Celebrity Graveland

February 07, 1812 – June 09, 1870

Charles Dickens is perhaps the greatest – certainly the most famous – English novelist of all time. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, has been turned into no fewer than 3 million¹ stage productions and movies. And that is all by itself with no mention of his other gargantuan hits like Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickleby and dozens of others. His stable of characters, the settings of his stories and the richness of his writing created a new adjective in the English language: Dickensian. Something that is Dickensian is said to be the absolute epitome of common life in Victorian England.

Armed with a knack for remembering people and details, Dickens’ idyllic childhood turned, well…Dickensian when his father was committed to debtors’ prison. To help the family, young Charles worked difficult jobs in questionable conditions in London. He took mental notes all the while. His first-person experiences with the poor and love of reading helped shape characters, settings and themes for some of his greatest works. His strained relationship with his mother also contributed highly to his view of female characters, which was generally…not high. When old enough to strike out on his own, he thought briefly about becoming an actor, but found writing suited him better. He published his first story at the age of 21 and never looked back.

Most of Dickens’ works were released serially. He was published in weekly and monthly publications and found his first success with a serial called The Pickwick Papers in which he introduced a cockney bootblack by the name of Sam Weller. Thanks to Weller, the stories were a huge success, both critically and commercially. Dickens spent the next 33 years reeling off some of the most endearing characters in English literature and becoming extremely popular. In his later years, he toured Europe and the United States giving readings of his works. At the age of 53, he survived a train crash, but his health started to fail him. He suffered a number of strokes and died at the age of 58. Much like his French contemporary, Victor Hugo, Dickens wanted a simple funeral and burial. Much like Hugo, this was denied and he instead was fêted with a public memorial and burial at the most famous church in the country.

His final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, was never finished.

Burial

Westminster Abbey – London, UK

Specific Location

The South Transept (aka “Poet’s Corner”) – in the southwestern portion of this famous section. Dickens is interred beneath the floor next to Rudyard Kipling.

¹ – Made up statistic. But not too far from the truth.

This entry was posted on August 14, 2023 at 8:07 am and is filed under Westminster Abbey with tags Westminster Abbey, Writers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.