Samuel Johnson
History of 17 Gough Square
Collections
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Samuel Johnson was one of the most influential writers of the eighteenth century. He wrote essays, literary criticism, poetry, biographies, articles and most famously, his Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1755. Although not the first English dictionary, it was the most comprehensive and became the standard work for the next 150 years. Johnson is also known for his witty conversation and larger than life character, and is today the second most quoted Englishman after Shakespeare.
Johnson was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, in 1709, the son of a bookseller. He suffered from ill health and poverty for much of his life and had to leave his studies at Pembroke College, Oxford after 13 months as he was too poor to remain. Johnson married in 1735 and worked as a schoolteacher in the Midlands before coming to London in 1737 to seek literary employment. After gaining the commission for the Dictionary in 1746, he moved to this house in Gough Square. He worked in the Garret with his six amanuenses, compiling quotations and creating definitions until the Dictionary's publication in 1755. A decade later, Johnson completed his critical edition of the works of Shakespeare and between 1779 and 1781 published his eight-volume edition, The Lives of the Poets, combining biography and literary criticism. His talents were recognised during his lifetime: Johnson was awarded a pension in 1762 and three honorary degrees. Johnson's eminent circle of friends included the artist Sir Joshua Reynolds, the actor David Garrick and two future biographers, James Boswell and Hester Thrale. Johnson died in 1784 and is buried in Poets Corner, Westminster Abbey.
The House at 17 Gough Square
The house was built by a City woolmerchant, Richard Gough, at the end of the seventeenth century and Johnson rented it during the middle of the following century. After Johnson left, the house had many other tenants, was once used as a small hotel and was even turned into a printers' workshop. It had fallen into a sad state of disrepair when, in 1911, it was bought and restored by Cecil Harmsworth, a liberal MP, who also built the Curator's Cottage next door. The house has been furnished in a simple manner and has many surviving early features from wooden floorboards and panelling to the open staircase and curious moving panels on the first floor. During World War II, Dr Johnson's House was used as a social club for the Auxiliary Fire Service and, although it suffered some damage from the bombing raids, it survived the war. The house has been open to the public since 1914 and is run by an independent charity, Dr Johnson's House Trust Ltd.
Collections
The collections in the house today have been acquired over the past 100 years, since the house was first restored.
Library 
Dr Johnson's House holds a small but important library of books by and about Johnson and his contemporaries. Our collection includes three books owned by Johnson, several books belonging to the eighteenth-century classicist Elizabeth Carter, including her copy of Epictetus, and two first editions of Johnson's Dictionary .
The house is currently undertaking a project to catalogue the library and manuscript collection - this will be available online in Spring 2012. The library is available to researchers by appointment only. Please contact us via the online form to arrange an appointment.
Manuscripts
Dr Johnson's House has over 40 manuscripts including 15 letters and other documents in Johnson's hand as well as letters from his employer Edward Cave, editor of the Gentleman's magazine, from the musical historian Charles Burney and Johnson's great friend Mrs Thrale. The house also owns the engrossment of Johnson's will, dating to 1784.
The house is currently undertaking a project to catalogue the library and manuscript collection - this will be available online in Spring 2012. The library is available to researchers by appointment only. Please contact us via the online form to arrange an appointment.
Prints and drawings
Our collection includes many eighteenth- and nineteenth- century prints. The majority are eighteenth-century portrait prints of Johnson's contemporaries but the collection also includes watercolours of the interior and exterior of the house and a chalk and pencil drawing of Johnson's great friend, Mrs Piozzi (formerly Mrs Thrale).
Oil paintings
The house has a small collection of paintings, which include portraits of Johnson and his contemporaries as well as scenes from his life. Highlights include a rare surviving portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds' sister, Frances, a portrait of a black man (possibly that of Francis Barber, Johnson's manservant) by James Northcote and a scene showing Johnson meeting the actress Sarah Siddons by William Powell Frith.
Archives 
The House's archives are currently being catalogued.
Other
The house's collection also includes porcelain from the services of Mrs Thrale, James Boswell and Sir Joshua Reynolds; Georgian furniture; Johnson's walking stick, letter case and portrait medallion as well as Johnsoniana and other ephemera.
Collection highlight
Engrossement of Johnson's Will
Paper, ink, December 1784
Dr Johnson's Last Will and Testament was written only days before his death in December 1784. It is particularly remarkable as Johnson leaves almost all his worldly possessions to his servant, Francis Barber, who had been serving him faithfully since joining his household as a ten year old boy. Having learnt the average amount to leave a ‘faithful servant of a nobleman' was £50 per annum, Johnson immediately replied;
“I shall be nobilissimus, for I mean to leave Frank £70".
Unfortunately, Barber was not to benefit from such a generous gesture in the way Johnson had intended as he squandered the money and ended up leaving London to pursue a career in teaching, becoming one of the first black schoolmasters in Britain.
