Mary Angela Dickens (31 October 1862 – 7 February 1948) was an English novelist and journalist of the late Victorian and

Edwardian era The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

s, and the oldest grandchild of the 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 ...

. She died on the 136th anniversary of her grandfather's birth.Dickens, Mark Charles ''The Family Tree of Charles Dickens'' Pub. by The Charles Dickens Museum (2006) pg 8

Early years

Born at 46 Gloucester Road in London, and named after her aunt,

Mary Dickens Mary "Mamie" Dickens (6 March 1838 – 23 July 1896) was the eldest daughter of the English novelist Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine. She wrote a book of reminiscences about her father, and in conjunction with her aunt, Georgina Hogarth ...

, Mary Angela Dickens was the eldest of eight children of Charles Dickens, Jr. and his wife Elisabeth Matilda Moule Dickens (née Evans) and the granddaughter of

, the famous novelist. She was the niece of the noted barrister and judge, Sir

Henry Fielding Dickens Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, KC (16 January 1849 – 21 December 1933), was the eighth of ten children born to English author Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine. The most successful of all of Dickens's children, he was a barrister, a KC an ...

, and the painter

Kate Perugini Catherine Elizabeth Macready Perugini (''née'' Dickens; 29 October 1839 – 9 May 1929) was an English painter of the Victorian era and the daughter of Catherine Dickens and Charles Dickens. Biography Born Catherine Dickens and nicknamed ...

.Mary Angela Dickens on the 'A Bit of History' website
/ref> She was christened on 19 December 1862 at St Mark's church in St Pancras in London. In the

Dickens family The Dickens family are the descendants of John Dickens, the father of the English novelist Charles Dickens. John Dickens was a clerk in the Royal Navy Pay Office and had eight children from his marriage to Elizabeth Barrow. Their second child and ...

she was known as 'Mekitty', and as a child she called her grandfather 'Venerables'. Mary Angela Dickens and Charles Dickens were very close, and when she scalded her leg and foot with boiling water while staying at his country home

Gads Hill Place Gads Hill Place in Higham, Kent, sometimes spelt Gadshill Place and Gad's Hill Place, was the country home of Charles Dickens, the most successful British author of the Victorian era. Today the building is the independent Gad's Hill School. ...

he sat beside her bed and held her hand, reassuring her that he would make her well. As a child she was taken to hear Dickens perform ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...

'' during one of his last public readings, and later in life recollected her shock at seeing her grandfather crying over the death of Tiny Tim. She later wrote:

'The "Venerables" on the platform was quite a stranger to me, and his proceedings were so eccentric as to be most alarming. He took no notice of me, or of my mother; and yet it seemed to me that he never took his eyes off me. And to Tiny Tim himself I owe my one intensely painful and distressing memory of my grandfather, for the climax of my discomfort was reached at last when it dawned upon my poor little faculties that "Venerables" was "crying." I never read the little scene in the carol where
Bob Cratchit Bob Cratchit is a fictional character in the Charles Dickens 1843 novel '' A Christmas Carol''. The abused, underpaid clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge (and possibly Jacob Marley, when he was alive), Cratchit has come to symbolize the poor working cond ...
breaks down – the moment, I suppose, of this tragedy – without remembering the horror and dismay which seized upon me then. I knew nothing whatever about acting; any ideas I had about "pretending" were associated with the Christmas pantomime, and did not assimilate at all with the solitary appearance of my grandfather on a dull-looking platform. To me his distress was absolutely real. I had never before seen a grown-up person cry. I had not known that they ever did or ever could do so. And that "Venerables", of all people in the world, should cry with all those people looking on, and that no one should dare – as it seemed to me – to express sympathy, or offer consolation, was nothing short of an upheaval in my universe.'Mary Angela Dickens, 'A Child's Memories of Gad's Hill', in ''
The Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...
'', Volume XIII, No. 73, February, 1897

After the death of Charles Dickens her father bought Gads Hill, and she and her siblings lived there until 1879 when Charles Dickens, Jr. was forced to sell it after getting into financial difficulties.

Writing career

On the death of Charles Dickens, her father inherited the magazine '' All the Year Round'', and Mary Angela Dickens published some of her earliest work in this periodical. She authored several popular sentimental and melodramatic novels during the 1890s, including ''Cross Currents'' (1891), probably her best known work, ''A Mere Cypher'' (1893), ''A Valiant Ignorance'' (1894), and ''Prisoners of Silence'' (1895). Her later works included ''Against the Tide'' (1897), and ''On the Edge of a Precipice'' (1899). She also produced a number of books for children based on the novels of her grandfather, including ''Children's Stories from Dickens'' (1893) and ''Dickens' Dream Children'' (1926). These were illustrated by Harold Copping. A 1911 copy of her ''Children's Stories from Dickens'', from a limited edition of 500 copies signed by herself and four other granddaughters of Charles Dickens, was owned by

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

. It was sold at auction by

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

at their New York sale in 2001. By the early 1900s her sensationalist style of writing had fallen out of fashion, and by about 1916 she had stopped writing. However, her children's books based on the works of her grandfather continued to be popular.

Later life

During her later years she lived at 3 Baliol Road in

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce peopl ...

in Hertfordshire with her cousin, Margaret Alice Moule (1861–1939). Mary Angela Dickens died aged 85 on 7 February 1948, on the 136th anniversary of

's birth. She never married, and on her death left £2,799 10s 2d to her cousin, Margaret Dickens Whinney.England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1966 Record for Mary Angela Dickens – ancestry.co.uk
/ref> She was buried in

Hitchin Cemetery Hitchin Cemetery, also known as St John's Road Cemetery, is the main burial ground for the town of Hitchin in Hertfordshire. The cemetery is located on Hitchin Hill, with Standhill Road running along the north-western boundary and St. John's Road a ...

Christodoulou, Glenn A., 'The Grave of Mary Angela Dickens Rediscovered' – ''The Dickensian''
Published by The Dickens Fellowship Spring 2013 No. 489 Vol. 109 Part 1 ISSN 0012-2440 pgs 42–43 in the same grave as Margaret Alice Moule.

Gallery

Image:Mary Angela Dickens 1896.jpg, Mary Angela Dickens in 1896 Image:3 Baliol Road.jpg, Dickens' last home, 3 Baliol Road in

Image:Mary Angela Dickens grave.jpg, Mary Angela Dickens' grave (foreground) in Hitchin Cemetery

Selected publications

Books

*''A Mist of Error'' P. F. Collier, Publisher, New York (1890) *''Little David Copperfield, etc'' Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd. London, Paris, Berlin, New York, (ca. 1890) *''Cross Currents'' Chapman & Hall, London (1891) *''Nobody's Fault'' Peter Fenelon Collier, New York (1892) *''A Mere Cypher. A Novel'' Macmillan & Co., London & New York (1893) *''Children's Stories from Dickens'' Raphael Tuck & Sons, London (1893) *''A Valiant Ignorance'' Macmillan & Co., London & New York (1894) *''Prisoners of Silence'' Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., London (1895) *''Some Women's Ways'' Jarrold & Sons, London (1896) *''The Love That Was'' Chicago & New York, Rand McNally, 1897 *''Against the Tide'' Hutchinson & Co., London (1898) *''On the Edge of a Precipice'' Hutchinson & Co., London (1899) *''The Wastrel'' Hutchinson & Co., London (1900) *''Unveiled, and Other Stories'' Digby, Long & Co., London (1906) *''The Debtor'' Hutchinson & Co., London (1912) *''Sanctuary'' R. & T. Washbourne, London (1916) *''Dickens' Dream Children'' Raphael Tuck, (1926)

Articles

*'Her Inheritance', in '' All the Year Round'', third series, Vol. 1, Nos. 24 & 25, 1889. This was not credited on publication, but the later 'A Valiant Ignorance' shows her as author of this. *'Margery', in ''All the Year Round'', third series, Vol. 2, Nos. 33–35, 1889 *'Kitty's Victim', in ''All the Year Round'', third series, Vol. 2, Nos. 51 & 52, 1889. This was not credited on publication, but the later 'A Valiant Ignorance' shows her as author of this. *'A Social Success', in ''All the Year Round'', Christmas Number, 1889 *'A Mist of Error', ''All the Year Round'', Extra Summer Number, 1890 *'Cross Currents', a novel serialised in ''All the Year Round'', third series, Vol. 5 & 6, 1891 *'An Outstanding Debt', in ''All the Year Round'', Christmas Number, 1891 *'Out of the Fashion', in ''All the Year Round'', Extra Summer Number, 1892 *'Taken on Trust', co-authored with Margaret Moule, in ''All the Year Round'', Christmas Number, 1892 *'A Valiant Ignorance', a novel serialised in '' All the Year Round'', third series, volume 9 & 10, 1893 *'Miss Keturah', in ''All the Year Round'', Summer Holiday Number, 1893 *'The Last Witness', in ''All the Year Round'', Extra Christmas Number, 1893; co-authored with Margaret Moule *'A Child's Memories of Gad's Hill', in ''

The Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...

'', Volume XIII, No. 73, February 1897 *'The Catch of the Season', in ''The Strand Magazine'', Volume XIV, No. 79, July 1897 (illustrated by

Sidney Paget Sidney Edward Paget () (4 October 1860 – 28 January 1908) was a British artist of the Victorian era, best known for his illustrations that accompanied Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories in ''The Strand Magazine''. Life Sidne ...

)

References

External links

''Dickens' Dream Children''
on

Victorian Web The Victorian Web is a hypertext project derived from hypermedia environments, Intermedia and Storyspace, that anticipated the World Wide Web. Initially created between 1988 and 1990 with 1,500 documents, it grew to 50,000 in the 21st century. In c ...

A_Harold_Copping
_illustration_for_''Dickens'_Dream_Children''.html" ;"title="Harold Copping">A Harold Copping
illustration for ''Dickens' Dream Children''">Harold Copping">A Harold Copping
illustration for ''Dickens' Dream Children''on

Dickens
in ''The New York Times'' 17 April 1893 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickens, Mary Angela 1862 births 1948 deaths Charles Dickens Victorian novelists Victorian women writers People from Hitchin Writers from London 19th-century English novelists 20th-century English novelists English women novelists 19th-century English women writers 19th-century British writers