Gordon Riots worn inside the bank. From that date until 31 March 1973 the detachment became more functional than ceremonial, doing their duties in service dress with automatic weapons. Maria Edgeworth's 1817 novel "Harrington" contains a vivid evocation of the Gordon Riots, with two characters readers would find unsympathetic taken for Papists and finding refuge in the home of the rich Spanish Jew, the father of the young Jewish woman at the centre of the love story. Charles Dickens' 1841 novel "Barnaby Rudge" depicts the Gordon Riots and features Lord George in a prominent role. John Creasey's 1974 novel "The Masters of
Charles Dickens Dickens was involved in the Staplehurst rail crash. The train's first seven carriages plunged off a cast iron bridge that was under repair. The only first-class carriage to remain on the track was the one in which Dickens was travelling. Before rescuers arrived, Dickens tended and comforted the wounded and the dying with a flask of brandy and a hat refreshed with water, and saved some lives. Before leaving, he remembered the unfinished manuscript for "Our Mutual Friend", and he returned to his carriage to retrieve it. Dickens later used this experience as material for his short ghost story, "The