By the spring of 1858 Dickens had become ruthlessly determined to bring his marriage, which he now regarded as 'the great misfortune of my life' (Pilgrim, Vol. VIII, p. 572), to an end.

Enraged by rumours about his having affairs with Georgiana Hogarth and others, rumours for the origin of which he blamed his mother-in-law, Mrs George Hogarth, and her youngest daugher Helen, he resolved to counteract them with a public declaration of innocence (he would also have been seriously concerned about the possible adverse effect such scandal might have on the new career on which he was about to embark, that of a public reader from his own works). He therefore composed the following statement for publication. Forster strongly counselled against publishing it, but, he later recalled, 'All [Dickens] would concede to my strenous resistance ... was an offer to suppress it, if, upon reference to the opinion of a certain distinguished gentleman (still living) [i.e. John Thaddeus Delane, the editor of The Times], that opinion should prove to be in agreement with mine' (Forster, Book 8, Ch. 2). Delane, however, supported Dickens and the statement duly appeared in The Times on 7 June 1858 under the heading 'Mr Charles Dickens' and with the note, 'We are requested to anticipate the publication of the following article'. From The Times it was copied by other papers and caused a great sensation in the literary world with much disapproving comment. According to Bradbury and Evans, Dickens's publishers and the publishers of Punch as well as HW, he chose to end his relationship with them because of their refusal to print the Statement in Punch (the Pilgrim editors, however, think that there were probably more personal reasons for the breach as well—see Pilgrim, Vol. VIII, p. 608, n. 5). 

Author: Michael Slater; © J. M. Dent/Orion Publishing Group, Dickens' Journalism Volume III: 'Gone Astray' and Other Papers from Household Words, 1851-1859, 1998.

DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.

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The crisis which preceded and followed Dickens' separation from his wife was accompanied by a spate of stories and rumors, most of which involved the young actress, Ellen Ternan, or his sister-in-law, Georgina Hogarth (his wife's younger sister who had lived with the Dickenses for many years). In his emotional turmoil, Dickens' usual good sense deserted him. In an effort to stop the gossip, he chose the dubious expedient of publishing the announcement reprinted below on the front page of Household Words. The effect was to make his private life public property, to broadcast to thousands what had been whispered amongst hundreds.
Dickens asked Bradbury and Evans, the printers and owners of Punch, the publishers (at that time) of his novels, and the printers and co-owners with him of Household Words, to put the announcement in Punch also, a request they refused. As a result of this and other disagreements, Dickens determined to sever his associations with Bradbury and Evans, a decision he implemented, in part, by founding a new weekly journal, All the Year Round, in April 1859, and terminating publication of Household Words in May 1859.
Dickens and his wife separated early in May 1858. On 4 June 1858, he sent her the following letter regarding the announcement:

Dear Catherine.
I will not write a word as to any causes that have made it necessary for me to publish the enclosed in Household Words. Whoever there may be among the living, whom I will never forgive alive or dead, I earnestly hope that all unkindness is over between you and me.
But as you are referred to in the article, I think you ought to see it. You have only to say to Wills (who kindly brings it to you), that you do not object to the allusion.
CHARLES DICKENS.

Harry Stone; © Bloomington and Indiana University Press, 1968. DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.