Biography
8th Earl of Thanet (Lord Thanet). Second son of Sackville Tufton (1688-1753), 7th Earl, and Mary Saville (1700-1751). Married (1767) to Mary Sackville (1746-1778), daughter of John Phillip Sackville and sister of John Frederick Saville, the 3rd Duke of Dorset. Father of the 9th, 10th and 11th Earls of Thanet. Tufton received his early education at Westminster School. He died in Nice on April 10, 1786.1
In 1753 he inherited his family lands in Kent and Sussex as well as the Clifford estates in Cumberland.2 Hereditary Sheriff of Westmorland. At some time he had a London house at Grosvenor Square.
Life with Boswell
First mentions of Lord Thanet in Boswell's journals are on May 8 and 29, 1763. They met at Lord Eglinton's on both occasions.