King's Bench Prison

King's Bench Prison
	King's Bench Prison by Augustus Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson (1808–11).
Location	Southwark, London, England
Status	Closed
Closed	1880
Notable prisoners
	Benjamin Haydon; Henry Hetherington; Alexander Holborne; William Hone; John Pell; John Rushworth; Christopher Smart; John Horne Tooke; John Wilkes; Marc Isambard Brunel;

The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, England, from medieval times until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were heard; as such, the prison was often used as a debtor's prison until the practice was abolished in the 1860s. In 1842, it was renamed the Queen's Bench Prison, and became the Southwark Convict Prison in 1872.

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