The struggles that made Charles Dickens

Few British authors have achieved the same level of adoration as the creator of classics such as A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations. But where did Dickens find the inspiration for his literary masterpieces?

- JONNY WILKES

In 1824, at just 12 years old, Charles John Huffam Dickens had no choice but to leave school and get a job. Born on 7 February 1812, his idyllic childhood had come crashing down when his father, John, who had always been reckless with the money he earned as a Royal Navy clerk, ended up in a debtors' prison. As the eldest son, it fell to Charles to bring in much-needed coins to help his family. For six shillings, he worked 10-hour days in the rat-infested Warren's blacking factory in London, sticking labels on bottles of shoe polish.

That traumatic and humiliating year or so left a black mark that couldn't be washed away from Dickens' mind. It helped make him become the voice of Victorian conscience and an author for all time.

Leaving school for good at 15, Dickens clerked in a solicitor's office, reported on the law courts, and developed a journalistic bent for newspapers. Well-read and already with a gift for description using the most deliciously evocative language, his creative mind could not be bound by such employment, though. Dickens wrote short stories and sketches for newspapers or magazines, publishing them as Sketches by Boz, the pseudonym he used, in 1836.

COMEDY AND COMPASSION