King's Bench Prison: 19th century

King's Bench Prison. Watercolour. This night-time scene shows the courtyard of the King's Bench Prison, situated off Borough High Street. As the banner shows, the prisoners are celebrating the election to the House of Commons of Thomas Turton, a supporter of Pitt the Younger and Clerk of the Juries in the Court of Common Pleas. He defeated George Tierney, the standing Member of Parliament for Southwark. This debtors' prison allowed wealthy inmates to live in very comfortable lodgings.