Henry Fielding – Tom Jones

FIELDING – A BIOGRAPHY

A Family History and Early Life

Henry Fielding was born on 22 April 1707. His mother, Sarah, was the only daughter of Sir Henry Gould, who was a King’s Bench Justice from January 1699 until his death in March 1710.¹⁰ His, father Edmund, an army officer, came from a distinguished family,¹¹ but one marked by a “yeast of intemperance”¹² going back several generations.¹³ Sarah married without consent and in Lady Gould’s words, “contrary to their good likeing”. ¹⁴ Sir Henry and Sarah reconciled, and in a will made 10 weeks before his death he left her £3000 on terms that caused considerable conflict between Edmund and the Goulds after Sarah’s death.¹⁵

Shortly before his death, Sir Henry purchased a farm at East Stour with the intention of settling it on Sarah, but the conveyance was not completed. Sarah’s

£3000 legacy was insufficient to cover the purchase price, forcing Edmund to find
£1750 to pay for his share of the farm.¹⁶ While this added to his precarious financial position, Edmund did not let it cramp his extravagant lifestyle.¹⁷


After Sarah’s death in 1718, Lady Gould accused Edmund of misappropriating the income from Sarah’s estate, required to be held on trust for her children. ¹⁸ Edmund’s remarriage in 1719 saw Lady Gould commence Chancery proceedings on behalf of Fielding and his siblings seeking an account of profits from the estate and custody of the children.¹⁹ The Lord Chancellor’s judgment of 28 May 1722 was a victory on all points for Lady Gould.^20
10 Sir John Sainty The Judges of England 1272–1990 (Selden Society, London, 1993) 35.
¹¹ His great-grandfather, Sir William Fielding, became Earl of Denbigh, and one of his sons became Earl of Desmond. See G M Godden Henry Fielding – A Memoir (Sampson Low, Marston & Co Ltd, London, 1910) 5.
¹² For example, Samuel Pepys (Diaries, 1667) records that two of Edmund’s uncles became involved in a drunken street brawl after falling out. One brother was killed and the other was sent to Newgate prison. See Godden, above n 11, 4.
¹³ Rogers, above n 1, 13. The intemperance had skipped Edmund’s father, John (a Royal chaplain, Canon of Salisbury, and Archdeacon of Dorsetshire) but it resurfaced with a vengeance in Edmund. ¹⁴ Godden, above n 11, 3. The quote comes from the 1720 Chancery proceedings, Fielding v Fielding, commenced by Lady Gould on behalf of Fielding and his siblings after Edmund’s remarriage to a Catholic widow, Anne Rapha, in 1719.
¹⁵ Battestin, above n 7, 12. The legacy was expressly for Sarah’s “sole and separate use … It being my will that her husband shall have nothing to do with it.”
¹⁶ Godden, above n 11, 7.
¹⁷ Rogers, above n 1, 6. See also Battestin, above n 7, 13.
¹⁸ Battestin, above n 7, 19. The children included Henry, one brother, and four sisters.
¹⁹ Godden, above n 11,) 11.
²⁰ Ibid, 16–17. It appears Edmund’s new wife’s religion was an influencing factor. The judgment records the children “shall reside with ye Lady Gould their Grandmother that they may not be under the influence of ye Defendant Fielding’s Wife [Anne Rapha], who appeared to be a papist.”
Fielding studied classics at Eton between 1719 and 1724–25. It was here that Fielding forged his life-long friendship with George Lyttelton, ²¹ later his patron and to whom Tom Jones is dedicated.²² Fielding was a zealous scholar, but one whose “vigorous energies” resulted in frequent acquaintances with the “birchen alter”.²³ Shortly after leaving Eton, Fielding then aged 18 and still a Ward of Chancery, was involved in a failed attempt to elope with a 15 year-old heiress and distant cousin, Sarah Andrew. ²⁴ Little is known of Fielding’s activities between 1726 and 1727,²⁵ but by 1728 he was writing for a living.