Grave marker of John and Elizabeth Dickens, parents of Charles Dickens. Highgate Cemetery, west side, Swains Lane, London. The meagre inscription that Elizabeth gets confirms that Dickens favoured his father over his mother, blaming her for his father's having been sent to the Marshalsea, and for wanting him to stay on at Warren's Blacking Factory after his father's release. The inscription reads, "IN MEMORY OF MR JOHN DICKENS,/ AGED 66 YEARS/ WHOSE ZEALOUS, USEFUL, CHEERFUL SPIRIT/ DEPARTED/ ON THE 31st OF MARCH 1851./ HERE ALSO LIE THE REMAINS OF ELIZABETH DICKENS,/ HIS WIFE,/ WHO DIED SEPTEMBER 12th 1863,/ AGED 73 YEARS." [Click on the photograph to enlarge it.]
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Photograph and text by Simon Edwards, with additional comments and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one]
Created 7 May 2021