(1739 - 80), bibliophile; o. s. of Ld. Sidney Beauclerk of Windsor and gd.-s. of 1st D. of St Albans; Trin. Oxf. 1757; Dilettanti 1765; m. 1768 Ldy. Diana Spencer, dau. of 3rd D. of Marlborough and div. w. of 2nd Vct. Bolingbroke.
1763 - 4 Florence (Nov. - Dec. 1763), Rome (by 10 Dec.), Capua (31 Dec. 1763), Naples (Jan. - Mar. 1764), Capua (28 Mar.),Rome (by 11 May), Venice (May - 31 Jul.)
Topham Beauclerk went to Italy for the sake of his health, and Dr Samuel Johnson asked his friend Giuseppe Baretti at Milan to receive him with particular kindness.1 He travelled out with Lord Ossory (see Upper Ossory) and passed through Paris and Geneva in July and September.2 On 20 November they were dining with Horace Mann in Florence2 and by 10 December they were in Rome,3 where Ossory, at least, stayed at Leoncilli's hotel in the Via Babuino (see above, p.xlv). James Martin saw them in Rome on the 17th and again in Naples on 1 January 1764;2 they had passed through Capua on 31 December 1763 and again on their return from Naples on 28 March 1764.4 On 11 May Ossory was in Rome dining with Lord Palmerston,2 and it may be assumed that Beauclerk was also there. They were next recorded in Venice; Lord Palmerston, who was there from 17 May to 22 June lists them among 'his party',5 and they were both included in the group of gentlemen with the Duke of York painted by Richard Brompton (see Brompton). It was also said that in one night of gambling with the Marquis Prie and the Neapolitan gamester Don Pepy, Beauclerk lost ten thousand sequins and Ossory four thousand (equivalent to ten thousand pounds).6 On 31 July Ossory and Beauclerk were together with the British resident, John Murray,7 but they separated soon after, Ossory alone being in Parma on 12 August with Brompton, while Beauclerk, presumably, returned home. In 1764 he became a member of Brooks's club in London, where he continued to gamble.8 Dr Johnson discovered little change in him on his return, commenting 'how little does travelling supply to the conversation of any man who has travelled? How little to Beauclerk?'9
1. J.B. Hill ed., Boswell's Life of Johnson, 1:371, 381. 2. Martin jnl.MSS. 3. SP 105/315, f.376 (Albani, 10 Dec. 1763). 4. ASN cra 1277. 5. Connell 1957, 51. 6. C. Oman, Garrick, 244. 7. Morgan Jnl., 116. 8. Wal.Corr., 3:27n8. 9. Hill (at n1), 3:352.