Philip Thicknesse

Captain Philip Thicknesse (1719 – 23 November 1792) was a British author, eccentric and friend of the artist Thomas Gainsborough.

Philip Thicknesse was born in Staffordshire, England and lived in Farthinghoe, Northamptonshire. He also lived in Bath. Thicknesse obtained a commission as a Captain of an independent company in Jamaica after 1737, but transferred to a marine regiment as a Captain-Lieutenant in 1740. He was Lieutenant-Governor of Landguard Fort, Suffolk (1753–1766).

He was a friend of the society artist Thomas Gainsborough and also his less well-known brother, the inventor Humphrey Gainsborough. He was an author and wrote for The Gentleman's Magazine. He also published The Speaking Figure and the Automaton Chess Player, Exposed and Detected, a not entirely accurate exposé of the chess playing machine The Turk.

Thicknesse married Lady Elizabeth Tuchet, daughter of James Tuchet, 6th Earl of Castlehaven and Hon. Elizabeth Arundell, on 10 May 1749. His second wife was Ann Touchet, daughter of Baron Audley. His third wife was Anne Ford, daughter of Thomas Ford, who he married on 27 September 1762.

He died near Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais, France, and was buried in this town.

Books

• A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain, Volume I.
• A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain, Volume II.

External links

• Works by Philip Thicknesse at Project Gutenberg
• Biography
• Pictures in the National Portrait Gallery, London
• Manybooks.net entry
• ODNB article by Katherine Turner, ‘Thicknesse, Philip (1719–1792)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [1], (accessed 12 Jan 2008).