Taylor published in 1888 (Harrow, 16mo) Wilkes's account of his life abroad in 1764–5, including his relations with his mistress Corradini. The book is entitled ‘John Wilkes, Patriot: an unfinished Autobiography.’
[The principal authorities have already been indicated, others are as follows: Lipscomb's Buckinghamshire, ii. 26, 37, 44; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1667 p. 376, 1667–8 pp. 450, 601, 1668–9 p. 240; Pepys's Diary, 19 Sept. 1666; Autobiography of Alexander Carlyle; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. and Illustr.; Gent. Mag. 1761 p. 44, 1763 pp. 424, 525, 605, 1769 p. 55, 1797 ii. 1077, 1798 i. 77, 1802 i. 285, 1803 ii. 1194, 1805 ii. 1238; Ann. Reg. 1763 pp. 133–47, 1765 p. 174, 1766 p. 182, 1768 pp. 83–111, 121–130, 183, 1771 pp. 59 et seq., 68, 83, 95, 101, 1772 Chron. p. 131, 1773 Chron. p. 98, 1774 pp. 155–7, 1775 p. 101, Chron. pp. 106–7, 137, 255, 1780 p. 196, 1797 Chron. pp. 58, 369; Almon's Polit. Reg. 1767–8, 1770–72; Comm. Journ. xxix. 666, 689, xxxii. 156, 178, 224–8, 334; Lords' Journ. xxx. 417, 425–30, xxxii. 205–43; Parl. Hist. xv. 1354, xvi. 511–95, 875, 954–78, xviii–xxvi.; Cavendish's Debates, i. 46–185, 226–37, 404–33, 516–45; Howell's State Trials, xix. 982–1175, 1382–1418; Almon's Hist. of the late Minority, vol. ii., and Anecdotes, i. 5, ii. 1–30; Chesterfield's Letters, ed. Mahon; D'Eon's Loisirs, vii. 13, 134; Johnson's Letters, ed. Birkbeck Hill; Farmer's Plain Truth, being a genuine Narrative of the Methods made use of to procure a copy of the Essay on Woman (1763); Kidgell's Genuine and Succinct Narrative of a scandalous, obscene, and exceedingly profane Libel, entitled An Essay on Woman (1763); A Complete Collection of the Genuine Papers, Letters, &c., in the case of John Wilkes, Esq. (Paris, 1767); The whole Account of John Wilkes, Esq., from the time of his being chosen M.P. for Aylesbury till his departure into France (1768); A Narrative of the Proceedings against John Wilkes, Esq. (1768); A Collection of all Mr. Wilkes's Addresses to the Gentlemen, Clergy, and Freeholders of Middlesex (1769); English Liberty: being a Collection of interesting Tracts from the years 1762 to 1769, containing the Private Correspondence, Letters, Speeches, and Addresses of John Wilkes; Life and Political Writings of John Wilkes, Esq. (Birmingham, 1769); Walpole's Memoirs of the Reign of George III, ed. Le Marchant, rev. Russell Barker; Walpole's Letters, ed. Cunningham; Walpole's Journal of the Reign of George III, ed. Doran; Cradock's Life of John Wilkes, Esq. (1773); Grenville Papers, ed. Smith; Warburton's Works, Supplement by Kilvert, pp. 223–32; Chatham's Corresp.; Grafton's Autobiography; Burke's Works, ed. 1852, iii. 149, 152; Prior's Life of Burke; Prior's Life of Malone; Stephens's Life of Horne Tooke; Nicholl's Recollections and Reflections; Fitzmaurice's Life of Shelburne; Harris's Life of Lord-chancellor Hardwicke; Winckelmann's Lettres Fam. i. 155, 243, 245, 263; Diderot's Mémoires, ii. 313; Ségur's Royaume de la Rue Saint-Honoré, p. 65; Whitehead's Poems, ed. Thompson, p. xxxiii; Wraxall's Hist. and Posth. Mem. ed. Wheatley; Butler's Reminiscences, 4th ed. i. 73; Georgian Era, i. 312; Brougham's Hist. Sketches, 3rd ser. p. 182; Dilke's Papers of a Critic; Rogers's Hist. Gleanings, 2nd ser. pp. 131 et seq.; Selby Watson's Biographies of Wilkes and Cobbett, and Life of Warburton; Fraser Rae's Wilkes, Sheridan, Fox; Fitzgerald's Life of Wilkes and Life of Boswell; Sharpe's London and the Kingdom, iii. 71 et seq.; London's Roll of Fame, pp. 17 et seq.; Gregory's John Wilkes: a Political Reformer of the Eighteenth Century; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. i. 367, 4th ser. v. 47, 5th ser. viii. 225, xii. 462; Adolphus's Hist. of England; Bisset's Hist. of the Reign of George III; Massey's Hist. of England; Martin's Catalogue of Privately Printed Books; Halkett and Laing's Dict. of Anon. and Pseudon. Lit.; Lowndes's Bibliogr. Manual, ed. Bohn; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
WILKES, RICHARD (1691–1760), antiquary and physician, born at Willenhall in Staffordshire on 16 March 1690–1, was the eldest son of Richard Wilkes (1666–1740) of Willenhall by his wife Lucretia (d. 24 July 1717), youngest daughter of Jonas Asteley of Woodeaton, Staffordshire. He was educated at Trentham and at Sutton in Warwickshire, and entered St. John's College, Cambridge, on 13 March 1709–10, being admitted a scholar in 1710. On 6 April 1711 he commenced attending the lectures of Nicholas Saunderson [q. v.], afterwards Lucasian professor of mathematics, and formed a close friendship with him. He graduated B.A. in January 1713–14 and M.A. in 1717, and was elected a fellow of St. John's on 21 Jan. 1716–17. On 4 July 1718 he was chosen Linacre lecturer at the college. He took deacon's orders, but, finding no preferment, he began to practise physic at Wolverhampton in February 1720, resigned his fellowship in 1723, and became eminent in his profession (cf. Nichols, Illustr. of Literature, iii. 275). In 1725 he received a fortune with his first wife, and settled on his paternal estate, where he died in 1760, and was buried at Bilston on 4 March.
He was twice married: first, on 24 June 1725, to Rachel, daughter of Roland Manlove of Leigh's Hill, Abbot's Bromley, in Staffordshire. She died in May 1786, and in October he married Frances (d. 24 Dec. 1798), daughter of Sir John Wrottesley, bart., and widow of Heigham Bendish of East Ham in Essex. He had no issue, and was succeeded in his estate by his cousin, Thomas Unett.
His portrait, engraved by Granger, is in Shaw's ‘History of Staffordshire.’
