Person    | Male  Born 18/9/1709  Died 13/12/1784

Dr Samuel Johnson

Essayist, biographer, lexicographer and speaker of quotes. Born Lichfield, Staffordshire. Left home and travelled to London with David Garrick. "When a man is tired of London he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." from Boswell's "Life of Johnson". Lived at 17 different addresses, chosen dependent on his finances at the time. Married very happily to Tetty but a widower for a long time. His reported peculiarities have caused some to speculate that he was a sufferer of some obsessive-compulsive disorder and/or Tourette's. In his time was known as "Dictionary Johnson" for his masterpiece, the dictionary of the English language, mainly compiled in the garret at Gough Square. Defining over 42,000 words, It took him and his scribes nearly 9 years to complete. Famously, he defined "lexicographer" as "a harmless drudge". He got the job because, in the words of Adam Smith "he knew more books than any man alive". Established an evening club at the Essex Head in 1783. Died at home at 8 Bolt Court, very close to Gough Square but now demolished. Buried at Westminster Abbey.

House guest of Henry and Hester Thrale for 16 years.

One beneficiary of his will was Francis Barber, a black servant/butler who had been with Johnson from the age of 10 and was present when Johnson died.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Dr Samuel Johnson

Commemorated ati

3 - Johnson’s Court – Dr Johnson’s Dictionary

{A facsimile of a page of Dr Johnson’s Dictionary.} From 1748 to 1759 Dr Joh...

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Anchor / Barclay Perkins Brewery

Johnson was a good friend of the Thrales who owned the Anchor Brewery which o...

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Boswell and Johnson

Greater London Council In this house, occupied by Thomas Davies, bookseller,...

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Dr Samuel Johnson - Johnson's Court

He lived on this site prior to moving to the famous Samuel Johnson's House in...

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Essex Street & Essex Hall

This plaque was first erected at 7 Essex Street in 1962 and then re-erected h...

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This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Dr Samuel Johnson

Creations i

Buck Hill bastion

This is really an information board rather than a plaque and has a number of ...

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Other Subjects

Smith, Elder & Co.

Smith, Elder & Co.

Publishers at 65 Cornhill (the picture) until 1868.  Also at 15 Waterloo Place. Their first big success was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.   They also published: Thackeray, Darwin, Ruskin, Browning...

Group, Commerce, Journalism / Publishing, Literature

1 memorial
Anthony Trollope

Anthony Trollope

Author of over 50 delightful novels. Born at 16 Keppel Street. Worked for the GPO (General Post Office) 1834 - 59 and introduced the free-standing postbox ('pillar box') to the UK, an idea stolen f...

Person, Literature, Seriously Famous

8 memorials
Charles Lamb

Charles Lamb

Born at 2 Crown Office Row, Inner Temple. Studied at Christ's Hospital where he became friends with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. "Elia" is the pseudonym Lamb used for a series of essays he wrote for th...

Person, Literature

7 memorials
Dame Hilary Mary Mantel, D.B.E., F.R.S.L.

Dame Hilary Mary Mantel, D.B.E., F.R.S.L.

Author. She has won the Booker Prize twice with 'Wolf Hall' (a fictional account of the rise to power of Thomas Cromwell) and 'Bring up the Bodies'. Hilary Mary Thompson was born on 6 July 1952 in...

Person, History, Literature

1 memorial