Mary Hogarth beautiful and light-hearted". When Robert Story visited the Hogarth household in 1836, he described Hogarth as "the fairest flower of spring". Dickens showed particular affection to Hogarth, and described her as "a close friend, an exceptional sister, a companion at home." It is believed that Hogarth was the first person to read "The Pickwick Papers" and "Oliver Twist", as Dickens valued Hogarth's input and feedback more than his wife's. In the early hours of 7 May 1837, after Hogarth had returned from a showing of "Is She His Wife?" at the St James's Theatre with the Dickens couple, she collapsed
John Hampson (novelist) John Hampson (novelist) John Frederick Norman Hampson Simpson (26 March 1901 – 26 December 1955), who wrote as John Hampson, was an English novelist. Best known for his 1931 novel "Saturday Night at the Greyhound" – an unexpected success for the Hogarth Press – he was a member of the Birmingham Group of working class authors which included Walter Allen, Leslie Halward, Walter Brierley and Peter Chamberlain. His elder brother was the motorcycle racer, Jimmy Simpson (James Hampson-Simpson). Hampson was born in Handsworth in Birmingham. Unable to complete his formal education due to ill health, Hampson worked in a munitions