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.

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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 ...

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Black Bull Inn, W6

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

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Bradbury & Evans

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

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Charles Dickens - blacking factory

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

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Charles Dickens - Cranleigh Street

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

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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. ...

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Little Dorrit gate

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

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Marcus Grantham Fountain

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

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Marshalsea 1 - stone - round

Quoted from Chapter 3 of Little Dorrit.

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Marshalsea 4 - stone - spiral

Quoted from Charles Dickens' preface to Little Dorrit.

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Other Subjects

Royal Literary Fund

Royal Literary Fund

British benevolent fund for professional published authors in financial difficulties. The Prince Regent supported it by providing premises at 36 Gerrard Street.

Group, Literature, Philanthropy

1 memorial
Henry Watson Fowler

Henry Watson Fowler

Lexicographer, grammarian and schoolteacher. Born at Tonbridge, Kent. He taught at Fettes College in Edinburgh and Sedbergh School in Yorkshire. Best remembered for 'A Dictionary of Modern English ...

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2 memorials
Evelyn Waugh

Evelyn Waugh

Writer. Born 11 Hillfield Road, West Hampstead.  Wrote "Decline and Fall", "Brideshead Revisited".  And we have to tell you the strange but true fact that Waugh's first wife's name was also Evelyn....

Person, Literature, Seriously Famous

2 memorials
Poets' Corner

Poets' Corner

The popular name for the south transept of Westminster Abbey. Geoffrey Chaucer was the first person to be interred here, although it was for his position as Clerk of Works to the Palace of Westmins...

Place, Literature

1 memorial
Lady Dorothy Nevill

Lady Dorothy Nevill

Hostess, horticulturist, collector, writer. Born 11 Berkeley Square. Daughter of Horatio Walpole, third earl of Orford, Died at home at 45 Charles Street.

Person, Gardens / Agriculture, Literature

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Equiano Society

Equiano Society

From their website: "The Equiano Society was founded by Arthur Torrington and Samuel B. King in London in November 1996. Its main objective is to publicise and celebrate the life and work of Olauda...

Group, History, Race Issues, Africa

1 memorial
A. Coles

A. Coles

R.F.N. in the Kings Royal Rifles. Andrew Behan has researched this man: Rifleman Arthur Edward Coles was born in 1895 in Goathurst, Bridgwater, Somerset, the eldest son of the four children of Fre...

Person

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Edgar Kail

Edgar Kail

Footballer. Born in Camberwell. He signed for Dulwich Hamlet Football Club in 1915, and repeatedly turned down offers to join professional clubs. His team won the F.A. Amateur Cup in 1920 and 1932,...

Person, Sport / Games, Scotland

1 memorial
Dora Gordine

Dora Gordine

Born Latvia. First visited London in 1926. The Picture Source website provides a biography. Married Richard Hare and built, with him, Dorich House which is where she died and is now a museum. For ...

Person, Sculpture, Latvia

1 memorial