Henry Fielding Dickens

Sir Henry Fielding Dickens Kt (16 January, 1849 [Birth certificate of Henry Fielding Dickens. General Register Office (GRO) ref: 1849 MAR - Marylebone I 260] –21 December, 1933) was the eighth of ten children born to British author Charles Dickens [http://charlesdickenspage.com/fast-facts.html] . He was a barrister, a KC and Common Serjeant of London, a senior legal office which he held for over 15 years.

Baptised in the church of St. Mary Marylebone in London on April 21, 1849 [http://www.links.org/links-cgi/readged?/home/ben/camilla-genealogy/current+c-dickens1502+2-2-0-1] , Henry Fielding Dickens was named after Henry Fielding, one of his father's favourite authors. As a boy, with his brother Edward he started the 'Gad's Hill Gazette', a family newspaper. [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/olivertwist/dickens_timeline_text.html] Dickens was educated at Wimbledon School and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, originally studying Mathematics, but later changing to Law. In 1873 he was called to the Bar, and in 1892 he was appointed Queen's Counsel. In 1899 he became a Bencher of the Inner Temple.

For some years he was the Recorder for Deal and Maidstone in Kent. His interests included fencing, and he was the first President of the Chatham Yachting Club. As Common Serjeant of London he judged criminal trials at the Old Bailey for over 15 years. He repeatedly refused nominations for election to Parliament, believing it would adversely affect his legal practice. [http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/contractsprof_blog/2005/12/today_in_histor_3.html] Later in life he performed readings of his father's works. [http://charlesdickenspage.com/family_friends.html]

Henry 'Harry' Dickens married Marie, the daughter of Monsieur Antonin Roche, on 25th October, 1876, they having three sons and three daughters together. His son Philip Charles Dickens is buried beside him in Putney Vale Cemetery in London, while a second son, Henry Charles Dickens, was the father of the author Monica Dickens. Henry Fielding Dickens was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 1922, and retired in August 1932. He died in 1933 two weeks after being hit by a motorcycle. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,746701-2,00.html]

Dickens was the grandfather of Cedric Charles Dickens (1916–2006), an author and the steward of Charles Dicken's literary legacy, and Monica Dickens, the author. [http://www.charles-dickens.ws/dickens_children.asp#move]

Publications

*'Memories of My Father' Gollancz, London(1928)
*'The Recollections of Sir Henry Dickens, K.C.' W. Heinemann Ltd (1934).

External links

* [http://koti.mbnet.fi/dickens/henryf.html Excerpt from 'Memories of My Father']
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,746701-2,00.html Brief obituary in Time Magazine]
* [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital_dev/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=569670&imageID=1223045&total=2&num=0&word=Dickens%2C%20Henry%20F%2E%20%28Henry%20Fielding%29%2C%20Sir%2C%201849%2D1933&s=3&notword=&d=&c=&f=2&k=0&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&imgs=20&pos=1&e=w Photographs of Dickens in the New York Public Library Digital Gallery]
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?name=&search=as&desc=&grp=1053%3BLawyers&lDate=&LinkID=mp01295 Portraits of Dickens in the National Portrait Gallery]