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 Leslie  Haden-Guest

Lord Leslie Haden-Guest

Born Oldham. Author, journalist, doctor and member of parliament. Served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the Boer War, WW1 and WW2, winning a Military Cross. First Jewish Labour Party candidat...

Person, Journalism / Publishing, Literature, Medicine, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Sir Alan Herbert

Sir Alan Herbert

Author and politician. Born Alan Patrick Herbert at Ashtead Lodge, Ashtead, Leatherhead. He was called to the bar, but never practised. Joined Punch magazine as a writer in 1924 and went on to writ...

Person, Literature, Music / songs, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Lady Winifred Fortescue

Lady Winifred Fortescue

Writer and actress. Born as Winifred Beech in a Suffolk rectory. Died France. 1914 she married John Fortescue (1859-1933, librarian, archivist at Windsor Castle and British Army historian), despit...

Person, Benefactor, Literature, Theatre, France

1 memorial
Tobias George Smollett

Tobias George Smollett

Born Dalquhurn (now part of Renton) Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Poet and author of novels such as The Adventures of Roderick Random and The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle which supposedly influenced ...

Person, Literature, Poetry, Italy, Scotland

1 memorial
William Hazlitt

William Hazlitt

Essayist. Initially wanted to be a philosopher, then tried painting and then journalism, where he was a success: as a drama reviewer, art critic, political commentator and creating sports writing ...

Person, Literature

3 memorials

Previously viewed

Mr Fegan's Homes

Mr Fegan's Homes

James Fegan set up his first children's home in Deptford, South London in 1870. Others were opened in Greenwich, Southwark, Goudhurst and one in Westminster, known as the Red Lamp, which maybe was ...

Group, Children, Philanthropy, Canada

1 memorial
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association

Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association

Originally established by John Wilder to support psychiatric patients on discharge from hospital at a time when the Mental Health Act meant that psychiatric hospitals were being closed and replaced...

Group, Medicine, Social Welfare

1 memorial
Chelsea Old Church

Chelsea Old Church

SW3, Chelsea Embankment

The splendid A London Inheritance has found a booklet that was published to raise money for the rebuilding fund. That site quotes extensi...

Civilian war dead | WW2
9 subjects commemorated, 2 creators
Josiah Wedgwood

Josiah Wedgwood

Master potter. Born in Burslem, Stoke, Staffordshire, into a potters family. Married his cousin, Sally. Childhood smallpox left him with a limp. His inability to operate the potters wheel meant he ...

Person, Craft / Design, Industry, Politics & Administration, Race Issues, Seriously Famous

4 memorials
Royalty Mansions

Royalty Mansions

Built in 1908 as flats with workrooms for tailors. It was purchased for improvement by the Soho Housing Association in 1978 and after extensive renovation work was opened in 1980. Architects: 190...

Building, Property

1 memorial