On February 8, 1819, prominent social thinker and philanthropist John Ruskin was born. He is considered the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman and watercolourist. He was hugely influential in the latter half of the 19th century up to the First World War and today, his ideas and concerns are widely recognised as having anticipated interest in environmentalism, sustainability and craft.
On February 1812, the English writer and social critic known as one of the greatest novelists of the Victorian period, Charles John Huffam Dickens was born.