Charles Dickens

1867-1868

Ellen Ternan (mistress, 1839-1914)

> "*Have a heart that never hardens and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.*"
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Charles John Huffam Dickens (February 7th, 1812 - June 9th, 1870), was an English writer and social critic. He is widely considered to be the greatest writer of the Victorian era and is beloved for his novels that focused on social class, poverty, and society in 19th century England.

His works received massive popularity during his lifetime, and are still beloved today. Many scholars and readers consider him to be a literary genius.

## Biography

### Early Life

Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on February 7th, 1812, at 1 Mile End Terrace in Landport, Portsmouth, England. He was the second child of John Dickens, a clerk of the Royal Navy, and Elizabeth Dickens (née Barrow).

   John and Elizabeth Dickens first met through her brother Thomas Barrow, who worked with John at Somerset House, and they were married in 1809. Afterwards, they rented out the house at 1 Mile Terrace in Portsmouth for £35 while John was stationed at the Portsmouth dockyard. It was their first home together. Their first child, Fanny, was born in 1810, followed by their son Dickens two years later. Overall, John and Elizabeth had eight children: Dickens’s other siblings were Alfred, Letitia, Harriet, Frederick, Alfred Lambert, and Augustus. Two of their children died in childhood. In addition, John and Elizabeth were very outgoing, sociable people who enjoyed attending lavish dinner parties and events; in fact, Elizabeth once claimed she attended a ball the night she gave birth to Dickens.

At the time of Dickens’s birth, the British Empire participated in the Napoleonic wars raging across Europe. Britain would also be involved in another conflict with America, later known as the War of 1812. As such, John was often busy with his job and earning an average salary of £120. However, Dickens’s parents spent most of their income on parties and events, and John’s salary wasn’t enough to keep his family afloat.

Dickens was baptized on March 4th, 1812, at St. Mary’s Church in Portsmouth. His first name, Charles, was passed down from his maternal grandfather, his middle name, John, was from his father, and Huffam was from his father’s friend and colleague, Christopher Huffam, who was also Dickens’s godfather. About five months after his birth, Dickens and his family moved to 16 Hawke Street and 39 Wish Street, both in Portsmouth. In 1815, the family left Portsmouth forever and moved to 10 Norfolk Street in Camden, London, after John was summoned to work at Somerset House. When Dickens was five years old, John was reposted again in Chatham, so the family left London and lived at 2 Ordnance Street.

In Chatham, Dickens spent the most idyllic years of his early childhood. He and his siblings have a wide, open space outdoors for them to play, and they also become friends and playmates with their neighbours’ children. Occasionally, he may have witnessed the ships coming and going and the industrial activity in the Dockyard. In addition, he developed a love and passion for reading. He enjoyed reading books from famous 18th-century authors such as Tom Jones and Oliver Goldsmith and even enjoyed Daniel Defoe’s *Robinson Crusoe* and the *Arabian Nights*. However, he also suffered from spasms in his side that prevented him from participating in any recreational activities with the other children, and he wasn’t very good at playing cricket. He and his older sister, Fanny, enjoyed singing and performing recitals, and they even briefly attended a dame school in Rome Lane, Chatham. Afterwards, he was enrolled in a private school in Clover Lane run by William Giles, a Baptist minister. He loved his school, excelled at his studies, and looked up to his headmaster, William Giles, as his personal mentor.

One of Dickens’s fondest childhood memories was walking in the countryside with his father when he was nine years old. They discovered an old, brick 18th-century house built in 1780. Dickens was immediately smitten by it, and John advised his son that if he worked hard, he could own the house one day. As such, Dickens would frequently visit the house and imagine owning it in the future.

In 1821, the family started to struggle with financial issues, and they moved out of 2 Ordnance Street and lived at 18 St. Marys Place. A year later, John was called back to London from Somerset House, and the family returned to London and settled at Bayham Street in Camden Town, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the city. Dickens was allowed to stay in Chatham to complete his final term before joining his family, who were now living at 16 Bayham Street. A family relative, James Lamert, also moved in the house. In the street where the family lived, it was crowded, filthy and noisy, and many of the residents roamed the streets ragged and barefoot. The house Dickens and his family lived in was small, with very little room for the growing family. Dickens had a hard time befriending the local children, but when the smog in the sky cleared, he could see the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Fanny Dickens was talented at music and playing the piano, so she was enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music. Dickens started visiting family relatives that lived in the area, and one example was when Elizabeth took her son to visit her eldest brother, Thomas Barrow, who lived in lodgings at Gerard Street in Soho, and suffered from a broken leg following a fall. Below Barrow's lodgings lived Mrs. Manson, whose late husband was a bookseller and she was running the business. When Dickens met her, she was kind to him and offered him some books to read. One of his favourites was George Colman's *Broad Grins*, and he was fascinated by the description of Covent Gardens in the book that he went to the real Covent Garden to compare it. When he smelled the scent of cabbage leaves at the Covent Garden, he described it "*as if it were the very breath of comic fiction*." He even wrote descriptions of several people he met, such as an eccentric, talkative barber who shaved his uncle Barrow's head, and often told stories about the Napoleonic Wars and about Napoleon's mistakes. The other was a deaf woman who worked in the kitchen at Bayham Street and prepared "*delicate hashes with walnut-ketchup.*"

Dickens was fascinated by London, and would spend most of his time exploring the districts and landmarks, that would later become a backdrop in his novels. He also met his godfather, Christopher Huffam, who worked as a ship rigger at Limehouse. Huffam offered Dickens a glimpse of life at the boatyard and invited him to sing comic songs. However, Dickens was miserable in London, as he missed his school in Chatham and desperately wanted to continue his education, as his family couldn't afford to enrol him into another school. James Lamert tried to cheer him up by building him a toy theatre. At home, his parents were constantly struggling with their finances and caring for his younger siblings. The following year, Lamert moved out of Bayham Street to work in his cousin's business, and Huffam encouraged Elizabeth to operate a school, as he had connections from the East Indies, and she would educate young students from wealthy British families in India. He hoped that if the school becomes a success, the family's finances would become stable again. In December, the family moved to 4 Gower Street North, but Elizabeth's plan to run a school failed, as no students arrived and the inquiries failed.

In February 1824, the rising debts worsened, and John Dickens was arrested and sent to the Marshalsea debtors prison in Southwark. Since none of the family's relatives came to help, Dickens struggled to support his mother and raise his siblings and sold almost everything to a pawnbroker to earn some money. James Lamert came forward and said his cousin, George Lamert, ran a blacking warehouse at Hungerford Stairs called Warren's Blacking Factory, founded by Jonathan Warren. He suggested that Dickens could work there and earn six shillings a week. Dickens's parents agreed on this offer.

The warehouse was in an old, half-ruined building above the River Thames. It was filthy, dark and infested with rats. Dickens would work 10-11 hours a day at a table, labelling jars with boot polish. His mother and siblings were evicted from their home and joined his father in the prison, as it was common for men with unpaid debts in the early 19th century to have their families live with them in jail. Additionally, those who owed money at the time would be imprisoned until they could pay off their debts. Fanny was able to continue her studies at the Royal Academy and stayed there, but Dickens stayed with a family friend, Mrs. Roylance, who lived in Camden Town and often took in young children. Her house was three miles from the factory, and she may have inspired the character Mrs. Pipchin in his novel *Dombey and Son*. He later lodged at a house that belonged to the Vestry Clerk of St. George's Church. On Sundays, he picked up Fanny at the Royal Academy, and they visited their father at Marshalsea.

While at the Warren’s Blacking Factory, Dickens befriended an orphan named Bob Fagin, who lived with his brother-in-law and another boy named Poll Green. When he wasn't working, he would explore more areas past Blackfriars Bridge and play on the coal barges near the Thames with Bob and Poll. But he felt that his family had failed him and was on his own to fend for himself at the warehouse, which he saw as a place that destroyed his childhood innocence. His employment at the factory would traumatize him for the rest of his life and influence him in his writing career. Later in life, he would sometimes break down into tears whenever he passed by the factory.

In April, Dickens's paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Dickens, died, and his uncle, William Dickens, arranged the funeral services. John couldn't attend, but his mother also bequeathed her son £450. In May, John was finally released from Marshalsea under the Insolvent Debtors Act, and he requested to retire early with a pension. He resumed his position at Somerset House, and the family briefly lived with Mrs. Roylance before moving to a rented house in Somers Town. The blacking factory moved to Chandos Street in Covent Garden. On June 29th, 1824, Dickens and his family watched as Fanny performed at a public concert and was awarded a silver medal. This made Dickens emotional and painful, thinking that he would never be able to accomplish any honours in his life. A year later, John's pension was accepted and he retired from the Navy Pay Office, with a pension grant of £145. While he managed to pay off his debts, Elizabeth insisted their son should work longer. But following a quarrel between John and James Lamert, Dickens left Warren's Blacking Factory for good and reunited with his family.

Elizabeth wanted her son to return to work, but John insisted he should return to school. There is a school near the Dickens residence called Wellington House Academy, located at Hampstead Road. It was a boys school that was supposed to be good and taught Latin, mathematics, and English. Dickens was sent there with a card, asking for terms, and before long, he was enrolled in the school.

### Early Writing Career/Marriage

In 1825, Dickens was enrolled at the Wellington House Academy in London, where he excelled at his studies. Despite Dickens finally receiving an education, the school was ran by Mr. William Jones, a sadistic, ruthless headmaster who would often beat his students, and he would later inspire Mr. Creakle in *David Copperfield*.

After two years at Wellington, the Dickens family were once again struggling with their debts and Dickens was forced to leave school again. At age 15, he got a job as a solicitors clerk with the firm of Ellis and Blackmore at Gray’s Inn. In 1828, he switched to another firm, Tweedie and Prideaux. Unsatisfied with working with the law, his next job was a Court Stenographer, and then became a reporter at the Mirror of Parliament. During his career as a reporter, he was a quick learner of the legal system and politics that became the source for his later novel *Bleak House*.

In 1830, Dickens met his first love, Maria Beadnell, who came from a banker family and was two years his senior. He instantly fell in love with her, but because of their social statuses, her parents disapproved their relationship and persuaded her to call off her courtship. In 1832, the courtship ended with Beadnell being sent to school in Paris, and Dickens was left heartbroken.

Despite his first failed attempt at love, Dickens was a energetic and lively young man, who enjoyed attended theatre and took up an interest in writing, a skill he taught himself from his law career. He observed the people and lifestyle around him, and he became more inspired to feature child poverty and poor working conditions in his stories. In 1833, he worked as a journalist for *The Morning Chronicle,* and began writing and publishing short stories under the pen name “Boz”. That same year, he published his first short story “*A Dinner at Poplar Walk*” in the London perodical *Monthly Magazine*. He came up with the pen name “Boz” after his younger brother Augustus who was called “Moses”, after a character in Oliver Goldsmith’s *The Vicar of Wakefield*, but he called him “Boses”.

In 1833, Dickens received a contract to write a novel by publishers Edward Chapman and William Hall, and he would wrote 20 monthly instalments that would earn them one shilling. They also hoped that by Dickens writing his stories, they would have them be accompanied into illustrations by Robert Seymour, one of England’s famous comic artists.

From 1836-37, Dickens wrote and published each instalment of *The Pickwick Papers.* By the time the final chapter of the story was published, it sold 40,000 copies and was met with critical acclaim. At age 24, Dickens was already becoming a celebrity, and he was paid 29 shillings following the publication.

By 1836, his short stories, or “sketches” were formed in a collection that became known as *Sketches by Boz.* Around this time, he was renting out a bachelor apartment at Furnival’s Inn in Holborn since 1834, and he met Catherine Hogarth, the daughter or George Hogarth, an editor for *The Morning Chronicle*. Both Dickens and Catherine began a courtship, and a year later they were engaged. They were married on April 2nd, 1836 at St. Luke’s Church in Chelsea, London, England. They honeymooned in Chalk, near Gravesend, before settling down in Bloomsbury. A year later, their first child, Charles Dickens. Jr, was born on January 6th, 1837.

Dickens took up a three year lease ar 48 Doughty Street in King’s Cross, London in March 1837 and moved there with his young family. That same year, Queen Victoria is crowned that marks the beginning of the Victorian era. Around the same time he lived in London, Dickens worked for the *Bentley’s Miscellany*, and he published instalments for his second novel *Oliver Twist* before it was published as book form in 1838. It became a huge success like his previous novel and was the first Victorian novel to have a child protagonist. Shortly after the book’s success, Dickens cut off ties with *Bentley’s Miscellany,* and *Oliver Twist* was followed by *Nicholas Nickleby* (1839-39).

But Dickens’ rising fame after *The Pickwick Papers* was quickly overshadowed by tragedy. His sister-in-law, Mary Hogarth, moved in with the newlyweds shortly after their wedding as it was common at the time for unmarried women to live with their married sisters. Mary had lived at 48 Doughty Street with her sister and brother-in-law, and Dickens adored and idolized her. She fell ill unexpectedly and died in her brother-in-law’s arms on May 7th, 1837, at just 17 years old. He was so grief-stricken by her death that he missed two publication dates for *The Pickwick Papers* and *Oliver Twist* and were later postponed. He would wear her ring for the rest of his life and even kept a lock of her hair.

Mary Hogarth inspired several young, innocent female Dickens created in his stories, such as Rose Maylie in *Oliver Twist* and Little Nell in *The Old Curiosity Shop.* A year after Mary’s death, Dickens and Catherine’s daughter, Mary Dickens, was born on March 6th, 1838 and was named after her deceased aunt, followed by a second daughter, Catherine “Kate” Dickens on October 29th, 1839.

### First Tour to America

On January 2nd, 1842, Dickens and Catherine travelled to the United States of America for the first time. Their children were left behind in England and were in the care of Dickens’ sister-in-law Georgiana Hogarth, who would become a permanent member of the household. By then, the Dickens family had moved to 1 Devonshire Terrace in Marylebone.

Dickens and Catherine arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, on the RMS Britannia. His popularity and fame following the success of his two novels have spread across the globe, and he was widely popular in America. He was greeted by thousands of people who enjoyed his stories. He was in the process of writing instalments for *The Old Curiosity Shop* (1841-42) and was a huge success in America. So much so that Dickens was warmly greeted by thousands of people who enjoyed his stories when he landed on the port of Boston on January 22nd.

For five months, Dickens and Catherine toured across America and Canada. He visited several American cities, such as Philadelphia, New York City, New York, Hartford, Connecticut, and Washington D.C. He visited hospitals, prisons, and factories, most of which he found to be appealing.

## References

1. ↑ The Victorian Era (1837-1901) was the reign of Queen Victoria, whose reign made Britain the greatest empire in the world.
2. ↑ https://files.schudio.com/little-ilford-school/files/documents/Charles\_Dickens\_Reading\_Comprehension.pdf