A literary and social circle of individuals around the wealthy brewer Henry Thrale and his wife Hester. Henry had many bachelor friends who would visit the Thrales. Hester had no liking for the majority but did like Arthur Murphy. In 1765 Murphy brought Dr Samuel Johnson to dine with the Thrales in the Southwark residence.
Samuel Johnson was the most important to visit the Thales at their Streatham residence, Streatham Park where he had an apartment. Many who would become part of the Streatham “coterie” were members of Johnson’s Literary Club which formed the collective group known as the Streatham Worthies.
Joshua Reynolds was employed by Henry Thrale to paint portraits of the family which were hung in the library at Streatham Park.
Reynolds painted these portraits over the course of about ten years. As well as the twelve bust-length male portraits, Reynolds also painted a double portrait of Thrale’s wife Hester, and their daughter Hester Maria, nicknamed ‘Queeney’. The usage the ‘Streatham Worthies’ was first coined by the novelist Fanny Burney to describe the portraits. It is generally believed to be a playful reference to the celebrated ‘Temple of British Worthies’ at Stowe House. The portraits were hung above the bookshelves in the library at Streatham Park.
Oliver Goldsmith - Irish novelist and playwright
Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti - literary critic and translator
Edmund Burke - philosopher
Sir Joshua Reynolds - painter and President of the Royal Academy
Samuel Johnson - author and lexicographer
Charles Burney - composer and music historian
David Garrick - actor
Arthur Murphy - writer and barrister
Edwin Sandys - politician
William Henry Lyttelton - British politician and colonial administrator
Sir Robert Chambers - jurist and judge
Henry Thrale - MP and brewer
Hester Thrale and her daughter Queeney are also normally regarded as part of the set. More
