When did Charles Dickens become a political journalist?

Answer 1

Dickens and his family traveled widely: he made two trips to America, accompanied by an unhappy and unwilling Catherine; the family spent much time traveling to France, Italy, Germany, and Canada. Dickens was fluent in French and less fluent but tolerable in German and Italian. He felt a strong affinity to France and also traveled there without his family, sometimes accompanied by his good friend and fellow author Wilkie Collins. But he couldn't be said to have travelled around the world.

Answer 2

Charles Dickens became a political journalist in the late 1830s when he started contributing articles to various newspapers. He wrote extensively about social issues and criticized government policies of the time. His work as a political journalist helped shape public opinion on important issues in Victorian England.

Answer 3

Dickens travelled as most other Victorians travelled- by carriage, train, and steam or sailing vessel. He was also able to ride a horse.

When he was a young man, mail and stage coaches were still around in England (though these were fast being put out of business by the rail network). He could well have used one of these for journeying into the countryside or the outerlying districts of London. As a boy, he and his elder brother were fond of sailing their rowing boat out in the Thames estuary, during which time he learnt some yachting skills and developed an interest in seafaring.

When he was grown up, and established as a successful author, he used to get around London by Hansom cab or privately hired enclosed carriage. He also used the expanding rail network a lot up until his involvement in the Staplehurst rail disaster, on 9th June 1865. This occurred when a boat-train bound for Folkstone was crossing the railway bridge over the River Beult, at Staplehurst in Kent. The bridge was undergoing maintenance work at the time, and not all of the track had been replaced- for some reason, the rail services had not been diverted to another route, resulting in most of the coaches crashing into the river. Ten people died and another 40 were injured. Dickens himself, who was travelling on the service along with his mistress Ellen Ternan and her mother, survived, and he won public admiration for the help he gave to the wounded & dying. However, he suffered post-traumatic stress as a result of the tragedy, leading to a fear of rail travel and a subsequent avoidance of it wherever possible. For his tour of the USA, he crossed the Atlantic by paddle steamer- whilst there, he used mainly stage coaches (which were in use in America for far longer than they were in the UK), river steamers, and occasionally horseback. There were one or two occasions when he HAD to use the railway whilst in the US, though he was loath to do so. He made later sea-journeys (mainly Channel crossings) by more modern propeller-driven ship.

In his latter years, when at the height of his fame, he was able to afford his own carriage at his Essex home of Gads Hill. When he died in 1870, the first experimental motor cars were being developed- he may well have heard of them, and guessed that it was only a matter of time before they were a main means of transport, though what he thought of them is not recorded. He's more likely to have come across steam-driven road carriages, which though uncommon, were not a completely unknown sight in 19th Century England. He would also have known about some of the early glider flights, as made by Blumenthal and other pioneers from the slopes of the North and South Downs- these would have interested him, since as a child he was a passionate kite-flyer and never really gave up the hobby!

Answer 4

Unknown

Charles Dickens became a political journalist when he was about 20

Answer 5

He became a law clerk, then a court reporter. If he traveled for this job, it would have been with the Assizes.