David Copperfield
(Charles Dickens)

Childhood and youth—Charles Dickens was born in 1812 in Portsmouth, in the southern central coastal area of England, to John and Elizabeth Dickens. By the time he was ten, his family had already moved twice and now resided in Camden, in North London. When Charles was twelve, his father landed in debtors’ prison for three months, owing to his inability to support his large family on his small income as a naval clerk. He was followed soon afterwards by his wife and Charles’s three youngest siblings. Charles had to temporarily leave school to work in a boot-blacking factory. When his father was released after receiving an inheritance following his mother’s death, Charles returned to school, this time to the Wellington House Academy.

Early career—At fifteen, he worked as an administrative assistant for a lawyer. By 1829, he had learned shorthand and begun working as a reporter, eventually establishing himself as a Parliamentary reporter (essentially a transcriptionist) in 1831 for the Mirror of Parliament, a weekly documentation of Parliamentary debates. In 1834, he began working for the Morning Chronicle as a journalist.

Love and Marriage—At seventeen, Dickens fell in love with Maria Beadnell, a banker’s daughter. The relationship lasted four years, until 1833, in part failing because of her family’s objections. Three years later, he married Catherine Hogarth, whose father, George Hogarth, edited the Evening Chronicle, and with whom Dickens would father ten children. In 1857, he fell in love with the young actress, Ellen Ternan, which caused a final separation between his wife and himself a year later. Dickens and Ternan’s relationship was not public, and they burned all related letters, but in his will, Dickens left Ternan enough money to support her for the remainder of her life.

Writing career—In 1833, at twenty-one years of age, Dickens first story, “A Dinner at Poplar Walk” appeared in the Monthly Magazine. This would be the beginning of his rapid success as a writer. From there he went on to publish Sketches by Boz (his pen name) and The Pickwick Papers, which originally came out in serial form, a technique he was to use for many of his ensuing works. This was the beginning of his prolific output as an author as well as an editor and, in some cases, publisher of various journals, including Bentley’s Miscellany (1836-1839), Master Humphrey’s Clock (1840-1841), Household Words (1850-1859), and All the Year Round (1859-1870). Major works, often initially published in serial form, included Oliver Twist (1838), Nicholas Nickleby (1839), The Olde Curiosity Shoppe (1840), Barnaby Ridge (1841), and A Christmas Carol (1843). Dickens so-called dark period, considered to be his mature period, began in 1848 with the publication of Donbey and Son, followed by twenty years of an extraordinary creative output that would include such masterpieces as David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations. His last work, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, was interrupted by his death in 1870.

David Copperfield—The novel David Copperfield, written initially in serial form in the years 1849-1850, is Dickens’s most autobiographical work. It has been observed that the initials DC, for David Copperfield, are the reverse of Dickens’s own initials (though this wasn’t intentional), and there are many other similarities to Dickens’s own life: the Micawbers’ financial difficulties and their house in Camden; their stint in debtors’ prison; young Davy’s experience as a factory worker; David’s less than satisfying first marriage; his travels to Europe; his charitable feelings toward the poor and oppressed; his job as a stenographer and his ultimate success as a novelist. Conditions of the times—Most of Dickens’s career took place during Queen Victoria’s reign, which began in 1837, when Dickens was in his mid-twenties. Contemporary circumstances in England included severe working conditions, child labor, underemployment, and industrialization, which produced significant changes in the economy and labor conditions. Dickens’s work as a newspaper, court, and Parliamentary reporter would have thoroughly familiarized him with contemporary events and, coupled with his detailed knowledge of London, provided food for his stories.

Political and charitable involvement—Dickens himself was passionately opposed to the horrible working conditions of the times, and in 1841, he openly protested the laws that sustained them. In 1847, having returned to London after spending time abroad, he responded to a request for help from Lady Angela Burdett-Coutts, a philanthropist and one of England’s wealthiest heiresses. Her idea was to help establish Urania Cottage, a home where former prostitutes could learn a new way of life. Dickens managed the home for a decade. Around 1850, he became involved in amateur theater, which included many performances for charity.

Miscellaneous—In 1842, Dickens and his wife went on a first tour to America, but even though the author was well received, his impressions of the country were negative, and that in turn had a negative effect on his popularity. In 1844, the Dickens family spent a year in Genoa, Italy, followed about a year later by six months in Switzerland and Paris, after which they returned to London. In 1858, Dickens began giving public readings, which benefited him economically but wore him down physically, costing him his health. In 1865, on his way back to London from Paris, Dickens, Ternan, and Ternan’s mother were involved in the Staplehurst rail accident, a major train disaster that resulted in the derailment of most cars, though it spared their own. The experience had a deep effect on Dickens. In 1867, he embarked on a second hectic tour of the United States, which had to be limited to the East coast because of his failing health. He was again well received, in spite of his earlier negative statements on American ways. Back in London in 1868, he embarked on a final tour of farewell public readings, which also had to be interrupted for health reasons. He died of a stroke on June 9, 1870, the same date as the Staplehurst rail disaster five years earlier. He is buried in Westminster Abbey’s Poet’s Corner.