William Harrison Ainsworth
William Harrison Ainsworth | |
---|---|
Born | Manchester, England | 4 February 1805
Died | 3 January 1882 Reigate, England | (aged 76)
Occupation | writer |
Spouse | Fanny Ebers (m. 1826) |
Children | 3 |
Signature | |
William Harrison Ainsworth (4 February 1805 – 3 January 1882)
Ainsworth briefly tried the publishing business, but soon gave it up and devoted himself to journalism and literature. His first success as a writer came with Rookwood in 1834, which features Dick Turpin as its leading character. A stream of 39 novels followed, the last of which appeared in 1881. Ainsworth died in Reigate on 3 January 1882, and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.
Biography
Early life
Ainsworth was born on 4 February 1805 in the family house at 21 King Street, Manchester, to Thomas Ainsworth, a prominent Manchester lawyer, and Ann (Harrison) Ainsworth, the daughter of the Rev.
The Ainsworth family moved to Smedly Lane, north of Manchester in
During the 1820s, Ainsworth began to publish many of his works under the name "Thomas Hall". The first work, a play called The Rivals, was published on 5 March 1821 in
After leaving school, Ainsworth began to study for the law and worked under Alexander Kay. The two did not get along, and Ainsworth was accused of being lazy. Although Ainsworth did not want to pursue a legal career, his father pushed him into the field. Instead of working, Ainsworth spent his time reading literature at his home and various libraries, including the Chetham Library. He continued to work as an attorney in Manchester and spent his time when not working or reading at the John Shaw's Club. By the end of 1822, Ainsworth was writing for The London Magazine, which allowed him to become close to Charles Lamb, to whom he sent poetry for Lamb's response. After receiving a favourable reception for one set of works, Ainsworth had them published by John Arliss as Poems by Cheviot Ticheburn. He travelled some during 1822, and visited his childhood friend James Crossley in Edinburgh during August. There, Crossley introduced Ainsworth to William Blackwood, the owner of Blackwood's Magazine, and, through Blackwood, he was introduced to many Scottish writers.[8]
Early career
Besides Crossley, another close friend to Ainsworth was John Aston, a clerk who worked in his father's legal firm. In 1823, Ainsworth and Crossley began to write many works together, including the first novel Sir John Chiverton that was based around Hulme Hall in Manchester. Ainsworth wrote to Thomas Campbell, editor of The New Monthly Magazine, about publishing the work: but Campbell lost the letter. At the request of Ainsworth, Crossley travelled to London to meet Campbell and discuss the matter before visiting in November. Although the novel was not yet published, in December 1823, Ainsworth was able to get G. and W. Whittaker to publish a collection of his stories as December Tales. During 1824, Ainsworth set about producing his own magazine, The Boeotian, which was first published on 20 March but ended after its sixth issue on 24 April.[9]
Ainsworth's father died on 20 June 1824 and Ainsworth became a senior in the law firm and began to focus on his legal studies. To this end he left for London at the end of 1824 to study under Jacob Phillips, a barrister at
On 4 February 1826, Ainsworth came of age and on 8 February was made a solicitor of the
The novel was published by Ebers in July 1826.[13] Ebers became interested in Ainsworth's novel early on and started to add discussions about it in The Literary Souvenir in order to promote the work. Although the work was jointly written and sometimes claimed by Aston as solely his, many of the reviews described the novel as Ainsworth's alone. The novel also brought Ainsworth to the attention of historical novelist Walter Scott, who later wrote about the work in various articles; the two later met in 1828. During that year, J. G. Lockhartt published Scott's private journals and instigated the notion that the novel was an imitation of Scott. Sir John Chiverton is neither a true historical novel nor is it a gothic novel. It was also seen by Ainsworth as an incomplete work and he later ignored it when creating his bibliography. The novel does serve as a precursor to Ainsworth's first major novel, Rookwood.[14]
Ainsworth's relationship with the Ebers family grew, and he married Fanny on 11 October 1826 with little warning to his family or friends. Ebers promised to pay a dowry of 300 pounds, but the funds were never given and this caused a strain in the relationship between Ainsworth and his father-in-law. Ainsworth continued in Ebers's circle and attended many social events. He was encouraged by Ebers to sell his partnership in the Ainsworth law firm along with starting a publishing business. Ainsworth followed this advice, and the business had early success. In 1827, Fanny gave birth to a girl who took her name. Soon after, Ebers went bankrupt and Ainsworth lost a large sum as a consequence. Ainsworth published a few popular works, including The French Cook, an annual magazine called Mayfair, and some others. By 1829, Ebers took over Ainsworth's publishing business, and Fanny gave birth to another daughter, Emily, soon after. Ainsworth gave up on publishing and resumed working in law. When a third daughter, Anne, was born in 1830, Ainsworth's family began to feel financially strained. Ainsworth returned to writing and he contributed to Fraser's Magazine, but it is uncertain[why?] how many works were actually his.[citation needed] However, he was working on his novel Rookwood.[15]
Career as a novelist
By 1829, Ainsworth was neither a lawyer nor a publisher; indeed he did not have any employment at all. He longed for his youthful days in Manchester and pondered writing another novel. By the summer, he had begun to travel.[16] It was during this time that he began to develop the idea of Rookwood, and began searching for information on the subject.[17] While researching for the novel in 1830, Ainsworth was living at Kensal Lodge. He worked on some theatrical pieces and spent the rest of his time working in the legal profession. He soon became friends with William Sergison, and the two travelled to Italy and Switzerland during that summer. During their travels, they visited the tomb of Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats, along with witnessing other notable scenes in the lives of the British Romantic poets. Sergison was also the owner of a residence in Sussex, upon which Ainsworth drew in his novel. After the two returned to London, Ainsworth began working for Fraser's Magazine, which was launched in 1830. The group included many famous literary figures of the day, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, Thomas Carlyle, James Hogg and William Makepeace Thackeray.[18] It was not until a visit to Chesterfield towards the end of 1831 that he was fully inspired to begin writing the novel,[19] which he did self-confessedly "in the bygone style of Mrs Radcliffe".[20]
Although he began writing the novel, Ainsworth suffered from more of his father-in-law's financial problems and was unable to resume work on it until 1833. During the autumn of that year he managed to complete large portions of the novel while staying in Sussex, near Sergison's home.
From 1835 until 1838, Ainsworth and Dickens were close friends and often travelled together. Rookwood was published in multiple editions, with a fourth edition in 1836 including illustrations by Cruikshank, which started the working relationship between the two. In 1835, Ainsworth began writing another novel, called Crichton. He devoted much of his time to it to the point of not having time for many of his literary friends. Its publication was temporarily delayed while Ainsworth was searching for an illustrator, with Thackeray being a possible choice. However, Ainsworth felt the illustrations were unsatisfactory, so he switched to Daniel Maclise, who was also later dropped. Coinciding with the search for an illustrator and hurrying to complete the novel, Ainsworth was asked to write for the magazine The Lions of London, but could not find the time to work on both projects and so attempted to finish the novel. The situation changed after Macrone, the original intended publisher, died. Ainsworth turned to Bentley as a publisher.[24] Ainsworth eventually published his third novel in 1837.[25] A fifth edition of Rookwood appeared in 1837, and its success encouraged Ainsworth to work on another novel about a famous outlaw, the story of Jack Sheppard.[26]
Ainsworth's next novel,
With the 1840 novels finished, Ainsworth began to write
Ainsworth's Magazine
Ainsworth hoped to start publishing Windsor Castle in his magazine by April, but he was delayed when his mother died on 15 March 1842. John Forster wrote to Ainsworth to offer assistance in writing the novel, but there is no evidence that Ainsworth accepted. The work was soon finished and started appearing in the magazine by July 1842, where it ran until June 1843. George Cruikshank, illustrator for The Miser's Daughter, took over as illustrator for Windsor Castle after the first one finished its run.
In 1844, Ainsworth helped in the building of the monument to Walter Scott in Edinburgh. He spent his year visiting many people, including members of the British nobility. The popularity of his magazine decreased over that year due to a lack of quality works, except for a series by
In 1845, two of Ainsworth's friends and contributors died,
Later life
In April 1872, a version of The Miser's Daughter, called Hilda, was produced for the Adelphi Theatre by Andrew Halliday. On 6 April 1872, Cruikshank submitted a letter to The Times,[40] claiming that he was upset about his name being left out of the credits for the play. Additionally, he claimed that the idea for the novel came from himself and not from Ainsworth. This provoked a controversy between the two.[41]
Style and success
His first success as a writer came with Rookwood in 1834, which features Dick Turpin as its leading character. In 1839 he published another novel featuring a highwayman, Jack Sheppard. From 1840 to 1842 he edited Bentley's Miscellany, from 1842 to 1853, Ainsworth's Magazine and subsequently The New Monthly Magazine.[citation needed]
His Lancashire novels cover altogether 400 years and include The Lancashire Witches, 1848,
Historians have criticised the mingling of fact and fiction in his novels, noting that his romanticised treatment of Dick Turpin became rapidly accepted (popularly) as historical fact, while his novelisation of the 1612 Lancashire witch trials similarly distorted real events into a Gothic form.[46]
Legacy
Ainsworth was largely forgotten by critics after his death. In 1911, S. M. Ellis commented: "It is certainly remarkable that, during the twenty-eight years which have elapsed since the death of William Harrison Ainsworth, no full record has been published of the exceptionally eventful career of one of the most picturesque personalities of the nineteenth century."[47]
Ainsworth's 1854 novel, The Flitch of Bacon, led to the modern revival of the flitch of bacon custom at Great Dunmow in Essex, whereby married couples who have lived together without strife are awarded a side of bacon. Ainsworth himself encouraged the revival by providing the prizes for the ceremony in 1855.[48] The Dunmow Flitch Trials, in turn, were the basis for the 1952 film Made in Heaven starring Petula Clark. Ainsworth also appears as a character in the historical novel Shark Alley: The Memoirs of a Penny-a-Liner by Stephen Carver (2016), in which the Newgate Controversy is dramatized.[49] Ainsworth is one of the protagonists of Zadie Smith's 2023 novel The Fraud.
Works
References
- ^ National Portrait Gallery, London
- ^ Axon, William Edward Armytage (1885). . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 1. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 197–99.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ainsworth, William Harrison". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1. (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 441.
- ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 18–27
- ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 28–55
- ^ Ellis, S. M. (Stewart Marsh) (21 April 2019). "William Harrison Ainsworth and his friends". London J. Lane. Retrieved 21 April 2019 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 58–73
- ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 74–93
- ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 93–111
- ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 112–28
- ^ Carver 2003 p. 97
- ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 128–34
- ^ Ellis 1979 p. 135
- ^ Carver 2003 pp. 97–120
- ^ Carver 2003 pp. 121–25
- ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 181–84
- ^ Carver 2003 pp. 125–28
- ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 185–229
- ^ Carver 2003 p. 126
- ^ C. Spooner ed, The Routledge Companion to Horror (2007) p. 30
- ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 231–33
- ^ Carver 2003 p. 129
- ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 188–89, 255–75
- ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 276–77, 288–318
- ^ Carver 2003 p. 172
- ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 276–89
- ^ a b Worth 1972 p. 19
- ^ Carver 2003 pp. 20–21
- ^ Carver 2003 pp. 228, 231
- ^ Carver 2003 pp. 231–32, 271–72, 286
- ^ Ellis 1979 p. 430
- ^ Worth 1972 p. 20
- ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 431–432
- ^ Carver 2003 pp. 286–87
- ^ Ellis 1979 Vol 2 p. 53
- ^ Ellis 1979 Vol 2 pp. 61–71
- ^ Carver 2003 pp. 305–06
- ^ Ellis 1979 Vol 2 pp. 71–78, 110–28
- ^ Ellis 1979 Vol 2 pp. 129–46
- ^ Ellis 1979 p. 84
- ^ Harvey 1970 p. 35 [full citation needed]
- ^ Drabble, M. (ed.) The Oxford Companion to English Literature; 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; pp. 11–12
- ISBN 9780773466333. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
- ^ ISBN 9780670809028(pp. 2–3)
- ^ S.T. Joshi, Unutterable Horror: A History of Supernatural Fiction Volume 1. NY: Hippocampus Press, 2014, p. 195
- ^ J. Barry and O. Davies eds., Witchcraft Historiography (Palgrave 2007) pp. 61–62
- ^ Ellis 1979 p. v
- ^ The history of the Dunmow flitch trials from the Dunmow Flitch Trials official site.
- ISBN 9781523935451.
Citations
- Carver, Stephen. The Life and Works of the Lancashire Novelist William Harrison Ainsworth, 1805–1882. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 2003.
- Ellis, S. M. William Harrison Ainsworth and His Friends. London: Garland Publishing, Inc. 1979 [1911].
- Worth, George. William Harrison Ainsworth. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc. 1972.
External links
- Works by William Harrison Ainsworth at Project Gutenberg Australia
- Works by William Harrison Ainsworth at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about William Harrison Ainsworth at Internet Archive
- Works by William Harrison Ainsworth at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Works by William Harrison Ainsworth via The University of Adelaide Libraries
- Selected poems by William Harrison Ainsworth
- Biography of Ainsworth at the Literary Encyclopedia
- "Ainsworth, William Harrison", A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910 – via Wikisource
- List of web links and list of works by Ainsworth
- "Archival material relating to William Harrison Ainsworth". UK National Archives.
- Anonymous (1873). "Harrison Ainsworth". Cartoon portraits and biographical sketches of men of the day. Illustrated by Frederick Waddy. London: Tinsley Brothers. pp. 138–39. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
- Portraits of William Harrison Ainsworth at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Ainsworth's Magazine, fulltext
- Stephen Carver, William Harrison Ainsworth: The Life and Adventures of the Lancashire Novelist In Fukui Daigaku Kyouiku Chiiki Kagakubu no Kenkyu Kiyou vol I, 59 (Japan 2003): 1–23.
- William Harrison Ainsworth at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- William Harrison Ainsworth at Library of Congress, with 93 library catalogue records