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AINSWORTH, WILLIAM HARRISON (1805-1882)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 441 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AINSWORTH, See also:WILLIAM See also:HARRISON (1805-1882) , See also:English novelist, son of See also:Thomas Ainsworth, See also:solicitor, was See also:born at See also:Manchester on the 4th of See also:February 18o5. He was educated at Manchester See also:Grammar School and articled to the See also:firm of which his See also:father was a member, proceeding to See also:London in 1824 to See also:complete his legal training at the Inner See also:Temple. At the See also:age of twenty-one he married a daughter of See also:John See also:Ebers the publisher, and started in his father-in-See also:law's See also:line of business. This, however, soon proved unprofitable and he decided to See also:attempt See also:literary See also:work. A novel called See also:Sir John Chiverton, in which he appears to have had a See also:share, had attracted the praise of Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott, and this encouragement decided him to take up fiction as a career. In 1834 he published Rookwood, which had an immediate success, and thenceforth he was always occupied with the compilation of " See also:historical " novels. He published about See also:forty such stories, of which the best-known are See also:Jack See also:Sheppard (1839), The See also:Tower of London (184o), See also:Guy See also:Fawkes (1841), Old St See also:Paul's (1841) and See also:Windsor See also:Castle (1843). He edited See also:Bentley's See also:Miscellany, in which Jack Sheppard was published as a serial, and in 1842 he became proprietor of Ainsworth's See also:Magazine. In 1853 it ceased to appear, and Ainsworth bought the New Monthly Magazine. He continued his literary activity until his See also:death, but his later stories were less striking than the earlier ones. He died at See also:Reigate on the 3rd of See also:January 1882 and was buried at Kensal See also:Green. Ainsworth had a lively See also:talent for See also:plot, and his books have many attractive qualities.

The glorification of See also:

Dick See also:Turpin in Rookwood, and of Jack Sheppard in the novel that bears his name, caused considerable outcry among straitlaced elders. In his later novels Ainsworth confined himself to heroes less open to See also:criticism. His See also:style was not without archaic affectation and awkwardness, but when his energies were aroused by a striking situation he could be brisk, vigorous and impressive. He did a See also:great See also:deal to See also:interest the less educated classes in the historical romances of their See also:country, and his tales were invariably instructive, clean and manly.

End of Article: AINSWORTH, WILLIAM HARRISON (1805-1882)

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