He was born at Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, England, son of John Aikin, Unitarian divine, and received his elementary education at the Nonconformist academy at Warrington, where his father was a tutor. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and in London under William Hunter. He practised as a surgeon at Chester and Warrington. Finally, he went to Leiden in Holland, earned an M.D. in 1780, and in 1784 established himself as a doctor in Great Yarmouth.^[1]

In 1792, one of his pamphlets having given offence, he moved to London, where he practised as a consulting physician. He lived in Church Street, Stoke Newington. However, he concerned himself more with the advocacy of liberty of conscience than with his professional duties, and he began at an early period to devote himself to literary pursuits, to which his contributions were incessant. When Richard Phillips founded The Monthly Magazine in 1796, Aikin was its first editor. In conjunction with his sister, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, he published a popular series of volumes entitled Evenings at Home (6 vols, 1792–1795), for elementary family reading, which were translated into almost every European language.^[1]

In 1798 Aikin retired altogether from medicine and devoted himself to literary undertakings such as his General Biography (10 vols, 1799–1815). His other work included Biographical Memoirs of Medicine in Great Britain (1780), The Arts of Life... described in a series of letters. For the instruction of young persons (1802, reprinted 1807), and The Lives of John Selden, Esq., and Archbishop Usher (1812).^[1][2]

Apart from editing The Monthly Magazine (1796–1807) and Dodsley's Annual Register (1811–1815),^[3] Aikin produced a paper called The Athenaeum in 1807–1809, not to be confused with the well-known magazine The Athenaeum (1828–1921).^[4]

Aikin had four children, three sons and a daughter.^[5] The eldest son, Arthur, was a prominent scientist, and the youngest, Edmund, an architect.^[6] The second son, Charles, was adopted by Aikin's sister, who had no children. Through Charles, Aikin was grandfather to the writer Anna Letitia Le Breton. His daughter Lucy was a biographer, who in 1823 published Memoir of John Aikin, M.D., with a selection of Miscellaneous Pieces, Biographical, Moral and Critical.^[7]

• Observations on the external use of preparations of lead, with some general remarks on topical medicines, 1772
• Biographical memoirs of medicine in Great Britain from the revival of literature to the time of Harvey, 1780
• England delineated, or, A geographical description of every county in England and Wales. With a concise account of its most important products, natural and artificial : for the use of young persons, 1790
• A view of the character and public services of the late John Howard, Esq. LL.D. F.R.S., 1792
• Miscellaneous pieces, in prose, by John Aikin, M.D. and Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1792)
• Evenings at Home (1792–95)
• Letters from a father to his son, on various topics, relative to literature and the conduct of life (1794)
• A Description of the Country from Thirty to Forty Miles Round Manchester (1795) referenced in The German Ideology by Karl Marx
• General Biography, or lives, critical and historical, of the most eminent persons of all ages, countries, conditions, and professions, arranged according to alphabetical orde. Chiefly composed by John Aikin, M.D. and the late Rev. William Enfield, L (10 volumes, 1799 and completed in 1815)
  • Volume the first
  • Volume the second
  • Volume the third
  • Volume the fourth
  • Volume the fifth
  • Volume the sixth
  • Volume the seventh
  • Volume the eighth
  • Volume the ninth
  • Volume the tenth
• Essays on songwriting. With a collection of such english songs as are most eminent for poetical merit by John Aikin. A new edition, with additions and corrections, and a supplement, by R.H. Evans. 1810
• A View of the Life, Travels, and Philanthropic Labours of the Late John Howard, 1814
• Annals of the Reign of King George the Third (1816)
• Select Works of the British Poets (1820)
• The calendar of nature: designed for the instruction and entertainment of young persons, 1822
• Memoir of John Aikin, M.D. Vol. I; Vol II, 1823. By Lucy Aikin
• The Juvenile Budget Re-opened: Being Further Selections from the Writings of Doctor John Aikin, 1847

•   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons – via Wikisource.

• Ferguson, Frances (May 2017). "The Novel Comes of Age: When Literature Started Talking with Children". Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies. 28 (1). Duke University Press: 37–63. doi:10.1215/10407391-3821688.

• Works by John Aikin at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about John Aikin at the Internet Archive
• Works by John Aikin at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)