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~ Charles John Huffam Dickens was born in Landport,
Hampshire, England.
~ His father John, (the original Mr. Micawber in
David Copperfield) was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. His mother Elizabeth was an
outgoing social butterfly.
~ When Dickens was 12, his father was sent to jail for failure to pay
his bills. Charles was sent to work in a shoe-polish factory. Within a year, his father was released from jail,
but his mother preferred that her young son continue to work at
the factory. The experience scarred him for life.
~ Dickens studied at Wellington House Academy, London. Through connections, he landed a job at the law firm of Ellis and Blackmore. Dickens became a law clerk, although he found the work tedious. Becoming a lawyer didn't appeal to him either, so he left to find another way to make a living.
~ In 1830, Dickens fell madly in love with Maria Beadnell. Her
parents did not approve of the relationship. Maria's father, a
banker, felt young Charles would never amount to much, and certainly wouldn't be able to provide for his daughter in the way she had grown accustomed.
~ At the age of eighteen, Dickens applied for a reader's ticket at the British
Museum.
~ In 1834, he became a journalist, reporting on parliamentary debates and elections. He wrote for
True Sun, Mirror of Parliament and the Morning Chronicle.
~ Dickens had a
good ear for conversation which helped to create his colorful characters. He gained the reputation as "the fastest and most accurate man in the gallery." This is when he adopted the pseudonym
"Boz."
~ On April 2, 1836, Dickens married Catherine
Hogart, the daughter of his friend George Hogarth, who edited the
Evening Chronicle. Together, they had ten children.
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~ The first series of
Sketches by Boz was published in 1836, and that same year Dickens was hired to write short
bits for a series of humorous sporting illustrations by Robert
Seymour. After Seymour's suicide, Dickens edited the initial
concept of
The Pickwick Papers, and it became a successful novel.
~ Dickens liked to get up and go to bed at a certain time every day. He wrote between breakfast and lunch. His concentration was so strong during that time, nothing could tempt him away
from his work.
~ Most of Dickens' novels, including
Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, were written in installments for periodicals.
A Christmas Carol was the first of Dickens’ Christmas books, and was reputedly written within a matter of weeks.
~ After a twenty-four year separation Maria contacted Dickens. They were both married and Dickens, the man who her father thought would never amount to much, had become a famous author.
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Thrilled, Dickens agreed to a secret meeting without their spouses. Maria warned Dickens she was not the same young woman that he remembered. Despite her warnings he apparently was surprised at the changes he saw in his first love. She became the character Flora Finching in
Little Dorrit.
~ They met once more for a dinner with their spouses. After that, however, despite Maria's wishes for further contact, Dickens avoided her.
~ Dickens suffered a stroke at his home, Gad's Hill, after a full day's work on
Edwin Drood, and died the next day. He was buried in the Poets’ Corner at Westminster Abbey.
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