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John Aikin

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John Aikin
John Aikin, published in 1823
Born(1747-01-15)15 January 1747
Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, England
Died7 December 1822(1822-12-07) (aged 75)
Stoke Newington, Middlesex, England
Occupations
Spouse
Martha Aikin
​
(m. 1772)​
Children
FatherJohn Aikin
Relatives

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

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Aikin was born on 15 January 1747 in Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire to John Aikin, a theologian and classics tutor at Warrington Academy, and Jane "Jenny" Aikin (née Jennings; 1714–1785).[1][2] Through his mother, Aikin was the grandson of the minister and tutor John Jennings and the great-grandson of the Anglo-Irish politician Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey.[2][3][4] Aikin was the younger brother of the poet and essayist Anna Laetitia Barbauld.[1]

Initially educated at home, Aikin enrolled at Warrington Academy in 1758.[1] Apprenticed to a surgeon and pharmacist in Uppingham in 1761, Aikin entered the University of Edinburgh Medical School in 1764.[1] Leaving Edinburgh without a degree, Aikin continued his studies in Manchester from 1766 to 1769, followed by a year in London[1] under William Hunter. Establishing a surgical practice in Chester, Aikin later settled in Warrington where he founded a surgical practice in 1771.[1] Finally, he went to Leiden in Holland, earned an M.D. in 1780, and in 1784 established himself as a doctor in Great Yarmouth.[5]

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, he published a popular series of volumes entitled Evenings at Home (6 vols, 1792–1795), for elementary family reading, which were translated into almost every European language.[5]

Works

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Essay on the application of natural history to poetry, 1777

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).[5][6]

Apart from editing The Monthly Magazine (1796–1807) and Dodsley's Annual Register (1811–1815),[7] Aikin produced a paper called The Athenaeum in 1807–1809, not to be confused with the well-known magazine The Athenaeum (1828–1921).[8]

Personal life

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On 8 July 1772, Aikin married Martha Aikin (née Jennings; c. 1746–1830) with whom he had four biological children:[1][9]

Charles was later adopted by Aikin's sister and brother-in-law, the Revd Rochemont Barbauld (1749–1808), at the age of 2.[10] Aikin died on at his home in Stoke Newington on 7 December 1822.[1] The following year, Lucy Aikin published Memoir of John Aikin, M.D., with a selection of Miscellaneous Pieces, Biographical, Moral and Critical.[11]

Bibliography

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Brooks, Marilyn L. (23 September 2004). "Aikin, John (1747–1822), physician and writer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/230. Retrieved 15 October 2026. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  2. 1 2 Jones, Diana K. (23 September 2004). "Aikin, John (1713–1780), tutor and theological scholar". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/229. Retrieved 15 October 2026. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ↑ Wykes, David L. (23 September 2004). "Jennings, John (1687/8–1723), Independent minister and tutor". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14759. Retrieved 15 October 2026. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ↑ Barnard, T. C. (October 2009). "Annesley, Arthur". Dictionary of Irish Biography (online ed.). Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. doi:10.3318/dib.10.3318/dib.000176.v1. Retrieved 15 October 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 Wikisource One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Aikin, John". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 437.
  6. ↑ Archived 1 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine. London: Jarndyce, 2020.
  7. ↑ wikisource-logo.svg Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Aikin, John". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
  8. ↑ Another earlier work: Essay on the application of natural history to poetry. Warrington: William Eyres. 1777.
  9. ↑ Aikin, Lucy (2010). "Lucy Aikin: A Brief Chronology". In Mellor, Anne K.; Michelle Levy (eds.). Epistles on Women and Other Works. Broadview Editions. ISBN 9781770481244.
  10. 1 2 Brunton, Deborah (3 January 2008) [23 September 2004]. "Aikin, Charles Rochemont (1775–1847), surgeon". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/227. Retrieved 16 October 2026. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  11. ↑ Google Books. Retrieved 23 November 2020.

Sources

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Further reading

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