Rare pieces of Charles Dickens’ clothing will be on display, including the collar of the linen shirt the writer was wearing when he suffered his fatal stroke in 1870.
Other items on display include Dickens’s black silk stockings, part of his only surviving suit, as well as personal effects and items relating to his personal grooming, including a set of six silver razors used for his daily shave, a perfume bottle, silver candle snuffers and a gold locket, containing photographs and locks of hair of Dickens and his son, Henry.
This rare specimen is a window into the personal style of Dickens, who suffered a stroke while sitting at dinner at his home on Gad’s Hill Place on June 8, 1870. He died the next day.
After Dickens’ death, the necklace became the property of actor and music hall performer Bransby Williams, famous for his portrayals of characters from Dickens’ novels.
The exhibition will be on display at the Charles Dickens Museum at 48 Doughty Street, Bloomsbury, the only surviving house in London in which Charles Dickens lived and the place where he wrote many of the stories that made his name.
In 1837, when Dickens moved into the house with his growing family, he was a budding author; by the time the family left, he was world famous, thanks to a trio of successful novels written there: The Pickwick Papers (1837), Oliver Twist (1838) and Nicholas Nickleby (1839).
Dickens wore the machine-made black stockings on display, along with a dark jacket, white trousers and waistcoat, as well as a sword, to a formal reception at St James’s Palace on 6 April 1870, at which Dickens met Edward, Prince of Wales. Dickens described the costume as “disguise.”
The museum said the material paints a picture of Dickens as a flamboyant, elegantly dressed dandy.
This image is supported by a colored photographic portrait of Dickens, which will join the new exhibition. The image, originally made by (George) Herbert Watkins in June 1858 and restored and colored in 2020 by Oliver Clyde, shows Dickens standing at a desk, with his right hand on his hip, in a striking ensemble, with a watch and a gold chain.
This ensemble matches descriptions of the clothing she wore on her American tour of 1842. Elizabeth Wormeley, who met Dickens in Boston, later described her “striking” dress, which included “two velvet waistcoats, one deep green and the other bright crimson,” which were “further adorned by a profusion of gold watch chains.”
A second portrait, by William P. Frith, shows Dickens wearing a velvet jacket that he had made especially for the occasion.
“Among all the many qualities, passions and quirks of Charles Dickens’ character, we know that he was a true dandy,” said Emma Harper, deputy director of the Charles Dickens Museum.
“This makes it even more frustrating that so few items of his clothing survive, but it makes our collection of clothing and accessories especially precious. When combined with the numerous eyewitness reports of his extravagance, the pieces that remain can give us a real glimpse into his agile style.”
