186
Dickens was given the ring, inscribed 'Alfred Tennyson to Charles Dickens
1854', whilst married to Catherine with whom he had 10 children.
Historians accept that Dickens had an affair with 18-year-old actress Ellen
Ternan during their marriage. But until now there has been little evidence to
prove rumours he was in a relationship with Catherine's sister Georgina in
the family home.
Dickens slammed the "monstrous misrepresentations" in his journal
'Household Words' and rumours of the affair were quashed.
But Georgina received £8,000 cash and a hoard of jewellery when he died
in 1870 -much more than his estranged wife Catherine or mistress Ellen.
The ring was sold alongside two wills, written paper work, family trees and
newspaper cuttings which are claimed to
prove the link.
Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
culture/culturenews/4788380/Charles-Dickens-love-child... 26-11-2010
Claire Tomalin zegt daar in haar boek "The Invisible Woman" 1990 op
bldz 141 e.v. het volgende over:
From time to time people have turned up claiming to be children or
descendants of Dickens through women other than his wife. The most
persistent case is that of a man called Charley Peters, who applied to a
charitable foundation in India in 1908, saying his name was Hector Charles
Bulwer Lytton Dickens, and that he was the child of Georgina Hogarth by
Dickens, born in 1854, and well known to the family, although he had been
turned out. For good measure he produced letters of support from several
Australian worthies, who were scandalized by the story of Dickens's
wickedness and believed that Charley Peters's son, the callously
unacknowledged grandchild, should be given assistance. The truth was that
Peters had simply changed his name in Australia in 1900. He was not even a
clever liar; he did not know, for instance, that his alleged mother, Miss
Hogarth, was still alive at the time of his claim. The story was kept from her
and easily shown to be false. But understandably the family was enraged,
and Sir Henry Dickens was vigorous in making sure that any such claims
were disproved. In one case only he appears to have acted differently. In
1928 he is alleged to have stated that a child was born to his father and
Ellen Ternan."
