| Timeline |
| 1812 |
Born 7 February at Landport, Portsmouth |
| 1814 |
Father transferred to London |
| 1816 |
Father transferred to Chatham |
| 1821 |
Father loses post, family moves to Camden Town, London |
| 1824 |
Father arrested for debt and consigned to the Marshalsea, Charles is removed from school and sent to work at a boot-blacking factory to help support the family |
| 1827 |
Leaves school, works as office boy |
| 1829 |
Free-lance reporter at Doctor's Commons Courts |
| 1831 |
Acts as parliamentary reporter during Reform Bill agitation |
| 1833 |
First published story Dinner at Poplar Walk |
| 1834 |
Working as newspaper reporter, adopts the pseudonym "Boz" |
| 1836 |
Marries Catherine Hogarth, editor of Bentley's Miscellany, first and second series of Sketches by Boz published, Pickwick Papers first appears |
| 1837 |
Son Charles born, begins Oliver Twist |
| 1838 |
Begins Nicholas Nickleby |
| 1840 |
Begins Master Humphrey's Clock and The Old Curiosity Shop |
| 1841 |
Begins Barnaby Rudge |
| 1842 |
Visits Canada and the United States, American Notes published |
| 1843 |
Begins Martin Chuzzlewit and A Christmas Carol |
| 1844 |
Tours Italy, Switzerland and France, The Chimes is published |
| 1845 |
Debut of Dickens's amateur theatrical company, Dickens returns to England, The Cricket and the Hearth published |
| 1846 |
Begins Dombey and Son and The Battle of Life; travels to Lausanne, then Paris with family |
| 1847 |
Returns to England |
| 1848 |
The Haunted Man published |
| 1849 |
Begins David Copperfield |
| 1850 |
Founded Household Words |
| 1851 |
Begins Bleak House |
| 1853 |
Tours Italy with Augustus Egg and Wilkie Collins |
| 1854 |
Begins Hard Times |
| 1855 |
Begins Little Dorrit |
| 1856 |
Colaborates on a play, The Frozen Deep with Wilkie Collins; purchases Gad's Hill |
| 1857 |
Falls in love with Ellen Ternan, a young actress |
| 1858 |
Separates from wife |
| 1859 |
Begins new weekly- All the Year Round, A Tale of Two Cities begun |
| 1860 |
Great Expectations begins |
| 1864 |
Our Mutual Friend begins, health begins to fail |
| 1867 |
Embarks on an American reading tour |
| 1869 |
Begins The Mystery of Edwin Drood |
| 1870 |
Dies 9 June |
