Charles Dickens’ great-great-great-granddaughter on why Texans do the author best at Christmas
The man who penned ‘A Christmas Carol’ may have been English, but his spirit is most exuberantly honoured on a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico. Writer Lucinda Hawksley travels to one of the world’s largest festivals paying homage to her great-great-great-grandfather as it celebrates its 50th anniversary
What’s the first location that springs to mind when thinking of setting up a Charles Dickens festival? It’s unlikely to be a Texan island. But in 1973, Galveston Island, in the Gulf of Mexico, began a small festival dedicated to the English author.
During the 19th century, Galveston, Texas, was the US’s second busiest immigration port, second only to Ellis Island. It was also the haven of wealthy Houstonites, who joined local settlers in building ever more elaborate and beautiful homes. This thriving society was devastated by the Great Storm of 1900, which killed at least 8,000 Galvestonians and battered the grand Victorian buildings. It took decades for the island to recover and, by the early 1970s, many of the properties had still not been renovated. The Galveston Historical Foundation (GHF), founded in the mid-19th century, decided that something needed to be done to preserve the buildings. That’s how Dickens on The Strand was born – named after one of the island’s streets.
The idea formed after a member of the GHF, Evangeline Wharton, attended a Christmas Carol festival in California. Its painted backdrops of Victorian street scenes made her realise that Galveston had a ready-made – and real – Victorian landscape to be used. She set up a simple event, just for members of GHF, entitled a “Dickens Evening on the Strand”. Out of this one evening has grown one of the world’s biggest Dickens festivals, which now takes place over the first weekend in December, beginning with a champagne reception on Thursday night and ending with a Victorian bed race on Sunday afternoon. Every year, over 30,000 people arrive to take part in the festivities; over the decades, the Victorian costumes worn by many attendees have become more elaborate and more professional, as costumiers from all over the country (and often further afield) arrive to show off their talent.
The first Dickens family member to attend was the author Monica Dickens in 1976. She was a great-granddaughter of Charles and Catherine Dickens, married to an American and living in Cape Cod. In an article in The Galveston Daily News it was reported that, when asked how the festival could be improved, Monica suggested they stage “a mock execution”...
In 1987, Cedric Dickens, a great-grandson of Charles and Catherine, became the second Dickens family member to take part. Ever since his first visit, there has been at least one Dickens descendant every year – except 2008, the year of Hurricane Ike (when flood waters reached over 6ft high), and in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted events across the globe.
I’ve been amazed at the visible changes I’ve witnessed evolve around the island in the last decade or so
As a great-great-great-granddaughter of the author, I was happy to join this line-up of descendants myself when I first visited Galveston in 2009, arriving in a surreal flurry of snow that temporarily closed Houston airport. Once in Galveston, I visited a school and hospital in the company of “Queen Victoria”, walked along cobbled streets passing Beefeaters, children’s choirs and Victorian bobbies, wondered why there were so many pirates wandering around, got RSI from spending eight solid hours signing books (my own as well as those by my great-great-great-grandfather), and flummoxed the caterers, who were unsure how to feed a vegetarian in Texas.
If you too were wondering about the pirate connection: in the 19th century, Galveston – previously the home of the Karankawa people – became home to the pirate Jean Lafitte. He’s romanticised in collective memory, remembered as “handsome and gentlemanly”, despite having been, among other things, a slave-trader.
This December I returned to Galveston for the 13th time. I’ve been amazed at the visible changes I’ve witnessed evolve around the island in the last decade or so, thanks to restoration work carried out by GHF. One of my favourite events is the Friday evening handbell concert at the oldest German Catholic church in Texas – a painted wooden building dating from 1859, which is one of Texas’s few remaining pre-Civil War buildings. Other astonishing architectural feats include the Bishop’s Palace, built for a wealthy lawyer and his family in 1892; the Romanesque-inspired Moody Mansion; Ashton Villa, which was one of the first brick-built buildings in Texas; and the Garten Verein, built in 1880 as a social club and dancing venue for German migrants.
Considering we hadn’t managed to have a single proper rehearsal, it went astonishingly well, making us wonder whether we should become a touring troupe à la the Von Trapp Family Singers
Walking across the island, as my cousin Jane and I have done on the first morning of every year we’ve attended together in an effort to counteract jetlag, used to be a perilous venture – so many of the pavements and buildings were damaged by Hurricane Ike. But this year it was notable how many have been mended and renovated, even since our last visit in 2019.
This year was the 50th anniversary of Dickens on the Strand, and for the first time, eight direct descendants were invited to the festival: three “double great” grandchildren and five “triple great” grandchildren. Seven of us who attended are descended from Henry Fielding Dickens (the eighth child), and for the first time, we were accompanied by a descendant of Charley Dickens, the eldest Dickens child. We each hosted different events; I was lucky enough to be at the helm of the Salute to Sunset, on the tall ship Elissa, a three-masted barque built in Aberdeen in 1877 and lovingly restored by generations of Galvestonians.
Other events included the Smoking Bishop’s Soirée – featuring acrobatic performances by Cirque La Vie – two Dickens-inspired breakfasts; Elevenses at the Elissa; and a Golden Jubilee Feast, at which all eight descendants performed A Christmas Carol. Considering we hadn’t managed to have a single proper rehearsal, it went astonishingly well, making us wonder whether we should become a touring troupe à la the Von Trapp Family Singers: the Dickens Family Hams (with apologies to my cousin Ollie, the only trained actor among us).
The three carriage parades, including the gorgeous Pickwick Lantern Light parade on the Saturday evening, are another festival highlight. This year there were two carriages for the Dickens family and guests – the latter included the winners of a children’s writing competition and the actor Stacy Hicks, aka Charles Dickens (whose hilariously irreverent utterances would have been loved by Dickens himself).
Because Dickens on the Strand is quite a mouthful, most locals just call it “Dickens”; all weekend, people will hail each other with the words “Happy Dickens!”. My great-great-great-grandfather may have been an Englishman, but it is arguably Texans who throw the best bash in his honour come Christmastime.
Lucinda Hawksley is the author of “Dickens and Travel” (Pen & Sword Books).
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