(1705 - 63) of Noseley, Leics; e. s. of Sir Robert Hesilrige; St John's Camb. 1720; suc. fa. 1721 as 7th Bt.; m. 1725 Hannah Sturges.
1723 - 4 Rome (by 27 Nov. 1723 - 4 Mar. 1724), Naples (Mar.), Rome (by 6 Apr. - 2 Jul.), Florence, Padua (22 Jul.), Venice
Hesilrige's movements in Italy were observed by Stosch. He had arrived in Rome with a Mr Cave and Mr Pen [Daniel Pain] by 27 November 1723; on 4 March 1724 he left for Naples.1 A drawing by P.L. Ghezzi of Hesilrige, dated 6 April 1724 (Christ Church, Oxford), suggests he was then back in Rome. He left on 2 July, Stosch then reporting that his contacts with Jacobites were due to his youth, inexperience and wish to speak his own language.2 Rawlinson said Hesilrige was heading for Florence and Venice,3 and he was in Padua on 22 July with Daniel Pain Magister artium Univ: ox:s.4
It was later said that Hesilrige had 'passed a considerable time in Italy, particularly in Rome, whence he brought home many curious antiques'; there were several pictures at Noseley 'painted at Rome, in 1723, by Francisco Trevisani' (besides an unattributed portrait of Captain Daniel Pain of Welford, Northamptonshire), and a copy of Pietro da Cortona's Planetary Cycle from the Pitti Palace, set in the ceiling of the saloon at Noseley, is said to have been acquired in Italy by Sir Arthur.5
1. SP 85/14, f.27. SP 85/15 (4 Mar. 1724). 2. SP 85/15 (8 Jul. 1724). 3. Rawlinson jnl.MSS (2 Jul. 1724). 4. Brown 1750 - 1. 5. J. Nichols, History of Leics., 2:749. J.M. Robertson, CL, 29 Mar. 1990, 89.