A cork-cutter by trade, he lodged with a close friend of the head of the School of Art in Newcastle, William Bell Scott, and through this became acquainted with many of the artists later known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and others in their circle, including Tennyson, Thomas Carlyle and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
[1] His correspondence with the Pre-Raphaelites, some of whom appear to have found him a nuisance, was important in bringing the Pitman Poet Joseph Skipsey to wider notice.
[3] The letters touched on themes of honesty in work, fairness and cooperation, in keeping with his essays engaging with John Stuart Mills, Adam Smith and Malthus.
[1] He sat for many of the artists he corresponded with and a portrait of him by Alfred Dixon (no relation) is in the collection of Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens.
[1] At his death, Dixon had a substantial archive of letters, which he desired to be left to the town of Sunderland as a single collection with his books and art.