Walter Landor Dickens
Encyclopedia
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
novelist
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
and his wife Catherine
Catherine Dickens
Catherine 'Kate' Thomson Dickens was the wife of English novelist Charles Dickens, with whom he fathered 10 children.-Marriage:...
. He became an officer cadet in the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
's Presidency armies
Presidency armies
The presidency armies were the armies of the three presidencies of the East India Company's rule in India, later the forces of the British Crown in India...
just before the Indian Mutiny. The mutiny resulted in the British Crown extending direct rule to India, and Dickens continued to serve in what was now becoming the British Indian Army
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
until his death.
Biography
Named after his godfatherGodparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
Walter Savage Landor
Walter Savage Landor
Walter Savage Landor was an English writer and poet. His best known works were the prose Imaginary Conversations, and the poem Rose Aylmer, but the critical acclaim he received from contemporary poets and reviewers was not matched by public popularity...
, Walter Dickens was christened
Infant baptism
Infant baptism is the practice of baptising infants or young children. In theological discussions, the practice is sometimes referred to as paedobaptism or pedobaptism from the Greek pais meaning "child." The practice is sometimes contrasted with what is called "believer's baptism", or...
at St Marylebone parish church on 4 December 1841, after which Charles Dickens held a celebratory party. The guests included Elliotson
John Elliotson
John Elliotson was an English physician, born in Southwark, London.He studied medicine first at the University of Edinburgh , where he was influenced by Thomas Brown, M.D...
, Landor
Walter Savage Landor
Walter Savage Landor was an English writer and poet. His best known works were the prose Imaginary Conversations, and the poem Rose Aylmer, but the critical acclaim he received from contemporary poets and reviewers was not matched by public popularity...
, Maclise
Daniel Maclise
Daniel Maclise was an Irish history, literary and portrait painter, and illustrator, who worked for most of his life in London, England.-Early life:...
, Macready
William Charles Macready
-Life:He was born in London, and educated at Rugby.It was his intention to go up to Oxford, but in 1809 the embarrassed affairs of his father, the lessee of several provincial theatres, called him to share the responsibilities of theatrical management. On 7 June 1810 he made a successful first...
, Stanfield and Talfourd
Thomas Noon Talfourd
Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd, SL , was an English judge and author.The son of a well-to-do brewer, he was born at Reading, Berkshire ....
. Walter was educated at Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
. Nicknamed 'Young Skull' by his father, Walter Dickens showed early signs of aspiring to be an author like his father, but Charles Dickens instructed Walter's tutor to encourage him to not write, stating "The less he is encouraged to write the better, and the happier he will be." Instead, through the influence of Angela Burdett-Coutts
Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts
Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts , born Angela Georgina Burdett, was a nineteenth-century philanthropist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and the former Sophia Coutts, daughter of banker Thomas Coutts...
, Walter became a cadet in the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
, leaving England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
for India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 1857 aged 16 at the start of the Indian Mutiny. At this time there was no single unified army in India. Each of the three Presidencies of India had its own army, and, in addition, a limited number of British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
units were also stationed in India.
After seeing Walter off at Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
with his oldest son Charley
Charles Dickens, Jr
Charles Dickens, Jr, born Charles Culliford Boz Dickens , was the first child of the novelist Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine. A failed businessman, he became the editor of his father's magazine All the Year Round, and a successful writer of dictionaries...
, Charles Dickens was very upset for a few days but soon recovered and was satisfied that he had provided a career for his son, even though Walter was not suited to the life his father had chosen for him. Charles Dickens wrote, "A sad trial, thank God it is over. The dear boy bore it a great deal better than we could have hoped." Walter never returned home and his father was never to see him again.
Following the introduction of direct rule in India in the wake of the mutiny, the armed forces were reorganised. A notice published in the London Gazette
London Gazette
The London Gazette is one of the official journals of record of the British government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published...
dated 1 March 1864 granted all those serving with "Her Majesty's Indian Forces on the 18th February 1861" rank in the British Army; Walter Dickens was amongst those listed with the rank of lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
. He served in the 26th Native Infantry Regiment, and was attached to the 42nd Regiment of Foot
42nd Regiment of Foot
The 42nd Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army. Originally the 43rd Highlanders they were renumbered the 42nd in 1748.- Early history :...
(The Black Watch) with that rank when he fell heavily into debt causing his health to break down. He was due to be invalided back to England but died of an aortic aneurysm
Aortic aneurysm
An aortic aneurysm is a general term for any swelling of the aorta to greater than 1.5 times normal, usually representing an underlying weakness in the wall of the aorta at that location...
on New Year's Eve at the Officers' Hospital in Calcutta in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He is buried in Park Street Cemetery, in Calcutta.
His father did not receive the news of Walter's death until his own birthday on February 7 1864. Later, he received Walter's unpaid bills.
Walter Dickens's name appears with those of his nine siblings on the monument next to his mother Catherine Dickens
Catherine Dickens
Catherine 'Kate' Thomson Dickens was the wife of English novelist Charles Dickens, with whom he fathered 10 children.-Marriage:...
's grave in Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery is a cemetery located in north London, England. It is designated Grade I on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. It is divided into two parts, named the East and West cemetery....
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. His brother Sydney Dickens
Sydney Smith Haldimand Dickens
Sydney Smith Haldimand Dickens was a Royal Navy officer; the fifth son and seventh child of English novelist Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine.-Biography:...
, who was buried at sea in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
, is also commemorated there. His sister Dora Dickens is buried with her mother.
External links
- Dickens on Find A Grave
- Dickens's grave rediscovered reported in The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
February 18 1911 - The Children of Charles Dickens
- http://www.charles-dickens.ws/dickens_children.asp#moveWalter Dickens on the Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
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