A Charles Dickens Chronology

Excerpts relevant to the life of Charles Dickens and the publication of David Copperfield drawn from Charles Dickens: A Chronology of His Life published by The Victorian Web

1812	Born on Friday, February 7 at Landport, a suburb of Portsmouth to John, a clerk in the navy pay-office attached to the dockyard, and Elizabeth Dickens.
1814	Father transferred to London with family.
1816	Father transferred to Chatham with family. First gets some schooling, although already an avid reader.
1821	Reforms in the Admiralty lose his father his post and most of his income. Family moves to a house in Camden Town, London.
1824	Father arrested for debt February 2 and consigned to the Marshalsea, where family joins him. Separated from family and put to work at Warren’s Blacking Factory at Hungerford Market, Charles Dickens walks four miles to and from lodgings in Camden Town; visits his father on Sundays at prison. Eventually family finds him lodging in Lant Street close to them. After father’s release on May 28, family returns to Camden Town. Attends day school in Hampstead Road, London.
1827	Taken from school; becomes office boy of an attorney; decides to become a journalist.
1829	Free-lance reporter at Doctor’s Commons Courts.
1830	Meets and falls in love with Maria Beadnell.
1831	Acts as parliamentary reporter during Reform Bill agitation.
1832	Owing to illness (likely an attach of erysipelas or eczema), he is unable to keep his appointment to audition for Covent Garden (equivalent to a Broadway audition today).
1833	His love affair with Maria Beadnell ends. His first published story, “Dinner at Poplar Walk,” appears in Monthly Magazine.
1834	Working as newspaper reporter, adopts the pseudonym “Boz.” Father once again arrested for debt; Charles comes to his aid.
1835	Becomes engaged to Catherine Hogarth, daughter of his friend George Hogarth, an editor.
1836	His first series of Sketches by Boz published; receives 150 pounds for the copyright. First number of Pickwick Papers appears on March 30. Marries Catherine Hogarth on 2 April. Becomes editor of Bentley’s Miscellany. Publishes in December the second series of Sketches by Boz. Meets John Forster, who will become a close friend and his first biographer.
1837	Begins Oliver Twist, continues in monthly parts in Bentley’s Miscellany. Catherine’s younger sister Mary, whom he idolizes, dies. Catherine bears a son Charles, the first of seven sons and three daughters. Pickwick Papers finishes.
1838	Begins Nicholas Nickleby
1839	Resigns as editor of Bentley’s Miscellany. Last part of Oliver Twist appears in April. Nicholas Nickleby finishes in October.
1840	First number of Master Humphrey’s Clock, which becomes his next two stories, appears. Begins The Old Curiosity Shop.
1841	Finishes The Old Curiosity Shop in February. Begins Barnaby Rudge, which continues through November.
1842	Travels through Canada and the United States. American Notes appears in October, creating a furor in America.
1843	Begins Martin Chuzzlewit. A Christmas Carol, the first of his Christmas books, appears in December.
1844	Tours Italy with family. Returns to London in December, when The Chimes is published. Leaves London for Genoa.
1845	Debut of his amateur theatrical company. The Cricket and the Hearth published. Returns to England in July.
1846	Begins Dombey and Son, which runs until April 1848. With family travels to Lausanne, then Paris. The Battle of Life appears in December.
1847	Returns to England.
1848	Writes autobiographical fragment. Directs and acts in amateur theatricals. Publishes final Christmas book, The Haunted Man, in December.
1849	David Copperfield begins running.
1850	David Copperfield finishes in November. Founds and edits the weekly Household Words.
1851	Begins work on Bleak House.
1852	Bleak House begins to appear monthly.
1853	Bleak House ends in September. Tours Italy with Augustus Egg and Wilkie Collins. Returns to England. Gives the first of many public readings from his own works. Summers in Boulogne.
1854	Hard Times appears weekly in Household Words until August. With family spends summer and fall in Boulogne.
1855	With family travels to Paris in October. Little Dorrit begins to appear monthly.
1856	Collaborates with Wilkie Collins on a play, The Frozen Deep. Purchases Gad’s Hill, an estate he had admired as a child.
1857	Little Dorrit ends in June. With family spends summer at renovated Gad’s Hill. Hans Christian Anderson, whose fairy tales Dickens admires greatly, visits. His theatrical company performs The Frozen Deep for the Queen. Falls in love with Ellen Ternan, a young actress.
1858	In London, undertakes his first public readings for pay. Quarrels with Thackeray. Separates from Catherine.
1859	His London readings continue. Begins new weekly, All the Year Round. A Tale of Two Cities appears, continues through November.
1860	His family takes up residence at Gad’s Hill. Burns many personal letters. Great Expectations begins to appear weekly.
1861	Embarks on yet another series of public readings in London. Great Expectations finishes in August.
1862	His public readings continue.
1863	Continues public readings in Paris and London. Reconciles with Thackeray just before the latter’s death.
1864	Our Mutual Friend begins to appear monthly. Health begins to fail, much because of over work.
1865	Railway accident badly shakes him and Ellen Ternan. Our Mutual Friend ends in November.
1866	Continues public readings in England and Scotland.
1867	Continues public readings in England and Ireland. Unwell but carries on, against doctor’s advice. Embarks on an American reading tour.
1868	Finishes his American reading tour. His health worsens, but takes additional duties at All the Year Round.
1869	Continues readings in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Shows symptoms of mild stroke; provincial readings canceled. Begins The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
1870	His final public readings take place in London. Suffers a stroke on June 8 at Gad’s Hill, after a full day’s work. Dies on June 9, and is buried at Westminster Abbey on June 14. Last of his unfinished Mystery of Edwin Drood appears in September.