In 1835, the Morning Chronicle in London launched an evening edition, edited by music critic George Hogarth. Hogarth invited Charles Dickens (1812–70) to contribute, and Dickens soon became a regular visitor to his Fulham house, enjoying the company of Hogarth's three daughters, Georgina, Mary and young Catherine (1815–79). Charles and Catherine quickly married (1836).
At first, the two were happily married and gave birth to 10 children together. Early on, Dickens called his wife My Dearest Life, and Dearest Darling Pig in letters to her. But this all changed when, after 22 years of marriage, Charles decided that he was tired of his multiparous wife who’d lost her good looks and figure, and always smelt of breast-milk. So he began an affair with a slim, 18-year-old actress, Ellen Ternan (1839–1914).
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At first, the two were happily married and gave birth to 10 children together. Early on, Dickens called his wife My Dearest Life, and Dearest Darling Pig in letters to her. But this all changed when, after 22 years of marriage, Charles decided that he was tired of his multiparous wife who’d lost her good looks and figure, and always smelt of breast-milk. So he began an affair with a slim, 18-year-old actress, Ellen Ternan (1839–1914).
Charles, Catherine and two of their daughters, c1850.
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Dickens Museum, London
The only photo I could find of the two spouses together.
Smithsonian
Literature Professor John Bowen at York Uni recently uncovered 98 letters that were kept at Houghton Library at Harvard but never analysed. These letters revealed the abandoned Catherine, in shocking detail. Some was old news eg Dickens blocked up the door between his and his wife’s bedrooms and falsely claimed that Catherine had not cared for the children. Dickens was desperate to get rid of his wife, but it was Prof Bowen’s evidence that finally tipped the historical scales in Catherine’s favour.
The letters were an exchange between Dickens’ novelist-neighbour, Edward Dutton Cook, and his journalist friend William Moy Thomas, staff writer on Dickens’ journal. The two men explored the Dickens’ marriage & separation via a correspondence Cook had had with Catherine in the very year she died (1897). Discreet and well connected in the London literary world, Cook was well placed to record Catherine’s story which had been otherwise suppressed. Plus Cook clearly knew of Ellen Ternan’s relationship with Dickens, the house he bought for her and her subsequent life as the wife of an Oxford man!!
The discovery that Charles Dickens tried to certify his wife in a mental asylum was already known by some. Catherine’s aunt wrote that Dickens wanted Catherine’s doctor to certify her mental illness, but the doctor “sternly refused, saying he considered Mrs Dickens perfectly sound in mind”. Prof Bowen believed he had identified that doctor, Dr Thomas Harrington Tuke, superintendent of Manor House Asylum in Chiswick from 1849-88. Dr Tuke’s refusal to go along with Charles' plan to falsely commit Catherine was brave, leading Dickens to later exact revenge against Tuke’s reputation.
Most accounts of the break-up of Charles Dickens’ marriage in 1858 had given HIS side of the story. The charge of mental disorder was a particularly frightening one for women in the 1850s. In the same month that Dickens and Catherine separated, his close friend and fellow novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton successfully plotted to have his wife Rosina certified insane. Only after a widespread public outcry was Rosina judged sane and then freed.
Smithsonian
Literature Professor John Bowen at York Uni recently uncovered 98 letters that were kept at Houghton Library at Harvard but never analysed. These letters revealed the abandoned Catherine, in shocking detail. Some was old news eg Dickens blocked up the door between his and his wife’s bedrooms and falsely claimed that Catherine had not cared for the children. Dickens was desperate to get rid of his wife, but it was Prof Bowen’s evidence that finally tipped the historical scales in Catherine’s favour.
The letters were an exchange between Dickens’ novelist-neighbour, Edward Dutton Cook, and his journalist friend William Moy Thomas, staff writer on Dickens’ journal. The two men explored the Dickens’ marriage & separation via a correspondence Cook had had with Catherine in the very year she died (1897). Discreet and well connected in the London literary world, Cook was well placed to record Catherine’s story which had been otherwise suppressed. Plus Cook clearly knew of Ellen Ternan’s relationship with Dickens, the house he bought for her and her subsequent life as the wife of an Oxford man!!
The discovery that Charles Dickens tried to certify his wife in a mental asylum was already known by some. Catherine’s aunt wrote that Dickens wanted Catherine’s doctor to certify her mental illness, but the doctor “sternly refused, saying he considered Mrs Dickens perfectly sound in mind”. Prof Bowen believed he had identified that doctor, Dr Thomas Harrington Tuke, superintendent of Manor House Asylum in Chiswick from 1849-88. Dr Tuke’s refusal to go along with Charles' plan to falsely commit Catherine was brave, leading Dickens to later exact revenge against Tuke’s reputation.
Most accounts of the break-up of Charles Dickens’ marriage in 1858 had given HIS side of the story. The charge of mental disorder was a particularly frightening one for women in the 1850s. In the same month that Dickens and Catherine separated, his close friend and fellow novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton successfully plotted to have his wife Rosina certified insane. Only after a widespread public outcry was Rosina judged sane and then freed.
Young Catherine Dickens
Middle aged Charles Dickens
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Young Ellen Ternan
Dickens was very famous & very well connected. John Forster was secretary to the Commissioners of Lunacy, and both he and Dickens were close friends with key figures in the trade eg psychiatrist Dr John Conolly. To be accused of mental disorder with Dr John Conolly and John Forster on-side was very threatening. Dr Conolly believed Catherine’s passivity about her husband’s infidelity was sufficient to have her certified. He’d already done it for Lord Lytton!
After their separation was finally settled in June 1858, Dickens wrote a letter claiming that it was actually Catherine’s idea to move out and that she had “a mental disorder under which she sometimes labours.” The letter was published in a newspaper, because Charles thought public exposure would help control “his side” and would clarify that his ex-wife was an uncontrollable burden. And when the charge of mental disorder was published in the paper, it also gave Catherine a terrifying glimpse of what Charles might do. But it didn’t always help Charles. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, for example, wrote: “What a dreadful letter that was! And what a crime for a man to use his genius as a cudgel against the woman he promised to protect tenderly with life and heart”.
Dickens was very famous & very well connected. John Forster was secretary to the Commissioners of Lunacy, and both he and Dickens were close friends with key figures in the trade eg psychiatrist Dr John Conolly. To be accused of mental disorder with Dr John Conolly and John Forster on-side was very threatening. Dr Conolly believed Catherine’s passivity about her husband’s infidelity was sufficient to have her certified. He’d already done it for Lord Lytton!
After their separation was finally settled in June 1858, Dickens wrote a letter claiming that it was actually Catherine’s idea to move out and that she had “a mental disorder under which she sometimes labours.” The letter was published in a newspaper, because Charles thought public exposure would help control “his side” and would clarify that his ex-wife was an uncontrollable burden. And when the charge of mental disorder was published in the paper, it also gave Catherine a terrifying glimpse of what Charles might do. But it didn’t always help Charles. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, for example, wrote: “What a dreadful letter that was! And what a crime for a man to use his genius as a cudgel against the woman he promised to protect tenderly with life and heart”.
Meantime Catherine Dickens moved to Gloucester Cres, where she lived for her last two decades, until her death in Nov 1879. Her allowance was £600 per annum, until it was halved after Dickens died in 1870. Despite having to live a deprived, lonely life, she loved the theatre, and enjoyed her children and grandchildren. It was undoubtedly far better for Catherine to be free of her scheming husband.
Nelly and Dickens destroyed all their letters before he died in 1870. After the funeral, Catherine's sister Georgina became the chief protector of his legacy and took care to keep his love affair secret. Fortunately Nelly started a new life after Dickens’ death, marrying a much younger man, George Wharton Robinson, and having two children. Definitive evidence of the Dickens love affair didn’t come out until long after Nelly’s death.
Nelly and Dickens destroyed all their letters before he died in 1870. After the funeral, Catherine's sister Georgina became the chief protector of his legacy and took care to keep his love affair secret. Fortunately Nelly started a new life after Dickens’ death, marrying a much younger man, George Wharton Robinson, and having two children. Definitive evidence of the Dickens love affair didn’t come out until long after Nelly’s death.
Photo: BBC
So who would have believed Catherine’s version of events? Her allegations against her husband were certainly true and gave a totally damning account of Dickens’ behaviour. But it was only as Catherine was dying from Jan 1879 on that she felt free enough to tell Cook the truth about Charles. Cook wrote that after Catherine had borne 10 children, Dickens described his wife as “a great fat lady, florid with arms thick as the leg of a life Guard’s man and red as a beef sausage.” [I lost my waistline after birthing just two babies]
You may like to read Newfound Letters Reveal Charles Dickens Wanted His Sane Wife, Catherine Dickens, Locked In An Asylum By Marco Margaritoff, 27/2/2019.
So who would have believed Catherine’s version of events? Her allegations against her husband were certainly true and gave a totally damning account of Dickens’ behaviour. But it was only as Catherine was dying from Jan 1879 on that she felt free enough to tell Cook the truth about Charles. Cook wrote that after Catherine had borne 10 children, Dickens described his wife as “a great fat lady, florid with arms thick as the leg of a life Guard’s man and red as a beef sausage.” [I lost my waistline after birthing just two babies]
You may like to read Newfound Letters Reveal Charles Dickens Wanted His Sane Wife, Catherine Dickens, Locked In An Asylum By Marco Margaritoff, 27/2/2019.