Charles Dickens in Portsmouth, Hampshire

Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 1812 at 393 Old Portsmouth Road (formerly Mile End Terrace, and the 1871 sketch above shows remarkably little change) to John and Elizabeth Dickens. His parents had married in 1809, his father being a clerk with the Naval Pay Office, where he had been posted from London. The house cost £35 a year to rent. Francis (or Fanny) was born in 1810, and Charles was the second child. In summer 1812 the family moved to 16 Hawke Street, Portsea, a house that has since been demolished.

'CHARLES DICKENS

WAS BORN IN THIS

HOUSE ON

7TH FEBRUARY 1812

This plaque was placed here

by the Portsmouth Branch

of the Dickens Fellowship

in May 1978'

A reconstruction of an early 19th century middle-class parlour, where guests would have been greeted. The wallpaper is a reproduction made by printing from rollers of the period. The curtains and carpet are also reproductions, and the sofa dates from about 1800.

The fabric on the panels of the firescreen shielded women from the perceived coarseness of a woman's reddened face.

The chiffonier in the same room. The porcelain tea set was made in about 1780 at Caughley, Shropshire.

The dining room reconstructed, again with reproduction wallpaper. The dining suite dates from about the time of Dickens's birth.

A reconstruction of the main bedroom, where Dickens was born. The four-poster bed and dressing mirror are early 19th century.

The room opposite is called the 'Education Room', which among other things contains the couch on which Dickens died on 9 June 1870 of 'apoplexy', or a stroke as we would term it today, at his home in Gad's Hill, Kent, the day after falling ill at dinner. A different story, though, is that he fell ill while visiting Ellen Ternan at Peckham, so Ternan took him back to Gad's Hill in a carriage, and he died the day after being put on the couch. Dickens's sister-in-law Georgina Hogarth, his housekeeper, gave the couch to the Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed in this room.

In one of the two attic rooms, a cabinet containing memorabilia of Dickens throughout the ages.

 This is right opposite Charles Dickens's birthplace.

'THESE TREES

ARE THE GIFT OF

THE WORLDWIDE

DICKENS

FELLOWSHIP

MAY 1978'