George Cruikshank was an English artist. He was born in 1792 at London and died in 1878. He is remembered for his caricatures and book illustrations. His father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an engraver of theatrical portraits, prints for cheap books, and caricatures in the manner of Rowlandson and Gillray. From early childhood George Cruikshank was trained to assist in preparing his father's plates. The earliest of his drawings known is dated 1799, when he was only seven years of age, and when fifteen he was comparatively distinguished. His first occupation was designing illustrations for children's books and popular songs. He began early also as a political satirist, contributing plates regularly in 1811 to the Scourge, in 1814 illustrating Dr. Syntax's Life of Napoleon, and doing much work of the kind for Hone, the publisher. His best productions of this period are his drawings of the Cato Street Conspiracy and of the trial of Queen Caroline, the Political Showman, and the Political House that Jack Built.
In 1821 and the succeeding years appeared his illustrations of such popular books as Pierce Egan's Tom and Jerry; Maxwell's History of the Irish Rebellion, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Peter Schlemihl, Baron Munchhausen, Defoe's History of the Plague, Scott's Demonology and Witchcraft, the Ingoldsby Legends, etc, the artist showing especial excellence in ghostly and fairy subjects.
In 1837 he commenced in Bentley's Miscellany his famous series of etchings on steel illustrative of Dickens' Oliver Twist, followed two years later by those for Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard, and then by those for Windsor Castle and the Tower of London. Having connected himself with the temperance movement he produced the Bottle, a powerful and popular series of designs, but marking clearly the limits of his art. His temperance connection and his absurd claims to having suggested the idea of Dickens' Oliver Twist, undermined his artistic reputation.
Poorly paid for work by which others profited, he was latterly obliged to part with the vast collection of his works, and in 1866 50 pounds sterling a year was settled on him from the Royal Academy's Turner Annuities, He latterly turned his attention to oil-painting, his most noteworthy pictures being Tam o'Shanter, Disturbing a Congregation, and The Worship of Bacchus. Research George Cruikshank
Jack Sheppard (real name John Sheppard) was an English highwayman. He was born in 1702 at Stepney, London and hanged in 1724 at Tyburn. He was a workhouse child who abandoned his apprenticeship with Owen Wood, carpenter in the Strand, and took up robbery. He escaped from prison many times, most notably escaping from the condemned cell in Newgate in 1724 where he was chained to the floor. Research Jack Sheppard
Matthew Fox (Matt Fox) is an American actor. He was born in 1966 at crowheart, Wyoming. He is best known for his role as ' Dr Jack Sheppard' in the 2004 television series and subsequent film 'Lost'. Research Matthew Fox
Newgate was a former jail in the city of London. It was built during the reign of Henry I, and in 1241 rebuilt with the sum of 20,000 marks extracted from the wealthy Jews of London. The original building was destroyed in the great fire in 1666, but the prison was rebuilt in 1770. The interior was also ruined by fire in the Lord Gordon riots in 1780, when 300 prisoners were let loose on the populace - a scene described by Charles Dickens in Barnaby Rudge. Many noted prisoners were confined within the walls of Newgate - among them George Wither, Daniel Defoe, Jack Sheppard, Titus Oates and William Penn. After 1877 Newgate ceased to be used as a place of incarceration and after 1868 executions took place inside its walls until it was finally demolished in 1904 to make room for the Middlesex sessions-house. Research Newgate
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