- Topham Beauclerk
Topham Beauclerk (pronounced 'Bo-Clare') (
22 December 1739 -11 March 1780 ) was the only son ofLord Sidney Beauclerk and friend of Dr. Johnson.Beauclerk was christened on
19 January 1740 in St James',Westminster and attendedTrinity College, Oxford .On
12 March 1768 , he married Diana, the daughter ofCharles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough and they had four children together:
* Anne Beauclerk (born c. 1764)
* Elisabeth Beauclerk (20 August 1766 -25 March 1793 )
* Mary Day Beauclerk, twin of Elisabeth (20 August 1766 -23 July 1851 )
* Charles George Beauclerk (20 January 1774 -25 December 1846 )Topham Beauclerk entertained Dr. Johnson at his home in
Old Windsor for a number of weeks. He appears several times in Boswell's "Life of Johnson". AsBennet Langton records: 'His affection for Topham Beauclerk was so great, that when Beauclerk was labouring under that severe illness which at last occasioned his death, Johnson said, (with a voice faultering with emotion,) "Sir, I would walk to the extent of the diameter of the earth to save Beauclerk"' (Boswell 1072).Beauclerk died at his house in Great Russell Street,
Bloomsbury on11 March 1780 . Lady Diana later sold the house to retire in modesty to Richmond. The house at Great Russell Street, which was demolished in 1788, housed a library designed by renowned architectRobert Adam .References
Boswell, James. "Life of Johnson", ed. R. W. Chapman, intro. Pat Rogers. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998.
External links
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp57433 Image(s)]
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