16 Bayham Street

Five locations located to Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’…

by exploringlondon

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is forever linked to Christmas in London. So, with Christmas almost upon us, here’s a quick look at five locations mentioned or alluded to in the famous book…

1. 16 Bayham Street, Camden Town. Bob Cratchit’s house is described as being in Camden Town but what’s interesting is that as a child Dickins’ himself lived here at this property. So whether or not it’s the actual address Dickens had in mind for Cratchit’s property, it’s certainly in the vicinity.

The Royal Exchange today. PICTURE: Klaudia Piaskowska/Unsplash

2. The Royal Exchange. Referenced in regard to Ebenezer Scrooge who did business there. The current building was still being completed when Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843 following a fire at the premises several years before. It was opened in 1844.

3. Simpsons Tavern. Scrooge is said to have taken his “melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern” which has been suggested could refers to Simpsons. Located in Ball Court, the current premises opened in 1757. The George & Vulture in Michael’s Alley is also mentioned as a possibility.

4. Newman’s Court. Located near Cornhill (which is mentioned in the book as the site where Bob Cratchit goes on a slide after leaving Scrooge’s office), it’s been suggested more than once that while the location of Scrooge’s counting house is not specified in the text, a location in Newman’s Court would fit the bill.

5. Leadenhall Market. Following Scrooge’s transformation, he sends a boy out to buy a turkey- commentators suggest the poulterer the boy attends was located in Leadenhall Market which would have been a predecessor to the current building which dates from 1881.

10 London sites to celebrate Charles Dickens – 2. A London childhood…

by exploringlondon

Born the second child of a naval clerk then stationed in Portsmouth, Charles Dickens had what one would imagine was a fairly typical childhood for the son of a naval clerk, his family following his father John Dickens from one place to another – Sheerness, Chatham and briefly, in 1815, in London – as he took up different posts.

But in 1822, amid increasing financial difficulties, John Dickens was recalled to London and he and the family moved into a house at 16 Bayham Street in Camden Town in the city’s north, Charles joining them after completing schooling in Chatham (the house at number 16 Bayham Street is now commemorated by a plaque – it was demolished in 1910).

The family subsequently moved to another, recently built, premises at 4 Gower Street North (later renumbered 147 Gower Street) but soon after this, on 20th February, 1824, John Dickens was arrested over debt and taken to Marshalsea Prison where he subsequently resided with his family with the exception of Charles (the prison, in use since the 14th century, was closed in 1842 and finally mostly demolished in the 1870s – a single wall of the second prison on the site is all that remains).

Twelve-year-old Charles, meanwhile, was put to work in the Warren’s Blacking Factory (pictured) near Hungerford Stairs, which stood just off the Strand (it’s said to have stood roughly where Charing Cross Railway Station now stands). While doing so, he roomed firstly at a house in Little College Street, Camden Town, and then in rooms at Lant Street in Borough (which was much closer to the prison).

John Dickens was out of prison in May but Charles continued working at the factory for almost another year until his father’s fortunes improved and Charles, now living with the family once again – at 29 Johnson Street and then, after being evicted, at The Polygon in Somers Town (an area in St Pancras) – returned to school, becoming enrolled at the Wellington House Classical and Commercial Academy in Hampstead Road.

In 1827, his father’s finances once more having taken a turn for the worse, he began work as a solicitor’s clerk (but more of that later)…

PICTURE: A nineteenth century etching of Dickens at Warren’s Blacking Factory – Source: Wikipedia.