Francis Barber at Dr Johnson’s House

From 1752 Francis Barber lived in Samuel Johnson’s household at 17 Gough Square — and was made the lexicographer’s principal heir. Francis Barber was born enslaved in Jamaica around 1742 and brought to England as a boy. He entered Samuel Johnson’s household at 17 Gough Square in 1752, the year Johnson’s wife Tetty died. Johnson treated him with extraordinary affection: he paid for his schooling at Bishop’s Stortford Grammar, freed him in his will, and made him principal beneficiary of his estate.

Dr Johnson’s House survives — a rare 17th-century townhouse in the City — and is open to the public. The Barber relationship is a quiet centrepiece of any honest tour.

People

• Francis Barber

Themes

• Literature
• Abolition

Place

• City of London
• Georgian

Hero image

• File: /media/people/francis-barber.jpg
• Credit: Manner of Joshua Reynolds (Tate T01892)
• License: Public domain
• Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AJoshua_Reynolds_(1723-1792)_(manner_of)_-_A_Young_Black_Man_(%5EFrancis_Barber)_-_T01892_-_Tate.jpg

Sources

• Bundock, Michael. The Fortunes of Francis Barber: The True Story of the Jamaican Slave Who Became Samuel Johnson’s Heir. Yale University Press, 2015.
• Dr Johnson’s House — https://www.drjohnsonshouse.org/