Cruikshank, George

1792

1878

George Cruikshank was a graphic artist, son of the caricaturist Isaac Cruikshank. By the age of ten, George was already working alongside his father; by 1808 he signing his work with his full patronym and by 1812 was a celebrated caricaturist. Cruikshank produced political caricatures as well as book illustrations. He worked with Charles Dickens and illustrated the brothers Grimm's fairytales amongst others. During his later years, as his career declined, he became champion of the temperance movement, which advocated against the consumption of alcoholic beverages recreationally. George Cruikshank was married twice: first to Mary Anne Walker who died in 1849 , and later to Eliza Widdison (1807–1890). During the entire course of his second marriage George Cruikshank kept a mistress, Adelaide Atree (bap. 1831, d. 1914), and, presumably, fathered her eleven children.