This Christmastide, we explore the connections between the author of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, and the cemetery records in the Deceased Online database For many, Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is indelibly associated with Christmas. Besides the iconic A Christmas Carol (published in 1843) , he also wrote the semi-autobiographical short story ‘A Christmas Tree’ (1850). Dickens loved the meaning and ritual of Christmas festivities. In later life, he enjoyed parties, and even in his poverty-stricken younger days, he always participated in the season. The ghosts in A Christmas Carol are believed to have been inspired by the stories told around the fire in his childhood Christmases that first inspired Dickens’ imagination to ‘hanker’ after the supernatural. Although Dickens is buried in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey , the burial records of many of his family and friends are found in the Deceased Online database . In our Highgate Cemetery Collection from