Author+Biography

 On February 7th, 1812, Elizabeth Dickens gave birth to her second of eight children whom she and her husband, John Dickens, would name Charles John Huffam Dickens. Charles’ family was never very financially stable. His father held a job as a clerk at the Naval Pay Office, but was often forced to transfer to new cities and more often than not he took pay cuts rather than raises. Charles was taught to read and write by his mother and gained his first formal education while living in Chatham. He enjoyed traversing the streets of Chatham with his father; discussing the books he read from John Dickens’ personal collection. On these walks, Charles often admired the Gad’s Hill Place mansion. John told his son that with by working hard enough and putting forth enough effort, he could own such a home. This, among other defining moments of his life, would be the source of his motivation later in life. At the age of twelve, Charles left school to work in Warren’s Blacking Factory (a shoe polish factory) so that he could aid his family with their finances. At that point in his life, Charles’ father had been placed in debtors’ prison and the rest of the family, with the exception of him, joined John. Dickens’ father was unable to repay the multiple loans he took out to support his family and Elizabeth’s widowed sister, Mary Allen. Charles worked in the factory and supported himself with what little payment collected from the factory until his father was released several months later in May of 1824. Dickens left the factory and enrolled at Wellington Academy to continue his education until he was fifteen years old. In 1827, Charles began working as a junior clerk for a small legal firm; Ellis & Blackmore. During this time, he learned how to write in shorthand and educated himself at the British Museum Library. Several years later, Dickens discovered his natural aptness in writing while working as a reporter for several newspapers. During his time as a reporter, he fell in love with a young woman named Maria Beadnell. His love was dashed, however, when her parents arranged for her to continue her education in Paris, France. When she finally did return to London in 1833, she showed little to no interest in Dickens and thus he ended his relationship with her. That year Dickens would become engaged and wed to Catherine Hogarth. By this time, Dickens had adopted the pen-name “Boz;” a nickname that he had given his younger brother Augustus in their youth. Not long after assuming the pseudonym, Dickens published his first series: Sketches by Boz which he later published as a collection and would soon be followed by the Pickwick Papers (1836); the series that solidified his career as a novelist. Dickens began producing more and more works at increasingly faster rates, like Oliver Twist (1837), Nicholas Nickleby (1838), The Old Curiosity Shop (1839) and Banrnaby Rudge (1841); among numerous other works (Brattin). The focus of his novels progressively shifted more towards social issues, such as the poor working conditions children experienced in factories and the abuse of children in Yorkshire Schools. They also began to reflect more aspects of his personal life and childhood. “He knew the way to keep readers would be by balancing his depiction of the social abuses with the comedy they had come to expect from the author of Pickwick.” Unfortunately, Charles Dickens’ success did not translate into any success for his father. In 1851, John Dickens died during a surgery and his son “paid off his father’s debts” one final time. Years after John Dickens’ death, Charles Dickens finally fulfilled his the dream inspired by his father; he purchased the Gad’s Hill Place and moved his family into their new home by 1860. Sadly, however, his family would have little time to enjoy their new home together. That year, the esteemed author fell in love with an actress from his theatrical company, Ellen Ternan, who was often called “Nelly." “Matters came to head when a jeweler delivered to Catherine a bracelet Dickens intended for Nelly- clearly inscribed with her initials.” Although Catherine’s mother advised she leave Dickens, divorce was an unacceptable option during that period, especially for someone of his fame and standing. Dickens and Catherine agreed to separate without a divorce and she took their eldest son along with her. She was given a home to live and an allowance of six-hundred pounds per year to live off of. Dickens continued to write throughout his later life; producing such novels as David Copperfield (1849), Bleak House (1852), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1860), and Our Mutual Friend (1864) (Brattin; Cody). The last few years of his life were abundant with travel as he had a tour of readings across various parts of England. His readings were brought to a halt when one day he collapsed in April 1869 because of a minor stroke. Dickens gave several more readings in 1870 before suffering a stroke in his home on June 8th, 1870 and died the following morning at the age of fifty-eight. Dickens was laid to rest in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey on June fourteenth.