Dickens: Irish Friends and Family Ties

Litvack, L. (Author). (2012). Dickens: Irish Friends and Family Ties: An Exhibition at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland to celebrate the bicentenary, in association with the Dickens 2012 NI Festival . Exhibition, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record

Queen's University Belfast - Research Portal: Link to publication record in Queen's University Belfast Research Portal

General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Queen's University Belfast Research Portal is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.

Take down policy The Research Portal is Queen's institutional repository that provides access to Queen's research output. Every effort has been made to ensure that content in the Research Portal does not infringe any person's rights, or applicable UK laws. If you discover content in the Research Portal that you believe breaches copyright or violates any law, please contact [email protected].

Download date:04. Oct. 2021 Dickens: Irish Friends & Family Ties

INTRODUCTION TIMELINE FAMILY TREE LETTERS

Charles Dickens Dickens was a well known and loved figure in 1812 - Born 7 February, in Portsmouth John Elizabeth George Georgina Letters form an important source Dickens Barrow Hogarth Thompson (1812-1870) Ireland. He visited three times on reading tour of information about the public 1821 - Starts School married 1809 married 1809 (in 1858, 1867, and 1869) and spoke warmly and private lives of the Victorians. of the place and its people. 1824 - Works at Warren’s Blacking Warehouse. Back then, people wrote many Father imprisoned for debt more letters than we do today. Through his many connections in the worlds of politics and 1827 - Solicitor’s clerk In the case of Dickens, fifteen publishing, he came to know three prominent Ulstermen - James Emerson Tennent (1804-69), Frederick Hamilton- 1829 - Court Reporter thousand of his letters have

Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Du!erin and Ava married 1836 survived, ranging from simple 1831-2 - Parliamentary Reporter (1826-1902), and Francis Dalziel (Dalzell) Finlay (1832- dinner invitations to letters with 1917). The ties that bound them extended well beyond 1834 - Journalist & Sketch writer. Charles Dickens Chatherine Hogarth far more important professional professional associations. Each one proved a close and valued Dickens to Dufferin Letter, 1870 Adopts the pseudonym ‘Boz’ (PRONI: D1071/H/B/D/139/2) friend to Dickens, exemplified by the support extended to or personal content. Charles Dickens aged 43, 1855, (Charles Dickens Museum). some of Dickens’s children, even after his death. 1836 - Marries Catherine Hogarth Originally the British postal system was complex and expensive, 1837 - Completes first novel, Pickwick Papers however the situation changed in 1840 with the introduction of the Befriends James Emerson Tennent Uniform Penny Post - a system whereby all letters (up to an ounce in weight) were posted for the price of a penny. The speed of delivery 1839 - Completes was greatly aided by the development of railways and steamships and 1843 - in large cities like London, letters could be delivered up to twelve times a day! 1850 - Completes David Copperfield Charles Kate Francis Sydney Dora Culliford Macready Je!rey Smith Annie 1852 - Holidays with Tennent family in Italy Boz Dickens Dickens Haldimand Dickens SIGNATURES Dickens — — Dickens — 1853 - Completes (1839-1926) (1844-1846) (1850-1851) — — Signatures tell us a lot about people. Dickens always produced a Gives first readings for charity (1837-1896) (1847-1872) series of scrolls (a ‘flourish’) beneath his signature. According to 1854 - a handwriting specialist writing in 1894, the novelist’s signature indicated ‘activity’, a ‘graceful imagination’, and ‘a mind specially 1857 - Meets & falls in love with receptive to impressions from persons and things around him’. Dickens actress was clearly a flamboyant personality, and his signature may have been 1858 - Separates from his wife. an extension of this. It is interesting to note how his children (Mamie, Begins professional reading career. Francis, and Henry) produced the ‘D’, ‘k’, and ‘s’ in scripts similar to Performs in Belfast 27 & 28 August. Mary Walter Alfred Henry Edward that of their father. Befriends Francis Dalziel Finlay (Mamie) Savage Tennyson Fielding Bulwer Dickens Landor Dickens Dickens Lytton The towns are good, the agriculture 1861 - Completes — Dickens — — Dickens (1839-1896) — (1845-1912) (1849-1933) — (1841-1863) (1852-1902) 1862 - Francis Finlay visits Dickens at his excellent, the people employed, food country mansion, Gad’s Hill Charles Dickens Signature Mamie Dickens Signature abundant, drunkenness nowhere to be 1865 - Completes

seen and cleanliness very prevalent (dedicated to James Emerson Tennent) 1866 - Befriends Lord Du!erin, and presents Dickens on Ulster, 1850, referenced in PRONI: T2603/11 him with a signed copy of David Copperfield 1867 - Performs in Belfast 20 March Francis Dickens Signature Henry Dickens Signature

1869 - Performs in Belfast 8 & 15 January. Lord Du!erin speaks at gala dinner A fine place with a rough people for Dickens in Liverpool Dickens on Belfast in a letter to John Forster, 1858 1870 - Interview with Queen Victoria. Completes six of twelve instalments of Edwin Drood. Dies 9 June of a stroke. Buried in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey