(1745 - 1806), s. of Francis Canning, of Foxcote, War; m. Catherine Giffard (b. 1734).
1793 - 5 [dep. May? 1792] Rome (by 10 Feb. 1793 - 1795), Florence, Venice (by Aug. 1795)
In July 1792 the Cannings, a Catholic family, let their home, Foxcote, while they visited Switzerland and wintered in Rome with their eldest son Francis (1772 - 1831). Canning's letters to his agent Cotterell in Gloucestershire1 described the ravages of the French army in Italy, but he remained radical in his beliefs (16 Feb., 7 Jun. 1793). Lady Knight wrote from Rome that 'both father and son talked so openly in Favour of the Revolution, that I shunned them. They have a conversazione on a Thursday, at which the Hippisleys, Cicciaporcis, and a Fine set meet'; Mrs Canning, 'poor woman, is only a devotee, and leaves the disaffectedness to her husband and son';2 Sir John and Lady Throckmorton also attended these Anglo-Catholic gatherings.3 Prince Augustus took lodgings in the same house as the Cannings when he returned to Rome from England in 1794.4 Sometime after January 1794 the Cannings were joined in Italy by another son John (1775 - 1824) who had been a student at Douai before the Revolution; he arrived in Rome having 'suffered greatly by overfatigue in getting out of France' and he was recovering from an injured foot, his father wrote from Rome (n.d., 1795).
The family were in Venice in August 1795, having arrived from Florence.5 Mrs Canning's weak health determined their homeward route home through Austria and Germany. Francis Canning made a small collection of pictures, 'which tho very inconsiderable has Cost me some money', he wrote from Rome (n.d., 1795).
1. Canning letters MSS (dates in brackets). 2. Knight Letters, 194. 3. Bentham jnl.MSS (30 Sep., 28 Dec. 1793, 2, 9 Jan. and 10 Feb. 1794). Forbes jnl.MSS (21 Apr. 1793). 4. Knight Letters, 194. 5. ASV IS 775 (6 - 8 Aug.).