Dixon, William Hepworth

A manuscript and printed copy of William Hepworth Dixon's book, The London Prisons , 1850. Also includes newspaper cuttings collected by the author.

Dixon was born in Manchester on 30 June 1821. He began contributing to magazines and journals in the early 1840s. In 1846 he moved to London, where he entered the Inner Temple. Dixon never practised law and decided instead to pursue a literary career. He contributed regularly to the Athenaeum and Daily News . He also published a series of articles on prisons and a book on the prison reformer John Howard. In 1850 Dixon published, The London Prisons . In 1853 Dixon became the editor of the Athenaeum , a post held until 1869. He also travelled widely in Europe, North Africa and North America and published books and articles on the countries he had visited. Dixon also served in public office as a deputy commissioner for the Great Exhibition 1851, Justice of the Peace for Middlesex and Westminster and as a member of the London School Board. He died on 26 December 1879.

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The British Library holds letters to William Baker, 1851-1852 (Ref: Add MS 35058), letters from Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, 2nd Bt, 1866-1876 (Ref: Add MS 38794), and correspondence with Admiral M Ommaney, 1870 (Ref: Add MS 41340); Edinburgh University Library contains correspondence with James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, 1860-1875 (Ref: LOA); Cambridge University Library holds letters from Augustus de Morgan (Add 9428); the Huntington Library, California, USA, has letters, 1860-1868.

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