In 1849, the author Charles Dickens moved to Bonchurch, Isle of Wight for a long summer. During this time, he enjoyed walking around Bonchurch village, Ventnor and the surrounding areas. He also got to know many people in the local community which influenced his writing. In fact, a few of these local characters found their way into some of his most celebrated literary works which have become some of the world’s favourite books David Copperfield (published 1850) and Great Expectations (published 1860). 

Charles Dickens’s walk around Bonchurch and Ventnor 

We have researched the local history and verified details with plenty of help from Ventnor Heritage Centre, Bonchurch Community Association, Members of the Charles Dickens Fellowship, and lots more.

From the research we can reveal details of local characters and who they are in his works.

We have also curated a walk of key locations, so you can retrace the steps of Charles Dickens as you walk through Bonchurch and Ventnor. Starting at Haviland Cottage, follow the Dickens literary walks. Visit local places of interest and trace the history of characters that appear in his books. Below are some of the key characters and locations:

Mr Dick, David Copperfield (Charles Dickens 1850) 

Dickens’s character Miss Betsy Trotwood thought Mr Dick (her relative and tenant) was the wisest man she knew, although his family thought him odd and wanted to 'put him away.' The only odd thing was his obsession with his work on his memorial from which he was constantly distracted by thoughts of King Charles’ head. He ended up making huge kites out of the spoiled paper used for the memorials, which he sometimes flew with David. Despite Mr Dick’s somewhat childlike nature he had a lot of common sense and was a staunch supporter of David Copperfield.

Dev Patel, Rosalind Eleazar and Hugh Laurie in the movie “The Personal History of David Copperfield.” 2017 (Dean Rogers). Hugh Laurie plays the part of Mr Dick

Miss Havisham, Great Expectations (Charles Dickens 1860) 

Miss Havisham is a fictional character in the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. She is portrayed as a rich, middle-aged woman who has suffered with mental wellness problems due to being jilted at the altar when she was young. In the book she lives in her once luxurious home which is now in ruins and wears her wedding dress for the rest of her life. Miss Havisham was part villain to Pip and part fairy Godmother to her adopted daughter Estella.

Gillian Anderson as “Miss Havisham” in Great Expectations -2011 (Directed by Brian Kirk)

Who were Mr Dick and Miss Havisham?

I have been researching (with the help of many collaborators) and the help of the Dickens society, the connections of past Bonchurch residents that inspired two of Charles Dickens Characters, and conclude that both “Mr Dick” from David Copperfield and “Miss Havisham” from Great Expectations are based on Bonchurch folk!  

Dickens’s letters

Dickens left a lifetime of letters that he wrote (more than 14,000 and counting ), which have helped researchers to pinpoint the exact location and date of his movements, from these letters we have been able to build connections with the Island and Bonchurch in particular. On 3rd September 1860 , shortly before writing Great Expectations he made a bonfire at Gad's Hill near Rochester , Kent ( the house that he lived in for the last thirteen years of his life) of all the letters he had received from people. It's a shame he didn't keep them as they would have contained a lot of useful information. More important are the letters he wrote to other people, most people who received letters from him kept them.

1838 Charles Dickens’s first visit to the Isle of Wight

Charles Dickens first visited the island with his wife Kate in September 1838 [7] staying at the Groves Needles Hotel Alum Bay, between 3^rd & 8^th September – writing a humorous letter to the proprietor Mr Groves (1) , before moving on to Ventnor and staying at The Ventnor Hotel ( the predecessor name for the Royal Hotel ) from 8^th -10^th September. The Royal was built in 1831 and run by John Fisher. In 1844 the hotel was kept by a Mr Keatly and her Majesty Queen Victoria took refreshment here before visiting Steephill Castle[8].

John Leech, The man who illustrated Christmas

In nearby Bonchurch, a similar named property, Hill Cottage (now Hillside Cottage) was later used by Dickens close friend & illustrator John Leech, who was with Dickens in the summer of 1849.

1849 Charles Dickens’s summer of research at Bonchurch, Isle of Wight

Charles Dickens’s second visit to the Isle of Wight was a deep immersion to village life when in 1849 when spent a long summer in Bonchurch village [3].

Samuel Dick the real-life Mr Dick

Mr Dick first appears in David Copperfield in chapter 13, the first chapter Dickens wrote when he moved into Winterbourne. We know from local sources [4] that he dined with Samuel Dick and Family at “Uppermount” and fitting that Dickens used Captain Samuel Dick’s name for Mr Dick, fondly written as a lovely character as Betsy Trotwood's relative and lodger in “Blunderstone Cottage."

Before he moved to Winterbourne, Dickens had spent a week in Broadstairs (see also Fort House now Bleak House), finishing up to Chapter 12 of David Copperfield. Mr Dick appeared in the next chapter. The timings work wonderfully.

Whilst at Winterbourne, Dickens regularly walked up Saint Boniface Down (the highest point on the Isle of Wight). He entertained many of his wide circle of literary friends including William Makepeace Thackeray, Thomas Carlyle and Alfred Tennyson.

Miss Haviland & Miss Blennerhassett move to Ashleigh and build Haviland Cottage

Miss Catherine Fane Haviland and her cousin Miss Margaret Blennerhasett moved together to  "Ashleigh" in 1852, and had three female servants living in the house . During her ownership she had constructed a Coach House and stables in the grounds now known as “Haviland Cottage.” 

Miss Haviland and Miss Blennerhasett who termed their occupation as “Gentle-women” appeared regularly on the social scene including "The Fashionable List" [9}  They sold Ashleigh with the accompanying coach house in 1862. 

Queen Victoria often visited Ashleigh, and the stunning entrance porch standing today is rumoured to have been built for her visits. In one visit in January 1869 , she arrived in the Royal Open Carriage with an entourage and a substantial crowd of well wishers gathered outside heartily cheering her on leaving. 

Margaret Catherine Dick the real-life Miss Havisham

Samuel Dick passed away at Uppermount in 1856 (aged 72) but was buried at his family’s vault in Ashford Kent.

Jilted at the altar

After his death in 1860, his daughter Margaret Catherine Dick was jilted on the morning of her wedding at Holy Trinity Church and left the family home to live a reclusive life in Madeira Hall.

1860 Dickens's return to the Isle of Wight

According to the delightful book “Dickens on an Island” [5] Charles Dickens visited the Island in November/December 1860, perhaps to see his friend Rev. James White, whose daughter died earlier that year – indeed Dicken’s two daughters had visited Bonchurch to give comfort earlier in the year to his dying daughter [6]. Dickens, either directly, or through his two daughters or Rev James White, would have learned about Margaret Dick’s unfortunate aborted wedding, and the arrival of Miss Catherine Haviland into one of the grand houses in the village.  It is probable that Rev James White's letters to Dickens would have been burnt in the great "letter bonfire" of that year , particularly if the Rev White was due to marry Margaret Dick. 

It is generally considered that Margaret Dick’s failed marriage was the inspiration for Miss Havisham who was also jilted at the altar in Great Expectations. Opposite Madeira Hall there are also former stables and a coach house built in 1860 for a "Miss Haviland" and now called Haviland Cottage. Similar building(s) are mentioned as the coach house to Statis House in Great Expectations.

I am now convinced that Charles Dickens based the idea of Miss Havisham on Margaret Dick but named the character after her neighbour Catherine Haviland. The dates, location, and similarities to real life match to a tee!

During this research I have reflected on what a wonderful summer of 1849 would have been in Bonchurch with this amazing collection of young talent bouncing ideas and creativity off each other. If ever there was a time machine to travel you would set it to July 1849!

The Charles Dickens Literary Walks around Bonchurch and Ventnor:

I have curated two walks, one short and one much longer mapping out the key locations on a suggested literary walking tour. See how many Blue Plaques you can find, en route and we hope to see a couple more plaques in future!

The short walk is just over an hour, and concentrates on the Victorian Celebrity hotspot of Bonchurch, however please be warned that it is fairly hilly. If you enjoyed the walk, please consider making a voluntary donation of £3 or more to the Bonchurch Community Association - which provides for the upkeep of the beautiful village, and for community events.

Please make a transfer to the BCA , Sort Code 54-10-34 , Account # 18483488  Ref Haviland 

The long walk is over two hours walk and challenging, which includes the beautiful coastal path from Bonchurch Shore to Ventnor Esplanade, up the steep hill to The Royal Hotel, and further up the hill to Ventnor Cemetery which overlooks both Ventnor and Bonchurch and where Margaret Dick (Miss Havisham) is buried. It also takes in the excellent Ventnor Heritage Museum and I highly recommend a visit to see the exhibits.

Thanks to all the people who contributed and supported the research

I’d particularly like to thank Les Matravers (Trustee, Ventnor Heritage Centre), Sue Lowday (Bonchurch Community Association), Geoffrey Christopher (Member of the Dickens Fellowship) & Sean Ridgeway – The Dickens Society, who have enthusiastically helped me with several “gems” of information. Also, to Wayne Giddes: for prompting me to investigate the history of Haviland Cottage, Lin Arnold– Local Playwright and long-time advocate that Margaret Dick was the basis for Miss Havisham, Rev Hugh Wright – Vicar of Saint Boniface Parish Church, whose drawings are reproduced with their permissions, Vic King – Historian, Lesley Telford: Trustee, Ventnor Heritage Centre & Pamela Parker – Island Photographer.

Alan Cartwright

www.havilandcottage.com

Updated: 11th April 2021

References

 

[1]The Pilgrim Edition of the Letters of Charles Dickens, Vol. 1: 1820–1839 p433

Oh Mr. Groves

If so be you approves

Of writings in rhyme

Knocked off in quick time

And set down at once

By an indolent dunce

Who to Alum bay runs—

Read these lines Mr. Groves.

Because I've a wife

And I swear on my life

It would our blushes bring

To have that sort of thing,—

So no stranger coves

If you please Mr. Groves.

And when people repair

Here, to dine in the air

Just give 'em their grub

On some barrel or tub

In the cow,yard or garden;—

I'll bet a brass farden

They'll eat as much cheese,

And cough spit and sneeze

For those same twenty heads

Who are coming for beds

From Cowes or from Ryde,

Or from some hole beside,

Don't fit up that "Tent"3

Which in our room is meant

For some very small child

Of years meek and mild,

And make as much shindy

As outside our windy;

So there put their loaves

If you please Mr. Groves

And as Ann is a maid

By no means afraid

Of doing what's right

By day or by night,

And perfectly able

To wait well at table,

If she's wrong here and there

Don't bluster and swear

But of slight faults absolve her.

Yours truly—

 

[2]  Volume 5 Pilgrim Charles Dickens

a) TO JOHN FORSTER, [26 SEPTEMBER 1849]

Extract in F, vi, iii, 504. Date: 26 Sep according to Forster.

My plans are all unsettled by Leech's illness; as of course I do not like to leave this place while I can be of any service to him and his good little wife. But all visitors are gone to,day, and Winterbourne once more left to the engaging family of the inimitable B. Ever since I wrote to you Leech has been seriously worse, and again very heavily bled. The night before last he was in such an alarming state of restlessness, which nothing could relieve, that I proposed to Mrs. Leech to try magnetism. Accordingly, in the middle of the night I fell to; and, after a very fatiguing bout of it, put him to sleep for an hour and thirty,five minutes. A change came on in the sleep, and he is decidedly better. I talked to the astounded little Mrs. Leech across him, when he was asleep, as if he had been a truss of hay. … What do you think of my setting up in the magnetic line with a large brass plate? "Terms, twenty,five guineas per nap."

 

TO MRS JOHN LEECH, [23] SEPTEMBER 1849

MS Benoliel Collection. Date: misdated by CD;

Sunday (on which CD and Beard sat up with Leech all night: To Forster, 24 Sep) was 23 Sep in 1849. Address: Mrs. Leech.

Winterbourne, Sunday Night | Twenty Seventh September 1849.

 

My Dear Mrs. Leech.

I cannot help thinking that it would be better—and that it would be more comfortable for you—if Beard and I came and sat upon the little sofa in the sitting room1 until Morning. I wish you would think with me, and say Yes. The probability is that Leech will fall into a sleep, and get infinitely better, but I don't like to think of you alone there,—and it would be an immense relief to me to be your friend at hand, as I ever am at heart. Let me beg you to think of this again—not for any need's sake (thank God) but for your own greater ease, and ours.

Ever Affectionately Yours

John waits for a word.

 

 [3] Volume 5 Pilgrim Charles Dickens

Letter to his Accountants

TO F. M. EVANS, 19 JULY 1849*

MS Dickens House.

Devonshire Terrace | Nineteenth July 1849.

My Dear Evans.

I want a hundred pounds to be paid into Coutts's, if you can achieve that performance. If convenient, I shall be much obliged to you to do this at once.

I enclose a few heads for Mr. Joyce, 2 concerning a weekly visit he will receive, during my absence from town, from Topping.

My address, from Monday until the end of September, will be

Winterbourne Villa

Bonchurch

Isle of Wight.

If you should ever feel inclined (as I think you will) to run away on a holiday, and will come to the aforesaid address, you shall receive a very hearty welcome, and see a very beautiful place. "A favorable opportunity now offers", as Mr. Pecksniff used to say in his advertisements, 1 and I hope you'll not neglect it.

I don't know what the Devil is the matter with your people, in connexion with my Manuscript, but nothing between folio 10 and folio 24 of the last No. is returned. Will you get the missing portion for me, and relieve my mind by blowing up somebody?

I think this is all I have to say at present.

Faithfully Ever

Charles Dickens

Have you heard from Bradbury?

 

 

[4] ]Bonchurch Booklet written by Peter Brett published by the Bonchurch Parochial Church Council.

“Dickens had picnics on the downs and at Blackgang attended tea,parties with the Swinburne’s at East Dene, dined at “parson Fielden’s” and was entertained by Captain Samuel Dick RN at Uppermount (now Peacock Vane). At Winterbourne he entertained many of his literary friends including Thackeray, Carlyle, Tennyson and Mark Lemon.”

[5] Dickens on an Island – Richard Hutchings 1976

 [6]Dickens Letter to Elizabeth Sewell in late 1859,60- Extract from the ‘dying’ letter:

“My "two young ladies" are at Bonchurch on the sad mission of cheering a dying young friend. When they come back, I shall propound to them the idea of their trying their influence with Mrs. Brookfield to induce her and you to come and see us here.”

Note ,The Mrs Sewell is thought to be Elizabeth Missing Sewell (1815–1906), High Church writer for children, whom Charles Dickens had met once at Bonchurch. 

 

[7]Where was Dickens? – Philip Currah ( Page 37)

[8] Royal Hotel History by Georgia Wyatt,Willsmore – April 2016.

[9} The Fashionable List was a list of gentry who were either resident or were visiting the area 

[10] The Hampshire Advertiser ,  Ventnor January 16th 1869 

"VISIT OF THE QUEEN TO ASHLEIGH. - On Saturday afternoon Her Majesty , accompanied by their Royal Highnesses Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice, and attended by Lady Churchill , honoured Lord and Lady Alfred Paget with a visit at Ashleigh, Bonchurch. Colonel Ponsonby was in attendance as Equerry in Waiting.  The Royal carraige, which was open entered Ventnor by way of the Serpentine road , and passed through the town, Her Majesty graciously acknowledging the expressions of loyalty by frequently bowing along the route. On leaving Ashleigh, where a considerable number of visitors and inhabitants had congregated , Her Majesty , in acknowledgement of the hearty cheers given by those assembled bowed and smiled."

[11]  The Project Gutenburg EBook of The Life of Charles Dickens , Vol . 1-111  ( #425)