Charles Dickens

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British writer and editor, perhaps the greatest of the English novelists and one of the most celebrated writers of his time describing life in Victorian England. His works included "Pickwick Papers," 1837, "A Christmas Carol," 1843 and "A Tale of Two Cities," 1859. The literary circles of the time considered Dickens' works populist, charming fiction, but his thousands of readers in England and abroad in America considered him a master of literature. Even today, critics consider him a literary genius of his time. Born into a large Victorian middle-class family that was slowly sinking into poverty, the Dickens household moved from Kent to Camden Town to London then his dad went to Marshalsea debtor's prison in 1824. At 13, Charles worked in a shoe-blacking factory and roamed the streets of London alone at night. The meanness and poverty of the London streets left Dickens feeling abandoned and helpless as a boy. He established himself as a hard-working journalist in his early career. In 1839 at the age of 27 he became the celebrated author of "Oliver Twist" and moved his growing family to a middle-class home. He married 19-year-old Catherine Hogarth on 2 April 1836 and she immediately became pregnant with the first of ten children (one of whom died). Catherine became fat and sad, suffering from post-partum depression after each confinement. At 47, at the height of his popularity, Dickens was the stern, disciplinarian father of nine children. He described himself as "a misplaced and mismarried man." He dismissed his devoted wife, Katherine and persuaded his sister-in-law Georgina to take over housekeeping chores and become surrogate mother to his family. Dickens had an appreciation for attractive young women. Victorian society was shocked by his cavalier treatment of his wife and his adulterous relationship to a young theatrical actress, Nelly Ternan. Despite his growing wealth and fame, he worried continually about money. Dickens was a moody man. He never forgot his unhappy, poverty-stricken childhood and used the memories to write on the immense wrongs of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a vigorous walk at a 20-to-30 mile clip. His health began to decline during his public reading tours in the U.S. and Britain in his later years. He suffered from constant neuralgia, severe rheumatism and heart trouble. Collapsing several times in 1869, his foot went lame and he suffered paralysis on his left side. He died on 9 June 1870 at 6:10 PM, aged 58, in Gadshill, England after suffering a massive stroke the prior night during dinner. Dickens left a legacy of more than 2,000 characters to brighten our days. Link to Wikipedia biography