Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal immortalised as the "Cheeryble Brothers" in Charles Dickens' book, Nicholas Nickleby. Donald's mother was the sister of the Canadian explorer John Stuart, partner of the North West Company who rose to become Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. Smith was educated at Anderson's Free School and on leaving at age sixteen he was apprenticed to become a lawyer in the offices of Robert Watson, Town Clerk of Forres. By the age of eighteen, Smith chose another career path: offered entry into mercantile life at Manchester, and a career in the Indian Civil Service, his choice was to pattern himself
Racism in the work of Charles Dickens exhibit the same level of fury that he did towards the Indians in the Sepoy Rebellion. She attributes this to Dickens' greater awareness of the brutal actions of British soldiers toward natives in their colonies, and suggests that Dickens now regretted his former attitude. In taking this position, she directly argues against the views of Patrick Brantlinger and William Oddie who see racism as having gone unabated in the later writings of Dickens. However, Moore notes that while Dickens became increasingly aware of the unethical actions of British colonialists and how they provided a motivation for local rebellion, Dickens never