332] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_Club
[333] http://www.drjohnsonshouse.org/
[334] http://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/books/samuel_johnson_at_cave_publisher_1854_by_henry_wallis.jpg
[335] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/Thomas_Rowlandson_-_Vaux-Hall_-_Dr._Johnson%2C_Oliver_Goldsmith%2C_Mary_Robinson%2C_et_al.jpg
[336] https://www.thrale.com/johnsons_35_poem
[337] https://www.thrale.com/latin_ode_hester_thrale
[338] http://www.lichfieldrambler.co.uk/
[339] https://www.thrale.com/sites/default/files/pictures/francis-barber_by_joshua_reynolds_0.jpg
[340] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/239%23comment-form
[341] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/239%23comment-form
[342] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/history/uk-thrale/streatham-and-southwark/samuel-johnson/Francis+Barber
[343] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/240%23comment-form
[344] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/240%23comment-form
[345] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/history/uk-thrale/streatham-and-southwark/samuel-johnson/Francis+Barber#A%20Troublesome%20Disorder%20by%20Dave%20Randle
[346] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/101%23comment-form
[347] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/101%23comment-form
[348] https://publish.obsidian.md/thrale/double_ballade_life_and_fate_william_ernest_henley
[349] https://www.thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/235%23comment-form
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[354] https://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI604%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
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[357] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_John_Lade#Letitia
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[376] http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/exhibits/johnson/circle/7_4.cfm
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[378] https://www.thrale.com/proposal_marriage_mr_swale
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[387] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Goldsmith
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[389] https://www.thrale.com/thrale_family_burial_vault
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[391] https://www.thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/406%23comment-form
[392] https://www.thrale.com/crowmarsh_battle
[393] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michaelmas
[394] https://www.thrale.com/anchor
[395] https://www.thrale.com/henry_thrale_mp_owner_1758_1781%23Saleofthebrewery