General interest

On Saturday 3^rd September at 11.00 the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames will conduct a guided tour of Dickensian Petersham. The cost is £5. Dickens first stayed in Petersham in August 1836 and described it in a letter to J.P. Hullah as a “Beautiful place – meadow for exercise – horses for your riding – boat for your rowing’. In April 1839 he rented Elm Cottage (pictured) in the village for four months and the pleasures he enjoyed included swimming in the nearby river Thames. Further details can be accessed via the link below.

Wednesday 2nd November, 2022

One of Elizabeth Gaskell’s most famous guests at 94 Plymouth Grove was that giant of Victorian literature, Charles Dickens. Two of the biggest names in English literature regularly corresponded from 1850 onwards and Charles Dickens edited Elizabeth in his weekly magazine Household Words as she wrote her much-loved novel, North and South. So did they actually get on? Did he influence her writing North and South? How did their work reflect shared concerns around poverty and class in ‘condition of England’ novels like Hard Times and North & South? And did he really say ‘If I was Mr G, O Heaven how I would beat her’? Join Dr Lydia Craig (The Dickens Society) and Anthony Burton (Elizabeth Gaskell’s House) for all the answers and more in this fascinating exploration of two groundbreaking writers.

For more information click here.