Charles Dickens Biography

CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870)
Charles Dickens (Charles John Huffam Dickens) was born in Landport, Portsmouth, on February
7, 1812. Charles was the second of eight children to John Dickens (1786–1851), a clerk in the
Navy Pay Office, and his wife Elizabeth Dickens (1789–1863). The Dickens family moved to
London in 1814 and two years later to Chatham, Kent, where Charles spent early years of his
childhood. Due to the financial difficulties they moved back to London in 1822, where they
settled in Camden Town, a poor neighbourhood of London.
YOUNG CHARLES DICKENS.
The defining moment of Dickens's life occurred when he was 12 years old. His father, who had a
difficult time managing money and was constantly in debt, was imprisoned in the Marshalsea
debtor's prison in 1824. Because of this, Charles was withdrawn from school and forced to work
in a warehouse that handled 'blacking' or shoe polish to help support the family. This experience
left profound psychological and sociological effects on Charles. It gave him a firsthand
acquaintance with poverty and made him the most vigorous and influential voice of the working
classes in his age.
After a few months Dickens's father was released from prison and Charles was allowed to go back
to school. At fifteen his formal education ended and he found employment as an office boy at an
attorney's, while he studied shorthand at night. From 1830 he worked as a shorthand reporter in
the courts and afterwards as a parliamentary and newspaper reporter.
In 1833 Dickens began to contribute short stories and essays to periodicals. A Dinner at Popular
Walk was Dickens's first published story. It appeared in the Monthly Magazine in December
1833. In 1834, still a newspaper reporter, he adopted the soon to be famous pseudonym Boz.
Dickens's first book, a collection of stories titled Sketches by Boz, was published in 1836. In the
same year he married Catherine Hogarth, daughter of the editor of the Evening Chronicle.
Together they had 10 children before they separated in 1858.
Although Dickens's main profession was as a novelist, he continued his journalistic work until the
end of his life, editing The Daily News, Household Words, and All the Year Round. His
connections to various magazines and newspapers gave him the opportunity to begin publishing
his own fiction at the beginning of his career.
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club was published in monthly parts from April 1836 to
November 1837. Pickwick became one of the most popular works of the time, continuing to be so
after it was published in book form in 1837. After the success of Pickwick Dickens embarked on a
full-time career as a novelist, producing work of increasing complexity at an incredible rate:
Oliver Twist (1837-39), Nicholas Nickleby (1838-39), The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge
as part of the Master Humphrey's Clock series (1840-41), all being published in monthly
instalments before being made into books.
PORTRAIT OF CHARLES DICKENS.
In 1842 he travelled with his wife to the United States and Canada, which led to his controversial
American Notes (1842) and is also the basis of some of the episodes in Martin Chuzzlewit.
Dickens's series of five Christmas Books were soon to follow; A Christmas Carol (1843), The
Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845), The Battle of Life (1846), and The Haunted
Man (1848). After living briefly abroad in Italy (1844) and Switzerland (1846) Dickens continued
his success with Dombey and Son (1848), the largely autobiographical David Copperfield (1849-
50), Bleak House (1852-53), Hard Times (1854), Little Dorrit (1857), A Tale of Two Cities (1859),
and Great Expectations (1861).
In 1856 his popularity had allowed him to buy Gad's Hill Place, an estate he had admired since
childhood. In 1858 Dickens began a series of paid readings, which became instantly popular. In
all, Dickens performed more than 400 times. In that year, after a long period of difficulties, he
separated from his wife. It was also around that time that Dickens became involved in an affair
with a young actress named Ellen Ternan. The exact nature of their relationship is unclear, but it
was clearly central to Dickens's personal and professional life.
In the closing years of his life Dickens worsened his declining health by giving numerous
readings. During his readings in 1869 he collapsed, showing symptoms of mild stroke. He
retreated to Gad's Hill and began to work on Edwin Drood, which was never completed.
Charles Dickens died at home on June 9, 1870 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.”
Resource: https://www.dickens-online.info/charles-dickens-biography.htm
YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BgvsWy6bKo
Questionnaire:
1) Where did Dickens begin working when he was 12? Why?

2) In what year was Dickens born?
3) Who was Queen of England at the time?
4) Describe the living conditions in England.
5) How were the poor people of London treated?
6) Why is Dickens’s work so memorable?
7) How was Dickens inspired to create his characters?
8) Who was Dickens’s first love?
9) What jobs did he tackle before becoming a famous writer?
10) Name three publications that Dickens authored.
11) How did the conditions in England influence Dickens’s writing? How did Dickens
influence the time period?

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CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870)

YOUNG CHARLES DICKENS.

PORTRAIT OF CHARLES DICKENS.

1) Where did Dickens begin working when he was 12? Why?

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