Errington, Henry

(?1738 - 1819) of Sandhoe, Northumb., 2nd surv. s. of John Errington of Beaufront; m. 1769 Maria Hill, wid. of Sir Brian Broughton-Delves, 5th Bt.; his niece was Maria Fitzherbert, whose marriage to the P. of Wales he witnessed in 1785.

1765 - 6 Rome (Dec. 1765 - 10 Jan. 1766), Naples (12 Jan. - Mar.), Rome (15 Mar. - )

1774 - 5 Florence (by 26 Nov. 1774), Rome (by 21 Dec. 1774), Venice, Milan (by 12 May 1775)

Errington, a Catholic, had spent at least a year on the Continent before meeting Laurence Sterne in Rome in December 1765. Sterne had known him 'these three years' and thought him 'a good hearted young gentleman'.1 They travelled together to Naples and back to Rome in March 1766, when Sterne left him. They met again in York in August that year.2

In 1774 Errington returned to Italy with his wife, Lady Broughton-Delves. They were in Florence by 26 November.3 Father Thorpe and James Byres saw them in Rome in December 1774,4 and Errington wrote from Milan on 12 May 1775 to John Strange, the British resident at Venice, thanking him for his hospitality in Venice.5

1. Sterne Letters, 269. 2. Ibid., 270n6. 3. Gazz.Tosc. (26 Nov. 1774). 4. Thorpe letters MSS (21 Dec. 1774*). Byres letters MSS c (31 Dec. 1774). 5. Eg.1969, f.24.