Particulars as to the Proposed Interment of Charles Dickens at Rochester

Dickens left an injunction in his will that he be buried "in an inexpensive, unostentatious and strictly private manner." This article, by analysis of previously unremarked contemporary newspaper reports and related documents, records the attempts of his grieving family and friends to addr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Dickens quarterly 2022-06, Vol.39 (2), p.176-199
Main Author: Long, William F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
British & Irish literature
Cemeteries
Correspondence
Death & dying
Dickens, Charles (1812-1870)
English literature
Funerals
Grief
Injunctions
Text analysis
Wills
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Summary:Dickens left an injunction in his will that he be buried "in an inexpensive, unostentatious and strictly private manner." This article, by analysis of previously unremarked contemporary newspaper reports and related documents, records the attempts of his grieving family and friends to address this requirement by considering burial sites in or near Rochester, and their ultimate decision to satisfy a perceived need for public commemoration. Events are traced from Dickens's death at Gad's Hill by Rochester on the evening of Thursday 9 June 1870 to his burial in the early morning of Tuesday 14 June at Westminster Abbey.
ISSN:0742-5473
2169-5377
2169-5377
DOI:10.1353/dqt.2022.0014