Map: County Series town Plan 1:500 – published 1874
Charles Dickens birthplace
Charles John Huffam Dickens was born at 1 Mile End Terrace (now re-named 393 Old Commercial Road), a secluded and peaceful area of victorian and regency buildings, on 7th February 1812. When Dickens was born, Britain’s Navy was still at war with Napoleonic France and Charles’s father, John Dickens worked as a clerk in the Navy Pay Office.
This was his parents first home and they were to remain in Portsmouth until the winter of 1814 when his father was recalled to London. Charles later remembered that when they left the town it was covered in snow.
Dickens completed the first of his Christmas stories, A Christmas Carol in just six weeks, with the final pages written in early December of 1843. The story met with instant success and critical acclaim and the phrase “Merry Christmas” was popularised following the appearance of the story and has remained as part of Christmas around the world ever since.
Merry Christmas from Cassini.
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