On This Day May 7

Charles Dickens was very fond of his sister in law, Mary Hogarth and was shocked when she died suddenly in her sleep on May 7, 1837. The novelist took a ring from her hand and wore it on his own little finger for the rest of his life and didn't write for two months after the tragedy. Mary Hogarth was the inspiration for a number of characters in Dickens novels, including Rose in Oliver Twist and Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop.

Portrait of Mary Scott Hogarth, sister-in-law of Charles Dickens

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