Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer, PC, FRS was an English politician and rake, Chancellor of the Exchequer and founder of the Hellfire Club.
Francis Baron le Despencer by Nathaniel Dance Holland
Portrait by William Hogarth from the late 1750s, parodying Renaissance images of Francis of Assisi. The bible has been replaced by a copy of the erotic novel Elegantiae Latini sermonis, and the profile of his friend Lord Sandwich peers from the halo.
West Wycombe Park
Rake (stock character)
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In a historical context, a rake was a man who was habituated to immoral conduct, particularly womanizing. Often, a rake was also prodigal, wasting his fortune on gambling, wine, women, and song, and i
Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer
…Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer, PC, FRS (December 1708 – 11 December 1781) was an English politician and rake, Chancellor of the Exchequer (1762–1763) and founder of the Hellfire Club. Dashwood was born in Great Marlborough Street, London, in December 1708. He…
A Rake's Progress, 3: The Tavern Scene, 1732–1733 painting depicting several rakes in a London tavern
Lord Rochester, the most infamous of the Restoration rakes
Sherlock Holmes knocks out the cad Woodley