James Steerforth at the school do, and a friendship begins to develop between the two. As Steerforth is several years older, David looks up to him as a sort of protector. Steerforth is said to be the only boy at the school bold enough to stand up to Mr Creakle, the school's strict headmaster, and to make Mr Creakle feel intimidated. Several years later, after moving to London, David encounters Steerforth, and the two resume their friendship. Steerforth takes David to his home in Highgate and introduces him to his mother, Mrs Steerforth, and her companion, Miss Rosa Dartle, an eccentric young
Charles Dickens school, and then at a school run by William Giles, a dissenter, in Chatham. This period came to an end in June 1822, when John Dickens was recalled to Navy Pay Office headquarters at Somerset House, and the family (except for Charles, who stayed behind to finish his final term of work) moved to Camden Town in London. The family had left Kent amidst rapidly mounting debts, and, living beyond his means, John Dickens was forced by his creditors into the Marshalsea debtors' prison in Southwark, London in 1824. His wife and youngest children joined him there, as was the