Richard Bentley was an English writer and designer, a friend of Thomas Gray and Horace Walpole.
Background
The son of Richard Bentley, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, he was admitted to the college at age 10. His father"s influence saw him made fellow of Trinity in 1728. But he never settled to a career, endured financial troubles, and spent time in France and Jersey.
Career
He entered the Middle Temple in 1720. During the 1750s Bentley developed significant friendships, with Horace Walpole and Thomas Gray. In Jersey in 1754 he met also Johann Heinrich Müntz.
He fell out with Walpole in 1761.