Francis Grose
His parents were Swiss immigrant and jeweller Francis Jacob Grose (d. 1769), and his wife, Anne (d. 1773), daughter of Thomas Bennett of Greenford in Middlesex.[1] In 1757, Grose was elected a member of the Society of Antiquaries, and 1759 he resumed his soldiering career, this time in the militia, which meant he could avoid distant postings.[2] With bequests from his parents and from his wife, who died in 1774, added to the salary he drew as a militia captain, Grose at this time was able to live reasonably well despite the demands made on his purse by the need to raise, educate and provide for his children.Essentially, it targeted those who wanted to know about antiquities but had neither time nor means to visit them in person, and contained small panoramas of medieval ruins, together with an informative text on a separate page.Where previously Grose had been able to spend his summers visiting and sketching ancient sites, he was now obliged to attend his regiment in various training camps.[5] Though intended to amuse, they give an unusually vivid picture of the speech of the day which would not normally find inclusion in standard dictionaries, and contained, in all, about 9,000 terms which more scholarly works of the time habitually overlooked.[6] While on an expedition to Ireland to collect antiquarian material, Grose died in Dublin at the house of Horace Hone, of an apoplectic stroke.
Francis Grose (British Army officer)EnglishantiquarydraughtsmanlexicographerSt-Peter-le-PoerGreenfordMiddlesexHoward's (later 19th) regiment of footCobham's (later 10th) regiment of dragoonsCanterburyFrancis GroseLieutenant Governor of New South WalesAustraliaRichmond HeraldheraldrySociety of AntiquariesmilitiaSurrey MilitialieutenantcaptainRoyal AcademyAlloway KirkdictionariesRobert BurnsRobert RiddellFriar's CarseTam o' ShanterWilliam HogarthThe Analysis of BeautyIrelandDublinHorace Honeapoplectic strokeDrumcondraEdward LedwichThomas BridgesMáire de Paorpublic domainCousin, John WilliamA Short Biographical Dictionary of English LiteratureWikisourceJohn Henry GroseDictionary of National Biography'sProject GutenbergInternet ArchiveEncyclopædia Britannica