Charles Dickens, From Poverty to Fame As An Author
Dickens went from child laborer to world-famous author in 12 years’ time
John Dickens had a good job as a clerk for the British Navy. But he wasn’t good at handling money. Plus, he and his wife, Elizabeth, had seven kids. This family size and John’s ineptness put a financial strain on the Dickens household.
To help out, their oldest son, Charles, got a job a few days after he turned 12 on Feb. 7, 1824. Charles went to work at a shoe polish factory. His job was to paste labels on bottles, for which he earned six shillings a week. That’s about £18 today, or $23.
The money Charles earned wasn’t enough, though. Authorities arrested John and placed him in debtors prison on Feb. 20, 1824. Not long after, Elizabeth and most of their children joined John in jail. Charles, as the only earner in his family, remained free, as did his older sister, Fanny. She was studying at the Royal Academy of Music.
The Dickens family got out of prison in May 1824. But Charles continued working at the factory for about a year before he returned to school. About this period of his life, Charles later wrote, “It is wonderful to me how I could have been so easily cast away at such an age.”
