In 1857, the couple took separate bedrooms. In June of 1858, after 22 years of marriage, they were legally separated. Their separation was much publicized, and rumors of Dickens unfaithfulness abounded, which he vehemently denied in public, but seemed in fact to be true. Despite assurances that things were amicable, the couple were never again on easy terms. Divorce was all but unthinkable at the time, particularly for someone as famous as Dickens, and he continued to maintain Catherine in her house in London for the next twenty years, only their oldest son, Charley, moved in with her. Dickens retreated to Gad's Hill in Kent and retained custody of the rest of the children. While the children were not forbidden to visit their mother they were certainly not encouraged to do so. Catherine was not allowed to attend the wedding of their daughter, Kate, in 1860. On her deathbed at age 64, she gave a collection of Dickens' letters to her daughter, instructing her to "...give these to the British Museum, that the world may know he loved me once." Catherine was interred in the grave of her eight month old daughter, Dora, who died from convulsions in 1851.
*Charles Culliford Boz Dickens (1837-1896)
Mary Dickens (1838-1896)
Kate Macready Dickens (1839-1929)
Walter Landor Dickens (1841-1863)
Francis Jeffrey Dickens (1844-1886)
Alfred D'Orsay Tennyson Dickens (1845-1912)
Sydney Smith Haldimand Dickens (1847-1872)
Henry Fielding Dickens (1849-1933)
Dora Annie Dickens (1850-1851)
Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens (1852-1902)
In 1857, the couple took separate bedrooms. In June of 1858, after 22 years of marriage, they were legally separated. Their separation was much publicized, and rumors of Dickens unfaithfulness abounded, which he vehemently denied in public, but seemed in fact to be true. Despite assurances that things were amicable, the couple were never again on easy terms. Divorce was all but unthinkable at the time, particularly for someone as famous as Dickens, and he continued to maintain Catherine in her house in London for the next twenty years, only their oldest son, Charley, moved in with her. Dickens retreated to Gad's Hill in Kent and retained custody of the rest of the children. While the children were not forbidden to visit their mother they were certainly not encouraged to do so. Catherine was not allowed to attend the wedding of their daughter, Kate, in 1860. On her deathbed at age 64, she gave a collection of Dickens' letters to her daughter, instructing her to "...give these to the British Museum, that the world may know he loved me once." Catherine was interred in the grave of her eight month old daughter, Dora, who died from convulsions in 1851.
*Charles Culliford Boz Dickens (1837-1896)
Mary Dickens (1838-1896)
Kate Macready Dickens (1839-1929)
Walter Landor Dickens (1841-1863)
Francis Jeffrey Dickens (1844-1886)
Alfred D'Orsay Tennyson Dickens (1845-1912)
Sydney Smith Haldimand Dickens (1847-1872)
Henry Fielding Dickens (1849-1933)
Dora Annie Dickens (1850-1851)
Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens (1852-1902)
Family Members
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Charles Culliford Boz "Charley" Dickens Jr
1837–1896
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Mary "Mamie" Dickens
1838–1896
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Catherine Elizabeth Macready "Kate" Dickens Perugini
1839–1929
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Lieut Walter Landor Dickens
1841–1863
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Francis Jeffrey "Frank" Dickens
1844–1886
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Alfred D'Orsay Tennyson Dickens
1845–1912
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Sydney Smith Haldimand "Ocean Spectre" Dickens
1847–1872
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Sir Henry Fielding "Harry" Dickens
1849–1933
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Dora Annie Dickens
1850–1851
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Edward Bulwer Lytton "Plorn" Dickens
1851–1902