Senate House Library

Criminality and Redemption

Charles Dickens knew from his own childhood that the actions of adults, and the ensuing reactions of the State, could affect children’s lives. His works show the impact adult behaviour can have on children, either for good or ill. On display are works which reflect 19th-century attitudes towards street children. Some use language and reflect attitudes which are offensive to us today and consider the street children to be a threat to society. Other works show a more compassionate stance and highlight some of the methods of providing alternatives to street poverty.

Great Expectations: Charles Dickens. London, Chapman and Hall, 1861

Media gallery item Toggle Actions The Artful Dodger The Artful Dodger [postcard]. Kyd (Joseph Clayton Clarke) London: Raphael Tuck, c.1903

One Dinner a Week, and Travels in the East: Reprinted from All the Year Round London. London Cottage Mission, 1884

Seed-time & Harvest of Ragged Schools, or, a Third Plea with New Editions of the First & Second Pleas. Thomas Guthrie Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1860