Hester Thrale
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Hester Lynch Thrale (born Hester Lynch Salusbury and after her second marriage, Hester Lynch Piozzi ) (16 January 1741 (she mistakenly celebrated her own birthday on 27 January) - May 2, 1821) was a British diarist, author, and a friend and confidante of Samuel Johnson.
Her diaries and correspondence are an important source of information about Samuel Johnson.
She was born Hester Lynch Salusbury at Bodvel Hall, Caernarvonshire, Wales. As a member of the powerful Salusbury Family, Hester belonged to one of the most illustrious Welsh land-owning dynasties of the Georgian era.
She married the rich brewer Henry Thrale on 11 October 1763, at St. Anne's Chapel, Soho, London. They had 12 children.
This was her entry to London society, as a result of which she met Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, Bishop Thomas Percy, Oliver Goldsmith and other literary figures, including the young Fanny Burney. Johnson visited Wales in Mrs Thrale's company on several occasions. In 1775 he wrote verse in celebration of her 35th birthday (http://www.thrale.com/history/english/hester_and_henry/johnsons_35_poem.php), and the same year wrote Latin verse in her honour (http://www.thrale.com/history/english/hester_and_henry/johnsons_latin_ode_to_thrale.php).
Following Thrale's death in 1780, Hester married Gabriel Mario Piozzi, an Italian music teacher. This caused a rift with Samuel Johnson which was only mended shortly before his death. With her second husband, she retired to Brynbella, a specially-built country house on her Bach y graig estate, in the Vale of Clwyd, south of - and close to - Tremeirchion village in north Wales.
In 1786, she published Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson, and in 1788 she published her letters with Johnson. These two sources, together with her unpublished diaries, are often referred to as Thraliana by scholars, and they serve as a notable correction to the picture of Johnson presented by Boswell. Further, since Johnson all but lived in the Thrale household, Mrs. Thrale provides exact details of when and how Johnson composed some of his great works.
She died in at Royal York Crescent, Clifton, Bristol. She was buried on 16 May 1821 near Brynbella in the churchyard of Corpus Christi Church, Tremeirchion. A plaque inside the church is inscribed "Dr. Johnson's Mrs. Thrale. Witty, Vivacious and Charming, in an age of Genius She held ever a foremost Place".
From the time of her death to nearly the present, she was referred to by scholars as Johnson had referred to her: as "Mrs. Thrale" or "Hester Thrale." However, she is now most commonly referred to as either "Hester Lynch Piozzi" or "Mrs. Piozzi."
Works
- Thraliana (http://www.thrale.com/history/books/book_6.php)
- Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson (http://www.thrale.com/history/english/hester_and_henry/hesters_writings/johnson_anecdotes.php)
- The Three Warnings (http://www.thrale.com/history/english/hester_and_henry/hesters_writings/three_warnings.php)
- Retrospection (http://www.thrale.com/history/english/hester_and_henry/hesters_writings/retrospection_01.php)
- Other Hester Thrale etexts (http://www.thrale.com/history/english/hester_and_henry/hesters_writings/index.php)
External links
- Grand Ball in celebration of her 80th birthday (http://www.thrale.com/history/english/hester_and_henry/80th.php)
- Obituaries (http://www.thrale.com/history/wills/hester_thrale_obituaries.php)
- Her grave (http://www.thrale.com/history/graves/graves_3.php)
- Gabriel Piozzi (http://www.thrale.com/history/english/hester_and_henry/gabriel_piozzi.php)