Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cockton, Henry
COCKTON, HENRY (1807–1853), humorous novelist, born in London on 7 Dec. 1807, was the second of three brothers, the eldest of whom was William and the youngest Edward. Nothing is known of his parentage or education. His first and most successful work was 'Valentine Vox the Ventriloquist,' published in monthly numbers, and afterwards (1840) in book form, with sixty illustrations by Thomas Onwhyn. The 'Times' declared that it would keep the most melancholy reader in side-shaking fits of laughter. On 9 May 1841 he was married to Ann Howes at St. James's Church, Bury St. Edmunds. There he lost much money in a malting speculation, a business of which he was entirely ignorant. In 1841 he published 'George St. George Julian the Prince,' with twenty-five illustrations by Onwhyn. The hero is a 'prince' of ingenious knaves, and the book is meant to put the inexperienced on their guard against adventurers, and to expose the defective state of the laws upon bigamy. The frontispiece was an engraving from the portrait of Cockton, painted by James Warren Childe [q. v.] 'Stanley Thorne' appeared in 'Bentley's Miscellany' between January 1840 and August 1841, and was afterwards published in three volumes, with fifteen illustrations by George Cruikshank, John Leech, and Alfred Crowquill. Cockton's next work, entitled 'England and France,' was a description of the contrasts of modern life in the two countries. 'Sylvester Sound the Somnambulist' was issued in numbers in 1843 and 1844, and published in 1844, with forty-three illustrations by Onwhyn. 'The Love Match,' 'designed to illustrate the various conflicting influences which sprang from the union of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Todd,' appeared in 1845, with twenty-two embellishments by Onwhyn. Prefixed to the book was a laconic 'address,' in which Cockton announced that it would be his last work. He proceeded, however, to publish a romance in real life called 'The Steward' (first issued in six monthly numbers) in 1850, with twenty-two illustrations by Onwhyn. 'The Sisters, or the Fatal Marriages,' was completed in 1851, with eighty illustrations by Thomas Onwhyn, Kenny Meadows, and Alfred Crowquill; 'Lady Felicia' in 1852; and 'Percy Effingham, or the Germ of the World's Esteem,' in 1852, in two volumes. On 26 June 1853 Cockton died of consumption at his residence in Bury St. Edmunds. His elder brother, William, died on 19 Sept. 1853; his younger brother, Edward, went to Australia, and was never afterwards heard of. His widow married again, and died soon afterwards. His only son, who was a mere boy when his father died, has been unable to preserve or to obtain any record at all as to either the surroundings or antecedents of his father.
[Recollections derived personally from the novelist's only son, Mr. Edward Stanley Cockton, now musical director at Greenwich Hospital; Bury and Norwich Post, 28 June 1853; Gent. Mag. xl. (new ser.) 212, 539; Allibone, i. 401.]