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Stories from number 42

Portrait of Charles Dickens as a young man, painted by Daniel Maclise in 1839
It is said

Was Charles Dickens nearly born at the Old Benny?

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Portrait photograph of Sir Henry Ayers in later life
Old boys

Henry Ayers: the Portsea schoolboy behind Ayers Rock

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Stone tablet in the brick pediment of 42 Kent Street recording that the building was erected in 1784 by the Beneficial Society
The founders

What was the Portsea Beneficial Society?

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The front of 42 Kent Street, Portsea: red brick above a white stucco ground floor, with a large arched Venetian window and a pediment
The building

How to read the front of 42 Kent Street

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The front of 42 Kent Street, Portsea, seen from the street
It is said

The ghosts of the Old Benny

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