The Uncommercial Traveller
Encyclopedia
The Uncommercial Traveller is a collection of literary sketches and reminiscences written by Charles Dickens
.
In 1859 Dickens founded a new journal called All the Year Round
and the Uncommercial Traveller articles would be among his main contributions. He seems to have chosen the title and persona of the Uncommercial Traveller as a result of a speech he gave on the 22 December 1859 to the Commercial Travellers' School London
in his role as honorary chairman and treasurer. The persona sits well with a writer who liked to travel, not only as a tourist, but also to research and report what he found; visiting Europe, America and giving book readings throughout Britain. He does not seem content to rest late in his career when he had attained wealth and comfort and continued travelling locally, walking the streets of London in the mould of the flâneur
, a 'gentleman stroller of city streets'. He often suffered from insomnia
and his night-time wanderings gave him an insight into some of the hidden aspects of Victorian London, details of which he also incorporated into his novels.
Dickens began by writing seventeen episodes, which were printed in All the Year Round between 28 January and 13 October 1860 and these were published in a single edition in 1861. He sporadically produced eleven more articles between 1863-65 and an expanded edition of the work was printed in 1866. Once more he returned to the persona with some more sketches written 1868-69 and a complete set of these articles was published posthumously in 1875.
The work is not markedly different from articles he contributed to Household Words
, an earlier journal, or the contents of Sketches by Boz
written near the start of his literary career. They display his wit, humour and occasionally his righteous indignation towards the things that he saw. There is simple reportage, such as an investigation into a shipload of Mormon
s ready to emigrate in Bound for the Great Salt Lake, but more usually it is the inventive and embroidered descriptions of everyday London life: The City of the Absent, City of London Churches, Shy Neighbourhoods. There are character sketches such as Tramps or excuses for Dickens to retell stories he has been told The Italian Prisoner, Chambers. There is also Dickens' characteristic concerns for the conditions of the poor and oppressed Wapping Workhouse, A Small Star in the East or Titbull's Alms-Houses.
in 1859 to investigate the wreck
of the Royal Charter, a ship returning from Australia
. It was forced onto the rocks in a hurricane in October 1859, a storm which wrecked many other ships and has become known as the Royal Charter Storm
. The Royal Charter was driven ashore on the east coast of Anglesey just north of the village of Moelfre
in the early hours of the morning of the 26th, eventually being smashed to pieces against the rocks, with the loss of over 450 lives.
Dickens visited the scene and talked to the rector of Llanallgo church
, the Rev. Stephen Roose Hughes, whose exertions in finding and identifying the bodies probably led to his own premature death soon afterwards. Dickens gives a vivid illustration of the force of the gale:
Dickens's friend, the painter Henry O'Neil exhibited the picture A Volunteer in 1860, based on the incident, depicting Rogers about to leap into the sea with the rope around him.
The disaster had an effect on the development of the Meteorological Office as Captain Robert FitzRoy
, who was in charge of the office at the time, brought in the first gale warning service to prevent similar tragedies.
The wreck was extensively salvaged by Victorians shortly after the disaster. The remains today lie close inshore in less than 5 metres of water as a series of iron bulkheads, plates and ribs which become covered and uncovered by the shifting sands from year to year. Gold sovereigns, pistols, spectacles and other personal items have been found by scuba divers by chance over the years. Teams have air-lifted, water-dredged and metal-detected for other treasure as late as 2005.
, under the name Dullborough. He also describes the period of enforced inactivity—A Fly-Leaf in Life—he was forced to endure after a collapse due to a hectic schedule of public readings. In Nurse's Stories he revealed one of the sources of his story telling talents and his love of ghost stories
: the terrifying tales his nurse delighted in telling the young author.
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
.
In 1859 Dickens founded a new journal called All the Year Round
All the Year Round
All the Year Round was a Victorian periodical, being a British weekly literary magazine founded and owned by Charles Dickens, published between 1859 and 1895 throughout the United Kingdom. Edited by Dickens, it was the direct successor to his previous publication Household Words, abandoned due to...
and the Uncommercial Traveller articles would be among his main contributions. He seems to have chosen the title and persona of the Uncommercial Traveller as a result of a speech he gave on the 22 December 1859 to the Commercial Travellers' School London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in his role as honorary chairman and treasurer. The persona sits well with a writer who liked to travel, not only as a tourist, but also to research and report what he found; visiting Europe, America and giving book readings throughout Britain. He does not seem content to rest late in his career when he had attained wealth and comfort and continued travelling locally, walking the streets of London in the mould of the flâneur
Flâneur
The term flâneur comes from the French masculine noun flâneur—which has the basic meanings of "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", "loafer"—which itself comes from the French verb flâner, which means "to stroll". Charles Baudelaire developed a derived meaning of flâneur—that of "a person who walks...
, a 'gentleman stroller of city streets'. He often suffered from insomnia
Insomnia
Insomnia is most often defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. While the term is sometimes used in sleep literature to describe a disorder demonstrated by polysomnographic evidence of disturbed sleep, insomnia is often defined as a positive response to either of two questions:...
and his night-time wanderings gave him an insight into some of the hidden aspects of Victorian London, details of which he also incorporated into his novels.
Stories
The role of the explorer and investigator of interesting things was explained by Dickens in the introduction to the work:- Allow me to introduce myself--first negatively.
- No landlord is my friend and brother, no chambermaid loves me, no waiter worships me, no boots admires and envies me. No round of beef or tongue or ham is expressly cooked for me, no pigeon-pie is especially made for me, no hotel-advertisement is personally addressed to me, no hotel-room tapestried with great-coats and railway wrappers is set apart for me, no house of public entertainment in the United Kingdom greatly cares for my opinion of its brandy or sherry. When I go upon my journeys, I am not usually rated at a low figure in the bill; when I come home from my journeys, I never get any commission. I know nothing about prices, and should have no idea, if I were put to it, how to wheedle a man into ordering something he doesn't want. As a town traveller, I am never to be seen driving a vehicle externally like a young and volatile pianoforte van, and internally like an oven in which a number of flat boxes are baking in layers. As a country traveller, I am rarely to be found in a gig, and am never to be encountered by a pleasure train, waiting on the platform of a branch station, quite a Druid in the midst of a light Stonehenge of samples.
- And yet--proceeding now, to introduce myself positively--I am both a town traveller and a country traveller, and am always on the road. Figuratively speaking, I travel for the great house of Human Interest Brothers, and have rather a large connection in the fancy goods way. Literally speaking, I am always wandering here and there from my rooms in Covent-garden, London--now about the city streets: now, about the country by-roads--seeing many little things, and some great things, which, because they interest me, I think may interest others.
- These are my chief credentials as the Uncommercial Traveller.
Dickens began by writing seventeen episodes, which were printed in All the Year Round between 28 January and 13 October 1860 and these were published in a single edition in 1861. He sporadically produced eleven more articles between 1863-65 and an expanded edition of the work was printed in 1866. Once more he returned to the persona with some more sketches written 1868-69 and a complete set of these articles was published posthumously in 1875.
The work is not markedly different from articles he contributed to Household Words
Household Words
Household Words was an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens in the 1850s which took its name from the line from Shakespeare "Familiar in his mouth as household words" — Henry V.-History:...
, an earlier journal, or the contents of Sketches by Boz
Sketches by Boz
Sketches by "Boz," Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People is a collection of short pieces published by Charles Dickens in 1836 accompanied by illustrations by George Cruikshank. The 56 sketches concern London scenes and people and are divided into four sections: "Our Parish",...
written near the start of his literary career. They display his wit, humour and occasionally his righteous indignation towards the things that he saw. There is simple reportage, such as an investigation into a shipload of Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
s ready to emigrate in Bound for the Great Salt Lake, but more usually it is the inventive and embroidered descriptions of everyday London life: The City of the Absent, City of London Churches, Shy Neighbourhoods. There are character sketches such as Tramps or excuses for Dickens to retell stories he has been told The Italian Prisoner, Chambers. There is also Dickens' characteristic concerns for the conditions of the poor and oppressed Wapping Workhouse, A Small Star in the East or Titbull's Alms-Houses.
Royal Charter storm
The second chapter describes the results of a visit he made to AngleseyAnglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
in 1859 to investigate the wreck
Wreck
Wreck may refer to:* Wreck, a ceremony of initiation into the 40 et 8 club* Wreck , an American indie rock band* A collision of an automobile, aircraft or other vehicle* Shipwreck, the remains of a ship after a crisis at sea...
of the Royal Charter, a ship returning from Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It was forced onto the rocks in a hurricane in October 1859, a storm which wrecked many other ships and has become known as the Royal Charter Storm
Royal Charter Storm
The Royal Charter Storm of 25 and 26 October 1859 was considered to be the most severe storm to hit the British Isles in the 19th century, with a total death toll estimated at over 800...
. The Royal Charter was driven ashore on the east coast of Anglesey just north of the village of Moelfre
Moelfre
Moelfre is a village and community on the east coast of Isle of Anglesey in Wales, and on the Anglesey Coastal Path. It has a population of 1,129.The Royal Mail postcode begins LL72....
in the early hours of the morning of the 26th, eventually being smashed to pieces against the rocks, with the loss of over 450 lives.
Dickens visited the scene and talked to the rector of Llanallgo church
St Gallgo's Church, Llanallgo
St Gallgo's Church, Llanallgo is a small church near the village of Llanallgo, on the east coast of Anglesey, north Wales. The chancel and transepts, which are the oldest features of the present building, date from the late 15th century, but there has been a church on the site since the 6th or...
, the Rev. Stephen Roose Hughes, whose exertions in finding and identifying the bodies probably led to his own premature death soon afterwards. Dickens gives a vivid illustration of the force of the gale:
- So tremendous had the force of the sea been when it broke the ship, that it had beaten one great ingot of gold, deep into a strong and heavy piece of her solid iron-work: in which also several loose sovereigns that the ingot had swept in before it, had been found, as firmly embedded as though the iron had been liquid when they were forced there.
Dickens's friend, the painter Henry O'Neil exhibited the picture A Volunteer in 1860, based on the incident, depicting Rogers about to leap into the sea with the rope around him.
The disaster had an effect on the development of the Meteorological Office as Captain Robert FitzRoy
Robert FitzRoy
Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy RN achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, and as a pioneering meteorologist who made accurate weather forecasting a reality...
, who was in charge of the office at the time, brought in the first gale warning service to prevent similar tragedies.
The wreck was extensively salvaged by Victorians shortly after the disaster. The remains today lie close inshore in less than 5 metres of water as a series of iron bulkheads, plates and ribs which become covered and uncovered by the shifting sands from year to year. Gold sovereigns, pistols, spectacles and other personal items have been found by scuba divers by chance over the years. Teams have air-lifted, water-dredged and metal-detected for other treasure as late as 2005.
Chatham
Of particular interest are the elements of autobiography Dickens includes such as his reminiscences and opinions on his childhood home town, ChathamChatham, Medway
Chatham is one of the Medway towns located within the Medway unitary authority, in North Kent, in South East England.Although the dockyard has long been closed and is now being redeveloped into a business and residential community as well as a museum featuring the famous submarine, HMS Ocelot,...
, under the name Dullborough. He also describes the period of enforced inactivity—A Fly-Leaf in Life—he was forced to endure after a collapse due to a hectic schedule of public readings. In Nurse's Stories he revealed one of the sources of his story telling talents and his love of ghost stories
Ghost story
A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, or an account of an experience, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. Colloquially, the term can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has...
: the terrifying tales his nurse delighted in telling the young author.
External links
- An earlier speech given to the Commercial Travellers' School - 30 December, 1854