The illustrator George Cruikshank (1792 - 1878) worked closely with Dickens. Their friendship later soured when Cruikshank became involved with the Temperance movement.

Dickens often used real places as inspiration for his stories. The White Hart Inn in Southwark appears prominently in The Pickwick Papers.

It was at Colin's Farm in Hampstead where the Dickens family took a recuperative holiday following the death of Mary Hogarth in 1837. Then a rural haven, it is now part of north London.

Mr and Mrs Dickens spent their honeymoon in the village of Chalk in Kent. The following year they returned to Chalk with their baby son, Charley.

The Dickens family lived at 48 Doughty Street, Bloomsbury, for two years. Today this house is the Charles Dickens Museum - the only one of Dicken's London homes to have survived.

His son Walter Dickens (1841 - 63) travelled to India as a cadet in the East India Company. He would be promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the 42nd Highlanders.

Frank Dickens (1844 - 86) initially wanted to be a doctor, but ended up a hero of the Royal Canadia Mounted Police.

Henry Dickens (1849 - 1933) was the only one of the siblings to go to university. Later he wrote two non-fiction books: Memories of My Father and Recollections of Sir Henry Fielding Dickens KC. He was the last surviving Dickens child and died at the age of 84, after being hit by motorcycle while crossing a road. He is buried at Putney Vale, South London. One of his many grandchildren was the novelist Monica Dickens.

Alfred Dickens (1845 - 1912) was fortunate in his parents' choice of godfathers: Count Alfred d'Orsay and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, soon to be named poet laureate.

Sydney Dickens (1845 - 72). He joined the Navy at the age of 13, setting sail for Canada when he was just 14 years old. His father's early pride turned to shame as Sydney fell into terrible debt and became notorious in the Navy for his "dissolute" lifestyle.

Edward Dickens (1852 - 1902) was always known as "Plorn". Moved to Australia at the age of 16 to join his brother Alfred where Charles had bought his son a sheep farm. After a severe drought the business was in ruins. While Alfred subsequently became a respected businessman, Plorn fell into debt on numerous occasions. In 1889 he was elected MP for Wincannia in New South Wales. He held the post for five years. He fell into debt again soon afterwards and his health began to fail. He died in Moree, NSW, and is buried there.

Gad's Hill Place, at Higham, near Rochester in Kent, was the only house Charles Dickens ever owned. He bought the house in 1856 and it was here that he died in 1870,