This teaching resource has been developed by the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies using original records from the county’s archives. The focus is on children in Gaol but much of the information applies to adult prisoners as well. It is intended for the items provided here to be a starting point – this is not all that is held by the Centre and more information can be found. Teachers are welcome to visit the archives and local studies areas of the Centre, and we can organise school visits although we do not have the space to accommodate large numbers of pupils. Should you require more information about resources held at the Centre or advice about how to use this pack, please contact the archives on 01296 382587 or email archives@buckscc.gov.uk.

Chapter Title Page Number

1 Aylesbury Prison 2

2 Daily Life in Gaol 4

3 Lesson Plan: Daily Life 8

4 What Happened to the children? 9

5 Prison Records: children 10

6 Lesson Plan: Records of children 11

7 Punishments 15

8 Census of Prisoners 17

9 Lesson Plan: Census of Prisoners 20

Aylesbury Prison Old Gaol There has been a county gaol at Aylesbury since the middle ages. In 1720 it was decided to build a new County Hall with a prison behind it fronting the Market Square. It was used as the County Court (called Quarter Sessions because they were held four times a year) and prisoners were brought and tried there. Public hangings took place from the drop at the large Middle window on the first floor.

County Hall (ref ph Aylesbury 3265)

New Gaol In 1835 Inspectors of Prisons were appointed for the first time and revealed just how bad prisons in England were. In 1843 the Aylesbury prison, behind the old County Hall, was condemned as “inconvenient, insufficient and inadequate” (Q/AG 16/3) and it was decided to build a new one on Bierton Hill. It was built to house 285 inmates and opened in 1847. The building is still used as a place of detention, being at present H.M. Young Offenders' Institution.

Gaol on Bierton Hill (ref phAylesbury 824)

Who Built the new prison? The Quarter Sessions advertised for architects to submit quotes and plans for building the new prison (this is called asking for tenders). The architect who designed Aylesbury prison was Charles James Peirce and he also designed the prisons at Winchester and Liverpool (see below for the quote submitted for the work ). Messrs. Locke and Nesham of Theobolds Lane, London undertook to build it at a cost of £40,800. It actually cost £39,432. You can work out how much it would cost now using http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency/

Quote for building the prison (ref Q/AG)

Daily Life in Gaol Daily Life for the children in gaol Children in gaol were not treated any differently to the adult prisoners. Printed books of Rules and Regulations for Aylesbury Prison based on what was required by law and current thinking about how to treat prisoners, set out how a prisoner should spend his/her day: when they should get up, what they should be fed, how they should work, what they should wear and living conditions. The Rule Book for 1867 laid down how the Victorian prisoners in Aylesbury should live, including the daily routine, what work they undertook and how they lived . The following images are of some pages taken from the 1855 Rule Book for Aylesbury Gaol (ref Q/AG)

1.- GENERAL ROUTINE OF THE PRISON- All Prisoners (except debtors) shall rise at five o’clock a.m. and go to bed at ten o’clock p.m. The lights in all cells shall be put out at the hours prescribed for going to bed. Prisoners shall be required to place their clothes outside the doors of their cells at night. The following routine of labour and duty amongst all classes of Prisoners in Gaol shall, as far as practicable, be carried out, viz:- At 5 o’clock Rise. From 5 to 6 Wash and clean cells. “ 6 to 8 Treadwheel, pumping, grinding corn, and cleaning corridors. “ 8 to 9 Breakfast and oakum-picking. “ 9 to 10 Chapel. “ 10 to 12 Treadwheel, pumping, grinding corn, oakum-picking, or industrial employment. “ 12 to 1 Dinner and oakum-picking. From 1 to 4 Treadwheel, pumping, grinding corn, oakum-picking, or industrial employment. “ 4 to 6 Treadwheel, pumping, grinding corn, oakum-picking, or industrial employment, and cleaning corri dors. “ 6 to 7 Supper and oakum-picking. “ 7 to 9 Instruction

The Treadwheel (ref Q/AG/46)

Oakum picking

What did they do? Keeping prisoners usefully employed during the day had always been a problem. In the old prison a treadwheel had been erected in 1820 and prisoners turned a huge wheel by literally treading on steps within it . Their work was put to good use: Pipes were laid from Bear Brook to provide a water supply for local people. At other times ithe treadwheel was used for turning machinery to grind corn into flour which was then sold from the prison. It was literally back breaking work and accidents were frequent. This treadwheel was dismantled when the prison was moved to its current location in 1847 but it is likely that a more modern model replaced it as working the treadwheel continues to be found as one of the punishments listed in the Rule Book. In 1853 the Quarter Sessions were told that the prisoners were kept occupied instead with oakum picking, cranks, mat-making and stone breaking (pounding and breaking flints). Such occupations seem pointless and monotonous but were widely used in Victorian prisons. Once again, the Rule Book provided a table of which prisoners did which work and when.

Oakum picking This comprised pulling apart thick, old, tar-covered ropes into their individual strands. These were then sent to the navy and used to cover boards on ships. It was extremely tedious and very sore on the fingers, but it was what most of the Aylesbury prisoners, including children, were employed in doing. Prisoners did this on their own in their cells for most of the day.

Hand Cranks A device which comprised a box of gravel to which a counting device was attached. The prisoner turned a handle and the box of gravel rotated. Mat making This was introduced in Victorian times as a more constructive form of employment, and involved workers forcing together the cords of a mat with a mallet. Quite often this would involve coconut fibres and these would be called cocoa-mats. Again this task could be done in the solitude of the prisoner’s cell. Stone breaking Prisoners would work in gangs. They literally broke up hard flints using pickaxes and other tools. After 1843 women and children under 14 were no longer expected to do this sort of labour.

Living Conditions in Gaol The new prison was built in accordance with the separation principle which was promoted by Victorian Prison Reformers, meaning that prisoners be kept apart as much as possible. Once received into the gaol a special uniform was issued. Each prisoner had his own cell with table, washbasin, place for sleeping and window. Prisoners were expected to wash daily but baths were only available once a month. Silence was enforced, even in the exercise yard to prevent prisoners exercising a bad influence on each other and where possible employment was carried out in the cell (eg oakum picking). The prisoner therefore had ample time to reflect on the error of his ways. The chaplain was expected to play an important part in reforming the prisoners by conducting daily services in the chapel and he had a particular responsibility for any children in the gaol. He made sure there were suitable books and pamphlets for prisoners to read and supervised a schoolmaster who was employed to teach prisoners, particularly young offenders, to read, write and do arithmetic.

Everard Raby in Aylesbury’s prison uniform

What did they eat? The Rule Book prescribed the prisoners diet which varied according to how long you were likely to be in prison for. Most children, being sentenced for between one and two weeks, would have been fed on a diet of weak porridge and bread. It was the prisoners who were to be in the prison for longer that were allowed a slightly more varied diet such as meat, potatoes and soup. Those who were sentenced to hard labour for longer than six months were even allowed a pint of cocoa occasionally! Nonetheless, for those who were homeless and described as “on tramp” at least it was regular food.

Daily Life in Aylesbury Prison: Suggested Lesson Plans ●There is much to pick out of the daily routine, labour and food tables which children can discuss: everything being done in silence; working mainly in your own cell; the monotony of the labour; opportunity to learn to read and write; the food (nb. it was generally reckoned at the time that the diet was better than that of the workhouse!). ●Why not make gruel? Gruel is basically a thin porridge or soup. The main forms of gruel include rice gruel, flour gruel and millet gruel. Other base ingredients you can boil include breadcrumbs or ground crackers. You can best understand it by making it for yourself. Here are two recipes: Flour Gruel 2 teaspoons of flour 1 teaspoon of salt Boil one cup water. Separately, drip water on flour and salt until it makes a paste. Add the paste to the boiling water. Stir to a semi-fluid consistency. Strain to eliminate film. Serve warm. Oatmeal Gruel 1/3 cup rolled oats 1 pint water 1 pint or more hot milk 1 1/4 teaspoons salt Add the salt to the water, and bring to a boil in the inner cup of a double boiler. Stir in the rolled oats. Boil over the fire two or three minutes, then set the inner cup in the outer cup of the double boiler which contains boiling water, and continue the cooking for three hours or longer. Then rub the oatmeal through a strainer. Add hot milk to make of the proper consistency for gruel. ● Using the Daily Routine and other tables, the children could write a descriptive piece about a Day in the life of a child sent to prison.

What happened to the children? Children were mainly sent to prison for stealing. The amounts often seem very small to modern eyes but Victorians took theft very seriously. Children in Bucks were sent to prison for stealing a haddock, peas, handkerchieves, a tame rabbit as well as small amounts of money. Wounding or maiming animal stock like sheep and cows was also punished with imprisonment. Sentences for Bucks children usually ranged from one week to one month and sometimes included a whipping. Until the 1850’s they went to the county gaol like everyone else, but Victorian reformers recognised that children should be kept separately: “the helpless and neglected boy ought to be dealt with differently from the responsible man”. From around 1858 young offenders under the age of 14 began to be sent to Reformatory Schools.

Whipping Post Whipping Order from the Calendar of Prisoners (Q/C/35/1)

Reformatory Schools There were no Reformatory schools built in Buckinghamshire, instead the Quarter Sessions Court paid for young offenders to be sent and maintained at Reformatory Schools in neighbouring counties and further afield. In 1871 Bucks children were being sent to Reformatories in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and also as far away as Wandsworth, Bristol, Warwickshire and Hampshire. They would stay there for two to five years and received schooling, religious instruction and training for agriculture or industry. Reformatories often occupied a domestic building such as a farm and would have had several acres of land around it. Accommodation included a schoolroom, dormi-tories, punishment cells, a chapel and an exercise yard. The intention was to reform children by moral improvement and education, thus discouraging them from a life of crime. After their sentence was completed they were found employment or returned to their relations. Others were encouraged to emigrate or join the armed forces.

Prison records: children Gaol receiving books Amongst the records of the Aylesbury Gaol held at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies are Receiving Books (Ref Q/AG/23-26). These record the details of those taken into the prison, on what charge and for how long. Other personal details of the prisoner are often given, and sometimes some of the details are left out. Many of the entries have photographs of the prisoner and the books include children . The books cover the years 1870-1874 and 1877-1878. The majority of the entries from these books can be found within the Victorian Prisoners in Buckinghamshire database. The URL for the database is http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/archives/ea_libprisoners.page. Over 2300 prisoners are recorded there and approximately 191 were children aged 16 or under. Details of the prisoners’ age, parents, crime and sentence are recorded and many have a photograph of the person as well. Below are the names of twenty-two children taken from these books. You can look up their details by going to the database cited above and typing in each of the names George Baldwin of Aylesbury, aged 15 Sarah Bierton of Ivinghoe, aged 15 James Birch of Chesham, aged 12 Thomas Clayton of Chalfont St. Peter, aged 16 Joseph Collier of Haddenham, aged 16 Frederick Cook of Little Brickhill, aged 16 Elizabeth Ann Cox of Marsh Gibbon, aged 16 Emma Crosby of Newport Pagnell, aged 14 Arthur Feasey of Newport Pagnell, aged 9 William Grace of Great Marlow, aged 10 John Hayden of Chesham, aged 9 Eliza Humphries of Great Marlow, aged 10 Mary Ann Ing of Chesham, aged 14 Frederick Isaacs of Slough, aged 10 John Jarrett of Maple Cross, aged 14 George Pursell of Woughton, aged 13 Isabella Quelch of Great Marlow, aged 16 Daniel Saunders of Iver Heath, aged 13 Henry Stone of Uxbridge, aged 12 John Stone of Uxbridge, aged 14 Albert Turner of Newport Pagnell, aged 9 George Underwood of Woughton, aged 10

Children in Prison: Suggested Lesson Plans Analysis of the child prisoners: A suggested question and answer sheet follows this page.

Focus on one particular prisoner and follow his career: Albert Turner can be presented as a case study and additional information about him follows this page.

· Look at the sort of clothes the children are wearing. Describe some of their features.

Eg. Do they have a hat? Do they wear coats or shawls? Do the clothes look new or like hand- me-downs? As you look at their pictures do you feel sorry for them?

Go through some of the crimes and their sentences; what do you think about the punishments? Do children get that sort of punishment today? What does happen to children who, like George Pursell and George Underwood are caught breaking into people’s houses?

All the children here spent some time in Aylesbury Prison. What sort of things would they have been doing? Go to the section on Daily Life in Aylesbury Gaol to help you work out the details of a day in the life of one of these prisoners. How many of the children went to Reformatory School? Go to the section on What happened to the children to find out what it was like.

Children in Prison: Question and Answer Worksheet Can you answer these questions? 1. What was George Baldwin’s crime?

…………………………………………………………………………………….

2. John Heydon went to prison for 1 month. How old was he?

……………………………………………………………………………………… 3. Mary Ing spent 1 month in prison; where did she go then and for how long?

……………………………………………………………………………………… 4. George Pursell went to prison for burglary; Who was he caught with? What did they steal?

………………………………………………………………………………………… You can find the other boy further down the list of child prisoners. Tick here when you have looked at his entry. ….

5. John Stone had been to prison before. What was his crime then and what had he done now?

………………………………………………………………………………………… What was his sentence? ……………………………..

6. Joseph Collier is dressed in a smock which was typical of the clothes worn by country workers. Around his neck is his prison number; what is it?

…………………………………………………………………………………………

7. What did Isabella Quelch do for a living?

………………………………………………………………………………………… 8. Arthur Feasey went to prison and then went away to Reformatory School for 5 years. Where was he living by the time he was 19?

……………………………………………………………………………………….

9. What did Frederick Isaacs go to prison for? Where had he come to Aylesbury from?

………………………………………………………………………………………..

10. What was the occupation of Eliza Humphries? What was her crime?

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Children in Prison: Suggested Lesson Plan

How can we find out more about the children who were sent to Aylesbury Prison? Below are outlined sources which tell us more about one of the children, Albert Turner. The same sources could be used for most children in the database (please contact the Centre for more information on researching other children yourself). Using them a clearer picture emerges of life for the child then with which today’s children can identify (eg. spending Christmas in jail; possible reasons for the theft; being sent to reformatory for 4 years). Case Study of Albert Turner aged 9 How can we find out more about Albert Turner? Gaol Receiving Book The entry in the database is only a summary of the full entry. Here it is: Albert Turner – 5229 Received: 19 Dec. 1872 at 1.40pm Cell: Div. A, Ward 2, Cell 11 Name: Albert John Turner, C of E Last Residence: Newport Pagnell Trade or Occupation: None Age: 9 Complexion: Fair Colour of Hair: Br[ow]n Colour of Eyes: Hazel Visage: Oval Apparent State of Health: Good Is he Lame or Ruptured?: No Has he any Infectious Disease?: No …Cleanliness and Decency: Clean Place of Nativity: Birmingham Father: J[ohn] Forrester, Coachmaker, Newport Pagnell Single, Married, etc: Single Degree of Instruction: N Offence: Stealing a Watch &c. Where Committed: Newport Pagnell Magistrate’s Name: W.G. Duncan, Esq. Date of Warrant: 18 December 1872 Assizes or Sessions, etc: Convicted Epiphany Session 31 December 1872 Sentence: 14 Days HL & 4 Years in a Reformatory When Discharged: 13 January 1873 From whence brought: Newport Pagnell Army/Navy, etc.?: No Conduct in Gaol: Good Been in custody before?: No Remarks: Removed to Reformatory at Bengeo, Ware, Hertfordshire The Gaol Receiving book also has an entry for his mother who was also tried and sentenced for this crime

Note what we can learn about Albert: His father appears to be a stepfather (difference in surname); He was sent from Newport Pagnell to the prison in Aylesbury on the 19th December. Christmas must have been particularly miserable for him that year, awaiting trial in prison. He was tried with his mother at the county court called the Quarter sessions on New Years Eve. He then spent a further two weeks doing hard labour in the prison and was later sent to Benges Reformatory in Hertfordshire for four years . It is unlikely that he saw his mother during his spell in prison or at the Reformatory. What else can you find out about him from this record? (CBS Ref Q/AG/24) Publication History of Milton Keynes and District by Sir Frank Markham, vol 2 Markham describes businesses and industries including the coachbuilders Salmons of Newport Pagnell. Salmons was a large coachbuilding business at Tickford End in Newport Pagnell and by 1860 it was employing 26 men, many of whom came from other parts of the country. It is likely that John Forrester came with his family to Newport Pagnell to work at Salmons. Newspapers “The Bucks Standard” for the week after the crime was committred gave a brief write up of the cases that had been brought before the magistrates at Newport Pagnell on Tuesday, 17th December. It included:

Albert John Turner and his mother, Mary Desma Forrester, were brought up in custody charged with stealing a silver watch, a brass watch chain, a locket. A German silver watch chain, and a watch key, the property of Thomas Mosely, at Newport Pagnell, on the 14th instant. After hearing the evidence of Police Constable Pitson, Hannah Moseley, and Sarah Featherstonhaugh, the magistrate committed both prisoners for trial.

Sarah Featherstonhaugh owned a pawnbrokers shop in the High Street at Newport Pagnell (Kelly’s Trade Directories and the Census record this). Perhaps Albert and Mary were trying to pawn the stolen watches and were caught in the act? Police Constable Pitson was presumably the man who made the arrest, and Hannah Moseley a relation of Thomas from whom the watches were stolen. The Quarter Sessions Roll – original Indictment This document was presented at the trial and set down in writing the details of the crime. It also names the witnesses (same as in the newspaper report). After the trial it was tied up with the other records of that Sessions court into a large roll. (CBS Ref Q/R) Calendar of Prisoners The Calendar of Prisoners records all details of prisoners standing trial at the Quarter Sessions. Most of the details are repeated in the Gaol Receiving book, but it does detail the items stolen: 1 silver watch, 1 brass watchchain, 1 locket, 1 German silver watch chain, and 1 watch key, value 30s, the property of Thomas Mosley, at Newport Pagnell, on the 14th December 1872. Albert’s mother, Mary, was sentenced to 3 months hard labour at Aylesbury. (CBS Ref BC 5/1)

Picture of Albert from the Gaol Receiving Book

Census Returns A detailed Census was taken every ten years from 1841. The 1871 census for Newport Pagnell reveals entries for Sarah Featherstonhaugh and Thomas Moseley and Salmons coachmakers and employees. Unfortunately the Forresters and Albert do not figure. The simplest explanation is that they had not yet moved to Newport Pagnell. Where did they come from? we don’t know, but Birmingham, where Albert was born (See Gaol Receiving Book) is a possibility. What of Thomas Mosley? There is a Thomas Mosley and wife Hannah on the 1871 Census for Newport Pagnell. His occupation is stated as bricklayer which seems a rather lowly status for a man in possession of watches worth 30s shillings. Nonetheless it is quite likely that this is the man from whom the watches were sto-len. The 1881 census has been fully indexed for the whole country, and from this index it was possible to pick up Albert Turner and his family again. They were living at Clapham and Albert’s occupation is given as a coachpainter, presumably working with his stepfather.

Punishment Criminal Punishment in Victorian Times By the time Queen Victoria came to the throne use of the Stocks (where you sat and were clamped into a wooden frame and pelted with rotten eggs, vegetables etc.) and Pillory (where you stood and were similarly pelted) as forms of punishment were no longer used. Public whippings still took place until the late nineteenth century and the death penalty (hanging) persisted until the mid twentieth century. In Buckinghamshire children were sometimes whipped as part of their punishment but none were sentenced to death during the Victorian period. See the section on What happened to the children? for more information on punishments given out to children. Whipping This was frequently ordered for smaller offences like theft. Increasingly it was regarded as cruel and barbaric but there are frequent references in the records to prisoners being whipped, even children. Private whipping took place within the gaol but public whipping took the form of a public spectacle in the Market Square. Adults could expect the harsh cat’o’nine tails, but on children the birch rod was probably used. Description of Public Whipping by John Gibbs from History of Aylesbury by Robert Gibbs, 1885, p.550

Another manner of punishing criminals guilty of minor offences, and which had a hardening and demoralising effect, was that of public whipping. I well remember that the first week after the Quarter Sessions, feelings of indigna-tion were frequently aroused by the cries, oaths, screams, and groans of a fellow creature, passing up the public street, with arms stretched out, and partially naked, tied to the tail of a cart. In this posture he was whipped with a cat-o'-nine tails through the market until the blood trickled into his shoes. It was repeated on separate culprits several times in the same day; business frequently had to be suspended during the time these chastise-ments were taking place. Subsequently I have seen three or four prisoners at a time marched across from the prison to the cage1, half naked; their hands were tied up to rings on each side of the door posts, and then they received their whippings.

Cat o’ nine tails Whipping Post

Hanging Death by Hanging could only be ordered by the Assize judges [the equivalent of today's Crown Court - where more serious offences such as Murder would be tried] who met at the Spring and Summer Assizes in Aylesbury. In 1809 the gallows which stood on Bicester Road was replaced by a more humane Drop which was erected on a balcony at the central upper window of the County Hall overlooking the Market Square. It was fitted with black curtains at the side and chains at the front. Hangings were a public spectacle and so-called dying speeches of the condemned men were printed and sold at great profit among the gathered crowd. Although the death penalty could be given for a range of different crimes, in Buckinghamshire it was rarely given during the Victorian period. Many eligible for the death penalty were reprieved and their sentence commuted. To the relief of many, public hangings were moved out of the town centre when the new prison was built on Bierton Hill. A new Drop was erected over the gateway, but in 1854 public hanging came to an end and the sentence was carried out within the prison walls.

The broadsheet on the next page shows the execution of John Tawell and would have been distributed at the time of his execution. It details the hanging of the condemned man for the murder of Sarah Hart, his lover, in January 1845. Sarah Hart had met John Tawell when she nursed his first wife during an illness and had two children by him. He paid her an allowance of £1 per week for the maintenance of herself and the children. She lived at Salt Hill, Slough and Tawell would visit her there. On the 1st of January 1845, Tawell visited Sarah Hart at Salt Hill and poisoned her with prussic acid. Tawell fled the scene and caught a train to London. However, a telegraph was sent from Slough to Paddington and a policeman was waiting for Tawell when the train arrived. This was the first time that the electric telegraph had been used in the apprehension of a criminal. Tawell was tried in Aylesbury in March 1845, and was pronounced guilty by a jury. On the 28th March 1845, Tawell was hung from the balcony of the then County Hall [now the Courthouse on Market Square in Aylesbury] in front of a large crowd of spectators. Robert Gibbs, the editor of the Aylesbury News, estimated 10.000 peo-ple present: “the streets and public houses were crowded with strangers who came to witness the execution; some came from very far distances. Every available space from whence a view of the gallows could be obtained was taken possession of” (from Gibbs Local Occurrences, 1882) Tawell was a small man and the newspa-per accounts of the day suggest that the execution did not go smoothly. It was the first hanging to have taken place in a few years and it was also the last execution that took place in the Market Square.

Census The new prison was built to accommodate 285 prisoners. The census returns show just who was there, age and occupation and where from on a given day. Census of Aylesbury prison, 1851. A census of the population has been taken every ten years since 1801. Its purpose has always been to provide accurate population statistics, but from 1841 extra details about individuals names, ages, abode, occupation etc. were included. Microfilms of all the census returns for Buckinghamshire 1841-1901 are held at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies. In 1851 the census was taken, across the country, on the night of the 30/31 March. This coincided with Mothering Sunday, a time when many would have been at home with their families. Not that that mattered for those in prison; for us the census gives a valuable snapshot of just who was in prison, staff and inmates alike, on a single night. We learn that there were 147 prisoners (remember the prison was built for 285) of whom only 6 were female. Below are extracted the details of three of the enumerators returns. They include the only child under the age of 16 who was in the prison that night. His name was David Hackshaw and from the other records we learn he had been sentenced to two months hard labour for stealing a watch and other valuables. The move to send children to Reformatories had not yet begun, so the whole of his two month sentence would have been served in Aylesbury Prison.

This is a page from the original enumerators return. A microfilm of this is available in the Local Studies section of the CBS in Aylesbury. A transcript of the full return for the prison in 1851 can be found on the following pages.

Extracts from the entry for Aylesbury Prison in the 1851 Census

Taken on the night of 30 March 1851

Name and Surname

Position In the Institution

Cond- ition

Age Male

Age Fe- male

Rank, Profes-sion or Occu-pation

Where Born

James Sheriff

Governor Mar 63 Gover-nor, Bucks Coun-tyGaol

Bucks, Aylesbury

Ann Sheriff Governor’s Wife

Mar 65 Gover-nor’s wife

Ditto, Aylesbury

Ann Smith Servant U 21 Ser-vant

Ditto, Dinton

Rev George Appleby Cuxson

Chaplain Mar 37 Chap-lain, Bucks County Gaol

Shropshire, Shiffnal

Ellen Cux-son

Chaplain’s Wife

Mar 33 Chap-lain’s wife

Shropshire, Sutton Maddock

Eleanor Devereux Cuxson

Chaplain’s Daughter

U 3 Chap-lain’s Daugh-ter

Bucks, Dunton

Susannah Kirby Pilkington

Servant U 23 Ser-vant

Oxon, Oxford

John Simpson

Porter Mar 43 Porter, Bucks County Gaol

Northants, Aynho

Mary Simpson

Porter’s wife Mar 42 Por-ter’s wife

Oxon, Deddington

Martha Susannah Godson Bates

Matron Mar 42 Ma-tron, Bucks County Gaol

Northants, Daventry

Helen Earp Warder U 38 Warder, Bucks County Gaol

Oxon, Stratton Audley

George Barrett

Ditto U 27 Ditto Bucks, Gt Missenden

Joseph Flockton

Ditto U 25 Ditto Yorkshire, Wakefield

William Armitage

Ditto U 28 Ditto Yorkshire, New Wortley

Peter Johnson

Ditto Mar 39 Ditto Berks, Maidenhead

James Parrott

Ditto Mar 31 Ditto Beds, Bromham

Thomas Richings Stokes

Servant U 24 Servant, Bucks County Gaol

Bucks, Stowe

James Clisby

Prisoner U 25 Labourer Bucks, Chalfont St Giles

James Baily

Ditto Mar 33 Ag. La-bourer

Ditto, Wendover

James Spicer

Ditto Mar 30 Carpenter & Joiner

Herts, St Albans

David Hackshaw

Ditto U 12 Shoe-maker

Bucks, Gt Marlow

Thomas Sanders

Ditto U 30 Ag. La-bourer

Ditto, Astwood

William Rose

Ditto U 32 Drover Ditto, Lower Winchenden

Jeremiah Barnes

Ditto U 22 Wire Worker

Bucks, Little Missenden

John Ray Ditto Mar 35 Ag. La-bourer

Ditto, Chesham

William Hester Miller

Ditto U 26 Shoe-maker

Ditto, Aylesbury

Henry King Ditto U 24 Labourer Oxon, Bledon

George Ward

Ditto U 19 Shoe-maker

Bucks, Hughenden

Frederick Hall

Ditto U 18 Ag. La-bourer

Oxon, Purton

James Wapshott

Ditto U 19 Paper-maker

Bucks, Wooburn

Henry Ad-ams

Ditto U 20 Ag. La-bourer

Ditto, Little Kimble

David Bates

Ditto U 23 Labourer Ditto Henry Stratford

Joseph Cox

Ditto Mar 46 Ag. La-bourer

Ditto, Amersham

James Prior

Ditto U 17 Ag. La-bourer

Ditto, Cheddington

William Pursell

Ditto U 24 Ag. La-bourer

Ditto, Woughton on the Green

[ page torn ] How-ard

Ditto U 17 Ag. La-bourer

Cork, Corfe

[page torn] Butler

Ditto Wid 33 Ag. La-bourer

Bucks, West Wycombe

Joseph Burt

Ditto U 23 Labourer Bucks, Wavendon

William Why

Ditto U 40 Ag. La-bourer

Ditto, Datchet

Daniel Ford

Ditto U 21 Ag. La-bourer

Middx, West Hyde

Henry Robinson

Ditto U 16 Skewer Maker

Bucks, Great Marlow

Joseph Hawkes

Ditto U 20 Sawyer Ditto, Chesham

Patrick Sullivan

Ditto U 22 Ag. La-bourer

Cork, Corfe

Eli Hawkes Ditto U 22 Ag. La-bourer

Bucks, Chesham

William Bartlett

Ditto U 21 Ag. La-bourer

Bucks, Little Missenden

Richard Makepiece

Ditto Wid 55 Ag. La-bourer

Ditto, Westbury

David Wil-loughby

Mar Mar 23 Pork Butcher & Poul-terer

Ditto, Amersham

James Baldwin

Ditto U 16 Ag. La-bourer

Ditto, Chenies

James Plested

Ditto U 16 Labourer Ditto, Chesham

Alfred Webb

Ditto U 16 Shoe-maker

Ditto, Aylesbury

Charles Russell

Ditto U 16 Ag. La-bourer

Ditto, Chesham

Simeon Stratford

Ditto U 19 Silk Spin-ner

Ditto, Penn

James Rodwell

Ditto Mar 44 Ostler Ditto, Hughenden

Joseph Collins

Ditto U 41 Labourer Surrey, Bermondsey

James Fenton

Ditto U 55 Boatman Cork, Cove of Cork

Rev. Wil-liam Day

Ditto U 38 Rector of Hawridge

Norfolk, Yarmouth

Henry Har-ris

Ditto Mar 40 Farm Bail-iff

Northants, Gt. A[page torn]

Charlotte Chance

Ditto Mar 38 Char-woman

Bucks, Wavendon

Harriet Woodland

Ditto U 16 Straw Plait Maker

Beds, Crawley

Hannah Panter

Ditto Mar 25 Lace-maker

Beds, Cranfield

Suggested Lesson Plan: Prison Census Suggested points for discussion The Census gives a good indication of the social status of prisoners at this time. It also gives an idea of the mobility of people round the country. Perhaps the most surprising inmate is Rev. William Day- the clergy were more normally among those sending people to gaol rather than being in there themselves. Notice the occupations of the inmates on the extracts. What employment were most of the prisoners engaged in? Do you think these people were likely to have been rich or poor? Are there any exceptions? Is there anyone in prison who you would not expect to be there and why? How many of the prisoners were born in the county? How far have some of the outsiders come from? Look at the staff of the prison: were they local people? Some of these certainly lived in the prison – eg the governor and his wife, the chaplain and family.

Agriculture in 1850 The mid nineteenth century was a time of relative prosperity for those engaged in agriculture. However, the rise in population during the first half of the century meant there were still too few jobs to go round. As ever it was those at the bottom of the social ladder who were hardest hit. North Bucks in particular suffered as people left their native parishes because there were not enough jobs. Agricultural labourers often travelled from place to place in search of work. Labourers might still be hired for a year at Michaelmas fairs, but increasingly farmers were taking on casual labour for a few months, week, or even days. Their wages were very low; in 1867 a group of labourers at Gawcott near Buckingham got made a petition complaining that their wages were only 9 or 10 shillings a week in the winter months and this was not sufficient to keep a family. Small wonder some turned to crime in times of need.