What events in David Copperfield mirror events from Dickens's own life?

There are many autobiographical elements in David Copperfield. First of all, look at the protagonist's initials: "D.C." They are an inversion of Dickens's own initials.
As a small boy, poor David goes to work at the filthy, rat-infested warehouse of Murdstone & Grinby. His horrible experiences of child labor mirror those of Dickens himself when he had to toil away in a blacking factory. Young Dickens ended up working there after his spendthrift father was sent to a debtors' prison. The character of the improvident Mr. Micawber closely resembles that of Dickens's father, not least his boundless optimism that something will eventually turn up.
The headmaster of Salem House, the sadistic Mr. Creakle, is widely believed to be based upon the cruel head of Willington House Academy, which Dickens attended from the age of fifteen. With all of these elements of autobiography in the story, many of them deeply unpleasant, it's hardly surprising that one critic said that the pen that wrote David Copperfield was often dipped in Dickens's own blood.