He was the eldest brother of William Hazlitt – a major essayist of the English Romantic period, as well as an artist and radical social commentator – and had a significant influence on his career.

[2] In Boston, John Hazlitt attempted to found a drawing school with Joseph Dunkerley, but the pair failed to attract enough subscribers.

[3] His parents and younger siblings settled at Wem in Shropshire, but Hazlitt moved to London, where he studied painting under Sir Joshua Reynolds and became reacquainted with William Godwin, a radical philosopher and novelist.

[5] In May 1789, he married Mary Peirce of Portsea, Portsmouth at St Anne's Church, Soho, and went on to paint several miniature portraits of her.

He possessed great conversational ability, and was distinguished for the extent of his information and versatility of his powers; but was, like his brother, of an irritable temperament.