William Howitt
Non-Fiction Author
Nineteenth-century British writer of works on history, religion, nature, and magic. His publications include History of Priestcraft in All Ages and Nations, The Man of the People, and Colonization and Christianity.
He married poet Mary (Botham) Howitt in 1821. That same year, the couple co-wrote a literary work entitled The Forest Minstrels and other Poems.
His son, Alfred William Howitt, had a career as an explorer, and his daughter, Anna Mary Howitt, became an artist and author.
He was born into a Quaker family and was raised in Derbyshire and Yorkshire, England. His brothers were poet Richard Howitt and entomologist Godrey Howitt.
He and his wife were close friends of Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell.