Where the Dickens: A Chronology of the Various Residences of Charles Dickens, 1812-1870 (original) (raw)

1812

Born on Friday, 7 February at 1 Mile End Terrace (now 33 Commercial Road), Portsea, Landport, a suburb of Portsmouth to John, a clerk in the navy pay-office attached to the dockyard, and Elizabeth Dickens.

1812

June: The Dickens family moved to 16 Hawke Street, Portsmouth.

1813

December: The Dickens family moved to 39 Wish Street, Southsea, Portsmouth.

1815

Posted back to London, John Dickens and family moved to a house at No. 10 Norfolk Street (now 22 Cleveland Street), St. Pancras, London.

1817

Posted to Sheerness, John Dickens is re-posted in April to Kent's Chatham Dockyard, and moved his family into No. 2 Ordnance Terrace in December.

1821

The Dickens family moved to The Brook, 18 St. Mary's Place, Chatham.

1822

Summer: Posted back to London, John Dickens and family move to a house at No. 16 Bayham Street, Camden Town, London (undoubtedly a model for the Cratchits' home in A Christmas Carol, 1843).

1824

After yet another remove to 4 Gower Street North, Charles Dickens's father was arrested for debt on February 20 and consigned to the Marshalsea Prison, where the rest of the family except Charles joined him. While working at Warren's Blacking Factory at 3 Chandos Street, Hungerford Market, CD roomed with Mrs. Roylance in Little College Street, Camden Town, and afterward in a garret in Lant Street, Southwark. On 28 May John Dickens was released, and the family was reunited at 29 Johnson Street, Somers Town.

1827

Evicted for non-payment of rates, the family moved to The Polygon, Somers Town.

1829

The family moved to 10 Norfolk Street, Fitzroy Square, London.

1832

The family moved to No. 15 Fitzroy Street, London.

1833

In January, the family moved to 18 Bentinck Street, London.

1834

The family moved to North End, Holbourn. While working as a reporter for The Morning Chronicle, young Charles Dickens lived in bachelor rooms in Cecil Street, Buckingham Street, and in December occupied No. 13 Furnival's Inn.

1835

To be closer to the Hogarths and his fiancée, Catherine, in Chelsea, Dickens lived at 11 Selwood Terrace, Brompton.

1836

On 2 april, Charles married Catherine at St. Luke's, Chelsea, and the couple moved to larger chambers (No. 16) in Furnival's Inn, Holbourn, with Fred Dickens and Catherine's sister, Mary; there followed a short stay at 30 Upper Norton Street.

1837

In late March, Charles and Catherine moved into 48 Doughty Street; to recover from the death of Mary Hogarth on 7 May, the couple spent two weeks at Collins's Farm, Hampstead; in July, the couple stayed at the Hotel Rignolle, Calais; in September, they holidayed in Broadstairs on the English Channel. In October-November, they stayed at The Ship Hotel, Brighton

1838

For the early summer, the Dickenses lived in a cottage in Twickenham, followed by ten days in August on the Isle of Wight.

1839

From May to the end of August, the Dickenses stayed at Petersham, then spent September at Broadstairs. In December, CD acquired the lease to No. 1 Devonshire Terrace, Regent's Park (now Marleybone Road), London.

1842

The Dickens toured the eastern United States for six months, January through June. CD and John Forster visited Cornwall in October-November.

1843

The Dickens stay at 9 Osnaburgh Terrace, London.

1844-45

The Dickens family traveled through France and Italy from July through June. From July through October 1844 they lived at theVilla di Bagnarello, Genoa, which they disliked. From October 1844 through January 1845 they occupied the far more opulent Villa Peschiere, Genoa.

1846

From 11 June through 16 November, the Dickens stayed at the Villa Rosemont just outside Lausanne on the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Here he began Dombey and Son, and wrote The Battle of Life.

1846-47

The family lived three months in Paris, staying at the Hotel Brighton upon their arrival (20 November), and afterwards renting a house at No. 48 Rue de Courcelles.

1847

From March through June, the Dickenses rented No. 3 Chester Place, Regent's Park.

1848

The family holidayed again at Broadstairs, staying atFort House and The Albion.

1849

The family took a summer holiday at Bonchurch.

1851-1860

Charles Dickens leased Tavistock House in Bloomsbury.

1851

The Dickenses took their last summer holiday at Broadstairs

1852

The Dickens took their first holiday in Boulogne in October.

1853

in June, the Dickenses lived at a house on the Calais Road, Boulogne. From mid-June until the end of the September, the Dickenses were again in Switzerland. When Bleak House ended its serial run in September, CD toured Italy with Augustus Egg and Wilkie Collins.

1854

From June through October, the Dickenses were again in Boulogne.

1855

In February, CD spent two weeks in Paris with Wilkie Collins. In July through October the Dickenses holidayed in Folkstone on the English coast. With his family CD travelled to Paris again in October.

1856

In March, Dickens purchased Gad's Hill, Rochester, Kent, an estate he had admired as a child. For October 1855 through May 1856 the family rented a house at 49 Avenue des Champs Élysées, Paris. That summer was spent in Boulogne.

1857

CD spent the summer with the family at renovated Gad's Hill, but holidayed with Wilkie Collins in Cumberland in September.

1858

In London, CD undertook his first public readings for pay. Separated from Catherine, from 2 August through 12 November CD conducted his first provincial reading tour. "Under the name of Charles Tringham he first rented a cottage in Church Street, Slough, and then Windsor Lodge, in Linden Grove, Peckham" (Watts 27), a southern London suburb.

1859

Continuing his London readings, CD conducted his second provincial reading tour from the 10th through the 27th of October.

1860

CD and his family take up permanent residence at Gad's Hill.

1860-64

The Love Nest at Condette, France.

1861

CD embarked on yet another series of public readings in London. His third provincial reading tour began in October, and ended in January 1862.

1862

His public readings continued. In October, CD rented a house in Paris for himself, his unmarried daughter, and his sister-in-law, Georgina Hogarth.

1863

CD continued public readings in Paris and London.

1866

CD continued public readings in England and Scotland from April through June.

1867

CD continued public readings in England and Ireland, January through May. CD embarks on an American reading tour in November, starting in Boston.

1868

CD finished his American reading tour, embarking for home from the port of New York on 22 April. His health worsening, he undertook his farewell English reading tour in October.

1869

CD continued his farewell reading tour in England, Scotland, and Ireland.

1870

His final public readings took place in London, where from January through May he rented 5 Hyde Park Place. CD suffered a stroke on June 8 at Gad's Hill, after a full day's work. He died on June 9, and acquired his final resting place, Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, on June 14.

Bentley, Nicholas, and Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. "A Time Chart." The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Pp. 292- 301.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.

Forster, John. The Life of Charles Dickens. 2 vols. The Charles Dickens Edition. London: Chapman & Hall, n. d.

Watts, Alan S. "Chapter One: A Restless Life." The Life and Times of Charles Dickens. London: Studio Editions, 1991. Pp. 11-28.

Last modified 14 February 2012;
Thanks to Trish Lovell of the UK for correcting a spelling error.