Charles Dickens and the Blacking Factory

The story of Charles Dickens’ childhood is dominated by a single narrative, mostly written down by Dickens himself, then edited, arranged and supplemented by John Forster.  His time spent working at a blacking factory was a pivotal point in that story.  It’s a well-known narrative: at the age of 11 young Charley Dickens was sent, by a father and mother whose finances were out of control, to earn 5 or 6 shillings a week in a boot-blacking factory, pasting labels onto pots of blacking.  Soon after, his father was arrested for debt and sent to the Marshalsea Prison; then the family home was given up and Dickens’ mother and siblings moved into prison with his father.  He was left to wander the streets, to fend for himself, vulnerable to the sort of fate that later befell Oliver Twist.  In his fragment of autobiography, not published until after his death in 1870, Dickens wrote of the trauma of this time of his life, and the impact it had on shaping his character.  The impact was equally powerful in shaping the books he wrote, the causes he championed, the politics he pursued. 

The accuracy and truthfulness of his account of his own life was never seriously questioned or tested, reinforced or challenged.  Neither of his parents, none of his uncles and aunts, nor any of his brothers and sisters wrote down their own recollections of the childhood of their famous relative.  Or if they did, it hasn’t survived.  Forster claimed a prodigious memory for his friend, but if it frequently failed him we wouldn’t know about it.  And if Dickens chose to omit particular events or people from his narrative, or to adjust their impact and influence, then we are entirely in his hands – there has been nobody to challenge him.  He exercised supreme control over the history of his own childhood and of his time at Warren’s Blacking.
Against this background Michael Allen’s discovery at The National Archives of documents from the Chancery Court in London, relating to disputes between the people who owned and ran the blacking factory where Dickens was employed and also between them and their rival Robert Warren, has revealed a wealth of information not previously available to us.  Where Dickens’ young memory and understanding failed him these documents do, in many instances, correct and enhance the story. 
Allen’s account opens up the world of Warren’s Blacking, taking us beyond the knowledge and understanding of a young child.  But more than that, Allen uncovers a great deal of new information, peeling away layers about Lamerte, the man who first offered Charley the job at the blacking factory, Lamerte’s family background, it’s Jewish roots, his Jewish cousins in the Worms family, Henry Worms – a likely model for Fagin, sent to Australia for handling stolen goods.  Here we have, for the first time, an accurate history of Warren’s Blacking, written down within two years of Dickens working there.  Allen puts before us, from a contemporary source, what really went on in a blacking factory.  Here is a feast of new material.  For anybody who thought they knew the full story of Dickens’ childhood, think again. 

Charles Dickens and the Blacking Factory
by Michael Allen
Oxford-Stockley Publications/Createspace
ISBN 978-1463687908
paperback; 310pp; 38 illus(b&w);
bibliography; appendices; index; 6 x 9 inches
date of publication: 9th September  2011
Price: £24.95

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