Burgess , William Hugh , fl 1788-1791 , diarist

The writer of these diaries was a boy living with his parents and brothers in St Marylebone c 1790. Their address is never stated but that it was in St Marylebone is shown by internal evidence-local walks, the christening of Mrs Combes's child, (checked in the baptism register of St Marylebone), the Combes family being close friends of the Burgesses, and Dr Combes frequently preaching at the church. From the boy's father dining at the Foundling Hospital on 11 May 1791, it has been possible to check that he was Hugh Burgess, elected a Governor in 1787. In Holden's Directory of 1799, Hugh Burgess, Esq., was living at 9 Salisbury Place, St Marylebone; his name does not appear in the Court Guide 1792 though a-Burges, Esq., was at 4 Weymouth Street.

Among the writer's brothers was 'Bry', who may perhaps be the Rev. Bryant Burgess, curate at St Marylebone c 1810, who married there on 26 January 1810. 'Ned' may be Edward Burgess, married there by the Rev. Bryant, 10 February 1810: the brides of both men had the surname Rutton and were from Selling, Kent. The Writer's father seems to have been 'in the City', and a patron of philanthropic institutions such as the Foundling, Middlesex and Small Pox Hospitals. The brothers were normally at school, but not the writer: in the later period he appears to have started a job in the City, and so does his brother Jack. At home the boys kept pets, including a dog, a robin and a squirrel, and spent their free time going for walks, visiting friends or the theatre, or reading to a neighbour, and playing card games for small stakes. Their holidays were spent in the country, near Watford in Hertfordshire.