Alfred D’Orsay Tennyson Dickens troubled son of the Victorian Era’s greatest writer, Charles Dickens 

On My Walk at Trinity Church Cemetery – The Grave of Charles Dickens’ Son, Alfred Dickens

On my walk through Trinity Church Cemetery in Manhattan, New York City, I discovered a quietly tucked-away grave with a remarkable story — the final resting place of Alfred D’Orsay Tennyson Dickens, the son of one of the greatest literary figures of all time, Charles Dickens.

From the start, Alfred had great expectations placed on his shoulders. His parents named him after the esteemed poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, a sign of their hopes for a bright and cultured future.

But Alfred struggled. As a boy, he had a difficult time in boarding school in England. Attempts to enter the military and the medical profession both failed. Despite having little money, Alfred indulged in lavish bespoke clothing and fine accessories, leveraging his father’s famous name to climb English society’s social ladder — often with little success.

Chronic unemployment and mounting debt became a pattern. His father, Charles Dickens, found himself repeatedly bailing him out. Finally, at age twenty, Charles urged Alfred to sail to Melbourne, Australia, hoping his son could build a new life far from England — and perhaps stay there.

To his credit, Alfred stayed. He worked at a sheep station, married, and had two daughters. But tragedy followed. His wife died after being thrown from a carriage, and Alfred later remarried — this time to a woman 17 years his junior — a deeply unhappy union.

By the 1890s, with much of his inheritance depleted, Alfred found a new path: giving public lectures about his father’s life and work. One such lecture tour brought him to New York City, where, while staying at The Astoria Hotel, Alfred died suddenly in his room.

With no funds to return his body home, Trinity Church generously provided a grave. Twenty-three years later, a proper headstone was placed at the site through local fundraising efforts — a final gesture of kindness for a man who, despite his struggles, carried a historic legacy.

Alfred D’Orsay Tennyson Dickens died January 2, 1912, at The Astoria Hotel, New York City. He was 66.

1845-1912

The Astoria Hotel in New York City where Alfred Dickens died in 1912.

The lettering of the headstone is believed to be the same style as that on Charles Dickens’ grave in Westminster Abbey in London.