Appeal to clean up Malton's literary link (From Gazette & Herald)

Appeal to clean up Malton's literary link

AS literary connections go, Malton can be proud to boast the setting for Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol in Chancery Lane.

Yes, the building behind Hardcastle, France & Co, Chartered Accountants office on Yorkersgate, which faces onto Chancery Lane, is where Ebeneezer Scrooge is reputed to have kept his beady eye on Bob Cratchit, at least in the imaginations and writings of the great Victorian story teller.

Not much to look at now, it is no wonder town councillors were last week calling for a 'face-lift' for the alley which links Yorksrsgate and the market place.

A favourite dumping ground for the fast food paraphernalia of late-night drinkers, it is difficult to imagine what it would have been like in the 1800s, when Dickens was a regular visitor to the town.

Several connections brought him to Malton. He was a close friend of Charles Smithson, the solicitor who practised at the Chancery Lane building.

Although the novel A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, was not written at Malton, the Smithson family were told by Dickens that the office in Chancery Lane was the model for Scrooge's office, and that the bells in the story were those of St Leonard's and St Mary's Church on Church Hill.

Charles Dickens' brother, Alfred Lament Dickens, was a civil engineer who worked on the construction of the York, Malton, Scarborough railway line and had an office in Market Place, Malton.

He lived for a time at Hillside Cottage, Greengate, Malton and later in Derwent Cottage, Scarborough Road, Norton.

Charles Smithson began training at his family's firm of solicitors at Chancery Lane and later moved to London to continue training with Smithson and Dunn.

It was then that he met and established what was to become a lifelong friendship with Charles Dickens.

Charles Smithson was forced to return to Malton and take over the firm following the death of his brother Henry in 1840. Charles lived at Easthorpe Hall near Malton, which no longer exists, and later moved to the Abbey House in Old Malton, behind St Mary's Priory.

Charles Dickens was a regular visitor, and based several characters on people he met in the area.

The character of Sairey Gamp in Martin Chuzzlewit is thought to be based on a housekeeper at Easthorpe Hall. A Mrs Jump who lived in a little white house on Middlecave Road was thought to be the inspiration for Mrs MacStringer in Domeby and Son.

Dickens apparently entertained an audience at the theatre (now demolished) on Saville Street.

The Yorkshire Gazette, this paper's predecessor, recorded on July 8 1843: "We understand that Charles Dickens Esq, the admired and talented author of 'Pickwick', etc is now on a visit with his lady at Easthorpe, the hospitable abode of Charles Smithson Esq Solicitor, Malton, and that he has visited Old Malton Abbey and other remarkable places in the vicinity."

When Charles Smithson died in 1844 aged 39, Charles Dickens attended the funeral at Old Malton, leaving York by post-chase at 7am on April 5 and arriving just in time for the funeral at 9.30am.

Updated: 15:05 Wednesday, February 09, 2005