Walter Dexter (1) (1877–1944)

Walter Dexter was born in London on 7 June 1877 and after school at St Olave's Grammar School he entered the business house where his father held a responsible position. After a while he branched out and put his energy and enterprise into becoming a general produce merchant and shipper with interests in many overseas countries.

Outside his career, he decided to devote his leisure time to studying Charles Dickens. He became a member of the Dickens Fellowship in 1905 and spent much of his spare time in travelling throughout England seeking to identify towns, villages and other scenes associated with the life and writing of his favourite author, about whom he wrote many books.

Relinquishing the Honorary Treasurer of the Dickens Fellowship, a post he had held for some years, he became editor of Fellowship's magazine 'The Dickensian' in 1925 and he held the post until his death. He was also the first Honorary Secretary of the Dickens Fellowship Dramatic Society, formed in 1905. In addition he performed with the society and one of his last appearances was as Captain Cuttle at the Pickwick Centenary Matinee at the London Palladium in 1936.

He was an omnivorous reader and a keen collector of first editions, having in his collection complete sets of the first editions of Arnold Bennett, W J Locke, H G Wells and Robert Louis Stevenson among others. He also had an extensive collection of magazines and his interest in boys' and girls' periodicals provided a very readable article on collecting such in 'Chamber's Journal'.

He also spent many hours in the British Museum and other libraries, adding to his already extensive knowledge of theatrical history and old play-bills and on topographical research.

One of his other interests was crossword puzzles and he compiled a great number, many on Dickensian themes, for various newspapers such as 'The Times' and 'The Listener'. It was his creation of crosswords that apparently enlightened many a long night's vigil as an ARP Warden when he was on duty at a Warden's Post in London during the early years of World War II.

At the time of his death, in 1944, he was collecting material for an article on the changing fashions in the binding of cheap literature and had gathered together volumes from the grey paper covers and white labels of the 1820s to the yellow-backs of the 1880s in readiness for publication of his piece.

He had also been one of the joint editors, along with Arthur Waugh, Sir Hugh Walpole and Thomas Hatton, of the splendid Nonesuch Editions of Dickens' works and had been solely responsible for the monumental undertaking of preparing three volumes of Dickens' letters, the most complete collection ever made to that time, running to almost 2500 pages.

After his death a Walter Dexter Memorial Fund was established to ensure that his name would be associated in perpetuity with The Dickens House at Doughty Street, as he was closely associated, with B W Matz, in the concept of securing the House as a centre, a museum, and a library from which to foster the love of the novelist and his works.
--Gerry Wolstenholme