author
Atticus
1835–1912
A sharp-eyed Victorian journalist and local historian, this writer turned the streets, churches, and politics of Preston into lively reading. Writing as “Atticus,” he mixed close observation with a reporter’s feel for character and controversy.
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About the author
Anthony Hewitson, who also published as “Atticus,” was an English provincial journalist, historian, and newspaper man associated closely with Preston, Lancashire. Recent scholarly editions of his diaries describe him as a typical Victorian journalist who worked his way up from printer’s apprentice to reporter and eventually editor of his own paper, and note that he kept diaries from 1862 until his death in 1912.
His writing under the name Atticus included books such as Our Churches and Chapels, and other local historical works connected with Preston. Sources on Hewitson’s life also note that he ran the Preston Chronicle from 1868 to 1890 and wrote for major newspapers including The Times and the Manchester Guardian, giving him both a strong local voice and a wider journalistic reach.
What makes him especially interesting now is the blend of public reporting and private reflection. His surviving diaries have been described as rare records of a nineteenth-century provincial journalist, full of everyday detail about family life, town culture, newspaper work, and the habits of Victorian England. If you enjoy writers who bring local history alive, Atticus has that grounded, first-hand energy.