Charles Dickens & Hampshire
Charles Dickens was born at 387 Mile End Terrace,
Landport, Portsmouth in 1812,
the second of eight children to John and wife Elizabeth Dickens.
When Charles was six months old they moved to 18 Hawke
Street and when he was five, they moved to Chatham, Kent and then in 1822,
when he was ten, to Camden Town in London.
Charles Dickens contributed greatly to classical English literature.
His novels often depict the seedier side of Victorian life alongside the
quintessential romantic themes. He writes of squalor by allowing us a familiarity
with the desperation of characters and has no need for the lengthy descriptive text
reminiscent of Thomas Hardy's countryside preambling. Dickens used his characters
as the eyes to the reality of being hungry and without hope - through them we
understand the essence of Victorian England.
His own story is one of rags to riches. He was sent to school at the age of nine
but his father, inspiration for the character of Mr Micawber in David Copperfield, was
imprisoned for owing owing £40 and 10 shillings. The entire family, apart from Charles, were sent to
Marshalsea, a notorious prison on the south bank of the River Thames in the London borough of Southwark.
Charles was sent to work in Warren's blacking factory and endured appalling
conditions as well as loneliness and despair. After three years he was returned to
school but the experience was
never forgotten and became fictionalised in two of his better-known novels, David
Copperfield and
Great Expectations.
Little Dorrit was published in 19 monthly instalments, each comprising 32 pages and two illustrations by Phiz. Each cost a shilling, with the exception of the last, double issue, which cost two.
Scenes from the 2008 BBC production of Little Dorrit
Jean Simmons, Martita Hunt as
Estella & Miss Havisham and Alec Guinness
as Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations 1947
Dickens died in 1870 and is buried at Westminster Abbey.
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