1836 Hendon Case May Have Shaped Oliver Twist

Historian Theresa Musgrove says an 1836 newspaper account of Alice Shepherd's punishment at Hendon workhouse — a poorhouse where destitute people lived and worked — is "almost word for word like Oliver Twist's punishment after asking for more." It predates Oliver Twist's first chapters in February 1837. She proposes Shepherd as a possible inspiration.