(1753 - 1806), e. s. of 2nd B. Monson; educ. Eton; suc. fa. 1774 as 3rd B.; Dilettanti 1776; m. 1777 Ldy. Elizabeth Capel, dau. of 4th E. of Essex.
1774 - 5 [Geneva, Oct. 1772] Florence (by 5 Mar. 1774), Venice (11 May) [Vienna Aug.] Rome (by Dec. 1774), Naples (by 10 Jan. - Mar. 1775) [Florence, 18 Mar.]
John Monson was travelling with his cousin, Lewis Thomas Watson (the son of Lord Sondes). Dr John Moore saw them in Geneva in 1772 and, while they seemed to him to be 'naturally of a good character', yet they 'literally do nothing - the first from a fit of obstinacy, will not so much as speak French. Their time is spent in the most Insipid and absurd manner Imaginable, sauntering and gaming'.1
They were first noticed in Italy in March 1774 when they attended a dinner given by Horace Mann in Florence2 and they arrived in Venice on 11 May.3 On both occasions J.B. Durade was with them, suggesting he was their tutor (Durade, a French print dealer, had previously accompanied Robert Grimston). On 23 July, on the death of his father in England, Monson succeeded to his Barony. On 2 August he was with Watson in Vienna, dining with Sir Robert Keith.4 By December they were back in Italy at Rome, where Monson sat to Batoni for a full-length portrait dated 1774 (Clark/Bowron 375; priv. coll.). Henry Peirse, Monson's future brother-in-law, was also in Rome,5 and the three went together with Lord George Cavendish to Naples, arriving by 10 January 1775.6 By March Monson and Cavendish, with Lord Tylney, had lost above two thousand pounds at cards, mostly to the King of Naples.7 It is possible that the 'Durell' and 'Manzen' reported in Florence on 18 March 1775 were Monson and J.B. Durade; 'Preis, Crorsbie, Walson, cavalieri Inglese' were in Florence on 3 June 1775.8
1. CP (Geneva, 19 Oct. 1772). 2. Gazz.Tosc., 5 Mar. 1774. 3. ASV is 760. 4. Wal.Corr., 39:538. 5. Byres letters mss C (31 Dec. 1774). 6. SP 93/30 (Hamilton, 10 Jan. 1775). 7. Morrison, 1:37 (no.52). 8. Gazz.Tosc.