Alfred D'Orsay Tennyson Dickens (28 October 1845 – 2 January 1912) was an English lecturer. The sixth child and fourth son of English novelist Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine, Dickens made lecture tours in Australia, Europe, and the United States on his father's life and work.
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Early life
Nicknamed "Sampson Brass" and "Skittles" by his father, Alfred Dickens was born at 1 Devonshire Terrace, near Regent's Park, and was baptized at the church of St. Mary Marylebone in London on 21 April 1846. He was named after his godfathers, Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Alfred, Comte d'Orsay. Because of this choice of godfathers Alfred's christening became a popular topic among literary people. Father Prout wrote:
Edward Fitzgerald wrote to his friend Edward Barton that Tennyson and Count D'Orsay had stood as godparents to one of Dickens's children, and that the unfortunate child had been named 'Alfred D'Orsay Tennyson', which he believed proved that 'Dickens was a snob ... For what is Snobbishness and Cockneyism, but all such pretensions and parade? It is one thing to worship heroes and another to lick their spittle.' Robert Browning wrote to Elizabeth Barrett, who shortly after married him in the same church in which Alfred Dickens had been baptized, wondering if she knew why Alfred Tennyson has been dining with Dickens to meet celebrities.
'What do you suppose caused all the dining and repining? He has been sponsor to Dickens's child in company with Count D'Orsay and accordingly the novus homo glories in the praenomia Alfred d'Orsay Tennyson Dickens ... You observe Alfred is common to both the godfather and the devil-father ... When you remember what the form of sponsorship is, to what it pledges you in the Church of England – and then remember that Mr. Dickens is an enlightened Unitarian – you will get a curious notion of the man, I fancy.'