On June 9, 1865, Charles Dickens was travelling from Paris to London. He was accompanied on this trip by his mistress, Ellen Ternan, and Ellen's mother. Dickens had been separated from his wife since 1858 but remained legally married, and therefore maintained a great deal of secrecy and discretion around his relationship with Ellen. After disembarking from the ferry, the three travelers boarded a first-class carriage on a train from Folkestone that would take them to London. Between Headcorn and Staplehurst stations, the train's route took it across a ten-foot high viaduct spanning a river bed. A section of the track had been removed for repairs, and the signal to alert the train arrived too late for it to stop in time. The train derailed.
Dickens was unhurt in the accident and was able to crawl out of his train carriage to assist Ellen and her mother. After ensuring their safety, Dickens did what he could to help the many injured passengers. In total, ten people were killed in the crash, and another forty suffered significant injuries. The experience of tending to the wounded and dying was traumatic for Dickens. Even amidst the chaos, Dickens was aware of his status as author. He had been travelling with his manuscript of an installment of Our Mutual Friend, and Dickens crawled back into the train carriage to retrieve this document. He was successfully able to do so, but his shock from the accident led to him only being able to produce a shortened installment for the August publication.
Dickens referenced this event in a postscript he added to the novel: "On Friday the Ninth of June in the present year, Mr and Mrs Boffin (in their manuscript dress of receiving Mr and Mrs Lammle at breakfast) were on the South-Eastern Railway with me, in a terribly destructive accident. When I had done what I could to help others, I climbed back into my carriage — nearly turned over a viaduct, and caught aslant upon the turn — to extricate the worthy couple. They were much soiled, but otherwise unhurt." Despite this joke, Dickens never fully recovered from the shock and trauma of the incident. He was always anxious when travelling by train, and tried to avoid doing so whenever possible. Dickens died on June 9, 1870, exactly five years after the crash.
