Letitia Pilkington

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

Pilkington, Letitia, daughter of Dr. Van Lewen, a Dublin physician, was born in 1712, and was early married to the Rev. Matthew Pilkington, prebendary of Lichfield. Her literary acquirements made her intimate with Dean Swift, of whom at one time she was a great favourite. He procured an English chaplaincy for her husband. Ultimately the Dean appears to have had reason to regret his acquaintance, and in a letter to Alderman Barber, dated 9th March 1737-'8, he uses language too strong to be quoted, concerning her and her husband. Mrs. Pilkington and her husband were divorced; in London she was befriended by Cibber; gradually descending in the social scale, she died in poverty, 29th August 1750, aged 38. Her Memoirs were published in Dublin in 1748. Her husband, Rev. Matthew Pilkington (who must not be confounded with the following), was the author of a volume of Miscellanies, a Rational Concordance (Nottingham, 1749), and other works.

Sources

16. Authors, Dictionary of British and American: S. Austin Allibone. 3 vols. Philadelphia, 1859-'71.

37. Biographical Dictionary: Alexander Chalmers. 32 vols. London, 1812-'17.

321. Swift, Jonathan, Works, with Notes, and Life: Sir Walter Scott. 19 vols. Edinburgh, 1824.

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