Dunstable Yesteryear - A famous artist's local connections

Framed prints of a famous engraving entitled “Itinerant Dealers in Dunstable Ware” are sometimes attributed to the noted artist George Cruikshank. But the print, bearing a Cruikshank signature, was published on December 17, 1797 which means that the artist was Isaak Cruikshank, George’s dad.

Isaak came to London from Scotland and set up a studio where he produced numerous engravings of notable scenes and personalities. He had a successful career but his fame was eclipsed by his son,  born in 1792, whose numerous works included the original illustrations for the Charles Dickens novel, Oliver Twist. George Cruikshank, a well-known figure in London taverns, apparently provided much of the information about London’s low-life which Dickens used in the book.

Dunstable Ware, as featured in Isaak Cruikshank’s illustration, was a plaited-straw covering for containers and boxes. Products made from straw was a prosperous industry in Dunstable in Georgian times.

The Cruikshank family lived in London but had a significant Dunstable connection. George (pictured here as a young man), married a Dunstable girl, Mary Ann Walker, in the Priory Church on  October 16 1827. She died in 1849. George married again a few years later and also kept a mistress whose existence was not revealed until after his death.

George paid a well-publicised visit to Dunstable in 1870 as the celebrity speaker at a Temperance Society gala. He had become a leading campaigner against the sale of alcohol, having reformed after the wild lifestyle of his younger days. He probably wished to avoid the fate of his dad, who had died as the result of a drinking contest (which he’d won!).

Yesteryear is compiled by John Buckledee, chairman of Dunstable and District Local History Society.