CHAPTER 2: SOUTHWARK PRISONS
In the 17th and 18th centuries there were four prisons in the small
space between Newcomen Street and St. George's Church on the east side
of Borough High Street, the King's Bench and the Marshalsea, both dating
back to the 14th century and perhaps earlier, the County Gaol, dating from
the beginning of the 16th century, and the House of Correction. Their
relative positions are shown on the plan on the next page. In addition there
were two other prisons in the immediate neighbourhood, the Borough
Compter, kept first on the island site in Borough High Street, where the old
parish church of St. Margaret had stood, and subsequently moved to Tooley
Street, and the Clink Prison belonging to the Bishop of Winchester.
The evil and cruelty revealed in 18th century descriptions of these
prisons are appalling, and there is little reason to think from the records that
have come down to us that conditions at earlier periods were any better,
though probably there was less congestion. (fn. a) In terms of sheer human misery
it is doubtful if even the horrors of the concentration camps of recent years
were worse than the long, slow agony of close confinement, starvation,
sickness, and torture which went on for centuries in the Marshalsea and
King's Bench prisons.
The King's Bench Prison
(i) First Site in Borough High Street
Under the Norman kings, when the King's Court in both its
general and its judicial character was itinerant, prisoners arraigned before
it were detained in any convenient place near the court. During the course
of the 13th century the court of King's Bench was, in practice if not in theory,
separated from the King's person, offences committed within the verge of the
royal court being tried in what later became the Marshalsea Court by the
King's Knight Marshal, but several centuries elapsed before the prisons
which served the two courts were finally differentiated from each other or
settled in one place. The term Marshalsea Prison occurs from 1294 (ref. 21) onward,
but throughout the mediaeval period it was often used indiscriminately for
the prison of the Knight Marshal and for the prison kept by the Marshal of
the Court of King's Bench, e.g., in 1324 there is a reference to John de
Castello, a rebel, who was in the prison of the Marshalsea at York; (ref. 21) and in
1339 John Gerard, "chaplain," was pardoned for robberies and for escaping
from the Marshalsea prison of the King's Bench at Canterbury. (ref. 21) There
are several references on the Close and Patent Rolls to a royal prison in
Southwark in the 13th century, but no indication that there was a definite
house allocated for the purpose until 1373, when "the good men of the town
of Suthwerk" were given a licence "to build in the high street leading from
the church of St. Margaret towards the south, a house, 40 feet long and 30 feet
wide, in which to hold the pleas of the Marshalsea of the king's household
and to keep the prisoners of the Marshalsea while in the said town, and to
hold all other the king's courts." (ref. 21)
Figure 6:
Plan of Borough High Street showing sites of prisons
From this time onward there seem to have been two prisons in Southwark, one for the Court of Marshalsea and one for the Court of King's Bench.
In 1384 Thomas atte Raven was pardoned for razing the houses and tenements of Richard Imworth, keeper of the Marshalsea of the King's Bench, in
Southwark and for releasing the prisoners from the prisons of the King's
Bench and Marshalsea there. (ref. 21) In 1393 there is an entry on the Patent Rolls
concerning a felon, John Flemmyng, who escaped from the King's Bench
prison in Southwark. (ref. 21) Prisoners cited before the Court of King's Bench were,
however, still carried round the countryside in carts in the train of the
itinerant justices. (ref. 21)
The chroniclers relate that Henry V, when Prince of Wales, was
imprisoned in the King's Bench for striking or insulting Judge Gascoigne
on the bench, (ref. 22) and that Jack Cade, during his short-lived occupation of
Southwark, freed the prisoners of both prisons. (ref. 23)
Some victims of the religious persecutions of the Tudor period,
among them John Bradford, who was burnt at Smithfield in 1555, (ref. 24) and
John Penry, one of the writers of the Martin Marprelate Tracts, who was
hanged at St. Thomas à Waterings in 1593, (ref. 25) were imprisoned in the King's
Bench, but the earliest list of prisoners that has been found, compiled in
1561, (ref. 26) includes 13 debtors, 3 recusants, 1 priest, and 2 persons accused of
"inconjuracion" out of a total of 71, the remainder of whom were charged
with felonies or misdemeanours.
The debtors in the King's Bench petitioned the King in 1624 against
imprisonment for debt, saying that it was against the fundamental laws and
well-being of the state, and that 80 had died of starvation in that prison during
the year, and asking that if the whole estate of a debtor had been seized by
his creditors he might be freed from confinement. (ref. 27)
In 1653, Sir John Lenthall, then Marshal, in obedience to an order
of the Council of State, sent in a list of the 393 prisoners in his charge. (ref. 28)
Of these, 2 were on a plea of murder, 10 of trespass, and 2 by the "command
of the Court"; most of the rest were detained for debt; several had been in
prison for over 20 years. The total sum involved was £976,122. Seventeen
of the prisoners were women.
In 1576 a commission which included the Bishop of London and the
Dean of St. Paul's, was appointed to relieve "poor prisoners confined for
debt in the Queen's Bench." (ref. 27) The commission met with considerable
opposition from the Marshal and his officers, but it continued in existence
until the end of Elizabeth's reign, and it was perhaps due to its efforts that
a clause was inserted into the Act for the relief of the poor of 1601 (ref. 29) providing
for money to be collected by counties and corporate bodies throughout the
kingdom for the relief of poor prisoners in the King's Bench and Marshalsea.
There were a number of private charities for the relief of prisoners, but it is
doubtful if at any time more than a small proportion of the proceeds reached
them. The income of the keeper was derived from what he could exact from
those in his charge, (fn. a) and though there may have been keepers who contented
themselves with their legitimate fees, the majority extorted all they could
get by fair means or foul. In addition to the sufferings inflicted by the
Marshal and his underlings, new prisoners were often fleeced by old-established
inmates who tyrannized over their fellows. (ref. 31) In the 18th century they set
up a Mock Court with steward and other officers, which dispensed the
charities and even let out the rooms at a profit.
An illuminating account of the descent of the office of Marshal of
the King's Bench is given in the Act of 1754 (ref. 32) which authorized the rebuilding
of the prison. James I, in 1616, granted the office to Sir William Smith,
from whom it passed to Sir John Lenthall and then to William Lenthall.
The latter mortgaged it in February, 1684, to Sir John Cutler and, as the
mortgage was not cleared, the office was afterwards assigned to Ebenezer
Blackwell, goldsmith, in trust for Lenthall's heirs. The Act set aside £10,500
to pay off the mortgagees so that the office might revert to the Crown.
For many years the prisoners were kept in two houses known as the
Angel and the Crane, the former giving its name to Angel Place, which
bounded it on the south (see the plan on p. 10). In the reign of Henry VIII
the owner of these houses, Richard Fulmerston, added a new building with
a brick wall round it "for ye more safe Custody of the Prisoners." Edward
VI acquired the freehold of the buildings, and thenceforward they were let
on lease, with the Marshal as tenant or sub-tenant. In 1696, William III
leased (ref. 33) the whole property to Charles Bertie and others in trust for the Duke of
Leeds, a grant which was renewed until 1761, when the old buildings were
demolished and a building lease of the site was granted to Benjamin Powell
and Edward Layton (ref. 34) who formed the alley known as Layton's Buildings.
Part of Layton's house there, with its bowed projection into the court (Plate
4a), is still standing. Layton was a back or vat maker, as was his successor
in the house, Florance Young (ref. 35) , who died in 1835, and was buried in St.
George's churchyard.
Nos. 201 to 205, Borough High Street now occupy the site of the
frontage of the old King's Bench.
(ii) Second Site in Borough Road
By the middle of the 18th century the old King's Bench Prison
had, in the words of the Act of 1754, become "unsafe for the custody, and
dangerous to the health of the prisoners," and the sum of £7,800 was provided
for a new building. About 2½ acres of ground in St. George's Fields was
bought from Catherine West (ref. 36) for the new prison, which was completed by
1758. In 1761 it was said to be "situated in a fine air; but all prospect of
the fields, even from the uppermost windows, is excluded by the height of
the walls with which it is surrounded. It has a neat chapel… and only
one bed in each room; but these rooms are extremely small… none above
nine feet in length." (ref. 37)
There were wild scenes outside the prison in 1768 when Wilkes was
imprisoned there, and several civilians, including William Allen, the son of
the host of the Horseshoe Inn in Blackman Street, were shot by the
military. (ref. 38) During the Gordon Riots part of the King's Bench was burnt
down (ref. 39) (Plate 6a), but it was subsequently repaired. (ref. 40) An attempt to blow
up the prison in 1792 failed. (ref. 38) The fire which consumed the north-west
block in 1799 seems to have been accidental. (ref. 38)
Debtors imprisoned in the Bench were, on payment of a fee, allowed
out on parole in an area known as the "Rules" of the King's Bench Prison
(see the plan on Plate 24), much of which was, in the 18th century, open ground
in St. George's Fields. The privilege was much abused, and William Smith
reported in 1776 (ref. 41) that "Many prisoners, whose actions are supersedable …
occupy rooms, keep shops, enjoy places of profit, or live on the rent of their
rooms a life of idleness; and being indulged with the use of the key, go out
when they please, and thereby convert a prison … into an alms-house
for their support." He was told that about 120 gallons of gin and 8 butts of
beer were drunk a week. In the summer of that year John Howard found (ref. 42)
the prison so crowded that "many lay in the Chapel"; with women and
children, there were 1,399 on the lists of whom more than two-thirds slept
inside and one-third in the Rules.
In 1823 an anonymous writer published (ref. 43) an enthusiastic account of
the King's Bench describing its amenities, the fives courts, reading rooms,
public kitchen, bakehouse, etc., and the state house, "A good and substantial brick building, containing eight spacious and excellent apartments,
let at one shilling per week, to the oldest prisoners, or those who, by their
good conduct and gentlemanly behaviour, have entitled themselves to this
indulgence." William Combe, the author of the three Tours of Dr. Syntax,
and Benjamin Haydon and William Hone were among the many famous
people confined in the King's Bench before the heavy hand of Victorian
reform clamped down upon it. Charles Dickens' memories of his father's
confinement in the Marshalsea prison were recalled in David Copperfield in
the adventures of the volatile Mr. Micawber, but the scene was transferred
to the King's Bench.
In 1842 the Fleet Prison and Marshalsea were abolished by Act of
Parliament, (ref. 44) and the Queen's Bench, renamed the Queen's Prison, became
the sole prison for debtors and bankrupts. All fees were abolished, but so
were most of the privileges which the prisoners had previously enjoyed.
Imprisonment for debt was finally abolished in 1869 (ref. 45) and the Queen's
Prison was closed. It was for a time used as a place of temporary reception
for convicts on discharge (ref. 46) but was found unsuitable, and in 1879 the
materials were sold by auction and the site cleared. Scovell Road was
formed and Collinson Street widened, and the majority of the site was used
for the blocks of tenements known as Queen's Buildings. (ref. 47)
The Marshalsea
The early history of the Marshalsea prison is inextricably mixed
with that of the King's Bench. As has already been shown (p. 9), the
Marshal often kept prisoners in Southwark in the 13th century and had a
permanent building there in the 14th century. The Court and Prison were at
first used only for offences committed within the verge of the King's Court,
but from 1430 onward there are references to the Admiralty Court in Southwark (fn. a) and to sailors imprisoned for piracy, etc. (ref. 26) The references to imprisonment in the Marshalsea for debt begin about the same time.
Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London, was imprisoned in the Marshalsea from 1550 to 1553 and again from 1560 until his death there in 1569. (ref. 25)
In January, 1550, we are told that the Knight Marshal removed his bed,
leaving him only straw and a coverlet to lie in, because he would not pay a
fee of £10. (ref. 23) A list of 34 prisoners there in 1561 (ref. 26) includes, in addition to
Bonner, only 3 prisoners for religion, 1 for debt, 1 "for Ronnynge away from
the Gallys," and several mariners sent in by the Lord Admiral "for Suspecyons of peracye." Like the King's Bench and the White Lion, the
Marshalsea was used for the confinement of recusants in the 1580's and of
followers of the Earl of Essex in 1601, (ref. 27) but thereafter the majority of prisoners
in the Marshalsea were debtors, though it continued to serve as a prison for
the Court of Admiralty until its closure in 1842.
Although conditions in all the Southwark prisons were bad there
are indications that they were worse in the Marshalsea, perhaps because the
prisoners were entirely at the mercy of the Knight Marshal or his deputy.
The complaint of a Frenchman, M. La Touche, in 1629, that he was detained
in "hunger and nakedness" because he could not pay the prison charges,
although an order had been issued for his release, is typical of many. (ref. 27) In
1639 the prisoners revolted, pulled down the palings about the house and
attacked the watch with stones, brickbats, and firebrands. One of their
accusations against Hall, the undermarshal, was that 23 women were lodged
in one room where there was no space for them even to lie down. (ref. 27) In 1718
an anonymous rhymester called the Marshalsea an "earthly Hell," (ref. 48) a description which was more than justified by the findings of the Committee, appointed
by Parliament in 1729, to inquire into conditions in the gaols. (ref. 49) The prisoners
were tortured with irons, beating, and by being locked up with human
carcases. They were confined in so small a space that many were stifled to
death in the heat of summer, and those who survived ill-treatment often died
of starvation, since the keepers took most of what was given in charity. The
report states that in the warmer weather 8 or 10 died every 24 hours. Some
slight improvements were made as a result of the inquiry but the root cause
of the trouble was not removed, the prison continued to be run for private
profit.
In 1635 William Way, whose uncle, Thomas Way, had been keeper
of the Marshalsea as early as 1559, (ref. 21) sold the property to George Tucker
under the description of "All that great Messuage called the Marshalsey
used for the prison of His Maties Houshold now in the Tenure … of
Sr Edward Varney" together with a number of tenements, 9 of them in
Mermaid Yard, and a garden. (ref. 50) Thirty-three years later, when the premises
were leased by Tucker's successor, Eleanor Rowe, to John Lowman, they
consisted of some newly-erected brick buildings with a yard in front and a
garden lying on the east side of the yard, and an old building called the lodge
on the south side of the yard, and a number of small houses which were not
considered to be part of the prison (ref. 51) . Lowman built a new court house which
continued in use until the removal of the prison. After the fire in Borough
High Street of 1676 the Assizes and Sessions Courts were also held there for a
time. Lowman's nephew, who was keeper early in the 18th century, specialized in thumb screws, iron hoods, and other forms of torture to extract the
last halfpenny out of his unfortunate captives (ref. 52) (see Plate 5b). As late as
1811 a prisoner is reported as dying of want. (ref. 38) In 1729 there were 401
prisoners in the Marshalsea of whom 82 were housed on the Master's side.
They paid during the year for their lodging £555 2s. on the Master's side
and £41 12s. on the Common side.
John Howard in 1776 described the Marshalsea as "an old irregular
building (rather several buildings) in a spacious yard. There are, in the
whole, near sixty rooms; and yet only six of them now left for common-side
Debtors. Of the other rooms,—Five are let to a man who is not a prisoner
… Four rooms, the Oaks, are for women … There are above forty
rooms for men on the Master's-side, in which are about sixty beds; yet
many prisoners have no … place to sleep in but the chapel, and the
tap-room." (ref. 42) Prisoners on the Master's side had the use of rackets courts and
of a little back court for skittles, though there can have been little room for
them within the narrow confines of the prison.
From 1666 to 1724, when the White Lion had become ruinous, the
sheriff's prisoners were lodged in the Marshalsea (ref. 53) and became an additional
source of profit to the Keeper, but by 1799, when Horsemonger Lane Gaol
was opened, the Marshalsea buildings had in their turn become too bad for
further use and the County Gaol was purchased and altered to serve as a
prison for the Marshal and the Admiralty. It is this building which is
described by Dickens in Little Dorrit as "an oblong pile of barrack building
partitioned into squalid houses standing back to back, so that there were
no back rooms; environed by a narrow paved yard, hemmed in by high walls
duly spiked at top." (fn. a)
The old site was sold to Samuel Davis, cooper, in 1802, but the
prisoners were not removed until 1811. No. 119 (now 163) Borough High
Street, and the building over the entrance to Mermaid Court were acquired
about 1824 by a firm of wholesale drapers, Gainsford and Wicking, who
erected a five-storey building with a double-fronted shop there. (fn. a) In 1952,
when extensive alterations were being made to these premises, a bricked-up
arch, 18 feet high and 9 feet wide, was found in the rear wall on the north
side of and at right angles to Mermaid Court. It is 168 feet 4 inches from the
frontage line of Borough High Street and is 18 inches thick. Theories were
rife that this was part of the old Marshalsea and perhaps of the court-house
there, but as the engraving reproduced on Plate 5a shows, the court-house
formed a projection on the south front of the north side of the court-yard
of the prison at some distance from the wall in question, and accounts
of the prison buildings in 1800–11 describe them as so dilapidated and
ruinous that it is difficult to believe that anything so substantial as this arch
could have formed part of them. In general the brickwork appears to date
from the early 19th century, though some of the bricks used are probably
earlier. The evidence available suggests that the wall and arch formed part
of the cooper's workshop built by Samuel Davis circa 1812, who perhaps
used some of the bricks from the old prison for the purpose.
The ground and buildings of the second Marshalsea were put up for
auction in July, 1843, and sold for £5,100 to W. G. Hicks, ironmonger. (ref. 55)
They then comprised the Keeper's house, a substantial three-storey brick
building and eight separate dwelling houses of brick and slate, the suttling
house, the Admiralty Prison, and a chapel and some paved yards. These
are shown on the plan on p. 10. (fn. b) The premises were enclosed from Borough
High Street by iron gates. Parts of the Keeper's house, kitchen, suttling
house, and the eight dwelling houses have been incorporated into the premises
of George Harding & Sons, Ltd., hardware merchants, at the rear of No. 207
Borough High Street, though they cannot be seen from the road.
The County Gaol and House of Correction in Borough High Street
There is very little information available about the work of the
Surrey Quarter Sessions or Justices in the mediaeval period and no evidence
has been found that there was a County Gaol in Southwark prior to 1513,
when a commission of gaol delivery was issued for "Surrey Gaol, Southwark." (ref. 27)
In 1557 a pardon was granted to John Harper, who had been attainted of
high treason and ordered by the sheriff to be taken to Southwark gaol and
thence to the gallows of St. Thomas a Waterings to be hung, drawn, and
quartered. (ref. 21) From 1580 onward we know that the county gaol was kept
in the house called the White Lion just north of St. George's Church. (ref. 27)
Stow, in 1598, speaks of "the white Lyon a Gaole so called, for that the same
was a common hosterie for the receit of travellers … This house was
first used as a Gaole within these fortie yeares last, since the which time the
prisoners were once removed thence to a house in Newtowne, where they
remained for a short time, and were returned backe again to the foresaid
White Lyon, there to remaine as in the appointed Gaole for the Countie of
Surrey." (ref. 57)
Neither the White Lion nor the County Gaol are marked on the map
of Southwark circa 1542, the lower part of which is reproduced on Plate 1,
but in a sale of 1535 the White Lion is described as a great tenement or inn
with a tenement and a shop on either side and a barn, stables, etc., in the
tenure of Robert Faireman, barber, and an acre of pasture ground lying in
common in St. George's Field. (ref. 58)
The county did not own the premises and the gaol was run as a
profit-making concern by the various Keepers. During the reign of Elizabeth 1
recusants swelled the numbers of prisoners, (ref. 27) but it seems that the supply of
prisoners, and with it the profits of the Keeper, fell off during the early
Stuart period, for in 1635 Robert Bellin, the then Keeper, petitioned the
Court of High Commission at Lambeth for leave to attend at Court so that
"as occasion should serve he might have now and then prisoners committed
thither," a petition which was granted. (ref. 27) Conditions in the White Lion
were by this time bad even by contemporary standards. In 1638 George
Coks, a Benedictine monk, who was imprisoned there, complained that he
was in danger of his life by reason of the closeness of the prison (ref. 27) and asked
to be removed to the Clink, a prison which was by no means salubrious.
Twelve years later the County Justices themselves decided that more suitable
accommodation was needed for the County Gaol and they negotiated with
Thomas Walker, who had acquired a grant of Winchester House (see
Bankside), (ref. 7) for the transfer of the Clink prison for the purpose. (ref. 58) This
proposal fell through.
In 1654 trustees for the county purchased the White Lion with the
House of Correction (fn. a) and garden adjoining and the White Lion Acre in
St. George's Fields from the owner, Anne Rich, for just over £600. (fn. b) Instead
of rebuilding, the trustees lost all immediate benefit from the transaction by
granting 41 year leases of most of the property for which they received only
a small sum in consideration money. (ref. 58) Samuel Hall and William Arthur
acquired a lease of the lodge, a four-storey building with a cellar, 36 foot in
depth and with a frontage of 11 foot to the street, while Edward Bruce was
granted the garden and part of the main building containing 5 rooms and a
kitchen.
In 1661 it was reported that "There needes a more Convenient
workehowse for the howse of Correction especially in Somertyme this
beinge to close for Ayre for such as are to bee held in hard Labour, And
there is not light enough for the whole roome if there were twentie blocks
[for the beating of hemp] there beinge but eight And to this there wants a
vault for an howse of office." (ref. 60) The accommodation in the House of Correction
or Bridewell then consisted of one little chamber, two large chambers, which
had been reserved to William Arthur, two garrets, two "low large Cellars
one of them used for a workehowse" and a little yard. In the White Lion
the debtors had a buttery, four chambers, and "two great Chambers" which
were in need of repairs to the roof, a parlour "lockt upp by Arthur," and a
very small chapel "beinge a throughfaire to the buttery but otherwise conveniently scituate for the severall Prisoners to come to and the Criminal
Prisoners to come to the window to heare."
The Common Gaol consisted of one large and one small room and a
small yard for both men and women; the kitchen to the Common Gaol had
been taken by Arthur. The rest of the ground and buildings, including a
"longe yard," was leased out.
For several years Arthur was paid £50 a year to keep the House of
Correction, but he failed to carry out repairs or even to pay for the bread
supplied to prisoners and was accused of being a "Receptor, hospitator et
comfortator" of robbers and other evil-disposed persons. The yearly allowance was stopped, but Arthur continued as Keeper for several years longer. (ref. 60)
By 1666 the White Lion, or such part of it as was still available for use as a
prison, was in such a bad condition that the sheriff was obliged to commit
his prisoners to the Marshalsea. This state of affairs continued, in spite of
numerous complaints, for over 50 years. In 1718 the Court of Sessions
decided to levy a penny rate to cover the cost of building a new Bridewell
and County Gaol, but 2 years later it was reported that no money had been
paid in to the Treasurer. Finally in 1721 when "itt appeared to the Court
that an Indictment was depending against the Inhabitants of [the] …
County for haveing no County Gaole" the Justices decided to get down in
earnest to the work of rebuilding. In March, 1723, John Lade reported that
Edward Olliver of Newington, carpenter, had almost completed the County
Gaol and it was ordered that 2 wells were to be sunk in the yards.
Both buildings were finished by February, 1724, when the fees
to be taken by the Keeper were fixed at 4s. 4d. for each person discharged
from the House of Correction and 13s. 4d. for each felon, 6s. 8d. for each
debtor and 10s. 10d. for each person guilty of a misdemeanour who was
discharged from the County Gaol.
In November, 1725, the Court, of Sessions ordered that an old
building standing on "County Land between the new Gaol and the publick Street" and formerly in the possession of Captain Bateman, coachmaker,
part of which extended over the gateway to the gaol, should be pulled down
and the old timbers used to make a fence in the yard next to the lodge with
"a large Window Frame in the Wall for the prisoners to begg through (if
hereafter it shall be thought fit)." (ref. 61) The County Gaol, built after 70 years
of delay and vacillation, was known throughout the 18th century as the
"New Gaol."
A glance at the map on p. 10 will show how narrow was the site to
accommodate both the Gaol and the House of Correction, and in 1772,
when the House of Correction was in need of repair, it was decided to move
it to a new site rather than rebuild in so confined a space (see below). (ref. 9) Two
years later, largely owing to the work of John Howard, an Act was passed
"for preserving the health of prisoners in gaol, and preventing the gaol
distemper." (ref. 62) The preamble stated that it had been found that gaol fever
was due to lack of cleanliness and fresh air and it authorized justices to make
some minimum provisions for cleaning and airing the wards and cells, and
for sick rooms and baths. The Court of Quarter Sessions for Surrey appointed
a committee to carry out the Act. (ref. 63) They ordered, among other things,
that some windows should be made in the wards of the County Gaol, 2 rooms
should be set aside as sick rooms and "three Dozen of Canvass Frocks of the
cheapest Sort" should be provided for the use of prisoners.
During the 18th century the majority of prisoners in the County
Gaol were felons though there was still a small percentage of debtors. Some
of the Scots concerned in the 1745 rebellion were confined there prior
to their execution on Kennington Common (ref. 64) as were some of the rioters
concerned in the destruction of property in Southwark during the Gordon
Riots in 1780. (ref. 65) Seven of the latter were executed on a gallows in St. George's
Fields near the King's Bench Prison.
In 1791 the County Justices obtained an Act empowering them to
build a new County Gaol on a site in Horsemonger Lane (see p. 20). (ref. 66) The
old building, though delapidated, was yet in better condition than the
Marshalsea, and in 1799 the former was purchased from the County for
£4,214 12s. and converted into a prison for the Marshalsea. It continued in
use as such from 1811 until the abolition of the Marshalsea in 1842 (see
p. 14).
The House of Correction in St. George's Fields
In 1772 authority was obtained from Parliament (ref. 67) to extinguish the
rights of common on the White Lion or Hangman's Acre in St. George's
Fields, which had belonged to the County since 1654, in order to erect a
new House of Correction thereon. John Millner was responsible for the
building which was completed early in 1773. (ref. 68)
William Smith, who wrote on the State of the Gaols in 1776, and
who had served as an apothecary to St. George's House of Correction,
approved the arrangement of the new building which, unlike the old premises,
contained separate wards for men, women, and apprentices, and two bathing
tubs and a sick room in accordance with the Act of 1772. On the other hand,
he found that the prisoners suffered much from cold and hunger, since they
were allowed only a 1½d. loaf a day and received no charities, and, apart
from a little desultory beating of hemp, they had nothing to do.
The House of Correction remained in use until 1798, when its
inmates were removed to Horsemonger Lane Gaol. The building, which
is marked on the 1791–99 edition of Horwood's map between Providence
Row (now Glasshill Street) and Great Suffolk Street, is shown on the 1813
edition as in use as a soap manufactory. The original building, with additions
and alterations, survived until well on into the 19th century. It is shown on
the left of the engraving reproduced on Plate 6a.
The Surrey County or Horsemonger Lane Gaol
In 1791 the Surrey Justices purchased 3½ acres of market garden
ground in Newington on which to build a new County Gaol and Sessions
House. (fn. a) (ref. 69) The ground abutted on Horsemonger Lane (afterwards renamed Union Road and now known as Harper Road). The prison, which
was designed by George Gwilt the elder, consisted of a quadrangle of three
storeys, three sides being used for criminals and the fourth for debtors (see
p. 106). Provision was made for over 400 prisoners.
Some alterations to the prison were carried out by John Willson,
builder, of Great Suffolk Street in 1856. (ref. 70) In 1862 Henry Mayhew printed
the following description of the gaol—
"It is inclosed within a dingy brick wall, which almost
screens it from the public eye. We enter the gateway of the flatroofed building at the entrance of the prison, on one side of which
is the governor's office, and an apartment occupied by the gatewarder, and on the other is a staircase leading up to a gloomy chamber,
containing the scaffold on which many a wretched criminal has been
consigned to public execution. Emerging from the gateway, the
governor's house, a three-storied building, stands right in front of
us, on the other side of the courtyard, having a wing of the debtors'
prison on each side, all of them built of brick … The right wing
of the prison contains sheriffs' debtors, who maintain themselves
… the left wing is set apart for county court debtors and those
sheriffs' debtors who are unable to do so …
The court yard is flanked on the left hand by the infirmary,
a detached building, containing wards for debtors and criminals
… on the right by the sessions' house, the front of which faces
Newington Causeway." (ref. 71)
Leigh Hunt passed a part of his 2 year sentence for libel in Horsemonger Lane Gaol in 1813–15 and was visited there by Lord Byron and Tom
Moore. (ref. 25) Charles Dickens witnessed the public execution of the Mannings
there in 1849 and expressed his disgust in a letter to The Times, (ref. 72) thus
beginning the agitation against public executions which culminated in their
abolition in 1868. (fn. a) (ref. 73)
The prison was closed in August, 1878, under the provisions of
the Prisons Act, 1877, which transferred the responsibility for all prisons
to the Prison Commissioners. Two years later the inner area was cleared, and
in January, 1884, Part of it, containing just over an acre, was opened by Mrs.
Gladstone as a children's playground. (ref. 74) For some years the gatehouse of the
gaol was used by the London County Council as a weights and measures
office, but a new building for that purpose, designed by T. Blashill, was
erected on part of the prison site in 1892 when the remainder of the prison
buildings were demolished.
The Sessions House was built on the north-west side of the prison
with an approach road from Newington Causeway. The original building,
with repairs and alterations, lasted until 1912, when, it having been decided
to concentrate all Sessions' business at Newington instead of having two
places of meeting north and south of the river, it was decided to rebuild in
order to secure more accommodation. As a temporary measure the Sessions
were transferred to Clerkenwell Sessions House. Work on the new building
at Newington was delayed by the outbreak of war, but the main part was
finished in 1917 for use as government offices. It was completed and opened
as the Sessions House for the County of London on 11th January, 1921. (ref. 75)
It contains an old chimney piece removed from Clerkenwell Sessions House
(Plate 9), but otherwise is of little architectural interest. It was seriously
damaged by enemy action during the 1939–45 war, and is now (1954)
undergoing a complete repair.