Martin Daunton examines Dickens' brilliant evocation of Victorian social conditions ... management had led him and his family to a debtors' prison - where the young Charles witnessed misery ...

Flanders challenges our received wisdom about Victorian London ... Dickens' father was locked in a London debtors' prison, while 12-year-old Dickens worked long days in a factory and lived ...

Debtors prisons were a constant presence looming ... Dickens played down many of its horrors for fear of upsetting the Victorian constitution. After receiving an inheritance, John Dickens was ...

Debtors’ prisons existed, but were few and far between ... Hanging or transportation to Australia was mostly used for more serious crimes in Victorian England. People kept in ordinary prisons, where ...

Yet in Victorian England ... His father had a well-respected job, and he ended up in debtors’ prison. “Today, we see public sector workers using foodbanks. They are not excluded from slipping ...

Debtors' prisons were common in the Victorian era and rose to prominence thanks to a campaign by Charles Dickens. The Oliver Twist author's father was imprisoned for debt when Charles was just 12 ...