Charles Dickens
Illustrations to “Pickwick Papers”.

Charles Dickens 1812 -1870

1. Charles Dickens

1812 -1870


Charles Dickens was born
in Portsmouth on 7th of
February, 1812 into a
middle class family of civil
servant John Dickens who
was an open-hearted and
kind man. Charles spent his
childhood in the
atmosphere of love and
friendship, although
endured harder times later


The happiest years were between 1817 and 1822,
when John Dickens held a good post in the Chatham
Dockyard. It was an enchanted time for little


When Dickens was sixteen he went to London, because his father secured the position of a clerk there.
Very soon Charles realized that his happy childhood had been left behind, after his family moved to London
in 1822.


The family lived in poverty. Their household consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Dickens, their five children, a servant and
James Larmert, a relative by marriage. Charles schooling came to an end and he had to contribute to the family
funds. John Larmert found him a job in a warehouse for several shillings a week.


Meanwhile, John Dickens was put into Marshalsea
Debtors prison for his debts and his family had to
follow him into the prison because the debts were
great and they had nobody in London to address for
money. They had to stay in prison until Mr. Dickens
could pay all his debts.


After being released John
Dickens decided to take his
son away from the
warehouse, but his mother
didn’t want to lose the money
her son was earning. Charles
Dickens could never forgive
her. When Dickens was
fifteen he became a lawyer's
clerk. In 1822, having learned
shorthand, he secured a full
time position in the “Mirror
of the Parliament.


He wrote sketches and
signed them “Boz”. It
was his nickname. As a
result his first book
“Sketches by Boz” was
published on his 24th
birthday. The next two
years Charles Dickens
devoted to his famous
“Pickwick Papers”, the
publication which
brought him fame and

9. Illustrations to “Pickwick Papers”.



At 25, in 1837, Charles Dickens was already famous. It was a successful period of his life: his first son was born, his
family moved out of lodgings into a twelve-room house. During the next six years of writing Charles Dickens observed
life and attacked debtors, prisons, schools and workhouses.


The conditions of Yorkshire boarding school
were described in “Nicholas Nickleby” (1839).
He lived at 48, Doughty Street from April 1837
to December 1839 and secured his reputation
here. This house is still standing there.


Charles Dickens was a
very thoughtful writer.
There was a very
important element in his
work which is above all
the others. It is the
power of
characterisation. Most
of the people in his
stories are in a sense
“types”, they are based
on real life people,
though he gave them an
independent vitality.


His visit to the USA in
1842 was not casual.
His purpose was to see
for himself if the
republican experiment
in the United States
had brought a
desirable freedom and
equality for all the
Americans. Dickens
was stuck with horror
at meeting slavery


• Dickens's love of
humanity and the
inherent goodness of
common man opposed to
the egoism of the upper
classes makes him a
central figure in the
literature of England in
the 19th century. Charles
Dickens undertook
several trips in 1864-1869
to Australia, the USA and
Ireland. Afterwards he
became ill and died on 9
June 1870. He was buried
in the Poets’ Corner in
Westminster Abbey in
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