Dorothy Dickens unravelled

Some years ago my husband John Flashman and I visited Paddock Wood Closed Cemetery during a Heritage Open Days event where we were told about the mystery of a lady called Dorothy Dickens who might have been related to the author Charles Dickens. We were shown her grave which was close to the path and told it was possible she was his niece or even his granddaughter but no-one knew for certain. Further research unravelled the mystery.

The death certificate was obtained and later the parish burial registers confirmed that that the granddaughter of Charles Dickens is buried in the closed Churchyard in Paddock Wood Kent as it records the demise of “Dorothy Gertrude Maria Dickens” who lived in Paddock Wood and was buried on 27th November 1930 aged 62, following a funeral service conducted by the Reverend George Charles.

The old St Andrews Church that Dorothy Dickens would have known and decorated with flowers. Destroyed by a bomb in 1940 ©

Dorothy Dickens Grave in St Andrews Closed Churchyard . Church Road Paddock Wood ©

Dorothy was the daughter of Dickens’ first child, Charles Culliford Boz Dickens and his wife Elizabeth, who married on 19 November 1861 at St Mark’s Church, St Pancras, Middlesex. She was born on 7 February 1868 and baptised on 11 March 1868 at St Marks, Regents Park, London. Her birth was registered as Gertrude Maria Dickens, daughter of Charles and Elizabeth Dickens of 18 Gloucester Road, Regents Park. Charles occupation was described as paper manufacturer.

In 1869 Dorothy was only 23 months old when her family attended what was to be Charles Dickens’s last Christmas. The picture of about the same time shows her in her little chair on the right (Bygone Kent, vol 40: no 1).

Dorothy Dickens as a child Acknowledgement BygoneKent ©

In 1871 the family, with their children, was still living at 18 Gloucester Road, Regents Park. and Charles (Jnr) was the proprietor and editor of the weekly journal “All the Year Round”.

Charles had bought Gads Hill Place Higham, the country home of Charles Dickens, at auction for £8,600 but within 10 years he was forced to sell and in desperation moved into his offices in Wellington Street London. Elizabeth and the children were spread across the country staying with different relatives. This probably explains why in 1881, Dorothy (still known as Gertrude) together with an older sister and brother were listed in the census with their mother’s sister Margaret Orridge at 5 Albert Rd, St Peter, Brighton, Sussex.

At one point the children joined a theatrical tour and Dorothy performed in ‘Cricket on the Hearth” written by her grandfather, adapted for the stage by Albert Smith.

In 1891, again, still known as Gertrude, Dorothy was back in London living with her parents at 62 Regents Park Rd, St Pancras, London, her occupation at this time being described as type-writer.

Charles Dickens Junior died in 1896 and in 1901 Dorothy (as she was now known) was a domestic nurse, living with her widowed mother in Fulham.

Dorothy appears to have left home shortly afterwards and in 1905 was running a small private children’s home in Perham Road, Fulham with Miss Blanche Penley.

After her mother’s death in 1907 Dorothy and business partner Blanche moved to Broadstairs and set up another private home for children in a nine room building at 104 Pierremont Avenue which is where they were living in 1911 with six children and two servants.

It was revealed after her death that Dorothy was also part of a small team, during the 1st World War that helped blind soldiers cope with their sight loss, teaching them to use special typewriters at the St Dunstan’s Institute in London. That organisation, founded in 1915, is currently known as Blind Veterans UK and based in York. One resident, Private James Rawlinson, of the 170th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, commented on his encounter with Dorothy: “I was diligently at work at my typewriter and, under the kindly instruction of Miss Dorothy Dickens, a granddaughter of the great novelist, I had soon acquired sufficient speed and accuracy to qualify for work.”

In 1920 Dorothy moved to Winslow, Buckinghamshire and was working in a children’s home as a foster mother. This job obviously didn’t last long as by 1921 Dorothy was boarding at “The Bungalow” in Paddock Wood in the house of Lillen Butler the District Nurse and midwife. No occupation was recorded.

Dorothy later rented the central Acorn Villa at 2 Church Road, near the railway station. It was a small two up, two down property next to the Acorn Restaurant owned by Joseph and Emma Cosham which is now occupied by the Simla Cuisine Restaurant (2026).

Dorothy died on 24th November 1930 at Acorn Villa aged 62. She was buried on Thursday 27th November at St Andrew’s Churchyard.

Dorothy had experienced both the best and the worst of times. She was a caring and hard-working lady, who helped out at St Andrew’s Church in Paddock Wood and never gave much away about her family history. A private person who was kind and generous

The Maidstone Telegraph 29th November 1930 reported:

“The death occurred at the Acorn, Paddock Wood, on Tuesday of Miss Dorothy Dickens a granddaughter of the famous novelist Charles Dickens and the daughter of his eldest son. She was 61. Miss Dickens lived in Paddock Wood some years ago and was keenly interested in church work. She then went to live at Herne Bay but returned to Paddock Wood about two years ago and has since lived in apartments at the “Acorn” Restaurant. Miss Dickens had a few friends in the village but she led a very secluded life and since her return to Paddock Wood she had been more or less an invalid.”

(There are known to be some minor inaccuracies in the above newspaper report).

The Kentish Express reported in October 1931 that a stone had been erected in Paddock Wood in memory of Miss Dorothy Dickens granddaughter of Charles Dickens. Miss Dickens was for many years a resident in the village.

Article written by Meryl Flashman and supplemented by Sarah Hamilton,

With acknowledgement to Bygone Kent: Volume 40: no 1,

Dickensian tale of poverty & charity in the authors family by Mike Gunnill,

FindMyPast and Ancestry

Sir Frederick Morgan KCB Architect of D Day

Moatlands Paddock Wood