The Charles Dickens Letters Project

To JOHN BLACK,1 15 AUGUST 1842

MS Michigan State University Libraries. 

Broadstairs, Kent.

Monday Fifteenth August. / 1842.

My Dear Sir

I see that Lord Londonderry2 advertizes a letter to Lord Ashley3 on the subject of Mines and Collieries.4 If you would like to have it noticed, and will send it to me, here, when it comes out, I shall be happy to review it.5  

John Black Esquire

Faithfully Yours always / My Dear Sir 

 CHARLES DICKENS 

• 1. John Black (1783-1855; Dictionary of National Biography), editor of the Morning Chronicle: see Pilgrim Letters 1, p. 83n.
• 2. Charles William Vane, formerly Stewart (1778-1854; Dictionary of National Biography), 3rd Marquess of Londonderry; half-brother of Viscount Castlereagh. Leader of the mining interest in the House of Lords and owner of extensive coalfields in Co. Durham.
• 3. Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley (1801-85; Dictionary of National Biography), later 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. Despite being an ardent evangelical in education and Sunday observance, he was strongly supported by CD in social reform. See Pilgrim Letters 2, p. 164n. and subsequent vols.
• 4. A Letter to Lord Ashley, M.P., On the Mines and Collieries Bill: see further Pilgrim Letters 3, p. 309n. A pamphlet of 145 pages, it did not in fact appear until October. The Bill, passed in 1842, prohibited the employment underground of women, girls, and boys under ten years, providing for enforcement through inspectors.
• 5. The review appeared in the Morning Chronicle, 20 Oct; it attacked the pamphlet’s style and said virtually nothing about Londonderry’s charges against Ashley and the Bill, presumably implying that they were beneath notice (Dickens’ Journalism, ed. Michael Slater, 1996, Vol. II, pp. 44-51): see further To Charles Mackay, [19 Oct 42], Pilgrim Letters 3, pp. 351-2 & nn. CD’s letter to the Morning Chronicle, 25 July 42, supported the Bill and attacked its opponents, hitting out at Londonderry (see Pilgrim Letters 3, pp. 278-85).