Skip to content

Charles Dickens Museum celebrates its 100th year

Charles Dickens Museum A black and white photo of a crowd facing a building in London. A man stands at a balcony on the first floor, looking back at the crowd. Charles Dickens Museum
The official opening of the museum on 9 June 1925, where the Rt. Hon. The Earl of Birkenhead addressed the crowd: "I cannot help thinking that he would have cherished the knowledge... that the house which he first rented in London, and to which he brought his young wife, the house in which Oliver Twist and Wackford Squeers and Kate Nickleby were all born, was for all time to be made available to the admirers of his genius."

The Charles Dickens Museum in London will celebrate its 100th birthday by offering free entry to his former home and a chance to meet the author's living descendants.

Visitors on 9 June will find a living member of Dickens' family in each of the historic rooms, where they can hear talks and readings.

The Charles Dickens Museum, at 48 Doughty Street, is the only surviving London house in which Charles Dickens lived and where he wrote the stories that made him internationally famous.

The date also marks the 155th anniversary since Charles Dickens' death.

Charles Dickens Museum Ollie Dickens, great-great-great grandson of Charles Dickens, with HM The Queen at the Museum. They are standing in a bedroom, by a mirror. Ollie is holding a clipboard, whilst the Queen holds a handbag and watches Ollie reading Charles Dickens Museum
Ollie Dickens, great-great-great grandson of Charles Dickens, with HM The Queen at the Museum in March

In Dickens' study, visitors will be able to meet his great-great-grandson Mark Dickens, who will be reading A Christmas Carol.

In the next room, his great-great-grandson, Gerald Dickens, will discuss the Staplehurst train crash of 1865, which Dickens survived and which inspired him to write the ghost story The Signalman.

Ollie Dickens, his great-great-great-grandson, will read from Oliver Twist in the room in which the story was written.

Newangle Copyright, Charles Dickens Museum A study, with red walls and dark brown furniture, including a desk and book case Newangle Copyright, Charles Dickens Museum
Where it all happened: Charles Dickens's Study at 48 Doughty Street

Director of the Charles Dickens Museum, Frankie Kubicki, said: "If you come and see us on our 100th birthday, there is every chance that you will find yourself savouring the atmosphere in the room where Dickens wrote Oliver Twist or sizing up Dickens's writing desk and chair alongside the current head of the Dickens family.

"Our centenary exhibition is stuffed full of the museum's greatest hits, so there could be no better time to come and see the house where Charles Dickens became a star."

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]

See alsos
Related internet links