If ever there was an author whose name is synonymous with Christmas, it is Charles Dickens.

A wildly popular author in his day, his commentary on 19th century life inspired social reform, and his stories and characters continue to inspire creative works today. He was a regular visitor to our county and was inspired by the people he met and the places he visited. Charles John Huffam Dickens was born in 1812 in Portsmouth to his mother Elizabeth and father John, a clerk in the Naval pay office.

Charles had a happy childhood. Benefitting from a few years of education he read everything he could find, especially stories featuring heroes and adventure. His idyllic life ended aged ten as his father was recalled to work in London. Living beyond his means, two years later John Dickens, his wife and younger children found themselves incarcerated in a debtors prison.

Charles’s education ended abruptly, and he was lodged with an elderly lady, working ten hours a day for his living, packing and pasting labels on bottles of boot blacking. Here he entered a different world, that of the poor working class, forced to live and work in squalid conditions. This left an impression on Charles, influencing his views on society for the rest of his life.

The Dickens family left the debtors prison a few months later, but his mother was content to let Charles stay earning his own keep for some time, which he resented. Soon enough his education resumed, and eventually he found work as a freelance journalist in the heart of London. Visiting the theatre daily and consuming as much popular entertainment as he could he knew he wanted to be some part of this exciting world. Journalism paid his bills and enabled him to explore the country both in terms of geography and society.

Working as a political reporter in 1835 Charles was sent to Kettering to cover a by-election in the brand-new Northamptonshire North constituency. Tensions were high as the campaign issues affected the voters directly, including changes to the Poor Laws and the Corn Laws, so this election received national interest.

The campaign was violent, with both parties openly rousing the voters with beer and inflammatory speeches. Church bells were rung, the pubs spilled over with drunken people, and brass bands competed to create the most chaos. Charles wrote to his fiancée Catherine that he had never witnessed ‘anything more sickening and disgusting’, describing the Conservatives as ‘a ruthless set of bloody-minded villains …perfect savages … led by clergymen and magistrates’.

The reporters retreated into Charles’s room in the White Hart, (now the Royal Hotel, Kettering) to escape the ‘savages’ rampaging around the town. They did not stay to see the results, but hired a post-chaise, retreating to Boughton House for safety, and dinner. Their coachman was drunk, and they crashed on the way.

With disgust Charles wrote to his fiancée of his expectation of a Tory win, and he was right. The following year, 1836, Charles wrote The Pickwick Papers in which he describes a riotous borough election at ‘Eatanswill”. It is easy to see how his experiences at Kettering influenced his writing, and the public loved it! Charles’s familiarity with Northamptonshire also allowed him to include Mr Pickwick visiting The Saracen’s Head, a coaching inn still open today in Towcester.

Charles pioneered the serialised novella style publication, keeping his audience breathless for the next episode. His reputation grew as a celebrity author as he combined humour and satire with sharp observation of Victorian society. On the strength of his newfound fame, he married Catherine Hogarth, a gentle and unassuming Scottish woman.

Happy enough at first, eventually he became disillusioned. He had wanted four children, but she gave him ten, therefore also giving him financial worries for the rest of his life. The year after The Pickwick Papers was published, Oliver Twist first reached the public serialised in a magazine. The story of a poor orphan from a workhouse forced to escape into the crime infested slums of London, and his subsequent adventures and salvation proved incredibly popular.

The depiction of criminality, domestic violence and the desperate conditions faced by street children and the disadvantaged both thrilled and horrified the readers at a time when harsh changes were being made to the Poor Laws. Here inspiration came from Northamptonshire! Oliver was born in a workhouse in the fictional town of ‘Mudfog’, located seventy miles from London, just like Kettering. Mr Bumble the Beadle and Mrs Mann the cruel superintendent of the workhouse, and Mr Sowerberry the undertaker reflected people Charles met in Kettering.

Charles wrote continuously, absorbing his experiences and incorporating them into his novels, papers and journalism. He was popular with rich and poor alike, both Queen Victoria and paupers loved to hear his novels read aloud.

Charles and Catherine travelled to America, and around Europe. When in Lausanne they met the Hon. Richard and Lavinia Watson of Rockingham in Northamptonshire. They became friends forming a connection which lasted the rest of their lives. He and Catherine visited Rockingham Castle several times.

In the Long Gallery, Charles organised ‘playlets’ writing, producing and performing them with the family for their Northamptonshire society friends. As a mark of his affection, in 1850 Charles dedicated his favourite novel, David Copperfield, to his friends Richard and Lavinia Watson. It was the closest book to an autobiography that he ever wrote.

The Castle itself left a lasting impression on Charles. Writing to Lavinia in 1851he said ‘I always think of Rockingham, after coming away, as if I belonged to it and had left a bit of my heart behind’. In his novel Bleak House, Rockingham itself appears as Chesney Wold.

Charles was also a friend of Clara Thornhill, then owner of Rushton Hall. He visited her many times, and the Great Hall was the inspiration for Satis House where Miss Haversham lived with her wedding breakfast laid out.

Many Northamptonshire coaching inns and public houses have recollections of Charles Dickens visiting their establishments over the years as he travelled around the country on his many public speaking and reading tours. Charles continued his phenomenal written output, novels, papers poetry and political commentary appeared regularly, but never enough to satisfy his audiences.

This intense workload led to strain inside Charles and Catherine’s marriage, and after twenty-two years they separated. During his later years he became extremely close to a young woman he had known since her childhood. An actress, Ellen Ternan was just a few months older than his youngest daughter, and the true nature of their relationship remains unknown. Some speculate that she was his natural daughter.

With a large family, an estranged wife and a new partner to support, Charles’s working pace intensified, and inevitably his health declined. Aged only fifty-eight he suffered a stroke and passed away at home on June 8th 1870. He had requested a simple private burial, but such was his renown that he was given a state funeral and was interred in Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey.

His legacy remains not just as a superb entertainer, but also as a humanitarian with the ability to move the reader to compassion and kindness towards the underprivileged. And Charles Dickens is forever associated with Christmas. The ever popular A Christmas Carol is just one of his many stories on the subject. His influence helped to establish many Christmas customs focussed on family, good food, warmth, generosity, and both forgiveness and happiness.

If you would like to follow his festive footsteps, why not visit Rockingham Castle’s Victorian Christmas, visit the Christmas festivities in Kettering, or even enjoy a drink in an old coaching inn such as the Saracen’s Head in Towcester. To learn more of his life, read Charles Dickens by Claire Tomalin.

www.rockinghamcastle.com/event/victorian-christmas
www.ketteringtowncouncil.gov.uk/christmas