Ellen Ternan, an Actress of Shakespeare: Dickens Mistress.

Ellen Lawless Ternan was born in Rochester, Kent, to parents who were both actors of some distinction. Ternan made her stage debut in Sheffield at the age of three, and she and her two sisters were presented as "infant phenomena". Ternan worked extensively in the provinces and in 1857 she was spotted by Dickens performing at London's Haymarket Theatre. He cast her, along with her mother and one of her sisters, in a performance of The Frozen Deep in Manchester.

Dickens was forty-five when he met Ellen Ternan, and she was eighteen. He became passionately attached to her, but the relationship was kept secret. Dickens had become disillusioned with his wife, who lacked his energy and intellect. Ternan was clever and charming, forceful of character, undomesticated, and interested in literature, the theatre, and politics. The situation was a little like that with the Dark Lady of the Sonnets, but in 1858 Dickens separated from his wife. Ternan left the stage in 1860, and was supported by Dickens from then on.

Picture and some data courtesy of the Yorck Project, under Creative Commons Attribution-Share- Alike License (Wikipedia).