Dickens, Charles. Born in 1812 in Landport, Portsmouth, where his father held a small appointment in the navy pay-office. But when this position was lost, the family came to London, and Dickens' youth was spent in constant penury and want. For some time he was employed in a blacking factory, but at 12 years of age he was again sent to school and, after three years' tuition, he entered an attorney's office. Then Dickens became a shorthand writer, and at 19 obtained the position of parliamentary reporter. During the years 1831 to 1836 he represented various papers-latterly the "Morning Chronicle" - and in 1836 his "Sketches by Boz" were published in a collected form. A publishing firm wishing to produce an illustrated periodical, Dickens undertook the letterpress, and produced the "Pickwick Papers." At the same time he was writing "Oliver Twist." In 1842 Dickens visited America, and wrote on his return the "American Notes." In 1843 he began to publish "Martin Chuzzlewit," which at first fell rather flat, and in order to economize, Dickens went to live at Genoa. When the "Daily News" was started, Dickens was appointed editor, but he retired very soon, and busied himself in further novel-writing - "Dombey and Son," "David Copperfield," "Bleak House," and "Little Dorrit," all being produced between 1846 and 1855. In 1850 Dickens started the periodical "Household Words," afterwards changed to "All the Year Round." In 1858 he separated from his wife. In this year he first appeared as a public reader of his own works, and from 1866 to 1870 he was almost continuously employed in this task, his success being unexampled. In 1867 he made a lecturing tour in America, where Dickens was received with great enthusiasm, despite his unpalatable "American Notes." The strain proved too great for his constitution, and he died suddenly at Gadshill in 1870.

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