Nelson & His World

I am intrigued by a character named Captain Philip Thicknesse (Fl. mid-late 18th century) who is mentioned in a book I have just read.

Was he a naval captain? Are there any biographical details available?

Thanks in advance.

No, not a naval man.

I should have Googled him before posting but I thought he was so obscure he wouldn't rate a mention, whereas there is quite a bit of information about him. No mention, though, of his pseudonymous journalistic activities, writing as 'A Wanderer' in the St James's Chronicle and as 'Polyxena' in The Gentleman's Magazine. He not only wrote scurrilous material but also extorted handsome payments to keep gossip from his columns. He was described by Henry Bate as 'a hoary offender [who] has menaced public men and held numerous families in apprehension and horror.'

This information is from 'My Lady Scandalous' by Jo Manning, a biography of the courtesan Grace Dalrymple Elliott, that I mentioned 'Inside Nelson's World'. The book, I'm sorry to say, is poorly written, too over-colloquial in style for my taste, but it is a storehouse of information on the manners and mores of the late Georgian world and is diligently researched.

I was curious about Thicknesse, wondering if, like Captain John Willett Payne, he had had quite a creditable naval career before turning to more unsavoury pursuits. Payne had quite a reputation as a gallant officer, I believe, before becoming procurer of mistresses to the Prince of Wales, then negotiating the redundancy packages when their services were no longer required.

This Thicknesse was not a naval man, although his son, John Thicknesse was.

Philip THICKNESSE b.1719 d.1792 has a long entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

From this - born at Farthingoe, Northamptonshire, seventh son of the local rector. Three of his brothers attained some success, as clergymen or schoolmasters.
After being ‘removed’ from Westminster school for constant truancy, at age 14 apprenticed to an apothecary but after two years ran away to join a group of emigrants to America. After two years in Georgia returned to England but could not find constant employment and obtained an army commission in an Independent Company for service in Jamaica. There he was engaged in pursuing runaway slaves. Returned to England in 1740; obtained a commission in a Marine regiment, but quarrelled with his fellow officers and fought a duel. In 1742 eloped with Maria Lanove - a wealthy heiress - after her abducted her from a street in Southampton. Appointed to the 70 gun ‘Ipswich’ for the Mediterranean. Returned to England after a year where he took up residence in Bath, with Maria, taking full advantage of the social whirl of life. In 1749 Maria and his children (now three of them) contracted diphtheria, she and two children died, leaving only a daughter, Anna, to survive. When Maria’s parents died some time later (his mother in law committing suicide), he spent much time in trying to claim their fourtune.
He was still living in Bath, with a friend, Captain Rigg, at Queen Square. Less than a year after Maria died, he remarried , to Lady Elizabeth Touchet, heir of Lord Audley, earl of Castle haven - she brought him a handsome dowry, and with it he purchased the governership of Landguard Fort in Suffolk. On taking up residence he promptly fell out with most of the local dignitaries and engaged in a pamphlet campaign against Lord Orwell. This led to him standing trial in 1763 for libel. Found guilty he spent three months in prison, and paid a large fine. Elizabeth had died in 1762, but Thicknesse promptly married again - this time to Ann Ford, who had been a close friend of Elizabeth and had previously had a scandalous affair with the aged Earl of Jersey. This pair evidently got on well and the marriage lasted 30 years and produced several more children. In 1766 he took his family on a continental tour, during which his daughter Charlotte contracted smallpox - she survived, but he abandoned her in a convent “her looks ruined”. On return he briefly lived at Monmouth before returning to Bath, purchasing a house in The Crescent, which he later sold at a profit to move to Bathampton. After wasting most of his money, again took his family to France (where two more of his daughters, aged 10 and 13, were placed in convents). His published account of the trip was a commercial success and brought him some income. Writing then became his career, and he published a series of works, including guides to Bath (“The New Prose Bath Guide, containing a wealth of practical information on household management and leisure pursuits at Bath”). Some of his hints for long life including “drinking to excess” and “frequent inhalation of the breath of young women”. More travel works, and his Memoirs followed. He was also happily quarrelling with others, including his sons. He inserted a clause in his will which read “ ‘I leave my right hand, to be cut off after death, to my son, Lord Audley, and desire it may be sent him in hopes that such a sight may remind him of his duty to God, after having so long abandoned the duty he owed his Father who once affectionately loved him’ (Gosse, 271).
788). He continued also to travel abroad, and he died at Boulogne in November 1792. His widow was arrested and spent 18 months in prison. She lived until 1824.

Well - he's what my granny would have called a thoroughly bad hat, and possibly also a cad and a bounder. AND he had an envy-inducing house in The Crescent in Bath. There is no justice in this world.

I was idly browsing in a small bookshop in mid-Wales recently when I came across a catalogue of the paintings of William Hoare of Bath. To my amazement, one of his subjects was none other than Captain Philip Thicknesse. Copyright prevents my posting it here. However, a further search revealed the link below to the National Portrait Gallery which has several images of him. Thicknesse is described, euphemistically, as 'an eccentric'.

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/searc ... 0&role=sit

Thicknesse gave Hoare high praise for his portrait. He also painted Thicknesse's second wife, Anne, a most formidable-looking battleaxe, more than a match for Captain Philip, I verily believe.