Brief description
Newspaper cutting of the obituary of Mary Hogarth, 7 May 1837
Label
Mary Hogarth was the younger sister of Catherine, Dickens's wife. Catherine and Mary were very close and Mary was staying with the Dickenses at 48 Doughty Street, learning how to run a house and raise children. Dickens was also close with his sister-in-law. He respected her intelligence, regularly asking her for feedback on works in progress. After returning from a night at the theatre with the Dickenses, Mary collapsed suddenly and did not recover. She was 17 when she died. Dickens and Catherine were both grief stricken - Catherine suffered a miscarriage soon after and Dickens missed a work deadline for the first time. He memorialised her in characters such as Rose Maylie in Oliver Twist, which he was writing at the time, and Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop.
Collection
Archives & Manuscripts
Object number
C235
Object type
newspaper cutting
Production date
7 May 1837
Credit line
Purchased with support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund, the Friends of the National Library and the Dickens Fellowship.

Obituary of Mary Hogarth, 7 May 1837