John Dickens - Marshalsea Prison

Marshalsea Prison

Described by his son Charles as "a jovial opportunist with no money sense", unable to satisfy his creditors, on 20 February 1824 John Dickens was imprisoned in the Marshalsea Debtors' Prison for debt under the Insolvent Debtor's Act of 1813, because he owed a baker, James Kerr, £40 and 10 shillings. His wife Elizabeth Barrow, and her three youngest children, joined her husband in the Marshalsea in April 1824. John Dickens was released after three months, on 28 May 1824, on the death of his mother, Elizabeth Dickens, who had left him the sum of £450 in her will. On the expectation of this legacy, Dickens petitioned for, and was granted, release from prison. Under the Insolvent Debtors Act, Dickens arranged for payment of his creditors, and he and his family left Marshalsea for the home of Mrs. Roylance, with whom his 12 year old son Charles was lodging.

Some years later John Dickens was again briefly imprisoned for debt, and was released only when his son Charles borrowed money from his friends based on the security of his salary. However, on his release from prison John Dickens immediately wrote begging letters to those same friends of his son also asking for money. He wrote to Thomas Beard claiming that his son Alfred "is walking to and from Hampstead daily in dancing Pumps".