Person    | Male  Born 7/2/1812  Died 9/6/1870

Charles Dickens

Born, son of Elizabeth and John Dickens, at No.1 Mile End Terrace, Landport, Portsmouth (where there is a museum). For a map showing many of his London addresses see Londonist. His family were so peripatetic that he had lived in at least 17 places by the time he was 22 and moved out.

Dickens wanted to be buried in Rochester Cathedral but instead we find him in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, with the inscription: 'He was a sympathiser to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world.' His will specified: 'I conjure to my friends on no account to make me the subject of any monument, memorial or testimonial whatsoever.' Despite this stipulation there is a statue in Sydney and a life-size 1891 bronze by Francis Edwin Elwell in Philadelphia and, in 2014 (late for the 2012 celebrations) a statue by Martin Jennings was unveiled in Portsmouth. Digital Journal in 2011 has more to say about Dickens statues. And what would Dickens have said about all the plaques? But the Portsmouth statue-erectors argue that Dickens' ban on memorials was "just him talking about funeral arrangements" and they point out that he sat for several sculptors.

Lots to read by Dickens and about Dickens but we'd recommend one academic detective novel, about the research that led to the listing, and saving, of the Cleveland Street Workhouse, the one that almost certainly inspired Dickens to write 'Oliver Twist'. Dickens and the Workhouse by Ruth Richardson.

2016: Londonist keeps returning to Dickens and here is surely the last word in Dickens mapped.

2022: Londonist have found another spin: Did Charles Dickens Ever Ride On The London Underground?

2023: This image is Charles Dickens by Margaret Gillies, 1843, courtesy of the Charles Dickens Museum.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Charles Dickens

Commemorated ati

7 - Wine Office Court – Dickens

Mr Lirriper's Lodgings The Extra Christmas Number All the Year Round Charles ...

Read More

Black Bull Inn, W6

This is a much travelled bull. It was sculpted by Obadiah Pulham at Woodbridg...

Read More

Bradbury & Evans

Oh, dear, what is happening to the City plaques? This one looks really cheap...

Read More

Charles Dickens - blacking factory

This was the site of the blacking factory where Dickens worked, aged 12 or 13...

Read More

Charles Dickens - Cranleigh Street

In Dickens' time it was called Johnson Street. His house was number 29 though...

Read More

Show all 44

This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Charles Dickens

Creations i

Dog and Pot sculpture

Dickens was a boy of 12 when he passed this sign on his way to work in 1824. ...

Read More

Little Dorrit gate

The quoted text comes at the end of Chapter 13 of 'Little Dorrit' by Charles ...

Read More

Marcus Grantham Fountain

{On a plaque fixed to the rim of the fountain:} In October 1976 this fountai...

Read More

Marshalsea 1 - stone - round

Quoted from Chapter 3 of Little Dorrit.

Read More

Marshalsea 4 - stone - spiral

Quoted from Charles Dickens' preface to Little Dorrit.

Read More

Other Subjects

Lord John Russell

Lord John Russell

Author, Prime Minister.  Born Hertford Street, Mayfair, the 3rd son of the Duke of Bedford. First Earl Russell. One of the Commissioners for the Great Exhibition, 1851.  Prime Minister: 1846-52, 18...

Person, Literature, Politics & Administration

4 memorials
Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie

Detective novelist and playwright.  Born in Torquay, into a well-off family, where a bust has been erected, as Agatha Miller.  Married Archie Christie in 1914.  In WW1 she trained and worked in a p...

Person, Cinema, Literature, Seriously Famous, TV & Radio

5 memorials
Benjamin Disraeli

Benjamin Disraeli

Born Theobalds Road which at the time was 6 King's Road. Novelist, e.g. Coningsby, Sybil, and Tancred. Tory Prime Minister in 1868 and 1874 - 1880. 1st Earl of Beaconsfield. Clearly an interesting ...

Person, Literature, Politics & Administration, Seriously Famous

6 memorials
Arthur Clive Heward Bell

Arthur Clive Heward Bell

Known professionally as Clive Bell, he was an art critic and writer who married Vanessa Stephen, sister of Virginia Woolf. His Wikipedia page gives much information about this man. Additionally we...

Person, Literature

2 memorials

Previously viewed

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

Born and died in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birth date is usually given as the 23rd, the same date as his death, but all that is actually known is that he was baptised 3 days later, on the 26th. Even...

Person, Poetry, Seriously Famous, Theatre

47 memorials
Councillor Angela Hooper

Councillor Angela Hooper

Served on Westminster council from 2002 until her death in 2010. She was Lord Mayor of Westminster from 1994-1995. Awarded the C.B.E. for her work as a senior agent at Conservative Central Office.

Person, Politics & Administration

5 memorials
Festival of Britain

Festival of Britain

'A tonic for the Nation', The Festival was intended to cheer us all up after WW2, and incidentally to celebrate the centenary of the 1851 Great Exhibition. The symbol for the Festival was designed ...

Event, Art, Cinema, Science, Tourism / Traditions

20 memorials