Man of Letters
Early in 1846 Dixon decided on a literary career. He was for two months editor of the Cheltenham Journal. While at Cheltenham he won two principal essay prizes in Madden's Prize Essay Magazine. In the summer of 1846, on the recommendation of Douglas Jerrold, he moved to London. He entered the Inner Temple, but was not called to the bar until 1 May 1854. He never practised as a barrister.
About 1850 Dixon was appointed a deputy-commissioner of the Great Exhibition of 1851. He helped to start more than one hundred out of three hundred committees then formed. After a long tour in Europe Dixon became, in January 1853, editor of The Athenaeum, to which he had been a contributor for some years.
Read more about this topic: William Hepworth Dixon
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