author
Philip Thicknesse
1719–1792
An eccentric 18th-century soldier and travel writer, he turned a restless life into books full of sharp opinion, vivid observation, and scandalous self-portraiture. He is also remembered for his early support of the young Thomas Gainsborough.
2 Audiobooks
A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain, Volume 1 (1777)
by Philip Thicknesse
A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain, Volume 2 (1777)
by Philip Thicknesse
About the author
Born in 1719, Philip Thicknesse was a British Army officer who also became a prolific writer. His life took him far beyond England, with periods in places including Jamaica, Georgia, the Mediterranean, and later Bath and Landguard Fort, and those experiences fed directly into his travel books and memoirs.
He wrote on travel, manners, and art, and built a reputation as an energetic, argumentative, and highly unconventional figure. Modern summaries of his life often describe him as eccentric, and that seems fair: he was drawn to quarrels, keen on publishing his views, and eager to place himself at the center of his own stories.
Thicknesse is especially notable for his connection to Thomas Gainsborough, whose early career he encouraged. He died in 1792, leaving behind a body of writing that offers a lively, sometimes combative glimpse into the social world and personal drama of the 18th century.