2. Charles Dickens was born at Portsmouth on the 7th of February, 1812. His father was a
clerk in the Navy Pay Office. When Dickens was about four years of age his family
moved to Chatham. There Dickens went to school. In his tenth year the family left
Chatham and settled down in a mean street in London/
3. Things went from bad to worse and soon Dickens`s father was imprisoned for debt and
the family home sold up. Little Charles had to work at a blacking factory.
4. He had to paste labels on the jars of blacking in a warehouse. He received six shillings a
week, and had to live in miserable lodgings, and for two years he never had sufficient to
eat
5. His poverty, however, brought him into contact with the homes of the very poor,
with their modes of life, their hopes and fears. This was of great value to him
when he became an author.
