William Beckford - An Enigma

                                William Beckford 1760-1844     

I first became aware of William Thomas Beckford when I read his Arabian/ Gothic novel  Vathek in the 1960s. Then, as now I had a fascination for the weird and wonderful. Vathek was orignally written by him in French.

 William Beckford,was born on 1 October 1760, the son of William Beckford and Emma Hamilton, and as a young man he was believed to be the richest man in England with a fortune, then, of one million pounds.

His achievements were many, he was a Novelist, a Poet and a Composer, having studied under Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He had an art.collection which included works by Raphael, Bellini, Claude and Caneletto  
He also built Fonthill Abbey and the infamous Lansdown Tower (Beckford's Tower), the tallest structure in England at the time.

The Tower, however was very badly constructed, and had to be rebuilt. He also constructed a pleasure garden,known as Beckfords Ride which he used to walk each day with a dwarf servant and his four dogs.

By the time he died, on 2 May 1844, his fortune had dwindled to £100.000.

Further information about Beckford can be found at   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thomas_Beckford