Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 56.djvu/137

 ''Miss F .. d to a Person of Distinction, 1761). Her father's objections to her singing in public were so strong that, by a magistrate's warrant, he secured her capture at the house of a lady friend. Not until she had escaped the paternal roof a second time was she enabled to make arrangements for the first of her five subscription concerts, on 18 March 1760, at the little theatre in the Haymarket. Aristocratic patronage furnished 1,500l''. in subscriptions; but Miss Ford's troubles were not yet over, for at her father's instance the streets round the theatre were occupied by Bow Street runners, only dispersed by Lord Tankerville's threats to send for a detachment of the guards. Such sensational incidents added to the success of the concerts. These generally included Handelian and Italian arias, sung by Miss Ford, and soli for her on the viol da gamba and guitar. The violinist Pinto and other instrumentalists contributed pieces. In 1761 Miss Ford was announced to sing ‘English airs, accompanying herself on the musical glasses,’ performing daily from 24 to 30 Oct. in the large room, late Cocks's auction-room, Spring Gardens. At the close of the year Miss Ford published ‘Instructions for Playing on the Musical Glasses’ [see ]. These glasses contained water, and it was not until the following year that the armonica was introduced by Marianne Davies [q. v.] With regard to Miss Ford's viol da gamba it may be surmised that she used a favourite instrument ‘made in 1612, of exquisite workmanship and mellifluous tone’ (, Gainsborough, p. 19).

In November she left town with Philip Thicknesse [q. v.], the lieutenant-governor, and Lady Elizabeth Thicknesse for Landguard Fort, where her friend gave birth to a son, dying a few months afterwards, on 28 March 1762. The care of the young family devolved upon Miss Ford, and Thicknesse after a short interval made her his (third) wife on 27 Sept. 1762. She proved a kind stepmother and a sympathetic wife. Their summer residence, Felixstowe Cottage, was the subject of enthusiastic description in the pages of ‘The School for Fashion,’ 1800 (see Public Characters, 1806). A sketch of the cottage by Gainsborough was published in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ (1816, ii. 105). Mrs. Thicknesse wrote, while living temporarily at Bath, her anecdotal ‘Sketches of the Lives and Writings of the Ladies of France’ (3 vols. 1778–81). A contemplated visit to Italy in 1792 was frustrated by the sudden death of Philip Thicknesse after they had left Boulogne. The widow, remaining in France, was arrested and confined in a convent. After the execution of Robespierre in July 1794, a decree was promulgated for the liberation of any prisoners who should be able to earn their livelihood. Mrs. Thicknesse produced proofs of her accomplishments and was set free. In 1800 she published her novel, ‘The School for Fashion,’ in which many well-known characters appeared under fictitious names, herself as Euterpe. For fifteen or eighteen years before her death, Mrs. Thicknesse lived with a friend in the Edgware Road. She died at the age of eighty-six on 20 Jan. 1824 (Annual Register). Her daughter married; her son John died in 1846 (, Naval Biography).

Mrs. Thicknesse's linguistic and other talents were considerable, but she shone with most genuine light in music. Rauzzini admired her singing, and many thought her equal to Mrs. Billington in compass and sweetness of voice. Her portraits, by Hone and Gainsborough, have not been engraved.

[Grove's Dict. of Music, i. 540; Letter from Miss F .. d; Letter to Miss F .. d; Dialogue, 1761; Horace Walpole's Correspondence, iii. 378; Kilvert's Ralph Allen, p. 20; Public Advertiser, March–April 1760, October 1761; Thicknesse's Gainsborough, p. 19, and other Works, passim; Monkland's Literati of Bath; Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, ix. 251; Public Characters, 1806; Harwich Guide, 1808, p. 82; Gent. Mag. 1761 pp. 33, 79, 106, 1792 p. 1154; Registers of Wills, P. C. C. Erskine 118, Bogg 160.] 

THICKNESSE, GEORGE (1714–1790), schoolmaster, third son of John Thicknesse, rector of Farthinghoe in Northamptonshire, was born in 1714. His mother, Joyce Blencowe, was niece of Sir John Blencowe [q. v.] Philip Thicknesse [q. v.], lieutenant-governor of Landguard Fort, was a younger brother. George Thicknesse entered Winchester College in 1726. In 1737 he was appointed chaplain (third master) of St. Paul's school, in 1745 surmaster, and in 1748 high master. The school, which had been declining in his predecessor's time, flourished under his rule. Philip Francis, the reputed author of ‘Junius,’ was one of his scholars. In 1759 he suffered for a time from mental derangement (Gent. Mag. 1814, ii. 629), but did not retire from his office till 1769, when the governors of St. Paul's awarded him a pension of 100l. a year, and requested him to name his successor.

Thicknesse, on his retirement, resided with an old schoolfellow, William Holbech, at Arlescote, near Warmington, Northamptonshire, till the death of the latter in 1771. He himself died, unmarried,