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Birth date
Charles John Huffam Dickens, also known as Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England (Brown, Ivor, 5). He only spent a little time there given that he moved around a lot but finally his 8 siblings and him settled in Gad's Hill near Chatham. The family was a well rounded middle class family. His father, John Dickens was a clerk for a factory and his mother, Elizabeth Barrows was unemployed. (Biography.com,1) -
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a time when they wanted to create a balance through the European powers so they could maintain peace among them. The Congress of Vienna was established in September of 1814 after Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated. The Congress of Vienna diminished the size of France, increased the power of Britain and Prussia and served in growing the nationalism in Italy and some German states. (ThenAgain.info,1) -
Spain gave up Florida Territory
The Adam-Onís treaty was when Spain gave up territory in Florida to the United States. The treaty was signed in 1819, the treaty was made to differentiate the line between Spains boundaries and the United States boundaries. The United States border started at the beginning of the Sabine River and ran northwest until 42 degrees north latitude then to the Pacific Ocean, Spain however got everything to the west and south line giving up Florida to the United States. (Encyclopedia.com,1) -
Brazil becomes independent of Portugal
On September 7, 1822 Brazil gained its independence from Portugal. Brazil was the only country to serve as a seat of government for its mother country. The colonists of Brazil welcomed them with open arms and thought this could be the start of new times. Dom Joao was a great help to Brazil and after he gave the throne to his brother, Dom Pedro, he thought it was the best decision to be their own country and to have independence. (Britannica.com,1) -
Fathers Imprisonment
Charles life changed when his father was sent to prison for debt. Charles knew what he was going to do with his life, he loved school and his family but his father did know how to spend money when they didn't need to be. When his father went to prison Charles had to drop out of school and work manual for a factory to help with his father's debt, even though Charles was devastated that he had to drop out, -
Fathers Imprisonment
he did gain sympathetic knowledge of life that would soon be incorporated in his many books. (Biography.com,1) -
The Start of it All
Charles was a very busy man(Haines, Charles, 8). After John got out of prison Charles's mother wanted him to stay out of school and help out with the family. Fortunately an improvement in the families money was able to make Charles be able go back to school. He soon realized he could never get a break, by the time he was 15 he dropped out again( Brown, Ivor, 6). He was hired to become a clerk for a solicitors office, then to a shorthand reporter. -
The Start of it all
This lead him to have a love for journalisms. ( Biography.com, 1) -
The Sketches
After Dickens became a freelance reporter in law he soon was being asked by many newspaper companies to work for him(Priestley, J. B, 17). He began reporting for many famous London papers. By 1833 he began to sketch, and he then submitted and published those sketches in magazines he had been working on. No one knew it was him because of the fictional name he signed them as "Boz". His clipping were then published. ( Biography.com, 1) -
Oliver Twist
"Oliver Twist" was the first ever novel that Charles Dickens had wrote and published. The book follows a life of an orphan on the streets, Dickens was mainly inspired to write this from his own experience of being a impoverished child learning to earn his money the hard way and in Charles's case, to get his dad out of prison. Charles began to put Oliver Twist together from February 1837 to April 1838 when it was finally published in November. He would then showcase the novel in magazines. -
Oliver Twist
( Biography.com, 1) -
British officially controls New Zealand
in 1642 Abel Tasman, a Dutch navigator found present day New Zealand, while his attempt to find new land, him and his troupe were killed off by natives from the land and no one ever really went back there. Up until 1840 when Britain went over and established their first ever settlement in New Zealand. The treaty of Waitangi was signed that same year by the British and the Maori so the British could have land. In 1870 as more settlers came more of the natives to the land were booted out. -
British officially controls New Zealand
(Britannica.com, 1) -
U.S Tour
Dickens and his wife, Catherine, went on a 5 month tour to the U.S. During the tour Dickens would talk about things like how he opposed to slavery and emphasized on his support for additional reform. His lectured from Virginia to Missouri were so popular that they sold out every seat and Charles said that it was one of the greatest welcome to America that has ever got. As a known show-off he loved the attention, but it later got to him and he told people off and that they were invading -
U.S Tour (continued)
his personal space. He later expressed this in "American Notes" which would create copious amounts of backlash from America. (britannica.com, 1) -
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens second novel he published is one of the most know christmas novels still to this day. Christmas Carol sends the meaning of Christmas out to all, the protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge, is a grumpy old man with no Christmas spirit. On Christmas Eve 3 spirits come to him and show him the past, present, and future of Christmas. The intentions of these books where to be a social criticism and to show how hard the lower class of England was working. The book sold over 6,000 copies. -
A Christmas Carol
(britannica.com, 1) -
Deaths in the Family
Charles Dickens encountered tragic losses. In 1850 he had lost his father and his daughter. It was a devastating time for him and on top of all of the losses he split with his wife. He publicly spoke ill of Catherine (his now ex wife) and started an intimate relationship with young actress Ellen Ternan. Soon after assumptions were made about whether or not he cheated on Catherine he erased all evidence of Ellen in his life. (Biography.com, 1) -
Lincoln becomes President
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States and was the first republican to ever win. Although Lincoln received 40 percent of the popular vote, he effortlessly defeated the three candidates running up against him. While Lincoln was inaugurated the Confederate States of America was established and the American civil war had begun. Abraham Lincoln will forever be remembered for creating the emancipation proclamation. During during 1865 Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in the Fords -
Lincoln becomes President (cont)
theater only 5 days after the civil war had officially ended. (History.com, 1) -
End of the transportation of criminals to Australia
After America gained their independance we didn't want anymore criminals to come to America from Britain, so the best option was for Britain to send the criminals to New South Wales. This soon began to decline because of some changing ideas about the crime and punishment system. The growing population of free Australians, freed convicts or descendants of criminals, were revolting and didn't like that the land they called home was being used to ship prisoners of to. (Encyclopedia.com, 1) -
Launched Second Tour
After his first tour he received a lot of backlash about the way he spoke about America, so in order for him to clear his name and have people still buy his books in America, he went on a second tour to clear his name. He set up speeches praising America and promised to speak highly of them in reprints of American Notes for General Circulation. From this tour alone boosted his net to about 95,000 dollars and in the victorian time that was about 1.5 billion current dollars. (Biography.com, 1) -
Charles Dickens Death
On June 9th 1870 at the age of 58, Charles Dickens passed away due to a stroke he was suffering from. 5 years before his death he suffered a train accident, becoming frail and weak. Charles was buried in Poets Corner. Thousands gathered morning his death and Scottish satirical, Thomas Carlyle described it as "an event worldwide, a unique of talents suddenly extinct." Charles Dickens final novel "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" was still waiting to be finished. (Biography.com, 1)
