Francis Dickens
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Francis Jeffrey Dickens (15 January 1844 – 11 June 1886) was the third son and fifth child of Victorian English novelist
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
and his wife Catherine Dickens née Hogarth.


Early life and career

Francis Dickens was nicknamed "Chickenstalker" by his father after the character Mrs. Chickenstalker in the Christmas book ''The Chimes'' that he was writing at the time of Francis's birth; however he came to be called Frank by those who knew him. He was born in England and went to school in Germany to train to become a doctor. Giving up this ambition, he obtained a commission in the Bengal Mounted Police and served in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
for seven years. Following his father's death in 1870 he inherited some money, but he soon went through this, and his aunt, Georgina Hogarth (Catherine Dickens's sister) used her influence with family friend
Lord Dufferin Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (21 June 182612 February 1902) was a British public servant and prominent member of Victorian society. In his youth he was a popular figure in the court of Queen Vict ...
, then
Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, ...
, to get Francis Dickens a commission in the North-West Mounted Police. Dickens joined the North-West Mounted Police as a Sub Inspector in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
in 1874 shortly after the March West which brought the original police force of 300 members to the modern provinces of
Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...
and
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
. He would remain in the force 12 years, serving at Fort Walsh, Fort Macleod and Fort Pitt, getting promoted to Inspector in 1880.


The Battle of Fort Pitt, 1885

During the North-West Rebellion of 1885, Francis Dickens was in charge of the defence of Fort Pitt on the North Saskatchewan River. Francis Dickens's diary written during his charge at Fort Pitt, though very brief, is an important document of the events of the siege that led to the evacuation of the mounted police from the fort. On his website, David J. Carter describes the events at Fort Pitt.
This site rog Lake, following Cree attacks on priests and Hudson's Bay Company employees and family memberswas 35 miles northwest of Fort Pitt. Dickens sent out three scouts to reconnoitre. When they returned they were attacked by Cree warriors; one escaped unharmed, one was wounded – played dead then crawled to the 'fort', the other Constable Cowan was killed within sight of Fort Pitt. Then the warrior cut out young Cowan's heart and ate a piece of it before the horrified defenders of the fort. The NWMP detachment were outnumbered and outgunned 200 to 20. Negotiations led to the civilians agreeing to become prisoners of the Cree and Big Bear. The Chief gave Dickens and his men a short time to abandon the fort. This they did, and travelled amongst the ice pans in a leaky scow. Scouts from Fort Battleford reported that everyone at Fort Pitt had been massacred; however, after six days on the river Dickens and his men arrived at Battleford and received a hero's welcome.


Discharge and death

Following his discharge from the Mounted Police in 1886 (for reasons of ill health—he was becoming increasingly hard of hearing among other infirmities) Frank was going to embark on a series of lecture talks in the U.S. (as his father had successfully done), but died of a heart attack at a friend's house in
Moline, Illinois Moline ( ) is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. With a population of 42,985 in 2020, it is the largest city in Rock Island County. Moline is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring East Moline and Rock Island ...
, the night of his first speech. He was 42 years old.


Character reputation

Contemporary portrayals of Francis Dickens (such as the character Inspector Dicken in the romantic novel ''Annette the Metis Spy''), conformed to a conventional heroic type, reflecting the dominant view of the Rebellion held by (English-speaking) Eastern Canada. However, some of his superiors in the Mounted Police held unfavorable opinions about his overall competence, echoing his father Charles Dickens, who wrote in a letter to his friend on being asked by his son for three hundred pounds, a horse and a gun to set himself up as a gentleman farmer in the colonies, that the consequence of the first is that he would be robbed of it, the second, that it would throw him, and the third, that he would shoot his own head off. In histories of the Mounted Police, Francis Dickens is described as a tragic character, struggling to live in the shadow of his great father. Charges against him include drunkenness, laziness and recklessness. David Carter in the third chapter of his book questions the evidence that these claims are based on. An article in a special RCMP issue of the Canadian history magazine The Beaver called "Francis J. Dickens, An Ordinary Officer" gives a balanced picture, pointing out his twelve years of service during which time many men in the fledgling police force on the plains deserted or were discharged for misconduct. Others have gone so far as to say that he was partly responsible for the deterioration in relations between the NWMP and the Blackfoot in the 1880s.Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online


Francis Dickens in Fiction

The events surrounding Frog Lake and the battle of Fort Pitt are treated in ''The Temptations of Big Bear'' (1973) by
Rudy Wiebe Rudy Henry Wiebe (born 4 October 1934) is a Canadian author and professor emeritus in the department of English at the University of Alberta since 1992.
.
In recent decades, Francis Dickens has been depicted as a comic figure. In ''W.G. Grace's Last Case'' (1984), by William Rushton, in a fantastic plot that includes fictional characters like Jekyll and Hyde and Dr. Watson, Francis Dickens encounters Apache Indians and (anachronistically) meets the famed cricketer of the title during the latter's team's 1872 North American tour.
Francis Dickens later was the subject of a comic novel by humorist Eric Nicol, ''Dickens of the Mounted'' (1989). The book is a series of fictional letters, a mock document purporting to be a record of Dickens's correspondence spanning his twelve years in Canada, only "edited" by Nicol. It is still frequently mistaken for non-fiction.
Frank Dickens also appears in the science fiction novel that deals with the NWMP in an alternative history, ''The Apparition Trail'' (2004) by Lisa Smedman.
In the novels ''The Winnipeg Wolf'' and ''The Search for Spade'' belonging to the "Inspector Bucket NWMP" series by Jeremy Allen the leading character, Francis Bucket, is based on Francis Dickens.
He is played by Joe Prospero in the TV mini-series '' Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale''. In 2007 a Fringe festival play called ''Dickens of the Mounted'' based on Nicol's novel toured several Canadian cities. Francis Dickens is a character in
Matthew Pearl Matthew Pearl (born October 2, 1975) is an American novelist and educator. His novels include '' The Dante Club'', '' The Poe Shadow'', '' The Last Dickens'', '' The Technologists'', and '' The Last Bookaneer''. Biography Pearl was born in New Yo ...
's 2009 novel, '' The Last Dickens''. Dickens also appears in Bill Gallaher's ''The Frog Lake Massacre'' (2008).


See also

* Dickens family


References


Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''


Sources

''The Diary of Francis Dickens'', edited by Vernon LaChance, Kingston Jackson Press, 1930
"Francis Jeffrey Dickens", The Canadian Encyclopedia, (entry by John Evans)
Eric Nicol, ''Dickens of the Mounted: The Astounding Long-lost Letters of Inspector F. Dickens NWMP 1874–1886.'' (1989) McClelland & Stewart
"Francis J. Dickens, An Ordinary Officer", ''Beaver'' Vol.78, No.3 June/July 1998
David J. Carter ''Inspector F.J. Dickens: "The Christmas Carol baby"'' (1998)


External links


''the Canadian Encyclopedia''


{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickens, Francis Jeffrey Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers English expatriates in Canada 1844 births 1886 deaths Charles Dickens People of the North-West Rebellion