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 A
newly discovered stash of letters from literary giant Charles Dickens
has shown that his concern for the less fortunate extended beyond
his socially conscious books.
The letters are from Dickens to Georgina Morson, the governess of
Urania Cottage, a sort of halfway house founded by the author with
money donated by Angela Burdett Coutts. Dickens' involvement with
Urania Cottage has long been known, but the letters reveal a level
of concern with the day-to-day that was previously unknown.
The letters were found by Robin Fenner, an auctioneer, who was cataloguing
the contents of the home of Judith Hughes of Tavistock, England, who
had just moved into an Old Peoples Home. Hughes is a direct descendant
of Morson and the letters were apparently scattered about. Fenner
reported that the first one fell out of a Dickens book, after which
she found some more in a book of architectural plans, and more still
in an old chest of drawers.
The letters were all written between 1849 and 1854, a period when
Dickens' marriage was in difficulty, and while there has never been
any suggestion that he was emotionally or sexually involved with the
Urania Cottage girls, his letters, with their concern about underwear
and conduct, are a little strange by modern standards.
Dickens was raised in poverty in London, and developed the habit of
walking everywhere. These walks gave him an intimate knowledge of
his city, a knowledge that found its way into his books in vibrant
portraits of places and the people that inhabit them. For many years
prior to the founding of Urania Cottage, he had felt concern for the
plight of young girls forced into prostitution. Of course, some of
them weren't forced, but Dickens wasn't too receptive to that idea.
Like halfway houses today, Urania offered the girls shelter and vocational
training, with a hefty dose of discipline. In a letter dated January
4, 1854 he vents his anger at Rhena Holland, who had complained about
the regimen. It's startling to hear this voice from a writer we associate
with compassionand sentimentality. Equally, his instructions to Morson
to send underwear to another girl who was still living at home and
to pay for a warm bath for her ("or two would be better")
shows an involvement that goes far beyond that of a mere patron.
This period was one of Dickens' most productive, even though his marriage
was crumbling, so any detail is hungrily gobbled up by scholars. Urania
Cottage closed its doors in 1862 after the final scandalous collapse
of Dickens' marriage. |
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Today
in history... |
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1910 - Florence
Nightingale, the immortal "Lady with the Lamp" of
the Crimean War, dies in England. She spent her life fighting
for improved care for injured soldiers and helped found modern
nursing.
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