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My Father As I Recall Him
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
164 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1974
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About the author
Mamie Dickens
31ÌýbooksMary 'Mamie' Angela Dickens (1838-1896) was the oldest daughter of English novelist Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine. She wrote a book of reminiscences about her father, My Father as I Recall Him (1886), and, with her aunt Georgina Hogarth, edited the first collection of his letters. Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870), also known as "Boz," was the foremost English novelist of the Victorian era, as well as a vigorous social campaigner. Considered one of the English language's greatest writers, he was acclaimed for his rich storytelling and memorable characters, and achieved massive worldwide popularity in his lifetime. The popularity of his novels and short stories has meant that not one has ever gone out of print. Dickens wrote serialised novels, the usual format for fiction at the time, and each new part of his stories was eagerly anticipated by the reading public. Among his best-known works are Sketches by Boz (1836), The Pickwick Papers (1837), Oliver Twist (1838), Nicholas Nickleby (1839), Barnaby Rudge (1841), A Christmas Carol (1843), Martin Chuzzlewit (1844), David Copperfield (1850), Bleak House (1853), Little Dorrit (1857), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1861) and Our Mutual Friend (1865).
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June 12, 2023
On 25th March 1837, a year after his wedding and flushed with his recent literary success, a young author moved into a rather nice Georgian terraced house in London, with his wife and young baby son. This house in Doughty Street was later to become the “Charles Dickens Museum�. Yes, the young man was called Charles Dickens, and the popular serial which had enabled him to rent this desirable house was called “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club�. It was shortly to be published as Charles Dickens’s first novel. He had also just begun another serial, called “The Adventures of Oliver Twist�, and was writing the second installment even as the young family moved in. Charles Dickens was just 25 years old.
Charles’s wife Catherine and their baby (also called Charles after his father, following the English tradition) were helped in the home by Catherine’s younger sister Mary Hogarth, who lived with them. Tragically though, Mary suddenly died the same year, at the age of 17. Charles Dickens, who had idolised her, never got over the shock, and wrote Mary into many of his stories. Catherine was soon to have another baby, a girl, whom the couple named after her aunt Mary. This then was “Mamie Dickens�. Many years later, Mary was to write this book of fond recollections.
The family only stayed in this house for two years, although by then there was another baby: “Catherine� called Katey (later to become Kate Perugini, the English painter) before moving on to Devonshire terrace. This is the house of which Mamie has her strongest memories.
Charles and Catherine were to have a lot of children. In fact they had ten living offspring: 8 sons and 2 daughters. Another daughter had died when she was a baby, and the two remaining ones, Mamie and Kate, were obviously very precious to Charles Dickens. They even went to live with him after he had separated from Catherine, although they were frowned on socially as a result.
These then are Mamie Dickens’s own early memories, published as My Father As I Recall Him in 1896. Sadly she was never to see her book in print, as she died shortly after she had completed it. There is a note at the beginning, penned by her sister Kate, to say that the manuscript had been typed, ready for her to edit, but that Mamie:
“grew too feeble to hold a pen, and before the proofs of her little volume could be submitted to her for revision, my dear sister died�.
Kate and Mamie had already worked together to edit three volumes of Charles Dickens’s letters, which had been published in 1880. Then five years later, in 1885, Mamie Dickens wrote a biography of her father for children, called “Charles Dickens By His Eldest Daughter�. It seems particularly poignant that after spending her whole life looking after her father, Mamie did not live to see My Father as I Recall Him, her dearest memories of him, in print.
Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that Mamie would have changed very much in her memoirs, as she clearly idolised her father, saying here:
“My love for my father has never been touched or approached by any other love. I hold him in my heart of hearts as a man apart from all other men, as one apart from all other beings.�
Although many biographers of Charles Dickens used, and still use, Mamie’s account as a source, this is not where you will find anything untoward or controversial. It does not mention Charles Dickens’s shabby treatment of his wife Catherine, or his affair with a young actress Nelly, or even of his own forbidding of Mamie to marry a man he considered unsuitable. Nor does Mamie tell us of the time in 1860, when her father decided to burn all his letters in the field behind their house, “Gads Hill Place�. All were unique and irreplaceable, including correspondence from Alfred Lord Tennyson, Thomas Carlyle, William Makepeace Thackeray, Wilkie Collins and George Eliot. Mamie asked her father to keep some of these treasures, but he refused. Instead he instructed Mamie and two of her brothers to carry them out of the house in basketfuls, before burning everything. Why Charles Dickens did this, has never been established. We can only speculate.
No, this is a eulogy to a much-loved and respected father. On what Mamie considered to be private family business, she kept a tactful silence. If you believe Mamie’s account, you would consider her childhood and later life to be idyllic; My Father As I Recall Him is almost a hagiography.
So why should we read this, if it is such a biased portrayal? The simple answer is that it is a delight to read, for any admirer of Charles Dickens’s writing. It has no passages of critique or analysis, but what it has in abundance are many little domestic details, and anecdotes. We get a great sense of what fun it must have been to have been part of the large Dickens family—at least for some of the time. Mamie is thought to have been her father’s favourite daughter, but she denies this here, saying that if anything he preferred Katey, whom the family called “Lucifer Box� because of her wildness and hasty temper. Mamie, on the other hand was nicknamed “Mild Glo’ster� by her father, presumably because of her comparative equable temperament—and after the cheese!
Mamie splits her memoir into 6 chapters, which are roughly chronological. This is not to say though, that they cover Charles Dickens’s life from the earliest time Mamie could remember. Rather, they are snippets of memories; anecdotes such as you might hear from her if you visited for tea, told randomly, with evident enjoyment. It is full of nostalgia.
Mamie begins by saying that although there are many biographies of her father, there is only one which she will trust. This is the one sanctioned by him, and written by his great friend and mentor John Forster from 1872-1874. She then writes a few paragraphs about her father’s childhood dreams; of “Gad’s Hill Place� a house he had longed to own as a child, and his abiding love for the county of Kent. Of course he was to do just that, living at Gad’s Hill for the last years of his life, and by that time Mamie was effectively acting as his housekeeper. But that was a long way off. Mamie is thinking back to when she and her sister and brothers were children, and how attentive her father always was, insisting:
“his nature was home-loving. He was a “home man� in every respect.�
This seems strange, since we know what a great traveller Charles Dickens was, sometimes spending two or three years at a time in another country. Presumably then, at those times his rented house abroad truly became his “home�. She also talks of his constant letters, when he was apart from them.
Mamie then tells us that her father insisted on punctuality at all times, and gives us a startling picture of how neat and tidy her father was:
“There never existed, I think, in all the world, a more thoroughly tidy or methodical creature than was my father.�
It was so extreme, checking the furnishings of the house every day, as well as his own papers, desk and so on, that it seems quite likely that he had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
“he made a point of visiting every room in the house once each morning, and if a chair was out of its place, or a blind not quite straight, or a crumb left on the floor, woe betide the offender.�
She tells us that he had the same attitude towards his duties as a host, and quickly makes this into a virtue. He was the perfect attentive host; the perfect caring father when they were ill. She talks of his interest in mesmerism, and skill at it, before finishing the chapter with her father’s attachment to Mary, his “ideal of what a young girl should be�. A year after her death, he wrote of her to Catherine:
“Is it not extraordinary that the same dreams which have constantly visited me since poor Mary died follow me everywhere? After all the change of scene and fatigue I have dreamt of her ever since I left home, and no doubt shall until I return.�
We think of Charles Dickens above all other authors, as the one who created many of the Victorian Christmas traditions we now follow. And in chapter 2, Mamie talks about the enthusiasm her father had for this time of year. From buying Christmas presents, where he was keen that every single one should be just right, to a dance where he was the merriest of them all. Charles Dickens was keen that his children should be taught to dance, and was very enthusiastic about it himself, although he was hopeless at it:
“My father insisted that my sister Katey and I should teach the polka step to Mr. Leech and himself. My father was as much in earnest about learning to take that wonderful step correctly, as though there were nothing of greater importance in the world.�
“Mr. Leech� was of course John Leech, Charles Dickens’s chosen illustrator of his most famous work “A Christmas Carol�. The idea of the two of them galumphing around attempting to perform a polka, instructed by two little girls, is irresistible! Tiny Katey partnered John Leech, who was over six feet tall, and Mamie danced with her father. She tells us that she remembers him regularly practising in a corner by himself, and once:
“I remember one cold winter’s night his awakening with the fear that he had forgotten the step so strong upon him that, jumping out of bed, by the scant illumination of the old-fashioned rushlight, and to his own whistling, he diligently rehearsed its “one, two, three, one, two, three� until he was once more secure in his knowledge.�
Mamie tells several anecdotes about her father’s dancing, as well as his conjuring and magic tricks, each more delightful than the previous one. I particularly enjoyed reading about a prank he must have told her, of when he was courting her mother. A sailor suddenly appeared in the company, having jumped through his future parents-in-law’s French windows—and performed a hornpipe:
“A few minutes later my father walked in at the door as sedately as though quite innocent of the prank, and shook hands with everyone; but the sight of their amazed faces proving too much for his attempted sobriety, his hearty laugh was the signal for the rest of the party to join in his merriment.�
Christmas at “Gad’s Hill� was a notable occasion with lavish Christmas dinners, although Mamie says he was quite abstemious himself. She describes a New Year’s Eve frolic and New Year on the Green, followed a few days later by the Twelfth Night festivities, all full of great jollity. This sense of good feeling produced the Fezziwigs, and also the Christmas episode in the Pickwick papers. Mamie finishes her detailed descriptions with:
“I can see now the anxious faces turned toward the beaming, laughing eyes of their host. How attentively he would listen, with his head thrown slightly back, and a little to one side, a happy smile on his lips. O, those merry, happy times, never to be forgotten by any of his own children, or by any of their guests. Those merry, happy times!�
After the festivities, Mamie moves to quieter mode in chapter 3. Mamie tells us how completely absorbed her father was when he was writing, and how a strict silence had to be observed throughout out the house. He would normally be left quite alone when he was working but, after Mamie had been ill, her father asked her if she would like to lie on the sofa in his study while she convalesced. She happened to witness something most extraordinary:
“On one of these mornings, I was lying on the sofa endeavouring to keep perfectly quiet, while my father wrote busily and rapidly at his desk, when he suddenly jumped from his chair and rushed to a mirror which hung near, and in which I could see the reflection of some extraordinary facial contortions which he was making. He returned rapidly to his desk, wrote furiously for a few moments, and then went again to the mirror. The facial pantomime was resumed, and then turning toward, but evidently not seeing, me, he began talking rapidly in a low voice. Ceasing this soon, however, he returned once more to his desk, where he remained silently writing until luncheon time � for the time being he had not only lost sight of his surroundings, but had actually become in action, as in imagination, the creature of his pen.�
For those few moments at least, Charles Dickens was so intensely involved with the world he created, that he had actually become, in his mind, the characters whose actions he was playing out!
Mamie describes in detail the rooms in which he wrote, in each house, finishing with Gad’s Place:
“It is this room which Mr. Luke Fildes, the great artist and our own esteemed friend, made famous in his picture “The Empty Chair,� which he sketched for “The Graphic� after my father’s death. The writing table, the ornaments, the huge waste paper basket, which “the master� had made for his own use, are all there, and, alas, the empty chair!�
She then moves on to talk about the characters he created, who became so very real to him, that their fortunes and tragedies affected her father emotionally. To lighten the mood, she includes a long reply he sent to a fan letter from a little boy. It is delightful!
Again, Mamie must be partly recording what her father or others had told her, as she talks about the “popularity of “Pickwick� � known to the world long before it was realised by its anxious young author�. She describes his writing habits, such as that he would only ever use a quill pen and blue ink. Even if it was a simple list or menu, he would never use a lead pencil. She further says that the only amanuensis he would ever trust was her aunt Georgina, who wrote to her:
“The book which your father dictated to me was ‘The Child’s History of England.� The reason for my being used in this capacity of secretary was that ‘Bleak House� was being written at the same time, and your father would dictate to me while walking about the room, as a relief after his long, sedentary imprisonment.�
Mamie finishes this chapter by recording how sad and sorry her father was, on learning of the death of William Makepeace Thackeray, on Christmas Eve, 1863.
Chapter 4 describes an active Charles Dickens. From being a weak and sickly child, he was determined as an adult, to be as fit as he could be:
“Athletic sports were a passion with him in his manhood � Bar leaping, bowling and quoits were among the games carried on with the greatest ardour, and in sustained energy Dickens certainly distanced every competitor. Even the lighter recreations of battledore and bagatelle were pursued with relentless activity.�
He used to ride frequently, but Mamie says that a passion for walking had taken its place after his marriage. Other sports he enjoyed were shuttlecock and bowls, and he had a passion for bathing in the cold sea, in America or Italy or even off the coast at Broadstairs. At home: “cold baths, sea baths and shower baths were among his most constant practices�.
The rest of this chapter talks of all the family pets, such as Charles Dickens’s series of pet ravens. This started with one who became immortalised as “Grip� in “Barnaby Rudge�. She then tells several anecdotes about their many and various dogs, saying that dogs were by far their father’s favourite pets. It has to be said that 21st century readers may find some parts of this and the next chapter upsetting. The way we care for pet birds, cats, dogs and ponies is quite different now.
Chapter 5 continues with Mamie’s anecdotes about her father’s interest in wild birds, specifically the clever behaviour of many birds in London. There are stories about whole families of birds, plus ones about a canary, and a goldfinch, which fascinated him. She goes on to talk of other dogs, including one whom her father had brought back from his first trip to America. Finally moving from the family pets and wild birds befriended by Charles Dickens, Mamie talks of her father’s visit to America, and his public readings. This part has been heavily drawn on by later biographers.
We know much of the information in Mamie’s final chapter 6, from Charles Dickens’s other biographers, who have lifted parts from her or from John Forster’s account. Mamie tells of her father’s heroism in the Stapleford railway accident in 1865, coyly referring, as he did to his fellow-passengers, as “an old one and a young one�. We now know that this was his mistress Nelly Ternan, and her mother, and that they were travelling as a party of three. But ever afterwards Charles Dickens felt a sense of dread, whenever he had to travel by train. Mamie describes how badly he was affected:
“� on one occasion, which I especially recall, while we were on our way home from London to our little country station, Higham, where the carriage was to meet us, my father suddenly clutched the arms of the railway carriage seat, while his face grew ashy pale, and great drops of perspiration stood upon his forehead, and though he tried hard to master the dread, it was so strong that he had to leave the train at the next station. The accident had left its impression upon the memory, and it was destined never to be effaced.�
Mamie’s account details Charles Dickens’s gradual decline in health from this time. In his last years Charles Dickens was plagued by illness, both physical and mental. His last reading tour of the United States was made through sheer willpower, against his doctor’s advice, and it almost killed him. The readings took so much emotional energy, especially the sensational scenes such as from “Oliver Twist� that Charles Dickens himself wondered how he would ever get through the tour, saying:
“It likewise happens, not seldom, that I am so dead beat when I come off the stage, that they lay me down on a sofa after I have been washed and dressed, and I lie there extremely faint for a quarter of an hour. In that time I rally and come right again.�
Mamie tells us of his last performance, and the love and support of his audience, as he spoke his last words in public. She finishes with the very affecting closing days and moments of his life, and his subsequent burial at Westminster.
All this is familiar territory for keen readers of Charles Dickens, but it is particularly interesting to see it expressed by his daughter, and to remember that this simple, affectionate account is the source material for many more scholarly later works. Despite its omissions and understandable bias, it is a lively, entertaining read.
Charles’s wife Catherine and their baby (also called Charles after his father, following the English tradition) were helped in the home by Catherine’s younger sister Mary Hogarth, who lived with them. Tragically though, Mary suddenly died the same year, at the age of 17. Charles Dickens, who had idolised her, never got over the shock, and wrote Mary into many of his stories. Catherine was soon to have another baby, a girl, whom the couple named after her aunt Mary. This then was “Mamie Dickens�. Many years later, Mary was to write this book of fond recollections.
The family only stayed in this house for two years, although by then there was another baby: “Catherine� called Katey (later to become Kate Perugini, the English painter) before moving on to Devonshire terrace. This is the house of which Mamie has her strongest memories.
Charles and Catherine were to have a lot of children. In fact they had ten living offspring: 8 sons and 2 daughters. Another daughter had died when she was a baby, and the two remaining ones, Mamie and Kate, were obviously very precious to Charles Dickens. They even went to live with him after he had separated from Catherine, although they were frowned on socially as a result.
These then are Mamie Dickens’s own early memories, published as My Father As I Recall Him in 1896. Sadly she was never to see her book in print, as she died shortly after she had completed it. There is a note at the beginning, penned by her sister Kate, to say that the manuscript had been typed, ready for her to edit, but that Mamie:
“grew too feeble to hold a pen, and before the proofs of her little volume could be submitted to her for revision, my dear sister died�.
Kate and Mamie had already worked together to edit three volumes of Charles Dickens’s letters, which had been published in 1880. Then five years later, in 1885, Mamie Dickens wrote a biography of her father for children, called “Charles Dickens By His Eldest Daughter�. It seems particularly poignant that after spending her whole life looking after her father, Mamie did not live to see My Father as I Recall Him, her dearest memories of him, in print.
Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that Mamie would have changed very much in her memoirs, as she clearly idolised her father, saying here:
“My love for my father has never been touched or approached by any other love. I hold him in my heart of hearts as a man apart from all other men, as one apart from all other beings.�
Although many biographers of Charles Dickens used, and still use, Mamie’s account as a source, this is not where you will find anything untoward or controversial. It does not mention Charles Dickens’s shabby treatment of his wife Catherine, or his affair with a young actress Nelly, or even of his own forbidding of Mamie to marry a man he considered unsuitable. Nor does Mamie tell us of the time in 1860, when her father decided to burn all his letters in the field behind their house, “Gads Hill Place�. All were unique and irreplaceable, including correspondence from Alfred Lord Tennyson, Thomas Carlyle, William Makepeace Thackeray, Wilkie Collins and George Eliot. Mamie asked her father to keep some of these treasures, but he refused. Instead he instructed Mamie and two of her brothers to carry them out of the house in basketfuls, before burning everything. Why Charles Dickens did this, has never been established. We can only speculate.
No, this is a eulogy to a much-loved and respected father. On what Mamie considered to be private family business, she kept a tactful silence. If you believe Mamie’s account, you would consider her childhood and later life to be idyllic; My Father As I Recall Him is almost a hagiography.
So why should we read this, if it is such a biased portrayal? The simple answer is that it is a delight to read, for any admirer of Charles Dickens’s writing. It has no passages of critique or analysis, but what it has in abundance are many little domestic details, and anecdotes. We get a great sense of what fun it must have been to have been part of the large Dickens family—at least for some of the time. Mamie is thought to have been her father’s favourite daughter, but she denies this here, saying that if anything he preferred Katey, whom the family called “Lucifer Box� because of her wildness and hasty temper. Mamie, on the other hand was nicknamed “Mild Glo’ster� by her father, presumably because of her comparative equable temperament—and after the cheese!
Mamie splits her memoir into 6 chapters, which are roughly chronological. This is not to say though, that they cover Charles Dickens’s life from the earliest time Mamie could remember. Rather, they are snippets of memories; anecdotes such as you might hear from her if you visited for tea, told randomly, with evident enjoyment. It is full of nostalgia.
Mamie begins by saying that although there are many biographies of her father, there is only one which she will trust. This is the one sanctioned by him, and written by his great friend and mentor John Forster from 1872-1874. She then writes a few paragraphs about her father’s childhood dreams; of “Gad’s Hill Place� a house he had longed to own as a child, and his abiding love for the county of Kent. Of course he was to do just that, living at Gad’s Hill for the last years of his life, and by that time Mamie was effectively acting as his housekeeper. But that was a long way off. Mamie is thinking back to when she and her sister and brothers were children, and how attentive her father always was, insisting:
“his nature was home-loving. He was a “home man� in every respect.�
This seems strange, since we know what a great traveller Charles Dickens was, sometimes spending two or three years at a time in another country. Presumably then, at those times his rented house abroad truly became his “home�. She also talks of his constant letters, when he was apart from them.
Mamie then tells us that her father insisted on punctuality at all times, and gives us a startling picture of how neat and tidy her father was:
“There never existed, I think, in all the world, a more thoroughly tidy or methodical creature than was my father.�
It was so extreme, checking the furnishings of the house every day, as well as his own papers, desk and so on, that it seems quite likely that he had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
“he made a point of visiting every room in the house once each morning, and if a chair was out of its place, or a blind not quite straight, or a crumb left on the floor, woe betide the offender.�
She tells us that he had the same attitude towards his duties as a host, and quickly makes this into a virtue. He was the perfect attentive host; the perfect caring father when they were ill. She talks of his interest in mesmerism, and skill at it, before finishing the chapter with her father’s attachment to Mary, his “ideal of what a young girl should be�. A year after her death, he wrote of her to Catherine:
“Is it not extraordinary that the same dreams which have constantly visited me since poor Mary died follow me everywhere? After all the change of scene and fatigue I have dreamt of her ever since I left home, and no doubt shall until I return.�
We think of Charles Dickens above all other authors, as the one who created many of the Victorian Christmas traditions we now follow. And in chapter 2, Mamie talks about the enthusiasm her father had for this time of year. From buying Christmas presents, where he was keen that every single one should be just right, to a dance where he was the merriest of them all. Charles Dickens was keen that his children should be taught to dance, and was very enthusiastic about it himself, although he was hopeless at it:
“My father insisted that my sister Katey and I should teach the polka step to Mr. Leech and himself. My father was as much in earnest about learning to take that wonderful step correctly, as though there were nothing of greater importance in the world.�
“Mr. Leech� was of course John Leech, Charles Dickens’s chosen illustrator of his most famous work “A Christmas Carol�. The idea of the two of them galumphing around attempting to perform a polka, instructed by two little girls, is irresistible! Tiny Katey partnered John Leech, who was over six feet tall, and Mamie danced with her father. She tells us that she remembers him regularly practising in a corner by himself, and once:
“I remember one cold winter’s night his awakening with the fear that he had forgotten the step so strong upon him that, jumping out of bed, by the scant illumination of the old-fashioned rushlight, and to his own whistling, he diligently rehearsed its “one, two, three, one, two, three� until he was once more secure in his knowledge.�
Mamie tells several anecdotes about her father’s dancing, as well as his conjuring and magic tricks, each more delightful than the previous one. I particularly enjoyed reading about a prank he must have told her, of when he was courting her mother. A sailor suddenly appeared in the company, having jumped through his future parents-in-law’s French windows—and performed a hornpipe:
“A few minutes later my father walked in at the door as sedately as though quite innocent of the prank, and shook hands with everyone; but the sight of their amazed faces proving too much for his attempted sobriety, his hearty laugh was the signal for the rest of the party to join in his merriment.�
Christmas at “Gad’s Hill� was a notable occasion with lavish Christmas dinners, although Mamie says he was quite abstemious himself. She describes a New Year’s Eve frolic and New Year on the Green, followed a few days later by the Twelfth Night festivities, all full of great jollity. This sense of good feeling produced the Fezziwigs, and also the Christmas episode in the Pickwick papers. Mamie finishes her detailed descriptions with:
“I can see now the anxious faces turned toward the beaming, laughing eyes of their host. How attentively he would listen, with his head thrown slightly back, and a little to one side, a happy smile on his lips. O, those merry, happy times, never to be forgotten by any of his own children, or by any of their guests. Those merry, happy times!�
After the festivities, Mamie moves to quieter mode in chapter 3. Mamie tells us how completely absorbed her father was when he was writing, and how a strict silence had to be observed throughout out the house. He would normally be left quite alone when he was working but, after Mamie had been ill, her father asked her if she would like to lie on the sofa in his study while she convalesced. She happened to witness something most extraordinary:
“On one of these mornings, I was lying on the sofa endeavouring to keep perfectly quiet, while my father wrote busily and rapidly at his desk, when he suddenly jumped from his chair and rushed to a mirror which hung near, and in which I could see the reflection of some extraordinary facial contortions which he was making. He returned rapidly to his desk, wrote furiously for a few moments, and then went again to the mirror. The facial pantomime was resumed, and then turning toward, but evidently not seeing, me, he began talking rapidly in a low voice. Ceasing this soon, however, he returned once more to his desk, where he remained silently writing until luncheon time � for the time being he had not only lost sight of his surroundings, but had actually become in action, as in imagination, the creature of his pen.�
For those few moments at least, Charles Dickens was so intensely involved with the world he created, that he had actually become, in his mind, the characters whose actions he was playing out!
Mamie describes in detail the rooms in which he wrote, in each house, finishing with Gad’s Place:
“It is this room which Mr. Luke Fildes, the great artist and our own esteemed friend, made famous in his picture “The Empty Chair,� which he sketched for “The Graphic� after my father’s death. The writing table, the ornaments, the huge waste paper basket, which “the master� had made for his own use, are all there, and, alas, the empty chair!�
She then moves on to talk about the characters he created, who became so very real to him, that their fortunes and tragedies affected her father emotionally. To lighten the mood, she includes a long reply he sent to a fan letter from a little boy. It is delightful!
Again, Mamie must be partly recording what her father or others had told her, as she talks about the “popularity of “Pickwick� � known to the world long before it was realised by its anxious young author�. She describes his writing habits, such as that he would only ever use a quill pen and blue ink. Even if it was a simple list or menu, he would never use a lead pencil. She further says that the only amanuensis he would ever trust was her aunt Georgina, who wrote to her:
“The book which your father dictated to me was ‘The Child’s History of England.� The reason for my being used in this capacity of secretary was that ‘Bleak House� was being written at the same time, and your father would dictate to me while walking about the room, as a relief after his long, sedentary imprisonment.�
Mamie finishes this chapter by recording how sad and sorry her father was, on learning of the death of William Makepeace Thackeray, on Christmas Eve, 1863.
Chapter 4 describes an active Charles Dickens. From being a weak and sickly child, he was determined as an adult, to be as fit as he could be:
“Athletic sports were a passion with him in his manhood � Bar leaping, bowling and quoits were among the games carried on with the greatest ardour, and in sustained energy Dickens certainly distanced every competitor. Even the lighter recreations of battledore and bagatelle were pursued with relentless activity.�
He used to ride frequently, but Mamie says that a passion for walking had taken its place after his marriage. Other sports he enjoyed were shuttlecock and bowls, and he had a passion for bathing in the cold sea, in America or Italy or even off the coast at Broadstairs. At home: “cold baths, sea baths and shower baths were among his most constant practices�.
The rest of this chapter talks of all the family pets, such as Charles Dickens’s series of pet ravens. This started with one who became immortalised as “Grip� in “Barnaby Rudge�. She then tells several anecdotes about their many and various dogs, saying that dogs were by far their father’s favourite pets. It has to be said that 21st century readers may find some parts of this and the next chapter upsetting. The way we care for pet birds, cats, dogs and ponies is quite different now.
Chapter 5 continues with Mamie’s anecdotes about her father’s interest in wild birds, specifically the clever behaviour of many birds in London. There are stories about whole families of birds, plus ones about a canary, and a goldfinch, which fascinated him. She goes on to talk of other dogs, including one whom her father had brought back from his first trip to America. Finally moving from the family pets and wild birds befriended by Charles Dickens, Mamie talks of her father’s visit to America, and his public readings. This part has been heavily drawn on by later biographers.
We know much of the information in Mamie’s final chapter 6, from Charles Dickens’s other biographers, who have lifted parts from her or from John Forster’s account. Mamie tells of her father’s heroism in the Stapleford railway accident in 1865, coyly referring, as he did to his fellow-passengers, as “an old one and a young one�. We now know that this was his mistress Nelly Ternan, and her mother, and that they were travelling as a party of three. But ever afterwards Charles Dickens felt a sense of dread, whenever he had to travel by train. Mamie describes how badly he was affected:
“� on one occasion, which I especially recall, while we were on our way home from London to our little country station, Higham, where the carriage was to meet us, my father suddenly clutched the arms of the railway carriage seat, while his face grew ashy pale, and great drops of perspiration stood upon his forehead, and though he tried hard to master the dread, it was so strong that he had to leave the train at the next station. The accident had left its impression upon the memory, and it was destined never to be effaced.�
Mamie’s account details Charles Dickens’s gradual decline in health from this time. In his last years Charles Dickens was plagued by illness, both physical and mental. His last reading tour of the United States was made through sheer willpower, against his doctor’s advice, and it almost killed him. The readings took so much emotional energy, especially the sensational scenes such as from “Oliver Twist� that Charles Dickens himself wondered how he would ever get through the tour, saying:
“It likewise happens, not seldom, that I am so dead beat when I come off the stage, that they lay me down on a sofa after I have been washed and dressed, and I lie there extremely faint for a quarter of an hour. In that time I rally and come right again.�
Mamie tells us of his last performance, and the love and support of his audience, as he spoke his last words in public. She finishes with the very affecting closing days and moments of his life, and his subsequent burial at Westminster.
All this is familiar territory for keen readers of Charles Dickens, but it is particularly interesting to see it expressed by his daughter, and to remember that this simple, affectionate account is the source material for many more scholarly later works. Despite its omissions and understandable bias, it is a lively, entertaining read.
December 2, 2022
This was such a sweet and loving tribute from daughter to father. I really enjoyed the personal and up close perspective that Mamie provided in this slim novella in which she gave readers an “inside the house� look at her father’s habits and ways. Charles Dickens was a loving father to his children, loved walking and sports, being fit and many different types of animals including his pet raven, Grip. An especially poignant father daughter moment was when Mamie taught Charles Dickens to dance.
I can’t help to think how special it would be if one of my own children wrote a loving tribute to either me or their father. I can also believe how honored Mr. Dickens would have been to have had the opportunity to read it for himself.
But in what I write about my father I shall depend chiefly upon my own memory of him, for I wish no other or dearer remembrance.Ìý My love for my father has never been touched or approached by any other love.Ìý I hold him in my heart of hearts as a man apart from all other men, as one apart from all other beings.
I can’t help to think how special it would be if one of my own children wrote a loving tribute to either me or their father. I can also believe how honored Mr. Dickens would have been to have had the opportunity to read it for himself.
But in what I write about my father I shall depend chiefly upon my own memory of him, for I wish no other or dearer remembrance.Ìý My love for my father has never been touched or approached by any other love.Ìý I hold him in my heart of hearts as a man apart from all other men, as one apart from all other beings.
November 6, 2022
Charles Dickens� eldest daughter Mary, known as Mamie, wrote these recollections of her father 26 years after his death, and shortly before her own. The family’s love and respect for Dickens comes through clearly in these personal anecdotes.
I enjoyed reading about his habits and extreme tidiness, his affection for various homes, and his devotion to his dogs. It was interesting to see his well-known work ethic through the eyes of the household, and the tales of their family Christmases were unsurprisingly charming.
�'It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its Mighty Founder was a child himself,� was his own advice, and advice which he followed both in letter and spirit.�
The spirit of fun and appreciation for life that he clearly brought to his loved ones comes across in Mamie’s words, but reading her account of family tragedies and of her father’s last days was especially touching.
There is something so profound in a daughter’s love for an admired father. Reading Mamie’s memories made me think of my own dad, and this intimate biography revealed new, personal insight into reading Charles Dickens.
I enjoyed reading about his habits and extreme tidiness, his affection for various homes, and his devotion to his dogs. It was interesting to see his well-known work ethic through the eyes of the household, and the tales of their family Christmases were unsurprisingly charming.
�'It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its Mighty Founder was a child himself,� was his own advice, and advice which he followed both in letter and spirit.�
The spirit of fun and appreciation for life that he clearly brought to his loved ones comes across in Mamie’s words, but reading her account of family tragedies and of her father’s last days was especially touching.
There is something so profound in a daughter’s love for an admired father. Reading Mamie’s memories made me think of my own dad, and this intimate biography revealed new, personal insight into reading Charles Dickens.
March 5, 2021
"Between the comings and goings of visitors there were delightfully quiet evenings at home,..."
Published in 1896, (some 25 years after Dickens’s death), this is a brief collection of reminiscences by Dickens’s eldest child.
Mamie Dickens maintained an unswerving allegiance to her father, and these are her decidedly biased recollections of him: they are the happiest, the merriest, the dearest, the best, and the most. Mamie doesn’t mention her mother, who was, we know now, cast off by a middle-aged Dickens in favor of a young actress. Mamie’s memories are of a loving, effervescent, talented, generous man, and dedicated father.
At first I thought the rose-colored tone would detract from whatever anecdotes she chose to share. But I was soon strangely captivated by this tender little book. The snapshots of Dickens’s domestic and work life here are varied, and Mamie’s distinctly “insider� perspective as his child provided something much more intimate than other accounts of Dickens’s life I’ve read over the years. It is a peculiarly up-close look at the manner and habits of the great author, that ultimately made me feel like I had visited his home myself. It is a loving account by a daughter honoring her father’s memory.
This sanitized version of Dickens may not be ALL of who he was, but it is certainly some of the most admirable parts, and that’s good enough for me.
July 28, 2020
A short, loving remembrance of Charles Dickens, written by his oldest daughter. This isn't the type of tell-all book you might expect from the child of a celebrity today. Mamie barely acknowledges her mother's existence or her father's abominable treatment of Catherine Dickens. Nor is his mistress, Ellen Ternan mentioned. Much of the text is lifted from Forster's biography or Dickens' own letters, filling in a bit of detail about some of the episodes Mamie recalls. We hear about the quotidian aspects of his life - the foods he liked, his pets, his daily routine. She touches on some more dramatic incidents (the train accident, his decline, and death) but is very selective with her details.
My Father as I Recall Him is a worthwhile little volume that can be read fairly quickly, but it's a white-washed, shallow version of Dickens' life.
My Father as I Recall Him is a worthwhile little volume that can be read fairly quickly, but it's a white-washed, shallow version of Dickens' life.
February 22, 2018
Man lernt wenig über Charles Dickens selbst, als darüber wie verblümt seine Kinder über ihn schreiben konnten. Ich verstehe ja, dass sie eine einseitige Sicht auf ihren Vater gehabt haben mochten, aber leider lesen sich die kurzen Absätze der verschiedenen Kinder dann eher langweilig und meist auch recht oberflächlich. Nun ja, ich hab gelernt, welche Ballsportarten eher gerne mochte und wie begeistert er vom Tanzunterricht seiner Töchter war... Dinge in der Art...
April 19, 2023
What I enjoyed about this book was the references to events and motifs which I ended up using in my own writing: Dickens' love of walking; the hornpipe dance; his use of the phrase "blazing away" to refer to his writing; his raven, Grip; his ability to bring his literary characters vividly to life.
Mamie Dickens understandably put her father on a pedestal and hero-worshiped him. She had some very kind and loving things to relate about him, such as his love for children, animals, theatrics and parties. She also talks about her aunt Georgina Hogarth here and there.
Rather sadly, she has little to say of her mother. And there are other things she does not mention, such as Dickens' strained relationship with his parents, and his liaison with the actress Ellen Lawless Ternan (who, according to one of my sources, was also in attendance at Dickens' deathbed).
Because she and her aunt edited an early edition of Dickens' correspondence, silence on these topics, and the burning of potentially damaging letters were deemed prudent measures to protect her father's and her family's reputation. But this means that for modern research there are certain details we may never know for certain.
Mamie Dickens understandably put her father on a pedestal and hero-worshiped him. She had some very kind and loving things to relate about him, such as his love for children, animals, theatrics and parties. She also talks about her aunt Georgina Hogarth here and there.
Rather sadly, she has little to say of her mother. And there are other things she does not mention, such as Dickens' strained relationship with his parents, and his liaison with the actress Ellen Lawless Ternan (who, according to one of my sources, was also in attendance at Dickens' deathbed).
Because she and her aunt edited an early edition of Dickens' correspondence, silence on these topics, and the burning of potentially damaging letters were deemed prudent measures to protect her father's and her family's reputation. But this means that for modern research there are certain details we may never know for certain.
November 2, 2022
A delightful memoir of a beloved parent. The stories in here are sweet, loving and show a remarkable man. This was a heart-warming read full of wonderful snippets into the home life of a favourite author.
Perhaps a bit one-sided as it's all sweet and good. However, it shows a loving and caring parent who would leave behind many good, kind, loving memories. This book is full of these.
Perhaps a bit one-sided as it's all sweet and good. However, it shows a loving and caring parent who would leave behind many good, kind, loving memories. This book is full of these.
January 28, 2015
„Unser Vater Charles Dickens� ist ein äußerst lebendiges Erinnerungsbuch der Kinder Mary, Charlie, Henry und Katie. Die zugrunde liegenden Briefe, Berichte, Notizen, Bilder wurden kenntnisreich editiert und übersetzt von Alexander Pechmann. Und er hat viel zusammengetragen:
Dickens� unglückliche Kindheit, seine Jahre als Kanzleischreiber und Journalist, die Wohnstätten, die Familie, das Theater, die literarische Arbeit (sehr schön: die Zeichnung „Der leere Stuhl�, der nach dem Tode Dickens verlassen im Arbeitszimmer steht, den Meister jede Minute zurückerwartend), Streifzüge durch Londons Unterwelt (Detective Stories) mit Polizeibeamten. Das alles liest sich leicht und ist spannend erzählt. Natürlich wird auch das dramatisch-traumatische Zugunglück und die Liaison mit Ellen Ternun (siehe auch „The invisible woman�, Kinofilm 2014) ausführlich geschildert.
"Gebt immer euer Bestes", pflegte er den Kindern zu sagen. Alexander Pechmann hat jedenfalls sein Bestes gegeben und mit diesem wunderbaren Buch einen unverzichtbaren Begleiter für alle Dickens Leser geschaffen.
August 4, 2016
An enjoyable three and a half stars. (Penned by in remembrance of her father .) quite simply conveys a daughter's deep personal regard for her father. In this she shares with the reader recollected anecdotes, sentiments, and bits of material from his [Charles Dickens] own writings. Of him, she said: "I hold him in my heart of hearts as a man apart from all other men, as one apart from all other beings." And this is what comes through in these pages. A public domain book available free here:
December 24, 2017
Mamie's writings are so sad and almost painful. Knowing other dimensions of her father Charles Dickens' life, there is a feeling that Mamie must be blind, must be in denial that her father could possibly be anything other than a just, a kind and loving man to all - even animals. Perhaps Mamie is recording the father that she would like Dickens to be. After all, Mamie never left her father when he separated from her mother, Catherine. Mamie was there when Dickens died of stroke. It almost seems that her whole life, her reason for being revolved around her father. Little routines - such as Christmas celebrations, being granted time in her father's study while he worked - become idolised moments. Mamie never seems to leave behind the child she was, longing for her father's love. That is so sad, so painful.
MY POETIC REVIEW + AMAZON REVIEW
MY POETIC REVIEW + AMAZON REVIEW
February 6, 2024
Lovely little book that any man would be proud to have his oldest daughter write about him. Of course this man was Charles Dickens and it was written years after his death and just before her own. In fact, she died before she could even see the final proofs of the book.
Obviously very proud of her father and with only the fondest of memories, she leaves out any that aren't as happy, or perhaps that she thought were too private to mention, such as the separation from her mother, or anything to do with Ellen Ternan. This is understandable, especially for the times they lived in. No, this is a happy little book full of how she saw her famous father in his private moments, and how she wanted him to be thought of and remembered.
Obviously very proud of her father and with only the fondest of memories, she leaves out any that aren't as happy, or perhaps that she thought were too private to mention, such as the separation from her mother, or anything to do with Ellen Ternan. This is understandable, especially for the times they lived in. No, this is a happy little book full of how she saw her famous father in his private moments, and how she wanted him to be thought of and remembered.
August 29, 2021
Es tan dulce la forma en la que Mamie Dickens habla de su padre, que me hace desear más intensamente haber sido capaz de poder conocer a Charles Dickens. Al principio me se sentÃa temerosa porque no sabÃa que me podrÃa encontrar, no querÃa decepcionarme como me paso con otro artista del cual leà anteriormente *tose* Salinger *tose*. Sin embargo, esto no fue decepcionante, al contrario, reavivo mi amor por Mr. Dickens. Siento que quiero leer y leer los libros que aun tengo pendientes de él.
November 8, 2022
Mamie Dickens, the older daughter of Charles Dickens, wrote a slim, engaging memoir. She showed him as an affectionate father, but barely mentioned her mother and did not reveal any family secrets. Mamie regarded her father as a talented, energetic man who loved to entertain and spent time with his children. There were also lots of amusing anecdotes about Dickens and the family pets.
Dickens loved his home, "Gads Hill," which he admired even as a child. It was always full of children, other relatives, and visiting friends. It's amazing that he found time to write with all the activity around him. Mamie remembers how her father became emotionally involved with his characters, and found it difficult to write about his child characters' deaths.
In the first chapter, Mamie set the tone for the rest of the book:
"In what I write about my father I shall depend chiefly upon my own memory of him, for I wish no other or dearer remembrance. My love for my father has never been touched or approached by any other love. I hold him in my heart of hearts as a man apart from all other men, as one apart from all other beings."
Dickens loved his home, "Gads Hill," which he admired even as a child. It was always full of children, other relatives, and visiting friends. It's amazing that he found time to write with all the activity around him. Mamie remembers how her father became emotionally involved with his characters, and found it difficult to write about his child characters' deaths.
In the first chapter, Mamie set the tone for the rest of the book:
"In what I write about my father I shall depend chiefly upon my own memory of him, for I wish no other or dearer remembrance. My love for my father has never been touched or approached by any other love. I hold him in my heart of hearts as a man apart from all other men, as one apart from all other beings."
November 9, 2022
This was so delightful to listen to, but it did have some sad sections. I listened to this on Librivox. I have only read one Charles Dickens book so far, A Christmas Carol, but I do have 11 on my TBR list, and now, after listening to this intimate and personal look into Charles Dickens's family life; I want to be sure to read these books sooner rather than later. He seemed, in my opinion, to be a wonderful father, husband, friend, and person with wonderful qualities. :)
August 24, 2021
A charming recollection made less so by the poor translation
I would have given this book 5 stars because I found Mamie Dickens to be a charming author on her father's memory.
Her words were almost poetic. Flowery and perhaps exaggerated, as his daughter she no doubt adored the man and would have his legacy be one of the utmost perfection.
However I find family and friends to be the most reliable sources on a person's truest character.
But the translation from book to digital format is so poorly done. There surely should have been images to accompany some text and yet they were absent and throughout the body of the text were interspersed page numbers which was rather annoying.
It's a good thing this copy is free for I would not have spent money on a book of such poor quality.
It is a disservice to Mamie and Charles Dickens. For shame.
Merged review:
A charming recollection made less so by the poor translation
I would have given this book 5 stars because I found Mamie Dickens to be a charming author on her father's memory.
Her words were almost poetic. Flowery and perhaps exaggerated, as his daughter she no doubt adored the man and would have his legacy be one of the utmost perfection.
However I find family and friends to be the most reliable sources on a person's truest character.
But the translation from book to digital format is so poorly done. There surely should have been images to accompany some text and yet they were absent and throughout the body of the text were interspersed page numbers which was rather annoying.
It's a good thing this copy is free for I would not have spent money on a book of such poor quality.
It is a disservice to Mamie and Charles Dickens. For shame
I would have given this book 5 stars because I found Mamie Dickens to be a charming author on her father's memory.
Her words were almost poetic. Flowery and perhaps exaggerated, as his daughter she no doubt adored the man and would have his legacy be one of the utmost perfection.
However I find family and friends to be the most reliable sources on a person's truest character.
But the translation from book to digital format is so poorly done. There surely should have been images to accompany some text and yet they were absent and throughout the body of the text were interspersed page numbers which was rather annoying.
It's a good thing this copy is free for I would not have spent money on a book of such poor quality.
It is a disservice to Mamie and Charles Dickens. For shame.
Merged review:
A charming recollection made less so by the poor translation
I would have given this book 5 stars because I found Mamie Dickens to be a charming author on her father's memory.
Her words were almost poetic. Flowery and perhaps exaggerated, as his daughter she no doubt adored the man and would have his legacy be one of the utmost perfection.
However I find family and friends to be the most reliable sources on a person's truest character.
But the translation from book to digital format is so poorly done. There surely should have been images to accompany some text and yet they were absent and throughout the body of the text were interspersed page numbers which was rather annoying.
It's a good thing this copy is free for I would not have spent money on a book of such poor quality.
It is a disservice to Mamie and Charles Dickens. For shame
November 7, 2016
It had its moments and was definitely worth the read but I found it difficult to get through. The last chapter about Dickens experience in a railway accident and his death 5 years later was my favorite.
Read
October 20, 2012This book is less of a biography than a mere collection of fond memories. It tells us nothing about Dickens' childhood, or personal problems.
November 1, 2013
I found this little book refreshing. It is good to read a memoir where a child describes a good man and father.
Want to read
September 10, 2019Gebundenes Buch aus dem Aufbau verlag
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