Walter Landor Dickens: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}

{{Use British English|date=October 2022}}

| image              = walter-landor-dickens.jpg

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| birth_name        = Walter Savage Landor Dickens

| birth_place        = [[St Marylebone]]

Named after his [[godparent|godfather]] [[Walter Savage Landor]], Walter Dickens was [[Infant baptism|christened]] at [[St Marylebone]] parish church on 4 December 1841, after which Charles Dickens held a celebratory party. The guests included  [[John Elliotson|Elliotson]], [[Walter Savage Landor|Landor]], [[Daniel Maclise|Maclise]], [[William Charles Macready|Macready]], [[Clarkson Frederick Stanfield|Stanfield]] and [[Thomas Noon Talfourd|Talfourd]].<ref>[http://www.dickenslive.com/1841.shtml A Charles Dickens Journal 1841]</ref> Walter was educated at [[Wimbledon, London|Wimbledon]]. Nicknamed 'Young Skull' by his father,<ref name=mark>'The Family Tree of Charles Dickens' by Mark Charles Dickens Published by the [[Charles Dickens Museum]], Doughty Street, London (2005)</ref> Walter Dickens showed early signs of aspiring to be an author like his father, but Charles Dickens instructed Walter's tutor to encourage him to not write, stating "The less he is encouraged to write the better, and the happier he will be."<ref>'Charles Dickens' by [[Una Pope Hennessy]] Published by Read Books (2007) pg 389 {{ISBN|1-4067-5783-7}}</ref> Instead, through the influence of [[Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts|Angela Burdett-Coutts]], Walter became a cadet in the [[East India Company]], leaving England for India in 1857 aged 16 at the start of the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]].<ref name=mark/>  At this time there was no single unified army in India.  Each of the three [[Presidencies of India]] had its own army, and, in addition, a limited number of [[British Army]] units were also stationed in India.

[[File:Walter Landor Dickens grave.jpg|thumb|right|The tombstone of Walter Dickens at the South Park Street Cemetery in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]]; the grave is in Bhowanipore Military Cemetery in the same city.<ref>Jayanta Gupta (12 November 2019). [https://m.timesofindia.com/city/kolkata/at-kolkata-cemetery-blatant-loot-of-history-has-heritage-turning-in-grave/amp_articleshow/72014733.cms At Kolkata cemetery, blatant loot of history has heritage turning in grave] ''The Times of India''. Retrieved 12 December 2021.</ref>]]

Following the introduction of direct rule in India in the wake of the Rebellion, the armed forces were reorganised.  A notice published in the ''[[London Gazette]]'' dated 1 March 1864 granted all those serving with "Her Majesty's Indian Forces on the 18th&nbsp;February 1861" rank in the British Army; Walter Dickens was amongst those listed with the rank of [[lieutenant]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22828|pages=1344–1353|date=4 March 1864}}</ref>  He served in the 26th Native Infantry Regiment, and was attached to the [[42nd Regiment of Foot]] (The Black Watch) with that rank when he fell heavily into debt causing his health to break down. He was due to be invalided back to England but died of an [[aortic aneurysm]] on New Year's Eve at the Officers' Hospital in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] in India. He was buried in the Bhowanipore Military Cemetery at Calcutta.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C01EFD91331E233A2575BC1A9649C946096D6CF 'Dickens's grave rediscovered' reported] in ''[[The New York Times]]'' 18 February 1911</ref> In April 1987, a group of students from Jadavpur University, Calcutta, collected funds and moved the tombstone from the Bhowanipore War Cemetery to the South Park Street Cemetery. This was done as a tribute to the author, his father, and the tombstone is now placed among the memorials of the notable Europeans who died in the 18th century.<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/kolkatas-link-with-charles-dickens/article2869650.ece 'Kolkata's link with Charles Dickens' reported] in ''[[The Hindu]]'' 8 February 2012</ref>