George Hogarth 1831 Hogarth was editor of a pro-Tory newspaper the Western Luminary, then in 1832 moved to Halifax becoming the first editor of the Halifax Guardian. In 1834, he became a music critic for "The Morning Chronicle" newspaper in London, and in 1835 he became editor-in-chief of "The Evening Chronicle", a post he held for twenty years. From 1846–1866 he worked as a music critic for "The Daily News", a paper which was founded by the novelist Charles Dickens. He had previously met Dickens in 1834 while they were both working for the "Morning Chronicle". In 1836 Dickens married Hogarth's eldest
The Bench (Hogarth) painter, and was anxious both to distance himself once and for all from the caricaturists, and to prove both that he could capture the true nature of his subjects. Hogarth originally dedicated the print to the soldier and caricaturist George Townshend, but removed the dedication before the print was issued, fearing it would be misinterpreted; some variations on the first state of the print still show "Addressed to the Hon'ble Col. T—ns—d". Townshend was just the sort of talented amateur Hogarth despised: he used his talents as a caricaturist to attack his political opponents and gain an advantage for himself;