TONSON, Richard (d.1772), of Water Oakley, nr. Windsor, Berks.

The great-nephew of Jacob Tonson, Dryden’s publisher and secretary of the Kit-Cat Club, Tonson was the last of a family of wealthy booksellers. He himself was merely a sleeping partner in the business, living the life of a country gentleman at his Berkshire seat, which had come to him from his father and to which he added a gallery for Kit-Cat portraits inherited from his elder brother.Nichols, Lit. Anecs. i. 292-9. Brought in for Wallingford by Chauncy Townsend in 1747, he was classed as a government supporter. His recorded political activities are nil. He did not stand again till 1768, dying 9 Oct. 1772.