Charles John Huffman was born in Portsea, Hampshire on the 7th of February 1812. He was the second of nine children of John and Elizabeth Dickens. Charles' father was a clerk at a Navy Pay Office at Portsmouth. John had a big extravagance for money and it caused the family much hardship. John Dickens was later transferred to London and then to Chatham. (Today this is opposite Southend) This is where young Charles spent the happiest period of his childhood years. Even those years were unsettled, for the family had to move houses and areas frequently as John had debts that couldn't be paid. The family decided to move back to London and the money problems became worse. John was caught and he was thrown into the Marshalsea Prison for Debt payers. Before long the rest of the family was also put into the Marshalsea, except for Charles. Because Charles was working in a Blacking Factory it kept out of the Marshalsea. Memories of this painful time inspired much of his fiction, notably the early chapters of David Copperfield. He then worked as an office boy; studied shorthand and became a reporter of debates in the House of Commons for the Morning Chronicle. He contributed the Monthly Magazine (1833-5), to the Evening Chronicle (1835). In April 1824 John Dickens' mother died and left him very little money. He was released from prison, but he spent the rest of his life on the verge of going back in. However, Charles had more respect for his father than for his mother, because it was John who insisted that Charles leaves the Blacking Factory and return to school when Elizabeth wanted her son to continue working. After two years more years at school Charles became clerk to a solicitor at the age of fifteen.