| Name |
Sophia Thrale |
| Physical Description |
1771 |
Dr. Samuel Johnson said of Hester's pregnancy with Sophia …This naughty baby stays so long that I am afraid it will be a giant, like King Richard. |
| Birth |
23 Jul 1771 |
Streatham Park, Streatham, Surrey, England  |
| Gender |
Female |
| Christening |
11 Aug 1771 |
Saint Leonards Church, Streatham, Surrey, England |
| Education |
1775 |
Queens Square, Middlesex, England |
| Attending Mrs Stevensons school and was memorising hymns, multiplication tables and Psalms, at the aged of four. |
| Physical Description |
20 Dec 1776 |
She was a favourite of Dr. Samuel Johnson who described her as:Dear, sweet, pretty, lovely, delicious Miss Sophy. |
| Note |
20 Jan 1779 |
Her mother wrote in Thraliana …My second Daughter Susanna Arabella who will not yet be nine Years old till next May, can at this moment read a French Comedy to divert herself, and these very holy days her Amusement has been to make Sophy & sometimes Hester help her to act the two or three 1 st Scenes of Moliere's Bourgeouis Gentilhomme: add to this that She has a real Taste for English Poetry, and when Mr Johnson repeated some of Dryden's Musick Ode the other day, She said She had got the whole poem & Pope's too upon the same Subject by Heart for her own Amusement.—
Her Knowledge of Arithmetick goes no farther than the four Rules, but She has worked a Map of Europe, and has a Comprehensive Knowledge of Geography that would amaze one. |
| Note |
Jul 1779 |
Aged 9, her mother wrote in Thraliana …Susan & Sophy are fine Girls, and promise to be a Credit & Comfort to their Parents, neither do I yet see any Disposition in the Eldest that need give one pain. |
| Note |
6 Aug 1780 |
Her mother wrote in ThralianaSophy has a Turn for making Verses, bad enough to be sure, yet such a Turn shews Genius in a Girl who was nine Years old only a fortnight ago. |
| Note |
Jan 1781 |
When Susannah was eleven - her mother wrote of her in Thraliana …Susan has a surprising turn for Letter writing; her compositions are relly elegant, & She delights—odd enough—in reading Voiture & Sevigné. They both {Susannah and sister Sophia} have obtained the French Accent very completely, considering they have never been out of England. I should like to treat them to with a run to the Continent. |
| Note |
17 Dec 1781 |
Her mother wrote in Thraliana …My Sophy Thrale has begun to study Musik in good earnest; She will learn to play & sing very well I fancy, Piozzi has great hopes of her. Sophy is an Epitome of all the Cotton family—'tis odd that none of my children should resemble my Father. |
| Education |
Abt 1782 |
Kensington, Middlesex, England |
| Mrs Cumyns' boarding school |
| Residence |
4 Jan 1782 |
Harley Street, Middlesex, England |
After Henry Thrale’s death, Hester Lynch Thrale née Salusbury rented a house in Harley Street between January and March 1782, where she lived with her daughters. The house was too small to accommodate Samuel Johnson. On 4 January 1782, Hester Thrale wrote in Thraliana …I have taken a house in harley street for these three months next ensuing, & hope to have some society–not company tho’; crouds are out of the question, but people will not come hither on short days, & ‘tis too dull to live all alone so. the world will watch me at first, & think i come o’ husband hunting for myself or my fair daughter: but when i have behaved prettily for a while, they will change their mind. |
| Physical Description |
11 Mar 1782 |
Her mother wrote in Thraliana …Handsome enough, though not eminant for beauty. |
| Medical |
19 Nov 1783 |
Bath, Somerset, England |
When Sophia was 12, her mother wrote in Thraliana …Heavens! a new Distress! my Child, my Sophia will dye: arrested by the hand of God—apparently so: She will die without a Disease—Fits, sudden, unaccountable, unprovoked; Apoplectic, lethargic like her Father. Woodward and Dobson are called: they say her Disorder should be termed Allonitus. 'tis an instant Cessation of all Nature's Pow'rs at once. I saved her in the first Attack, bya Dram of fine Old Usquebough given at the proper Moment—it reviv'd her, but She only lives I see to expire with fresh Struggles.
Oh spare my Sophia, my Darling, oh spare her gracious heaven—& take in Exchange the life of her wretched Mother!
She lives, I have been permitted to save her again; I rubbed her while just expiring, so as to keep the heart in Motion: She knew me instantly, & said you warm me but you are killing yourself—I actually was in a burning Fever from exertion, & fainted soon as I had saved my Child.
Hester has behaved inimitably too, all our Tenderness was called out on this Occasion: dear Creatures! they see I love them, that I would willingly die for them; that I am actually dying to gratifie their Humour at the Expence of my own Happiness: they can but have my Life-let them take it!”; |
| Medical |
27 Nov 1783 |
Johnson's letters show that he, and perhaps the physicians, regarded this attack of Sophia's as hysterical. He wrote…I had to-day another trifling letter from the physicians. Do not let them fill your mind with terrours which perhaps they have not in their own; neither suffer yourself to sit forming comparisons between Sophy and her dear father; between; whom there can be no other resemblance, than that of sickness to sickness. Hystericks and apoplexies have no relation. |
| Medical |
Mar 1784 |
Samuel Johnson wrote about his concerns of her recurring illness … Poor Sophy has been very ill again. I am afraid she makes no progress. |
| Physical Description |
1795 |
 |
Sophia Thrale 1771-1824
Painting by Prince Hoare or a self portrait |
| Burial |
1824 |
Saint Leonards Church, Streatham, Surrey, England |
- A mourning tablet in her memory is located inside St Leonards Church, Streatham.
|
| Death |
8 Nov 1824 |
Sandgate, Kent, England |
| Note |
1832 |
Thrale Almshouses (1832-1930), Streatham High Road, Streatham, Surrey, England |
| The four daughters of Henry & Hester Thrale established almshouses for poor single women of Streatham. |
 |
Thrale Almhouses, Streatham High Road, 1832-1930
|
 |
Thrale Almshouses, 27 Polworth Road
About 1985 |
| Notes |
- She was aged:
- 10 when her father died; and
- 13 when her mother remarried.
- Sir Joshua Reynolds portrait of Sophy is now at believed to be at Bowood House.
|
| Person ID |
I95 |
UK Thrale family |
| Last Modified |
13 Jul 2024 |
| Father |
Henry Thrale, M.P., b. Between 1724 and 1730, Harrow Corner, Southwark, Surrey, England d. 4 Apr 1781, Grosvenor Square, Middlesex, England (Age ~ 57 years) |
| Mother |
Hester Lynch Salusbury, b. 16 Jan 1741, Bodvel, Caernarvonshire, Wales d. 2 May 1821, Clifton, Gloucestershire, England (Age 80 years) |
| Note |
1762 |
Offley, Hertfordshire, England |
Henry was invited to Offley Place by Hester’s uncle, Judge Sir Thomas Salusbury and was introduced to Hester Thrale who was aged 20 or 21. Henry was a solid respectable man who was kindly towards Hester and she wrote that Henry was …Nearly the handsomest man in England. However, she did not want to marry him. Hester appealed to her father upon his return. John Salusbury had no intention of marrying his daughter to Henry, as Henry's father and grandfather had lived in the cottage now being used by his brother, Sir Thomas Salusbury as a dog kennel. John Salusbury quarrelled with his brother Sir Thomas and took his wife and daughter to London. Sir Thomas proposed their marriage whilst her father was away in Ireland with George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, President of the Board of Trade. This was agreed by her mother after uncle Sir Thomas promised to make a settlement in her favour of £5,000 if Hester married Henry. |
| Note |
18 Dec 1762 |
Hester's father, John Salusbury died suddenly, leaving:- the North Wales Bach-y-graig estate to his wife, and
- £5,000 to his daughter Hester.
Hester, later speculated that his death might have been hastened by irritation at her proposed marriage to Henry Thrale; and Sir Thomas’s intention to remarry, as this ultimately resulted in Hester being disinherited from Offley Place. |
| Note |
28 Jun 1763 |
Letter of request for a proposal meetingHenry wrote to Hester and her mother asking to call on them.;Mr. Thrale presents His most respectful compliments to Mrs. & Miss Salusbury & wishes to God He could of communicated His Sentiments to them last night, which is absolutely impossible for Him to do to any other person breathing; He therefore most ardently begs to see Them at any Hour this afternoon, & he will at all Events immediately enter upon this very interesting Subject, & when once begun, there is no Danger of His wandering upon any other: in short, see them, He must, for He assures them, with the greatest truth & Sincerity, that They have murder’d Peace & Happiness at Home. Almost two weeks later they were married. |
| Note |
9 Oct 1763 |
DowryHenry Thrale met Hester’s maternal grandfather, Sir Thomas Salusbury and agreed upon Hester’s dowry. It included:
- £10,000 to Hester from Sir Thomas Salusbury;
- £700 a year for Hester from her father’s estate;
- legacies from her mother and aunts worth £3,000;
- £200 a year from Henry’s Crowmarsh Battle estate. The remainder of farm income went to Henry. The farm would in future be administered by two trustees for a period of 99 years
On Henry’s death:- Hester’s income from Crowmarsh Battle farm would double;
- she would get a lump sum of £13,400; and
- provision would be made for trust and inheritances for any children that they may have.
|
| Marriage |
11 Oct 1763 |
Saint Anne's Church, Soho, Middlesex, England [1] |
| Note |
Jul 1774 |
Wales |
| From July to September 1774, Dr. Samuel Johnson and the Thrales toured North Wales. For Hester Thrale, the journey was personally significant, revealing cultural tensions with Johnson and influencing her writing. Johnson kept a diary which has since been published. |
| Note |
14 Sept 1775 |
Paris, Île-de-France, France |
 |
The Thrales tour of France, 14 September to 14 November 1775.
Henry Thrale, MP, was invited to Paris by his friend Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, who was serving as the British ambassador to France. From September to November 1775, a group embarked on a tour of France, visiting Paris, Versailles, and various monasteries and convents. The traveling party consisted of:
- Henry Thrale, the wealthy brewer and Member of Parliament;
- Hester Thrale, Henry's wife and a notable diarist;
- Queeney Thrale, their eldest child;
- Dr. Samuel Johnson, the renowned lexicographer and writer; and
- Giuseppe Baretti, Queeney's Italian tutor and Johnson's friend.
The trip included:
|
| Note |
11 Oct 1776 |
Baronet Sir William Weller Pepys (1740-1825) wrote these verses to mark their 13th wedding anniversary.Give me to bless Domestick Life
With sweet Repose secure from Strife;
(Cries every Pedant in a College)
A Wife not over-stockt with Knowlege;
This—every Fool who loves to quote
What Parrot-like he learn’d by rote;
And every Coxcomb whose Pretence
To Wisdom marks his want of Sense,
And all good Huswives skill’d in Darning
Who rail with much Contempt at Larning:
And all who place their Sovreign Good in
The Composition of a Pudding
Repeat with such Triumphant Air
Such deep Sagacity—you’d swear
That Knowledge among Woman kind
Was deadliest Poyson to the Mind;
A Crime—which venial if conceal’d
Like Theft at Sparta,—if reveal’d,
The Guilty stamps with such disgrace,
No Culprit dares to Show her Face.
But tell me You, who dar’d despise
These vulgar Maxims—who from Eyes
Which well might grace the loveliest Fair,
Turn’d not because bright Sense beam’d there;
But—vent’rous Deed!—in Marriage sought
A Mind with Stores of Knowledge fraught;
Tell me through all these thirteen Years,
Through varying Scenes of hopes and Fears;
Could Ignorance more faithful prove?
Could Folly’s Self more warmly love?
Then long may this Auspicious Morn
At each still happier Year’s Return
Tell—what thy Sweet Experience shews,
That Head and Heart are friend—not Foes. |
| Note |
6 Jul 1777 |
Dr. Samuel Johnson in a letter to Hester Thrale, said …I know no man… who is more master of his wife and family than Thrale. If he but holds up a finger, he is obeyed. |
| Note |
10 Sept 1777 |
Hester wrote in Thraliana… As this is Thraliana—in good Time—I will now write Mr Thrale’s Character in it: it is not because I am in good or ill Humour with him or he with me, for we are not capricious People, but have I believe the same Opinion of each other at all Places and Times. Mr Thrale’s Person is manly, his Countenance agreeable, his Eyes steady and of the deepest Blue: his Look neither soft nor severe, neither sprightly nor gloomy, but thoughtful and Intelligent: his address-is neither caressive nor repulsive, but unaffectedly civil and decorous; and his Manner more completely free from every kind of Trick or Particularity than I ever saw any person’s—he is a Man wholly as I think out of the Power of Mimickry. He loves Money & is diligent to obtain it; but he loves Liberality too, & is willing enough both to give generously & spend fashionably. His Passions either are not strong, or else he keeps them under such Command that they seldom disturb his Tranquillity or his Friends, & it must I think be something more than common which can affect him strongly either with Hope, Fear Anger Love or Joy. His regard for his Father’s Memory is remarkably great, and he has been a most exemplary Brother; though when the house of his favourite Sister was on Fire, & we were alarmed with the Account of it in the Night, I well remember that he never rose, but bidding the Servant who called us, go to her Assistance; quietly turned about & slept to his usual hour. I must give another Trait of his Tranquillity on a different Occasion; he had built great Casks holding 1000 Hogsheads each, & was much pleased with their Profit & Appearance—One Day however he came down to Streatham as usual to dinner & after hearing & talking of a hundred trifles—but I forgot says he to tell you how one of my great Casks is burst & all the Beer run out. Mr Thrale’s Sobriety, & the Decency of his Conversation being wholly free from all Oaths Ribaldry and Profaneness make him a Man exceedingly comfortable to live with, while the easiness of his Temper and slowness to take Offence add greatly to his Value as a domestic Man: Yet I think his Servants do not much love him, and I am not sure that his Children feel much Affection for him: low People almost all indeed agree to abhorr him, as he has none of that officious & cordial Manner which is universally required by them—nor any Skill to dissemble his dislike of their Coarseness—with Regard to his Wife, tho’ little tender of her Person, he is very partial to her Understanding,—but he is obliging to nobody; & confers a Favour less pleasingly than many a Man refuses to confer one. This appears to me to be as just a Character as can be given of the Man with whom I have now lived thirteen Years, and tho’ he is extremely reserved and uncommunicative, yet one must know something of him after so long Acquaintance. Johnson has a very great Degree of Kindness & Esteem for him, & says if he would talk more, his Manner would be very completely that of a perfect Gentleman. |
| Note |
13 Apr 1779 |
Hester Thrale wrote in Thraliana … In 1779, Hester, who had also lost several children, was unhappy in the thought that she had ceased to be appreciated by her husband. She became jealous of his regard for Sophy Streatfeild of Chiddingstone (1754-1835), a rich widow's daughter. |
| Note |
5 Apr 1781 |
Shortly after the death of Henry Thrale, Hester Thrale wrote…Streatham. I have now appointed three Days a Week to attend at the Counting house, & wish I could defecate my Mind of Borough Dirt, when I pass the Laystalls at the Stones End; but it will not be yet, it will not be– > The vile Ideas where I fly pursue: Rise in the Grove, even in the Thicket rise, Stain all my Soul, and grovel in my Eyes.
If an Angel from Heaven had told me 20 Years ago, that the Man I knew by the Name of Dictionary Johnson should one Day become Partner with me in a great Trade, & that we should jointly or separately sign Notes Draughts &c. for 3 or 4 Thousand Pounds of a Morning, how unlikely it would have seemed ever to happen!— unlikely is no Word tho’—it would have seemed incredible: neither of us then being worth a Groat God knows, & both as immeasurably removed from Commerce, as Birth Literature & Inclination could set us. Johnson however; who desires above all other Good the Accumulation of new Ideas, is but too happy with his present Employment; & the Influence I have over him added to his own solid Judgment and Regard for Truth, will at last find it in a small degree difficult to win him from the dirty Delight of seeing his Name in a new Character flaming away at the bottom of Bonds & Leases. |
| Note |
12 Oct 1781 [2] |
Hester Thrale wrote in Thraliana…Yesterday was my Wedding Day; it was a melancholy thing to me to pass it without the Husband of my Youth. |
| Note |
11 Oct 1787 [2] |
On their wedding anniversary, Hester wrote in Thraliana…Why do the people say I never loved my first husband? ’tos a very unjust conjecture. This day on which 24 years ago I was married to him never returns without bringing with it many a tender Remembrance: though ’twas on that Evening when we retired together that I was first alone with Mr. Thrale for five minutes in my whole life. Ours was a match of mere Prudence; and common good Liking, without the smallest Pretensions to passion on either Side: I knew no more of him than any other Gentleman who came to the House, nor did he ever profess other Attachment to me, than such as Esteem of my Character, & Convenience from my Fortune produced. I really had never past five whole Minutes Tête a Tête with him in my life till the Evening of our Wedding Day,—& he himself has said so a Thousand Times. yet God who gave us to each other, knows I did love him dearly; & what honour I can ever do to his Memory shall be done, for he was very generous to me. |
| Residence |
From January 1781 - March 1789 |
Grosvenor Square, Middlesex, England |
| Note |
21 Jul 1813 |
Queeney in a letter to Fanny Burney wrote …Do you know what my opinion is? that my mother hated my father. She loved him certainly, as everybody did, for his good qualities and his generosity; but she did not like him, nor any man in the world, well enough to desire to be alone with him. |
| Family ID |
F46 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Thrale/Thrall history
1771 - 1824 (53 years)
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set
