[No biography of Ainsworth has appeared or is likely to be published. When Jerdan published his ‘Autobiography,’ Ainsworth prohibited the publication of his own letters; and though he had preserved a mass of correspondence, it proved, on examination after his death, to have but little biographical or literary importance. Laman Blanchard wrote a brief memoir, which appeared in the ‘Mirror’ in 1842, and was afterwards prefixed to the popular editions of ‘Rookwood.’ In addition to this there is a report of the banquet to him in 1881, which was printed for private circulation, and the ‘Early Life of William Harrison Ainsworth’ by John Evans. Reprinted from the ‘Manchester Quarterly,’ i. 137, Manchester, 1882. This contains a portrait from a drawing taken in 1826. There are also engraved portraits by Pickersgill and Maclise.]
W. E. A. A.
Kensal Green Cemetery, London — Ainsworth’s final resting place
Ainsworth’s grave
The Works of William Harrison Ainsworth Page 851
