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Born in Portsmouth
Born at 1 Mile End Road, Portsmouth . ( Today this street is part of Commercial Road ) .
He is given the 1st names Charles John Huffam.
His father is employed by the Navy
Many celebrations earlier in 2012 to celebrate 200 years since his birth . Image : shows Portsmouth water front in 1811
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rowlandson_-_Portsmouth_Poing.jpg -
Period: to
Victorian scribbler
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Family move to Chatham
father was a clerk in the Navy Pay office & his job moved the family from Portsmouth to Chatham. Our mystery man had fond memories of Kent , which he would later use in his works.
photo : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ChathamOrdnanceTerrCrop.jpg -
familiy move to London
Financial difficulties force the family to move to London -
father imprisoned for debt
His fathers debts make a huge impression on our mystery person : and he will draw on these experiences throughout his life.
Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Courtyard-Marshalsea-Prison(b).jpg -
quits school & works to help family
To help out while his father is imprisoneed , he quits school and takes a job Warrens Blacking factory m near Hungerford Steps , where he works long hours in horrific conditions. The experiences will remain with him , and he will later write about his experiences . -
Works at Doctors Commons
following work as a clerk in a legal office , he gets work as a reporter at Doctor's Commons - near St Pauls Cathedral. Image : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Doctors_Commons_edited.jpg -
ambitions to be an actor
Drifting a bit , not really knowing in which direction to take his career, our mystery man is a Victorian celebrity wannabe. He wins an audition at Covent Garden Theatre..... but misses it because he has a cold. -
Boz
His 1st work is published in monthly instalments in a magazine - using the pen name BOZ. -
Marriage to Catherine Hogarth
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1st novel is published under his own name
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Philanthropy
10 years of success behind him - he is involved in a project with Angela Burdett Coutts to create a home for fallen women. -
still has theatrical ambitions
With a friend , the author Wilkie Collins , he co-writes a play - The Frozen Deep. Photo:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frozendeep_cover.jpg -
Staplehurst Rail crash
Our mystery man is travelling in the only 1st class carriage that remains on the tracks : he helps tend to the injured travellers , and in doing so almost forgets his latest manuscript in the carriage ! photo ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Staplehurst_rail_crash.jpg -
Death
Dies at Gads Hill Place in Kent - had been working on his final novel Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hogarth-dickens.jpg -
Burial at Westminster Abbey
Our mystery man has wanted to be buried at Rochester cathedral .... but as a national treasure , is buried in Westminster Abbey Photo : http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Poets_corner.jpg
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