Early Years

Charles John Huffham Dickens was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire on 7 February 1812. He was baptised a month later at St Mary's Church, Portsea and the record of his baptism is recorded in the St Mary's parish registers.

Record of Dickens baptism in the St Mary's, Portsea parish registers. Portsmouth City Records Office ref: CHU3/1A/12

His father, John Dickens, was a clerk in the Naval Pay Office and the family had to move every few years as John was transferred from one post to another. After a few years in Portsmouth the family moved to London, then Chatham before returning to London in the early 1820s. In 1824 John Dickens was imprisoned for debt and spent several months in the infamous Marshalsea Debtor’s Prison in Southwark. The Marshalsea Prison’s registers record John’s discharge on Friday 28 May 1824.

Marshalsea Prison - Day Book of Commitments and Discharges. The National Archives ref: PRIS11/7

Around this time, young Charles was sent to work in a blacking factory and his experiences there were instrumental in forming his views on poverty and social reform which influenced so many of his later novels. Life for the Dickens family gradually improved with Charles finding work as a solicitor’s clerk and later as a reporter for the Morning Herald.

In 1834, with the Dickens family firmly established in London, Charles met his future wife, Catherine Thomson Hogarth. Two years later, in July 1836, they were married at St Luke’s Church, Chelsea and they soon moved to their first family home at 48 Doughty Street.

Detail of entry in St Luke's, Chelsea parish register, recording Charles Dickens' marriage. London Metropolitan Archives ref: X26/031

By the time of the 1841 census, Charles and Catherine had produced four children and the family had moved to 1 Devonshire Terrace in the Marylebone district of London.

1841 census. The National Archives ref: HO 107/680/14 folio 12 page 18

Over the next eleven years, Charles and Catherine had a further six children.