The Lamplighter's Story

The story of how The Lamplighter came to be, begins with William Charles Macready, actor and theatre manager, and one of the great dramatic figures of Dickens’s time. Macready was ranked among the finest of Shakespearean actors, second only to Kean, and Dickens idolized the great performer for much of his young life. He wrote Macready: “I think I have told you sometimes, my much-loved friend, how, when I was a mere boy, I was one of your faithful and devoted adherents in the Pit—I believe as true a member of that true host of followers as it has ever boasted. As I improved myself and was improved by favoring circumstances in mind and fortune, I only became the more earnest (if it were possible) in my study of you” (Pilgrim 6:301).