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Charles Dickens and Bath:

The Bicentenary 2012 Celebrations

Graham Davis

1 S Dickens was born in Portsmouth on February 71h 1812

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Char e . . . . • n 2012 th 1 brated the bicentenary of his birth with a plethora of exh·b·t· , e world

ce e . . . . 1 1 ions, readin b. raphies, televis10n programmes mcludmg dramas of his novel d h gs, new

wg h lif d ' . . . s, an a ost ofother . . . that commemorated t e e an work of the ffilmltable' genius of V t . .

cnv1nes . . . h f . ic onan literature a B th had good reason to JOm m t e un and a senes of events took pl d . ·

a . . . , , ace nven by a lebrate all things Dickensian. The actor Peter Doc Watson in Dicke

200 wish to ce tJ ns gave a Ce of much-loved excerpts on February 7 1 in the Pump Room alongsi·de

1 erforman . . . . , a new y-

p b' hed bust of the author. An entire reading of his favounte novel, David Copperrield w refur 1s 1

, , as

d taken at St. Michael's Without Church by volunteers in fifteen minute stretches, led by the

";: :ar television personality, Alan Titchmarsh. A series of Dickens suppers, readings and

P p ti·sed scenes was presented to the public on February 9t1i, l01h and 11 t1i at the Mission drama ' . Theatre. Historian Graham Davis

tamed up with actors of the Next

s:age Theatre Company. Pickwick,

Oliver Twist, Miss Haversham,

Micawber and Heep were among

the Dickens characters re-visited

[fig. 1]. Toppings bookshop invited

Simon Callow, actor, writer, and

great Dickens performer, to appear

at St. Swithin's Church on February

24th to promote his new book,

Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre

of the World. Finally, Claire Tomalin,

the celebrated biographer, was at

the Guildhall on March 3rd to talk

about her much-acclaimed Charles

Dickens: A Life that appeared in

print in late 2011.

The associations between

Dickens and Bath live on in the

names of several characters in his

novels. Quilp, the deformed dwarf

in The Old Curiosity Shop was based

on a character that hired out

donkeys in Victoria Park. The

famous death scene of Little Nell

.. 'Dinner Davis in . Bath History Graham

fig 1: The Editor of . . Theatre, Bath , t the Mission

· th Dickens a w1 A Garner Photograph by nn

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F · E aved from a P acing: Portrait of Charles Dickens, 1867. ngr

Bafh in Time - Bath Central Library Collection

Gurney&Son hotograph by J.

was written by Dickens at 35 St. James's Square when he was visiting his writer friend Wal Savage Landor [fig. 2], whose birthday he celebrated regularly. Sam Weller was the n~e f :r ostler at the York House Hotel where Dickens stayed [fig. 3] and a possible sour

O

f e Pickwick's popular companion in Pickwick Papers. The name of Samuel Pickwick ha~~ or identified with Moses Pickwick, the coach proprietor, and Pickwick Mews off Avon Street ~n visit of Pickwick in Pickwick Papers, published in 1836, contains a scene where Mr O · 1 e introduces his friend to the Master of Ceremonies, the delightfully named Angelo Cow er yrus

BantamEsq.

The friend was a charming young man of not much more than fifty, dressed in a very bright blue coat with resplendent buttons, black trousers, and the thinnest possible pair of highly-polished boots. A gold eye-glass

was suspended from his

fig 2: 35 St J runes Square, c.1938. The home of Walter Savage Land?r where Dickens stayed. Photograph by George Love Dafms Bath in Time - Private Collection

128

neck by a short broad black ribbon; a gold snuff­box was lightly clasped in his left hand, gold rings innumerable glittered on his fingers, and a large diamond pin set in gold glistened in his shirt frill. He had a gold watch, and a gold curb chain with large gold seals; and he carried a pliant ebony cane with a heavy gold top. His linen was of the very whitest, finest, and stiffest; his wig of the glossiest, blackest, and curliest. His snuff was princes'mixture;hisscent bouquet du roi. His features were contracted into a perpetual smile; and his teeth were in such perfect order that it was difficult at a small distance to tell the real ones from the false.

The description of this popinjay and the . scene off d

a wonderful satire on the pretensions of 8 th . a ed glitter in th

0f[ers h a society · e Ass b

_a ;ng its fall from grace as t e mecca for the f hi Just at the tirn em ly Room

t,UlerJJ.• as onabl e wh s

5 Dickens came to Bath on a number of O . e company en the city wa

. . . ccasions In 1 · s

b d as we seem, wntten by his fnend Bulwer L t · 851, he took .

so a h . Y ton, alo . part in 1

~,f k Lemon. He came to t e city as part of h " ng with other f . a pay, Not

1vlar

is readi nends ·

d·ence in the Assembly Rooms. He also made ng tour perfor . , Including

au i . Z k H B a number of . . ming to a

B th society. In B ea ouse, ath was described ' th mischievous packed

a . . . . as e gra comme t

. a letter to a fnend m Amenca in 1864, Dicke . ss-grown city of th _n s about

in ·f 1 ns continued th e ancient ,

that Bath looked as i peop e had risen up from th e theme with th s and

. b . h . e graveyard d e comm

t Ying to look alive ut wit very httle success an were wand . ent

r . ermg abroad

York House Family Hotel,

f 18 3: The York House Hotel, George Street, Bath, c.1870

Bath in Time - Bath Central Library Collection

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