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Several items have come to my attention recently which will greatly expand our understanding of the circumstances surrounding Dickens's employment at Warren's Blacking. This article will show that Dickens was employed not by Jonathan Warren but by William Edward Woodd*; it suggests he began labouring in the blacking warehouse at the age of 11 not 12; it shows that his relationship to the Lamerte* family drew him into the world of Jewish families around Whitechapel and Holborn; and it draws attention to a very plausible model for Fagin.
Research I've been involved with has dealt with Dickens's family history, much of it involving Chancery Court documents at The National Archives at Kew. My eye was caught by the case of 'Woodd ? Lamerte'. I was intrigued because, as told to us by Dickens through John Forster, James Lamerte was the person who offered the 12-year old boy employment at Warren's Blacking.
The Blacking Business
Boot blacking was big business in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. The state of the roads and footways was such that boots and shoes needed constant protection to maintain a degree of water repellence and flexibility as well as for cleanliness. Many firms manufactured blacking in London and it was despatched for sale throughout the country and throughout the world. Charles Day of the blacking firm Day & Martin was reported to have left at least £350,000 when he died in 1836 - with money like this to be made it's little wonder there was great competition in the industry.
It was claimed that Jonathan Warren first created his original compound for blacking and began its manufacture in 1798, taking into the business his brother Thomas; but the two fell out and within a very short time Thomas, having learned the methods of manufacture and the means of running the business, went into competition. That's one side of the story - on the other hand Robert Warren, the son of Thomas, claimed that his father first commenced manufacturing blacking in 1795 and continued to his death in 1805, at which time Robert took over the business. Intense rivalry arose between the two halves of the family and persisted for a quarter of a century, exacerbated because they both promoted...