Cedric David Charles Dickens (24 September 1916 – 11 February 2006) was an English author and businessman, a great-grandson of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

and the steward of his literary legacy. He was a lifelong supporter of the

Charles Dickens Museum The Charles Dickens Museum is an author's house museum at 48 Doughty Street in King's Cross, London, King's Cross, in the London Borough of Camden. It occupies a typical Georgian architecture, Georgian terraced house which was Charles Dickens, ...

Holborn Holborn ( or ), an area in central London, covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon Without i ...

, London, and twice President of the

Dickens Fellowship The Dickens Fellowship was founded in 1902, and is an international association of people from all walks of life who share an interest in the life and works of Victorian era novelist Charles Dickens. The Dickens Fellowship's head office is based ...

Biography

Dickens was the son of Philip "Pip" Charles Dickens, a chartered accountant and the first secretary of ICI. He was the grandson of Sir

Henry Fielding Dickens Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, KC (16 January 1849 – 21 December 1933) was an English barrister, who served as a KC and Common Serjeant of London. He was the eighth of ten children born to English author Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine, ...

, the eighth of Dickens's ten children, a

Common Serjeant of London The Common Serjeant of London (full title The Serjeant-at-Law in the Common Hall) is an ancient British legal office, first recorded in 1291, and is the second most senior permanent judge of the Central Criminal Court after the Recorder of Lon ...

, and the nephew of Admiral Sir Gerald Charles Dickens. He attended Eton and

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

, graduating in Law in 1935. After three trips to the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

by banana boat, Dickens joined the

British Tabulating Machine Company __NOTOC__ The British Tabulating Machine Company (BTM) was a firm which manufactured and sold Hollerith unit record equipment and other data-processing equipment. During World War II, BTM constructed some 200 "bombes", machines used at Bletchley ...

in 1937. Dickens joined the

RNVR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two Volunteer Reserves (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve (United Kingdom), ...

on the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1939, leaving the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

in 1946 as a

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

.''Cedric Charles Dickens Memorial Booklet''. City Pickwick Club (2006). While serving in Portsmouth, he met his wife, Elizabeth Mary Blake (1913–2008), who was a

WREN Wrens are a family, Troglodytidae, of small brown passerine birds. The family includes 96 species and is divided into 19 genera. All species are restricted to the New World except for the Eurasian wren that is widely distributed in the Old Worl ...

. They married in 1948. After leaving the

, Dickens returned to his old firm, which eventually became ICL, of which he became Director of Communication.obituary
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' 22 February 2006. Dickens was a lifelong supporter of the

, and twice President of the

, a worldwide association, first taking the position on the death of his father, and again on his retirement in 1976, when he also founded the international Dickens Pickwick Club. This he kept true to the spirit of ''

The Pickwick Papers ''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was the Debut novel, first novel serialised from March 1836 to November 1837 by English author Charles Dickens. Because of his success with ''Sketches by Bo ...

'' by allowing only men to join, which led in 2000 to an accusation of

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is int ...

In demand internationally as a guest and speaker at meetings of Dickens Fellowships and similar events, he also worked to preserve the heritage of the '' George and Vulture'' in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, frequently mentioned in ''

'', but then threatened with demolition. Charles Dickens himself had often drunk there. He also associated himself with Gads Hill Place in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, Dicken's final home, becoming a governor of Gad's Hill School, which occupies the building today. In 2005, he appeared in the first episode of

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

's documentary series '' Dickens in America'' with

Miriam Margolyes Miriam Margolyes ( ; born 18 May 1941) is a British and Australian actress. Known for her work as a character actor across film, television, and stage, she received the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mrs. Mingott in Marti ...

, when he talked about what it was like growing up as a member of the

Dickens family The Dickens family are the descendants of John Dickens, the father of the English novelist Charles Dickens. John Dickens was a clerk in the Royal Navy Pay Office and had eight children from his marriage to Elizabeth Barrow. Their second child an ...

. Dickens suffered a severe stroke after emergency surgery and died on 11 February 2006, aged 89. His autobiography, ''My Life'', appeared in 2016 to mark the centenary of his birth. This was assembled from Dickens's own writings by his daughter, Jane Monk, and Marion Dickens Lloyd, introduced by Margolyes and launched at the

in September 2016.

Publications

*''Christmas With Dickens: The Dickens' Family's 150th Anniversary Gift of a Christmas Carol for Modern-Day Families at Yuletide'', by Cedric Charles Dickens, David Dickens and Betty Dickens. Belvedere Press (1993) *''The Sayings of Charles Dickens'', Cedric Charles Dickens (editor). Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd (2006) *''Drinking with Dickens'', Cedric Charles Dickens. New Amsterdam Books (1988) *''The "George and Vulture" in ''Pickwick Papers, Cedric Charles Dickens. Dickens Publishing (1995) *''The Miracle of Pickwick or... the Goodness of Pickwickedness'', Cedric Charles Dickens & Alan S. Watts. Dickens Publishing (2001) *''Dining with Dickens'', Cedric Charles Dickens. Elvendon Press (1984)

References

External links

Obituary
in

Interview with Dickens
in

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickens, Cedric Charles 1916 births 2006 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge English non-fiction writers Charles Dickens Royal Navy officers of World War II Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Dickens family

Biography

Publications

See also

References

External links