Nicknamed "Sampson Brass" and "Skittles" by his father, Alfred Dickens was born at 1 Devonshire Terrace, near Regent's Park, and was baptized at the church of St. Mary Marylebone in London on 21 April 1846.

Father Prout wrote: Edward Fitzgerald wrote to his friend Edward Barton[3] that Tennyson and Count D'Orsay had stood as godparents to one of Dickens's children, and that the unfortunate child had been named 'Alfred D'Orsay Tennyson', which he believed proved that 'Dickens was a snob ... For what is Snobbishness and Cockneyism, but all such pretensions and parade?

Charles Dickens sent him with some money and letters of introduction, hoping that he would make a career there and that he would cease to be a financial drain upon his father.

According to various letters,[10] Charles Dickens sent his son to Australia "to seek his fortune"; although he saw Alfred as "steady and working, though not in the least brilliant," he had been anxious to get him "far away from home," being concerned about the negative influence of his brothers and the "idleness" of London.

Charles Dickens having died in 1870, Alfred purchased Wangagong station, near Forbes with his share of his father's estate.

[13] Dickens married Augusta Jessie Devlin (1849–1878), known as 'The Belle of Melbourne", in a fashionable wedding in Toorak, Victoria, and with whom he had two daughters, Kathleen Mary (1874 – 1951) and Violet Georgina (1875 – 1952).

Taking to his bed, he slept for a while and then awoke and dictated a letter to one of his daughters in Australia explaining that his sudden illness had required him to cancel one of his speaking engagements.

[17] In 1935 a permanent headstone of Barre, Vermont, granite was placed at the grave, the funds for which were collected by the children of the Church School of the Chapel of the Intercession.