(c.1739 - 94), s. of William Bigge of St Andrew's, Holborn, and Benton, Northumb.; Ch.Ch. Oxf. 1757; suc. fa. 1758; m. 1772.
1764 - 5 Turin (by 20 Mar. 1764), Florence, Rome (Feb. 1765 - 8 Mar.), Naples (Mar.), Rome (by 2 Apr. - Jun.), Parma, Florence (Aug.)
Bigge was in Turin on 20 March 1764 when George Pitt, the British envoy, gave him a letter of introduction to Horace Mann in Florence.1 In February 1765 Bigge was in Rome with a letter of introduction from James Grant of Castle Grant to the Abb? Grant.2 He left for Naples on 8 March,3 and Wilkes, in a letter of 23 April, said he had left Naples for Rome.4 At Easter 1765 Bigge was staying with Godfrey Bagnal Clarke and Jameson near the Piazza di Spagna, and the three stayed together in Italy.5 On 2 April Bigge called on Sir William Farington; they dined together several times and once visited the painter Willison's studio.6 Bigge left Rome in mid-June, travelling to Parma with Clarke and a Mr Jameson, but he returned to Florence in August 1765 on his own.7 On his return to London, Bigge, with Clarke and Jameson, joined Gibbon's Roman Club.8
1. SP 105/315, f.495 (20 Mar. 1764). 2. Holroyd letters mss (7 Feb. 1765). 3. Seafield MSS, GD 248/99/3 (Abb? Grant, 9 Mar. 1765). 4. Wilkes Corr., 2:159. 5. AVR SA, S.Lorenzo in Lucina. 6. Farington jnl.MSS (2, 7, 15 Apr.; 9, 12 May 1765). 7. Yale Boswell MSS (Clarke, 17 Aug. 1765). Seafield MSS, GD 248/49/3/12 (Abb? Grant, 26 Jun. 1765). 8. Gibbon, Misc.Works, 1:200.