Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Skip to navigation

Print subscriptions

Charles Dickens's characters come to life – in pictures

This article is more than 13 years old

Some of English literature's best-known characters have been traced to individuals who lived in the same Marylebone streets as the teenage Charles Dickens

Wed 1 Feb 2012 13.30 EST

Charles Dickens — Charles Dickens in his study at Gad's Hill Place, his country home in Higham, Kent – a long way from his early life in Norfolk Street, Marylebone.Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features
Share

Dickens characters: Scrooge and Marley — Still from the 1938 film A Christmas Carol with Leo G Carroll as Jacob Marley's ghost and Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge. Research by Ruth Richardson found tradesmen named Marney and Goodge worked near Dickens's house.Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features
Share

Dickens characters: Bill Sikes — Jamie Foreman as Bill Sikes in the 2005 film Oliver Twist. A William Sykes sold lamp fuel in Dickens's Marylebone. Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features
Share

Dickens characters: Bill Sykes attempting to escape from the law — One of George Cruikshank's original illustrations for Oliver Twist, showing Bill Sikes' fatal attempt to escape from the law.Photograph: Universal Images/Getty Images
Share

Dickens character: Samuel Weller from The Pickwick Papers — An HK Browne illustration for The Pickwick Papers shows the first appearance of Samuel Weller - a possible echo of Dan Weller, who ran a shoe shop opposite Dickens's home.Photograph: Universal Images/Getty Images
Share

Dickens character: Sam Weller — Sam Weller from The Pickwick PapersPhotograph: Lebrecht/Alamy
Share

Dickens character: Rose Maylie and Oliver Twist — A George Cruikshank illustration of Rose Maylie and Oliver Twist. A woman named Mrs Malie was buried in Dickens's local churchyard.Photograph: Universal Images/Getty Images
Share

Dickens characters: Mr Sowerberry — Mr Sowerberry depicted in Benjamin Pollock's 1860 work Characters and Scenes in Oliver Twist. Dickens may have derived the name from a publican named Sowerby.Photograph: Alamy
Share

Dickens character: Mr Micawber — Frederick Jensen as Mr Micawber in the 1935 film David Copperfield. Micawber is said to be based on Dickens's father.Photograph: Getty Images
Share

Dickens locations: The former Cleveland Street workhouse — The former workhouse in Cleveland Street, central London, thought to be the inspiration for the one Oliver Twist.Photograph: Tony Kyriacou/Rex Features
Share

Explore more on these topics

Most viewed

Most viewed