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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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George Cruikshank
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(1792–1878) The leading English caricaturist of the generation after *Gillray and *Rowlandson. Beginning his career during the social and political excesses of the *Regency, he had easy targets for ridicule. The skill of his etched line, with an abundant ability to suggest humour and character in tiny crowded scenes, made him much in demand for book illustration, the plates for *Oliver Twist being perhaps his best known. He was later a keen supporter of the Temperance movement and published narrative series of cautionary prints, such as The Drunkard's Children (1848).
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It was discovered in 1992 that in his later years he lived a fascinating double life. At the age of 61 he seduced a young housemaid, Adelaide, who was working for himself and his wife; when she became pregnant, he secretly set her up in a house two minutes walk away; by the time he died, 15 years later, Adelaide had given birth to 11 children. Mrs Cruikshank, who first heard of their existence at his deathbed, did much to support them over the following years.
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