User:Ottava Rima/Ainsworth biography

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Family[edit]

The medieval Ainsworth family was connected to the town Ainsworth in Middleton, Lancashire. Although their direct line disappeared during the English Civil War, the name survived in a group of Ainsworths from Pleasington and in smaller splinters. Laman Blanchard, who wrote Memoir of William Harrison Ainsworth (1842), originally declared that William Harrison Ainsworth was connected to the Pleasington family, but the claim lacked evidence. Currently, it is unknown how Ainsworth is connected to the original Ainsworth family. His oldest exact ancestor is most likely the Thomas Aynesworth that was recorded as the Manor of Tottington's tenant in 1443.[1]

Of this line were many influential individuals including Jeremiah Ainsworth, Ainsworth's grandfather. Jeremiah was a mathematician in the Manchester area who wrote for the Imperial and the Mathematical Magazines. In 1768, he started a school that taught mathematics and writing in Manchester near the Manchester Grammar School. The nearby area was named "Ainsworth's Court" after him. He married a woman named Anne Shuttleworth from Rostherne. They had seven children before Jeremiah died 13 November 1784. The oldest, John Ainsworth, became a Captain in the army. Of him was a son, William Francis Ainsworth, who produced many works dealing with surgery, geology, travel and later worked with Ainsworth in producing content for his later magazines.[2]

Ainsworth's father, Thomas, was both 19 June 1778. He was a lawyer that was involved with Manchester politics and promoted city improvements. He married Ann Harrison on 23 June 1802. She was daughter of Ralph Harrison the minister of a Unitarian Chapel in Manchester and taught Greek, Latin, and literature at the Manchester Academy along with work as a tutor to various nobles. He also wrote and published sermons and hymns along with becoming a wealthy land owner. The Harrison family traced its lineage to a line of famous non-conformist ministers and to the Mosleys of Ancoat on the maternal line. The Mosleys served as the Lords of the Manor of Manchester until they sold the right in 1845. The Harrisons, on their maternal line, were of the Touchet family of Lancashire, which trace their lineage to Orme Touchet of the William the Conqueror fame and to the Audley Barony. After the extinction of the noble lines, the Touchet family became successful merchants in the Manchester area.[3]

Early life[edit]

Ann (Harrison) Ainsworth gave birth to Ainsworth on 4 February 1805 in the family house at 21 King Street, Manchester. His grandfather, Ralph Harrison, christened him 28 February 1805. On 4 October 1806, Ainsworth's brother, Thomas Gilbert Ainsworth, was born. Although the family home was eventually destroyed, it was a three story Georgian home. The community was a well to do with neighbors such as Charles White. The area influenced Ainsworth with its historical and romantic atmosphere which existed until the community was later replaced by buildings with commercial purposes. Besides the community, Ainsworth read romantic works as a child and enjoyed stories dealing with either adventure or supernatural themes.[4]

“ Turpin was the hero of my boyhood. I had always a strange passion for highwaymen, and have listened by the hour to their exploits, as narrated by my father, and especially of those of 'Dauntless Dick,' that 'chief minion of the moon.' One of Turpin's adventures in particular, the ride to Hough Green, which took deep hold of my fancy, I have recorded in song. When a boy, I have often lingered by the side of the deep old road where this robbery was committed, to cast wistful glances into its mysterious windings; and when night deepened the shadows of the trees, have urged my horse on his journey, from a vague apprehension of a vist from the ghostly highwayman. [5] ”
– Ainsworth's "Preface" to Rookwood

His father would tell him many stories as a child, including stories about highwaymen that had local connections. One such highwayman was Dick Turpin. Ainsworth adopted Jacobean ideas and saw a family connection with the events surrounding the Jacobean cause and his own family. Ainsworth had a similar background to Sir Walter Scott in that they both were related stories from "The Forty-Five" Jacobite rising. Many of these stories were later recorded in his The Manchester Rebels of the Fatal '45. Ainsworth later took on Tory ideas in addition to his Jacobite sympathies, even though his community was strict Whig and Noncomformist. Besides listening to stories, Ainsworth wrote prolifically as a young boy. In a letter to Mrs Houston, Ainsworth described that he wrote a "Natural History" as a child. The work was a hand illustrated, including a picture of a lion that would serve as a frontispiece. However, he admitted to have done little more than the frontispiece. [6]

The Ainsworth family moved to Smedly Lane, north of Manchester in Cheetham Hill, during 1811. They kept the old residence in addition to the new, but used the new place, named "Beech Hill", for all but winter months. The country was covered in woods and hills, and Thomas Ainsworth devoted a portion of his time to horticulture while there. The two boys helped their father in this pursuit when they were not acting out the stories that they grew up with, including "The Captain of Banditti". When not playing, Ainsworth was tutored by his uncle, William Harrison.[7]

School years[edit]

During March 1817, he was enrolled at the Manchester Grammar School when it was run by Jeremiah Smith and Robinson Elsdale. Ainsworth described his time at the Grammar School within his Mervyn Clitheroe, a semi-autobiographical novel. In particular, he emphasized that the building was ugly and claimed that the classical education he received under Elsdale was good but was reinforced with strict discipline and corporal punishment. Ainsworth contrasted Elsdale with Smith and pointed out how Smith was able to control his class with sharp words instead of the stick. From Smith, Ainsworth learned how to be both a scholar and a gentleman.[8]

“ I believe it was on that occasion that the present Dr. Ralph Ainsworth, then a little boy, seated on the edge of a copper—for the performance took place in the lower regions of the house—fell backwards into the water. The audience, as you may suppose, was select rather than numerous, and consisted of my immediate relations. My uncle, John Harrison, was our sole musician, and played an overture on the violin; but the curtain being drawn up rather suddenly, he was discovered on the stage, and after a hasty bow, beat a precipitate retreat. Poor Gilbert took a great interest in the performance, and you will see that he spoke the epilogue—though I doubt whether he wrote it. On looking back, I almost think that this was the happiest period of his life.[9] ”
– Ainsworth's Letter to James Crossley 22 May 1876

Ainsworth's school days were mixed; his time within the school and with his family was calm even though there were struggles within the Manchester community. In 1819, Manchester was caught up in the Massacre of Peterloo, in which many people were killed and wounded when officials tried to break up a large gathering. Although Ainsworth had some connections to the event because his uncles joined in protest of the incident, the schoolboy was able to avoid most of the problems and keep up with his studies. He also had the ability to pursue his own literary interests and find entertainment. While at school, Ainsworth was infatuated with the theatre and was encouraged to read romances and dramas by a young clerk at his father's law firm, James Crossley. Eventually, Ainsworth created his own little theatre within the family home at King Street.[10]

He, along with his friends and brother, opened their first play The Brothers. Their second play, Giotto; or The Fatal Revenge opened on 30 September 1820 with a follow up performance on 1 October. It ran with a companion piece called Grand Pantomime of Don Juan; or, Libertine Destroyed. Years later, Crossley and Ainsworth discussed the production in a series of letters. Following this, Crossley wrote an entry for the Manchester Guardian describing the popularity of the plays within the community. He also notes that the plays were probably published in the Arliss's Pocket Magazine with prologue of The Brothers, stated to be written by Crossley, was published in the December 1820 issue of Blackwood's Magazine.[11] The second play was published in Arliss's Pocket Magazine as Ghiottol or Treason Discovered.[12] The play's final moments foreshadow scenes in Ainsworth's later works, including Rookwood and The Tower of London.[13]

Ainsworth was popular at the school with his contemporaries and received praise from them during public speaking events. During one of these speech events, he read his translation of Seneca's Quis vere Rex,[14] which was published in both Arliss's Pocket Magazine[15] and the Edinburgh Magazine.[16] Both Elsdale and Smith recognized the boy's abilities as a student. Ainsworth's time at the Manchester Grammar School ended in 1822. Upon this moment, Ainsworth wrote O domus antique! Quam bono dominaris domino, dated 13 Augustus 1822, and Lines on leaving Manchester School, dated 21 September 1822.[17]


Legacy[edit]

In 1911, S. M. Ellis wrote: "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."[18]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 4–5
  2. ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 8–11
  3. ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 11 –17
  4. ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 18–22
  5. ^ Ainsworth 1878 p. xxx–xxxi
  6. ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 22–27
  7. ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 28–30
  8. ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 30–35
  9. ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 54–55
  10. ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 47–55
  11. ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 47–58
  12. ^ Arliss s Pocket Magazine Vol. III 1821
  13. ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 50–59
  14. ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 42–43
  15. ^ Arliss's Pocket Magazine Vol. VIII 1821 p. 354
  16. ^ Edinburgh Magazine Vol. X. January 1822 p. 33
  17. ^ Ellis 1979 pp. 43–46
  18. ^ Ellis 1979 p. v

References[edit]

  • Ainsworth, William Harrison. Rookwood. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1878.
  • Ellis, S. M. William Harrison Ainsworth and His Friends. London: Garland Publishing, Inc. 1979.
  • Worth, George. William Harrison Ainsworth. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc. 1972.
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