Charles Dickens and the Secret History of His Final Resting Place

Danny Dutch
Jun 4
5 min read

Three historical figures with neutral expressions in sepia and grayscale tones, set against a background of illustrated characters.

It was a grey June morning in 1870 when a solitary hearse slipped unnoticed through the streets of London. Few would have suspected that inside the modest carriage lay the remains of Charles Dickens—England’s most celebrated author. There was no grand procession, no fanfare, no public mourning in the streets. According to The Times, “not a single person was aware that that hearse was conveying to its last resting place all that was mortal of Charles Dickens.”

It was exactly how he had wanted it. Or at least, how he said he did.

A sepia-toned portrait of a woman in a bonnet with curled hair and lace collar, looking to the side. The background is plain and soft. — Catherine Dickens in 1852 aged 37

The Death of the Inimitable

On 8 June 1870, Dickens had spent the day working on his final, unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood at his country residence, Gad’s Hill Place in Kent. After dinner with his sister-in-law Georgina Hogarth, he collapsed from a stroke. He never regained consciousness and died at 6:10pm the following evening. His last words were reportedly to Georgina: “On the ground.”

Although he had once been offered a baronetcy, it had not been gazetted before his death. He died a commoner, but a giant in stature. A printed epitaph at the time declared: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world."

Man in Victorian attire seated in a study, surrounded by drawn scenes and figures on walls. Warm tones, reflecting a contemplative mood.

A Will Full of Omissions

Dickens left behind an estate worth around £80,000—approximately £10 million today. His will was precise, yet emotionally cold. He allocated money to each of his nine surviving children and reaffirmed that his estranged wife Catherine would continue to receive her annual allowance of £600 (equivalent to about £70,000 in today’s terms). He added: "I desire to simply record that my wife has been in receipt from me of an annual income of £600... while all the great charges of a numerous and expensive family have been devolved wholly upon myself."

There were no expressions of affection, no thanks. Just cold arithmetic.

But the most surprising entry was not related to his family at all. The first individual mentioned in the will was Ellen Lawless Ternan, a former actress left the sum of £1,000 (roughly £1 million today).

Ellen Lawless Ternan: Dickens’ Hidden Companion

Who was Ellen Ternan? Dickens met her when he was 45 and she was just 18. Their relationship, which lasted 13 years until his death, remained a closely guarded secret. Dickens legally separated from Catherine, and although documentary evidence is scant, it’s widely accepted by biographers that Ellen was his mistress.

Fearing scandal, Dickens denied everything in the press. In a statement published in his own magazine, Household Words, he declared: “I must solemnly declare that all the lately whispered rumours are abominably false.”

Even his funeral was planned with Ellen in mind. The ceremony was held at 7am to avoid public attention, with only 14 people in attendance. Only 13 were named; the 14th is believed to have been Ellen herself.

A Final Wish Ignored

In his will, Dickens asked to be:

"Buried in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner; that no public announcement be made of the time or place of my burial; that at the utmost not more than three plain mourning coaches be employed; and that those who attend my funeral wear no scarf, cloak, black bow, long hat-band, or other such revolting absurdity."

He hoped to rest at either the small graveyard near Rochester Castle or in the nearby churches of Cobham or Shorne. But as biographer John Forster later claimed, these places were “closed.”

Records from local churchyards tell a different story. A grave was prepared at St Mary’s Chapel in Rochester Cathedral by Foord & Sons. The Cathedral chapter minutes note their disappointment when Dickens was not buried there: "They believed, as they still believe... that no more fitting or honourable spot for his sepulture could be found."

The Shift to Poets' Corner

So how did he end up in Westminster Abbey?

It began with a private desire. Dean Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, who had met Dickens briefly earlier that year, told his cousin Louisa: “I never met (Dickens) till this year... And now he is gone... and it is not improbable that I may bury him.”

But Stanley could not act unilaterally. He needed the request to come from Dickens’ family. That request was gently encouraged by intermediaries such as Frederick Locker and then solidified by a public campaign. The Times editorialised on 13 June: “Let (Dickens) lie in the Abbey... the ashes and the name of the greatest instructor of the nineteenth century should not be absent.”

‘The Grave of Charles Dickens in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey Illustrated London News, June 1870.

That very day, Forster and Dickens’ son Charley visited Stanley. Forster asked: “I imagine the article in the ‘Times’ must have been written with your concurrence?” Stanley replied: “No, I had no concern with it, but... I had given it privately to be understood that I would consent to the interment if it was demanded.”

The Funeral

Dickens was buried in Westminster Abbey on 14 June 1870. Stanley’s funeral sermon described him as “the genial and loving humorist whom we now mourn”. He praised Dickens for showing “by his own example that even in dealing with the darkest scenes and the most degraded characters, genius could still be clean, and mirth could be innocent.”

The published version of the sermon was later quoted by Forster in his biography, but Forster subtly altered Stanley's words to make them sound more monumental. The Dean had said:

"Many, many are the hearts which both in the Old and in the New World are drawn towards it [his grave], as towards the resting-place of a dear personal friend."

Forster instead quoted him as saying Dickens was “the representative of the literature, not of this island only, but of all who speak our English tongue.”

Reputation and Legacy

Stanley’s motives were not purely spiritual. By officiating Dickens’ funeral, he added the great author to a personal roll of honour that already included Lord Palmerston and David Livingstone. Forster, too, secured Dickens’ legacy in a national pantheon, ensuring a pilgrimage site for generations of admirers.

But their actions obscured Dickens’ final wishes. Claire Tomalin has suggested that Dickens may even have been in Peckham with Ellen when he had the stroke, and that he was moved posthumously to Gad’s Hill to protect appearances.

A Private Life Laid Bare

In the end, the contradictions of Dickens’ life mirrored his fiction. He was a champion of the poor who lived in luxury. A public moralist with a private secret. A master storyteller whose final chapter was edited by others.

Dickens wanted a quiet end. Instead, he was given a monument. As his barrow girl fan in Covent Garden once lamented: “Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?”