William Harrison Ainsworth

Caricature from Punch, 1881: "TO THE GREATEST AXE-AND-NECK-ROMANCER OF OUR TIME, WHO IS QUITE AT THE HEAD OF HIS PROFESSION, WE DEDICATE THIS BLOCK AD MULTOS ANNOS!

William Harrison Ainsworth (February 4 1805 – January 3 1882) was a British historical novelist. He was born in Manchester, England, the son of a solicitor. He was himself trained in the law, but the legal profession had no attraction for him, and going to London to complete his studies he made the acquaintance of John Ebers, publisher, and at that time manager of the Opera House, by whom he was introduced to literary and dramatic circles, and whose daughter he afterwards married. For a short time he tried the publishing business, but soon gave it up and devoted himself to journalism and literature his first success as a writer of romance being scored with "Rookwood" in 1834, of which Dick Turpin is the leading character; and thenceforward he continued to pour forth till 1881 a stream of novels, to the number of 39. "Tower of London" was the fourth work of the novelist, and, according to Ainsworth himself, it was written chiefly with the aim of interesting his fellow-countrymen in the historical associations of the Tower. Ainsworth died in Reigate on January 3, 1882.

Ainsworth depends for his effects on striking situations and powerful descriptions: he has little humour or power of delineating character.

Works

Jack Sheppard (1830)
Rookwood (1834)
The Tower of London (1840)
Old St Paul's, A Tale of the Plague and the Fire (1841) Project Gutenberg etext
Windsor Castle (1843) Project Gutenberg etext
The Lancashire Witches Project Gutenberg etext
The Constable of the Tower
Crichton (1837)
Guy Fawkes (1842)
The Star Chamber (1842) Project Gutenerg etext: Vol. 1 Vol. 2
The Flitch of Bacon (1842)
The Miser's Daughter (1842)

References

This article incorporates text from A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.

Categories: A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature | 1805 births | 1882 deaths