Charles Dickens Biography

CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870)

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Jessica González

“Despite the many years that have passed,

Charles Dickens remains one of the greatest

writers of the English language, who used his

creative genius to campaign passionately for

social justice”.

Prince of Wales

CHILDHOOD

• Dickens was born on 7th February 1812 in

Portsmouth.

• He spent the first ten years of his life in

Kent.

• Charles was the second of eight children.

HIS PARENTS

• His mother, Elizabeth Barrow, had been in

service to Lord Crew although she aspired

to be a teacher and school director.

• His father, inspiration for the character of

Mr Micawber in 'David Copperfield', worked

as a clerk for the Naval Pay office.

• In 1822, the Dickens family moved to

Camden Town.

• John Dickens was imprisoned for debt in

1824, when Charles was just twelve years

old.

• Dickens’s mother moved into the prison

with seven of her children.

• Only Charles lived outside the prison in order

to earn money for the struggling family.

• He worked with other children pasting labels

on bottles in a blacking warehouse where he

endured appalling conditions as well as

loneliness and despair.

Dickens was permitted to go back to school

when his father received a family

inheritance and used it to pay off his debts,

but the experience was never forgotten

and became fictionalized in two of his

better-known novels 'David Copperfield'

and 'Great Expectations'.

• As a young boy, Charles Dickens was

exposed to many artistic and literary works

that allowed his imagination to grow and

develop considerably.

• He was greatly influenced by the stories his

nursemaid used to tell him and by his many

visits to the theater.

Additionally, Dickens

loved to read. Among

his favorite works

were Don Quijote by

Miguel de Cervantes,

Tome Jones by Henry

Fielding, and Arabian

Nights.

ADOLESCENCEAlthough he had little formal schooling, Dickens

was able to teach himself shorthand and launch a

career as a journalist.

At the age of sixteen, Dickens got himself a job as

a court reporter, his own father became a

reporter, and shortly thereafter he joined the

staff of A Mirror of Parliament, a newspaper that

reported on the decisions of Parliament.

During this time Charles continued to read

voraciously at the British Library, and he

experimented with acting and stage-managing

amateur theatricals.

Fast becoming disillusioned with politics, Dickens

developed an interest in social reform and began

contributing to the True Sun, a radical newspaper because

he fast became disillusioned with politics.

YOUTH

• Then in 1833 he became parliamentary journalist

for The Morning Chronicle.

• With new contacts in the press he was able to

publish a series of sketches under the pseudonym

'Boz'.

In 1836 Dickens also married Catherine Hogarth,

the daughter of a fellow co-worker at his

newspaper. The couple had ten children before

their separation in 1858.

His travels abroad in the 1840s, first to America

and then through Europe, marked the beginning

of a new stage in Dickens’ life.

LATER YEARS

• His writings became longer and more serious.

• As well as a huge list of novels he published

autobiography, edited weekly periodicals

including 'Household Words' and 'All Year Round',

wrote travel books and administered charitable

organizations.

• 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.

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.

• Dickens’ health began to deteriorate in the

1860s.

• In 1858, in response to his increasing fame, he

had begun public readings of his works.

• These exacted a great physical toll on him.

• An immensely profitable but physically shattering

series of readings in America in 1867-68 sped his

decline.

He died of a stroke in 1870. He is buried at

Westminster Abbey.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• “The Routledge History of Literature in English”, Ronald Carter and John McRae. Britain and Ireland, 1.997.

• Santiago de Compostela (USC) Notes given byManuel Barbeito, Margarita Estévez and Laura Lojo.

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/dickens_charles.shtml

• http://www.dickens-online.info/charles-dickens-biography.htm

• http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/greatex/context.html