Thomas Lediard (1685–1743) was an English writer and surveyor.

Life

In early life, by his own account, he was attached to the staff of the

Duke of Marlborough General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reign ...

, particularly in 1707, on the occasion of the Duke's visit to Charles XII of Sweden. He is assumed to have been there as a diplomat, an attaché to the embassy at

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, seconded as a foreign secretary. He was then for many years secretary to the British envoy extraordinary in Hamburg. There he manageg the opera there, for his chief, Sir Cecil Wych. Lediard returned to England some time before 1732 and settled in

Smith Square Smith Square is a square in Westminster, London, 250 metres south-southwest of the Palace of Westminster. Most of its garden interior is filled by St John's, Smith Square, a Baroque surplus church, which has inside converted to a concert hall ...

, Westminster. In February 1738 he wrote a proposal for

Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats in the ...

.''A Scheme, humbly offered to the Honourable the Commissioners for building a Bridge at Westminster, for opening convenient and advantageous Ways and Passages (on the Westminster side) to and from the said Bridge, if situated at or near Palace Yard; as likewise to and from the Parliament House and the Courts of Justice,'' 1738. Possibly as a consequence, he was appointed Agent and Surveyor of Westminster Bridge. On 13 July 1742 the Crown lands from Westminster Bridge to Charing Cross were granted to him and Sir Joseph Ayloffe, to hold in trust to the Commissioners appointed to build the bridge. On 9 December 1742 Lediard was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

. Early in 1743 he resigned his appointment as Surveyor of the bridge, and died shortly afterwards, in June 1743. He was succeeded in the post by his son Thomas.

Works

In England Lediard brought out ''The Naval History of England in all its branches, from the Norman Conquest ... to the conclusion of 1734'', 2 vols. 1735; ''The Life of John, Duke of Marlborough'', 3 vols. 1736, 2nd edit. 2 vols. 1743, in the preface to which he claims to write from personal knowledge of some of the transactions, and to have had access to important letters and papers; and ''The History of the Reigns of William III and Mary, and Anne, in continuation of the History of England by Rapin de Thoyras'', 3 vols. 1737. He also published translations of the ''

Life of Sethos ''Life of Sethos, Taken from Private Memoirs of the Ancient Egyptians'' (french: Séthos, histoire, ou Vie tirée des monumens, anecdotes de l'ancienne Égypte, traduite d'un manuscrit grec) is an influential fantasy novel originally published in ...

'', by Jean Terrasson, 1732; ''A History of the Ancient Germans'', by Johann Jacob Mascon, 2 vols. 1737; and of ''A Plan of Civil and Historical Architecture'', by

Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (20 July 1656 – 5 April 1723) was an Austrian architect, sculptor, engraver, and architectural historian whose Baroque architecture profoundly influenced and shaped the tastes of the Habsburg Empire. His inf ...

, 2nd edit. 1738. Lediard assisted in the etymological work in

Nathan Bailey Nathan Bailey (died 27 June 1742), was an English philologist and lexicographer. He was the author of several dictionaries, including his '' Universal Etymological Dictionary'', which appeared in some 30 editions between 1721 and 1802. Bailey's ...

's ''Dictionarium Britannicum'' (1736). He is described on the title-page as a "professor of modern languages in Lower Germany". He was the author of ''Grammatica Anglicana Critica, oder Versuch zu einer vollkommen Grammatic der englischen Sprache'', Hamburg (1726); ''Eine Collection verschiedener Vorstellungen in Illuminationen . . . 1724-8, unter der Direction und von der Invention Thomas Lediard's'', Hamburg (1730); and ''Britannia, an English Opera as it is performed at the New Theatre in the Haymarket'', London, 1732. He also edited, with introduction and notes, ''The German Spy, in familiar letters . . . written by a Gentleman on his Travels to his Friend in England'', London, 1738.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Lediard, Thomas 1685 births 1743 deaths English writers English translators English surveyors Fellows of the Royal Society 18th-century British translators