BECK'FORD, WILLIAM (1759-1844 ). An English author. Born September 29: 1759, he was the son of William Beekford, alderman and twice Lord Mayor of London. When he was about 11 years old, his father died, and he inher ited the larger part of a very large fortune, con sisting of estates in Jamaica and of Fonthill Abbey in Wiltshire. His annual revenue is said to have exceeded £100,000. Young Beckford evinced unusual intellectual precocity; for be fore he was 17 years old lie composed a satirical essay, entitled Biographical Memoirs of Extraor dinary Painters, a sort of parody on the usual biographies of eminent artists. In 1777 lie went with a tutor to Geneva, where he remained about eighteen months; and in the years succeeding he made tours through Flanders, Germany, Italy, Portugal. and Spain. In 1783 he married Lady Margaret Gordon, daughter of the fourth Earl of Aboyne, and left at once for Switzerland, where they remained till the death of Lady Margaret in 17SG. Be had already written l'athek: Ana Arabian Tole. Of its composition, which may be assigned to 1781 or 17S2, be says: It took me three days and two nights of hard labor. I never took off my clothes the whole time." This fa mous romance, xvritten in French and published at Lausanne and Paris in 1787, was translated from the French MS. by Samuel Henley, and pub lished, without Beckford's consent, in London, in 1786. In 1790 Beekford sat in Parliament for Ilindon; in 1794 he accepted the Chiltern Hun dreds, and again left England. lie went to hoa], purchased an estate near Chihli, and occu pied for a time that 'paradise' which Byron commemorated in Childe Harold. Tormented by
unrest, he returned to England and settled, in 1796. at Fonthill, where he sought to realize the magnificence of his Oriental dreams. lie erected a new building at Fonthill, the most prominent fea ture of which was a tower about 300 feet high. Beckford resided there till 1822, when he was com pelled to dispose of the estate and house, with all its curiosities. It was bought by Colonel Far quhar for £330,000. Soon after, the great tower, which had been raised on an insecure foundation, fell to the ground. On the sale of Fonthill, Beck ford removed to Bath, and immediately proceed ed to erect another lofty building, the plan of which also included a tower, but this time not more than 100 feet high. While residing there, he did not mingle in Bath society, and the most improbable stories concerning the rich and mo rose genius in their neighborhood were circulated among the citizens, and were believed by them. all his life, Beckford was a hard-working student, and was devoured by a passion for books. Some of his purchases were perfectly im perial in their way. Ile bought Gibbon's library at Lausanne, to amuse himself when he happened to he in that neighborhood. He went there; read in the fierce way that he wrote, three days and two nights at a sitting; grew weary of his pur chase, and handed it over to his physician, Dr. Scholl. Besides Fathck and his youthful essay, Beckford published two sentimental novels and sketches of his travels. Consult: Redding, Mem oir (London, 1859) ; and Garnett, T'athek, with critical essay (London, 1893).