Henry Fielding Dickens
Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, KC (16 January 1849[1] – 21 December 1933) was an English barrister, who served as a KC and Common Serjeant of London. He was the eighth of ten children born to English author Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine,[2][3] and the last surviving child of Dickens.
Henry Fielding Dickens
16 January 1849
21 December 1933 (aged 84)
British
Marie Roche
7
Early life[edit]
Baptised in St Marylebone Parish Church in London on 21 April 1849,[4] Henry Fielding Dickens was named after Henry Fielding, one of his father's favourite authors. His father had originally thought to name him after Oliver Goldsmith, but thinking that his son would constantly be teased as "Oliver asking for more", he changed his mind.[5] His family nicknames were 'H', 'Mr Harry', and 'Mr H'. While a boy living at Gads Hill Place, his father's country home, he, with his brother Edward, started the 'Gad's Hill Gazette', a family newspaper printed on a small printing press given to him by Mr Wills, the sub-editor of All the Year Round. His father, Charles Dickens, and Henry Fothergill Chorley were contributors.[6][7] Dickens was educated at Wimbledon School at Wimbledon and at Mr Gibson's boarding school in Boulogne-sur-Mer, along with his brothers Alfred and Sydney.[8] He became the only one of Dickens's seven sons to attend university.[9]
Later years[edit]
At family Christmas gatherings at his home at 8 Mulberry Walk in London, he performed imitations of his father giving his famous "Readings", during which he would wear a geranium, his father's favourite flower, and lean on the same velvet-covered reading stand used by Charles Dickens during his reading tours. He had listened to his father many times, and older members of his audience said Henry Dickens's performances were amazingly like those given by his father. To celebrate his eightieth birthday in 1929 he went through the whole of A Christmas Carol without a hitch, his false teeth loosening at the melodramatic sections: 'I know him – Marley's ghosht!'.[16]
From October 1914 he performed the recitals of his father's works in support of the Red Cross Society. These included excerpts from David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth. Through his efforts he raised £1,200 for the Society.[17][18] He was a Life President of the Dickens Fellowship.