Coldbath Prison Report

Some prisoners complained of starvation; some of cruel treatment, yet the report of the Committee stated that that inspection of prisoners, food and facilities were found to be acceptable.

September 1800.

The following Report of the Prison Committee being Read Vizt..

To His Majesty 's Justices of the peace for the County of Middlesex in their General Session of the peace held for the said County (by adjournment.) on Thursday the Eighteenth day of September 1800. Assembled.

The Report of the Committee appointed to Enquire into the Receipt and Expenditure of the Butchers Meat and other Articles provided for the Prisoners in the House of Correction and Also to Inspect the General Concerns of the Prisons belonging to this County.

Present
Colonel Williams in the Chair
William Mainwaring Esqr.
Colonel Beaufoy
John Bond Esqr.
Millington Buckley, Clerk
David Dean Esqr.
Joseph Merceron Esqr.
William Spencer Esqr.
William Marmaduke Sellon Esqr.
Thomas Bennett, Clerk
Charles Churchill Esqr.
John Nares Esqr.
Alexander Cumming Esqr.
Hammond Crosse Esqr.
James Hebert Esqr.

The said Committee Report

That Mr. Edward Page Foreman of the last Traverse Jury attended them at their Meeting on the 18th day July last and stated that the Jury had with the leave of the Court viewed the House of Correction and had found every thing much to their satisfaction but that being informed by a Person named Dickie who was Foreman of the Traverse Jury in May Session that they had not Examined the Prison so minutely as they ought to have done, he, and the other Gentleman of the Jury were desirous with the leave of your Committee again to Inspect the Prison and Investigate the business further.

That Mr. Michael Bourke Another Juryman appeared before your Committee and stated That he and Mr. Page the Foreman being together at the Door of the Crown Tavern on Clerkenwell Green on Friday the 11th.. Inst. Mr.. Dickie came up and said to Mr.. Page have you seen such a place in the Prison (mentioning a part of the Prison the Name of which he did not then recollect Mr.. Page Answered no, he had not Mr. Dickie sayd. " Ha," there "Mr. Aris has Gammoned you, for you have not seen that place which you ought to have seen nor have you seen the Man who was obliged to Drink his own Urine for want of being Supplied with Water", that he then left them.

That Mr. George Lever another Juryman appeared before your Committee and stated that when the Jury came out of the Session House Dickie followed them every Day to the Crown Tavern the first Day he brought a Paper about the Prison and gave it to the Foremen the purport of which he did not know and he Corroborated what Mr. Bourke had said. That Mr. Thomas Woodward Another Juryman appeared before your Committee and Corroborated what had been before stated.

That Mr. Abraham Wivell Another Juryman appeared before your Committee and stated that on Tuesday the 2d. day of the Session after the Court had broke up Dickie came into the Crown Tavern and gave Mr. Page a Paper that he asked Mr. Page to look at it and in it he found 3 other Papers folded up he opened one of them and Read it, the Papers stated several Peoples names who had been ill used in the Prison he then returned the Paper to Mr. Page, that Mr. Dickie repeatedly called upon the Jury and asked whether they were satisfied Wivell said that the Jury had Examined the Prison and Also the Prisoners Publickly and Privately and that the Prisoners appeared perfectly Satisfied with their treatment and Allowance that one of the Prisoners shewed him his Loaf of Bread and laid him that he had one of those Loaves given him every Day and Mr.. Wivell said he was sure the Bread was more than he could eat in Two Days and that it was very good that he asked the Prisoner what he should have for Dinner, he said a Quart of Broth that Day and the next day 6 or 7 Ounces of Beef.

That on the last Day of the Session when some Vagrants were discharged Mr. Dickie attended the Court and told the Jury to speak to those Men and they would tell them a comical story, but observing Mr. Dickie to be a troublesome fellow he had no further Conversation with him and that it appeared to him that Dickie came there to make mischief. That Mr. Braine another Juryman appeared before your Committee and stated that on the Friday in the week he has was in a Coach with some others of the Jury who were going home Dickie came to the coach Door and said that the Jury had not seen the worst part of the Prison and that one of the Prisoners had Drank his own Urine for want of Water and that the Jury had been imposed upon, but that he did not believe Mr. Dickies Account having found every thing perfect that what he saw was clean and decent that he had spoke to a Prisoner of the name of Thompson respecting his treatment who said that he was very Comfortable that he was as Happy as he was when in the Fleet Prison where he had been Confined for Debt.

That Mr. Thomas Nicholls another Juryman appeared before your Committee and Stated that what had been said by the other Jurymen was true that he perceived Mr. Dickie to be a troublesome fellow and did not believe what he said.

That Mr. John Hubbard Another Juryman appeared before your committee and stated that he had asked 20 or 30 different Prisoners Questions about the Prison particularly how much Bread they had and whether they could get Water when they wanted it they all Answered they were very well treated and could get Water when they liked and out of the whole Prison there was but one complaint made to him and that was by a Person who had a Blister upon his Arm or Shoulder who said that it had not been dressed for Two days and that when it was dressed it was with a Cabbage Leaf. That Mr. John Westbroke another Juryman appeared before your Committee and Corroborated all the other Juryman had said.

That Mr. Thomas Groves another Juryman appeared before your Committee and corroborated what the other Juryman had say'd and stated that he found every thing as good as at his own House, only that the Prisoners places leave Iron Barrs and his house has Sashed Windows. Mr. Samuel Swan Another Juryman appeared before your Committee and did the same.

Your Committee were informed by Mr. Page the Foreman of the Jury that Mr. Aris the Governor had paid every Attention to them and that he shewed them every part of the Prison and did not hurry them in the least and that the Jury considered themselves much obliged to Mr. Aris for the Attention he had paid to them And your said Committee further Report That the Jury during the sitting of your Committee again Viewed and Examined the Prison and being returned the Foremen and all the other Jurymen again appeared before your Committee and Reported That they had been all round the Prison no place omitted no one Situation, but what they had seen that they had Conversed with different Parties in the Prison and that the Prisoners all seemed satisfied. The Foreman further stated that in the Womans Apartments he saw a Woman very ill, he asked her if, he had any Complaint to make of any Person she say'd she was very well attended to in every respect and wanted for nothing. That he saw one Man ill in Bed and who said he had been well attended to and had no complaint to make.

That the Jury also stated That in walking round the Prison they had found every thing very clean in every part and plenty of Water in every Situation that the Prisoners all appear Healthy, Hearty and well and that the appearance does not in any Degree correspond with the Description given of it by Dickie and that they were perfectly convinced that the Grievances and complaints stated by Dickie were unfounded.

That Mr. Swan one of the Jurymen informed your Committee that William Jones one of the Mutineers told him that he had several times been struck by a Turnkey and been used very ill, but that he had not been ill used since the business was Examined some time since in the House of commons that when he first went to see Jones this day he was lying upon the Bed as if the was ill and weak, but that when he went again he found him walking about the yard with other Prisoners and seemingly very well, Mr.. Swan further stated that he had particularly Examined the Beds and found them perfectly clean and in Good Order.

That Mr. W. Hubbard Another of the Jurymen stated That William Jones the Mutineer told him that Luke Early , died of Starvation and that there was not a proper Jury upon the Body and Thomas Linwood died of the same. That Joseph Hudson one of the Mutineers said he was used very ill by the Turnkey's ever since he had been here and that William Price one of the Servants of the Prison was the Cause of Luke Earleys Death by stopping the County Allowance and that there was not a Fair Jury upon the Body that Thomas Linwood was very ill treated by the Doctor when Dying that he beg'd the Governor to have his Irons knocked off, which was Denied him when he was near Deaths Door, that a Prisoner named Henry Woolf said that his Sister had left 3s./6d. for him with the Governors Son Charles which he had never Received that Ann Hart complained that she is not Allowed to have Tea and Sugar which her Friends would bring her because she receives the County Allowance that the whole of the other Prisoners say they have no complaint to make and are well treated.

That Mr. Bourke Another Juryman stated that he had a Conversation with a Prisoner named John Farrell who informed him that he had been ill of a violent Fever for a Considerable time and that had he been a Man of Fortune and at his own House he could not have been treated with more tenderness or better sea than he was in this Prison that he had also conversed with Ann Kay who was sentenced to be Transported but from her Infirmity had been sent to this Prison she said she lamented she had not been sent here at First and then she should have been a strong Woman and that her complaints were caught in Newgate that he also saw the Broth and Tasted it and thought it very Palatable and wholesome that he asked some of the Mutineers how they liked their broth they said it was in general very bad and two or three times in very hot Weather the Meat was Tainted, that he asked one of them whether he had had his Broth to Day he said he had he then asked whether it was the the same as he had in Common he said it was the same as he had in common he said it was he further stated That from having tasted the Broth he knew what the Prisoner said was devoid of Truth.

That Mr. Wyvill, Mr. Bitton, Mr. Hubbard, Mr. Westbrook and Mr. Page the Foreman stated that they had Also tasted the Broth and were of Opinion that it was very wholesome and Good.

That the Jury further stated to your Committee that it was their Unanimous opinion that the Smallest Credit ought not to be given to the above Complaints as they appear to them to be void of foundation.

That Your Committee then Caused William Jones the Mutineer to be brought before them who said that in August 1798 he was beaten very severely by the Governor, that two Prisoners Died last Week, that he believed 5 or 6 have Died in 3 Months, that he had had two Mugs full of Broth this Day and a little more, that he has no Complaint to make of the want of Victuals now nor for these 5 or 6 Months past.

That your Committee Examined John Goodey another of the Mutineers who stated he sailed with Luke Early on Board the Saturn Captain Douglas in 1797. That Early was Ailing at times the same as he was when in the Prison.

That Your Committee also Examined Robert Hambro'. another of the Mutineers who stated That he had been very ill with the Scurvey since he had been in the Prison that he had no Complaint to make and that Luke Early never was a Healthy Man since he had known him he alway's Coughed and spit very much.

That your committee also Examined James Pilton another Mutineer who stated that Luke Early was very much subject to the Bloody Flux he used to Cough and spit very much and was a Sickly Man that it is impossible that a Man can be starved within this Prison from the manner the Prisoners have been fed, that he was on Board the same Ship as Early, Early was one of those that intended to do Price the Turnkey a mischief, there were Several Schemes laid to injure Price he had often heard Hudson say if he was sure his sentence was only Three years he would have his Revenge and not go on Board a Man of War that he had been a very Quarrelsome Man ever Since he had been in the Prison Daming and blasting the King and Family and the Country.

And Your Said Committee further Report That being informed by Mr. Aris that since their last Meeting. Vizt. on Thursday the Fourteenth day of August the Prisoners in his Custody had become refractory and Riotous in so much that it had been necessary to call for the Assistance of all the peace Officers in the Neighbourhood, and also of several of the Parish Associations and that in Consequence of the Disorders the Chairman of the Session and many other Magistrates had attended at the House of Correction and taken the Examination of some of the Prisoners as to the Cause and nature of the Riot and that a Copy of such Examinations had been sent to His Grace the Duke of Portland One of His Majesty 's Principal Secretaries of State that he had judged it necessary to put Irons on the principal Ringleaders in the Riots Vizt. Benjamin Caddick alias Brown alias Jackson , William Perkins , William Sully , Peter Stokes , James Hawkins , James Macklesfield , William Cannon , Samuel Cross , Samuel Stanley , Edward Edwards , John Tagg , William Butler , James Thomas , William Brown and Richard Tannir ; and to keep them more closely confined to their cells than the other Prisoners and that the Original Examinations were in the Hands of Mr. Reeves the Chief Clerk at Bow Street. Your Committee directed that Mr. Aris to procure the Original Examinations and lay the same before the Court on the County day of the next Session.

That Mr. Aris having laid before your Committee two Pamphlets one entitled "An Impartial Statement of the Inhuman Cruelties discovered in the Cold Bath fields Prison", and the other entitled. "it further Account being part the 2d. of the Cruelties. discovered in the Cold Bath fields Prison", your committee directed that the Pamphlets should be laid before the Court on the County day of the next Session.

That Mr. Aris having applied to your committee for 30 Shirts for the Male Prisoners in his Custody and for some course Cloth to make about 18 Jack Towells to be placed in the Wards for the Prisoners and stated that there are Three yards of Cloth in each of the Jack Towells now in use your committee directed that 30 Shirts should be immediately delivered for the Male Prisoners and Sixty yards of course cloth to be made into Towels by the Female Prisoners.

That Mr. Aris acquainted your committee that since their last Meeting Ten of the Mutineers had been discharged out of his custody by virtue of Warrants under the Hands of His Grace the Duke of Portland in the following Days Vizt.

On the 3d day August, James Keates , William Davy , Matthew Wilkinson and John Shehan
On the 4th day of August, James Johnson
On the 7th day of August, James Leuror and Henry Wolf
On the 15th day of August, John Doughty
On the 16th day of August, Joseph Simpson and James Pilton alias Pillow.

And Your said Committee further Report that they were attended by the Revd. Mr. Evans the Chaplain to the Prisons who stated that the Prisoners in the House of Correction had since, the late Riot in the Prison behaved very Orderly in the Chapel but that for some time before the Riot took place the Prisoners had not conducted themselves so well as they ought to have done that they did not behave with due Obedience to Divine Service when in the Chapel which they ought to do.

And Your said committee Lastly Report That the Average number of Prisoners in the House of Correction since the last Session amounts to 276 and that Mr. Webb the Surgeon and Apothecary to the Prisoners stated that a violent Bowel complaint had Raged thro' the Prison Since the last Session that the complaint had subsided without proving fatal to any of the Prisoners and that most of the Prisoners had recovered.

All which the Committee Submitting. 1

The release of these prisoners was even reported in the local press -

On Monday last, eight of the persons confined in the State Prison of Cold-bath-fields were liberated, among them were J. JOHNSTONE, J. LEWER, and others, mutineers. JOHNSTONE was so unwell as to be totally unable to walk. … Among the persons thus set at liberty, are those who were principally active in giving information respecting the state of the Prison, all of whom JOHNSTONE desired in case of his death might be summoned to attend the Coroner's Inquest on his body. 2