WORLD famous novelist Charles Dickens was born at Landport in Portsmouth. His father, John, was a clerk in the Navy pay office in Portsmouth. Charles was the second of John and Elizabeth Dickens' eight children.

His family were moderately wealthy but that all changed when his father, who had been attempting to maintain his social position through excessive spending, was imprisoned for his debts.

By this time the family had moved to London and at the age of 12 young Dickens found himself working ten-hour days at a boot blackening factory with his wages paying for his lodgings in Camden Town and helping to support his family.

Eventually the family's circumstances improved and after returning to education he began work as a law clerk.

In the 1830s he became a journalist and his literary career also began to blossom.

His early works - Oliver Twist (1837-39), Nicholas Nickleby (1838-39), The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-41) and Barnaby Rudge (1840-41) - were all published as monthly instalments before being made into books.

His popularity grew, with one of his most successful works, A Christmas Carol, written in 1843, apparently in a matter of weeks.

His success, which included the publication of David Copperfield (1849-50), Bleak House (1852-53), A Tale of Two Cities (1859) and Great Expectations (1861), led to him being able to buy Gad's Hill House in Kent which he had coveted as a child.

Dicken's novels were a form of social commentary and he was a fierce critic of Victorian class divides.

He was married to Catherine Thompson Hogarth in 1836 and the couple produced ten children.

But in 1857, when he was casting actresses for the production of his and Wilkie Collins' play The Frozen Deep he met Ellen Terran who is it believed became his mistress for the rest of his life.

Dickens separated from his wife in 1858 although they did not divorce and he maintained a home for her.

He died at home having suffered from a stroke. He had wanted to be buried at Rochester Cathedral but his remains are in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey.

Name: Charles Dickens Occupation: Author DATE OF BIRTH: February 7, 1812 DIED: June 9, 1870 Local link: Born in Portsmouth