Westminster Abbey

Charles Dickens

A small stone with a simple inscription marks the grave of this famous English novelist in Poets' Corner:

CHARLES DICKENS
BORN 7th FEBRUARY 1812
DIED 9th JUNE 1870

This was at his own wish. He wrote in his will "that my name be inscribed in plain English letters on my tomb. I rest my claims to the remembrance of my country upon my published works...". Dickens died at his house, Gad's Hill Place, near Rochester in Kent and it was presumed that he would be buried at Rochester Cathedral. But public opinion, led by The Timesnewspaper, demanded that Westminster Abbey was the only place for the burial of someone of his distinction. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Dean of Westminster, after being approached by John Forster and the poet's son, readily agreed and the funeral was strictly private, following Dickens' own instructions. The grave in Poets' Corner was dug at night by the Abbey's Clerk of Works and on the following day, June 14th, at 9.30am three coaches arrived in Dean's Yard (to the south of the Abbey) with the hearse. Only twelve mourners attended, made up of family and close friends, together with the Abbey clergy. So Dickens was buried in the almost empty and silent Abbey, the funeral service being read by the Dean. On the top of the plain coffin was laid a wreath of ferns and roses, with single red and white roses down each side and a circle of white roses at the foot. The coffin-plate inscription was the same as that inscribed on the stone. It was agreed that the grave should be left open, as by mid-morning reporters from all over London were clamouring to know when the funeral was to be held. Thousands of people from all walks of life came to pay their respects at the grave and throw in flowers. The grave was closed on June 16th and Stanley preached a memorial sermon on the Sunday following the burial. Each year on the anniversary of Dickens' birth a wreath is laid on the grave. To the west of Dickens lies George Frederick Handel (d.1759), the great composer, on the east author Richard Brinsley Sheridan (d.1816), on the south Richard Cumberland (d.1811) dramatist, and, later on, to the north were buried the ashes of Thomas Hardy (d.1928) and Rudyard Kipling (d.1936).

Charles was the second of eight children of John Dickens and Elizabeth (Barrow). His father was arrested for debt in 1824 and young Charles had to work in a shoe-polish factory until he could resume his education. Later he became a legal clerk and then a reporter in the House of Commons. His first writings appeared under the signature 'Boz' (a pet name for his brother). The Pickwick Paperswas his first major success and Oliver Twistand Nicholas Nicklebysoon followed. He married Catherine Hogarth in 1836 and they had ten children, before they separated in 1858.