- Brief description
- Card written by Charles Dickens of instructions for his family crest
- Label
- Throughout his life, Dickens used a 'family crest' of a lion couchant (a lion lying down) holding a Maltese cross. This symbol was used by both Dickens and his father John and Dickens refers to it in letters as "his father's crest". It was seemingly taken (without permission) from a genuine crest granted in 1625 to "William Dickens", whom Dickens never proved he was related to. John was a clerk and his parents were servants - Dickens perhaps felt a need to 'prove' he belonged among society's elite with this fake crest.
- Collection
- Archives & Manuscripts
- Object number
- A1001
- Object type
- memoranda
- Credit line
- Purchased with support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund, the Friends of the National Library and the Dickens Fellowship.
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/ A1001, 2019.5.170