William Beckford (novelist)

William Beckford
Portrait of William Beckford by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1782
Born(1760-09-29)29 September 1760
Soho Square, London
Died2 May 1844(1844-05-02) (aged 83)
Bath, Somerset
OccupationsWriter, politician
Notable work
  • Vathek (c. 1781);
  • Memoirs of Extraordinary Painters (1780);
  • Letters from Italy with Sketches of Spain and Portugal (1835)
FatherWilliam Beckford
RelativesHon. George Hamilton (maternal grandfather)

William Thomas Beckford (29 September 1760 – 2 May 1844) was a British writer and politician. He was reputed at one stage to be England's richest commoner. He was the son of William Beckford and Maria Hamilton, daughter of the Hon. George Hamilton, and he served as a member of parliament for Wells in 1784–1790 and Hindon in 1790–1795 and 1806–1820. Beckford is best known for writing the 1786 Gothic novel Vathek, for building Fonthill Abbey in Wiltshire and Beckford's Tower in Bath, and for his extensive art collection.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.