Charles Dickens

1812–1870 · English (Portsmouth/London) · Victorian England

Known for: The most popular English novelist—Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, David Copperfield

Dickens's childhood trauma—his father was imprisoned for debt and 12-year-old Charles was sent to work in a blacking factory—haunted him forever and fueled his lifelong crusade against poverty and injustice. He became the most popular novelist of the Victorian era, writing serialized novels that had all of England waiting for the next installment.

He was extraordinarily energetic: writing novels, editing magazines, giving public readings, campaigning for social reform, and fathering 10 children. He was charismatic, vain, sentimental, and controlling. He left his wife Catherine for a young actress, Ellen Ternan. His public readings were so dramatic they may have contributed to his early death from a stroke at 58.

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