Dickens Fast Facts

Full Name: Charles John Huffam Dickens (early alias: Boz)

Date of Birth: Friday, February 7, 1812

Place of Birth: No. 1 Mile End Terrace, Landport, Portsmouth England

Parents: Father-John Dickens (1785-1851); Mother-Elizabeth Dickens (1789-1863)

Education: Approx. one year at William Giles' school in Chatham, Kent (age 9-11); nearly three years Wellington House Academy in London (age 13-15); beyond this, largely self-educated.

First Published Story: A Dinner at Poplar Walk published in Monthly Magazine (December 1833)

Marriage: Catherine (Hogarth) Dickens (1815-1879) : married April 2, 1836 in St. Luke's Church, Chelsea : Separated 1858

Children

Date of Death: Thursday, June 9, 1870 (stroke)

Place of Burial: Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey, London

A Defining Episode in Dickens' Life
The episode in Dickens' childhood when his father was imprisoned for debt and 12-year-old Charles was sent to work in a factory to help support the family is absolutely essential in knowing and understanding Dickens. This episode seemed to put a stain on the clever, sensitive boy that colored everything he accomplished, though he never told the story except obliquely through his fiction.

Major Works

The Old Curiosity Shop