Life of Johnson
Samuel Johnson was born in 1709 in the cathedral city of Lichfield, Staffordshire. His father was a bookseller whose house is now the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum. From his earliest days, Johnson’s life was blighted by ill health and poverty forced him to leave Pembroke College, Oxford without a degree. In 1735 he married Elizabeth Porter, a widow more than twenty years his senior.
In 1737 Johnson moved to London with his friend David Garrick, the actor, and tried to earn a living as a journalist, writing for The Gentleman’s Magazine. Johnson was commissioned by a syndicate of booksellers to write the first comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language in 1746. He rented 17 Gough Square and with the help of his six amanuenses compiled the Dictionary in the garret. It was published in 1755.
After the death of Johnson's beloved wife, the Jamaican servant Francis Barber came to live with him in Gough Square. Many friends were entertained at the house, including Joshua Reynolds, Charles Burney and the Blue Stocking Elizabeth Carter. Johnson often gave shelter to friends in need. The famous "Club" was formed, with friends such as Oliver Goldsmith and Edmund Burke. In 1763, Johnson met a young Scottish lawyer named James Boswell, who later became the best known of Johnson’s biographers.
Johnson’s edition of Shakespeare was published in 1765 and his Lives of the Poets in 1779-81. He died in 1784 and is buried at Westminster Abbey.
History of the House
When the House was purchased by the Liberal Member of Parliament Cecil Harmsworth in 1911 it was derelict and dilapidated. Harmsworth restored the House to its original condition and opened it to the public in 1912. At the same time, a cottage was built as the Curator's residence. The City of London suffered extensive damage during the Second World War and Dr Johnson’s House was nearly destroyed on three occasions during the bombing of 1940-41. The House was saved by the courage of the Auxiliary Fire Service, who were using the House as a rest centre and arts club.
The House is run by the Dr Johnson’s House Trust and the present Lord Harmsworth is the Chairman of the Board of Governors.
Personality of the Month
Lady Diana Beauclerk 
(1734-1808)
‘Lady Di' as known by her friends, was an amateur artist as well as a lady of scandal in the eighteenth century. Born into high circles, she was the daughter of the 2nd Duke of Marlborough and the second cousin to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. She grew up in the lavish houses of Blenheim and Langley, where she developed her artistic talents. Diana Beauclerk was most famous for her public divorce from the 2nd Viscount of Bolingbroke in 1768 for ‘adulterous association' as a result of her affair with Topham Beauclerk, a friend of Johnson's.
Two days after the royally sanctioned divorce, she married her lover and was introduced into Dr Johnson's circle of friends. However, Johnson disapproved of Lady Di, saying to Boswell ‘never accustom your mind to mingle virtue and vice. The Woman's a whore and there's an end on't'. Unfortunately, her second marriage was to prove as unhappy as the first. When her husband became ill Johnson noted how she ‘nurses him with great assiduity'. After Beauclerk's death in 1780 her painting and art flourished and she moved to Twickenham, gaining the patronage of Horace Walpole. She died in 1808 and was buried in the Richmond parish church in a ‘notable grave' which is now lost.
