Breathing in the Fog

Breathing in the Fog

On the eve of his daughter Katey’s wedding Dickens writes this letter to his sister in-law, Helen. The letter details his brother Alfred’s ill health and pleurisy, a condition that affects the lungs. Trying to console Helen, he writes that ‘an impaired state of health – especially after pleurisy – so often leads to inflammation in the region of the lungs’. 11 days later Alfred had died. Those who suffered from lung conditions, such as Alfred, were particularly susceptible to the London fogs.

Letter from Charles Dickens to Helen Dickens, 16 July 1860. A892.

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