One of Henry Thrale [3]’s sisters was Lady Mary Lade [4] (1733-1802), who married Baronet Sir John Lade [5], MP for Camelford, on 27 May 1756. It was said1 that Lady Mary Lade bore an illegitimate child for Colonel Sir Philip Jennings Clerke M.P. (died 1788) after the death of her husband. As Sir John the younger was born after the death of his father Sir John Lade, it is possible that Sir John Lade the younger was the illegitimate son of Colonel Sir Philip Jennings Clerke.
They had a son, also called John [7] who inherited his father’s fortune and Baronetcy. Sir John Lade the junior was made ward of Henry Thrale, but when freed of this he took Samuel Johnson’s advice and became a notorious rake [8].
It was of Sir John Lade the junior that Samuel Johnson wrote the following poem in 1780…
To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age 'A short song of congratulation'
Long-expected one and twenty
Lingering year at last is flown
Pomp and pleasure, pride and plenty
Great Sir John, are all your own.Loosened from the minor’s tether,
Free to mortgage or to sell,
Wild as wind, and light as feather,
Bid the slaves of thrift farewell.Call the Bettys, Kates, and Jennys
Every name that laughs at care,
Lavish of your grandsire’s guineas,
Show the spirit of an heir.All that prey on vice and folly
Joy to see their quarry fly,
Here the gamester light and jolly,
There the lender grave and sly.Wealth, Sir John2, was made to wander,
Let it wander as it will;
See the jockey, see the pander,
Bid them come, and take their fill.When the bonny blade carouses,
Pockets full, and spirits high,
What are acres?
What are houses?
Only dirt, or wet or dry.If the guardian or the mother
Tell the woes of wilful waste,
Scorn their counsel and their pother3
You can hang or drown at last.
Lade later married Letitia Derby [10] (or Smith, the sources are unclear) who was at one time mistress to highway man John Rann [11] and later to the Duke of York [12]. They between them got through the immense fortune left by the first Sir John.
Links
[1] http://thrale.com/user/login?destination=comment/reply/235%23comment-form
[2] http://thrale.com/user/register?destination=comment/reply/235%23comment-form
[3] http://thrale.com/henry_thrale_17249_1781
[4] http://thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI85%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[5] http://thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI89%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[6] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/sir_john_lade_for_joshua_reynolds.jpg
[7] http://thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/getperson.php%3FpersonID%3DI604%26amp%3Btree%3Dtree01
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rake_%28character%29
[9] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/Lady_Laetitia_Lade_%28nee%20Smith%29_after_Joshua_Reynolds.jpg
[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_John_Lade#Letitia
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Rann
[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Frederick,_Duke_of_York_and_Albany
[13] http://www.thrale.com/sites/all/libraries/tng/photos/1793-Lady-Laetitia-Lade_by_george_stubbs.jpg
[14] http://thrale.com/thraliana_diary_mrs_hester_lynch_thrale
[15] http://thrale.com/hester_thrale_1741_1821
[16] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Edward_Housman
[17] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Shropshire_Lad
[18] http://thrale.com/category/tags_19
[19] http://thrale.com/category/tags_29