Charles Dickens: A Brief Biography

Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth on February 7, 1812 to a middle-class family. His father was a clerk in the navy pay office, a job that paid well, but due to John Dickens’ extravagance, became insufficient to support the family. By 1824 Charles’ father was put in debtor’s prison. Charles, who had the fortune of beginning education at 9, was forced to cut it short at age 12 by working at Warren’s blacking factory for 3 years. Charles resumed education after this 3-year retreat, but was soon removed once again to work as a clerk in a solicitor’s office. In 1833, he became a parliamentary journalist for The Morning Chronicle. There, he began writing a series of sketches under the pseudonym “Boz” and published the first installment of The Pickwick Papers in 1836, the same year he married his wife Catherine Hogarth. The Pickwick Papers became incredibly successful, launching his literary career.  He went on to publish an autobiography, author many books, edit weekly periodicals, write plays, and lecture against slavery in the United States. In 1865, he was in a train accident from which he never recovered. Five years later he had a stroke, ending his life.