Monica Dickens: a 20th-century writer with a famous ancestor

Monica (Enid) Dickens was a notable 20^th century writer of both fiction and non-fiction, whose success may or may not have had something to do with her surname. It cannot be said that any favours came her way because she was a great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens, but the name may have prompted many a book buyer to pick her titles off the shelf out of curiosity if nothing else.

She was born on 10^th May 1915 in Bayswater, London, the youngest of five children born to Henry Charles Dickens and his wife Fanny. Henry Charles was himself the eldest son of Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, who, as a prominent barrister and judge in the late Victorian and early 20^th century period, was the most successful of the novelist’s ten children. Monica’s father also became a barrister.

A list of failures

Monica was educated at St Paul’s Girls School, from which she was expelled for bad conduct, and the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, from which she was told to leave for incompetence as an actress. Despite being a “debutante” (a member of the social elite who is presented at Court and thus made available on the upper class marriage market) she failed to attract a husband and ended up working “below stairs” as a cook in various London households.

Finding her role in life

It was a chance encounter with a publisher that started her off as a writer, because he encouraged her to describe her experiences as a cook. This became “One Pair of Hands”, which was published in 1937 and was immediately successful. She had discovered her skill, which was to write in a humorous and perceptive style. Perhaps there was something in the genes after all.

Her first novel, published in 1940, was “Mariana”, and others followed soon afterwards. Her war work consisted firstly of nursing and then in a factory helping to build Spitfires. All her experiences provided material for her writing, which continued to attract praise from a growing set of influential admirers.

As well as her novels, which appeared at regular intervals, she wrote a weekly column in “Woman’s Own” magazine for 20 years.

She was married, in December 1951, to an American naval commander, Roy Stratton, and the couple moved to a large house on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They adopted two daughters. Notable among her novels during this period were “Cobbler’s Dream” in 1963, which led to a televised version entitled “Follyfoot”, and “Kate and Emma” (1964).

In 1965 she stumbled upon “Strine”, or Australian English, when she found herself inscribing “To Emma Chisit, with best wishes” during a book signing in Sydney, when the lady buyer had only been enquiring about the price!

Later life

In the late 1960s she became aware of the Samaritans movement and its founder, Chad Varah. She found that her ability to listen to people in distress could be of real value, inspiring her to open a Samaritans branch in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1974. This was to lead to the spread of the movement throughout the United States. It was also the inspiration behind her novel “The Listeners”, published in 1970.

The 1970s also saw the publication of several books for children, and her autobiography, “An Open Book”, in 1978.

In 1985 her husband died and Monica Dickens moved back to England, where she bought a thatched cottage in Berkshire and continued to write. Her final novel, “One of the Family”, was published posthumously in 1993. She died of cancer on Christmas Day 1992, at the age of 77.

Monica Dickens not only inherited a writing gene and a sense of humour from her great-grandfather but also a social conscience that she developed to a considerable degree. As well as her work for the Samaritans, mentioned above, she was also very active in championing the work of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). Had these organisations existed in Charles Dickens’s day, doubtless they would have received his support as well.

© John Welford