St George’s Gardens were once the graveyard for two local churches, St George’s Bloomsbury and St George the Martyr in Queen Square.

The Friends have been researching people in the graveyard and telling their stories for several years. Charles Dilly, 1739-1807, is their latest find. He and his brother Edward ran a very successful publishing and bookselling business, close to St Paul’s. They specialised in dissenting works and supported American independence. Charles ran the firm on his own after Edward died in 1779. The firm was successful partly because it looked after its authors so well. The Dictionary of National Biography says that they ‘practically adopted’ James Boswell and that their dinner parties were ‘legendary’.

Two actors tell the story of his life and of the authors that he nurtured.