According to the Good News Network (GNN), "The family of Charles Dickens met the descendants of the real-life Jacob Marley Friday—180 years to the day that the author decided to immortalize him in A Christmas Carol."
As GNN continued to report, "Mark Dickens and Lucinda Hawksley from the Dickens family met Christopher Marley, a relative of the late Dr. Miles Marley. Marley’s name was used by Dickens in 1843 when he developed the character of Jacob Marley, the regretful business partner of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. Dr. Marley was an Irishman in London who held a St. Patrick’s Day party where Dickens was a guest."
"During dinner," GNN noted, "...the subject of strange surnames came up and Dr. Marley said he thought his name was a 'most uncommon one'. Dickens reportedly declared: 'Your name shall be a household word before the year is out.'"
"‘Marley,' indeed," GNN documents further, "..would soon become a name indelibly linked with the iconic holiday tale A Christmas Carol. Dr. Marley died in Port Isaac in Cornwall, England, in 1854, but now decedents of the two families have met—including Dickens’ great, great, grandson Mark, and great, great, great, granddaughter Lucinda. To enhance the ceremony, they even met at the same address where their two ancestors met—11 Cork Street in London, the real Marley’s former practice."
"Jacob Marley," GNN chronicled, "...the late partner of Ebenezer Scrooge and the first ghost to visit him in A Christmas Carol is, of course, one."
“My great, great grandfather was constantly on the lookout for interesting names to use for the important characters in his novels,” said Mark. “He took a long time to settle on the right ones, and because of this so many of them are household names today. Reconnecting with the descendants of Dr. Miles Marley who was acquainted with Charles Dickens is a wonderful moment.”
Lucinda added, “He was a wonderful magpie of a writer, always collecting names and personality traits to use in his novels. “That he was such a keen observer of human nature and the world, helped him to write relatable characters who remain relevant even today. Opportunities such as meeting the descendants of the original ‘Marley’ (in name, not in personality!) are a really lovely benefit of having a famous ancestor.”
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