Dickens

Dickens

Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth on February 7th, 1812. He is considered to be one of the greatest contributors to English literature and his stories and characters depict what many think of as typical Victorian life, he was also a vigorous social campaigner.

Dickens experienced harsh conditions during his childhood and used his experiences as inspiration for many of his novels. As well as a huge list of novels, he published an autobiography, edited weekly periodicals, wrote travel books and worked for charitable organisations. He was also a theatre enthusiast, wrote plays and performed before Queen Victoria in 1851. He tirelessly travelled abroad lecturing against slavery in the United States and touring Italy with companions Augustus Egg and Wilkie Collins.

Many of Dicken’s novels were, as well as great novels and entertainment, also social commentary. Oliver Twist, written in 1839 (when Florence Nightingale was aged 19), was shocking to its readers because it exposed the realities of poverty and crime in Victorian society. It led to the clearing of the slum in London that the story was based on.

In Martin Chuzzlewit, Dickens created Mrs. Gamp, a nurse who many would have thought of as a typical nurse of the day. She was a fat old woman who drank too much and stole from her dead patients. It was this image of the nurse that Florence Nightingale contended with when she first had thoughts of nursing.

Dickens died of a stroke in 1870 and is buried at Westminster Abbey.