Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens (February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870), pen-name “Boz”, was a cherished English novelist, whom many regard as the most important of the Victorian era. During his lifetime Dickens is viewed as a popular entertainer of fecund imagination, while later critics championed his mastery of prose, his endless invention of memorable characters, and his powerful social sensibilities. The popularity of his novels and short stories during his lifetime and to the present is demonstrated by the fact that none of them has ever gone out of print. Dickens played a major role in popularizing the serialized novel.

Later life

Dickens separated from his wife in 1858. In Victorian times, divorce was almost unthinkable, particularly for someone as famous as he was. He continued to maintain her in a house for the next twenty years until she died. Although they were initially happy together, Catherine did not seem to share quite the same boundless energy for life which Dickens had. Her job of looking after their ten children and the pressure of living with and keeping house for a world-famous novelist certainly did not help. Catherine’s sister Georgina moved in to help her, but there were rumours that Charles was romantically linked to his sister-in-law. An indication of his marital dissatisfaction was when, in 1855, he went to meet his first love Maria Beadnell. Maria was by this time married as well, but she seems to have fallen short of Dickens’ romantic memory of her.

Related Topics:
1858 - 1855

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On the 9th June, 1865, while returning from France to see Ellen Ternan, Dickens was involved in the Staplehurst train crash in which the first six carriages of the train plunged off of a bridge that was being repaired. The only first-class carriage to remain on the track was the one in which Dickens was berthed. Dickens spent some time tending the wounded and the dying before rescuers arrived; before finally leaving, he remembered the unfinished manuscript for Our Mutual Friend, and he returned to his carriage to retrieve it.

Related Topics:
9th June - 1865 - Ellen Ternan - Our Mutual Friend

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Dickens managed to avoid an appearance at the inquiry into the crash, as it would have become known that he was travelling that day with Ellen Ternan and her mother, which could have caused a scandal. Ellen, an actress, had been Dickens’ companion since the break-up of his marriage, and, as he had met her in 1857, she was most likely the ultimate reason for that break-up. She continued to be his companion, and probably mistress, until his death.

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Although unharmed, he never really recovered from the crash, which is most evident in the fact that his normally prolific writing shrank to completing Our Mutual Friend and starting the unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Much of his time was taken up with public readings from his best-loved novels. The shows were extremely popular,and on December 2, 1867, Dickens gave his first public reading in the United States at a New York City theatre. The effort and passion he put into these readings with individual character voices is also thought to have contributed to his death.

Related Topics:
Our Mutual Friend - The Mystery of Edwin Drood - December 2 - 1867 - United States - New York City

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Exactly five years to the day after the Staplehurst crash, on June 9, 1870, he died after suffering a stroke. Contrary to his wish to be buried in Rochester Cathedral, he was buried in the Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey. The inscription on his tomb reads: “He was a sympathiser to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England’s greatest writers is lost to the world.”

Related Topics:
June 9 - 1870 - Poets’ Corner - Westminster Abbey

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In the 1980s, the historic Eastgate House in Rochester, Kent, was converted into a Charles Dickens museum, and an annual Dickens Festival is held in the city. The Eastgate House was closed in 2005 by Medway Council as an economy measure, but a "Dickens World" theme park is scheduled to open in nearby Chatham in 2007. The house in Portsmouth in which Dickens was born has also been made into a museum.

Related Topics:
1980s - Rochester, Kent - 2005 - Medway - Chatham - 2007 - Portsmouth

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