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Hector Dickens??????
Charles Dickens love-child rumour ring sells for £26,000
A diamond ring that supports the theory that Charles Dickens had a secret
love-child has been sold at auction for £26,000:6:43PM GMT 23 Feb 2009.
The 0.9 carat ring has long courted controversy as it is regarded as final
proof that Britain's most famous novelist had a long-standing affair with his
sister-in-law Georgina Hogarth. The Victorian writers' present-day relations
claim the ring was passed on to Georgina's son Hector following his death -
because he was the author's illegitimate son. Now an anonymous collector
from Northern Ireland has paid £26,000 to beat three other bidders for the
ring, which was a gift to Dickens from the famous poet Alfred Tennyson in
1854.
Dickens' close relationship with Georgina, who lived in the family home,
fuelled torrid public rumours that they were enjoying a long-standing affair.
The literary giant always denied the "monstrous misrepresentations" about
their relationship, and even forced her to undergo a humiliating public
virginity test.
But descendants of Georgina, who have asked not to be named, claim the
ring proves the writer had an illegitimate son with their distant relative.
They even have a press cutting from 1922 that supports their claim. The
clipping, from the December 31st 1922 issue of The Statesman shows a
picture of Hector and names him as the youngest son of the famous author.
The newspaper shows "Mr Hector Charles Dickens, youngest son of the
author Charles Dickens, bom in 1854" in Calcutta at the graveside of one of
the writer's legitimate sons. The photograph caption also says: "Mr Dickens,
who has a hotel in Simla, the Goodwood, has worn for many years a gold
ring presented by Alfred Tennyson to Charles Dickens."
Nigel Ward, from Nigel Ward Company Auctioneers in Pontrilas,
Herefordshire, said: "I don't think there was any really any doubt about the
authenticity of the ring. "We had a lot of people coming to the sale to view
the ring and one of them said they needed to speak to me. "They were
friendly with an Ian Dickens who lives somewhere in Cambridgeshire and
is the great, great grandson of Dickens and had seen what we had been
saying on the website about the ring and was able to collaborate it all. "He
said it was all known about in the family but that they didn't really talk
about it.
"Hector was the son of Georgina Hogarth and was then employed as a
housekeeper in the family home. "Throughout his life Hector was known as
Charles Dickens the younger."