Sydney Smith Haldimand Dickens [SEP] father
Sydney Smith Haldimand Dickens
Sydney Smith Haldimand Dickens (18 April 1847 – 2 May 1872) was a Royal Navy officer; the fifth son and seventh child of English novelist Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine.
Biography.
An endearing child, nicknamed "The Ocean Spectre" and "The Admiral" by his father, Sydney Dickens was born at 3 Chester Place and baptized at the church of St. Mary in Marylebone in London on 24 June 1847, his godfathers being William Haldimand of Lausanne, and Henry Porter Smith
of the same small Sydney philanthropic circle as Donnithorne's father; and Chisholm and Eliza Donnithorne were at one point treated by the same Sydney doctor.
Some versions of the story speculate that Dickens' sons, two of whom spent time in Australia, told the story to their father. However, they arrived in Australia after "Great Expectations" was published.
Other historians propose an alternative explanation: that Dickens did not base Miss Havisham on Donnithorne, but that Sydney readers drew the connection when "Great Expectations" was