The Old White Hart Inn

This watercolour depicts The Old White Hart Inn, Southwark. It was an actual place, dating from the mid-fifteenth century, destroyed in 1676, rebuilt and finally demolished in 1889. It featured in Pickwick Papers as the place where Jingle fled with Miss Rachel Wardle and also the point at which Sam Weller is introduced to the reader.

Very little is known about James Lawson Stewart who exhibited watercolours in various London galleries between 1883-1889. He died in c. 1918 and towards the end of life was employed to copy prints of London; the accuracy of some of the locations should therefore be questioned.

The Museum was gifted a large selection of watercolours featuring locations which appeared in Dickens's works in 1934 and a set of cigarette cards was issued by R and J Hill Ltd in 1926 and 1934 entitled Historic Places from Dickens Classics which featured watercolours by Stewart.