2-714-129 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Nathaniel Bentley. The well known Dirty Dick', 1821. Portrait of Nathaniel Bentley (c1735-1809) who had a hardware shop and warehouse on Leadenhall Street in the City of London. After his fiancee died on the eve of their wedding, he allowed the premises to decay into squalor, and refused to wash himself. He may have been an inspiration for the character of Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations". His nickname 'Dirty Dick' gave rise to the name of the famous Leadenhall Street tavern on the same site. From "Wonderful Characters: Comprising Memoirs and Anecdotes of the Most Remarkable Persons of Every Age and Nation", Vol. I, by Henry Wilson. [J. Robins and Co. Albion Press, London, 1821]