Charles John Huffam Dickens was born February 7, 1812, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but left it in infancy. His happiest childhood years were spent in Chatham, an area to which he often talks about in his stories. From 1822 he lived in London, until, in 1860, he moved permanently to a country house, Gad's Hill, near Chatham. His family was middle class, very respectable; one randfather had been a domestic servant, and the other an embezzler. His father was a clerk in the navy pay office and was well paid, but he often brought the family to financial embarrassment or disaster. Some of his failings and his enthusiasm a