How Long Did Charles Dickens Live

Born in 1812, Charles Dickens lived for 58 years, creating some of the great masterpieces of English literature, including his 1843 A Christmas Carol (whose creation is dramatized in The Man Who Invented Christmas). We map out his amazing life in this special timeline.

How much was Dickens worth when he died?

All told, Dickens’s estate was still worth a tidy sum at his death at age 58: the equivalent of 10 million pounds, or about $13 million in today’s American moolah.

What was Dickens doing before he died?

Just prior to his death, Dickens had recently performed an emotional reading of the murder of Nancy in the character of Oliver Twist’s Bill Sikes. Friends believed that the strain of this reading brought on his stroke and killed him.