Mary Angela Dickens

Mary Angela Dickens (31 October 1862 – 7 February 1948) was an English novelist and journalist of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, and the oldest grandchild of the novelist Charles Dickens.

Early years

Born at 46 Gloucester Road in London, and named after her aunt, Mary Dickens, Mary Angela Dickens was the eldest of eight children of Charles Dickens, Jr. and his wife Elisabeth Matilda Moule Dickens (née Evans) and the granddaughter of Charles Dickens, the famous novelist and of Frederick Mullett Evans of Bradbury and Evans, Dickens's publisher. She was the niece of the noted barrister and judge, Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, and the painter Kate Perugini. She was christened on 19 December 1862 at St Mark's church in St Pancras in London.

In the Dickens family she was known as 'Mekitty', and as a child she called her grandfather 'Venerables'.

After the death of Charles Dickens her father bought Gads Hill, and she and her siblings lived there until 1879 when Charles Dickens, Jr. was forced to sell it after getting into financial difficulties.

Writing career

On the death of Charles Dickens, her father inherited the magazine All the Year Round, and Mary Angela Dickens published some of her earliest work in this periodical. She authored several popular sentimental and melodramatic novels during the 1890s, including Cross Currents (1891), probably her best known work, A Mere Cypher (1893), A Valiant Ignorance (1894), and Prisoners of Silence (1895).

Her later works included Against the Tide (1897), and On the Edge of a Precipice (1899). She also produced a number of books for children based on the novels of her grandfather, including Children's Stories from Dickens (1893)

By the early 1900s her sensationalist style of writing had fallen out of fashion, and by about 1916 she had stopped writing. However, her children's books based on the works of her grandfather continued to be popular.

Later life During her later years she lived at 3 Baliol Road in Hitchin in Hertfordshire She was buried in Hitchin Cemetery in the same grave as Margaret Alice Moule.

Gallery

Selected publications

Books A Mist of Error P. F. Collier, Publisher, New York (1890) Little David Copperfield, etc. Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd. London, Paris, Berlin, New York, (ca. 1890) Cross Currents Chapman & Hall, London (1891) Nobody's Fault Peter Fenelon Collier, New York (1892) A Mere Cypher. A Novel Macmillan & Co., London & New York (1893) Children's Stories from Dickens Raphael Tuck & Sons, London (1893) A Valiant Ignorance Macmillan & Co., London & New York (1894) Prisoners of Silence Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., London (1895) Some Women's Ways Jarrold & Sons, London (1896) The Love That Was Chicago & New York, Rand McNally, 1897 Against the Tide Hutchinson & Co., London (1898) On the Edge of a Precipice Hutchinson & Co., London (1899) The Wastrel Hutchinson & Co., London (1900) Unveiled, and Other Stories Digby, Long & Co., London (1906) The Debtor Hutchinson & Co., London (1912) Sanctuary R. & T. Washbourne, London (1916) Dickens' Dream Children Raphael Tuck, (1926)

Articles 'Her Inheritance', in All the Year Round, third series, Vol. 1, Nos. 24 & 25, 1889. This was not credited on publication, but the later 'A Valiant Ignorance' shows her as author of this. 'Margery', in All the Year Round, third series, Vol. 2, Nos. 33–35, 1889 'Kitty's Victim', in All the Year Round, third series, Vol. 2, Nos. 51 & 52, 1889. This was not credited on publication, but the later 'A Valiant Ignorance' shows her as author of this. 'A Social Success', in All the Year Round, Christmas Number, 1889 'A Mist of Error', All the Year Round, Extra Summer Number, 1890 'Cross Currents', a novel serialised in All the Year Round, third series, Vol. 5 & 6, 1891 'An Outstanding Debt', in All the Year Round, Christmas Number, 1891 'Out of the Fashion', in All the Year Round, Extra Summer Number, 1892 'Taken on Trust', co-authored with Margaret Moule, in All the Year Round, Christmas Number, 1892 'A Valiant Ignorance', a novel serialised in All the Year Round, third series, volume 9 & 10, 1893 'Miss Keturah', in All the Year Round, Summer Holiday Number, 1893 'The Last Witness', in All the Year Round, Extra Christmas Number, 1893; co-authored with Margaret Moule 'A Child's Memories of Gad's Hill', in The Strand Magazine, Volume XIII, No. 73, February 1897 'The Catch of the Season', in The Strand Magazine, Volume XIV, No. 79, July 1897 (illustrated by Sidney Paget)