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Charles Dickens has been called 'the first great novelist of the industrial city'. London pervades his novels - its people and pleasures, its squalor and depravity. He wrote of the river Thames, its filth and dead bodies, fast steamboats and new bridges. He described the coming of the railways, sweeping a path through the cityscape. He evoked the polluted fogs that hung over the city. He wove his childhood experiences into his writings.

Dickens’s story is one of rags to riches. He was born in Portsmouth in 1812, to John and Elizabeth Dickens. The good fortune of being sent to school at the age of nine was short-lived because his father, inspiration for the character of Mr Micawber in 'David Copperfield', was imprisoned for his debts. The entire family, apart from Charles, were sent to Marshalsea prison. Charles was sent to work in Warren's blacking factory and endured appalling conditions as well as loneliness and despair. Warren's blacking factory in David Copperfield and the Marshalsea Prison in Little Dorrit were two direct responses to his humble upbringing.

Dickens began his literary career as a journalist, writing for The Mirror of Parliament and The True Sun, and in 1833 became parliamentary journalist for The Morning Chronicle. He published a series of sketches under the pseudonym 'Boz'. In April 1836, he married Catherine Hogarth, daughter of George Hogarth who edited 'Sketches by Boz'. Within the same month he published the highly successful 'Pickwick Papers' and quickly rose to the level of literary sensation.

As well as a huge list of novels he published an autobiography, edited weekly periodicals including 'Household Words' and 'All Year Round', wrote travel books and administered charitable organisations. He was also a theatre enthusiast, wrote plays and performed before Queen Victoria in 1851. His energy was inexhaustible and he spent much time abroad - for example lecturing against slavery in the United States and touring Italy.

Dickens drew inspiration from long walks through London, sometimes by day, but more commonly at night and in the early morning. He knew the maze of London's streets, alleys and yards better than anyone. He absorbed the varied speech patterns of Londoners, observed their appearances, noted their peculiarities. He strode endlessly along the city streets, taking in and working out the scenes of his novels.

He was estranged from his wife in 1858 after the birth of their ten children, but maintained relations with his mistress, the actress Ellen Ternan. He died of a stroke in 1870. He is buried at Westminster Abbey.  

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Further information

  • Writer

  • Born: 1812

  • Died: 1870