 Alfred Dickens was educated at Brackenbury's Military School at Wimbledon and at Mr Gibson's boarding school in Boulogne-sur-Mer, with his brothers Henry and Sydney.Alfred Dickens considered a career in the Army, in medicine, and in business, but after failing the entrance examination into the Army, instead he spent two years working in a China House in London.He shared his father's love for fashionable clothing, and ran up bills, in his father's name, at various tailors.