Blue plaque for Charles Dickens

 

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. While many celebrations will be held in his adoptive London (he was born in Portsmouth), his is also a tale of another city – Brighton and Hove.

Dickens was a frequent visitor to both the then towns and often stayed at the Bedford Hotel, which burnt down in 1964 – he wrote most of Dombey and Son while staying there. At noon on Wednesday, 8 February, his visits were commemorated by the unveiling of a blue plaque in his memory by his great-great-grandson, Ian Dickens.

The site today is the Holiday Inn – Brighton Seafront, on top of which is Bedford Towers. The plaque has been paid for in part by a generous donation by residents, the building’s freeholders and the Brighton & Hove Commemorative Plaque Panel.

A previous plaque to Dickens was placed on the old Bedford Hotel in the presence of representatives of local societies and the Dickens Fellowship. It was lost when the building was destroyed.

Dickens was very fond of Brighton, which he first visited in October 1837. In Dombey and Son, Paul Dombey is educated at Doctor Blimber’s School in Upper Rock Gardens. Dickens refers to Brighton in Bleak House, Nicholas Nickleby, Sketches by Boz, and an ale – Brighton Tipper – is mentioned in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. He also stayed at 148 Kings Road, just down from the old Bedford Hotel, writing parts of David Copperfield there; at the Old Ship Hotel; and with friends and family. His last visit was during his farewell tour in 1868. He died in 1870.

If you enjoy discovering Brighton and Hove’s plaques and the stories behind them, download our pdf plaque trails. There are three to choose from.

                  

Plaque photograph: Brighton & Hove City Council. Above left, the man himself.
Above right, Brighton advertisement for Dickens' farewell tour.
Below: The Bedford Hotel about the time Dickens would have known it. From The James Gray Collection.



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