Dickens and his bedfellows - Medway 2020

So June 2020 is the big one for Dickens in Medway. It will be the 150th anniversary of the death of campaigner and writer Charles Dickens. Doubtless there will be many celebrations to mark the life and work of an internationally recognised author, one who spent some of his most formative years in the Medway area. Medway has provided inspiration for some of his most famous works, and I look forward to celebrating his work and legacy next year along with everyone else.

Image by Andrys Stienstra from Pixabay 

Dickens is an important part of a long-standing culture of art and literature in Medway, and some of his bedfellows also have important anniversaries in 2020. These include the

• 400th anniversary of the birth of Will Adams the Navigator and pioneer 
• 150th anniversary of the death of Chatham-born Chartist William Cuffay   
• 60th anniversary of the death of painter and official war artist Evelyn Dunbar. Evelyn was educated in Rochester and painted some scenes of Rochester from Strood 
• 220th anniversary of the death of Thomas Fletcher Waghorn. Postal Pioneer (a man of letters, no less) who shortened the mail route between England and India, though this is disputed by some. Expect to see some more art depicting his statue in Chatham crowned with a traffic cone or 3
• 340th anniversary of the death of controversial poet and courtier John Wilmot. The 2nd Earl of Rochester served during the Anglo-Dutch wars.
• 240th anniversary of the first arrest of poet and engraver William Blake (1757–1827) and of Thomas Stothard in September 1780. The Blake Society re-enacted this on the Medway in 2007.

It's the 430th anniversary of the publication of the first three books of The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser. Spenser worked for a short time as secretary to the bishop of Rochester. Frequently regarded as one of the greatest English epic poems, book 4 includes the marriage of the river Medway to the river Thames.

Other people of note in Medway

Louis Brennan (28 January 1852 - 17 January 1932.) Genius inventor from County Mayo in Ireland, he developed a steerable torpedo and developed the weapon in Medway. He was superintendent of the government factory at Gillingham. He also invented many other things.

Chatham-born Richard Dadd – gifted painter who was born in Chatham high Street (1 August 1817 and died in Broadmoor hospital 8 January 1886)

Strood-born Anne Pratt. (5 December 1806 - 27 July 1893) Anne lived in Chatham, was educated in Eastgate house Rochester before travelling. When she returned to Medway she got married in Luton. She was tremendously successful and influential in her day.

If you'd like to read more about the artists of Medway, I recommend you get hold of a copy of From Chaucer to Childish: A Chronological Survey of Writers and Artists in the Medway Towns by Michael O'Connor . It's a cracking read, with enugh detail to keep your interest without outstaying it. Michael published with the Delta press back in 2011, so it's due an update...

Is there anyone else with a Medway connection that you'd like to celebrate next year?