Real Oliver Twist: Robert Blincoe: A Life that Illuminates a Violent Age Book

List of illustrations     ix
Introduction     1
Poster boy     3
Blincoe's World     19
Work'us boy     21
Blincoe's alma mater     32
'All for a naughty orphan which nobody can't love'     43
The master sweeps call     53
A promise of roast beef and plum pudding     68
Into the Fire     79
Cartloads of lumber     81
King Cotton     90
'Spotted as a leopard with bruises'     99
A violent age     108
Welcome visitors     119
Litton Mill     131
Enter Ellis Needham     133
Reign of terror     146
An inspector calls     162
Middleton of Leam Hall     168
Wild, inarticulate souls?     177
At the Bull's Head Inn     183
Seeking redress     190
A belated political education     197
Pastures new     204
Cottonopolis     213
'Peace mad'     215
Bold departures     224
Factory children on the agenda     237
A strange acquaintance     245
Fall of the House of Needham     253
Up in flames     259
Rising from the Ashes     263
Back behind walls     265
Local hero     273
The altar, the throne and the cottage     284
Sins of the masters     296
Emissary for John Doherty     303
Enter Lord Ashley     314
Blincoe's voice is heard     320
Fact into fiction     337
A pleasant retirement     350
The View from Retirement     355
Another world     357
Reputations     371
Notes     387
Bibliography     427
Acknowledgements     449
Index     453