was born 7 February 1812 in Portsmouth, England, the second child of John and Elizabeth Dickens.
Charles's father often spent beyond his means, which eventually landed him in debtor's prison. At a young age, Dickens was forced to quite school and go to work for ten hours a day at a shoe polish warehouse to help support his large family.
In 1836, Dickens married Catherine Thomson Hogarth. Together they had ten children.
Dickens was first published in 1836. His first work was a collection of journalism and his first novel The Pickwick Papers was also published that year.
On June 8, 1870, Dickens suffered a stroke at his home and passed away the next day. His body was laid to rest in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.
A printed epitaph circulated at the time of his death read: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world."
All together, Charles Dickens wrote over a dozen major novels and was working on his another at the time of his death. Not one of his major novels have been out of print since their first publication.
Biographical information conveniently pilfered from Wikipedia.org
