Captain Philip Thicknesse (1719 – 23 November 1792) was an English author, eccentric, and friend of the artist

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...

. He wrote several travel guides.

Early life

Philip Thicknesse was born in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, son of John Thicknesse, Rector of

Farthinghoe Farthinghoe is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England. It is located on the A422 road about north-west of Brackley and south-east of Banbury. The origin of the village's name is uncertain. Possibly, 'hill-spur of the dwe ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, and Joyce (née Blencowe) Thicknesse. He was brought up in Farthinghoe.

Career

Thicknesse visited the

Colony of Georgia In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

in September 1736, but returned to England in 1737, claiming to be the first of the emigrants to return. He obtained a commission as a

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of an independent company in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

after 1737. On an expedition against

Jamaican Maroons Jamaican Maroons descend from Africans who freed themselves from slavery on the Colony of Jamaica and established communities of free black people in the island's mountainous interior, primarily in the eastern parishes. Africans who were ensla ...

in the Blue Mountains, he wrote of encounters with Windward Maroon leaders

Quao Quao (d. c. 1750s) was one of the leaders of the Jamaican_Maroons#Establishment of the Leeward and Windward Maroons, Windward Maroons, who fought the British colonial forces of Jamaica to a standstill during the First Maroon War of the 1730s. The ...

and

Queen Nanny Queen Nanny, Granny Nanny, or Nanny of the Maroons ONH (c. 1686 – c. 1733), was an 18th century leader of the Jamaican Maroons. She led a community of formerly enslaved Africans called the Windward Maroons. In the early 18th century, under t ...

. He transferred to a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

regiment as a

Captain-Lieutenant Captain lieutenant or captain-lieutenant is a military rank, used in a number of navies worldwide and formerly in the British Army. Northern Europe Denmark, Norway and Finland The same rank is used in the navies of Denmark (), Norway () and Finl ...

in 1740. He was later

Lieutenant-Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Landguard Fort Landguard Fort is a fort at the mouth of the River Orwell outside Felixstowe, Suffolk, designed to guard the mouth of the river. It is now managed by the charity English Heritage and is open to the public. History Originally known as Langer ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

(1753–1766). Thicknesse was a friend of the society artist Thomas Gainsborough, whom he met in about 1753, and of his less well-known brother, the inventor

Humphrey Gainsborough Humphrey Gainsborough (1718 – 23 August 1776) was an English non-conformist minister, engineer, and inventor. Read to the Newcomen Society at the Science Museum, London, 12 October 2005. Humphrey Gainsborough was pastor to the Independent ...

. As an author he wrote for ''

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...

''. He also published ''The Speaking Figure and the Automaton Chess Player, Exposed and Detected'', a none-too-accurate exposé of a chess-playing machine, The Turk. In 1742, Thicknesse eloped with Maria Lanove, a wealthy heiress, whom he abducted from a street in Southampton. They moved to Bath, taking advantage of the social whirl. In 1749 Maria and his children (by then three) contracted diphtheria. She and two children died, leaving a daughter, Anna. When Maria's parents died some time later (his mother-in-law committing suicide), he spent much time trying to claim their fortune. Thicknesse then married Lady Elizabeth Tuchet, daughter of

James Tuchet, 6th Earl of Castlehaven James Tuchet, 6th Earl of Castlehaven (died 12 October 1740) was the son of James Tuchet, 5th Earl of Castlehaven and his wife Anne Pelson. He succeeded his father as Earl of Castlehaven and Baron Audley on 9 August 1700. He married, on 14 May 172 ...

, and Hon. Elizabeth Arundell, on 10 May 1749. They had a son

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

(1758–1818), later 19th Baron Audley. Elizabeth died in childbirth in 1762. His third wife was his late wife's companion,

Anne Ford Anne or Ann Ford, (Mrs Philip Thicknesse, 22 February 1737 – 20 January 1824) was an 18th-century English musician and singer, famous in her time for a scandal that attended her struggle to perform in public. Life and music Some aspects of ...

(1732–1824), daughter of Thomas Ford, whom he married on 27 September 1762. She was a gifted, well-educated musician with a beautiful voice and knew five languages. She gave Sunday concerts at her father's house, but her ambition was to become a professional actress, and despite fatherly disapproval, left home to go on the stage. She and Thicknesse had a son, Captain John Thicknesse. RN (c. 1763–1846). The couple spent time travelling in Europe. In later life he lived in the

Royal Crescent The Royal Crescent is a row of 30 terraced houses laid out in a sweeping Crescent (architecture), crescent in the city of Bath, Somerset, Bath, England. Designed by the architect John Wood, the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is a ...

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, in a house he then let out and sold. He moved to another, St Catherine's Hermitage, and landscaped the grounds to create a "hermit's cell" for himself.

Death and will

Thicknesse died on a journey near

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and was buried there. In his later life he had become an " ornamental hermit". His will stipulated that his right hand be cut off and delivered to his son, George, who was inattentive, "to remind him of his duty to God after having so long abandoned the duty he owed to a father, who once so affectionately loved him."Michael Olmert (1996), ''Milton's Teeth and Ovid's Umbrella: Curiouser & Curiouser Adventures in History'', p. 72.

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

, New York. .

Books

*1768: ''Useful Hints to those who Make the Tour of France''. This gains a mention from a character in

Tobias Smollett Tobias George Smollett (baptised 19 March 1721 – 17 September 1771) was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for picaresque novels such as ''The Adventures of Roderick Random'' (1748), ''The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle'' (1751) a ...

's epistolary novel ''The Expedition of Humphry Clinker''. *1772: ''A Treatise on the Art of Decyphering, And of Writing in Cyphers,With An Harmonic Alphabet'' *1777: ''A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain''. 2 vols. Bath: printed by R. Cruttwell, for the author; and sold by Wm. Brown, London *1778: ''The New Prose Bath Guide : for the year 1778''. ondon? Printed for the author and sold by Dodsley *1786: ''A Year's Journey Through The Pais Bas: or, Austrian Netherlands.'' London, printed for J. Debrett *1788: ''Memoirs and Anecdotes of Philip Thicknesse, Late Lieutenant-Governor of Land Guard Fort, and unfortunately Father to George Touchet, Baron Audley''. Printed for the Author, MDCCLXXXVIII.

788 __NOTOC__ Year 788 ( DCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 788 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in ...

A third volume followed in 1791.

References

External links

* *
BiographyPictures
in the National Portrait Gallery,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Manybooks.net entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thicknesse, Philip 1719 births 1792 deaths People from Staffordshire English essayists English travel writers British colonial army officers Royal Marines officers