Thomas Griffiths Wainwright's mother died in childbirth when he was born in 1794. He lived here in Linden House which he obtained on the death of his uncle, whom he probably poisoned, in 1828. He is also believed to have poisoned his mother-in-law, his half-sister-in-law (who had her life insured for £18,000 which he did not get) and several others, possibly including an Englishman in Boulogne to whom he had sold a £3,000 life policy. He was deported to the Tasmanian penal colony following conviction for forgery in 1837.

He collected Greek gems, Persian carpets, early books and loved cats. He was a fine dandy with rich curly hair, striking eyes and particularly beautiful hands. His paintings were admired by many and he was a prolific writer of articles on miscellaneous subjects and of art criticism. He was a friend of the essayists Charles Lamb and William Hazlitt, the poet Thomas Hood, the artists Fuseli and Sir Thomas Lawrence, and the sculptor Thomas Hood. He has been the subject of writings by Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens.

In the penal colony he painted his fellow prisoners portraits, smoked opium and died in 1852.

O/S Co-ords:2110.7848
Source(s):

Chambers Biographical Dictionary

Chiswick