Biography

William Hone (1780-1842), author, publisher and bookseller, was born on 3 June 1780 at Bath. After two and a half years in the office of a solicitor at Chatham he returned to London to become clerk to a solicitor at Gray's Inn. He joined the London Corresponding Society in 1796, which campaigned to extend the vote to working men and was deeply unpopular with the government, who had tried to charge its leaders with treason. He started a book and print shop with a circulating library in Lambeth Walk. In 1811, Hone was employed by the booksellers as auctioneer to the trade, and in 1815 he started the Traveller newspaper. From 1 February to 25 October 1817, Hone published the Reformists' Register, using it to criticise state abuses, which he later attacked in the famous political squibs and parodies, illustrated by George Cruikshank. Among Hone's most successful political satires were The Political house that Jack built (1819), The Queen's Matrimonial Ladder (1820), Ill favour of Queen Caroline, The Man in the Moon (1820) and The Political Showman (1821), all illustrated by Cruikshank. He died at Tottenham and is buried at Dr Watts' Walk in Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington.

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