John Aikin (15 January 1747 – 7 December 1822) was an English medical doctor and surgeon. Later in life he devoted himself wholly to biography and writing in periodicals.
Life
He was born at
Kibworth Harcourt
Kibworth is an area of the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, that contains two civil parishes: the villages of Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt . At the 2011 census, Kibworth Beauchamp had a population of 5,433 and Kibw ...
,
Leicestershire, England, son of Dr
John Aikin, Unitarian divine, and received his elementary education at the
Nonconformist
Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to:
Culture and society
* Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior
*Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity
** ...
academy at Warrington, where his father was a tutor. He studied medicine at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, and in London under Dr.
William Hunter. He practised as a surgeon at
Chester and
Warrington
Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...
. Finally, he went to
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...
in Holland, earned an M.D. in 1780, and in 1784 established himself as a doctor in
Great Yarmouth.
In 1792, one of his pamphlets having given offence, he moved to London, where he practised as a consulting physician. He lived in Church Street, Stoke Newington. However, he concerned himself more with the advocacy of liberty of conscience than with his professional duties, and he began at an early period to devote himself to literary pursuits, to which his contributions were incessant. When
Richard Phillips founded ''
The Monthly Magazine'' in 1796, Aikin was its first editor. In conjunction with his sister,
Anna Laetitia Barbauld
Anna Laetitia Barbauld (, by herself possibly , as in French, Aikin; 20 June 1743 – 9 March 1825) was a prominent English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and author of children's literature. A " woman of letters" who published in mu ...
, he published a popular series of volumes entitled ''
Evenings at Home
''Evenings at Home, or The Juvenile Budget Opened'' (1792–1796) is a collection of six volumes of stories written by John Aikin and his sister Anna Laetitia Barbauld. It is an early example of children's literature. The late Victorian childre ...
'' (6 vols, 1792–1795), for elementary family reading, which were translated into almost every European language.
Works
![Aikin, John – Essay on the application of natural history to poetry, 1777 – BEIC 8796231](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Aikin%2C_John_%E2%80%93_Essay_on_the_application_of_natural_history_to_poetry%2C_1777_%E2%80%93_BEIC_8796231.jpg)
In 1798 Aikin retired altogether from medicine and devoted himself to literary undertakings such as his ''General Biography'' (10 vols, 1799–1815). His other work included ''Biographical Memoirs of Medicine in Great Britain'' (1780),''The Arts of Life... described in a series of letters. For the instruction of young persons'' (1802, reprinted 1807), and ''The Lives of John Selden, Esq., and Archbishop Usher'' (1812).
Apart from editing ''The Monthly Magazine'' (1796–1807) and Dodsley's ''Annual Register'' (1811–1815), Aikin produced a paper called ''The Athenaeum'' in 1807–1809, not to be confused with the well-known magazine ''
The Athenaeum'' (1828–1921).
Family
Aikin had four children, three sons and a daughter. The eldest son,
Arthur
Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...
, was a prominent scientist, and the youngest,
Edmund
Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector".
Persons named Edmund include:
People Kings and ...
, an architect. The second son,
Charles, was adopted by Aikin's sister, who had no children. Through Charles, Aikin was grandfather to the writer
Anna Letitia Le Breton
Anna Letitia Le Breton ( Aikin; 30 June 1808 – 29 September 1885) was an English author.
Early years and education
She was born into a distinguished literary and medical family of prominent Unitarians. Her mother was Anne, daughter of the R ...
. His daughter
Lucy
Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Lu ...
was a biographer, who in 1823 published ''Memoir of John Aikin, M.D., with a selection of Miscellaneous Pieces, Biographical, Moral and Critical''.
Google Books. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
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Bibliography
*''Evenings at Home
''Evenings at Home, or The Juvenile Budget Opened'' (1792–1796) is a collection of six volumes of stories written by John Aikin and his sister Anna Laetitia Barbauld. It is an early example of children's literature. The late Victorian childre ...
'' (1792–95)
''Letters from a father to his son, on various topics, relative to literature and the conduct of life'' (1794)
*''A Description of the Country from Thirty to Forty Miles Round Manchester'' (1795)m referenced in ''The German Ideology
''The German Ideology'' (German: ''Die deutsche Ideologie'', sometimes written as ''A Critique of the German Ideology'') is a set of manuscripts originally written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels around April or early May 1846. Marx and Engels ...
'' by Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
*''General Biography'' (10 volumes, completed in 1815)
*''Annals of the Reign of George III'' (1816)
*''Select Works of the British Poets'' (1820)
References
Sources
*
Further reading
*
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aikin, John
1747 births
1822 deaths
People from Kibworth
English non-fiction writers
English biographers
English Unitarians
Anna Laetitia Barbauld
18th-century English writers
18th-century English male writers
19th-century English writers
University of Edinburgh Medical School alumni
Writers of Gothic fiction
English male poets
Women biographers
Male biographers