1812 Charles John Huffam
Dickens born 7 February at Landport (Portsmouth). Father: John Dickens,
clerk, Navy Pay
Office,
son of butler and housekeeper, Crewe Hall. Mother: Elizabeth Barrow, daughter
of senior clerk, Navy Pay
Office.
Brothers and sisters living to adulthood (two d. in infancy): Frances ("Fanny"),
b. 1810; Letitia, b. 1816;
Frederick,
b. 1820; Alfred, b. 1822; Augustus, b. 1827.
1814-22
John
Dickens transferred to London 1814, to Chatham (near Rochester) 1817, back
to London late 1822. CD at
school
in Chatham 1821-22. Family settles winter 1822-23 at Camden Town, northern
suburb of London.
1824 Increasing financial
difficulty; CD put to work at shoe-blacking warehouse February-June. John
Dickens imprisoned for
debt
during spring; family (except CD) joins him in Marshalsea Prison lodgings.
1824-27
Day
pupil at Wellington House Academy, London.
1827-28
Solicitor's
clerk; studies shorthand.
1829-31
Free-lance
reporter at Doctors Commons courts. Regular reader at British Museum from
eighteenth birthday for several
years.
Meets Maria Beadnell (1830). Studies acting.
1831-32
Shorthand
reporter of Parliamentary proceedings for Mirror of Parliament (from 1831
or early 1832). Reporter for
evening
newspaper True Sun March-July 1832. Bad cold prevents theater audition.
Beadnells send Maria to finishing
school
in Paris 1832.
1833 Break with Maria
Beadnell in May. First published story, "A Dinner at Poplar Walk," December
(eight more publ. in
Monthly
Magazine January 1834-February 1835.)
1834 Reporter for Morning
Chronicle from August; publishes there and elsewhere. Moves to Furnival's
Inn, Holborn.
1835 Engaged to Catherine
Hogarth, daughter of George Hogarth, editor of Evening Chronicle.
1836 Sketches by Boz
(first series) publ. February. Pickwick Papers begins publication in monthly
parts April (continues
through
November 1837). CD marries Catherine Hogarth 2 April; sixteen-year-old
sister Mary Hogarth comes to stay
with
them at Furnival's Inn. Plays produced: The Strange Gentleman and The Village
Coquettes. Leaves Morning
Chronicle
November, accepts editorship of new monthly Bentley's Miscellany. Sketches
by Boz (second series) publ.
December.
First meeting with John Forster December.
1837 PP continues through
November; publ. in 1 vol. November (CD's regular practice on completion
of serial publication;
mention
omitted hereafter). Son Charles Culliford Boz born 6 January (other children
and birthdates: Mary 1838, Kate
Macready
1839, Walter Landor 1841, Francis Jeffrey 1844, Alfred Tennyson 1845, Sydney
Smith1847, Henry
Fielding
1849, Dora Annie 1850 [d. 1851], Edward Bulwer Lytton 1852). Oliver Twist
begins monthly in Bentley's
Miscellany
February (continues through April1839). CD moves to house at 48 Doughty
St. April (now Dickens House,
home
of Dickens Fellowship). Mary Hogarth dies 7 May; PP and OT suspended one
month.
1838 OT continues
in BM. CD travels in Yorkshire February. Mary (Mamie) born 6 March. Nicholas
Nickleby begins in
monthly
parts April (continues through October 1839). OT publ. in 3 vols. November
(before completion of serial
publication).
1839 OT continues in
BM through April. NN continues through October. CD resigns editorship of
BM in January. Planning
begins
July for weekly periodical edited by CD. Kate born 29 October. CD moves
to 1 Devonshire Terrace, York
Gate,
Regent's Park December (family home until1851).
1840 First number of
Master Humphrey's Clock 4 April. The Old Curiosity Shop begins in MHC 25
April (continuously
from
16 May through 6 February 1841). MHC, vol 1, publ. October.
1841 OCS continues
through 6 February. Walter born 8 February. Barnaby Rudge begins in MHC
13 February (continuing
weekly
through final part 27 November). MHC, vol.2, publ. April. CD travels in
Scotland with Catherine June-July;
decides
(September) to visit United States. One-vol. editions of
OCS and BR publ. December
(also MHC, vol.3).
1842
CD travels with Catherine in United States and Canada January-June.
Catherine's fifteen-year-old sister Georgina
becomes
permanent member of CD household. American Notes publ. in 2 vols. October.
1843 Martin Chuzzlewit
begins in monthly parts January (continues through July 1844). November
CD tells Forster of intent
to
go abroad for extended period. A Christmas Carol publ. December.
1844 MC continues through
July. Francis (Frank) born 15 January. Early discussions of a new periodical
(spring). CD family
to
Italy July, settling in Genoa. CD travels in Italy November; in London
December to read The Chimes to friends. The
Chimes
(Christmas book) publ. December. CD leaves publishers Chapman and Hall
for Bradbury and Evans.
1845 CD travels with
Catherine in Italy January-April; family returns to London July. Idea for
weekly periodical (title The
Cricket)
July. Manages and performs in amateur production of Jonson's Every Man
in His Humour September. Alfred
born
28 October. CD agrees November to edit new daily newspaper. The Cricket
on the Hearth (Christmas book)
publ.
December.
1846 First number of
Daily News, edited by CD, publ. 21 January; CD resigns 9 February. Pictures
from Italy publ. May.
CD
family goes abroad May, settling at Lausanne, Switzerland, moving to Paris
November. CD begins writing Dombey
and
Son June. D&S begins in monthly parts October (continues through April
1848). The Battle of Life (Christmas
book)
publ. December.
1847 D&S continues.
CD family returns to London February. Sydney Smith born 18 April. CD provides
active advice and
superintendence
for establishment by heiress Angela Burdett-Coutts of Urania Cottage, for
helping prostitutes begin new
lives
abroad. (CD collaborates with Miss Coutts in this and many other welfare
projects for the next dozen years.)
Cheap
Edition of CD's works begun (in weekly numbers and complete volumes).
1848 D&S continues
through April. CD directs, acts in amateur theatricals May-July in London,
Manchester, Birmingham,
Edinburgh,
Glasgow. Sister Fanny (Mrs. Henry Burnett) dies of TB September. The Haunted
Man (last Christmas
book)
publ. December.
1849 Henry Fielding
born 15 January. David Copperfield begins in monthly parts May (continues
through November 1850).
Letters
to Times November protesting public hangings. The Life of Our Lord written
for CD's children (unpubl. until
1934).
Thinking again of weekly miscellany toward end of year.
1850 DC continues through
November. First number of weekly Household Words 30 March. Heavy editorial
work becomes
part
of CD's life from now on. (Subeditor W. H. Wills manages CD periodicals
until ill health forces resignation 1868).
Dora
Annie born 16 August. Amateur theatricals November at home of novelist
Bulwer-Lytton, with whom CD
promotes
Guild of Literature and Art.
1851 Amateur theatricals
(benefits for Guild of Literature and Art) through August. Catherine in
poor health from Annie dies
April.
CD moves to Tavistock House November (family home until 1860). Begins writing
Bleak House November.
1852 Bleak House begins
in monthly parts March (continues through September 1853). Edward Bulwer
Lytton (Plorn) born
13
March. CD works with Miss Coutts on low-income housing. Amateur theatricals.
1853 BH continues through
September. CD family in Boulogne summer. CD completes A Child's History
of England
September
(running in HW since early 1851). Tours Italy with Augustus Egg and Wilkie
Collins October-December.
Gives
first public reading (a benefit) from his novels December in Birmingham.
CHE publ. complete December.
1854 Hard Times begins
weekly publication in HW 1 April (to bolster slipping circulation); continues
through 12 August. CD
family
in Boulogne summer and early fall.
1855 Maria Beadnell
(now Mrs. Henry Winter) writes CD February; CD disillusioned when they
meet. CD begins writing
Little
Dorrit May. Amateur theatrical production of Collins's The Lighthouse June.
CD family to Paris October. Little
Dorrit
begins in monthly parts December (continues through June 1857).
1856 LD continues.
John Forster marries. Negotiations concluded March for purchase of Gad's
Hill Place near Rochester.
CD
returns to London April, family to Boulogne in June (until August). CD-Collins
collaboration on play The Frozen
Deep
completed October.
1857 LD continues through
June. Library Edition of CD's works begun. The Frozen Deep performed January
in Tavistock
House.
Gad's Hill renovated; CD family to Gad's Hill for summer. Hans Christian
Andersen visits CD June-July. Son
Walter
(age sixteen) to India as cadet in East India Co. regiment July. The Frozen
Deep revived in July, special
performance
for queen; Ellen Ternan joins cast for August performance in Manchester.
CD to Scotland with Collins
September.
Letter to Forster (August/September) discusses incompatibility of CD and
Catherine. CD considers public
readings
for pay.
1858 First series of
public readings by CD from his own works opens 29 April. Separation from
Catherine, with considerable
publicity
and bitterness. Quarrel with Thackeray. First provincial readings August-November,
more London readings
begin
24 December.
1859 London readings
continue to February. CD begins new weekly All the Year Round 30 April,
closes HW down 28 May.
Breaks
with Bradbury and Evans, returns to Chapman and Hall. A Tale of Two Cities
(begun in AYR opening number)
continues
weekly through 15 November. Public readings October and at Christmas.
1860 Essays (The Uncommercial
Traveller) in AYR January-October. Son Sydney appointed naval cadet January.
Daughter
Kate
marries Charles Collins (Wilkie's brother) 17 July. Brother Alfred dies
27 July. September: CD sells Tavistock
House,
moves to Gad's Hill; burns quantities of personal letters; begins writing
Great Expectations. Begins publishing
GE
in AYR 1 December to stem fading circulation.
1861 GE continues through
3 August. Public readings in London March-April. Sister Letitia's husband
(Henry Austin) dies
October.
Public readings in provinces begin October (some readings canceled December
on Prince Albert's death). Son
Charles
marries Bessie Evans (daughter of CD's former publisher) November.
1862 Public readings
continue through January. Readings in London March-June. CD decides against
Australian reading tour.
To
Paris October.
1863 Public readings
in Paris January and London March-June. Mother Elizabeth Dickens dies 13
September. CD agrees late
September
to begin new novel in the spring. Reconciled with Thackeray a week before
Thackeray's death December.
Son
Walter dies in India 31 December.
1864 Son
Frank to India January to enter Bengal Mounted Police. Our Mutual Friends
begins publishing in monthly parts
May
(continues through November 1865). CD's health poor; suffering from lameness
(probably gout) at end of year.
1865 OMF continues
through November. Son Alfred emigrates to Australia May. CD and Ellen Ternan,
returning from Paris
holiday,
in train wreck 9 June; CD badly shaken up.
1866 Public readings
in England and Scotland April-June; CD agrees to another series of fifty.
Brother Augustus dies in
Chicago
October.
1867 Charles Dickens
Edition begun. Public readings in En-CD unwell but continues. gland and
Ireland January-May; Agrees
September
to American reading tour. Farewell dinner in London 2 November. CD sails
9 November. American tour
opens
in Boston December. CD's health worsens. Plans another tour in England
for fall 1868.
1868 American readings
continue through April in major east coast cities. CD's health very bad.
Profits total nearly19,000.
CD
returns to England April. Bad health forces subeditor Wills's retirement
summer; CD takes over AYR duties. Son
Edward
emigrates to Australia September. Son Henry to Cambridge University October.
New series of readings begins
6
October. Brother Frederick dies October. CD gives sensational new reading
(death of Nancy in OT) to private
audience
14 November.
1869 Readings continue
in England, Scotland, and Ireland. CD shows symptoms of stroke; provincial
series discontinued 20
April
by doctor's orders. CD draws up will in May. Begins writing Mystery of
Edwin Drood late summer-early fall.
1870 Final series of
readings, all in London, 11 January-15 March. Private audience with queen
mid-March. Mystery of
Edwin
Drool begins in monthly parts April (continuing as far as written through
September). Work and social life as
usual
in May. CD directs private theatrical production late May-early June. Suffers
stroke 8 June at Gads Hill after full
day's
work. Dies 9 June. Buried West Minster Abbey 14 June.
Copyright:Harland S. Nelson, Charles Dickens
[Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1981]