William Beckford

William Thomas Beckford (October 1, 1760 – May 2, 1844) was an English novelist, art critic, travel writer and politician. Image File history File links Beckford,_William_(1760-1844)_-_2. ... Image File history File links Beckford,_William_(1760-1844)_-_2. ... October 1 is the 274th day of the year (275th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1760 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... 1844 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

He was born in Fonthill, Wiltshire, in the manor house owned by his father, former Lord Mayor of London William Beckford. From him, William Jr. inherited, at the age of ten, a large fortune consisting of £1 million in cash, land, and several sugar plantations in Jamaica, which allowed him to indulge his interest in art and architecture, not to mention writing. Fonthill is the name of three places: A community in the town of Pelham, Ontario, Canada, see Fonthill,_Ontario A village in Wiltshire, England, see Fonthill_Gifford A house in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, constructed by Henry Mercer, see Henry Chapman Mercer This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages... Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. ... Michael Berry Savory. ... William Beckford (1709 – June 21, 1770) was a well-known political figure in 18th century London, and twice held the office of Lord Mayor of London. ... The Bath, a painting by Mary Cassatt (1891-1892). ... The Parthenon on top of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece Architecture (from Latin, architectura and ultimately from Greek, αρχιτεκτων, a master builder, from αρχι- chief, leader and τεκτων, builder, carpenter) is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. ...

Thirteen years later he married the fourth Earl of Aboyne's daughter, Lady Margaret Gordon on May 5, 1783. However, Beckford was bisexual, and was hounded out of polite English society when (probably unfounded) gossip accused him of seducing the Hon William Courtenay, later 3rd Viscount and 9th Earl of Devon, then ten years old. Beckford chose exile, in the company of his young wife, whom he grew to love deeply, but who died in childbirth at the age of 24. May 5 is the 125th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (126th in leap years). ... 1783 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

Having studied under Sir William Chambers and Alexander Cozens, he travelled in Italy in 1782 and promptly wrote a book on the subject: Dreams, Waking Thoughts and Incidents (1783). Shortly afterwards came his best-known work, the Gothic novel Vathek (1786), written originally in French and, as he was accustomed to boast, at a single sitting of three days and two nights. There is reason, however, to believe that this was a flight of imagination. It is an impressive work, full of fantastic and magnificent conceptions, rising occasionally to sublimity. His other principal writings are Memoirs of Extraordinary Painters (1780), a satirical work, and Letters from Italy with Sketches of Spain and Portugal (1835), full of brilliant descriptions of scenes and manners. In 1793 he visited Portugal, where he lived for a while. B.'s fame, however, rests nearly as much upon his eccentric extravagances as a builder and collector as upon his literary efforts. In carrying out these he managed to dissipate his fortune (estimated by his contemporaries to give him an income £100,000 a year, but which probably never exceeded half that, making him a very rich man rather the Croesus of legend), only £80,000 of his capital remaining at his death. The central courtyard of Chambers Somerset House in London. ... 1782 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1783 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Strawberry Hill, an English villa in the Gothic revival style, built by seminal Gothic writer Horace Walpole The gothic novel was a literary genre that belonged to Romanticism and began in the United Kingdom with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. ... Vathek (alternatively titled Vathek, an Arabian Tale or The History of the Caliph Vathek) is a Gothic novel written by William Thomas Beckford. ... 1786 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1780 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... | Come and take it, slogan of the Texas Revolution 1835 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1793 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

Fonthill Abbey designed for William Beckford by the architect James Wyatt

The opportunity of purchasing the complete library of Edward Gibbon gave Beckford the basis of his own library, and James Wyatt built Fonthill Abbey, in which this and the owner's art collection would be housed; it was completed in 1807. He entered parliament as member for Wells and later for Hindon quitting by accepting the Chiltern Hundreds, but mostly lived in seclusion, spending most of his father's wealth without adding to it, so that the great house he had built became a ruin. In 1822 he sold it to John Farquhar, and moved to Lansdowne Hill, where he commissioned architect Henry Goodridge to design a spectacular folly, Lansdown Tower, which is now open to the public. Image File history File links Fonthill_Abbey. ... Image File history File links Fonthill_Abbey. ... Fonthill Abbey. ... Edward Gibbon (1737–1794). ... Fonthill Abbey. ... Fonthill Abbey Fonthill Abbey — also known as Beckfords Folly — was a large Gothic-style building built in the turn of the 19th century in Wiltshire, England. ... 1807 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the city of Wells in England. ... Hindon is the name of two places: Hindon, Wiltshire is a village in England Hindon, New Zealand is a small town in New Zealand Categories: Disambiguation ... The Chiltern Hundreds date back to the 13th century. ... 1822 (MDCCCXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Henry Edmund Goodridge was a 19th Century architect whose work started in the 1820’s. ... Beckfords Tower, Bath Beckfords Tower is an architectural folly built in neo-classical style and situated on Lansdown Hill, just outside Bath, Somerset, England. ...

He had a seat in parliament from 1784 to 1793, and again from 1806 to 1820. 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1793 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1806 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1820 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

He left two daughters. The elder was married to Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton. Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton, 7th Duke of Branford KG PC FRS FSA (3 October 1767 – 18 August 1852) was a Scottish politician. ...

He spent his elderly years living in Bath on Lansdown Terrace and built a final masterpiece, Lansdown Tower, (now known as Beckford's Tower), where he kept many of his treasures. He had wished to be buried in the grounds of this tower; this wish was granted after his elder daughter managed to get this piece of land consecrated by the church. After his death at the grand age of 84, on May 2, 1844, at his residence, Lansdown Crescent, his body was laid in a sarcophagus placed on an artificial mound, as was the custom of Saxon kings, of whom he claimed to be a descendent. May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ...

Other works

• Biographical Memoirs of Extraordinary Painters (1824)
• Recollections of the Monasteries of Alcobaca and Batalha (1835)
• The Bible (1902)

1824 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... | Come and take it, slogan of the Texas Revolution 1835 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

External links

• Beckfordiana: The William Beckford Website
• His Obituary from the Bath and Cheltenham Gazette, p. 3
• Online edition of Vathek at eBooks@Adelaide
• Works by William Beckford at Project Gutenberg
• Recollections of the late William Beckford, by Henry Venn Lansdown, edited by Charlotte Lansdown, 1893, from Project Gutenberg
• Images of Lansdown Tower (Beckford's Tower) in Bath

Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ...

See also

• List of horror fiction authors

This article incorporates public domain text from: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J.M. Dent & sons; New York, E.P. Dutton. This is a list of some notable authors in the horror fiction genre. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature is a collection of biographies of writers by John W. Cousin, published around 1910. ...