Archetypal Victorian novelist, Dickens (1812 - 1870) spent his boyhood in Chatham. Then his
father was imprisoned for debt and, famously, Dickens had to work in a blacking
factory: this personal experience of 'social realism' informed all his work.
Promoted to office boy, Dickens started contributing to magazines, and in 1836 the Pickwick Papers secured his
future.
Dickens' daughter Kate became a painter.
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