William Hepworth Dixon (1821-1879): Archives

1. Letter from Sir Philip Grey Egerton (1806-1881), paleontologist, 17 April 1845.

2. Letter from John Hall Maxwell (1812-1866), agriculturalist, 3 July 1848.

3. Letter from George Roberts to John Bruce on the work of William Hepworth Dixon, Lyme Regis, 15 November 1850.

4. Letter from Thomas Bruce, 21 November 1851.

5. Letter from George Roberts concerning a sale of manuscripts at Puttick & Simpson's, Lyme Regis, 30 November 1951.

6. Letter from J. Humphrey Parry, 11 October 1854.

7. letter from Thomas Watts (1811-1969), keeper of printed books at the British Museum, 4 January 1855.

8. Letter from Sir Charles Fellowes (1799-1960), archaeologist, 18 December 1855.

9. Letter addressed to the Editor of the Athenaeum from William Daniel Conybeare (1787-1857), geologist, 10 April 1856.

10. Letter from Matthew Davenport Hill (1792-1872), lawyer and penal reformer, 27 August 1856.

11. Letter from John Humffreys Parry (1816-1880), barrister, 25 December 1856.

12. Letter from William Durrant Cooper (1812-1875), antiquary, concerning the sale of some letters, 13 January 1857.

13. Letter from Thomas Spencer Baynes (1823-1887), philosopher, 27 February 1857.

14. Letter from Sir John Romilly (1802-1874), politician and judge, 11 May 1857.

15. Letter from Sir Patrick Colquhoun (1815-1891), diplomat and author, 13 January 1860.

16. Letter from John Winter Jones (1805-1881), librarian, 17 February 1860.

17. Letter from Thomas Page (1803-1877), architect and engineer, 24 May 1860.

18. Note from William Desborough Cooley (1795?-1883), Irish geographer, 16 June 1860.

19. Letter from Joseph Bowman, 31 December 1860.

20. Letter from Frederick John Owen Evans (1815-1885), hydrographer, 16 December 1861.

21. Possibly incomplete letter from Augustus De Morgan (1806-1871), mathematician, 1862.

22. Note from Thomas Spencer Baynes, 3 December 1862.

23. Letter from Charles Henry Hartshorne (1802-1865), antiquary, 4 August 1863.

24. Copy of letter from John Rouse Bloxam (1807-1891), academic and historian of Magdalen College, Oxford, 27 November 1863.

25. Letter from Charles Graves (1812-1899), bishop and mathematician, 16 January 1864.

26.Letter from Sir Edward Ryan (1793-1875), judge and patron of science, 19 June 1861.

27. Letter from Henry Longueville Mansel (1820-1871), philosopher and theologian, 21 June 1861.

28. Note from Harry Robert Newton, 15 March 1861.

29. Letter from William Hepworth Thompson (1810-1886), professor of Greek at Cambridge, 4 October 1863.

30. Letter from C. R. Welch, 6 February 1865.

31. Note from Thomas Watts, 9 February 1864.

32. Letter from Sir George Grove (1820-1900), English writer on music, 24 April 1865.

33. Letter from Sir Edward Augustus Bond (1815-1898), Librarian of the British Museum, 11 December 1865.

34. Letter from John MacGregor (1825-1892), barrister and canoeist, 6 February 1866.

35. Letter from Albert Way (1805-1874), archaeologist, 19 February 1866.

36. Letter from Joseph Burtt (1818-1876), archivist, 21 February 1866.

37. Three letters from Sir Robert Lush (1807-1881), judge, 7 March 1866, 5 April 1866, and 25 July 1866.

38. Letter from Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer (1836-1920), scientist and astronomer, 2 July 1866.

39. Letter from Sir George Grove, 6 July 1866.

40. Letter from Sir John Romilly, 26 May 1867.

41. Letter from Robert Malcolm Kerr (1821-1902), judge, 10 December 1867.

42. Letter from Theodor Goldstücker (1821-1872), German Sanskrit scholar, 18 January 1868.

43. Letter from Thomas Bruce, 27 February 1868.

44. Note from Sir George William Lefevre (1798-1846), physician and travel writer, 12 March 1868.

45. Letter from William Little Hughes (1822-1887), translator and civil servant, 17 November 1868.

46. Letter from Sir John Romilly, 29 January 1869.

47. Letter from John Winter Jones, Principal Librarian of the British Museum, 5 August 1869.

48. Letter from Sir Robert Lush, 17 March 1870.

49. Letter from Joseph Angus (1816-1902), biblical scholar, 18 July 1870.

50. Letter from Sir Henry Francis Goldsmid (1808-1878), Anglo-Jewish barrister and politician, 29 October 1870.

51. Letter from Sir George Grove, 18 November 1870.

52. Note from Theodor Goldstücker, 1 December 1870.

53. Letter from John MacGregor, 12 February 1872.

54. Letter from Ernst Georg Ravenstein (1834-1913), geographer, 1 December 1872.

55. Letter from John Humffreys Parry, 2 December 1872.

56. Letter from Thomas Page, 2 April 1875.

57. Letter from Sir Thomas Chambers (1814-1891), politician, 24 December 1875.

58. Letter from William Ballantyne Hodgson (1815-1880), Scottish educational reformer and political economist, 12 January 1865.

59. Letter from Jane Franklin (née Griffin; 1791-1875), known as Lady Franklin after her husband's knighthood, 3 December.

60. Letter addressed to the Editor of the Athenaeum, signed "Investigator" but believed to be the work of George Alexander Hillier (1815-1866), antiquarian, 12 December 1855.

61. Note written in the third person from Lord Chelmsford (probably Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford, 1794-1878), jurist and politician, 19 June.

62. Two letters from William Henry Goodyear (1846-1923), architectural historian, art historian, and museum curator, 12 November 1866, and 12 April 1872.

63. Letter from J. Godwin of the Church of the Disciples, New York, concerning a lecture to be given by William Hepworth Dixon on a forthcoming visit, 10 October 1874.

64. Three letters from William Gilpin (1813-1894), 1st Governor of the Colorado Territory, 15 October 1874; 4 November 1874; and 19 November 1874.

1845-1875

1 File

Items 62-64 purchased from Steven's, London, July 1924 (acc.89344). Provenance details of other items not recorded (acc.67430).

William Hepworth Dixon was an historian and traveller who was instrumental in organising the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. A prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction, he edited The Athenaeum from January 1853 until August 1869. Although heavily involved in politics, Dixon declined an invitation to stand for Marylebone in the 1868 general election, preferring to concentrate on his literary career. Amongst his varied interests, he helped found the Palestine Exploration Fund, eventually becoming chairman, and campaigned for the Tower of London to be opened to the public free of charge. On public holidays, he personally conducted tours of the Tower.

After a series of misfortunes including the unexpected deaths of his eldest son and daughter, his house being destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder on the Regent's Canal, and the loss of his savings through unwise investments, Dixon died in London on Saturday 27 December 1879.