The Last Bid

Dickens died in June 1870 in his home in Kent, Gad's Hill Place. He had two executors of his will - his housekeeper and sister-in-law Georgina Hogarth and his friend and agent John Forster. The pair arranged an auction of the furniture and estate in the grounds of Gad's Hill Place in the August following the novelist's death. This picture was taken on the last day of the auction. The bidder, Mr John Ball, was a railway contractor and fan of Dickens's work. He bid £10 for a table (almost exactly £1,000 in 2024) and requested the photo be staged and taken. The photographer, Edward Banes, has used a pencil to add definition to some areas, such as a lady's hat.

DH1230 © Charles Dickens Museum