A visit by Dickens

In 1838 when Charles Dickens was undertaking research for Nicholas Nickleby, he visited Portsmouth. Of this visit, it was said: ‘He succeeded in finding suitable lodging for Vincent Crummles at Balph the pilots, in St Thomas’s Street for Miss Snevellicci at a tailor’s in Lombard Street; while Nickleby and his companion were quartered at a tobacconist’s on the Common Hard, which he describes as a ‘dirty street leading down to the dockyard’. Dickens was born in Portsmouth in 1812 and was a returning visitor throughout his life.