Henry Fielding Dickens

Sir Henry "Harry" Fielding Dickens, was the eighth of ten children born to British author Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine. The most successful of all of Dickens's children, he was a barrister, a KC and Common Serjeant of London, a senior legal office which he held for over 15 years.

From October 1914 he performed recitals of his father's works in support of the Red Cross Society. These were based on the readings given by his father during his own reading tours, and included excerpts from David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth. Through his efforts he raised £1,200 for the Society. He was a Life President of the Dickens Fellowship.

Henry Fielding Dickens was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 1922, and retired in August 1932. He died in 1933 two weeks after being hit by a motorcycle. He was the last surviving child of Charles Dickens.

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Henry 'Harry' Dickens married Marie Roche (1852 – 1940), the daughter of Monsieur Antonin Roche, on 25 October 1876 in Portman Square in London, they having four sons and three daughters together. Within the Dickens Family the couple were known as 'The Guvnor' and 'The Mater'. Their son Philip Charles Dickens is buried beside them in Putney Vale Cemetery in London, while a second son, Henry Charles Dickens, was the father of the author Monica Dickens. Henry was a long serving member of Kensington Council in London where he was very active in improving housing in the poorer part of the borough after World War II; a block of flats in North Kensington is named after him. On his retirement when the borough was amalgamated with Chelsea in 1955 he was created an honorary Freeman. A third son, Cedric 'Ceddy' Dickens, was killed on September 9 1916 during the battle of Ginchy during World War I.[16]

Dickens was also the father of Admiral Sir Gerald Charles Dickens, the grandfather of Cedric Charles Dickens, an author and the steward of Charles Dickens's literary legacy, and Monica Dickens, the author.[18] He is the great grandfather of actor and performer Gerald Dickens and the great great grandfather of biographer and writer Lucinda Hawksley.[3]

Henry Fielding Dickens was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 1922, and retired in August 1932. He died in 1933 two weeks after being hit by a motorcycle while crossing Chelsea Embankment at his usual place and by his usual method of warning motorists by holding up his walking stick and stepping out into the road.[19][20] He was the last surviving child of Charles Dickens. See also