Author: Aikin, John
Biography:
AIKIN, John (1747-1822: ODNB)
The English physician and writer was born on 15 Jan. 1747 at Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, to the Rev. John Aikin, DD, teacher at a Dissenting academy, and Jane (Jennings) Aikin. Brother of Anna Letitia Barbauld (q.v.) with whom he collaborated on many literary projects, and father of Lucy Aikin (q.v.), he was educated by his father and then trained in medicine, obtaining an MD from Leyden. He married Martha Jennings (d 1830) on 8 July 1772; they had three children. Aikin combined medical practice in Warrington, Yarmouth, and London with writing, reviewing, and editing--all of which he continued after retiring, in 1798, to Stoke Newington where his sister lived, and where he died on 7 Dec. 1822. Among the major projects of his retirement were a comprehensive General Biography (1799-1815) and editorship of Select Works of the British Poets (1820). (ODNB 30 Aug. 2017; Lucy Aikin, Memoir, 1823) HJ
Other Names:
- J. Aikin