1. Mary Scott Hogarth was the sister of Catherine Dickens and the sister-in-law of Charles Dickens.
14 Facts About Mary Hogarth
2.
Hogarth first met Charles Dickens at age 14, and after Dickens married Hogarth's sister Catherine, Mary lived with the couple for a year.
3.
Mary Hogarth was born in Edinburgh, where her father was a legal advisor to Walter Scott, whom the young Charles Dickens greatly admired.
4.
Mary Hogarth was the fourth of ten children, and the third daughter.
5.
The name Mary Hogarth Scott had previously been given to George and Georgina's third child, born 1817 or 1818, who was an infant when she died.
6.
Mary and her sister Catherine first met Charles Dickens when Mary was aged 14, on Dickens' first visit to the Hogarth household in Brompton, London.
7.
Whilst Dickens and Catherine were courting, Mary Hogarth was a constant companion and chaperone to both of them.
8.
From March 1837, Mary Hogarth lived with the couple at 48 Doughty Street, where she helped her sister with household chores, as Catherine was pregnant with her first child.
9.
Mary Hogarth was described by those who knew her as "sweet, beautiful and light-hearted".
10.
Mary Hogarth died at around 15:00 local time later that day at the Dickens family home.
11.
The bedroom where Mary Hogarth died is part of the Charles Dickens Museum.
12.
Mary Hogarth wore Hogarth's ring for the rest of his life, and requested a locket of her hair.
13.
Mary Hogarth is believed to have influenced a number of Dickens characters.
14.
Nell had many traits that Dickens associated with Mary Hogarth, including describing Nell as "young, beautiful and good", and Nell dies suddenly in the book.