Charles Wentworth Dilke

Charles Wentworth Dilke
Painting of Charles Wentworth Dilke, GuilHall Art Gallery
Born	1789 Great Britain
Died	1864 United Kingdom
Resting place	Kensal Green Cemetery[1]
Occupation	Civil servant, critic, editor
Language	English
Nationality	British
Spouse	Maria
Children	Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, 1st Baronet

Charles Wentworth Dilke (1789–1864) was an English liberal critic and writer on literature.

He served for many years in the Navy Pay-Office, on retiring from which in 1830 he devoted himself to literary pursuits.^[2]

His liberal political views and literary interests brought him into contact with Leigh Hunt, the editor of The Examiner. He had in 1814–16 made a continuation of Robert Dodsley's Collection of English Plays, and in 1829 he became part proprietor and editor of The Athenaeum magazine, the influence of which he greatly extended. In 1846 he resigned the editorship, and assumed that of The Daily News, but contributed to The Athenaeum papers on Alexander Pope, Edmund Burke, Junius, and others. His grandson, Sir Charles Dilke, published these writings in 1875 under the title, Papers of a Critic. Thanks to his grandson, Dilke is also acknowledged as the author of The Source and Remedy of the National Difficulties, published anonymously in 1821, which exercised an important influence on Marx.De Vivo, Giancarlo (2019). "Marx's Pamphletist: Charles Wentworth Dilke And His Tract On The Source And Remedy Of The National Difficulties (1821)". Contributions to Political Economy. 38: 59–73. doi:10.1093/cpe/bzz016.

Around October 1816, Dilke and his friend Charles Armitage Brown moved into a pair of semi-detached houses later called Wentworth Place in Hampstead, London. The poet John Keats lived with Brown around 1818–20 and was well known to Dilke. In 1822 Brown moved to Italy, selling his share of the property to Dilke. Today Wentworth Place is known as Keats House and is a museum to John Keats.

Dilke married Maria Walker (1790–1850), daughter of an official in the East India Company, on 10 October 1806. They had one child, (Charles) Wentworth Dilke (1810–1869). After her death and that of his daughter-in-law in 1853, he devoted increasing time to the upbringing of his grandson and namesake, the future cabinet minister and the 2nd Baronet.^[3]

• Garrett, William, Charles Wentworth Dilke. Boston, Twayne, 1982.
• Garrett, William, "Hazlitt's Debt to C. W. Dilke". In: The Keats-Shelley Memorial Bulletin, No. XV, 1964, pp. 37–42.
• Garrett, William, "Two Dilke Letters". In: The Keats-Shelley Memorial Bulletin, No. XXVII, 1976, pp. 1–9.

Wikisource has original works by or about:
Charles Wentworth Dilke

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons – via Wikisource.

Biographical material

• Keats House, Hampstead Dilke's former home, now a museum to Keats
• "Archival material relating to Charles Wentworth Dilke". UK National Archives.

Works

• Old Plays; being a continuation of Dodsley's Collection, Vol. 1, London, 1816, at the Internet Archive. Accessed 28 March 2012
• Old Plays; being a continuation of Dodsley's Collection, Vol. 2, London, 1816, at the Internet Archive. Accessed 28 March 2012
• Old Plays; being a continuation of Dodsley's Collection, Vol. 3, London, 1816, at the Internet Archive. Accessed 28 March 2012
• Old Plays; being a continuation of Dodsley's Collection, Vol. 4, London, 1816, at the Internet Archive. Accessed 28 March 2012
• Old Plays; being a continuation of Dodsley's Collection, Vol. 5, London, 1816, at the Internet Archive. Accessed 28 March 2012
• Old Plays; being a continuation of Dodsley's Collection, Vol. 6, London, 1816, at the Internet Archive. Accessed 28 March 2012
• The Papers of a Critic, Vol. I Accessed 2011-11-12
• The Papers of a Critic, Vol. II Accessed 2011-11-12

Criticism

• Charles Wentworth Dilke as a Literary Critic unpublished dissertation by William Garrett, University of Florida, June 1958, at the Internet Archive. Accessed 28 March 2012