Drawing

1835–1853

Publishes “The Comic Almanack”

He publishes “The Comic Almanack”, for which he prepares not only the illustrations but the text as well.

late 1840s

Becomes a champion of temperance

In the late 1840s Cruikshank’s attention shifts from book illustration to temperance and the fight against smoking: a former heavy drinker, he supports, lectures to and draws for the National Temperance Society and the Total Abstinence Society. His committed teetotalism further sours his friendship with Dickens, who held to moderation.

1849

His first wife dies

His wife Mary Ann (1807–1849) dies; two years later he marries again.

7 March 1851

Marries Eliza Widdison

On 7 March 1851, two years after his first wife’s death, he marries Eliza Widdison; the couple live at 263 Hampstead Road in north London.

30 December 1871

Claims credit for the plot of “Oliver Twist”

On 30 December 1871 he publishes a letter in The Times claiming credit for much of the plot of “Oliver Twist”, which launches a fierce controversy over who created the novel. Robert Seymour had made a similar claim about “The Pickwick Papers”; in his 1867 preface Dickens strenuously denied any outside input.

1 February 1878

Death in London

He dies in London; in his last years, after developing palsy, his health and the quality of his work declined. He is first buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, and in November 1878 his remains are reburied in St Paul’s Cathedral. The obituary in Punch called him a blameless man with a childlike nature, apparently unaware of his large illegitimate family — 11 children by his former servant Adelaide Attree.