The Curious Mr Howard : Legendary Prison Reformer [1 ed.] 9781908162045, 9781904380733

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‘One of the greatest men in Europe’: John Wesley

Tessa West has worked in prisons and on prison-related matters for many years. While head of a prison education department she was awarded a Cropwood Fellowship at the Institute of Criminology in Cambridge. She has worked for the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Department in Vienna and was an independent member of the Parole Board. In respect of The Curious Mr Howard she was given the Arthur Welton Award which enabled her to carry out research in Ukraine (where John Howard died). She holds two masters degrees, is the author of Prisons of Promise (Waterside Press, 1997) and has also written three novels.

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Clive Stafford-Smith is best-known for his work as a USA-based (until 2004) British lawyer specialising in civil rights and death penalty cases in particular. He is Legal Director of the UK branch of Reprieve, received the Gandhi International Peace Award in 2005 and is a regular commentator in the media on human rights and associated themes.

In modern times John Howard (17261790) is perhaps best known as the man after whom the UK’s oldest penal reform charity, the Howard League, is named. Tessa West’s book breaks fresh ground by looking at both Howard’s legacy in terms of reform as well as his fascinating character. Based on extensive research in the UK and abroad, it provides a vivid picture of his life’s work which will be invaluable in understanding why prisons and imprisonment demand constant scrutiny.

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‘This book is a timely reminder of the dreams that inspired one man many years ago, and a reminder that we need John Howard as much or more ­today’: Clive Stafford-Smith (from the ­Foreword) ‘A much better picture of penal reformer John Howard than I had believed possible’: Dick Whitfield, trustee and former chair of the Howard League

The Curious MrSpine Howard Tessa West

‘One of the most extraordinary men this age can show’: Jeremy Bentham

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The Curious Mr Howard Legendary Prison Reformer

Front

WATERSIDE PRESS

WATERSIDE PRESS

John Howard’s curiosity about prisons goes without saying, as his own writings show, including his iconic The State of the Prisons (to use the shortened title). As a self-appointed inspector of prisons — and the first to carry out such a task — Howard would knock on the door of penal establishments, mostly unannounced. Once inside he would observe, listen and make copious records of events and conditions behind prison walls. And he was a curious individual altogether. Amongst the diverse epithets applied to him are: extraordinary, indefatigable, eccentric, benevolent, solid, selfless, charismatic, intense, obsessive, energetic, modest — and above all singular.

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Forever concerned with minutiae, not without friends but lacking close social contacts, the workaholic Howard frequently travelled alone and in dangerous places for months on end. Always restless and forever retracing his steps, he was equally at home in Russia, Germany, Holland and other foreign parts as he was pursuing his carefully planned routines in places such as Bedford, ­Warrington, Cambridge or London.

Tessa West Foreword by Clive Stafford-Smith

www.WatersidePress.co.uk

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WATERSIDE PRESS

Wherever he went the perfectionist John Howard brought his influence, genius and reputation to bear seeking to improve prisons and other institutions — and as this book shows he deserves to be remembered as a far greater figure in social history than many people might suspect.

The Curious Mr Howard Legendary Prison Reformer Tessa West

The Curious Mr Howard The Curious Mr Howard Legendary Prison Reformer Tessa West ISBN 978-1-904380-73-3 (Hardback)

ISBN 978-1-908162-04-5 (e-book)

Published 2011 by Waterside Press Ltd. Sherfield Gables Sherfield on Loddon Hook, Hampshire United Kingdon RG27 0JG

Telephone +44(0)1256 882250 Low cost UK landline calls 0845 2300 733 E-mail [email protected] Online catalogue WatersidePress.co.uk

Copyright © 2011 This work is the copyright of Tessa West. All intellectual property, moral and associated rights are hereby asserted and reserved by the author in full compliance with UK, European and international law and practice. No part of this book may be copied, reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, including in hard copy or via the internet, without the prior written permission of the publishers to whom all such rights have been assigned worldwide. The Foreword is the copyright of Clive Stafford-Smith subject to the same terms. Cataloguing-In-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library. Cover design © 2011 Waterside Press. Main cover image a photograph of an original painting of John Howard generally thought to be by James Gillray, used by kind permission of Louis Blom-Cooper. Photograph by David Coyle (http://dmgcoyle.com). Design by www.gibgob.com. UK distributor Gardners Books, 1 Whittle Drive, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QH. Tel: +44 (0)1323 521777; [email protected]; www.gardners.com. North American distributor International Specialized Book Services (ISBS), 920 NE 58th Ave, Suite 300, Portland, Oregon, 97213, USA. Tel: 1 800 944 6190 Fax: 1 503 280 8832; [email protected]; www.isbs.com. Printed by MPG-Biddles Ltd, Kings Lynn. e-book The Curious Mr Howard is available as an ebook and also to subscribers of Myilibrary and Dawsonera (e-book ISBN 978-1-908162-04-5).

ii

The Curious Mr Howard Legendary Prison Reformer Tessa West Foreword Clive Stafford-Smith

WATERSIDE PRESS

Also by Tessa West

Prisons of Promise, 1997, Waterside Press The Estuary, 2002, Fox Books The Reed Flute, 2004, Fox Books Companion to Owls, 2008, Fox Books

iv

Tessa West

Contents

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi The Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii Dedication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxix

1: Finding His Way

31

Family Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Childhood and Growing Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Part of the Howard Family Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Part of the Whitbread Family Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

2: The Young Adult

47

3: Domesticity at Cardington

65

Alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 The Grand Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Convalescence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Marriage to Sarah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Voyage Towards Lisbon, Capture and Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Cardington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marriage to Henrietta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Improvements in the Village and at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Science and Surveying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Birth of Jack and Death of Henrietta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4: Jack and Restlessness

65 68 71 76 78

83

The Lone Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Did Howard Discuss his Feelings With Anyone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

v

The Curious Mr Howard

Accusations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 The Other Side of It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 The Discussion Continued . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Getting on With Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Abroad Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . And Home Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Potatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Two Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

91 94 95 96 98

5: On the Road

101

6: Home, Shrievalty and Prisons

117

7: Researching and Travelling

137

Servants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thoughts While Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Business of Travelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . More Sights, More Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Home and Off Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

101 102 105 107 108 113

Back to Cardington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 The Making of the Sheriff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 First Prisoners, First Prisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

The Interest Becomes an Obsession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Potential Dangers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Itinerary for 1774 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Upbringing, Education, Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Desire to Do Good and Relieve Suffering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Obsession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Loss and Loneliness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Asperger’s Syndrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Accumulated Causes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

vi

137 140 141 146 147 147 148 150 152 153

Tessa West 8: Howard in the House

Refreshment En Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sought out by the House of Commons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Seat in the House of Commons? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Essence of What Howard Found in a Year of Prison Visits . The Result of the Election . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9: The State of the Prisons

155

155 156 160 162 165

169

The Great Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Examples from ‘A Particular Account of English Prisons’ . . . . . . 175 Extracts from ‘Distress in Prisons’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179 Extracts from ‘Bad Customs’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Examples from ‘Proposed Improvements’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

10: Foreign Prisons and Hospitals

Holland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Denmark and Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Switzerland, Austrian Netherlands and Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What Howard Learned Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . But What About Language? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11: Prisoners-of-War; Scottish and Irish Prisons; Hulks; Gaol-Fever, etc.

Prisoners-of-War in England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scottish and Irish Prisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hulks on the Thames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Remarks on the Gaol-Fever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Howard’s Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

191

192 195 197 199 201 203 207 209 210

215

215 217 218 218 219

vii

The Curious Mr Howard 12: The Writer, Editor, Publisher and Penitentiary Superintendent

221

13: More about Jack, More prisons and More Anecdotes

237

Writing and Editing the Great Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Warrington and Eyres’ Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Publication and Fame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anna Howard’s Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Penitentiary Superintendent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Father and Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Events in Edinburgh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Still More Prisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Howard in Blunt Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yet More Prisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . More Anecdotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yet More About Jack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yet More Anecdotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

14: Lazarettos and the Plague

Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Firstly to France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Across Southern Europe in Search of the Plague . . . . . . . . . . . . . Towards the Lazaretto at Venice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In the Lazaretto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unwelcome News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . More About the Plague . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Progress? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15: Back to Cardington

Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Problems of Popularity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gaols, Charter Schools and Honours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In Ireland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

viii

221 224 226 228 229 233

237 239 241 243 244 246 248 249

253

253 257 260 264 265 266 269 272

275

275 276 279 281 286

Tessa West

The Book About Lazarettos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Howard Contradicted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . More About Howard’s Book on Lazarettos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tuscan Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

16: The Last Journey

287 291 293 294

297

Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 Jack Admitted to an Asylum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 En Route East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 Life in Kherson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 Illness and Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

17: Howard’s Funeral and Beyond

The Grave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomasson Heads Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . News of Howard’s Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Last Memoranda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

319

320 322 325 326 327

18: Tributes

331

19: The Legacy

341

Streets and Buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Statues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paintings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Competitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anniversaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Howard’s Legacy in Respect of the Plague . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . His Legacy in Respect of Prisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Purpose of Prisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . More Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

331 332 335 336 337 338 338

341 341 343 345 346

ix

The Curious Mr Howard 20: A Last Look

351

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

x

Tessa West

Acknowledgements

I embarked on this biography with little information but plenty of enthusiasm. Bryan Gibson of Waterside Press expressed his interest immediately, and I am extremely grateful to him for encouraging me from day one. Once given the go-ahead, I had to convert my ambition into something more practical, and I can best describe my research as a journey during which I discovered new people, places and facts as I made my way into John Howard’s life. There are several people I want to single out to thank for their especially helpful involvement: Clive Stafford-Smith, for writing the Foreword; James Collett-White (archivist of the Bedford and Luton Archives and Records Service, and also to the Whitbread family at Southill) for his knowledge and easing of my way; Dick Whitfield (friend, Trustee of the Howard League for Penal Reform and former Parole Board colleague) for lending me his support and copies of The State of the Prisons and Lazarettos; Frances Crook (Director of the Howard League); my brother Roger Williamson, for his life-long interest in my activities and his knowledge of 18th century London; Ruth Lutt (secretary to the Mayor of Bedford) for her willingness and ability to make things happen. In addition, Judy Tayler-Smith, Honorary Archivist, the Worshipful Company of Upholders, provided an early boost to the biography by supplying me with useful details, and Rosalie Spire (independent researcher) proved highly competent at deciphering wills. I am also particularly grateful to Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC for allowing Waterside Press to photograph his original Gillray painting of John Howard visiting inmates in prison for the front cover. There are other individuals whose input I valued greatly: Philip Lucas, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, whose thoughts on Howard and Asperger’s added a new dimension to my thinking. Richard Wildman, whose fast responses to my requests for details about Bedford were highly useful; and Dave Hodgson and Daniel Hanbury, respectively Mayor of Bedford and High Sheriff of Bedfordshire, who wrote to the Mayor of Kherson about the visit I intended to make to Ukraine, where Howard died, thus paving the way for me to receive a warm welcome. xi

The Curious Mr Howard I need to record my special gratitude, too, to the Arthur Welton Foundation which conferred on me their award for 2010. This was not only an honour, but it provided me with funds to travel. In Kherson, my thanks go to Volodymyr Saldo, the Mayor, to Viktoriya Ostroumova, President of the Kherson Chamber of Commerce and to Tatiana Mukhtyarova, who not only interpreted well, but shepherded me. Amongst many Ukrainian professionals who provided information, special mention must go to Sergei Dyachenko, archivist, for he supplied me with numerous photos of Kherson and (from his recent visit to England) of Howard-related buildings and monuments here. Over the 15 months I have spent working on The Curious Mr Howard I found myself checking my inbox hoping for e-mails from people I had not met and probably would never meet. They work in universities and libraries and other institutions, and I owe them warm thanks for the efficient and friendly service they and their organizations provided. If some of the people named here feel that they supplied little information, I can assure them that their responses were as useful as more fulsome ones in that some prevented me from wasting time, and others sent me off in a more profitable direction. I list first the institutions I made most use of — whether by website, e-mail or visit — together with the names of those I met or who helped me access what I was seeking: Bedford Archives and Records Service; the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford; the Radzinowicz Library, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge (Stuart Stone); The Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturing and Science (Rebecca Short); The Royal Society (Emma Davidson); The Royal Statistical Society (Janet Foster); Edinburgh City Archives (Peter Clapham); the Library, St John’s College, Cambridge (Fiona Colbert); Central Library, Museum and Art Gallery, Warrington Borough Council (Joanne Unsworth, Peter Rogerson and Craig Sherwood); Wellcome Images (Anna Smith, Amelia Walker and William Schupbach). I should record my thanks, too, for permissions granted by the Bodleian Library for my use of drawings of the Root House, and by Warrington Library for quotations. Still more organizations and individuals to be thanked are at the following: the British Library; Renfrewshire County Council (David Roberts); Archives Sector Development, the National Archives, Kew (Jane Shillaker); Dr William’s Library (David Wykes); London Medical Society (Jennifer Haynes); xii

Tessa West Special Collections, University of Edinburgh (Denise Anderson); the Open University (Adrian Desmond); Harvard University (James Moore); Shropshire Archives; Bristol Record Office Archive (Graham Tratt); Guernsey Museum and Art Gallery (Jason Monaghan); National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (Richard Wragg); Bristol Reference Library (Jane Bradley); The Library and Museum of Freemasonry, Freemasons’ Hall (Diane Clements); Centre for Research Collections, Edinburgh University Library (Tricia Boyd); Local Studies Department, Cork City Libraries (Kieran Burke); Local Studies Library, Paisley, Renfrewshire (Jean McLean); Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (Maggie Ramsden and Suzanne Nicholls); Suffolk Libraries; Pinner Local History Society (Pat Clarke); the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London (Janet Payne); Lancashire Records Office (Neil Sayer); Clapton Girls’ Technology College, London (Jenny Gladman); John Bunyan Museum, Bedford (Nicola Sherhod and Doreen Watson); National Portrait Gallery, London (Tim Moreton); Trinity College Library, Dublin (Robin Adams); Archives and Special Collections, Mitchell Library, Glasgow (Lyn Crawford); Manuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham; The Surman Index Online; Dr Williams’s Centre for Dissenting Studies; Howard College of Arts and Sciences, Birmingham, Alabama (David Chapman); Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital, Washington DC (Jogues R. Prandoni); Bedford Borough Council (Joanne Moore); Sinead Morrissey; Eileen Savage; Anne Slack. It was an especial bonus for me to visit Howard House and the archives at Southill, and people who made this possible were — in addition to James Collett-White — Charles Whitbread, Jo and Nicholas Marr, Mark Egar and Ken Johnson. My warm thanks to all of them. I have used the internet throughout, especially the on-line Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Both have been invaluable. I want to thank too the numerous prisoners and prison staff I have worked with over many years. They have informed my thinking and I have had them very much in mind while writing. And thanks and love to my partner, Ralph, who has provided me with encouragement, constructive criticism, coffee and just the right number of invitations to spend the afternoon on my bike rather than in front of a computer. To his great credit, he never complained when John Howard joined us, as he often did, for meals or car journeys. xiii

The Curious Mr Howard

The Author

Tessa West has worked in prisons and on prison-related matters for many years and holds two master’s degrees. When teaching literacy she won a Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship which enabled her to study prison education in Scandinavia. While head of a prison education department she was awarded a Cropwood Fellowship at the Institute of Criminology in Cambridge. After a period as an assistant governor in a contracted-out prison, she worked for the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Department in Vienna. She then served two three-year terms as an independent member of the Parole Board. She has visited prisons in countries as diverse as Zambia, Hungary and New Zealand. In respect of The Curious Mr Howard she was given the Arthur Welton Award which enabled her to carry out research in Ukraine, where John Howard lived during the last years of his life and died. She is the author of Prisons of Promise (Waterside Press, 1997) and three novels. In her spare time, Tessa West enjoys cycling and canoeing.

The Author of the Foreword

Clive Stafford-Smith is best-known for his work as a USA-based (until 2004) British lawyer specialising in civil rights and death penalty cases in particular. He is Legal Director of the UK branch of Reprieve, received the Gandhi International Peace Award in 2005 and is a regular commentator in the media on human rights and associated themes. xiv

Tessa West

FOREWORD

I am always slightly nervous when writing about prison reform since such a discussion suggests the underlying premise that locking each other up is an acceptable way for civilised people to behave. I find it difficult to agree with many preconceptions that contemporary society tends to share, each of which would take much longer than a foreword to discuss. One would be our definition and application of the word “crime”; another is the way we are willing to treat the children of other people in a manner that we would never countenance for our own. Indeed we seem to have created an entire parallel universe for the unloved offspring of others. I am well aware that we will never reach my Utopia — a perfect society that, in common with everyone else’s ideal, has no prisons at all. However, we must each have a sense of an ideal in order to take the right decisions, those that will gradually edge us towards our goal: if we do not understand where we want to go, there is little chance that we will move in the right direction. Those in favour of “prison reform” play a time-honoured role in this endeavour. They wonder whether the notion of “rehabilitation” hides the fact that many prisoners were never “habilitated” in the first place. They suggest that someone who is a danger to society might be better placed in a secure hospital. They query whether our schools and social services are not a more effective forum for “crime prevention”. John Howard, the grandfather of all prison reformers, is the subject of this book. If he were to time travel from the 18th century to a contemporary penal reform conference, I suspect he would be aghast. Consider simply the number of prisoners today: two million in the care of the US Department of Corrections alone; massive prison construction initiated by a supposedly enlightened Labour government in Britain. Two and a half centuries ago, the relative number of prisoners was tiny; virtually nobody was serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Howard would learn that instead of gradually phasing out prisons, modern society is rushing headlong in the wrong direction. xv

The Curious Mr Howard John Howard’s life as a gentleman and local philanthropist changed completely when he set off to see and record conditions in prisons in the UK and on the continent. This book takes readers on a similar journey. They will be intrigued to discover — or to re-discover — a man whose complex personality and first hand experiences led to unique achievements on behalf of those who were most isolated and despised. We cannot learn from history unless we know what that history was. This book is a timely reminder of the dreams that inspired one man many years ago, and also a reminder that we need John Howard as much or more today. Clive Stafford-Smith April 2011

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Tessa West

Timeline

1726 1731 1733 1736 1738 1739 1742 1745 1748 1750 1751 1752 1755 1756 1757

1758 1759 1762 1763 1765 1766 1767 1769 1770 1771

Birth of John Howard (approximate date) Death of mother, Ann w To the Tower School, Hertford (approx.) Father marries his second wife, Anne Nesbitt Death of stepmother, Anne Nesbitt To Congregational Fund Academy, Moorfields (approx.) Death of father. Apprenticed to Newnham and Shepley, grocers and sugar merchants near St Paul’s Sets off on Grand Tour (approx.) Returns from the continent (approx.) Goes to Hotwells, Bristol, for health reasons (approx.) Lodges with Sarah Lardeau in Stoke Newington (approx.) Marries Sarah Lardeau Death of Sarah Lardeau Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society Sets off for Lisbon, captured by privateers, imprisoned in France. Following his release, Howard bases himself in Cardington, Bedfordshire. Elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Marries Henrietta Leeds. Moves to Watcombe Park, Brockenhurst, Hampshire Moves back from Watcombe Park to Cardington Engaged in improvements in Cardington Birth of son, John (known as Jack). Death of wife, Henrietta. Visits Bath for health reasons Visits Holland with Joseph Leeds Jack starts school in Cheshunt. Visits the continent of Europe. Visit to Europe continues Returns to England. Again visits Hotwells, Bristol for health reasons. Returns to Cardington. xvii

The Curious Mr Howard 1772 Split in Old Meeting Bedford. Sets about founding another chapel. Visits the west country. 1773 Appointed High Sheriff of Bedfordshire. Makes first tour of prisons — English counties. Makes further such tour. 1774 Addresses committee of the House of Commons and answers questions about the state of the prisons. Stands in Bedford as a candidate for Parliament, but not elected, so challenges this. Visits English counties again, and also Wales. Jack moves to a school in Pinner, Middlesex (approx. date). 1775 Petition challenging the election result heard and election re-run, but Howard still not elected to Parliament, by a mere four votes. Makes further tour of prisons — Scotland, Ireland. First foreign prison, etc. journey to France, French Flanders, Holland, Germany. More visits to English prisons. First visit to the hulks. 1776 More visits to English prisons. Second foreign prison, etc. journey to France, Switzerland, Holland, Germany and The Netherlands. More visits to English prisons. 1777 In Warrington, Howard finishes writing, edits, oversees the printing of and publishes The State of the Prisons. Death of sister, Anna. 1778 Visits hulks again. Examined by the House of Commons concerning progress since passing of prison legislation. More visits to prisons in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Third foreign prison, etc. journey to The Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland. 1779 Penitentiary Houses Act. Appointed to a key role as one of three penitentiary superintendents (sometimes described as ‘supervisors’) to choose sites and design and build new gaols. Re-visits all English counties, Scotland and Ireland. 1780 In Warrington again repeating his close attention to printing processes. Publishes an Appendix to and the 2nd edition of The State of Prisons. 1781 Resigns as a penitentiary superintendent after finding it difficult to translate his ideas into practice. Fourth foreign prison, etc. journey to Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Germany and Holland. Jack is moved to an academy in Daventry (approx. date). xviii

Tessa West 1782 Re-visits English prisons; also those in Scotland and Ireland. Jack moves to an academy in Nottingham (approx. date). 1783 Fifth foreign prison, etc. journey to Portugal, Spain, France, Flanders and Holland (approx.). Jack is moved to a tutor in Edinburgh. 1784 Publishes a second Appendix, and 3rd edition of The State of the Prisons. Jack is moved to St John’s College, Cambridge. 1785 Sixth foreign prison, etc. journey (mainly in search of the causes of the plague) which lasts until early in 1787 — to Holland, France, Italy, Malta, Turkey and Germany 1786 In quarantine in a lazaretto near Venice 1787 Returns from his latest travels. Visits English prisons, and those in Ireland and Scotland. Jack is removed from Cambridge. 1788 Visits London prisons and those in Ireland. Jack taken to an asylum in Leicester (approx. date). In Warrington, Howard prepares his book on lazarettos. 1789 Publishes Lazarettos and Tuscan Laws. Seventh foreign prison, etc. journey — this time to Holland, Germany, Prussia, Livenia, Russia and Lesser Tartary. 1790 Falls ill from fever and dies in Kherson, Ukraine 1791 2nd edition of Lazarettos published, with an Appendix 1792 4th edition of State of Prisons published 1799 Death of Jack

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The Curious Mr Howard

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Tessa West

Preface

A good number of people abroad as well as in the United Kingdom recognise the name John Howard. More do so when they are told he was a prison reformer and philanthropist, and still more do when the Howard League for Penal Reform is mentioned. But not many know his dates, 1726-1790, or anything about his life except a few bare facts. As I embarked on this biography I was astonished to realise that I had not even mentioned him in an earlier book, Prisons of Promise, in which I argued for more purposeful prisons. Admittedly, my book was not a history of penal reform, but I cannot account for why I had hardly thought about John Howard. It was not until a couple of years ago that I resolved to at least have a look at his own books. Queuing up at the issuing desk in the research section of my library, I was not quite sure what to expect, but when a librarian approached with two hefty leather-bound tomes I knew they were for me. This was my first sight of The State of the Prisons in England and Wales, with preliminary Observations, and an Account of some Foreign Prisons and An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe, and Various Papers Relative to the Plague. Carefully turning the thick, creamy pages, I found them very readable and I relished my first browse through Howard’s text with its prifons and their ftone fteps, its accounts of abufes and ficknefs. I also admired the elegant and exquisite engravings of buildings. And at the back of the book on lazarettos I extracted, from a specially made pocket, a large, folded sheet of paper entitled Sir S T Janssen’s Statistical Tables. Opened out it revealed a list of tables detailing the numbers of those who received sentence of death, or were executed, or transported or died in gaol or were pardoned between 1749-1771. This reminded me that prisons, until the late 18th century, were almost entirely used for holding people en route to the scaffold, to a colony in America or to a trial. No-one was expected to be in prison for more than a year or so, though they often were. I compared this situation with that of today, in which imprisonment has become a large-scale business that shows little sign of ceasing to grow and which continues to be a source of controversy, and I reflected on the years I had spent working in prisons. xxi

The Curious Mr Howard My first taste of The State of the Prisons led to me wanting to know more about John Howard’s work, about his world, and about the man himself. The fact that Howard was not a particularly good writer is discussed within the text. He had considerable help when writing his books, and many of his biographers altered what he wrote either because they thought it needed improvement per se or because they wanted to present the author in the best light possible. It is not always easy to identify what has been changed and what has not, but some of the texts attributed here to Howard may not be exactly as he wrote them. Moreover, spelling in the 18th century was not absolutely fixed, and readers will note that the correspondence of the time (not only Howard’s) often contained unorthodox spellings. The word ‘gaol’, for example, is sometimes spelled ‘goal’, and more commonly ‘jail’. Tessa West May 2011

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Tessa West

Introduction

In the later part of the 18th century John Howard was hurrying around the British Isles and much of Europe on horseback and in all weathers visiting hundreds of prisons. A slightly-built man, one can imagine him making his way on rough roads through villages, across bridges and into towns en route to his first prison of the day. He dismounted and saw to his horse, then knocked at the gate of the gaol until a turnkey opened up and allowed his unexpected visitor into the gloomy interior. Howard was peered at by the men and women he found in various states of despair, disease and drunkenness. While the grudging gaoler led him up and down through what he (or occasionally she) considered their own territory, Howard checked the size of cells, the weight of bread rations, the arrangements for sewage and more. During his brief visit he spoke little, preferring to observe and listen to what was going on, and to make notes. When he was let out of the gate he reflected on all he had seen and heard and felt: the swearing, the shackles, the lack of light, the vermin, the cold. It was rare that he found anything to praise, but once his foot was in the stirrup again he was filled with renewed zeal to explore more prisons, record the conditions within them and work to improve them. Dressed neatly and conservatively in his gentleman’s travelling coat — now suffused with the stench he had just emerged from — he pushed his tricorn hat firmly on to his head and set off through the drizzle for the next gaol at a smart trot. But this picture is only part of the truth. The following extract is from one of John Howard’s letters to his servant Thomas Thomasson who usually accompanied him on his travels abroad. On this occasion he had decided against taking a servant because he was visiting prisons and lazarettos, the institutions which housed those who were sick from or possibly infected with the plague and had to be isolated for forty — une quarantaine — days. Venice Lazaretto Oct.12th 1786 Thomas,

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The Curious Mr Howard

I am just arrived here, having had a two months voyage being tossed by the equinoctial stormy Winds, and was nearly taken by a Tunis Privateer, with whom the

Venetians are at warr, but one of our cannon, which was well loaded with Old nails, Spikes, &c. came directly in the midst of All the Men on deck, and made a dreadful

slaughter; they directly hoisted their sails and went off, to our great joy: am now in an infectious Lazaretto, yet my steady spirits never forsook me...1

It is intriguing to find Howard choosing to travel on a Venetian ship with a foul bill of health, sailing within reach of North Africa and Tunis (a country at war with Venice), coming under fire, supporting his own crew in their fight back with cannon, witnessing “a dreadful slaughter”, rejoicing in the fact that the enemy withdrew and then being confined in an infectious lazaretto. And all this just one month after his sixtieth birthday. The next extract, from Mr Pratt’s Gleanings, gives a very different image of Howard. Mr Howard favoured me with a morning visit. The weather was so very terrible that I had forgot his inveterate exactness, and had yielded up even the hope, for his own

sake, of expecting him. Twelve at noon was to be the hour, and exactly as the clock struck it he entered; the wet — for it rained in torrents — dripping from every part of his dress, like water from a sheep just landed from its washing. He would not even

have attended to his situation, having sat himself down with the utmost composure, and begun conversation, had I not made an offer of dry cloathes, &c.

‘Yes,’ said he, smiling, ‘I had my fears, as I knocked at your door that we should go over the old business of apprehensions about a little rainwater, which, though it

does not run from off my back as it does from that of a duck, goose, or any other aquatic bird, it does me as little injury; and after a long drought it is refreshing. The

coat I have now on has been as often wetted through as any duck’s in the world, and indeed, gets no other sort of cleaning. I do assure you, a good soaking shower is the best brush for broad-cloth in the universe …’ 2

1. Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard, The Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London, 1818, p.448. 2. Pratt S J, Gleanings through Wales, Holland and Westphalia with Views of Peace and War at Home and Abroad, London, 1795, Vol. I, pp.218.

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Tessa West A third glimpse of John Howard shows yet another aspect of his character. While travelling in Prussia he is supposed to have met a carriage on a narrow pass. Apparently the rule was that when approaching this hazard coachmen should sound their horns. The particular coachman Howard met was one of Frederick the Great’s men and though he had not blown his horn he ordered Howard’s coachman to reverse and allow him precedence. Howard knew he was in the right because he had done what he was supposed to do, so refused to take orders from the man and told his own driver to sit tight. At last, after a stand-off with each party refusing to budge, the royal coachman gave way. John Howard’s reputation rests squarely on his philanthropy and his efforts as a prison reformer. His key achievements were to visit numerous prisons in the British Isles and in many other countries, record the terrible conditions he found and, in 1777, publish his findings in The State of the Prisons in England and Wales, with Preliminary Observations, and an Account of some Foreign Prisons and Hospitals with the intention of convincing people of the need to improve prisons. His work in attempting to identify and prevent the causes of the plague and to design a lazaretto for England is less well-known, though he visited lazarettos and hospitals coping with plague victims, and in 1789 published a second book, An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe, and Various Papers Relative to the Plague, about them and about other institutions where poor and ill people lived. John Howard’s two solid publications certainly deal with the topics their titles announce — and more — but they also include comments which give readers a real insight into his character. However, it is his journals which contain the most personal information. Though reading these can sometimes feel like eavesdropping or trespassing, they are invaluable aids in helping us to understand both his relationship with God and what was going on at the core of his feeling and being. There are several other biographies, of which the first, A View of the Character and Public Services of the late John Howard, Esq., LL.D, F.R.S, by his friend John Aikin, was written in 1792 — only two years after Howard’s death. (It was also published in 1794 in Philadelphia, America as A View of the Life, Travels and Philanthropic Labors of the late John Howard, Esquire). The author of the second biography, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life xxv

The Curious Mr Howard of John Howard the Philanthropist (first published in 1818) was James Baldwin Brown. Baldwin Brown had access to more information and more people than Aikin had had, and his 650-page book (dedicated to His Imperial Majesty, Alexander, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias) is highly detailed and comprehensive. Both Aikin and he regarded their subject as a man to be revered, if not quite worshipped. All subsequent biographies draw heavily on these two without adding anything new (some even copy chunks of Baldwin Brown’s text verbatim), and they all — except one — interpret his life in a similarly adulatory way. The best include Hepworth Dixon’s John Howard and the Prison World of Europe (1850), John Field’s The Life of John Howard: with Comments on his Character and Philanthropic Labours (1850) and Correspondence of John Howard, Not Before Published (1855), and John Stoughton’s Howard, the Philanthropist; and his friends (1884). In 1958, getting on for a century later, two more biographies appeared: John Howard: Prison Reformer, by D L Howard (no relation) and Martin Southwood’s John Howard, Prison Reformer). In 1939, L Baumgartner published a useful bibliography, John Howard (1726-1790) Hospital and Prison Reformer: A Bibliography.3 There have also been a number of articles and papers in various journals concerned with penal affairs, health and statistics, by scholars such as Godber, Sweeting, Lucas and, notably, the late Ralph England, a former Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Rhode Island in the USA. England’s thoughtful research and clear prose adds greatly to the literature on Howard, and he was the author of the Introduction to the re-published fourth edition (originally published posthumously in 1792) of Howard’s great book The State of the Prisons. This was produced in 1973 by Patterson Smith Publishing Corporation, Montclair, New Jersey. Because, after the first edition of The State of the Prisons, Howard produced two appendices and then three further editions, references to his work can prove confusing. In The Curious Mr Howard, I have therefore chosen to use the fourth edition (i.e. the one re-published by Patterson Smith) because it is easily available, the most comprehensive and is less expensive than older editions. For the same reasons, in respect of the second book, An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe, with Various Papers Relative to the Plague, 3. Philadelphia was the heart of American Quakerism.

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Tessa West I refer throughout to the second edition, which was published in 1791, also posthumously. This too — a sister volume to The State of the Prisons — was re-published by Patterson Smith in 1973. Because both books have lengthy titles I shall usually abbreviate The State of the Prisons in England and Wales, with preliminary Observations, and an Account of some Foreign Prisons to The State of the Prisons. Similarly, I shall refer to An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe, with Various Papers Relative to the Plague as Lazarettos. While acknowledging the profound impact of various significant personal events in Howard’s life, most biographers agree with the philanthropist himself (and each other) that his extraordinary efforts were closely tied to his Christian belief and desire to relieve suffering, and for well over two hundred years he has been called such things as martyr, fav’rite of Heaven and friend of earth, friend of the captive, hero and beneficent being. He was certainly someone who worked tirelessly for the good of others, hoping that what he worked at so hard would result in the betterment of prisons, the relief of prisoners’ suffering and, in respect of his work on the plague, the establishment of a lazaretto in England. Only one of the most recent biographies (D L Howard’s) could be said to be critical about what he did and did not achieve, and looks more closely at his character rather than repeatedly stating how wonderful he was, and how deserving of unconditional praise. I am among those biographers who have struggled to define Howard’s personal identity. He has been described variously as selfless, blessed, eccentric, dedicated, devout, driven, humane, generous, wise, odd, indefatigable, principled, fearless, patient, dutiful, independent, paternal and authoritarian. In researching Howard, it soon became clear that he was, above all, extremely unusual. In addition to the adjectives listed above, he was restless, vegetarian and — for most of his life — lonely. I found myself becoming increasingly interested in his personality and nature as much as in his work researching and documenting hundreds of prison, hospital and school visits. As well as examining his achievements I began to ask, why was he as he was? What drove him? Who was he? There was plenty for me to go on. In addition to his books, journals and the biographies there is in the public domain a substantial amount of information available such as correspondence from and about him, wills, xxvii

The Curious Mr Howard obituaries, minutes of meetings, legal documents and a number of articles focusing on certain aspects of his life. I do not claim to have sought out every piece of paper about him, and I regret that I was unable to have access to some of the documents in private hands. However, I have had three important advantages which previous biographers have not had. I have had access to a large amount of information through the internet, and I was able to visit his Bedfordshire home and Kherson in Ukraine where he died. Clearly, the internet extended and made possible research into areas which would have been almost impossible to explore otherwise, while visiting Howard’s house and the village of Cardington gave me a good sense of his territory and estate. Travelling to Kherson enabled me to see his memorial and grave, and get a real feel for the sort of place he was in at the end of his life, and of the town where he received his impressive funeral and is still honoured. So, in The Curious Mr Howard I intend to explain something about what motivated John Howard. Though I shall discuss his work and give a clear timeline about what he did and when, I hope to investigate more of the reasons behind why he chose to spend some 15 years of his later middle-age endangering himself in foul prisons and hospitals, travelling thousands of mostly uncomfortable miles on horseback or in bumpy carriages and often staying in poor accommodation. And all at his own cost. I have also tried to give a sense of the 18th century context in which his personal life, work and travel were situated by including references to historical events, eyewitness accounts and extracts of fiction. I close the book with an account of his unique legacy which continues to make an impact on our prisons. Because there are four John Howards in this book I have decided to refer to the John Howard (1726-1790) who is the subject of this book as Howard or John Howard. I refer to his grandfather, who makes a very brief entry, as Howard senior. I refer to his father as J Howard, and to his son as Jack, because that is what those close to him called him.

xxviii

For Ralph, my very best companion

It has been a pleasure, as well as a privilege, to read this book and I am full of admiration for the detective work Tessa West has undertaken. The result is a much better

picture of prison reformer John Howard than I had believed possible. I was impressed

by the discussion of Asperger’s Syndrome and its relevance — where the author has

opened up a feature of John Howard’s life and behaviour which makes him more understandable; more human, in fact. I think that The Curious Mr Howard is the best biography possible, given the enormous gaps in what was known of the man.

Dick Whitfield Trustee and former chair, Howard League for Penal Reform

Chapter 1

Finding His Way Family Background No-one can be sure of exactly when John Howard was born but most biographers use the date on the inscription on his statue in St. Paul’s Cathedral: September 2nd 1726, which was just a year or so before George II came to the throne. However, the will1 of Howard’s grandfather (Howard senior), proved on January 25th 1725, stated “I give and devise to my grandson John [Ha?] the sum of One hundred pounds if he shall attain to the age of One and Twenty yeares”. This grandson, the letters of whose surname are indecipherable except for the first two, may be the John Howard who is the subject of this book, which would mean he would have been born in 1724 rather than 1726. Or, the John referred to could have been a different one who was born before the will was written but who died soon after that. It is possible that a second child could have been born in 1726 and given the same name as his deceased brother (a practice quite common at the time). In the absence of concrete evidence to the contrary, it is assumed in this book that Howard was born in 1726, coincidentally the year in which Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, otherwise known as Gulliver’s Travels, was published by Jonathan Swift. The John Howard this book is about was the grandson of John Howard (sometimes spelled Hayward), who is referred to as Howard senior in this book. Howard senior was a citizen and upholder (upholder is the old word for upholsterer) who lived in the parish of St Sepulchre’s, London. On January 31st 1671 or 1672 he married Martha Whitbread, daughter of Lettice Leeds and William Whitbread. There was already an established connection between the Howards and the Whitbreads and this would become stronger throughout John Howard’s life. It appears that Howard senior did not own 1. National Archives, Prob 11/620.

31

The Curious Mr Howard property in the Bedfordshire village of Cardington until 1687 when he became a mortgagee of the Greyhound Inn. However, some of his Whitbread relations had had farms and land in the same village before that, and throughout the rest of the 17th century and the 18th century both families bought and sold (sometimes to each other) numerous houses, cottages and plots of land as well as developing, building and improving them. John Howard began his life somewhere not too far from St Sepulchre’swithout-Newgate, the largest church in the City of London. Its tower and outer walls were built around 1450 but it had been badly damaged in the Great Fire of 1666 and required substantial re-building by Wren’s masons. It stood — indeed, it still stands — right opposite the Old Bailey where Newgate Prison was situated. In 1605 Robert Dowe gave fifty pounds for the St Sepulchre’s sexton to ring a hand-bell at midnight outside the cell of any prisoner due to be executed the following day. That handbell, under a glass case, can still be seen in the church. The sexton’s next duty was to say: You prisoners who are within, who for wickedness and sin, after many mercies shown you, are now appointed to die to-morrow in the forenoon, give ear and

understand, that tomorrow morning, the greatest bell of St Sepulchre’s shall toll for

you in form and manner of a passing bell, as used to be tolled for those that are at the point of death, to the end that all godly people may pray.

Meanwhile, in the streets outside the nightwatchman would be on his rounds, calling out All you that in the condemned hole do lie,  Prepare you for tomorrow you shall die;  Watch all and pray: the hour is drawing near  That you before the Almighty must appear;  Examine well yourselves in time repent,  That you may not to eternal flames be sent.  And when St. Sepulchre’s Bell in the morning tolls  The Lord above have mercy on your soul. Past twelve o’clock. 32

Finding His Way On the morning of the execution, the sexton’s final task was to ring the church’s tenor bell, a custom in which the nursery rhyme “Oranges and Lemons” has its origins. As they sang the rhyme two lines of children form (or used to form, for this game is perhaps no longer played) an arch of arms under which boys and girls run while trying to avoid being caught. As they run the ones forming the arch chant the gruesome words Here comes a candle to light you to bed Here comes a chopper to chop off your head Chip chop Chip chop The last man’s DEAD!

before bringing their joined arms down to catch and pretend to cut off the head of the child running through. Old Bailey records for December 8th 1686 state that John Culverwell of the Parish of  St. Sepulchres, was Indicted for stealing one Black Mare, value 6 l. 2s. 6 d.2 from Mr. John Hayward, on the 29th. day of October last

past. The Evidence against the Prisoner deposed that the Mare was Sold by him in

Smithfield to another person, viz. a Horse-Courser, and the Prisoner having but little to say on his own behalf, using several Evasions, and being found in several Storys, and the Matter of Fact being so clear against him, he was found Guilty.3

Could the victim of this crime have been Howard senior? It is possible, but one cannot be absolutely certain. The thief was condemned to death with others tried for different offences on the same day, so, if Howard senior was the victim, and if he had heard this bell being rung in his parish some time later, he may have guessed that it rang for the man who stole his horse. But whoever it rang for, and whether or not Howard senior was ever a victim of crime, he could not have imagined the connection his grandson was to have with Newgate and the efforts he would make to reduce the suffering of prisoners like Culverwell. 2. The currency in use in the 18th century was imperial, not decimal. There were 12 pennies to a shilling, and 20 shillings to a pound. 3. Old Bailey Online, t16861208-5.

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The Curious Mr Howard J Howard (John Howard’s father) was born in 1682, about ten years after his parents married. He became an Independent for whom religion underpinned everyday life, and he too was an upholder. He ran a highly successful upholstery business at a time when it was fashionable for people to fill their homes with tasteful furnishings, and his speciality was appraising and dealing in tapestries and carpets. He gained the Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Upholders on August 3rd 17104 either by patrimony or purchase, and he operated from The Talbot, Long Lane, West Smithfield, well within sight, sound and smell of the raucous Smithfield animal markets and the turbulent crowds they attracted. From 1724-1730 he was in partnership with another upholsterer named Mr Hambledon. The trade card he advertised with in 1728 stated Makes and Sells all manner of Household Furniture, viz. Damask, Mohair, Workt and Stuff Beds, & Bedding, with Chairs & Glasses, all sorts of Silk Worsted Damask

Camblets & Water’d Cheneys, &c. by wholesale or Retale. Where are also sold all Sorts of Persia Muskat and Turkey Carpets, fine and ordinary tapestry hangings, at

reasonable Rates. NB. Fine Tapestry and Carpets are clean’d after the best manner.5

Amongst J Howard’s customers was Gilbert Heathcote whom he billed on November 22nd 1728 for £3 for “a fine carpet”. This prosperous merchant was engaged in trade with Spain and Russia. He had been Lord High Sheriff of London and, in 1711, Lord Mayor of the City. He was also knighted by Queen Anne. Another customer was Sir Richard Hoare of the Quaker banking family. When he and Sarah Tully married in April 1732 they set up home in Barn Elms near the Thames at Mortlake. He ordered carpets from J Howard and the bill for £12 5 shillings arrived in November, so perhaps it was Sarah who had chosen the carpets. Hoare went on to become Lord Mayor of London in 1745, and his house became the meeting place of the Kit–Kat Club whose members were Whigs. If these men were typical customers it is possible to understand how J Howard might have earned enough to buy several properties. In addition, 4. Archive of the Worshipful Company of Upholders. 5. Ibid.

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Finding His Way when Howard senior made his will in 1725 (though it was not proved until later) J Howard was left a considerable estate, and his sister Alice received a handsome £1,000: “To be applied and disposed of by her as she shall think fitt exclusive of her husband and not to be subject to the control debts or ingagements of her husband”. This stipulation may have been because Howard senior was determined to provide for his daughter, or because there was some problem with his son-in-law Joshua Channing, of whom little is known other than that he was a glover. Howard senior also left £100 to Alice’s daughter Martha Hamilton, but it is not clear exactly who her father was. It is possible that Alice was married first to a Hamilton, and that Martha was the child of Alice and that man and not of Alice and Joshua Channing. As already mentioned above, Howard senior also left £100 to his brand new grandson John “if he shall attain to the age of One and Twenty”. This afterword raises the question of whether this baby boy was considered likely to die. Certainly, Howard’s health was never particularly good (though it was rare that illness prevented him from doing anything for long) and he may well have started life as a sickly baby. What is inexplicable, though, is that while Howard senior left small sums to others, including one guinea to his maidservant Sarah and ten pounds to the occupants of the Clapton Almshouses, he made no mention of his other grandchild, John’s elder sister Anna. She was born in 1723 and would have been about three or four years old when her grandfather died. Was she overlooked because Howard senior’s attention was all on her little brother John who was only just hanging on to life? It is a strange omission. In any event, J Howard was a highly successful London businessman who was elected to the prestigious position of Master of the Worshipful Company of Upholders in 1734. Another John Howard had held the same position in 1699 but no connection has (yet) been established between them. On July 16th 1721 J Howard married Ann Pettitt, the daughter of Edward and Sarah Pettitt. Ann had a brother John and a sister, Mary, who was married to Lewis or Lewin Cholmley. Cholmley was factor at Blackwell Hall, a market near Bassinghall Street in London where wool from abroad was bought and sold. It is not certain in which of the available houses the young couple first made their home. Presumably J Howard would have needed to be within easy 35

The Curious Mr Howard reach of his workplace so it is reasonable to think they lived in Smithfield rather than in the house he owned in Enfield because at the time this small market town on the edge of a deer park (Enfield Chase), was some hours drive away from London’s noise and dirt. He may have chosen Le Pottash House, Carterhatch Leas precisely because it was situated out in the country, not in suburbia. His other house, at 157-9 Lower Clapton Road (opposite the junction of Rowhill Road and Lower Clapton Road in Hackney) had large bay-windows, a pedimented roof, numerous and well-proportioned rooms and it too stood in a large garden in a rural situation. It was not conveyed to him until 1727 — a year after John Howard’s birth and the year of Howard senior’s death — although the family could have rented it before then. Interestingly, the conveyors were Samuel and Bucknall Howard, but there seems to be no family connection.

Childhood and Growing Up On April 4th 1723, in an unspecified place, J Howard’s wife Ann gave birth to the couple’s first child, the girl named Anna mentioned above. So, when he was born in 1726, John Howard had a three-year-old sister. As J Howard owned several properties there is also uncertainty about his son’s birthplace, but there seems to be general agreement that John Howard was born in London. Unfortunately, for unknown reasons, J Howard’s young wife died on September 25th 1731, and it is thought that the children spent much of their early lives in Cardington where there were people they came to know. The biographer Orman Cooper states that John Howard was looked after by Nurse Brown who was buried in Cardington churchyard. The brother and sister would have been taken to St Mary’s Church in Cardington, and to what was known as the Old Meeting, in Bedford. The latter, a successor to the earlier Bunyan Meeting to which Howard’s grandparents William and Lettice Whitbread belonged6 was erected in 1707. It was used by Protestant 6. From 1671-1688, John Bunyan had been minister of the earlier Meeting, which stood in an orchard on the same site in Mill Lane. It consisted of a barn, licensed for preaching.

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Finding His Way Dissenters, including Congregationalists and Baptists and could hold seven hundred people. It came to be John Howard’s preferred place of worship when he was living in Cardington.7 No biographer can provide much information about Howard’s early years, for it either no longer exists, or it has yet to be found. But this did not prevent one of them from providing this explanation as to why things happened as they did in order for John Howard to become the man he became. The Reverend J Field8 wrote Without anticipating his narrative, or detaining the reader with the writer’s reflections, he (the writer) cannot forbear expressing admiration at the wisdom of Divine

Providence evinced in the very dawn of Howard’s days. For those chosen of God for

special services a suitable preparation is required. Circumstances over which they can have no control must be adapted to their coming necessities. This provision was made through the prescience of the Almighty in the instance before us. Had

the parents of Howard been poor, what an obstacle had been presented to God’s

purposes of compassion which were to be accomplished by his means! A competency was therefore granted. Had their station in life been such as to have associ-

ated them with the nobles whose name they shared, how much might the son’s companionship from the cradle have rendered him averse from intercourse needful

to his mission! Had the mother’s life been prolonged to foster this infant in her bosom of maternal tenderness, her love concentrated in this only son, and shown in

that excessive indulgence by which such fondness is commonly declared, what an ennervating effect and consequent unfitness for future hardships might have been induced! God in wisdom takes that parent to Himself. And then, lest the affection of the bereaved father should be too much lavished on the surviving child, sickness is sent upon him and a separation is effected!9

So, in the Reverend Field’s eyes, it was a thoroughly good thing that God placed John Howard in a middle-income family, caused his mother to die 7. Orman Cooper L, John Howard: The Prisoner’s Friend, The National Sunday School Union, London, 1904, pp.11-15. 8. Field dedicated his book to His Royal Highness Prince Albert. 9. Field J, The Life of John Howard: with Comments on his Character and Philanthropic Labours, Longman Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 1850, pp.4-5.

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The Curious Mr Howard and made him ill when still an infant. Whether the cause was providence, genes or germs, it was already the case that Howard was being described as a poorly child when he was only a few years old. Not surprisingly this was to have a negative impact on his life, but Howard proved himself to be a stalwart who treated illness as an inconvenience rather than as a cause for complaint. Despite having considerable wealth, in the 18th century it would have been extremely difficult for a man such as J Howard (already approaching 50 years of age) to manage his business, household and two young children by himself. He would have faced huge practical, social and emotional difficulties, so he did what almost anyone in his position at the time would have done: he set about seeking another wife. Several biographers have referred to J Howard’s first wife Ann as being the daughter of a minister, and perhaps she was, but no evidence has been found to support this. It is far more likely that it was Anne Nesbitt, whom J Howard took as his second wife on September 30th 1736, who had a minister for a father. Documents10 provide evidence that she was the daughter of John Nesbitt11 (1661-1727), a minister with a chequered career.12 After Nesbitt’s death in 1727 — and possibly before — his family, consisting of his wife Elizabeth and children Robert, Elizabeth and Anne, were living in Cardington. Elizabeth Nesbitt is identified in the various documents referred to above (dealing with possessions and property) as Elizabeth sen. (senior) widow of London. John Howard is named as a witness in some of these documents, as are his relations Lewin Cholmley and Joshua Channing. Sadly, Anne Nesbitt was married (in 1736) to J Howard for only 18 months, for she died prematurely on January 17th 1738. By about this time the young John Howard had been sent away to school in Hertford. There must have been a reason as to why his father chose the particular school he did, and it may have been something to do with the 10. Bedford and Luton Archives and Records Service, W931-934. 11. Nesbitt, an Edinburgh graduate, was imprisoned for his suspected involvement in the Rye House Plot of 1683 (which targeted the entire Cabinet). He became the controversial minister of Hare Court Dissenters Church, Aldersgate. His wife was the daughter of Isaac Chauncy who founded the Tenter Yard Dissenters Academy in Moorfields where the young John Howard would later study. 12. The Surman Index Online, Dr Williams’s Centre for Dissenting Studies, http://surman. english.qmul.ac.uk.

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Finding His Way Tatnall and Cholmley families. In 1735 his father ended his term as Master of the Worshipful Company of Upholders and was replaced by John Tatnall, who had several properties in London. J Howard and Tatnall must have known each other well and J Howard must also have known Tatnall’s son William13 (born in 1710 and also a Freeman of the Company of Upholders) because William, like him, married into the Pettitt family. The Cholmleys and Tatnalls lived and were buried in Cheshunt, and if they were close family friends with J Howard, it is possible that they recommended the Tower School (less than ten miles away in Hertford) and perhaps even offered to keep an eye on his boy while he was there. The Tower School was housed in a castle which was already becoming a ruin in the 1600s. However, parts of it were restored by Edward Cox, and a school was established there in 1727. It is known that John Howard was taught by the Reverend Mr Worsley at a school in Hertford, and that Mr Worsley taught at the Tower School.14 After his death the Reverend Worsley became known for his translation of the New Testament from Greek but when Howard was his pupil, he had published only a Latin Grammar. The title and byline of this book were: Pinakadia tetraglosa or Tables of the Greek, Latin, English and French verbs declined throughout on the moods, tenses, numbers and persons. It does not seem likely that Howard would have valued or liked this book, for although he was at the Tower School for seven years he seems — by his own account — to have learned little. According to Aikin, he claimed, “I left that school not taught fully in any one thing”. Biographers have attributed his limited progress both to poor teaching and to the fact that Howard was not particularly bright. In Chapter 7 it is also suggested that he may have had a developmental disorder which could have affected his ability to learn. There is probably some truth in each of these explanations, but his failure to make much progress can surely also be attributed to his unhappy childhood. In the mid-1730s and when still not ten years old, he had lost his 13. Years later William Tatnall would be named by John Howard in his will as a replacement trustee should one of the other trustees die. 14. In L Turnor’s History of the Ancient Town and Borough of Hertford, St Austin and Sons, London, 1830 it is stated that “The Tower House was for many years occupied as a School. It was conducted by a Mr Worsley, under whom the celebrated John Wilkes and Howard, the philanthropist, received the rudiments of a classical education”.

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The Curious Mr Howard mother and was separated from his father, his sister and the places he knew. Moreover, he was a boarder in the bleak-looking Tower where life must have been dark, cold and comfortless, at least in winter. He was also ill. Taking all these facts into account, it is not surprising that he did not thrive at school. His father belonged to a group of people who dissented from the religious beliefs held by the Church of England. As a Dissenter, he opposed state interference in religious matters. Dissenters founded not only their own churches but their own schools and academies such as the ones to which J Howard sent his son. Plenty of fathers sent their boys to boarding schools even if they seemed tough — which they might not have done at the time, for Spartan schools were the norm — and it might not have been J Howard’s intention that his son should become a classical scholar. But he must have hoped that his son would benefit at least from the moral teaching he received. Had John Howard been taught by a tutor in the familiar surroundings of Cardington he might well have had better health and a better education. Had he not been sent to a boarding school his life in London might have been opened up by watching men working in his father’s noisy upholstery workshops. Other boys would have skidded on the frozen Thames in the Great Freeze of 1739-40, or they might have been taken to the Vauxhall Gardens on the south bank of the Thames to see concerts, circus-style events and fireworks. Of course it may be the case that John Howard did indeed do similar things, but his father seems to have been a man for whom rectitude, duty and frugality mattered much more than affection and pleasure, let alone indulgence. At this stage, the boy could have had no idea as to how strongly these characteristics would influence him, nor that he was to face several key events in his life which would echo situations his father had faced. One example of J Howard’s conscientiousness was in 1739 when it was suggested that he should take up the office of sheriff, a proposal that many would have been honoured to accept despite the responsibilities and expenses involved. He turned it down, however. This was not because of modesty, pressure of work or the considerable costs involved, but because of his beliefs. As a Dissenter and therefore someone officially excommunicated from the Established Church, he was subject to many restrictions. For example, Dissenters were barred from being directors of the East India Company, the 40

Finding His Way Bank of England or of any joint stock company. They could not take degrees at Oxford or Cambridge. The Test Act prevented them from holding high public office in civic and military fields. This act required all office holders to attend the Communion Service of the Church of England, and anyone who declined to do so could lose their civil rights. Though this was much less likely to happen to independent Dissenters than Catholics (who were those the Act was primarily intended to block from power), J Howard decided not to risk it and he therefore refused the office, thus incurring a hefty fine of £500. In about 1738 or 1739, John Howard left the Tower School to attend somewhere for older boys, and his father sent him to the Congregational Fund Academy (formerly Coward’s Academy) in Tenter Alley, Moorfields, London. Originally tenter grounds were open spaces where newly-dyed cloth, held by tenterhooks, was stretched taut across wooden frames while drying. The area, accessible through the Moor Gate, may well have ceased to be used for this purpose by the time John Howard was there, but outside the nearby Bethlem Royal Hospital he and his friends would have seen the queues waiting to stare at the lunatics. For a penny (free on Tuesdays) people could peer into cells, laugh at the occupants, and — if they were not providing enough entertainment — poke them with the long sticks the authorities allowed them to take in specifically for that purpose. Bunhill Fields was nearby too, where J Howard hoped to be buried and where, many years later, some of his son’s like-minded friends and contemporaries were interred. John Howard’s teacher at the Tenter Alley Academy was the scholar John Eames. Walter Wilson of the Inner Temple wrote of the Reverend Eames in 1808 that though he had studied to become a minister … yet he never preached one sermon, when he was so exceedingly agitated and

confused, that he was scarce able to proceed. There was, also, unhappily, a great defect in his organs of speech, and his pronunciation was exceedingly harsh, uncouth and disagreeable. These circumstances discouraged him from renewing the attempt, so that

quitting the pulpit entirely, he devoted himself to the instruction of young men … His

department included the languages, mathematics, moral and natural philosophy.15 15. Wilson W, The History and Antiquities of the Dissenting Churches and Meeting Houses in London, Westminster and Southwark, London, 1808-14, Vol. 2, p.73.

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The Curious Mr Howard John Howard and his fellow students may have been well brought up, but it is not hard to imagine what even deferential 15-year olds made of such a schoolmaster and his speech impediments, and how this might have interfered with their learning. The fact that Eames was highly educated and a friend of Sir Isaac Newton may have counted for little in their opinion. Even though the two of them overlapped at the Academy for only a matter of months, a boy who became Howard’s life-long friend at Tenter Alley was Richard Price. Born in 1723 to a dissenting minister in Llangeinor in Glamorgan, Wales, Price first attended the academy at the age of 17. It is hard to guess what he and Howard made of Eames, but he later wrote of him His divinity lectures did not correspond with his many excellences; for his fine

genius was cramped and chained down to … the very marrow of Dutch Calvinistical

divinity, and all free enquiry amongst his pupils was narrowly watched and attempted to be stifled in the very birth.16

Price went on to gain a reputation as a spirited defender of civil and religious liberty and republican values. He and Howard stayed in touch over many years, and are said to have taken leave of each other with some emotion when Howard set out on the journey which he expected to be his final one. Having found such a friend, Howard may not have welcomed his father’s decision to take him out of school and apprentice him to Newnham and Shepley, the grocers and sugar merchants who had their premises near St Paul’s in Watling Street between Friday Street and the Old Change. Presumably J Howard intended to set his son on as secure and sensible a career path in business as his own. But did he consider taking him into his own upholstery firm, surely the most obvious option? And if not, why not? He would have taken on new apprentices every so often, and we know he needed one at about the time that Howard was the right age, because in 1741 he took on a lad named Thomas Denham.17 It is not known whether John Howard had any choice in the matter, but, when about 16 or 17-years-old, he found himself not at home (though 16. Price R, Universal Magazine, Vol. LXXXVIII, p.422. 17. Archive of the Worshipful Company of Upholders.

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Finding His Way which place he counted as home is unclear) but in lodgings. His father had paid Newnham and Shepley £700, a huge sum, for the apprenticeship itself (which usually lasted for seven years) and for separate accommodation, a servant and two horses. This was an extremely unusual arrangement, for most masters were paid a fraction of that fee and required the young person to live in and start at the very bottom. The young Howard was definitely the recipient of very special treatment, but his father seems to have installed him in what — at least in today’s thinking — seemed to have been a rather isolated arrangement, perhaps to ensure he learned to stand on his own feet. No information has as yet been found about Howard’s progress in the grocery trade, though biographers suggest that he was not interested in the business — or indeed in any business. But perhaps he was taken to the docks to see ships unloading sugar, then known as “white gold”. In the 18th century the Thames played a highly significant role in the capital, and Londoners would hardly recognise it today as the same river. A few decades later in 1783 a young Frenchman to England noted The Thames is very broad, and its waters are always high: they are very beautiful, full of excellent fish, and very easy for navigation. This river at London is so covered

with shipping that there is scarcely room for one or two to pass when they need to go upstream. One can hardly see the water for the forest of masts afloat on it.18

Was it at this time that Howard came across things which prompted his hunger for foreign travel? Did he know about Commodore George Anson’s mission to defeat Spain at sea and on land, which resulted in Anson circumnavigating the world? At the very least, in the early 1740s his own world began to open out from the limited environments he had been restricted to until that point.

18. Scarfe N (Translation and ed.), A Frenchman’s Year in Suffolk, Suffolk, 1988, p.8.

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Edward

Ann

Joseph

Edward Leeds = Ann Collett

Anna

1723-77

1726-90

John

Mary = William Tatnall

Mary = Lewin/Lewis Chomley

Edward Pettitt = Sarah

1765-99

John ( Jack)

Henrietta =2 John Howard =1 Sarah Loidore 1726-65

Anne Nesbitt =2 John =1 Ann

John Howard Channing

Joshua Channing = Alice

Martha = John Howard

Part of the Howard Family Tree

Henry

1720-96

Harriot 1764-1815

Samuel Emma Marie Elizabeth

Mary

Harriot Hayton =1 Samuel =2 Mary Cornwallis

William John Rachel Ive

Sarah Ive =1 Henry =2 Elizabeth Read

Martha Whitbread = John Howard

William Whitbread = Lettice Leeds

Part of the Whitbread Family Tree

The Curious Mr Howard

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Chapter 2

The Young Adult Alone Whatever John Howard felt and thought about his new situation was overridden almost before his apprenticeship had got underway because, in 1742, his father suddenly died in his mid-sixties. He left almost everything to his two children,1 and the shared inheritance meant that John and Anna Howard would never have to work and would never have any financial worries. Howard was left all his father’s properties and £7,000 (a huge sum at the time), his plate, furniture, pictures and half his library. Anna was left £8,000, the other half of the library, nearly all the family jewels and the entire wardrobe of her mother and stepmother. J Howard had had a sister, Alice, but although her husband and children are mentioned in his will, she is not, so the likelihood is that she died at some point between 1725 (when Howard senior wrote his will) and 1739 (when J Howard wrote his). This wealth represented an extremely large increase in the family fortunes in the 20 years since the death of Howard senior of St Sepulchure’s. In business terms, J Howard had done exceptionally well. There were three executors to J Howard’s will: Laurence Channing, Ive Whitbread and Lewin Cholmley.2 Though the will stated that Howard was not to come into his inheritance until he was 25, these men allowed him his legacy immediately. Knowing that the legatee was a sober young man, the most likely explanation for this is that they were entirely confident that he would act properly and responsibly even though he was only 17 years of age. Although Howard bought himself out of his apprenticeship as soon as possible, an act which can be considered as his first real expression of personal 1. National Archives, Prob 11/720. 2. Laurence Channing was presumably a relation of the Joshua Channing who was married to Alice, J Howard’s sister. Ive Whitbread was Howard’s step-cousin, and Cholmley was his first wife’s brother-in-law.

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The Curious Mr Howard volition, he wasted no time before throwing himself into renovating the house in Clapton which his father seemed to have let fall into disrepair. A writer in the Universal Magazine went so far as to say of J Howard, “he was in very opulent circumstances but of a penurious disposition”. Presumably Channing, Whitbread and Cholmley carried out their duties properly, unless their decision to let John Howard have his legacy early was because they wanted the job dealt with quickly. J Howard had left “two hundred pounds to each of them the lawfull money of Great Brittain as a grateful acknowledgement to them for the care and trouble they will be at in the Execution of the Trust reposed in them by this my Will”. But because there were no close relatives, it would be interesting to know whether they concerned themselves any further with John Howard after his father’s death. For example, did any of them offer him a home, or comfort or even advice? It seems that their involvement was centred only on the legacy. And what of Anna? Unfortunately little is known of Howard’s relationship with his sister either when they were children, or when young adults or even during the decades which followed, though Howard refers to her support for his “schemes” later on. It is not known why, having lost both their mother and their step-mother, and lacking anyone else who cared for them properly, their father’s death did not bring the siblings closer. Although Anna and John Howard remained in touch, it seems they led quite separate lives, though it is thought that Jack (Howard’s son and Anna’s nephew), sometimes stayed with her during the school holidays. John Howard now embarked on a very different way of life. As mentioned above, he decided to attend 157-9 Lower Clapton Street, Hackney regularly to oversee the necessary repairs to the house. There is a story of him at this time buying a loaf of bread each day, throwing it over the wall as he rode along the lane towards the entrance to the house and calling out to Harry the gardener that there was something for his family in amongst the cabbages. This is the first of a substantial number of anecdotes which seem to give some indication of his personality, although precisely because they are merely anecdotes noted by biographers, it is hard to know how true they are, or how much importance to give to them or how to interpret them. For example, assuming this story to be true, does it mean that Howard was kind to his inferiors and had a sense of fun? Or that he liked to be dominant? Surely 48

The Young Adult the gardener had mixed feelings as he picked the bread up from the ground and tried to brush the dirt off? And did it not occur to Howard, who was to later become so obsessive about cleanliness, that Aikin would write of him that “he was a very Mussulman in his ablutions” that it was better to give food which is clean and not dirty?

The Grand Tour Though Howard appeared to have no family or close friends at this point, he was fortunate in many ways. Still not 20, he had plenty of money, no need to work and no commitments. But what was he to do? At this point he made the decision to go abroad to France and Italy. Grand Tours were extremely popular, and though his reasons for travelling were probably more to do with the intention of improving himself and satisfying curiosity rather than to follow fashion, off he went for many months and possibly over a year. Whatever the reason for his journey it is only the second clear piece of evidence of him doing something entirely because he wanted to rather than because he ought to. And despite the lack of any indication that he ever sought it, one cannot dismiss the possibility that there may have been an element of desire for amusement as well as education. There is no mention of him appointing a bearleader as his guide and tutor; indeed, there is no mention of any companion at all though he almost certainly would have taken a servant. Does this mean he spent his time on his own? Or did he join the company of other English travellers, most of whom would probably have been young gentlemen with more wealth, higher social status and hungrier sexual appetites? Travelling anywhere — let alone abroad — in the 18th century, was often difficult. Howard usually preferred riding on horseback in England, but his baggage would have meant that he needed a postchaise to get to Dover in order to board a packet boat, which carried mail, passengers and luggage across the channel. It is not known what his first crossing was like, but hopefully it was not as bad as the one which François and Alexandre de La Rochefoucauld experienced when they travelled in the opposite direction in 1783. 49

The Curious Mr Howard

We sailed at 2 in a good packet-boat. Weather good but little wind. When we

reached the northern point of the coast of France, the wind rose and little by little reached such a pitch that when we came to try to enter Dover harbour, after a four-

hour crossing, we had to wait nine hours at the entrance to the harbour, in what is known in seamen’s terms as “une tourmente”, half tempest, half squall. At last, after those nine hours, we entered the harbour at 3.30 am. every one very ill.3

Neither Howard nor anyone could possibly have guessed that he would eventually travel thousands of miles over land and sea and that his experiences would lead him to note in his journal: “A Traveller should have Temperance, Prudence and Fortitude or firmness of mind to bear suffering or meet danger undaunted”.4 Once in France, he probably made straight for Paris. Like other tourists he would have enjoyed seeing sights such as Versailles as well as strolling by the Seine, attending concerts and visiting art galleries. While he may well have studied to improve his French, everything known about Howard suggests that he would not have taken dancing or fencing lessons, nor gambled, nor drunk to excess. Nor does it seem likely that he would he have had intimate escapades, although he came to be known as a man who very much enjoyed the company of women and was extremely courteous towards them. At this early point in the story it would be good to know what he looked like as a young man. In the absence of paintings or drawings from life, there have been various guesses about his appearance, and only one description has been given by someone who knew him well. Aikin wrote, The first thing that struck an observer on acquaintance with Mr Howard was a stamp of extraordinary vigour and energy on all his movements and expressions. An eye lively and penetrating, strong and prominent features, quick gait, and animated gestures, gave promise of ardor in forming and vivacity in executing his designs.5

3. Scarfe N (Translation and Ed.), A Frenchman’s Year in Suffolk, Suffolk, 1988, p.3. 4. The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Eng. misc. e.401(3). 5. Aikin J, A View of the Life, Travels and Philanthropic Labors of the late John Howard, Esquire, Philadelphia, 1792, p.134.

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The Young Adult Elsewhere he is described, variously, as small, thin and with a soft, almost effeminate voice. He would have remained lean throughout his life both because of his bouts of illness and the frugal vegetarian diet he adopted. The only feature biographers agreed on was his Roman nose. Compared with other young Englishmen on the Grand Tour, he would have been rather insignificant in that he would have been unlikely to have worn the latest clothes or wigs, or drawn attention to himself in any way. None of this, of course, had any bearing at all on his wish to gain new experiences. He had an inquisitive mind and travel was to become an unavoidable activity in carrying out his life’s work. But travel meant even more than that to him, for he seemed to come to relish it. If his first experiences of it and of being abroad had been unpleasant, perhaps he would have stayed closer to home and consequently seen and written much less. John Howard was never a man to give up just because things were inconvenient or uncomfortable, and his love of travel was one of the factors which pushed him towards places progressively further away from Cardington. At this early stage there was no sense of his needing to be on the move because he found it difficult to remain still, although this became the case later. He travelled because he liked travelling and because he liked seeing new places. In the 1770s a writer called Philip Thicknesse wrote Useful hints to those who make the tour to France. Unfortunately, he was writing too late for Howard to have gained benefit from them: Upon the whole, I think it is next to an impossibility for a young man of fortune to

pass a year or two in Paris, the southern parts of France, Italy, &c. without running

a great risque of being beggared by sharpers, or seduced by artful women; unless he has with him a tutor, who is made wise by years, and a frequent acquaintance

with the customs and manners of the country: an honest, learned Clergyman tutor, is of less use to a young man in that situation, than a trusty Valet de Chambre. A

travelling tutor must know men; and, what is more difficult to know, he must know women also, before he is qualified to guard against the innumerable snares that are always making to entangle strangers of fortune.6

6. Thicknesse P, A Year’s Journey through France and Part of Spain, London, 1777, p.262.

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The Curious Mr Howard Useful Hints ended with ‘A Few After Thoughts’ which included “The best hotels in Paris are not without buggs! and the generality of houses swarm with them” and “It is necessary to always wear a sword or couteau de chasse in France”. Did John Howard wear a sword? Swords were being worn less than at the beginning of the 1700s, but on November 11th 1762, James Boswell, a vain young man who wanted to impress, paid five guineas for a silver-hilted sword. It does not seem at all likely, somehow, that Howard would ever have worn one, and there are no references to him doing so. William Patoun’s Advice on Travel in Italy (1766) was specifically written for Lord Burghley, but Howard too would have found it very useful: An account of the Value of the different Coins might easily be given: but the following Method will answer every purpose.

When your Lordship draws for Money at Turin, desire your Banker to give you change for a Louis d’or, or Pistole &c, in the different Coins of Silver & Copper Sardinian Money, with their Names. This will serve till you come to Milan: where

your Landlord will again give you Change in the Imperial Money. By this Method you become immediately acquainted with All the different Species of Money as you go along.

At Turin your Lordship ought to receive your Money if possibly in Venetian Sequins. They go all over Italy and indeed Germany: being of purer Gold, and more in real Value than the other Sequins. The Louis d’or goes well in Piedmont, the Milanese & Parmisan.

In general look upon a Sequin as half a Guinea and Pauls as Sixpences. Consider

yourself in Money Matters as entering a hostile country where every individual

almost has a design upon your Pocket. Draw for as little Money at a time as possible: both because the Exchange may rise in your favour, and that the Command of Money always lays a temptation in a Young Mans way to spend it.7

7. Patoun W, Advice on Travel in Italy, 1766, Brinsley Ford Archive.

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The Young Adult Howard would have valued these pragmatic notes, for in his own work he was keen to provide numerous references to and explanations of currency and conversion. John Howard’s route to Italy is not known but it seems that the majority of tourists went through Lyons. From there most crossed the Alps while some went down to the French Mediterranean coast to take a boat right round by sea. Crossing the Alps was quite an experience, not least because the post-chaises had to be dismantled, carried and then re-built the other side. Surely this was much better than counting hogsheads of sugar and discussing the value of tea and coffee? And so, perhaps, he continued to Turin, Genoa, Milan and Venice and to Leghorn (Livorno) and Naples, assembling a small collection of paintings and objets d’art as he went.

Convalescence His Grand Tour was brought to an end by illness. He returned to England with something described as “nervous fever”, and it was at this period that he was advised to make radical changes to his diet which Aikin, his first biographer, said “laid the foundation of that extraordinary abstemiousness and indifference to the gratifications of the palate which ever after so much distinguished him”. 8 From this point he restricted his diet to limited quantities of vegetables, fruit, bread, milk and tea. This must have been unusual for anyone at the time, let alone a young man in his early twenties who probably looked as if he could have done with some bacon and black pudding. In search of relief from his illness he went to Hot-Wells at Bristol in the early 1750s, which cannot have changed much before the traveller Clarke visited it over thirty years later and wrote Of all the watering-places in the Kingdom, there is perhaps no one more pleasing

than the delightful village which is here formed for the reception of its visitants.

Its scenery has more glowing colours, and I believe presents bolder strokes of the 8. Aikin J, op. cit., p.14.

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The Curious Mr Howard

pictuaresque than can be found in any other part of England. The Avon winding

through precipices, whose sides, almost perpendicular, shoot up to a prodigious

height, interrupted and broken with rocks, seems as if it had stolen a passage through one of those stupendous chasms which nature leaves after her most violent

revolutions. Thus, immured as it were by an earthquake, it flows silently along, while trees which have forced their roots through the craggy interstices of its banks, wave their proud arms high above its surface.9

From the ground under the cliff at Clifton, water welled up. Celia Fiennes described it as being “as warm as new milk and much of that sweetness”. By the time Howard was there Hotwell House had been built to enclose the spring and provide lodgings. The spa never became as popular as Bath but it had its heyday with a Pump Room, balls, and promenades, which it is hard to imagine this particular convalescent wanting to attend. He returned to London somewhere around the time the new Westminster Bridge was being opened, and perhaps he found himself passing close to the Bear at the Bridge Inn on November 18th 1750, where toasts were being made to a number of the capital’s most famous citizens. He could not have missed the first of the toasts, to the King, for it was accompanied by a discharge of 41 Pieces of Cannon, accompanied with a flourish of Trumpets and Kettle Drums; the Prince and Princess of Wales with 31 ditto; the Duke and

the rest of the Royal Family with 21; the pious memory of Queen Elizabeth with 41; the Hon. Members of the City and Liberty of Westminster, and the rest of

the Commissioners of the Bridge, with 31; and having spent the Evening with much mirth and merry Songs … with repeated Huzzas, at half an Hour after 12 they march’d in Procession over the Bridge, preceded by the Trumpets and Kettle Drums, and saluted with 21 guns. On the Centre Arch was played God Save the

King and sung by all the company; on their Return there was another Discharge of 21 Cannon and the Night was spent with the greatest Demonstrations of Joy that Men sensible of so Publick a Benefit were capable of expressing.10

9. Clarke E D, A Tour Through the South of England, Wales and Part of Ireland made During the Summer of 1791, Cadell and Davies, London, 1783, pp.151-152. 10. Whitehall Evening Post, 17-20 November 1750.

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The Young Adult

Marriage to Sarah But Howard was still in poor health and would have been more interested in finding somewhere comfortable to live than taking part in “mirth and merry Songs”. Rather than going to places or people he knew — it is of course possible that, for unknown reasons, he might not have been able to go to either the renovated house in Clapton, nor to Enfield, nor to Cardington, nor to his sister Anna — he settled on Stoke Newington. This may have been because Richard Price had a position there as chaplain and companion to a Mr George Streatfield, although there is no record of contact at that time between the former school friends. The area was well known for its Dissenters, including Mary Wollstonecraft11, and, rather earlier, the Abney family12 and their house guest, the prolific hymn-writer Isaac Watts. Howard became a Trustee of the Meeting House in 1753. Stoke Newington was a village on the edge of London whose green spaces were starting to be bought up by the wealthy as building plots. The first house John Howard lodged in did not suit him. He needed a certain level of care, and when he did not receive this he moved to 8 Church Street, the home of Sarah Lardeau (or Loidore) a lady whose deceased husband had worked at Sir James Creed’s white lead manufactory. Sarah Lardeau, already in her fifties, was not at all well herself, but she appears to have nursed her lodger back to health by her gentle, practical attention. As he recovered Howard must have reflected on his future. He was now in his mid-20s, feeling much better than he had been, living in a comfortable home with someone who cared about him, and with substantial private wealth. Again, he must have asked himself what he was going to do with his life. There is no suggestion at this time that he was in contact with any friends or family members, and no evidence of any plans or particular aims. Nor was he interested in the sorts of entertainment with which many 11. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) was a writer, philosopher and advocate of women’s rights. She is best known for her book A Vindication of the Rights of Women: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects (1792), but also for her unorthodox lifestyle. 12. Mary Abney, Lady Abney (1676–1750) inherited the Manor of Stoke Newington on the death of her brother. Her husband was a Lord Mayor of London. She was influential in designing Abney Park.

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The Curious Mr Howard wealthy young men occupied themselves, such as hunting, gaming or sitting in coffee houses. Howard took an interesting step. In about 1751 he proposed to Mrs Lardeau. Most biographers attribute this to his gratitude for the nursing care his landlady had provided so capably and so willingly. It was certainly unusual for a man to marry a woman more than twice his age, particularly one of lower social status and little wealth compared to his, and it is reported that Mrs Lardeau’s initial reaction was to turn him down. However, Howard was insistent. It has been said that he gave her time to think about it, stating that if she did not accept he would abandon all he had and go abroad again. Biographers are bound to search for meaning when interesting things happen in their subject’s life, and this marriage gave rise to several comments. The Reverend Field wrote: Strange, imprudent, and contrary to all natural inclination, as it must have appeared, he (Howard) no sooner regained health than he proposed to marry this lady whose

years numbered more than double his own, who was very sickly, fifty-two years of age, and who, if she ever possessed personal attractions, must have long parted with

them … If Howard’s conduct in this affair betrayed a want of foresight, and was censurable, our reluctance to reproach may find a plea in his singularity, and shelter

itself in the sure belief that few will follow his example … Howard was sometimes mistaken, but always sincere. He was both, perhaps, in the present case. It might be gratitude in excess — generosity carried to an extreme; if so, let an offence so unfrequent be forgiven, even if the transgressor never repented.13

Baldwin Brown was no better: There was a singularity in Mr Howard’s mode of thinking and acting that distin-

guished him. Of this he gave very early proof was, in forming a matrimonial connexion, so repugnant to those feelings which nature herself has planted in us.

And 13. Field J, The Life of John Howard: with Comments on his Character and Philanthropic Labours, Longman Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 1850, p.15.

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The Young Adult

From the great disproportion in their ages, it is hardly possible that any of that

ardour of passion, so natural to persons at his time of life, could have entered into the offer which he thus made of his hand and his fortune.14

Orman Cooper painted the scene as a small, if rather comical, drama: … here was young John offering to turn the thoughtful, motherly nurse into his wife! He pressed his question.

“Mrs. Loidore. Will you be my wife?” “Nay, sir; that can I not,” came the answer, not only a third but many times. “I am

but a poor widow to mate with a wealthy young man. I am not in the same social position as you are”. 15

It can already be seen that John Howard was reflective rather than impulsive, and he must have thought his proposal through carefully. It seems that Mrs Lardeau, while described by biographers as sober, respectable and kind, was much more to her lodger-turned-suitor than a model of middle-aged propriety. She was perhaps more of a companion and confidante for him than has been assumed. After several years together they must have known each other very well and they were closer to each other than to anyone else. It may have been the case that Mrs Lardeau may have been ill and on her own for many years and Howard’s Grand Tour, even if packed with new experiences, could have been a lonely period of his life. The very fact that when he returned from Italy he chose lodgings indicates that he was rootless. Precisely because this ill and alone young man was either not able to ask for, or was not offered or was perhaps even refused a home by his sister or some other relative and friend, his proposal to Mrs Lardeau had both practical and pleasant advantages and, contrary to Field’s opinion, does not seem to have been a mistake at all. In short, the principal reason given 14. Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard the Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London, 1818, pp.17-18. 15. Orman Cooper L, John Howard: The Prisoner’s Friend, The National Sunday School Union, London, 1904, p.41.

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The Curious Mr Howard by most biographers — that Howard was proposing out of duty and gratitude — might be wrong. So, despite Sarah’s poor health and the differences in the couple’s ages and social circumstances, each of them seems to have found that the other offered close friendship and comfort. As well as cementing their relationship, their marriage in about 1752 would have provided a sense of purpose and progress to both of their lives. Their solid and shared home base must have made Howard feel more established and connected than he had ever been, and the couple continued to live in Stoke Newington although it appears there were other, bigger houses they could have moved to. Howard attended the Newington Green Unitarian Church,16 built in 1708, where the minister was Reverend Meredith Townsend. He contributed over £50 to the purchase of a house for Townsend whom he rated highly and who became his friend. There was another Dissenters’ church at Newington Green Church Street, and Howard may well have attended services there too. His health was never good, and he was a regular visitor to Hotwells. If he was there in 1754 he might have met John Wesley, who was suffering from “a galloping consumption”. At around the same time, Sarah Howard’s already poor health was also gradually deteriorating, and she died in November 1755, only a few years after being married. John Howard had a headstone erected in the churchyard of what all biographers refer to as St Mary’s Whitechapel. It is known that although he attended the Dissenters’ Meeting House, he also often accompanied his wife to church. There is no St Mary’s near to Stoke Newington, and the likeliest church appears to be St Mary Matfelon in Whitechapel. For many years this had its walls whitewashed, hence its name. The inscription on the tombstone gave little more information than Sarah Howard’s name and the fact that she was Howard’s wife, although Baldwin Brown wrote that he himself made “an actual inspection of the mouldering monument” and found that, as he had read, it carried “The family arms of the Duke of Norfolk, and of the Earls of Suffolk, Effingham and Carlisle”. This is odd, for there are only a couple of suggestions elsewhere that Howard was connected at all with any nobility except for an unsubstantiated mention of this to a relative. It 16. Richard Price would later become its most renowned minister.

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The Young Adult is also strange because he shunned show and fame and everything known about him indicates that he would not claim to have noble ancestry unless he had, and even if he had, it meant little to him. However, he was still not 30 years old, and at that time he may have thought differently. John Howard must have felt profound grief at his wife’s death and the brevity of their marriage. Once again he was uprooted and disconnected, just as he must have been by the death of each of his parents, his step-mother, the separation from his sister and, to a lesser extent, by his repeated comings and goings as a child between his two schools and the various houses in which he spent his holidays. At this point, he may well have reflected on the fact that his father, too, had lost his wife — he and his sister Anna’s mother — after only six or seven years of marriage. But he was a man who got on with things, so, having made the decision to move, he at once set about emptying the house in Stoke Newington of its furniture by giving it away to local people. The gardener received a bed and bedding, a table, six chairs, a scythe and a guinea for a day’s work moving things. Howard, who had inherited Sarah’s house, generously made over her estate to her sister. After that he again sought lodgings rather than go to one of his own properties or to his sister, just as he had done a few years earlier when he returned from the Grand Tour.

Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society Howard moved to accommodation in St Paul’s Churchyard, and it was while there that he was elected, on May 26th 1756, as a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was interested in science — particularly in meteorology — and there are claims that he had been studying it informally while living in Stoke Newington. Later in his life, and over the course of some years (in 1764, 1767 and 1771) he submitted three very short papers to the Royal Society, but none of these could be said to have scientific significance. Although the document recording his election to the Society referring to his pursuit of mathematics, his desire to be a Fellow, or the desire of

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The Curious Mr Howard his proposers Lord Macclesfield, John Canton and John Ellicott17 that he should become one, was probably based as much on the social purposes of the Society as its scientific ones. Such a motive was entirely legitimate at the time and there would have been plenty of others like him. It is interesting to note that despite his seeming isolation Howard had very influential contacts. The Royal Society election document also gives yet another address for him, this time in Old Broadstreet.

Voyage Towards Lisbon, Capture and Release Nine days before his wife’s death there had been a huge earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal. An eye-witness, the Reverend Charles Davy, gave a graphic description of the event: The house I was in shook with such violence, that the upper stories immediately fell; and though my apartment (which was the first floor) did not then share the same

fate, yet everything was thrown out of its place in such a manner that it was with no

small difficulty I kept my feet, and expected nothing less than to be soon crushed to

death, as the walls continued rocking to and fro in the frightfulest manner, opening in several places; large stones falling down on every side from the cracks, and the ends of most of the rafters starting out from the roof, causing gaping holes in the ground and bringing buildings down.18

Within less than an hour a vast flood invaded the land, and then fires (caused by overturned candles and lamps) broke out in other parts of Lisbon’s ruins and raged for days. The number of dead was reckoned to be many tens of thousands, perhaps as many as 100,000, and it has been estimated that the earthquake would have reached nearly nine on the Richter scale. Huge numbers of survivors, including the Portuguese Royal Family, were 17. Ellicott was a respected watchmaker whose clocks are still sought after today, while Canton was famous for his work on electricity, magnetism and the compressibility of water. Parker was the Earl of Macclesfield. 18. Eva March Tappan (ed.), The World’s Story: A History of the World in Story, Song and Art, Boston, 1914, Vol. V, pp.618-628.

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The Young Adult made homeless and had to live in tents and huts. There was animated discussion and questioning about the nature of the heinous offences which, it was assumed by some, must have been committed by the people of Lisbon in order for God to have punished them so severely. Looters and arsonists were hanged. The bodies of thousands were loaded into barges, towed out to sea, and sunk at the mouth of the Tagus. Many European countries sent aid and money, and the English Parliament voted the sum of £100,000 for the relief of Lisbon — its first foreign aid for such an incident. Within months of Sarah’s death, Howard had resolved to go to Portugal to help cope with his bereavement. It has been suggested that he intended to offer his help to the Portuguese, but there is no evidence of that. Rather, his biographer the Reverend Field implies that Howard wanted to witness the aftermath: “Lisbon had just been overthrown, it had become a vast sepulchre and was smouldering in the ruin of a recent earthquake, the devastation seemed attractive, and thither … he now steered his course”.19 In like mind, Baldwin Brown comments, “It was to this sublime but melancholy spectacle that Mr Howard’s attention was principally directed”, and it seems a distinct possibility that, like other 18th century observers, John Howard would indeed have seen the disaster as “attractive” and “sublime”, and he made preparations to travel to Portugal in a packet boat from Falmouth. Because of the difficulty of crossing Europe by mailcoach during the wars and disputes of the 18th century the safest way to reach Lisbon was by ship. The Post Office Packet Service carried officials, documents and bullion between Great Britain and other countries and Falmouth was the port from which the ships on business sailed to and from Lisbon, the Mediterranean, the Americas and the West Indies. The documents were carried in specially weighted leather pouches which could be thrown overboard in the event of capture. The Hanover, on which Howard embarked once he reached Falmouth (which required either taking a coach from London to Portsmouth, then boat to Plymouth and so on to Falmouth, or making the almost 300 mile 19. Field J, Correspondence of John Howard, the Philanthropist, Not Before Published, Longman Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 1885, p.7.

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The Curious Mr Howard overland journey on the King’s Post Road) was a Thames-built vessel of 150 tons. Her captain was Joseph Sherburn, who was to lose his inscribed ring and a chest stashed with moidores when his ship, another Hanover, went down in 1773 in a terrible storm near St Agnes in Cornwall in a bay still known as Hanover Cove. Howard, who would have had one of the six passenger cabins, would have expected to be at sea for around three weeks. He must have known that war with France was in the offing (it was the outbreak of the Seven Years War), and it would be interesting to know whether he had any second thoughts about his proposed voyage when he saw the 14 carriage guns on deck. Whether he did or not, it was probably in March 1757 when the Hanover set off for Lisbon with him on board. Within a short time they were approached by an aggressive French privateer. Privateers were privately owned, armed and crewed, and they carried letters of marque which licensed them to make war against specific enemies. As the men of the Comte de Benten from St Malo came alongside and boarded, the Hanover’s crew (but probably not Howard or any of the passengers) would have been well aware of the danger of death and injury and of the entitlements under the Smart Payments scale:20 For each Arm or Leg amputated above the elbow or knee £8 For each Arm or Leg amputated below the elbow or knee £6 13s 4d For the loss of one Eye £4 For the loss of both Eyes £12 If the pupils of both Eyes were lost £14.

The Hanover was overcome, captured and taken to Brittany. The English passengers and crew were given neither food nor water before being taken into Brest where they were imprisoned in the castle (rather than in the recently-built Penal Colony situated in the Arsenal). Howard’s describes his experiences in his introduction to his first book The State of the Prisons:

20. Pawlyn T, The Falmouth Packet, Truran, Cornwall, 2003, p.58.

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The Young Adult

In the castle at Brest I lay six nights upon straw: and observing how cruelly my

countrymen were used there, and at Morlaix, whither I was carried next; during

the next months I was at Carhaix upon parole I corresponded with the English prisoners at Brest, Morlaix and Dinan. At the last of those towns were several of

our ship’s crew, and my servant. I had sufficient evidence of their being treated with such barbarity, that many hundreds perished; and that thirty-six were buried in a hole in Dinan in one day. 21

Later, in the Universal Magazine of 1790, the Reverend Samuel Palmer reports that “a joint of meat was thrown into the filthy dungeon, which the prisoners were obliged to tear to pieces and gnaw like dogs”. For some reason Howard — possibly because he was a gentleman clearly unconnected with the hostilities — was given the same privileges as an English officer, the most important of which was being paroled. As a result, he was trusted to lodge in Carhaix and allowed to live as an almost-free man, grateful to his host who lent him money which he repaid later. While there he must have witnessed the vibrancy of rural life in Brittany. Even if he had taken French lessons on the Grand Tour, he would have found difficulty in understanding the Breton dialect, let alone the Breton language. Market day in Carhaix would have been very different to that in Bedford. Although this extract from Shooting and Fishing in Lower Brittany was written a hundred years after Howard was there, the scenes it describes would have been very similar to the ones he saw. The streets were blocked up with vehicles, and peasant, pig, and cattle drivers

stopped the way; so I had time to look about me ere I arrived at the Inn. Here, for

the first time, I saw the peasant clad in his sheepskin or goatskin, of which, in the

descriptions of Brittany costumes, we have so often read. They are not of this place, but hail from the parts about the Menez Arres mountains, and the wild districts

near the Poulahouan mines. Here were sturdy-belted peasants clad in dark brown cloth, the very colour of the land they till, which is in the direction of Brest … Then

there was Carhaix’s veritable native in the costume of his country, made of yellow sackcloth, — thin, cold, and easily soaked with rain; while it fitted so tightly to the

21. Howard J, The State of the Prisons, Warrington, 1777, p.11.

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The Curious Mr Howard

person as to suggest the difficulty of its removal at bed-time. I saw, too, the black

head-dresses that the belles of the Morbihan love to wear. … Many a weary mile have those poor girls tramped to make a few sous by the sale of their sackcloth or other native manufacture. There were caps of every sort and shape moving to and fro

in the crowd, amongst which for real elegance, the veritable Carhaisian coiffe takes the first rank. Here, there, and everywhere, I saw stamping and gesticulations, such

as always accompany Breton buying and selling; and on every side I heard nothing but the rough Breton dialect until I arrived at the Latour d’Auvergne, the Inn that had been recommended to me as the best.22

After some months John Howard was allowed home on the understanding that he would have to return if no French officer was allowed back to France in his stead, but his freedom was accomplished successfully. He immediately complained about the abuses of the English he had witnessed and heard of to the Commissioners for the Care of Sick and Wounded Seamen and of Prisoners-of-War (known as “the Sick and Hurt Board”), an organization set up by the Admiralty. It is said that improvements resulted, but it is hard to say whether these were because of Howard’s intervention or part of the general betterment of conditions (such as the provision of clothes and food to prisoners) that both England and France were trying to get each other to agree to. This complaint was certainly evidence of Howard’s first attempt to reduce the suffering of prisoners, albeit prisoners-of-war, and is sometimes cited as the beginning of his prison reform enterprise. However, it took another 16 or 17 years before his real work began, and even then he might not have done anything about prisons had he not had the crucial stimulus provided by his later experiences as High Sheriff. It is certainly the case that his imprisonment in France and consequent action were important to him and probably influenced his future work, but it is just as true that he was a late starter in what turned out to be such vital and energetic achievements. At this point in his life there was no suggestion at all that prisons and prisoners would become his all-consuming interest. 22. Kemp J, Shooting and Fishing in Lower Brittany, Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts London, 1859, p.47.

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Chapter 3

Domesticity at Cardington Cardington During John Howard’s period of absence from England, Ive Whitbread, one of the executors of J Howard’s will, had acted as a trustee for Howard and accomplished an important piece of business; he had, on April 9th 1757, purchased properties in Cardington for £220 10 shillings. As noted in earlier chapters, Cardington had been Howard’s home when he was a boy, and though he had been absent for years in either London, Hotwells, or on the continent, Cardington was more than anywhere else the place which he counted as home and to which he now returned. The house purchases included a “Capital Messuage1 commonly called the Black and White House and a cottage, yard, orchard and Pightle or hempstead”, and although it is not known exactly when Howard actually took possession of the Black and White House, this was the one — close by the church–which he would re-build and extend to become Howard (or Howard’s) House. As soon as he made Cardington his main place of residence John Howard acted on his desire to improve not only his own house but those of his tenants. He started to re-build old cottages and construct new ones, and he continued to do so over many years. In 1757 a new poorhouse was completed towards which he donated £10 10 shilings — twice as much as any other donor, and in the 1780s he contributed to not only the building of a school, but to the education of certain individual children. It will be recalled that even before he became an established resident in Bedfordshire, John Howard was an occasional attender at the Old Meeting in Bedford, in the building where John Bunyan had been minister in the late 17th century. In 1660 Bunyan had been indicted because he “devilishly and 1. A large house.

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The Curious Mr Howard perniciously abstained from coming to church to hear divine services” and was “a common upholder of several unlawful meetings and conventicles to the great disturbance and distraction of the good subjects of this kingdom”. Bunyan declined to plead either guilty or not guilty and was sent to Bedford County Gaol (at that time situated at the junction of the High Street and what was then known as Gaol or Jail Lane), initially for three months. While there he was supposed to vouchsafe that he would attend church and cease preaching. His refusal to do so meant that he remained in prison for nearly 12 years, and then again for a further year. Howard made no mention of Bunyan in his writings and there seems to be no record of him speaking about such an important local person who had experienced Bedford Prison at first hand. However, in 1770, he made a gift of the third edition of The Works of John Bunyan (published in two volumes) to the Old Meeting. In it he inscribed: For the Use of the Vestry at Bedford The Gift of John Howard Esq. This 12th of Febr. 1770

NB It is hoped that whoever reads herein will take care he don’t damage them for the sake of those whom Providence may grant to succeed us.

Whether Howard deliberately set out to distance himself from his background in trade and establish himself as a country gentleman is unclear. He might well have done so. His father had been an industrious and competent businessman in London who made a considerable amount of money, but Howard — equally industrious and competent — had inherited this considerable capital which meant that he could spend money rather than have to earn it. When he settled in Cardington in the late 1750s he began to lead the life of a gentleman, although his only regular income came from the modest rents from his cottages2 on whose betterment he invested so much time and money. Socially, he was in close contact with the Whitbread fam-

2. Though he also had rent-producing properties in Enfield, Clapton and Ivy Lane, and several more elsewhere in London.

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Domesticity at Cardington ily and he and Samuel began to co-operate in the improvements they made to Cardington. Samuel Whitbread, five or six years older than Howard, had been apprenticed to a brewer when he was 14-years-old in the same way that Howard had been to a grocer. The two had known each other from boyhood. When Whitbread was 22 he went into business with a man named Thomas Shewell, and Howard gave him financial support at this early stage when he was establishing himself. The main brewery was at Chiswell Street in London, just near to where Howard had attended the Moorfields Academy. Whitbread and Howard were not only relations and neighbours but they were both non-conformists and philanthropists with a common interest: improving the lot of the ordinary people of Cardington. Each of them was also interested in finding a wife, and Samuel achieved this first, marrying Harriot Hayton, the daughter of an attorney, in 1757. Some 20 miles away, at the handsome 400-acre Croxton estate in Cambridgeshire lived the Leeds family, Howard’s relations on his mother’s side. Edward Leeds, a sergeant-at-law and case lawyer, was married with two sons Joseph and Edward and two daughters Anne and Henrietta. John Howard was a frequent visitor to Croxton and he became increasingly attracted to Henrietta. Courting still left him time for other things, for his interest in agriculture kept pace with his desire to re-build cottages, and on March 8th 1758 he became a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce which had been founded four years earlier in a London coffee shop. He was proposed by a Mr Crisp, and paid £21 for “perpetual membership”. Despite living at Cardington, he gave his address as St Paul’s Churchyard. Howard’s papers on potato growing would later receive distinct praise from the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce, so perhaps he was as keen on gardening as Mr Mawe, gardener to his Grace the Duke of Leeds, who had yet to publish his book entitled EVERYMAN HIS OWN GARDENER. Being a New, and much more Complete, GARDENER’S KALENDAR

Than any one hitherto published.

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The Curious Mr Howard In the chapter devoted to the month of March, the notes about potatoes begin: In planting potatoes, be careful to procure some good seed; that is, to pick a quantity

of the best kind of these roots, choosing such as are perfectly sound and of a tolerable large size; and these are to be prepared for planting by cutting or quartering

them; that is to say, each root to be cut into two, three or more pieces, minding particularly that each piece be furnished with at least one or two eyes.3

Marriage to Henrietta But potato planting concerns were eclipsed by something more important, for Howard married Henrietta Leeds on April 25th, 1758. Unlike his previous wife, Henrietta gained approval from everyone. She was considered entirely suitable for John Howard, Esquire, in respect of social status, character and compatibility. Baldwin Brown writes, “The lady possessed, in no ordinary degree, all the softer virtues of her sex; and so far as we can judge from the minature formerly in the possession of her husband … she was by no means deficient in personal attractions”. Baldwin Brown had strong, and (for the period), arousing images of women. He praised Henrietta for selling some jewels and giving the profits to charity, an action he thought should be emulated by “many a thoughtless daughter of dissipation … many a fashionable wife who is now sparkling in her jewels, in the dress-box of a theatre — swimming down the circling mazes of the dance … in the wanton fascinations of the waltz . . . as she blazes in the splendour — while she rivets the eye of the lascivious and crimsons the cheek of the virtuous by the voluptuousness of her dress”.4 Howard had firm opinions about marriage. It would be quite incorrect to state that he and Henrietta agreed on what might today be called a 3. Mawe, Everyman His Own Gardener, London, 1767, p.80. 4. Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard the Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London, 1818, p.23.

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Domesticity at Cardington pre-nuptial contract, but he is reported to have stipulated that, in the event of any disagreement between him and Henrietta, his decision should always take precedence “to prevent altercations about those little matters which he had observed to be the chief grounds of uneasiness in families … ”5 Who knows whether such an arrangement was unusual at the time? Certainly, many husbands (and perhaps many wives too) might have thought it was a good idea for the sole decision-maker in the home to be the man. But what was behind it? Did Howard really think that most marital arguments were over trivia? Had his first marriage been marred by arguments? Or did he want to dominate the woman he loved? Whatever the reason, Henrietta must have known him so well that his imperative did not surprise or worry her and, crucially, it did not stop her marrying him. She seems to have been the ideal wife for him. She shared his interests and concerns. She helped with his projects to improve the Cardington cottages. She was described as modest, undemanding and entirely supportive of her husband and his local philanthropic concerns. One anecdote relates how, when there was some spare cash which was not immediately needed, Howard (unusually) suggested a trip to London. But Henrietta is supposed to have said it should be used for a new cottage. Howard agreed, presumably with pleasure. There is only one other account of him being anything other than sober and focused on his projects, and that was when, it is said, he took Henrietta to London to observe society at play in some public place.6 Howard is said to have asked her what she thought about the scene around her, and she is supposed to have replied that she was thinking about the sermon from the previous Sunday. It was after the marriage that John Howard began to make substantial changes to the house, and it became a real home which added new dimensions to his personal life, to his growing stake in Cardington, and to his status. It is hard not to think that at around this time he began to see himself in some sort of competition with Samuel Whitbread, whose first child had just been born. 5. Baldwin Brown J, op.cit, p.55. 6. It has been suggested that this could have been the Pantheon, but that did not open until 1772.

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The Curious Mr Howard But in 1759, within two years of the marriage, Henrietta, or Harriet as she was called by Howard, was not at all well and they decided to move to a different part of the country to find healthier air. They chose Hampshire, and on August 2nd Howard bought Watcombe House, also known as Brockenhust Park, about 12 or 15 miles from Southampton. The house was a stately building standing in a park of nearly 200 hectares, and it cost £7000 — a vast amount of money at the time. Even though Howard had benefited financially from marrying Henrietta through a marriage settlement and a £1,000 inheritance from her father (who died only months after their wedding) it is hard to understand how he managed to afford the place. Fifteen years earlier he had inherited property and £7,000 from his father. In the intervening time he had spent out on his Grand Tour, on property for himself and his tenants in Cardington and on ordinary living expenses which were minimal in that he lived a simple life with few servants and little embellishment. In 1759, though, the fact that he had enough money to purchase an estate far bigger than his own raises questions not only about finance but the contradiction between his usual frugal conduct and such extravagance. He may have been exceptionally generous because of his natural desire to improve Henrietta’s frail condition, or because he had financial investments which were doing very well (though, apart from his several properties in London, there is no mention anywhere of any business investment), or, indeed, for both of these reasons. His income from his cottages occupied by Cardington villagers would have been regular but modest. There is no information about the couple’s time in Brockenhurst other than that Howard was welcomed by local people who remembered their disputes with Captain Blake, the previous owner who had used guns and traps against them. There is no record of Howard attending a Dissenters Meeting, nor even of attendance at a church, though they probably went to both nearby churches, St Nicholas and St Johns, Boldre. The latter, apparently, numbered Dissenters amongst its congregation. Unfortunately, after only a few years they found that the air in Hampshire brought Henrietta no better health than that in Bedfordshire, so they sold Watcombe House to Edward Morant who had made his sugar fortune in Jamaica but was increasingly involved in politics. Perhaps, had Howard 70

Domesticity at Cardington remained in the grocery business and Morant in trade, they might have met in different circumstances.

Improvements in the Village and at Home On October 27th 1762, soon after their arrival back in Cardington, Howard wrote to Samuel Whitbread at Chiswell Street, London. As well as having interesting contents, this letter is important because it is the earliest one which still survives. Dear Sir, Your obliging lettter I received, enclosing 30l. for half a year’s interest to Michaelmas last.

It always gives us great pleasure to hear of Mrs Whitbread’s and your welfare. We

have lately got the workmen clear of the house for this year, and hope to complete my small habitation. We find it more comfortable and suitable to our small family

than Watcombe, and I hope we are fixed for what time Providence shall allot! 7 I have my books and instruments comfortably about me, and I hope for more time

to enjoy them. I have ten or a dozen hands digging and preparing for my autumn

planting. I shall be at the Barns to see your firs, and perhaps order a clump or two, which are more agreeable than rows. E. Brown is stopping the windows &c. in your

chancel; if he pave it with stone, I shall be content that he remove every stone that cracks or scales by that time twelvemonth. The clock8 indeed goes very badly, but having yesterday seen the works, I doubt not, if properly regulated, it will go well.

I bless God I am well. Harriet has had a swelled face, and is under Fleming’s9

management. I am obliged to be in town for a few days in about a month, when

7. Here is Howard, still only 36 years old, already thinking about his own death. 8. The clock referred to might have been the one installed in Cardington Church, where the inner faces of the elaborate dials were dated 1760 and bore the names of John Howard and Samuel Whitbread. Howard also provided one of the bells. 9. Dr Fleming was the doctor who attended the prisoners in Bedford Gaol (Stockdale E, Bedford Prison 1660-1977, Bedford Historical Record Society, 1977, p.67).

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The Curious Mr Howard

I shall bring her, and undoubtedly call in Chiswell St.; being, with our sincere

respects, dear Sir, Your affectionate J. Howard 10

The first sentence of this letter is an example of how Howard’s and Whitbread’s financial and property affairs were intermingled. Despite having been absent from Cardington, Howard had for several years been acquiring additional property on the north side of the churchyard, and he continued to buy, build and develop even more over the next thirty years, as did Samuel Whitbread. Whitbread initially lived with his family in a house lying to the west of Cardington church, and in which he had been born. Later he moved to The Barns, a larger good-sized property a mile or so outside Cardington which he leased from Trinity College, Cambridge. Ralph England wrote Howard’s efforts produced a village which became famous as an example of practical philanthropy and which still presents an appearance unique in Bedfordshire

and perhaps all of England …… he acquired, usually by a type of conveyance known as a “lease and release”, at least twenty-six messuages and cottages in Cardington

and Fenlake, one homestead site and 72 acres of land. For these he paid more than

£2,800. He razed the old structures, building in their stead at least twenty-one small single — and multiple — family cottages, taking particular care to insulate

them against the moist subsoil. Their fronts and interiors were whitewashed, they

contained amenities seldom provided by labourers’ landlords: ground flooring, pantries, pumps, vaults (a sort of flushing toilet) and fuel sheds. Each building was

set off from the road by white palings. Most included enough land for fruit trees, gardens or both; some sites included a few parcels of land in the open fields for tenants’ use.11

10. Field J, Correspondence of John Howard, Not Before Published, Longman Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 1855, p.9. 11. England R W Jr, ‘Philanthropist Landlord’, Bedfordshire Magazine, Vol. 24, No 192 (Spring 1995), pp.328-33.

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Domesticity at Cardington The names or initials of the two public-spirited neighbours were beginning to appear on buildings throughout the village. The fact that Samuel was engrossed in his flourishing business, which was by 1760 (the year that the Botanical Gardens at Kew opened) the second biggest brewery in London, did not seem to limit the good works he carried out in Cardington. How much the two men discussed their projects is not known, but their efforts certainly overlapped and complemented each other. In respect of his own property Howard had distinctive lattice work erected on the front of the house and he was particularly keen to create a garden. In 1762 he worked hard to improve the vegetable garden and flowerbeds, create a shrubbery and lawn, pave walkways and plant fir trees. An unusual feature was the Root House, situated, according to Baldwin Brown, at the far end of the pleasure-garden. The materials of which it is formed are the roots and trunks of trees; the roof thatch

work, without ceiling or pannelling on the inside, to mar the rude simplicity of the

exterior. The door and its portico are gothic, with windows of the same description on each side, just admitting light enough into the hermitage within to fit it for the

purposes of study and retirement, for which it was intended, without destroying the

sombre and recluse appearance of the whole. The furniture exactly corresponded with the room. In the centre are still the remains of a lamp formed out of a root, and

originally furnished with glasses … In one corner is a fire-place, hid from observation by a chimney board, formed, like the rest of the interior of the building, of

roots and rough-hewn pieces of green wood. The place of chairs is supplied, partly by some singular masses of peat, of a very curious description, in the precise state in

which they were cut out from a moss at Ampthill, a market town in Bedfordshire, distant from Cardington about seven miles;–and on another side of the room by benches, fastened into the wall, and covered with coarse matting.12

Moreover At the back of this peaceful hermitage you pass through a narrow door to what was formerly a small, but very convenient bath. Here Mr Howard, when at home, used 12. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., p.31.

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The Curious Mr Howard

to bathe every morning, summer and winter; the root-house answering, upon these occasions, the purposes of a dressing-room, from which, by merely opening the door, he could immediately plunge into the water.13

This water, one can be almost certain, would have been cold on every day of the year. Howard’s preoccupation with inuring his body to discomfort also meant that, when he was somewhere where there was no bath, he sometimes lay down between two damp sheets. The Root House was furnished simply and even had some objets d’art brought home from abroad. In short, it was Howard’s shed-office-den. There were books in here such as Wonders of the Universe Displayed as well as Milton, whose Paradise Lost had been published a century earlier. Howard was not to know that, at around this time (1764), a book was being published which would come to interest him greatly. It was On Crimes and Punishments, in which the author, Cesare Beccaria, proposed reforms of criminal law and argued against the death penalty. John and Henrietta Howard enjoyed settling into life at Cardington. They co-operated on their various projects, they helped the village and its inhabitants to prosper, they enjoyed each other’s company. All in all, these years at the beginning of the 1760s were good for them both and could be defined as the time of Howard’s life when he was at his most balanced. He could even be described as being joyful, for he was never again more free from his self-imposed mandate to be dutiful. He had been dutiful to his father and he would always be dutiful to God and to his conscience, but at this particular time he appears less driven by duty than by the desire to enjoy his wife and his life. In addition, in January 1764, he and Harriet would have been congratulating Whitbread and his wife on the birth of their son, another Samuel, and were thinking about having a child themselves.14 At this time Howard also pursued his interest in meteorology. It was his habit to get out of bed at two a.m. each night and go out into the garden. He would slip into his shoes before padding across the dewy grass in the dark to where the thermometer was. After noting the temperature he would 13. Baldwin Brown J op. cit., p.34. 14. Whitbread and his wife Harriot had three children: Harriot, Samuel and Emma Marie Elizabeth.

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Domesticity at Cardington extinguish his lamp, look up at the stars and thank God for his good fortune before making his way back to the house across the quiet garden. Despite the fact that he was, at this stage of his life, comparatively relaxed, Howard was rarely casual about anything he did. He insisted that those who lived in his re-built or new cottages conformed to the standards he set. Most importantly, he stipulated that they should attend a place of worship every Sunday. He did not mind which church or chapel they went to, but they had to attend a service somewhere. He provided milk for them from his herd of cattle, even having it delivered to them so they need not waste time collecting it. Clearly, he wanted them to use the time for more profitable things such as work. He would not permit any bad behaviour, such as visiting alehouses or going to cock-fights, and his tenants had to be industrious and keep their homes clean. This injunction to be clean is the first time Howard’s preoccupation with cleanliness — which was to last throughout his life — can be observed. His relationship with his villagers could be described as either paternally affectionate or highly controlling. Unlike some well-off landlords who let out property, he knew each family and its circumstances well, and there is no doubt that it would have been in the interests of his tenants to comply with what he wanted. Because they knew they were lucky to have such a landlord and to live in a good cottage, they were unlikely to do anything which would jeopardise their situation. Baldwin Brown reported that the Reverend Samuel Hillyard15 wrote to him saying: “He [Howard] would visit the farmers, his own tenants especially, and converse with them in the most affable manner. He also visited the poor; and sat down in their cottages, and generally ate an apple while he talked to them”.16 It seems that there was rarely any cause for Howard to voice disapproval, let alone to evict anyone. People knew their place and behaved as he expected and wanted them to. At the time this would have been considered an entirely satisfactory state of affairs, and one which was due entirely to Howard’s philanthropy. There is only one record of a disgruntled villager 15. Samuel Hillyard succeeded Joshua Symonds as the minister at the Old Meeting in 1788. 16. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., p.107.

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The Curious Mr Howard planning to harm him. Apparently, this man intended to assault him on his way home from Bedford one Sunday after church, but by chance Howard took a different route to his usual one. He reached Cardington safely, quite unaware of the danger he had been in. An anonymous biographer commented, “The result was that Cardington, from being one of the poorest and wretchedest villages in the kingdom, became a little Eden, an oasis in the wilderness”.17 It was not, however, a little Eden for the Whitbread family, for in 176718 Harriot died, leaving Samuel with three young children.

Science and Surveying But life was not all about doing good and gardening. Howard had the opportunity to indulge his interest in meteorology, and in the spring of 1764 he submitted his first paper to the Royal Society, based on a single temperature reading in his garden. Addressed to John Canton, one of the men who had proposed him as a Fellow, it was hardly a ground-breaking observation. An Account of the Degree of Cold observed in Bedfordshire Sir Read 12 April 1764 I would beg to acquaint you of a degree of cold, that I observed at Cardington, in Bedfordshire, the 22nd of November last: just before sunrise, Fahrenheit’s scale by

one of Bird’s thermometers being so low as 10 and ½. If it will throw any light on the locality of cold, or think it worthy of the Society’s observations, would leave to your better judgement, and remain with great esteem,

17. Anonymous, The Story of John Howard, Nelson, London, 1886, p.25. 18. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography gives the date of Harriot’s death as 1764, but elsewhere it is given as 1767. Whenever it was, it was shortly after giving birth to the last of her three children.

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Domesticity at Cardington

Sir, your most obedient servant, John Howard

It could be considered that one reading from a thermometer at a less than precise time on a single date was hardly noteworthy, even though it certainly was evidence of extreme cold (-11.94 degrees Celsius). It is also odd that Howard did not submit the record as soon as he had noted it. Nevertheless, it was published in the January 1764 edition of the Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions.19 This short letter is one of the earliest remaining examples of Howard’s unaltered writing and demonstrates how his prose is often less than clear. One can understand what he means, but he expresses himself in a clumsy way. It is hard not to agree with what Aikin wrote, “I feel myself obliged, from my own knowledge, to assert, that he was never able to speak or write his native language with grammatical correctness, and that his acquaintance with other languages, (the French, perhaps, excepted) was slight and superficial”.20 Clearly, this inability to write fluently and well would become highly relevant when Howard started to work on his book The State of the Prisons. There was yet another activity which occupied John Howard during this period of domesticity. In 1764 he was selected as a road surveyor. Each parish was responsible for maintaining its roads in a decent condition and every cottager and labourer between 18 and 60 had to contribute their labour. It meant digging, sweeping, moving stones and gravel, and clearing ditches, and it was not a popular job. Some surveyors took advantage of the situation and used the men to work on their farms and estates instead of on the public roads. Some workers turned up drunk or not at all. But Howard clearly did not mind the responsibility, for he volunteered to do it again in 1765. Ralph England paints a vivid picture 19. The Royal Society, Philosophical Transactions, January 1, 1764 Vol. 54: p.118. 20. Aikin J, A View of the Character and Public Services of the Late John Howard, Esq., LLD, FRS, J Johnson, London, 1792, p.12.

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The Curious Mr Howard

Doubtless he took his surveyorship of the parish’s five or six miles of road seri-

ously. One can imagine him being an effective recruiter and supervisor of the statute labourers, amongst whom might have been some of his own tenants. We can picture him, a small figure bundled in a bulky cape, perhaps astride his horse Duke, a gusty

February wind at his back as he visits a gang spreading gravel dug that morning from a pit west of the village. He sits his mount easily as it steps with care along the rutted way, and receives with a brisk nod and brief smile the respectful salutes of the workmen.21

His territory would have included the bridge over a tributary of the Ouse at the edge of Cardington. In 1778 Whitbread would replace this with a five-arch brick bridge designed by the civil engineer John Smeaton. For Smeaton, such a construction would have been elementary, for he had already designed the Eddystone lighthouse, and his Perth Bridge and Ripon canal projects were well underway. Later he would make the vaults of Whitbread’s growing brewery waterproof so the beer could be stored in cisterns rather than in barrels.

Birth of Jack and Death of Henrietta But in 1765 John Howard’s thoughts must have been far less occupied with roads or cottages or air temperature than with his wife’s well-being, because she was pregnant. As the couple were such companions and partners, one can be sure the pregnancy brought them even closer and enabled them to envisage the future with joy and expectation. Earlier Howard had revealed his desire for children in a letter to John Canton, in which he asked about a school for someone else’s seven-year-old boy. He wrote, “[I] Wish I had three or four of them”. Though Henrietta would have been unusual in having her first child at 39,22 a fact which would have increased the danger which 21. England R W Jr, ‘John Howard, Road Expert’, Bedfordshire Magazine, Vol. 22, No 174 (Autumn 1990), pp.246-53. 22. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography gives Henrietta’s birth date (in the entry for Edward Leeds, her father) as 1716, which would mean she was ten years older than Howard and aged 49 when she had her baby. This seems very unlikely for those days.

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Domesticity at Cardington surrounded both mother and baby during pregnancies and births in the 18th century, she was extremely fortunate compared to many women of the time. She had a loving husband, a clean and comfortable bed and home, servants and access to medical help — perhaps the Dr Fleming whom Howard mentioned in his letter to Samuel Whitbread after returning to Cardington from Brockenhurst. Happily, on March 25th 1765, a new, healthy and much wanted child was born, a boy. Knowing the strength of the couple’s Christian belief the whole household would have been assembled to thank God, and Howard would also have prayed privately to offer his fervent praise. The first few days of the baby’s life passed without event, and on Sunday March 31st Howard attended the Old Meeting as usual where, it can be imagined, he would have been moved yet again to pray with devotion — even passion — before returning home and taking a cup of hot chocolate to Henrietta. And then she died. Suddenly, the bright future he had been looking forward to disappeared and was replaced by a confusion and pain. His grief must have been almost unbearable at first. It is not hard to think of him being simultaneously appalled at the sight of his dead wife and speechless at hearing the cry of the less-than-a-week-old John. His life would never be the same again. On April 6th Samuel Whitbread wrote a brief letter to a Mr Hayton, who must have been either his father-in-law or his brother-in-law. The tone suggests an informal peer relationship, and the addressee is thus likely to be William, the brother of his recently deceased wife Harriot. Death of Mrs Howard is sorry for as everybody [sic]. Again renewed loss of dear

wife if such a thing renewing can be. Called to Cardington to mark place for intern-

ment, fixed bottom of North Chapel, so as not to interfere with own scheme. She

is interred tonight. The child is likely to live and is a fine one. She died through weakness.23

23. Bedford and Luton Archives and Records Service, W1/6271.

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The Curious Mr Howard The meaning of this letter is not quite clear. It seems hurried and its matter-of-fact reference to Henrietta Howard’s death hardly indicates that the writer was a close friend of hers but Whitbread’s mention of the death of his own wife the previous year is matter-of-fact too. Perhaps the pragmatic language reflects the fact that premature deaths were far more common in the 18th century and people expected them more than they expect them today. And was it the case that Whitbread, or other wealthy landowners, could choose where memorials went? Was it, in effect, his church? A further puzzle is that there is no reference in the Parish Register of Henrietta being buried in Cardington church, despite Howard’s memorial to her: In hope of a resurrection to eternal life

Through the mercy of God by Jesus Christ, Rests the mortal part of

HENRIETTA HOWARD,

Daughter of EDWARD LEEDS, Esq.

Of CROXTON in CAMBRIDGESHIRE,

Who died the 31st of March, 1765, aged 39. She opened her mouth with Wisdom

And in her tongue was the law of kindness. Prov. xxiv.26

It is a little odd that he described Henrietta as her father’s daughter rather than as his wife or as his son’s mother, especially when it is recalled that on the headstone at St Mary’s Whitechapel he had described Sarah as being his wife. This is another point in Howard’s life when he probably thought of his father, who had also lost two wives after short marriages. He had been only six when his mother Ann died. Now the newest John Howard — who became known as Jack — had lost his mother when only a few days old. In private, in the family register, Howard wrote: John, my son, was born about 4 o’clock, March 27th, 1765. Sabbath evening, March 31st. 1765, died the dear mother. Unaffected piety, meekness and goodness ran through her whole life. O God, sanctify the dear memorial! Thy grace imparting

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to the same temper and mind; that we both, by Thine unbounded goodness, in and through Jesus Christ, may be followers of her faith and patience, and be forever with the Lord. O glorious day! 24

John Howard had loved Henrietta, and she had gone.

24. Field J, op. cit., p.11.

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Chapter 4

Jack and Restlessness The Lone Father Did Howard Discuss his Feelings With Anyone?

It might have been expected that Howard’s relationship with Whitbread would become closer, for they were of a similar age, each had lost a wife, and each had been left with a child, or, in the case of Whitbread, three children. In his own grief, Howard must have recognised Whitbread’s bereavement more fully than he had done before. However, in 1765 Whitbread bought and moved to Bedwell Park in Hertfordshire. Although he continued his work in Cardington and remained closely connected to Howard, the two men would have been unlikely to have seen as much of each other as they had done until that time. And what about Howard’s sister Anna, Jack’s aunt? Was she involved? She seems to have been as invisible at this crucial point as she was at other important times in Howard’s life. Amongst his friends were several non-conformist ministers but his relationship with them seemed to be based more on their shared religion than on anything else, though the Reverend Smith in Bedford seems to have been one of the closest. At least Howard would have gained some comfort from knowing others were praying for him. So, at almost 40, he was left on his own with a baby just as his father, in his early 40s, had been left on his own with two small children, and as many other fathers were. It would have been improbable for either of these two men to have the will or skill to cope personally with their infant offspring, and neither they themselves nor anyone else would have expected them to. Jack would have been found a nurse at once and 25 years later Howard left ten pounds to “Thomas, son of Mistress Walker my son’s nurse”. The 83

The Curious Mr Howard very fact that there was such a legacy indicates that he considered Mistress Walker a good nurse. Plenty of children in well-off homes like that of the Howards spent much more time with nurses, servants and tutors than with their parents, and Henrietta’s death would have increased that likelihood for Jack. It is important and natural to ponder on Jack’s situation in those all-important early weeks, months and years of development. What contact was there between Howard and his new son? Did he go and see Jack in the nursery? Was he consulted about Jack’s health and welfare, or was every domestic detail attended to by Mistress Walker or other servants? In common with many fathers at the time, Howard probably had little to do with Jack, at least until he could walk and talk, though it is recorded that he instructed those looking after the child that he was not to have sweetmeats or anything “that he cried for”. Jack, it became clear early on, was certainly not going to be indulged. One can be absolutely sure that John and Henrietta Howard would have brought Jack up to be as devout a Christian as each of them was, for faith ran (or rather rushed, in Howard’s case) through their lives like a strong river. Henrietta’s death would have strengthened her husband’s need for God and his need to worship, and it seems that the one thing Howard was determined to do for his son was to ensure that he grew up obedient to authority, in respect both of his own paternal authority and of God’s authority. There is controversy surrounding the way in which John Howard brought Jack up and this is worth examining in some detail because it gives insights into how Howard saw the world, how others saw him and how Jack developed. It is the only aspect of Howard that has been severely criticised, and it led to real division of opinion about him both during and after his lifetime. His first biographer, Aikin, introduces his discussion of this issue with an account of Howard’s ideas on education and his manner of executing them: Regarding children as creatures possessed of strong passions and desires, without

reason and experience to control them, he thought that nature seemed, as it were, to mark them out as the subjects of absolute authority; and that the first and fundamental principle to be inculcated upon them, was implicit and unlimited obedi-

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ence. This cannot be effected by any process of reasoning, before reason has its commencement; and therefore must be the result of coercion.1

The definition of the verb coerce is “To constrain or restrain by force, or by authority resting on force; compulsion”. Aikin seemed to suggest that Howard coerced Jack into obedience, which is certainly what many parents have always done — and still do. Aikin and Howard were friends, though there is little evidence of correspondence between them, and their friendship was strongest when they co-operated (ten or so years later, in 1777) in getting The State of the Prisons ready for publication. But Aikin was undoubtedly one of Howard’s most ardent admirers, and in his biography he takes it on himself to rebut the criticisms concerning how Howard treated Jack which were published anonymously in 1790 (just after Howard’s death).2 It is necessary here to jump ahead and say that by the early-1790s Jack, then hardly 25 years old, was confined to a lunatic asylum. It was already clear in the 1780s that he was mentally ill. Accusations

The essence of the issue was that Howard was accused of exercising control so strict that it amounted to cruelty, and that that cruelty drove Jack into a state of insanity. Aikin and others immediately rushed to Howard’s defence and explained in detail what they had seen him do when he was with Jack, and what they had heard of him doing. Aikin’s emotional state of mind is revealed when, long after Jack’s birth and long after he worked with Howard on his books, he wrote to the editor of the Gentleman’s Magazine My hands … tremble with indignation and horror while I copy it (the charge against Howard); and scarcely can I contain myself within temperate bounds, whilst I refute

1. Aikin J, A View of the Character and Public Services of the late John Howard, Esq., LLD FRS, J Johnson, London, 1792, p.30. 2. Universal Magazine, Vol. LX, Part 1, 416-418.

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a slander black as hell, against a man whose unparalleled benevolence rendered him the pride and ornament of human nature.3

One incident in particular gave rise to the accusation of mistreatment, and it is worth telling the whole story as it was written in 1790 in a letter by the Reverend Meredith Townsend, the pastor at Stoke Newington from approximately 1752 to 1790. The recipient, the Reverend Palmer, sent it to the editor of the Universal Magazine in 1796 because the controversy — six years after Howard’s death — still persisted. Some years ago, several stories were circulated, on purpose, no doubt, to tarnish the

character of this illustrious character; among which it seemed to be a favourite one, that he was so exceedingly severe and cruel in the treatment of his son, as to lay a foundation for the unhappy state of mind he is now in; particularly, that for some offence he committed when a child, he once locked him up for several hours in a solitary place, having soon after gone to Bedford with the key in his pocket and did

not return till night. From what I know of Mr Howard, I was persuaded that this

dismal story was an absolute falsehood: but had it not in my power to contradict it, till I had an opportunity of mentioning it to him, which I did at his next visit, and

then received from him an account of the following incident, which he supposed

must have given rise to the scandalous report. It was Mr Howard’s constant practice to walk out with his child while the servants were at dinner. In one of these little

excursions, with master Howard in his hand (who was then about three years old)

the father being much entertained with the innocent prattle of his son, they went

on till they came to the root house or hermitage in a retired part of the garden, with which the young gentleman was familiarly acquainted, and were there for some time, diverting one another. During this, the servant came in great haste to inform

his master that a gentleman on horseback was at the door, and desired to speak with Mr Howard immediately, upon business of some importance; and as he wished to

be with him as soon as possible, he said to his son, “Jack, be a good boy and keep

quiet, and I shall come very soon to you again” and so, locking the door, to prevent the child from going out and prowling about the garden by himself to the hazard

3. Aikin J, Letter to Gentleman’s Magazine, written in Yarmouth, dated April 15th 1790 quoted in Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard the Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London, 1818, p.643.

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of getting some mischief, he put the key in his pocket, and ran to the person as fast

as he could. The conversation between them lasted much longer than expected, and put the thought of the child out of his mind. Upon the gentleman’s departure he

asked the servant where Jack was and received for answer, that he supposed him to be in the root-house where he had been left. And then instantly recollecting the incident, he flew to set him at liberty, and found him quietly asleep on the matting of the floor; and when he was waked, could not perceive that the confinement had made any disagreeable impressions upon his mind.4

The Other Side of It

Aikin conceded Howard’s preoccupation with the need for obedience, but explained that his manner of attaining this was not harmful. Indeed, he writes, “Mr H has more than once affirmed to me, that he never struck his son in his life, which is certainly what few indulgent parents could say”.5 Baldwin Brown noted It is agreed, on all hands, that he entertained the most exalted notions of the authority of the head of a family;–notions derived rather from the Scriptural history of patriarchal times, than from any of our modern codes of ethics, or systems of education.6

Baldwin Brown gives another, different account of the Root House incident, supplied by the Reverend Lewin, of Liverpool, who claimed to have been present at the time and absolved John Howard from any offence because he believed it to have been an accident. More examples are quoted to evidence Howard’s conduct as a parent. These mention his enjoyment in watching Jack playing with his toys and his tolerance of him, his gentle handling of him and his patient affection towards him, but they also include — to demonstrate Jack’s obedience — his giving instructions to Jack to walk without

4. Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard the Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London,1818, pp.646-647. 5. Aikin J, Letter to Gentleman’s Magazine, op.cit. 6. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., p.55.

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The Curious Mr Howard his shoes, or to remain in one place until he had permission to move, and his alleged “habit” of locking Jack in the Root House. In Cardington, Jack had his carts and wheelbarrows, and tools to dig and delve with in the garden, of a size

proportioned to his age, and power to use them without danger of hurting himself; and he was suffered to draw his childish vehicles in and out of the house at his pleasure. He would load and unload his cart with leaves and draw it backward and

forward between the garden and the parlour, in which his father was sitting, by the hour, together.7

And, according to a family who attended the Old Meeting on Sundays, Howard used to lift him up upon the seat and set him down again when he was tired of

standing; as soon as ever he could read, looked out the hymns for him which the congregation was singing. Whilst standing up, during the time that the minister

was engaged in prayer, he had always his arms round the waist of his child, who would stroke his shoulder with his little hands, play with his buttons, and give other

marks of of being in the habit of treating his father with the most perfect freedom and familiarity …8

The Discussion Continued

D L Howard, writing well over a hundred years after Baldwin Brown, in 1958, states From the beginning, he applied a Spartan code of rules which may well have

contributed to the insanity which the child developed in early manhood. Even in his charity to the poor, Howard was never indulgent: he gave only when he consid-

ered there was good cause for doing so. There was a complete absence of indulgence in his attitude towards his boy. The young Howard was expected to obey his father’s 7. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., p.52. 8. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., p.54.

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every wish instantly and without hesitation, and Howard informed friends, with

apparent pride, that the lad would put his finger into the fire at once, if his father ordered him to do so.9

Weighing-up these various accounts and explanations, today’s readers are even less likely to discover the truth than those who recounted the stories often at second or third hand after a distance of anywhere between 20 years (Aikin published his biography after the death of Howard but before that of Jack) and 200 years after these things were or might have been taking place. The stories will not alter, but interpretations do and will. Had his own father been fierce? There is reference to J Howard being devout, strict and frugal, but no-one can be sure whether he was as insistent on obedience as his son seems to have been. He probably was. Whether he was aware of it or not, John Howard repeated some aspects of his own formal upbringing, and they brought about very different consequences for Jack than they did for him. Jack was schooled from the very beginning as to what he could do and what he could not do, and what he should be and what he should not be. More than most parents, Howard would have said, “Because I say so” and, even more likely, “Because God says so”, with great frequency. Of course, such behaviour is not incompatible with him enjoying and loving Jack. One person described how Howard used to bring Jack out to see his visitors and display him to them with pride, but it seems to be the case that his desire that Jack obey him mattered far more than his desire for Jack to be close to him. It is hard to conclude other than that John Howard was indeed a stern and dominating father who would no more let his child cross him than he would his wife. Even Aikin concedes, “I have authority to say that Mr Howard was at length sensible that he had in some measure mistaken the mode of forming his son to that character he wished him to acquire”.10 More than 20 years later Howard was to write both to his estate manager, John Prole and to the man who was probably his closest friend, the

9. Howard D L, John Howard: Prison Reformer, Christopher Johnson, London, 1958, p.31. 10. Aikin J, op. cit., p.32.

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The Curious Mr Howard Reverend Smith, lamenting Jack’s unhappy state and the fact that he had not been properly mothered: A great loss to Children is their Mother; for they check and form their Minds, curbing the corrupt passions of pride and self Will, which is seen very early in Children.

And My Son’s conduct is a bitter affliction to me, the loss of his Mother and such a Mother, to check and guide the Infant passions … 11

One of the arguments quoted by those who support the John Howard, “Philanthropist of the World!” school is a belief that no such man would fail to look after his own son properly — let alone treat him so badly that the boy would become mad. Indeed, Baldwin Brown is so keen to vindicate Howard that he makes a statement which is as surprising as it is wrong: This charge (of cruelty to Jack) is … so revolting to the feelings of our nature, so utterly inconsistent with all the ordinary principles of human action, that we could

not, without the most unimpeachable evidence, believe it to be true of any individual, even in the lowest and most degraded walks of life.12

Did he really believe that virtually no adult had ever been cruel to their child? If so, he must have missed not only some Biblical texts, but the insalubrious parts of contemporary life that artists and writers like Hogarth and Defoe were depicting.

11. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., pp.454 and 462. 12. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., p.42.

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Getting on With Life With Harriet’s death, life at Cardington had changed completely. For Howard, his wife’s absence outweighed Jack’s presence. In the spring and summer of 1765 father and son weathered the tragedy of Harriet’s death in their own separate ways. While Jack would not have been properly conscious of his great loss and the impact it was having and would have on his life, Howard was only too aware of what it meant. As well as having a motherless child, it meant he had no-one to be intimate with, no-one to share his projects with, no-one to share the garden with. It meant he had no-one. This had happened before, less than ten years earlier. Then, he had lost Sarah, and before that he had lost his mother, step-mother and father. John Howard must have turned to God to seek a way through, and his faith — which was to manifest itself even more fervently as his life proceeded —must have sustained him. It is worth attempting to define what he believed in and assess how profound its influence was on him. Aikin writes, His attachment to religion was a principle imbibed from his earliest years, which

continued steady and uniform through life. The body of Christians to whom he

particularly united himself were the Independents, and his system of belief was that

of the moderate Calvinists. But though he seems early to have made up his mind as to the doctrines he thought best founded, and the mode of worship he most

approved, yet religion abstractedly considered, as the relation between man and his

Maker, and the grand support of morality, appears to have been the principle object of his regard. He was less solicitous about modes and opinion, than the internal spirit of piety and devotion; and in his estimate of different religious societies, the

circumstances to which he principally attended, were their zeal and sincerity. … It

was his constant practice to join in the service of the establishment when he had

not the opportunity of attending a place of dissenting worship; and though he was warmly attached to the interests of the party he espoused, yet he had that true spirit

of catholicism, which led him to honour virtue and religion wherever he found them, and to regard the means only as they were subservient to the end.13 13. Aikin J, op. cit., pp.15-16.

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The Curious Mr Howard Calvinism emphasised that God was sovereign and ruled everything, and Howard’s adherence to this principle can be seen clearly in many journal entries, letters and anecdotes. But while these certainly reveal his core religious beliefs, the values he rates highly, such as kindness, benevolence and alleviation of suffering are those which many people today might describe as humanitarian rather than Christian. Even if they did not share his particular beliefs, Howard’s early biographers were all Christian and they therefore interpreted his life through a Christian lens. However it should be noted that Christianity is mentioned less in the two biographies written in 1958. In 1765 John Howard was firmly established in his house and in his village. In the previous 20 years or so he had lived, variously, in St Paul’s Churchyard, and Clapton, and two different addresses in Stoke Newington, and Brockenhurst. At least he now had a proper home and an established place in Cardington where he was known and liked by villagers, the Whitbreads, other landowners and ministers. On the earlier occasions when he had lost members of his family and his first wife, he had been alone and unrooted. But despite being settled he was lost without Harriet, and despite his continuing faith in God his spirit, his energy and his health declined. It was only very slowly and gradually that he began to pick up the threads of his life. And Jack. What was he to do with the child? Indeed, what was he to do with himself now that the heart had gone out of his life? The simultaneous bereavement and the sudden responsibility of a child was a double blow, even as he welcomed Jack into the world. He may have seen it as a test which he could not but accept as necessary and right because it was God’s will. There was only one course of action: he had to get on with his life; he had to keep going. Throughout his life he made it quite clear that he did not fear death, and occasionally his words could be interpreted as a readiness to take his own life. However, he could not have done this because, despite his grief, he would have believed that taking his life would be wrong in the eyes of God and the law. At the time, committing suicide was considered to be a crime as much as committing robbery was. Moreover, he usually had a very positive attitude to life and plenty of practical energy. It seems that for over a year Howard laid low, just getting on with what had to be done. He may have been written to and invited out by sympathetic and kind people, but it is hard to know whether he had real personal 92

Jack and Restlessness support. Indeed, some people may have thought that he should have “got over” Harriet’s death. After all, such bereavements were commonplace. But he did not recover from it easily, and within eighteen months his health was so poor he had to go to Bath again to take the waters. He stayed there in November and December 1766. Today it is difficult to imagine a single parent not seeing their infant for weeks, let alone two months, but this is what he did, and it was an indicator of what was to follow. While in Bath his interest in meteorology re-surfaced and he sent a letter to William Watson,14 another FRS, “giving some observations on the Heat of the Waters at Bath”. It was received on January 30th 1767, and read before the Royal Society on 2nd April. This extract, like his first paper, was fairly mundane and presented old information (the research dated from 1765), but at least it demonstrated that he was thinking about something other than his loss. When I had the pleasure of seeing you (Mr Watson) in London, you thought some explanation of the paper, upon the heat of the Bath-waters, necessary. The observations, I assure you, were made with great care. The three first of them were made at

the pump, where the waters are usually drunk. I went several times into the king’s and queen’s, baths; and took them where the springs rise in the king’s bath, which is

the warmest part, and the most distant, from thence the coolest. The pump in that

bath corresponded with the upper pump. This I mention; as in the other two baths, the thermometers did not rise, by one degree, so high as in the upper pumps; though I had the pumps worked a considerable time, to warm the pipes.15

Howard then returned from Bath to Cardington, but he was only there for a month or so before resolving to travel.

14. William Watson became a close friend of William Herschel, whose interest in mathematics and lenses led to his discovery of Uranus. 15. The Royal Society, Philosophical Transactions, January 1, 1767, Vol. 57, pp.201-202.

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Abroad Again Why did he want to leave home again so soon? Though his physical health had improved, his emotional strength had not, and he found himself unable to settle back into Cardington. Indeed, his desire to distance himself from the place indicates that he found being there virtually unbearable. Whether he found it so because Harriet was not there, or because of once happy memories that now hurt him to recall, or because of having to face up to the painful reality of what his life now consisted of, it is clear that he needed not only to get away but to stay away for a substantial period of time. So, by May 1767, he was already planning to visit Holland with his brother-in-law, Joseph Leeds. On May 5th he also sent a warm invitation to his friend Richard Gough, asking him to join them. Although Gough was 32, John Howard made a point of assuring Mrs Gough, Richard’s mother (known for her over-mothering) that he would be well looked after. Dear Sir, Having fix’t with my Brother Leeds, the tour thro’ Holland, about the week after

next, I seem desireous If I could persuade You to take the journey with us for about a Month, as I am certain you will be highly entertained with the excessive pleasant-

ness of Holland. In the Spring of the year all is a neat beautiful Garden, and not wanting in antiquities to entertain a Gentleman who has a turn that way; expence

of traveling is less there than in England, and dress not more regarded, care of a

young Voyager permit me to assure Mrs Gough, shall not be wanting. I am sure, on the review, it will be a pleasing jaunt to my friend; as such, I could not go without giving you a line, being with much Esteem, Dear Sir Your Mt. Humble Servant, Jno. Howard16

16. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., p.50.

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Jack and Restlessness Gough was already established as an antiquarian, for that very year he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, and in 1771 he became the society’s director, a prestigious position he held until 1797. He was also, like Howard, interested in meteorology and kept a meteorological journal. Gough politely declined the invitation, citing other commitments. However, it is not hard to imagine that if he knew Howard well he might have considered him a rather difficult travelling companion. Howard would not have found it easy if Leeds or Gough were to contradict where he had planned that they should go, or stay, or eat. There could well have been disagreements. Despite the optimistic mention of the word jaunt (an extremely un-Howardly word) Gough is likely to have known that Howard was low in spirits, which could have made things even more awkward. So it was just Joseph Leeds who set off with Howard for “the excessive pleasantness of Holland”, and they may have been there in time to witness the kermesse which Thomas Nugent was to describe a little later in his The Grand Tour. The month of May is distinguished at The Hague by the kermis or fair, which is held

at this time and lasts a week. The beau monde used to go in masquerade about the streets on this occasion, and to divert themselves several other ways, as is done during the carnival at Venice. But the principal diversion now is walking about the fair and

buying sundry commodities, or riding post chaises, which from their lightness are properly called phaetons; common people divert themselves in playhouses which are

erected at that time on purpose; some of them deserve to be seen for their drollery.17

And Home Again Howard returned in June or July, when Jack was just over two years old and at the stage where he would have been walking and saying his first words, delighting those who cared for him and becoming his own, individual self. Part of this would have been wanting to do, to touch and to go to things 17. Nugent T, The Grand Tour, Birt, Browne, Miller and Hawkins, London, 1778, 3rd ed, p.116.

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The Curious Mr Howard and places he was not supposed to do, to touch or to go to. So while exploring Howard House and its grounds, he would have been coming up against the word No. When Jack cried, Howard is said to have quietened him by taking him on his lap and stroking him until he calmed down. It sounds an ideal solution, but any parent who has experienced a fraught two-year -old knows that circumstances often do not allow it and that stroking does not always work. At around this time Howard asked the Reverend Meredith Townsend from London to baptise Jack, and this was done at Cardington. According to Baldwin Brown it was done “in the presence of the servants of the family and a few of its more intimate friends”. Who were they? A Whitbread or two, perhaps, and some of the Leeds family? Could Anna Howard have been there? It must have been an occasion of mixed emotions for everyone, with Howard listening carefully to the minister, yet conscious of the small, respectful group thinking about Harriet, the baby’s future and his own future.

Potatoes John Howard passed another year at Cardington continuing his projects, attending church, and growing potatoes. On December 21st 1768 he sent to the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce, “A Paper Relative to the Cultivation of a New Species of Potatoes”. As I have the Honour to be a Member of the Society I would beg leave to lay

before them the Account of the Increase of a Species of a Potatoe which was not

known in England by all the enquiries I could make till I propigated them. In the

year 1765 I was at Clifton near Bristol when I was informed a Person had brought

from America a new Potatoe, with some trouble I procured half a dozen as they had

planted what was brought over, and that Autumn I planted three and the Spring succeeding the other three in my Garden and Cardington in Bedfordshire. I planted

them in Hillocks about six feet asunder, the strength of the stems and largeness

of the blossom and apples gave me the pleasing prospect of great Increase and so

I found they had Increased far beyond any of the common sort and which I had encouraged our Cottagers to cultivate. When I took them up in the Autumn 1766

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the weight from each potatoe’s produce was 26 to 36 Pounds and a half. I sent for two of the Bedford Gardeners who serve the market to see them taken up, and they

were surprised at the Great Increase to whom and almost all our Cottagers I gave some … 18

Things moved on because a little later in February 1769 he wrote to the Royal Society of Arts again: Sir, When I had the pleasure of seeing you on Wednesday you desired when I

should send more of the New Potatoes to direct them to you, of which I proposed

accompanying this Letter, but as I still (think) many further usefull questions may be askt relative to this prolifick root, and as the Gentleman advanced by the

Committee “that the poorer the Ground the greater the increase” the contrary of which I am fully convinced. Those reasons will induce me to come up to Town to attend the Committee next Monday and I will bring a Hamper of them with me, as

I should rejoice in giving all the information I can relative to the successful cultiva-

tion thereof. I will desire a Tent near Town and a Gentleman who both have had some of them to attend a Monday or Wednesday and I will try before I come to

Town whither Hogs are fond of them unboiled which I greatly doubt unless forced by Hunger. I am, Sir, Yr. Very Hum Servant, John Howard 19

Despite the confusing punctuation and construction of this letter, Howard’s enthusiasm for the “prolifick root” shines through. The Georgians were very keen on potatoes, and the variety Howard was growing was, it seems, something like today’s Pink Fir, which have pink skins and adhere to each other in clusters. 18. Archive of the Royal Society of Arts, PR.GE/110/26/ 71, Feb. 1769. 19. Archive of the Royal Society of Arts, PR.GE/110/26/70, Feb 1769.

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Two Decisions But potatoes were not enough to stave off his negative thoughts and feelings. He was, no doubt, suffering from what would now be called depression. He did not have access to the drugs available today, but he could reach God through prayer, and there was part of him which was still able to be positive and get on with things. He made two important decisions: that Jack should go to school at Michaelmas (September) and that he should make another visit abroad. He determined to visit Italy, and he again invited Richard Gough to join him: Dear Sir, I have heard you express a desire of seeing Italy, I could not go abroad without

writing how much Your company would add to my pleasure, as our thoughts relative to the gay and expensive Schemes are similar. My Boy going from me to School, I intend Abt. the 21st of Sepr, Crossing the Water for Calais, so to the southern part

of France to Geneva, or going in a Leghorn or Naples Ship by sea, as would afford

greater variety, and not be so fatigueing or expensive as by Land both ways, the accommodations aboard those Ships being far preferable to any of the Packets. Shall probably be at Geneva about Xmas, where I intend fixing my Winter Quarters. I am

sure I shd be very happy if the Scheme was agreeable to you, as I intend it a frugal one appearing as an English Gentleman without glare or show; the passage, with a genty20 table always fresh meat or fowls 20 guineas You will favour me the first

Opportunity with a line.

I am, Sir, Your friend and servant, J. Howard Cardington, Augt. 30 1769

20. Genteel.

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P.S. one of my servts. will be a Monday at Mr Tatnall’s at Theobals and returns that

Evening; perhaps it might be as convenient to favour me with a line by him. Yrs. J.H. 21

From this letter one learns more of Howard’s keen wish not to travel alone, of his frugality, of his preferred mode of conduct (no glare or show), of his connection with the Tatnalls and his intention to be away at Christmas. The Theobals mentioned must refer to the area around Theobalds Park, a stately home near Cheshunt which at that time belonged to the Prescott family who built it. It would be intriguing to know whether Howard extended his invitation to anyone else, and if so, to whom? Or was Gough the only person he asked? If so, it suggests a real lack of close friends, and, as his life went on, this fact seems to be a significant constant. But Gough declined once again. The school John Howard chose for Jack was in Cheshunt. It seems that he decided on a girls’ school because of Jack’s extreme youth: he was only four and a half years old, and he was going to be a boarder. Howard must have thought that a boys’ school would be too rough, or he may have chosen this particular school in the same way that his father chose the Tower School in that it could have been recommended to him and was within reach of the Tatnalls and Cholmleys. Whatever the situation, the outcome was that Jack was taken away from all he was familiar with to a new place and new people, just as Howard had been. This uprooting was to be the first of many. After the long journey from Cardington, Howard, (unless perhaps it was a servant who was carried out this task), must have lifted Jack down from the carriage, then asked for Jack’s case to be carried in. He would have been quiet and gentle with the boy. Someone would have come to greet them, and he would have kissed Jack and said goodbye. Did Jack cry as he was led off? Did Howard have any doubts about separating the child from his home, knowing he would not see him for many months? Back in Cardington, and perhaps very much wishing he had a companion, Howard altered his original plans slightly, made arrangements for his absence and set off again.

21. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., pp.70-71.

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On the Road Servants Three of the men John Howard employed came to play important roles in his life. Thomas Thomasson (sometimes spelled Tomson, especially in documents referred to later in this work) was only 16 or 17 years of age when he first came to work at Cardington. His initial role seems to have been to entertain and supervise Jack when Jack was not at school or in the care of adults, but he also began to accompany Howard on his travels as his serving man. He may be the servant referred to in the letter to Gough, but the part he plays in this story has hardly begun. He clearly made a good initial impression, but his parents refused to let him accompany his new master abroad. When Howard went to visit them to see if he could change their minds, he failed, but the lad took himself off to work elsewhere until Howard returned. Little is known of Thomasson’s background other than that his family lived near Cardington. He could write, so he may well have gone to school (but not in Cardington, for there was no school there when he was a child). He kept some sort of journal at certain times of his life, but this no longer exists. One important letter remains, however: the one he wrote to Samuel Whitbread from Kherson in Ukraine, when Howard was close to death. He was clearly not a practised writer, but he conveyed his meaning perfectly well. This letter is returned to later, and also Thomasson. John Prole, employed as a coachman at first, came to take on the more responsible job of estate bailiff or manager, and he married Harriet’s serving maid. After this, Howard felt it unfair to take him travelling and away from his wife. Although there were some occasions when he accompanied Howard and Thomasson did not, he was usually the one who was left in charge of everyday affairs and the estate workers when Howard was away. Prole was a reliable, responsible man who was to work for his master for 30 101

The Curious Mr Howard years, and when Howard left for Italy in the autumn of 1769, it was Prole who was left in charge. The third employee was Joshua Crockford, the gardener, who also worked loyally for Howard for many years. Prole, Thomasson and Crockford meant a great deal to Howard, and he was to remember each of them in his will. So, presumably with a servant, Howard sailed to Calais, then travelled down to the south of France and so to Geneva where he spent a few weeks. As winter approached, he went on to Milan and Turin, and he found himself subject to a range of different moods and emotions.

Thoughts While Away On November 26th 1769 he complained in his journal about Roman Catholicism When men leave the holy word and set up own Inventions, God often leaves

them — then how low do they fall! — Blessed be God who has called us Protestants out of Darkness into his marvelous light — make me more sencible! more thankful oh my God! How much Reason have I to bless God for the Reformation: how is religion debased into Show and Ceremony here in Italy.1

A few days later, on November 30th, his journal was fraught with despair and soul-searching, and ended with an urgent postscript This Night my trembling Soul almost longs to take its flight to see and know

the wonders of redeeming Love — join the triumphant Choir — Sin and Sorrow fled away — God my Redeemer in all! — Oh! happy Spirits that are safe in those mansions.2

1. Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard the Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London, 1818, p.77. 2. Ibid, p.79.

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On the Road As things went on, was being alive too hard for him to bear? John Howard was not a demonstrative man, and he was not given to baring his soul to others nor to making speeches. He was usually quiet, reflective and polite, and rarely did anything to draw attention to himself. It is only journal entries like this one which give insights into his desperation, his vulnerability and his passion. The brief extract above could certainly be interpreted as a desire to be freed from the pain inherent in his life and to be somewhere much better with God. But similar texts held another more positive feature: brief mentions of his son. Over the next 20 years Howard was away from Jack for many, many months at a time, and he made only minimal reference to him in his correspondence. It appears that, in general, when they were apart Jack all but fell out of Howard’s consciousness. Every now and then the boy got a mention, as if he were a suddenly remembered anchor to another part of Howard’s life. For example, on June 17th 1770, when in Rome, Howard wrote in his journal, “Almighty God my preserver hoping I shall be carried safely to my native Country and Friends and see the face of my dear Boy in Peace remember then Oh my Soul to cultivate a more serious humble thankful and resigned Temper of Mind!”3 However, it may be the case that he wrote to him and thought about him regularly, and there were certainly times when he recorded that he thought about “his dear boy” every hour. Occasionally he asked the person to whom he was writing to convey a message to his son. From Italy, Howard made his way back to Geneva and Paris, before heading for Holland again, en route for England. On January 4th 1770 he wrote from Abbeville to the Reverend Joshua Symonds at the Old Meeting in Bedford. After I landed in France my first object was Geneva, where I spent some time before

I went into Italy. The luxury and wickedness of the inhabitants would ever give a thinking mind pain, amidst the richest country, abounding with the noblest produc-

tions of human power and skill. I was seven days re-crossing the Alps. The weather was very cold: the thermometer 11 degrees below the freezing point. The quick 3. Ibid, p.96.

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descent by sledges on the snow.. may perhaps afford a little entertainment some winter’s evening. … There are some exemplary persons: yet the principles of one of the vilest men (Voltaire) with the corruptions of the French … have greatly debased its ancient purity and splendour. I spent about ten days at the dirty city of Paris. The

streets are so narrow, and no footpaths, that there is no stirring except in a coach; and as to their hackney carriages, they are abominable. There were but few English at Paris. I dined with about twenty at our ambassador’s (Lord Harcourt).4 I am now

on my route to Holland, a favourite country of mine; the only one, except our own, where propriety and elegance are mixed. Above all I esteem it for religious liberty.

Thus, dear Sir, I am travelling from one country to another; and I trust, with some

good hope, through abundant grace to a yet better. My knowledge of human

nature should be enlarged by seeing more of the tempers, tastes and dispositions of different people; — but shudder, my soul, at the glimpse of a thought of its dignity and excellence — for “how is the gold become dross”.

I bless God I am well. I have a calm and easy flow of spirits, I am preserved and

supported through not a little fatigue. I always loved my Cardington friends, but I think distance makes me love them more.5

This letter (better written than some of his hurried missives) demonstrates some of John Howard’s key attitudes. Again, there is reference to a desire for frugality and sobriety, and a criticism of Paris which was unfair, given the state of London at the time. Howard was usually a man of generous spirit, and his opinion of men’s conduct as wickedness was unusual. For example, it was rare for him to refer to a prisoner as wicked, even if he or she had done something terrible. It is also interesting to have early evidence that, like many gentlemen travellers, he was in a position to dine with the British Ambassador — something that became a regular practice for him across Europe. Voltaire was nearing the end of his long life. He was well-known for his writing, his wit and his advocacy of civil liberties, so it was perhaps his

4. The ambassador was Simon Harcourt, First Earl Harcourt. 5. Ibid, pp.81-2.

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On the Road belief as a deist — that God’s existence can be verified through reason, rather than through faith and organised religion–that Howard could not stomach. The phrase “I am travelling from one country to another” is significant because it is so true and so simple. Travelling from one country to another was precisely what Howard spent much of his life doing. Although the large majority of his journeys were carried out in connection with his visits to prisons, lazarettos and other institutions, he had by this time already been to Lisbon and to Holland in addition to a Grand Tour, and was thus a welltravelled man. If one could reckon up the hours spent in gaols and the ones spent travelling between them, the latter would be the greater. And what should be made of his comment about how distance increased his love of people in Cardington? That he intended to stay away? At this point of the story, before he began his prison work, he seemed confused about what Cardington meant to him. Did he merely wanted to be away from there, or did he actively prefer to be somewhere else?

The Business of Travelling Making the sort of journeys Howard undertook would not have been at all easy. Howard was critical of French hackney carriages (one or two horsedrawn vehicles available for private hire), but he would also have ridden in a range of stage coaches (four or six horse-drawn coaches with up to eight first-class passengers inside and the second-class passengers on the roof or in a basket at the back, and with set routes, fares and timings), and postchaises (upholstered and sprung four horse-drawn coaches which carried two passengers and mail). There must have been problems with postillions, roads, routes, weather, fares, axles, wheels, currency, passports, horses, luggage, inns, highwaymen, language, but difficulties did not deter him. Indeed, coping with all of these was clearly a challenge he relished. Of course he was not alone in liking to travel, but when Samuel Johnson told Boswell, “If I had no duties and no reference to futurity, I would spend my life travelling briskly in a post-chaise with a pretty woman” he was clearly not thinking of travel as Howard knew it. 105

The Curious Mr Howard Early in 1770, while at The Hague, Howard made a longish entry in his journal, which began I would record the goodness of God to the unworthiest of his Creatures — for some

days past an habitual serious frame relenting for my Sin and folly applying to the Blood of Jesus Christ, solemnly surrendering myself and Babe (i.e. Jack) to Him beging the conduct of his holy Spirit.- I hope a more tender conscience by a greater fear of offending God — a Temper more abstracted from this World more resigned

to death or Life thirsting for union and Communion with God as my Lord and my God.6

Baldwin Brown commented, “To some of my readers, this may appear to be the language of enthusiasm; the wild ravings of a fanatic”. It may indeed, though according to that writer “there was method in his madness” and he explained the odd, rather extreme text within the framework of Howard’s beliefs and character in an entirely positive light. But what are readers to make of it now, some 240 years after John Howard sat down in some Dutch inn, pulled out his quill, unstoppered his ink and tried to put his urgent, desperate feelings on paper? It is bizarre writing. Though he clearly was not mad, journal entries like this one (and another from April 4th in Lyons) give some idea of his disturbed and restless spirit and heart. Once in Holland he apparently felt unwell again and decided not to go home after all, so in March he turned round and went south again. His travels continued: Avignon, Aix, Marseille, Toulon, Antibes. “From thence I sailed in a felucca to Nice and Monaco” then on to Genoa, Pisa, Leghorn, Florence, Siena and so to Rome in May 1770. It was an exhausting itinerary, and though some of it reveals that he was noticing and appreciating what he saw, there was often a sense of speed and rush. He had now been on the road for about eight months, which could hardly have been restful. Eight months is a long time to live out of a couple of trunks. As made clear above, he was a wealthy gentleman who did not need to work, but it appears that at this time he had no plan at all other than to keep on the move, see

6. Ibid, p.83.

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On the Road the sights, and set out on the road again. It is hard not to conclude that he seemed to be travelling for the sake of travelling. In a letter to the Reverend Symonds dated May 22nd 1770 he wrote Since I left Holland, and all through the southern part of France, and over the

Appenine mountains into Italy, I travelled not a mile with any of our countrymen.

Those mountains are three or four days in passing: for many, many miles, there is

hardly a three foot road, with precipices into the sea, I should guess, three times the height of St Paul’s; but the mules are so sure-footed there is nothing to fear, though the road is also very bad. Through the mercy and goodness of God I travel pleasantly

on. I have an easy calm flow of spirits. A little tea equipage I carry with me, with which I regale, and little regard if I have nothing else.7

Then he outlined to the Reverend Symonds his plan to visit Naples, Loretto, Ancona, Bologna and Venice, and rejoiced again in the fact that he was a Protestant. There is never any mention of a companion. Of course there would have been other passengers and servants, and people dealing with the horses and coaches, but it seems that he travelled and ate alone most of the time. Remembering his wish to have Gough with him, how must that have felt to him?

Covenant On May 27th 1770, in Naples, John Howard wrote a particular text. It was a covenant. The writing of covenants was something that many Dissenters did. Baldwin Brown defines its essence as the consecration of “all that he had and all that he was, to his Maker and to God; not forgetting especially to include in this solemn dedication, as next in value to his own soul, his dear child”. He points out too “The spirit of fervent piety, of deep humility, of ardent love to God, of devotedness to his service, and to the relief of his suffering creature, which it breathes in every sentence”.8 7. Ibid, p.89. 8. Ibid, p.92.

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The Curious Mr Howard The outpourings contained many references to love, mercy and goodness but more to sin, sorrow and guilt. Its vocabulary, unorthodox punctuation and questions accentuate Howard’s volatile state of mind. Here are two short extracts: It is the Presence of God that makes the Happiness of every place so Oh my Soul!

keep close to Him in the amiable light of redeeming Love and amidst the Snares thou art particularly exposed to in a Country of such wickedness and folly stand thou in Awe and Sin not — commune with thine Own heart

Lord I believe help my unbelief shall I limit the Grace of God! can I fathom his goodness! Here on this Sacred Day I once more in the Dust before the Eternal

God acknowledge my Sins heineous and agravated in his Sight I would have the deepest Sorrow and contrition of Heart and cast my guilty and poluted Soul on thy Sovereign Mercy in the Redeemer.9

What did he mean by “my sins heineous and agravated?” Surely they were entirely imaginary? If not, there must be some key part of Howard’s character and conduct which is completely hidden and has yet to be discovered: a highly unlikely scenario.10 Whatever this covenant meant, it was clearly important for over the years he continued to write similar things in his journals, and he renewed it nearly 20 years later in Moscow, just a few months before he died.

More Sights, More Thoughts On June 13th 1770 he wrote from Rome to Mary, Whitbread’s new wife. In his letter, Howard reflects on Naples. I confess that I had seen nothing before I came to Rome. I had often read of the Laocoon, The Apollo, the Gladiators, the Pantheon and Coliseum, the paintings of 9. Ibid, pp.93-94. 10. Howard was not the only person of the 18th century who castigated themselves without, seemingly, any reason for doing so. Dr Johnson recorded similar bouts of mental anguish.

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Raphael, Titian and Guido, yet the descriptions fell far short,–as it does also of the

magnificence and elegance of St Peter’s. To that church and the Vatican I go most evenings, the views from the latter being inexpressibly fine. The Pope I have often seen. The worthy good man dispenses with my kneeling. I should tremble to pay that homage to any human creature that I have seen paid to him.

The Pretender passed by me yesterday and I had a full strong view of him. He had

the look of a mere sot, very stupid, dull, and bending double; quite altered to when I saw him twenty years ago in France.

The situation in Naples is fine. As I have the best cartes, it may afford your ladyship some pleasure to see them. I ascended Mount Vesuvius; and when I was up

three parts of the hill, the earth was, by my thermometer, somewhat warmer than the atmosphere. I then took the temperature every five minutes till I got to the

top11. The heat was continually increasing. After I had stood the smoke a quarter of an hour, I breathed freely; so with three men I descended as far as they would go with me, where the earth or brimstone was so heated that, in frequent experi-

ments, it raised my thermometer to 240, which is near 30 hotter than boiling water, and in some places it fired the paper I put in. As these experiments have never

before been made, I thought the account of them might afford your ladyship some entertainment.12

Mary Whitbread had married Samuel on August 18th 1769, at a time when the brewery business was continuing to expand and net Whitbread an average yearly profit of £18,000, an increase in his income which enabled him to buy still more properties and expand his lifestyle. Mary and Howard cannot have known each other well, but the tone of his letters to her was friendly and warm, suggesting a genuine friendship. Perhaps Mary even felt sorry for her rather intense and slightly awkward neighbour? Such a letter would have pleased her because he sounded well; he was busy sightseeing, trudging round galleries and climbing Vesuvius. Despite illness having 11. Howard submitted a paper to the Royal Society about his temperature findings on Vesuvius, and they were published in Philosophical Transactions, January 1, 1771, Vol. 61, pp.53-54. 12. Field J, Correspondence of John Howard, Not Before Published, Longman Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 1855, p.14.

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The Curious Mr Howard delayed his return to England by a couple of months already, he was not resting in bed but appeared to be positively energetic. Mary herself was just pregnant — though she may not have known it at this point, for her baby would not be born until December. She would have noted that Howard showed no sign of wanting to go home. Clearly, something fundamental was preventing him from doing so, but was this fear — and if so, of what? — or was it something else? The Pope whom Howard had seen was Clement XIV, and, in the very month in which Howard was in Rome, he received Leopold Mozart and knighted his son Wolfgang Amadeus who was already fulfilling the promise of his precocious and astonishing musical career. The fourteen-year-old boy had listened to a particular composition by the composer Gregorio Allegri whose music it was forbidden to copy. Anyone playing it outside the Sistine Chapel did so under the threat of excommunication. When Wolfgang Amadeus, however, transcribed the entire work from memory with only minor errors, he won great praise from the Pope. The Pretender Howard saw was the Young Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart, also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie. In 1744 he went to France with the idea of invading England from there with the help of the French, so Howard’s first sighting of him was during his Grand Tour. At the end of his life he went to Italy where he became an irresponsible drunkard, as Howard witnessed. In Rome, sometime in June or July, there was a religious pageant and ceremony. Rather than be interested and excited by it — it was perhaps as impossible to ignore as the Lord Mayor’s processions in London — it made Howard criticise anew the show and pomp of Rome and give thanks yet again that he was a Protestant. It is not known which festival it was, but a big one in Rome in the summer months was held on the Day of St Peter and St Paul to commemorate the martyrdom of both those men. However, Howard must have witnessed many other pageants and in 1769 he bought an Italian Almanack in which he counted up the saints’ days. He found there were eighty, and was horrified by the thought that the need of common people to earn their living was restricted to an extreme degree by the requirement not to work on holy days. 110

On the Road Travelling north via Bologna, he was in Stuttgart by the end of July and in good spirits when he again wrote to Mary Whitbread on July 26th. First he thanked her for visiting Jack, presumably at school in Cheshunt, and it is a great pity that no record exists of what report she made to him about this. Then he criticises the Italians for their “superstitions, folly and nonsense” and for the dirtiness of Venice, before stating, “were I to form the idea of a despicable character, I should think on an Italian”. It is not surprising to know he gave “… the preference to many of our own public places, as Scarborough, Matlock, Bristol &c.. Indeed, in Italy, however magnificent the objects and highly elegant the curiosities may be, we in England have the solid, the substantial and important, which we ought to value above all the rest”.13 Howard ends his letter expressing quite strongly the hope that he will receive a reply from Mary Whitbread at Rotterdam, towards which he was making his way, and sending his compliments to Whitbread. He reached Heidelberg by the end of July, still castigating himself and asking God to pardon him. A couple of lines in his journal, addressed to himself, throw some light on how he regarded travelling: “if thou bringest home a better Temper and art a wiser man then Thou wilt have cause to rejoyce that the great end of travelling is answered”.14 There had been no suggestion when he set out a year earlier that he was doing so with the intention of becoming a better, wiser person, so it seems he found that purpose as he travelled. He continued to Munich, Mentz, Aix and Spa, to whose hot springs, in 1717, Peter the Great attributed his regained youth. This led to the town catering for tourists and having its name become a common noun. In 1770 there were so many English people there (about 400) that Howard thought it felt like an English colony. All in all it sounded as if he was now looking forward to returning in mid-September and to being at home, though Jack is not mentioned again. Stoughton quotes a significant incident from this time which biographers seem to have all but ignored. On August 29th 1770 Howard visited the Pope’s 13. Ibid, p.16. 14. Baldwin Brown J, op.cit., p.97.

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The Curious Mr Howard galleys where he found nearly 1500 prisoners in appalling conditions, making a noise “such as may be imagined at the entrance of hell”. Amongst them were 700 murderers and bandits. ‘They were a ghastly crew, haggard, ferocious, reckless assassins.

‘What are you here for?’ Howard said to a heavy-looking fellow lying on his back. The man would not answer, but a companion said, ‘He is here for stabbing.’ ‘Why is he in this part of the prison?’ ‘Because he is incorrigible.’15

It is intriguing to know that on this visit to Europe, several years before he began his prison work, John Howard chose to see prisoners. It might be thought that this was an important point in his life to which commentators would attribute his vocation, at least in part. However, neither Howard nor any writer makes any such suggestion. This is odd, given the importance attached to his earlier capture by the French. Indeed, it is extraordinary that the particularly horrific sight, sound and smell of these Italian prisoners and their prisons did not evince in him the very same emotions which similar men and places would do so only a few years later in England. Happily, his final journal entry on September 2nd before crossing to England from Rotterdam expressed his gratitude to God for his safe travels and carried a greater sense of hope and optimism than he had expressed earlier. He arranged that Thomas Thomasson (the servant who had not been allowed to go abroad with him) should meet him in London. He did so, and from this time on Thomasson would be a key figure in not only Howard’s life, but in Jack’s also. As it was already September, it is probable that Jack’s summer holiday would have been coming to its end. If he had wanted to see as much of Jack 15. Stoughton J, Howard, the Philanthropist; and His Friends, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1884, p.9.

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On the Road as possible, surely he could have come home earlier? Or was it that Jack was unimportant to him? Or that he wanted to be home again, but not have Jack around? It is difficult to put a positive interpretation on Howard’s seeming lack of desire to prioritise his small son, still only five years old, but perhaps that was not the case at all and the truth was quite different. Whatever the situation was, he finally arrived in England, spent a few days in London, and headed for Cardington with Thomasson. As he passed newly harvested fields and trees beginning to change colour, and heard birds whose calls he recognised, and smelled familiar smells in farms and hedges, what was going on in his head and heart? Was he thinking backwards to his travels, to Harriet’s death, to his life with her? Or was he thinking about returning to his house next to the church, to his village and to his and Jack’s future there?

Home and Off Again One can only guess at what he felt, but within a short time he had left again. Despite having written to Mary Whitbread, “The comfortable, useful and honourable life should be our aim” and attempting to pick up his benevolent activities, he embarked on more travel. D L Howard commented, … the usefulness of Howard’s life at this time was in some danger of suffering from

his pre-occupation with his own health. It is difficult to assess whether his concern with it was justified, but within a few months he left Cardington again, thinking himself ill. 16

And even Baldwin Brown, Howard’s prime supporter, describes the illnesses as “tedious and protracted” and refers to his “debilitated constitution”. What was going on? He had been away a full twelve months, was only home for a matter of weeks, and now was off again. Something was clearly the matter. While he could operate entirely successfully in a varied range of social settings, he could not do so at home. It was as if being there brought 16. Howard D L, John Howard: Prison Reformer, Christopher Johnson, London, 1958, p.37.

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The Curious Mr Howard up emotions and thoughts which were so disturbing that the only way to escape them was to move, and to move often. Baldwin Brown defined the situation as follows, He did not long remain stationary in any part of the country which he visited; but

finding travelling from place to place better calculated to relieve his mental and

bodily pain, than any thing to which he yet had recourse, he made a short tour through some of the counties in the south of Ireland and parts of Wales, where he crossed over, by the New Passage, to Bristol Hot Wells.17

Edward Clarke, the antiquary and mineralogist, was to make the same crossing from the other side 20 years later in 1791: From the Hot-Wells we came through a beautiful county to the New-Passage

House, upon the banks of the Severn. There are no small boats kept at this place, but when passengers arrive too late for the larger vessels, they light a bundle of straw, the smoke of which gives notice to the people on the opposite shore, that some persons are looking to cross over.18

It is interesting that in neither his letters nor his journal did Howard once mention Harriet or give any indication of being sorry for himself. On the contrary, rather than acknowledge to his correspondents or to God that life had been hard, he repeatedly claimed to be unworthy. Was this because he actually thought he was more undeserving and sinful than others, or because he believed God had done as he had done for his own purposes, and it was up to him (Howard) to not only accept that, but to give thanks for it? And, back in Cardington, while noting his philanthropy, what were people making of him as the years went by? Absent father and landlord? Inveterate traveller? Unlucky man? Eccentric vegetarian? Probably a couple of these and more. Setting off again he took Thomasson with him and they went first to Southampton where they found lodgings. It is difficult to know why he went 17. Baldwin Brown J, op.cit., p.100. 18. Clarke D, A Tour Through the South of England, Wales and Part of Ireland Made During the Summer of 1791, Minerva Press, London, 1793, p.158.

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On the Road to that particular place. When at Watcombe ten years earlier he and Harriet must have visited Southampton, but they seemed not to have attended church there because Howard now found himself in need of a minister and had to seek one out. He found a Dissident, the Reverend William Kingsbury, at the Above Bar Congregationalist Church, and the two men became good friends. And then to Wales and Ireland, back through Wales and so to Bristol Hotwells again. On the second day there he was “attacked by the gout, and had a severe fit of it which confined him to his room for six months. During this long illness, Thomasson attended upon Mr Howard with the most watchful and unwearied assiduity”.19 Gout is usually associated with a rich diet and large quantities of alcohol, but from early adulthood John Howard had a frugal diet and drank little. Not surprisingly, getting gout made him resolve never to drink alcohol again, a resolution he adhered to throughout his life. Dr Thomas Sydenham’s 1683 description of an acute gout attack (translated from the Latin in 1850) gives a good idea of what a sufferer might experience. The victim goes to bed and sleeps in good health. About two o’clock in the morning, he is awakened by a severe pain in the great toe; more rarely in the heel, ankle or

instep. This pain is like that of a dislocation, and yet the parts feel as if cold water

were poured over them. Then follows chills and shiver and a little fever. The pain

which at first moderate becomes more intense. After a time this comes to full height, accommodating itself to the bones and ligaments of the tarsus and metatarsus. Now it is a violent stretching and tearing of the ligaments–now it is a gnawing pain and now a pressure and tightening. So exquisite and lively meanwhile is the feeling of

the part affected, that it cannot bear the weight of bedclothes nor the jar of a person walking in the room.20

What did John Howard do while confined to his room for six months experiencing both physical and emotional pain? At least Thomasson proved 19. Farrar J, John Howard, Brown, Shattock, Massachusetts, USA, 1833, p.23. 20. Ruddy, Harris, Sledge (eds.), Kelley’s Textbook of Rheumatology, Saunders/Elsevier, USA, 2001.

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The Curious Mr Howard to be a willing, diligent carer. It must have been an extremely difficult time for him, especially when he received (at about this time, but not necessarily when in Hotwells) the unhappy news of Mary Whitbread’s death during childbirth on December 27th 1790. Howard had lost a friend and, for the second time, Samuel Whitbread had lost a young wife.

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Chapter 6

Home, Shrievalty and Prisons Back to Cardington Howard returned to Cardington somewhere around the summer of 1771, soon after Captain Cook reached Botany Bay and Richard Arkwright created the first spinning mill. On May 20th the minutes of the Agricultural Committee of the Royal Society of Arts recorded the committee’s consideration of “whether any or what mark of the Society’s approbation should be shown to Mr Howard for his Culture of the cluster’d Potatoe and rendering them useful to the Public by means of the Society”. Their decision resulted in Howard being awarded a Gold Medal as a bounty. Despite it being summer he began to suffer from the ague that abounded in the area. This may have been the ailment which had made Henrietta so uncomfortable. There is no mention of his having suffered from it earlier in his life, but now it stayed with him for most of the year. Ague, or malaria (mal aire), was caused by infected mosquitoes, which lived in places such as Bedfordshire’s fenny, stagnant flatlands. It resulted in chills, fevers and shivering, and the local folk remedy was poppy tea. Howard would have treated it with quinine from Peruvian Cinchona bark, which had been dried and made into a powder. Howard’s illness increased his awareness of the need for clean, dry homes and prompted him to continue his improvements to cottages. Baldwin Brown notes that although most of his tenants appreciated all he did, some of those whom John Howard did not consider deserving of one of these desirable properties regarded him as unfair and prejudiced, and that on his death there was considerable gossip about this. There was no doubt that, together with Samuel Whitbread, he continued to create a model village where people had good homes, health, education and work. He wanted his tenants to work to their maximum. He also wanted them to be on good terms with their neighbours, with him and with God. 117

The Curious Mr Howard As well as requiring them to attend a place of worship, he converted one cottage into a place where itinerant ministers could preach. It was so wellattended that he had to knock a wall down into another room and make an opening into the yard behind to admit more people. Howard’s punctilious attention to cleanliness meant he insisted that all floors should be sluiced with water from sinks he had fitted in the cottages and which had to be filled with water carried from somewhere in the village. A decade later Howard and Whitbread were giving financial support to schools and to individual pupils in several local villages as well as in Cardington, The Cardington schoolmistress was Elizabeth Preston and the schoolmaster, James Lilburne. Lilburne went on to do a great deal of meticulous surveying for Whitbread over a period of years. The girls were taught reading and plain needle-work, to fit them for servitude in respectable families, and to become useful and industrious wives to men in their

own station of life, above which it was neither his object to elevate them, nor to

give them the dangerous wish to be elevated. The boys all learned to read, and those who seemed to have the best capacities, or who had conducted themselves with the

greatest propriety, were also taught writing, and the first and most useful rules in

arithmetic; but beyond these they never went, nor was it, perhaps, to their advantage that they should go.1

While the opinions of John Howard (and Baldwin Brown) may make uncomfortable reading today, they were absolutely in line with the hierarchical social structure of the time, and Baldwin Brown’s interpretation of his thinking is likely to have been quite accurate: “though he, in many respects, exercised a control over their conduct, it was constantly exerted for their good; and more nearly resembled that of a kind but prudent parent, over his children, than of a superior over his inferiors”.2 Meanwhile, things were changing in respect of Howard’s attendance at religious services. When in London, he went to the Little Wild Street Meeting where Dr Stennett was the hymn-writing minister. In Cardington, 1. Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard the Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London, 1818, pp.104-5. 2. Ibid, p.108.

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Home, Shrievalty and Prisons although he often went to St. Mary’s church opposite his house, his preferred place of worship was the Old Meeting in Bedford where the minister was Joshua Symonds. Years earlier in his life at Cardington, Howard had made the decision to walk there and back for services rather than have servants drive him. He had bought a house in Bedford next door to the meetinghouse which he let at no cost to the tenants on the understanding that on Sundays he would have the sole use of the parlour, and that he would be provided with a light meal. In 1767 he gave part of the garden of this house to the Old Meeting so the graveyard could be extended and in 1770, when the meeting-house was repaired, he contributed £50 and Whitbread £100 towards a new pulpit, floor, windows and vestry. Unexpectedly, in February 1772, Symonds announced that he had had a change of heart in respect of infants and would no longer baptise them. The right time for baptism was a subject already under discussion by Dissenters and it caused considerable upset and controversy in Bedford for at least two years. The following letter from Howard (who had by then already gone back to Clifton near Bristol, presumably for health reasons) to Thomas Askew Leach (a grocer in Bedford who must have been a member of the Old Meeting), illustrates both his strength of feeling about Symonds’ decision and his inability to write with clarity. Dated September 19th 1772, it is a good example of the latter because no biographer has tried to “tidy it up”. Dear Sir, … Very improper is Mr. S’s conduct how farr consistent with his declaration promise I am not clear in, as actions speak stronger than words. I think you will

recollect tha I thot. Mr S would not keep in even with some of his warmest paedo baptist friends [i.e. those in favour of baptising children], this step must and will

break the Union, as fears will arise if their brethren of the anti-paedo persuasion should have the ascendancy, that they will not grant them the same liberty that they now give them …

Postscript, I intend next week moveing to the Sea side to spend a fortnight at Weymouth … 3

3. Bedford and Luton Archives and Record Service, X420/3/1/3.

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The Curious Mr Howard Howard and others who thought it was right to baptise children and therefore disagreed with Symonds decided to separate from the Bunyan faction (the one supporting the proposed cessation of infant baptism) and meet wherever they could with whatever minister they could until they were able to build another meeting-house in the centre of Bedford. Baldwin Brown quotes one of the temporary ministers, the Reverend Josiah Townsend (Meredith Townsend’s son), as being reported as saying of John Howard at this period, that he was not disposed to talk much and that he sat but a short time at table, and was in motion during the whole day. On the sabbath he ate but little or no dinner, and spent the interval between the morning

and the evening service in a private room, alone. He had prayer in his family every

day, morning and evening, and read the Scriptures himself. He was very abstemious, lived chiefly upon vegetables, ate little animal food, and drank no wine or spirits.

He hated praise; and when (his works of benevolence were mentioned), he spoke of them slightingly, as a “whim of his” and immediately changed the subject.4

Enough money was raised (Howard gave a donation of £200 and an interest-free loan) for a new chapel to be built in 1774. Initially it was known as the Second Church, or New Church, but it then became known as the Howard Church. Despite the controversy Howard remained on good terms with Symonds, and continued contributing a subscription to his stipend. With the appointment of Thomas Smith as the minister for the new chapel, a man Howard liked and was liked by, the turbulent affair began to settle down. Meanwhile, in 1773 Howard was still engaged with his research into potatoes, and had been asked by the Royal Society of Arts to let them know how many bushels he could provide at what cost, so that members could conduct their own trials in a range of locations. But Arthur Young, the agriculturalist, managed to do so first, offering 100 bushels at three shillings a bushel, and this offer was accepted. On March 1st it was decided that a letter be written to Howard thanking him, informing him that the committee was already provided with a supply of potatoes, and stating that the members “are glad to have no occasion to deprive him of the Quantity for which he 4. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit. p.115.

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Home, Shrievalty and Prisons himself has such good uses”. While Young’s potatoes were being distributed amongst one hundred members of the RSA, Howard’s were being planted and eaten in Cardington. Young was influential in naming what had been known only as “the cluster’d potato” as “the Howard potato”, and his journal gives an interesting account of his impression of John Howard in 1772, at this mid-way point in his life: This year I visited Samuel Whitbread, Esq., at Cardington, in Bedfordshire, and as Mr. Howard, who afterwards became so celebrated for his philanthropy, lived in

the same parish, Mr. W. took me to call upon him one morning. He was esteemed a singular character, but was at that time quite unknown in the world. He was then

only famous for introducing a new series of potatoes into cultivation. We found him

in a parlour, without books or apparently any employment, dressed as for an evening

in London — a powdered bag wig, white silk stockings, thin shoes, and every other circumstance of his habiliments excluding the possibility of a country walk. He was

rather pragmatical in his speech, very polite, but expressing himself in a manner that seemed to belong to two hundred years ago. I asked Mr. Whitbread if Mr. Howard

was usually thus dressed and confined to his room, for he was as intimate with Whitbread as with anybody. He had never seen him otherwise, he said, but added that he was a sensible man and a very worthy one.5

Young clearly thought John Howard rather odd. Samuel Whitbread may also have done so, but he was used to his friend and neighbour, saw beyond the oddness and was comfortable with him. But Howard was, in almost everyone’s eyes, somehow a little different. This fact makes it worth considering whether he had what would today be termed a slight disability or personality disorder. If so, even if it compromised his ability to learn at school, it was nothing that rendered him unable to get on with his life and to travel, marry, father a child, manage his affairs and carry out all that he came to do in his extraordinary and busy life. But Young sensed something unusual, and perhaps Gough had done so years earlier when he declined 5. Betham-Edwards M (ed.), The Autobiography of Arthur Young with Selections from his Correspondence, Smith Elder, London, 1898, pp.59-60.

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The Curious Mr Howard Howard’s invitations to go to the continent. Even if this “difference” was not a disability per se, it seems that there was something that prevented him from forming real friendships.

The Making of the Sheriff It is surprising that Howard had time to think about potatoes at all at that time, let alone deliver cartloads of them, for he was already caught up in a totally new venture. A detailed statement written by Whitbread gives a clear picture of what started the next crucial change in his life. In the autumn 1772 my Friend, Mr Howard was nominated for Sheriff for the year 1773.

I think he was in the Isle of Jersey & from thence wrote to me that he would not serve the office being a Protestant Dissenter and Government could not oblige him

to serve; that Mr Ames a gentleman we both knew in Somersetshire6 had been

excused for that same reason & desired that I would wait on the Lord Chancellor & acquaint Him with his reason to be excused.

December 11th 1772 I waited on Lord Chancellor Bathurst7 at His House in

Great Russell Street & told His lordship my business as stated above to which he answered, “Mr Whitbread, is Mr Howard really a protestant Dissenter or does he

like many others use this as an excuse to avoid the office?” I answered, “My Lord I doe believe that Mr Howard is a Protestant Dissenter in the strictest sense. I knew him to be so & and it is not an excuse to avoid the Office but on principle”.

Then the Chancellor said, “Mr Whitbread, he shall be excused”. I then wrote Mr

Howard word that Lord Bathurst promised me he should not be Sheriff.

6. It is interesting to note that the entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography for Levi Ames (1739-1820) states that he was the son of a successful merchant and banker in Bristol. Both father and son were Dissenters. Each served as sheriff, respectively in 1742 and 1771. 7. Lord Bathhurst had been made Baron Apsley in 1771, and in between 1771 and 1778, when he ceased being Lord High Chancellor, Robert Adam designed and built him Apsley House, which became known as Number One, London.

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Sometime after I met Mr Howard at Cardington & told him that Lord Chancellor had been extremely civil & excused him from being Sheriff But asked him why he

pleased this, since he had ability, leisure & a very fitt man in all respects to serve this

Office. He said he could not qualify I told him that was of no consequence, no one would ever ask if he did or did not and there was an Act of indemnity passed for

that very purpose every Session. He said he would consider of it, which I pressed him to do and accept the office.

On seeing him in a day or two he said he had considered of it And I might tell the Chancellor he would serve if appointed.

And I believe it was on 31st January 1773, I was at Court and saw The Chancellor there & told His lordship my Friend Mr Howard had on my request changed his

mind and would now accept of the Office of Sheriff if he was named to it & that he

was certainly a very proper man for it And he was accordingly appointed, now as it were by his own desire.

And I really believe that if Lord Chancellor had not excused him on the request, for

the reason given & had resisted him firmly, he would have ventured life and fortune to avoid being compell’d to it.

This shews the Chancellor’s good sense in complying with the request & the very good effect it had on Mr Howard, who had picqued himself on being excused

because he was a Protestant Dissenter & and now there was no glory to be acquired by resisting, such is poor human nature. 8

This statement, headed “Mr Whitbread’s account of the rise and progress of Mr Howard’s attention to Gaols”, is worth particular attention. It was found at the Whitbread’s estate at Southill amongst files belonging to Samuel Howard Whitbread (1858-1944). Most of these files were deposited at the Bedfordshire County Record Office in the 1930s, but some were retained because they were of special interest to the family. The current archivist

8. Bedford and Luton Archives and Records Service, W/SH.119/1.

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The Curious Mr Howard found the statement amongst those papers in the early 2000s, which means that the present author is the first of Howard’s biographers to have read it. It it not addressed to any named person, and could, in fact, be headed, “To Whom It May Concern”, for it is a setting out of Whitbread’s account of his involvement with Howard in respect both of writing his books and of the events surrounding Howard’s attempt to be elected MP for Bedford. Though the document is undated, it is clear that it was written soon after Howard published The State of the Prisons in 1777. It is valuable not only because of the information it provides, but because of Whitbread’s candid and critical opinions about Howard. It is an excellent marker of Whitbread’s view of Howard and the state of the men’s relationship at a particular point of time. It also reveals more about Whitbread himself. Howard’s own father had faced exactly the same situation, but his response had been to opt out and pay the swingeing fine. Although it is possible (though unlikely) that a 35 year gap might have made a difference to the interpretation and application of the Test Act, Howard was at an undoubted advantage in having someone like Whitbread to champion him. Whitbread’s statement draws our attention to several issues. John Howard was not an obvious choice for High Sheriff, but Whitbread knew him well and recognised his qualities, so nominated him. Resident at Bedwell Park in Hertfordshire (he had been sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1767) he considered himself “The means under God by which he (Howard) became Sheriff”.9 But what do the last lines mean? The final half sentence is surely a criticism. Good-natured and un-barbed, certainly, but a criticism nevertheless, and one made by a man who not only liked Howard, but (as acknowledged by the agriculturalist Young) knew him better than most. Within a short time of being proposed, Howard’s name, and that of others, were written on a scroll of parchment and presented to the monarch. It would have been George III who pricked the traditional small hole through the parchment with the traditional bodkin beside the appropriate names — including Howard’s, of course — for each of the 38 counties 9. It is worth thinking too about the business of sending letters to and from Jersey and Bedfordshire. How long did it take to get a reply? Whitbread, trying to arrange things, must have been exasperated that Howard was as far away as he was.

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Home, Shrievalty and Prisons of England and the 12 of Wales. And on February 8th 1773, letters patent appointed John Howard as High Sheriff of Bedfordshire.10 Even by the end of the 18th century the shrieval role was already far more ceremonial than operational. This extract from The High Sheriff sums up the position: The sheriff in his county has become very much what the Sovereign he serves is in

the realm — a great symbolic and social figure, retaining political functions which, though embalming a vast deal of history, are in their performance strictly formal.11

Did John Howard want to be a great symbolic and social figure? It is possible. After all, some probably said that he was already King of Cardington, or one of the two kings there. What can be said with more confidence is that he would have wanted both to do his duty and to be of use to the citizens of Bedfordshire and to God. He might also have regarded the office as proof that his status really had shifted. Having started out as a grocer’s apprentice, albeit one with a private income, he was now recognised as a country gentleman who had earned the approbation of society through his industry, merit and philanthropy. The following account of the sheriff’s installation gives some idea of the pageantry and tradition in which Howard, atypically and surely rather to his own surprise, found himself playing the chief part. Mr High Sheriff Howard made a splendid figure with his bodyguard of thirty javelin men12 all completely clad in a handsome uniform of blue cloth with buck-

skin breeches and silver buttoned hats which he petitioned the judge they might

be able to wear in Court, a singular and unprecedented request. The judge declined giving so unprecedented an order, but said he would take notice of it, yet could not help observing that if they were apprehensive of spoiling their hats they had better have left them at their quarters.13

10. Beford and Luton Archives and Records Service, WB/W8/5/1. 11. The High Sheriff, Times Publishing Co., London, 1961, p.14. 12. One of these was a man named Felts, the father or father-in-law of John Prole (Howard’s estate manager). 13. Bedford and Luton Archives and Records Service, CRT 100/27, p.183.

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The Curious Mr Howard What was Howard feeling when he put on his ceremonial dress, listened to the trumpeters and cheering crowds and processed to St Paul’s church in the centre of Bedford for the Assize sermon? This did not seem to be a role he had sought for himself. On the contrary, he disliked and even disapproved of pomp, yet here he was at its centre. Moreover, his office would last a whole year which would make it much more difficult for him to travel. As he heard the church bells pealing he may well have wished he was back on Weymouth beach. It was usually the Under Sheriff who carried out the duties which included attending on any member of Royalty visiting the county, attending on His Majesty’s Judges of Assize, making arrangements for and witnessing executions, summoning jurors and so on, but it was Howard who would have borne the considerable costs required for his year of tenure. But one of Howard’s essential duties, which could not be delegated, was to attend the Assizes. In fact, he would have gone to the boundary of Bedford to meet the judges on the day they arrived for the Assizes. In Far from the Madding Crowd, written a century later, Thomas Hardy describes the meeting of a sheriff and the judges at the edge of the county: On Yarlbury Hill, about midway between Weatherbury and Casterbridge, where

the turnpike road passes over the crest, a numerous concourse of people had gathered … The groups consisted of a throng of idlers, a party of javelin-men, and two

trumpeters, and in the midst were carriages, one of which contained the high sheriff.

With the idlers, many of whom had mounted to the top of a cutting formed for the road, were several Weatherbury men and boys…

At the end of half-an-hour a faint dust was seen in the expected quarter, and shortly

after a travelling-carriage, bringing one of the two judges on the Western Circuit, came up the hill and halted on the top. The judge changed carriages whilst a flourish was blown by the big-cheeked trumpeters, and a procession being formed of the vehicles and javelin-men, they all proceeded towards the town …14

14. Hardy T, Far from the Madding Crowd, 1874.

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Home, Shrievalty and Prisons Whether Howard enjoyed his first day as High Sheriff we shall never know, but it is hard to think he found it comfortable. However, whatever his feelings were, being sheriff was to have a huge impact on his life and on the lives of others in ways he and they could not have imagined.

First Prisoners, First Prisons The date on which he first attended the Assizes is not known. Although he had been a prisoner-of-war himself briefly, and had in 1770, come across the Pope’s galley-slaves and prisoners on his travels, this must have been the first time he saw “real” prisoners at close quarters. These men and women being brought in to the court in chains were so dirty that a nosegay — a small bunch of sweet-smelling flowers — was provided, as it was in most courts, to lessen the stench. For the first time Howard listened to the cases and to the judgements and watched the proceedings. Apart from the nauseous smells and the shackling (of both sexes), what astonished him in particular was the fact that debtors, despite having paid their debts, were sent back to prison because they could not pay the fees they owed the goaler. Driven by curiosity about how prisons functioned, he determined to visit the local gaol from which the prisoners had been brought. On that first seminal and undated visit in 1773 he had no yardstick to judge it by. If he had, he would have recognised that Bedford Gaol, though foul and fetid, was by no means as bad as many English gaols. Prisoners had access to a small yard and to several rooms, one of which sometimes doubled as a chapel. The beds had straw, and in winter fires were lit (though there were no fireplaces), but there was no infirmary. Down eleven steps were two damp dungeons, but there was no gaol-fever, though there had been 20 years earlier. And on the wall was a notice, signed by the previous gaoler. All Persons that come to this place, either by warrant, commitment, or verbally; must pay before discharg’d, fifteen shillings and four pence, to the Gaoler, and two shillings to the Turnkey. T. Richardson

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The Curious Mr Howard This notice explained why Howard had seen debt-free prisoners returned to prison. They could not get out till they had paid their 15 shillings and fourpence and they could not obtain it because they were in prison. Howard must have quizzed the new gaoler (whose name, coincidentally, was Howard)15 about this in some detail, for he saw at once the absurdity and wrongness of a system that served to prolong the imprisonment of debtors pointlessly.16 The gaoler’s opinion of Howard is not known, but it is likely the man would have been defensive because he wanted to keep his livelihood safe. He would have been alarmed when the new sheriff arrived at his prison. No sheriff had ever been before, so why was one coming now? He would have been anxious when questioned by this small but intense gentleman, and he might have suspected that something was about to happen. And it was. Howard, almost instantly filled with the energetic zeal that had led to him replacing and improving his cottagers’ homes, hurried back to the justices to ask for the gaolers to be paid a salary, for if they were, they would not have to rely on prisoners and prisoners’ families for their income. The justices could not deny the sense in this but, reluctant both to take action and spend money, they recommended that he looked around to see if he could find a town or county which paid gaolers in the way he was suggesting. And so John Howard’s extraordinary journeys began. One can imagine him planning his first exploratory visit after he had been to Bedford Gaol. Being a logical and sensible man, he chose the County Gaol at Cambridge Castle because it was the nearest prison to Cardington (only about ten miles away). He may well have thought that seeing it would tell him more about prisons in general. As he set out on November 4th 1773 (the first date on which a visit to a prison is recorded), perhaps in a chaise or coach, perhaps on horseback, he might even have been hoping against hope that Bedford was an exception, and that things were not like that elsewhere. As he travelled to Cambridge he would have been giving thought about what to take note of and how to record it, and we do not know if he settled 15. The post of gaoler was often handed from father to son or from husband to wife, and a family named Howard was connected to Bedford Gaol for many years. John Moore Howard succeeded his brother Thomas in 1783, but in 1814 he was dismissed for using prison labour for his own benefit, such as “employing a convict to thresh nineteen or twenty loads of wheat”. 16. Quarter Sessions Minutes, SM 1814/225.

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Home, Shrievalty and Prisons on his subjects and methods after only a few visits, or if he tried and adapted or abandoned other ways. His notes were finally presented under the main headings of Gaoler, Prisoners, Chaplain, Surgeon, Remarks and Table of Fees. He would arrive at Cambridge and announce his purpose to the gaoler who may or may not have known of him. He might have been admitted with reluctance and suspicion, or possibly with some satisfaction that — at last — a person with influence was taking an interest in the prison, or even perversely with the hope that Howard would quickly ask to be let out, thus proving what stalwarts gaolers were. However, Simeon Saunders, the gaoler at Cambridge, is likely to have been deferential to the neat, quietly-spoken gentleman, and would have shown him round and answered his questions. One paragraph, from Section VII of The State of the Prisons (the first book Howard was to publish in 1777) explains precisely what he did and why he did it. I have described no prison but from my own examination at the several dates set

down before the number of prisoners. At each visit I entered every room, cell and dungeon with a memorandum book in my hand, in which I noted particulars upon

the spot. My description will to some readers appear too minute; but I chose rather to relate circumstances, than to characterize them in general terms. By these, the legislature will be better acquainted with the real state of gaols; and magistrates will

be able to judge whether the prisons over which they preside, and to which they

commit offenders, be fit for the purposes they are designed to answer. I might add, that a variety of descriptions may possibly suggest something useful in the plans of such prisons as may hereafter be erected; since whatever may appear worth copying may be extracted from any.

I have here and there taken the liberty of pointing out what seemed to me, as I

viewed a prison, an obvious remedy of some defect that happened to strike me. But

I did not examine with the accuracy of a surveyor; and I hope I shall not be thought to direct in the style of a dictator.17

17. Howard J, The State of the Prisons, Warrington, 1777, p.211.

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The Curious Mr Howard As he was escorted round the gaol, one should also try to imagine how prisoners would have reacted to him. Some would have addressed him — or even caught hold of his sleeve — as a person they could complain to and beg from, others would have ignored him and some may have been aggressive, believing him responsible for the appalling conditions they were enduring. Others would fear him and for still others his presence would hardly impinge on the disturbed and distressed lives they were living as much because of their mental illness as their imprisonment. One can be more confident about how Howard would have reacted to prisoners. All the evidence gathered from his books and the biographies indicates that he treated them as the ordinary human beings they were. While some would have been angry or drunk, for most of the time most of them would have behaved quite reasonably, despite their pain and neediness. From the outset, Howard was not patronising, nor afraid, nor struck dumb, nor haughty, nor critical. He was none of the things that many visitors to prisons are. In his heart he pitied them and was appalled at their hideous situation, but outwardly he would have been matter-of-fact. While conscious of their crimes and their debts, he would have addressed them in a straightforward manner, asking questions and noting responses. And this is how he would have been with almost all the gaolers too, even when he could see blatant malpractice. He would not have been as insensitive as to pay solicitous attention to prisoners while almost ignoring or even openly disdaining those who held the keys and, nor would he have done the opposite. He was well aware that if he wanted things to improve he needed to understand what the job of a gaoler involved. Criticising or expressing disapproval would have silenced them, so he held back, looked, listened, learned and took notes. Firstly, the gaol was in the gate of the old castle, probably one of the few parts that was still secure.18 Howard found that Simeon Saunders, the gaoler, was in receipt of an annual salary of £12 14 shillings, and able to charge fees for each debtor (14 shillings and 8 pence) and each felon (eight pence) admitted. Saunders was paid £6 6 shillings for every prisoner he delivered to court, or to a port (if they were to be transported) though it seems he had to pay the 18. The castle had been built in 1068 and was rebuilt in the 13th century. Like the great majority of prisons at the time, the building had been designed for a completely different purpose.

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would be better replaced with high-quality scan This is a facsimile of Howard’s entry for Cambridge Castle in his book The State of the Prisons.

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clerk of assizes a guinea for each one so delivered. Saunders had a licence to sell beer in the gaol. The debtors received no allowance (i.e. unless they had their own private money they had nothing), while the felons were given two pence per day. On arrival, each debtor had to pay five shillings and fourpence garnish or be stripped of his or her clothes and any possessions; in the same way, each felon was forced to part with one shilling and threepence. Saunders was one of many gaolers who condoned the practice of garnish. On the day of Howard’s first visit (he was to make five further visits to Cambridge Gaol over the course of several years) there were eight debtors in the prison and two felons. There was no chaplain, but a surgeon could be called upon. In the section containing “Remarks”, Howard describes the prison in terms of the accommodation and how each part was used, and the place sounds a bit of a warren, occupying two floors of the old castle gate. One can imagine him asking the rather puzzled Saunders to unlock yet another door in his determination not to miss anything and his increasing awareness that a prison is its own little real world, separated from the outside real world. He checked too on the two important notices which he at once saw that gaolers were supposed to display. At Cambridge, the one forbidding the bringing in of spirits was displayed but the one about preserving the health of prisoners was not. He noted also that the castle yard was not secure, so was not used. The presence of the gallows in the yard is odd, for at this time 132

Home, Shrievalty and Prisons executions were not held in private but in places where the public could watch. It is therefore quite possible that the public were invited in when a hanging was to take place. He recorded also that two of Cambridge University’s colleges, Sidney and St John’s (the latter being the very college where his troubled son Jack would matriculate in 1784) provided shirts and bread and coal for debtors. He noticed that a collection was made annually for prisoners, but the thing which held even greater interest for him must have been the 20 shillings a year provided by an estate in Croxton, Cambridgeshire, because this was surely the very estate of the Leeds family whose daughter Henrietta he had married. Looking further down the document he would have seen the name Edward Leeds. Leeds was Howard’s brother-in-law (and would, years later, be his executor) and had himself been a sheriff (of Cambridgeshire) in 1768. His name was listed as one of the Cambridgeshire justices and he was a signatory to the Table of Fees. It is intriguing to wonder whether the two men had ever discussed or did ever discuss prison issues. Although Howard could not have known it at the time, the Table of Fees in Cambridge Castle was one of the shortest he would come across. He did not always find it easy to understand the fees, especially in cases where they existed in tandem with a wage paid to the gaoler, so it is not surprising that they are unclear today.19 Indeed, some gaolers would have taken advantage of the fact that they were confusing. However, it is clear that some fees were for services (provision of a bed) while others are for some sort of authorisation or administrative task (a copy of a warrant, signing a certificate). Many prisoners, of course, would not have been able to read these tables, or, even if they could, they would not have been able to make head nor tail of any except for the ones which affected their daily life. The report on Cambridge Castle in The State of the Prisons is neither long nor complicated, and a mere page or so of information enables a contemporary reader to get a good idea of what the gaol was like in the 18th century. Everyone, on visiting prisons — or even on reading about them — for the first time, has some image of what they will find. Usually, some of their 19. For example, at Cambridge Castle, Howard noted two sets of information about fees, and they do not quite match each other.

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The Curious Mr Howard preconceptions are correct, but they almost always see things which surprise them. John Howard would have been no exception, though he was an intelligent, well-travelled man in touch with a range of people in the capital as well as locally. At that time prisons had basically two functions. In respect of felons, they existed to hold suspects convicted of a felony until their next court appearance, or until a verdict was reached, or until a punishment was carried out. Branding and whipping took place on the day of sentence, but in the case of execution or transportation, people had to wait. In fact, prisoners often waited months in prison before they were transported. It is known from a detailed table compiled by Sir Stephen Janssen (who became Lord Mayor of London in 1785) and included by Howard in Lazarettos, that a total of 5,600 people were transported to America between 1749 and 1771. Things were different for debtors. They — or rather, their families — had to pay back what they owed, and over and above that they had to pay the gaoler for their keep and any other costs they were liable for. For example, if a prisoner wanted straw to sleep on in Cambridge Gaol, it was available at 20 shillings a year, while a chamber with one bed and linen cost two shillings a week. The term ‘master’s side’ was used for that part of the prison where the better-off debtors were housed; the ‘common side’ was occupied by the poorest ones. Obviously, if a debtor could buy advantage and better conditions, he or she would do so. That afternoon Howard must have exited from the cold castle into the fresh November air with his mind filled with impressions and emotions. He did not yet know that Cambridge was typical of a county gaol. He would have been reflecting on the faces, clothes, condition and demeanour of the men he had seen; on their suffering; on the rooms; on the stench; on the gallows; on Saunders the gaoler and the job of any gaoler. He might have also been reflecting on his own purpose in life and on God’s purpose. He would have put his notebook away safely before setting off, and thought about his next move. He might already have decided to go to Huntingdon the following day, a Saturday. Did he go straight there and stay in an inn, or did he go back home that night? All that is known is that on November 134

Home, Shrievalty and Prisons 15th 1773 he set out for two solid weeks of visits to prisons, separated only by a Sunday of rest. This was the beginning of his relentless self-imposed programme of travelling, visiting prisons, thinking, making notes, writing reports and publishing his findings, which continued until his death except when interrupted by illness. He visited more than 20 prisons before Christmas, when he took a break of a few weeks. Perhaps Jack was home from school, and perhaps there were things to attend to at Cardington, but their importance was soon displaced by the urgency he was feeling about the appalling state of the prisons and what he should be doing about it.

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Researching and Travelling The Interest Becomes an Obsession Visiting prisons came to provide something very necessary to John Howard’s well-being and his life. His decision to record facts about them with the express purpose of alleviating suffering gave him a real raison d’etre, one that was even more profound than improving cottages and building the workhouse in Cardington. Looking at his activity in November and December 1773 it is evident that he threw himself into prison visiting immediately. It was not something that he built up gradually. This was due as much to his state of mind and his character as to the business in hand, and is discussed in detail below. Prisons were terrible, certainly, but they had been terrible for generations and however fast Howard worked, there would not be quick changes. His intense new interest engaged him so much that he began to expend money and mental, emotional and physical energy on it immediately. From 1773 onwards prisons (and, later on, lazarettos, hospitals and other institutions for the poor, the very old, and the young) were his life’s clear priorities. News of the iconic Boston Tea Party (December 16th 1773) probably did not reach Britain until 1774, but Howard was known to support the Americans who sought independence so would have empathised with the Boston men who refused to impose taxes for a parliament in which they had no voice, and their subsequent destruction of tea. It was not until two years after this that the American War of Independence put a stop to the transportation of convicts across the Atlantic and forced Parliament to think of other ways to get rid of their unwanted citizens. Howard had strong views on capital punishment. He was not an abolitionist, but he believed it should be used only for the worst crimes. He also urged that the gallows in London should be situated by the prison at 137

The Curious Mr Howard Newgate,1 and not at Tyburn, believing that this would prevent executions attracting crowds which always exhibited drunken and brutal behaviour. One of the reasons for public hangings was to deter people from committing crimes, but the rowdy behaviour they caused and the fact that apprentices were given the day off to attend hangings gives some idea of the close relationship between 18th century entertainment and capital punishment. Dr Johnson was one of those who disagreed with proposals to hold executions out of sight of the public, arguing, “If they [executions] do not draw spectators they do not answer their purpose”. Gradually, as Howard visited more and more prisons in England and Wales, he began to build up a general national picture of their state. Each was different in respect of type of accommodation, fees, type of prisoners, nature of gaoler and turnkeys, provision of food, water, fresh air and light, but nevertheless there was a sameness about them. He began first to identify what caused physical suffering, whether it was unintentional or deliberate. He was already thinking of ways of improving things, informed by his sense of duty to God, his social conscience and his practical knowledge of building methods. From knowing virtually nothing about what happened in prisons, he immersed himself in them for an initial period of months, which turned out to stretch to more than a decade and a half. At the end of one of his visits, on having the prison gate shut firmly behind him, he must have stepped out into the street, felt the sun or rain or wind and regarded people going about their everyday business. Was this the ordinary world, the real world? Yes, it was. But surely the prison world was just as real? Of course it was, but it was largely invisible, just as the outside world was almost invisible from inside the prison. Here are several examples of what he found, selected from a period of many years: Clerkenwell Bridewell: In the infirmary for men, January 1783, five were sick and

one dying, with little or no covering. In another room one was dead. In the women’s

1. The gallows were moved to Newgate in 1783.

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sick ward 12 were lying in their clothes on the barrack-bedstead and floor, without any bedding.2

The Liberty Gaol: One of the windows is towards the road, through which tools were lately conveyed, which facilitated the escape of an atrocious criminal. 3

Ely Gaol: This gaol, the property of a bishop who is lord of the franchise of the isle

of Ely, was in part re-built by bishop Mawson in 1768, upon complaint of the cruel

method which, for want of a safe goal, the keeper took to secure his prisoners. (This

was by chaining them down on their backs upon a floor, across which were several iron bars; with an iron collar with spikes about their necks, and a heavy iron bar over their legs.) 4

King’s Bench Prison: The prison is well supplied with water. Among the improve-

ments, of 108 new rooms and a spacious court, they should have built an infirmary.

At more than one of my visits … some had the small pox. It was so crowded the summer 1776, that a prisoner paid five shillings a week for half a bed, and many lay

in the chapel. In May 1776, the number of prisoners within the wall was 395; and by an accurate list which I procured, their wives (including a few that were only called

so) were 279, children 725, total 1004; about two thirds of these were in the prison. 5 Plymouth Town Gaol: One of the former (rooms), the clink, 15 feet by 8 feet 3

inches, and about 5 1/2 feet high, with a wicket in the door 7 inches by 5 to admit light and air. To this, I was informed, three men who were confined near two months

under sentence of transportation, came by turns for breath. The door had not been opened for five weeks when I with difficulty entered to see a pale inhabitant. He had been there ten weeks under sentence of transportation, and he said he had much rather have been hanged than confined in that noisome cell.6

2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Howard J, The State of the Prisons, Warrington, 1777, pp.237-8. Ibid, p.258. Ibid, p.291. Ibid, p.244. Ibid, p.389.

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Knaresborough, Yorkshire: I was informed that an officer, confined some years since, for only a few days, took in with him a dog to defend him from vermin; but the dog was soon destroyed, and the prisoner’s face much disfigured by them.7

Carlisle County Gaol: The night room is only 11 feet by 9: at one of my visits, men

and women were lodged together in it. Two rooms over the felons wards, which have been used as tap-rooms, seem to be intended for the women only, but in one of

these I also found three men and four women lodged together. In the court, near the

pump, there is the too common nuisance of a dunghill, which seems to have been accumulating for a year or two.8

Potential Dangers Early on in his tours of visits to prisons, Howard was well aware of the health risks he faced. He proved to be a man absolutely prepared to go to places where there was disease and to be with people who were diseased. Clearly, some people regarded him as foolhardy. In his Introduction to The State of the Prisons, the seminal book that would earn him fame, he wrote It was not, I own, without some apprehension of danger that I first visited the

prisons; and I guarded myself by smelling to vinegar, while I was in those places, and changing my apparel afterwards. This I did constantly and carefully when I

began; but by degrees I grew less attentive to these precautions, and have long since omitted them.

He added a footnote: I have frequently been asked what precautions I use, to preserve myself from infection in the prisons and hospitals which I visit. I here answer, next to the free good-

ness and mercy of the Author of my being, temperance and cleanliness are my

preservatives. Trusting in Divine Providence, and believing myself in the way of 7. Ibid, p.413. 8. Ibid, p.429.

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duty, I visit the most noxious cells; and while thus employed, “I fear no evil”. I never enter an hospital or prison before breakfast, and in an offensive room I seldom draw my breath deeply.9

He also took Dr James’ Fever Powder, an invention of Dr Robert James, a friend of Dr Johnson. It contained phosphate of lime and oxide of antimony, which promoted sweating, but James’ own vigorous marketing and that of John Newbery, an enterprising bookseller, ensured that the medicine was regarded as capable of generally improving the condition of a patient. Howard took it everywhere and seemed to employ it with good effect despite the fact that it was later discovered to contain toxins. Submerging himself in these raw places for months on end had a profound effect on Howard. Prisons all but took over his life. He was away from home a great deal and at these times he must have forgotten about potatoes, about his thermometer in the garden, about the Cardington cottages, about Jack and even about Henrietta. But on Sundays — when he always made a point of finding a service to attend, even if it was not one specifically for Dissenters — did his thoughts move away from prisons and pestilence even for an hour? It was probably only religion that took his attention from his work. And as for the potential danger of assault by half-naked, half-starving desperate prisoners, he appears to have chosen not to think about it, and it turned out that he had no need to, for he was never attacked.

Itinerary for 1774 What Howard wanted to do above all else was build up his first-hand knowledge of prisons, and that is precisely what he did next. Here is his extraordinary itinerary for 1774: January 23rd Oakham 25th York Castle, York City and County 9. Ibid, p.3.

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The Curious Mr Howard 27th Lincoln Castle, Lincoln City and County Gaol 29th Huntingdon 30th Ely February 1st Norwich Castle, City and County Gaol 3rd Ipswich 4th Chelmsford 9th Southwark 14th Colchester 18th High Gaol, Exeter 19th Launceston 20th Exeter Sheriff, and City and County 21st Ivelchester and Shepton Mallet 22nd Bristol 23rd Hereford County and Monmouth March 1st Wood Street Compter 16th Marshalsea 20th Durham 21st Newcastle 22nd Morpeth 23rd Carlisle 24th Appleby 25th Lancaster Castle 26th Preston 29th Chester Castle, Chester City and County 30th Wrexham 31st Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury Bridewell April 1st Stafford 2nd Derby 3rd Nottingham 142

Researching and Travelling 4th County Gaol Leicester, Leicester Town and County Gaol 5th Northampton 13th Canterbury, Canterbury City and Maidstone 14th Rochester 22nd New Prison Clerkenwell, Clerkenwell Bridewell and Tothill Fields 24th Dartford 26th Fleet and Poultry Compter and King’s Bench 27th New Ludgate and Whitechapel 29th Tower Hamlets May 4th Borough Compter June 24th 25th 27th 28th 29th 30th

Chester Castle Ruithin, Flint Beaumaris, Canarvon Dolgelly Montgomery Presteign

July 1st 2nd 4th 29th

Ludlow Worcester Castle Oxford Castle Reading

August 2nd Ivelchester, Taunton Bridewell 3rd Shepton Mallett 4th Devizes 5th Marlborough 6th Bath City Gaol 8th Glocester Castle 9th Hereford County, Hereford Bridewell 143

The Curious Mr Howard 10th 11th 13th 14th

Monmouth Brecon Cardigan County Gaol Haverfordwest, and HaverfordwestTown and County Gaol 15th County Gaol,Camarthen Castle, County Borough Gaol 19th County Gaol at Cardiff, Bridewell at Cowbridge 21st Usk 22nd Berkeley, Glos. 23rd Lawford’s Gate Bristol, Bristol City and County, Bristol City Bridewell September 10th Taunton Bridewell, Bridgewater 12th High Gaol, Exeter, Sheriff’s Ward, Exeter, and Bridewell 13th Launceston 14th Bodmin Bridewell and Bodmin Sheriff’s Ward, Lostwithiel 15th Plymouth 21st Dorchester 22nd Sherborne 23rd Salisbury 24th Winchester County, Winchester Bridewell, Southampton Bargate, Southampton Gaol for Felons, Southampton Bridewell, Portsmouth 27th Gosport, Newport Bridewell and Newport Goal [sic] (IoW) 28th Chichester City, Petworth 29th Horsham October 28th Peterborough, Peterborough Bridewell, Folkingham 29th Lincoln Castle November 1st Hull, Hull Bridewell 2nd Beverley Hall Garth, Beverley Town, Beverley Bridewell 3rd County Gaol York Castle, City and County, York City Bridewell 4th Wakefield, Leeds, Batley 144

Researching and Travelling 5th 7th 8th 10th 12th

Manchester Liverpool Borough Middlewich Warwick County, Warwick Bridewell, Birmingham Aylesbury, Aylesbury Bridewell

December 6th Chelmsford and Chelmsford Bridewell 7th Ipswich 8th Ipswich Bridewell 9th Thetford, Bury St Edmunds, Bury Bridewell 10th Norwich Castle, Norwich City Bridewell 11th Lynn Regis, Swaffham 13th Cambridge Castle, Cambridge Bridewell, Cambridge Town Gaol and Town Bridewell, Ely gaol, Ely Bridewell 14th Hertford County Gaol and Hertford Bridewell This breathless list helps us to appreciate John Howard’s exceptional energy and commitment. One can think of him rising in some provincial inn, saying his prayers, taking a simple breakfast, sending his servant out (unless he was travelling alone) to check that the horses were ready, and setting off–no matter what the weather was like — perhaps helped by one of the maps published by Carington Bowles in St Paul’s Churchyard. The fact that many of the prisons held only a few prisoners made no difference to what he did, for conditions were no better within them and every prisoner mattered to him. He examined the small prisons just as diligently as he examined those holding greater numbers. In December 1774, having worked his way round the Midlands and as far north as Liverpool, he headed homewards. Perhaps, after visiting Ely, he called in at Cardington for a night before going to Hertford. And could he have squeezed in visits to the prison and bridewell in Hertford en route to collect Jack from school in Cheshunt, and so bring him home for the Christmas holiday? Quite possibly. In addition to the prison visits themselves and the varied experiences that 18th century travel involved (Defoe gives an account of reaching the shore at 145

The Curious Mr Howard Liverpool after crossing the Mersey by boat: “not on horseback but on the shoulders of some honest Lancashire clown, who comes knee-deep to the boat side, to truss you up, and then runs away with you”) there was little time left for anything else at all, which raises an intriguing question about Howard’s shrieval responsibilities. Did he attend all those events he ought to have attended, or was he needed only for the Assizes (i.e. four times a year)? Was it his attendance at the Assizes that caused the gap in prison visits in May? (The gap in October was due to a very specific cause.) It seems that prisons always came first for him, unless he happened to be near Bedford. However, he did not visit Bedford Prison again until 1776 (a gap of about two and a half years). This is surprising, given that over the same period he went to other nearby prisons more often. For example, he went to Huntingdon in 1773, 1774, 1775 and 1776, and to Cambridge in 1773, 1774 and 1776 (twice). It is essential to analyse the reasons behind Howard’s obsessive activity. Why did he work so zealously and repeatedly in such appalling places over so long a period and why he did he drive himself — often literally–to such lengths?

Upbringing, Education, Religion It appears that his upbringing and education were founded on austerity rather than affection, on duty rather than desire. His domestic situation was hardly stable, and his father seems to have been a solemn and distant, dissident figure. He grew up in a culture where work was highly valued. And so was religion. Howard’s sense of Christian duty and the need to be of service to God and men and women was learned in his earliest years and rehearsed throughout his life. It was an essential part of him. As an adult he wrote many devotional notes, prayed regularly and attended religious meetings and church. Despite this his relationship with God was not clear or easy, for though he worshipped God and could hardly have done more good deeds than he did, there were many times when he blamed himself fiercely for being sinful and lowly. He clearly wanted to please God, did all he could to achieve this and yet still considered himself unworthy. How 146

Researching and Travelling should these outpourings of guilt be interpreted? At the time, such attitudes were more common than they are today, but they weighed him down so that he suffered greatly. It seemed to be the case that work freed him from such destructive feelings.

Desire to Do Good and Relieve Suffering In any discussion about what lay behind Howard’s phenomenal work and work-rate due place must be given to his own statements on the subject. He wanted to reduce suffering. He wanted to do good. He wanted to change things. He saw people in physical, emotional and spiritual pain, and he resolved to reduce it. Initially he focused on the physical aspect of prisoners’ lives but he always emphasised that without access to a chaplain or to the opportunity to reflect on their lives, they would remain criminals. Later he was to assert: “To reform prisoners, or make them better as to their morals, should always be the leading view in every house of correction”. Nevertheless, he used to play down his achievements and is reported as minimising their importance by saying, “Instead of taking pleasure in a pack of hounds, in social entertainments, and in many other similar satisfactions, I have made my election of different pursuits”.

Obsession When considering Howard’s journeys and visits, such as those he accomplished in 1774, it is hard to avoid the word obsession. It cannot be denied that, once exposed to them, Howard was obsessed by prisons (and later by other institutions). It would perhaps not be right or fair to define his interest in potatoes or the cottages in Cardington as obsessive, but a letter to the Bedfordshire Magazine from a G Foster suggested that one of his habits might have been labelled as such:

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An old aunt of mine used to relate that Howard was once engaged to a Cardington

lady.10 She afterwards broke off the engagement and when asked the reason said

that she thought he was a little mad, giving as proof the fact that he was always washing his hands.11

When it came to prisons, it seemed that he thought about them night and day, to the extent that he rarely agreed to do anything which would interfere with his attention to them, although he allowed himself to indulge in keeping up with correspondence, for in his letter to the Reverend Smith from Brussels on May 17th 1775 he wrote, I write to my friend for relaxation from what so much engrosses my thoughts. And

indeed I force myself to the public Dinners and Suppers for that purpose, tho’ I

shew so little respect to a sett of Men who are so highly esteemed (the french Cooks) as I have not tasted fish flesh or fowl this side the water.12

So, he made himself go out to dinner on occasion, in order to give himself a change, but he stuck to his usual, restricted diet. He would have stuck too to his usual, restricted topic of conversation.

Loss and Loneliness Another reason for Howard’s excessive expenditure of energy over and over again on the same places and the same prisons might well have been to do with loss. Howard experienced key losses at various significant times in his life: his mother, his step-mother, his father, his two wives. There is nothing to suggest that his contact with his sister Anna was close. Furthermore, Howard’s relationship with Jack deteriorated to the point when it could be said that he lost him, too. 10. No other information has been found suggesting that Howard ever made such an engagement, or identifying the lady to whom this comment might refer. 11. Bedfordshire Magazine, Vol. 2, No 10, Autumn 1949, p.75. 12. Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard, The Philanthropist Rest Fenner, London, 1818, p.164.

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Researching and Travelling Happily, he enjoyed corresponding with a number of people, especially Samuel and Mary Whitbread. Several of Howard’s letters to Mary Whitbread suggest playfulness, but certainly not anything approaching impropriety, and it is hard to know whether his longer-standing relationship with her husband Whitbread could ever have been described as intimate. However, Samuel Whitbread gave Howard generous financial and moral support towards his prison projects over a period of many years, and he makes warm and companionable references to his neighbour, so there is no question but that he must certainly be counted as a solid friend as well as a fellow philanthropist in Cardington. A letter in the Monthly Magazine gives cause to re-question Howard’s relationship with Jack and presents an enlightening perspective on the loss of Howard’s second wife, Henrietta. The writer was Isaac Wood, a philanthropist who had founded or at least refurbished the County Infirmary in Shrewsbury visited by Howard in 1788. He wrote In the course of an evening’s conversation (which I shall never forget) he (Howard)

entered into a detail of that part of his history which included the circumstances that led him to that pursuit which he never afterwards abandoned; but persevered

in, with godlike ardour, to the last period of his glorious career. He informed me

that it was the death of his wife whom he tenderly loved — and when he told me this his gushing tears manifested the pang which the recollection gave him — that

induced him to devote himself so entirely to this employment as a relief under so severe a domestic affliction. He said that she had left him a son whom he tenderly

loved as the only Pledge of her affection, and who was farther endeared to him by his personal resemblance to the amiable companion he had lost. He spoke of

this son with an ardour of parental affection, opposite in the extreme to that cold unfeeling severity of which he has been so falsely and foully accused. It was in these

moments of unreserved confidence that the soul of Howard shone forth in all its native lustre.13

13. Monthly Magazine, Vol. IV, 1797, p.39-40.

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The Curious Mr Howard Despite this, Jack, the “Pledge of his mother’s affection”, was usually invisible, and — as far as can be evidenced–rarely entered Howard’s life as a real concern until the late 1780s, when at times this was as much when father and son were apart as when they were together. The boy ceased to be a source of joy (as perhaps he had been when he was an infant) and became rather a source of grief and concern. But when Jack grew up Howard was devastated to find that they were virtually strangers and unable to communicate. Howard’s bereavements certainly left him lonely. It is known that he thought about marrying for a third time, because in a letter dated June 24th 1785 to Samuel Whitbread he wrote that he considered it was then “too late in life both for me and a lady who is very affluent” to do so. (He had the daughter of Sir John Hartop in mind). Also, some time between Henrietta’s death and 1773, it appeared that he was interested in Anna Aikin. Anna was the intelligent and spirited daughter of his friend Dr John Aikin who worked with him on The State of the Prisons. She was about seventeen years younger than him, but what was that to a man whose first marriage had been to a woman twice his own age? The story was that Howard set off to Warrington where the Aikins lived, but en route stopped at an inn where, by chance, he met another man who had also intended to court Anna but had just found out that she was already spoken for.14 Another anecdote tells of a time when Howard’s eye was caught by a young woman travelling in the company of an elderly gentleman. She reminded him of Henrietta, and he was interested enough to send his servant after her to find out who she was. It turned out that she was the elderly gentleman’s wife. All in all, it seems that John Howard experienced loneliness or at least aloneness, for most of his life, and it was his work which enabled him to cope with it.

Asperger’s Syndrome In 2001 Philip Lucas, a psychoanalyst and psychiatrist, gave Howard considerable attention. In his article “John Howard and Asperger’s Syndrome” he 14. Anna married the Reverend Rochement Barbauld, and went on to found an academy with him in Suffolk, and to become a popular writer.

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Researching and Travelling suggests that Howard shared some characteristics with those associated with Asperger’s (AS) and autism. While some of those disorders might have been identified, if not named, in the 18th century, no biographer has suggested that Howard exhibited them. However, he was often described as unusual, odd or singular, and, as indicated above, if someone were to meet him for the first time they would be likely to agree with Arthur Young that he was, in some indefinable way, different from other men. Lucas defined AS as “a variant of autism in which life-long impairment in social and communicative functioning is associated with a preoccupation with narrow and unusual interests”. He went on to discuss Howard in the light of the various characteristics and behaviours which are associated with AS: social impairment (in social behaviour, intimate relationships, inability to work with others) and communicative impairment (in speech and literacy). He also discussed Howard’s obsession with prisons, and noted “AS plausibly explains Howard’s relentless, repetitive re-visiting of prison after prison even after his ostensible purpose had been achieved”. Lucas went on to identify other features which John Howard shared with AS sufferers: inflexible thinking styles, rigidity in rule following, the need for routine, prominent anxiety and depressive symptoms and difficulty in the area of eye contact.15 In 2003 Uta Frith, a developmental psychologist, noted Lucas’ conclusion that Howard suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome, and commented on his work as follows: Hans Asperger always insisted that the individual he described as autistic had much of value to give to society. There is no better example than John Howard … In none

of the existing biographies has the diagnosis of autistic disorder ever been considered, although there have been plenty of comments on John Howard’s rigid and lonely nature.16

Frith noted too that Howard told his friend Price “as a private man, with some peculiarities, I wish to remain in obscurity and silence”. It is not known what he was referring to precisely, but it is interesting both that he 15. Lucas P, ‘John Howard and Asperger’s Syndrome: Psychopathology and Philanthropy’, History of Psychiatry’, 2001, Vol.12, No. 45, pp.73-101. 16. Frith U, Autism: Explaining the Enigma, Oxford, 2003, pp.55-57.

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The Curious Mr Howard was well aware of character traits or attributes that made him different, and that he labelled them as he did. Few people would describe themselves as having “peculiarities”, but Howard did and one of them was perhaps his attention to punctuality, which Southwood described as a fetish. Furthermore, at times he even referred to himself as “Mad Jack Howard”. Another clue is from Jemima Marchioness Gray who commented in 1775 to her daughter in a letter about a party that “It was no bad addition considering all things to have such a sort of whimsical character as little Mr Howard of Cardington amongst us”.17 The AS theory is interesting, plausible and helpful, for there is certainly some congruence between many of the features which define AS and some of what is known of John Howard. At this distance one cannot say that he “had Asperger’s”, and even now there is no test for AS, but it is useful to consider Howard through an AS lens because it provides another way to think about his eccentricities — a way which was not available to his contemporary (and even much later) commentators.

Speed But why did he rush? Was his urgency a manifestation of his obsession? After all, it was not as if he had competitors, or someone demanding that he work fast. Furthermore, he knew from the start that implementing his changes would take years. Parliamentary Bills would have to be proposed and passed, funds found, buildings erected and managers and gaolers appointed. A few more years would have made little difference. Though Howard would certainly have been disappointed to know that his work would not really bear fruit until a century later, he rarely expressed frustration over the fact that progress was slow. If, on a return visit to an institution, he saw improvements, he congratulated (often personally) those responsible. If things were worse he said so, but there is nothing in his books to imply that he thought others should be working as hard as he did. Nor is there any evidence that he drove himself so hard either when he was a young man or when working 17. Bedford and Luton Archives and Records Service, L30/11/12/82.

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Researching and Travelling on the Cardington improvements. It was not until 1773 that he operated with urgency and speed. For the great majority of his prison/lazaretto-centred years (1774-1789), John Howard moved very fast. He slept little and his sparing meals cannot have taken long to consume. His average daily mileage exceeded that of other travellers by a long way, and he did not stop to look at anything except prisons. However, there is no suggestion at all that his actual work was hurried. The only two things that he seemed to take his time over — apart from when working — were writing (notes, journals and letters), and praying.

Accumulated Causes So, it appears that Howard’s inner life was afflicted by loneliness, the belief that, in respect of religion, he fell far short of what he should be, and possibly a slight personality disorder. He would be described today as chronically, and sometimes acutely, depressed. While his fervent faith alternately sustained him and caused him to feel bad, it seems he discovered — by chance — that his work in prisons could relieve his pain. When he was engaged with work he was neither lonely, nor experiencing the ache of being himself. His journals are evidence of the difficulty he had, at times, in merely being alive. But when descending the steps to a dungeon or discussing prisons in the House of Commons, he was comfortable and confident. His work gave his life purpose and meaning in a way that nothing else did. It could lift him more that any social engagement or spectacular mountainside or glass of wine. Prayer may have come close on occasion, but John Howard was no monk.18 It appears that his prison and lazaretto-centred projects stopped him from hurting, and this might explain his desire for speed, for the more he hurried the less opportunity there was to think the things he did not want to think or to feel pain. He did not hurry because he wanted to finish; he hurried because he wanted to fill all the time up. Indeed, he found that it was far better to keep on working than to be idle. 18. Nor does it even seem that he ever considered becoming a Dissenting minister, an occupation which might have suited him.

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The Curious Mr Howard In respect of Lucas’s thoughts, it seems possible that there were features of his personality over which he had no control. Despite his difficulties, he overcame them. He needed and sought help to produce The State of the Prisons and (later) Lazarettos, and his achievements would have been remarkable for anyone, let alone a man having to deal with considerable disadvantages. Interestingly, while Howard experienced serious bouts of illness such as gout and malaria, these did not seem to have an adverse effect on his spirits. There was only one accident with a horse and dray (in Holland) when he was hurt so badly that he really suffered physically and emotionally.

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Chapter 8

Howard in the House Refreshment En Route Before this chapter explores John Howard’s first connections with the House of Commons, it is worth noting how he dealt with the practicalities of life on the road. He established routines for rising, praying, eating and so on just as he did at home, and Hepworth Dixon has provided a vivid account of how he liked to organise his evening meal: At the inns, hotels and good men’s houses, Howard avoided any display of his

simple diet and he was particularly careful not to make it a pretext for parsimony.

When he arrived at any town where he intended to pass the night, he would go to the best hotel, order his dinner with beer and wine, like any other traveller, and

stipulate that his own servant should wait on him at table. When the cloth was laid, the viands were spread out and the host was gone, Prole … would quietly remove these luxuries from the table to the sideboard, while his eccentric master would busy

himself in cooking his homely repast of bread and milk, upon which he would then banquet with much satisfaction — sparing his own stomach and the landlord’s fare.1

While eating his meals Howard might well have reflected on what was being provided to prisoners. At the Bridewell, London, he had noted: The steward is allowed eight pence a day for the maintenance of each prisoner; and

contracts to supply them as follows — On Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, a penny loaf, ten ounces of dressed beef without bone, broth, and three pints of

ten shilling beer: on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, a penny loaf, four ounces of cheese or some butter, a pint of milk-pottage, and three pints of beer.2

1. Hepworth Dixon W, John Howard and the Prison World of Europe, London, 1859, p.145. 2. Howard J, The State of the Prisons, Warrington, 1777, p.231.

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The Curious Mr Howard In Halifax Prison: Here is distributed to the prisoners 3s. 4d. in bread the first Saturday in every month, from a legacy of Mr Jonathan Turner, who died about 1724. … “ Jonathan

Turner, of Halifax, butcher, left by will forty shillings yearly to the poor prisoners in Halifax gaol, to be given to them in bread”. 3

In Norwich City Bridewell: Allowance two pennyworth of bread daily, two hot dinners in a week, and firing (i.e.

fuel) from Michaelmas to Lady-Day. 4

In the County Bridewell at Hereford: Six prisoners … complained of being almost famished … The justices had ordered

the keeper to supply each of them daily with a two-penny loaf: but he had neglected them. They broke out soon after.5

Later Howard was to assert: I am no advocate for luxury in prisons; for I would have no meat for criminals in houses of correction, or, at most, only on Sundays. Yet I would plead that they

should have a pound and a half of good household bread a day, and a quart of good beer; besides twice a day a quart of warm soup made from pease, rice, milk or barley.6

Sought out by the House of Commons In 1774, an exceptional event occurred within a fortnight of Howard’s return from a tour of West Country prisons, where he noted that the Rules of 3. 4. 5. 6.

Ibid, p.418. Ibid, p.298. Ibid, p.358. Ibid, p.40.

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Howard in the House Ivelchester Gaol included the graphic and practical instruction: “The whole prison bog-house, sinks and gutters, to be kept as clean as possible”. From Ivelchester he made his way to London and to the Wood Street Compter, his first visit to a London prison. Things had not changed much in the capital’s prisons since Daniel Defoe had commented on them half a century earlier. There are in London, and the far extended bounds, which I now call so, notwith-

standing we are a nation of liberty, more publick and private prisons, and houses of confinement, than any city in Europe, perhaps as many as in all the capital cities of Europe put together; for example:

PUBLIC GAOLS The Tower

Whitechapel

Newgate

Finsbury

Ludgate

The Dutchy

Kings’s Bench

St. Catherines

The Fleet

Bale Dock

Bridewell

Little Ease

Marshalseas

New Prison

The Gatehouse

New-Bridewell

Two Counters in the City

Tothill Fields Bridewell

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The Curious Mr Howard

One counter in the Burrough

Five Nights Prisons called St

The Clink, formerly the prison

Round Houses etc.

of the Stews

Martin’s le Grand

TOLERATED PRISONS Bethlem or Bedlam One hundred and nineteen Spunging

Cum aliis

The King’s Messengers House

Three Pest-Houses

The Sergeant at Arms’s Officers

Tip-staffs Houses

The Black Rod Officers-Houses

Chancery Officers Houses

Houses

Houses

N.B. All these private houses of confinement, are pretended to be little purgato-

ries, between prison and liberty, places of advantage for the keeping prisoners at

their own request, till they can get friends to deliver them, and so avoid going into publick prisons; tho’ in some of them, the extortion is such, and the accommodation so bad, that men choose to be carried away directly.

This has often been complained of, and hopes had of redress; but the rudeness and

avarice of the officers prevails, and the oppression is sometimes very great; but that by the way.7

7. Defoe D, A Tour Thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain, Divided into Circuits or Journies 17241726, Letter 5 (London), Part 2, “The City”.

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Howard in the House While John Howard was in the capital, prisons were being discussed in the House of Commons. A Bill to improve prisons had been introduced by an MP named Mr Popham a year earlier, and Howard’s support boosted his energy to propose it again. Howard agreed to a request from Sir Thomas Clavering, MP for Durham, to appear on March 4th 1774 before a committee of the House of Commons to answer questions about the state of the prisons. It gave him the opportunity to gain the attention of law-makers and assist the progress of the Bill. He spoke with such impact and clarity that Sir Thomas was directed by the committee to move the House, that John Howard Esq., be called to the Bar, and that Mr Speaker do acquaint him that the House are very

sensible of the humanity and zeal which have led him to visit the several jails of this kingdom, and to communicate to the House the interesting observations he has made upon that subject.8

Stoughton, writing 80 years later, described how the scene might have looked: There sat the Speaker in characteristic dignity, clothed in accustomed robes of office,

prolonged curls of an artistic wig falling far down over the front of his shoulders, and a cocked hat crowning his portly figure. The officers of the House, in gowns

richer than are worn now, sat at Mr. Speaker’s feet: and the benches, on each side,

were filled with gentlemen in the well-known costume of the period, all bewigged, all wearing large cocked hats … To be thanked by such a House was no small honour; and the honour was deserved by Howard. We see him in plain attire, hat in hand, led into the Parliament Chamber with the usual ceremony; bowing to Mr Speaker, he received from him the unanimously voted form of thanks …9

This sounds very civilised, but Howard’s friend Whitbread considered that Fletcher Norton, the speaker at the time (described in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as “coarse, tactless, ill-tempered, and careless of 8. Journals of the House of Commons, Veneris, 4 die Martii, 1774. 9. Stoughton J, Howard, the Philanthropist: and his Friends, London, 1884, p.56.

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The Curious Mr Howard whom he offended”) gave the vote of thanks in a manner which was “very ill & slovenly”. Within a few days another report from the Committee on the Prisons Bill was presented and the original bill was turned into two bills, both of which were passed within a couple of months. The intention of the first was to abolish the fees demanded by gaolers from acquitted prisoners. The second, the Act for Preserving the Health of Prisoners, aimed at improving health in prisons by the provision of proper ventilation, infirmaries where prisoners who were ill could be separated and the appointment of qualified, salaried surgeons in each prison. John Howard must have counted the passing of these Bills as progress, but he knew that to change things on the ground would be difficult. He therefore had them both enlarged, copied and sent to every gaol in the country, at his own expense, so no-one could claim they did not know about them. Once the business at the Houses of Commons was over, he seemed to take a rest of ten days or so before resuming his journeys. After a further visit to a London gaol, The Marshalsea Prison, he was off again, this time heading north.

A Seat in the House of Commons? As Howard was racing around the country on horseback at an average of a swift 40 miles a day, he must already been planning his next moves, because his term of office as High Sheriff was coming to its end. But suddenly something else significant presented itself. He was approached by people in Bedford who wanted him to stand as a member of Parliament. These men represented the opponents of the powerful Bedford corporation which had just selected, for a price, Sparrow and Wake, two wealthy but hardly-known candidates. Whitbread was asked to stand against them with Howard. The two friends agreed, and, judging by other accounts of elections in 18th century Britain, the subsequent brief runup to the election may have been quite rumbustious. For example, in his A Tour Thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain, Daniel Defoe gave a vivid description of a town in the grip of election fever. He was writing about Coventry, some 50 years before Howard was contesting a seat. 160

Howard in the House

It was a very unhappy time when I first came to this city, for their heats and animos-

ities for election of members to serve in Parliament were carry’d to such a hight, that all manner of method being laid aside, the inhabitants (in short) enraged at

one another, met and fought a pitch’d battle in the middle of the street, where they did not take up the width of the street, as two rabbles of people would generally

do; in which case no more could engage, but so many as the breadth of the street

would admit in the front: but, on the contrary, the two parties meeting in the street, one party kept to one side of the way, and one to the other. The kennel [channel] in

the middle only parting them, and so marching as if they intended to pass by one another,’till the front of one party was opposite to the reer of the other, and then

suddenly facing to one another and making a long front, where their flanks were

before, upon a shout given, as the signal on both sides, they fell on with such fury with clubs and staves, that in a instant the kennel was cover’d with them, not with

slain, but with such as were knocked down on both sides, and, in a word, they fought with such obstinacy that ’tis scarce credible.

Nor were these the scum and rabble of the town, but in short the burgesses and chief inhabitants, nay even magistrates, aldermen and the like.10

Even if the election in Bedford was not characterised by such “heat and animosities” as the one described by Defoe, it is a little surprising that Howard agreed to stand as a candidate. He was well able to cope with upholding his sometimes controversial opinions in debates — indeed, he occasionally made biting comments — but he would not have wanted to be part of anything approaching rowdiness let alone roughness. After the count, it was announced that Howard and Whitbread had lost, meaning that Wake and Sparrow were elected as MPs. This led to the two Cardington men and their supporters questioning how the election had been conducted. In particular, they queried the way the borough created Bedford’s freemen because this had an impact on the number of people entitled to vote. Howard knew how long appeals could take, so, while it was all going on, he wasted no time but set out on the road again, heading north, to visit yet more prisons. 10. Defoe D, A Tour Thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain, Divided into Circuits or Journies 17241726, Letter 7, Part 1, “Cheshire and North-West Midlands”.

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The Curious Mr Howard

The Essence of What Howard Found in a Year of Prison Visits At this point a brief overview of what Howard had become so involved with and exercised by is useful, for after 12 months of visiting prisons he was reaching some conclusions. So, what were the things that made such an impact on him? He found the fact that most gaolers had no wages but earned their money from the prisoners and the prisoners’ families quite wrong and illogical. He judged the situation of debtors wrong and illogical. He measured cells and halls and found them inadequate. He looked at beds and found them and their covers absent or filthy. He weighed bread and found it light. He examined food and found it insufficient and of poor quality. He counted prisoners of different types (male, female, untried, debtors, felons, aged, children, diseased, mentally ill) and found them together when they should have been separate. He particularly abhorred the fact that men and women were sometimes confined together by night as well as by day. He checked the ventilation and found it non-existent or poor. He examined the arrangements for water and sewage and found them “offensive” (“Offensive” was the inoffensive word he used to describe the foul and fetid sight and smell of the raw sewage which ran through numerous prisons). He found countless prisoners sick with gaol distemper. He looked for exercise yards and found them non-existent or used for other purposes. He asked about allowances and discovered they consisted of a few pence. He asked about the employment available to prisoners and saw little. He asked whether surgeons and chaplains visited and learned that few did so regularly. He asked about the sale of alcohol and found that numerous gaolers sold it to prisoners as a matter of course. He witnessed heavy drinking sessions. He saw hundreds of wives and children in prison with their debtor husbands. He found many prisons where the bullying practice of garnish was condoned. He also saw some examples of good practice: an honest gaoler who was concerned for those in his care; clean accommodation; good bread; an attentive chaplain; a prison without alcohol. After making only a few visits it would have soon become evident to him that conditions could not be improved until those in authority behaved 162

Howard in the House

Howard included this engraving of Portman Castle in his first book, The State of the Prisons

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The Curious Mr Howard differently. In order for systems to change for the better, both the magistrates and the gaolers they appointed had to take responsibility and enforce sound regulations. Then, and only then, might there be a chance for those who were locked up to survive their time in prison without becoming physically ill and morally corrupt. It is relevant to note here that at the end of 1774, it was reckoned that the prison population was a little over four thousand, of which more than half were debtors. At that time the population of Great Britain was estimated at something over six million. As by now John Howard’s ambitions had extended to wanting prisoners to repent and cease committing crime, he must have begun to think increasingly about the fundamental purpose of prisons. What were these hideous places supposed to be for? Few ordinary people (other than prisoners themselves and that small, philanthropic minority who ameliorated suffering by bequeathing money, fuel or clothing) gave any thought to the question, for they did not care about prisons or prisoners and hardly about punishment. Indeed, there was not any real intention on the part of the authorities to punish, for most prisoners were to be punished by execution or transportation to America. Nor did anyone consider that the numerous debtors were there to be punished, for they were just being held until they had paid their debts. At least, that was what was supposed to happen. It was only the smallest group of petty felons (those convicted of less serious crimes) who could be said to be imprisoned in order to be punished, but different magistrates held different opinions about the matter. Howard saw the system was senseless as well as immoral; he saw that the almost complete absence of work precluded any possibility of prisoners “paying back” their creditors or society through their labour, let alone earning anything for themselves or their families and he saw that most gaolers regarded prisoners as people whom they could take advantage of, or whose families they could take advantage of. The earnings of many gaolers were boosted by the fact that, at a cost, they supplied alcohol to prisoners. In effect, some gaolers ran pubs inside their gaols. The whole thing favoured the gaolers and was made possible by the fact that they were subject to little if any supervision. 164

Howard in the House Howard’s initial emotional responses such as pity, horror and astonishment at the appalling conditions were fuelled by the lack of concern, cruelty and greed he witnessed amongst magistrates, gaolers and prisoners. Even when he had good cause, he rarely expressed anger or frustration to or about others. His natural mode was equitable and steady (he often writes of his “steady spirits”) and it was that quality which contributed to the respect others paid to him and his opinions. Unfortunately, during this early-mid part of the 1770s it does not seem that he kept personal journals or wrote letters — or, if he did, they have not survived. There are fewer dated records of prison visits in the first part of 1775, but this does not necessarily indicate that he had been taking things at a slower pace then for he visited Scotland and Ireland that year. But as he did not write up individual reports on the Irish and Scottish prisons it is not known exactly where he went and when. But one should imagine him riding all over the place with his latest notes in his pocket and his head full of what he had just seen and was about to see, gradually getting a sense of the wider picture as he accumulated more and more data. But in March 1775 he was needed in London.

The Result of the Election An enquiry was to be held about the disputed election results for the Bedford constituency as the whole thing was unsatisfactory in its confusion about who should or should not have been allowed to vote. Ultimately, after two further polls, Whitbread and Wake were elected, while Sparrow and Howard were not. Howard lacked a mere four votes. It is difficult to estimate the scale of his disappointment. Although he believed the election had been conducted unfairly, his letter to his friend the Reverend Symonds, dated March 27th 1775, included this passage in which he acknowledged the support he had received from fellow Dissenters and his acceptance of God’s will: I sensibly feel for an injured people, their affection and esteem I shall ever reflect on

with pleasure and gratitude. As to myself, I calmly retire. It may be promotive of my

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The Curious Mr Howard

best interest. My large and extensive acquaintance, the very kind part the Protestant Dissenters of all denominations took in the affair hurts me not a little, yet in the

firm belief of an over-ruling Providence I would say — It is the Lord let him do what seemeth right. He maketh light arise out of darkness.11

Knowing what Howard went on to do, many people agreed that it certainly was “promotive of his best interest” not to be elected, but Whitbread saw things very differently. In his “Account of the Rise and Progress of Mr Howard’s Attention to Gaols”, he wrote … in April 1775 The Committee (in London) decided for me and Mr Wake, which

I lament exceedingly for it has done me no good but separated between me and my Friend altho’ I paid all the expences, which were very great & had no comfort

arising from it. I wish most heartily I had vacated my seat & Mr Howard had been chosen, as it could have been done. However, I took my seat & Mr Howard was, as I suppose I should in his case have been, much chagrined and disappointed

for we had equal right, but he bore it patiently & apeared not to blame me but from his future conduct I believe he suspected some unfair measures were used in

the Election which I can safely & with great truth, assert was not so & that thro’ the whole transaction I behaved faithfully and honestly to him & paid the whole

expence cheerfully. & Mr Howard Sister I believe never forgave me & provoked her brother to think ill of me.

For my Peace sake I am now sure I had better not have taken the seat–it was not

worth taking & have not benefited by it & he might have made a much better Member.12

As well as recognising Howard’s chagrin and disappointment, it is interesting to note Whitbread’s belief that Howard considered him to have been unfair. The reference to Anna Howard is also unusual, especially because it suggests that she was more involved in Howard’s life (and that of Whitbread’s) than biographers have thought. 11. Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard, The Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London, 1818, p.157. 12. Bedford and Luton Archives and Records Service, W/SH, 119/1.

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Howard in the House It is unclear why Whitbread paid Howard’s election expenses at this stage. Howard was not a man who worried much about making or keeping money, and he would not have fretted about what he might have earned as an MP. In any case, at that time few MPs were paid a wage though there were possibilities for pensions and some other financial gain. Though naturally frugal himself he was extremely generous both in respect of small things such as tips, and of much larger ones, such as spending many years of his life working without pay. On the day he gave evidence to the House of Commons as to his findings, he was asked at whose expense he travelled. Not surprisingly he quickly put the questioner right: he used only his own money. Later, his travels and publishing ventures would mean that he needed more money than he had available, and Samuel Whitbread’s support helped him achieve more than he could have done alone. John Howard was far more interested in prisons than in Parliament. Now, no longer a sheriff, nor a candidate nor an MP, he was free to devote himself entirely to his own projects.

167

The Curious Mr Howard

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Chapter 9

The State of the Prisons The Great Book With the Bedford business behind him, John Howard was beginning to tell others about his plans for publishing his findings. Samuel Whitbread, in the statement already mentioned in Chapter 8 wrote .

I told him in my dining room at my Brew house that it might be properly compiled

into a book & would doe him honer & might be entitled ‘State of Goals in England’ which encouraged him much and he proceeded with spirit thro’ the Kingdom.1

Whether Howard had thought of it before this will never be known, but he now began to focus on his new aim: to write down all he had discovered and present it to the world. Knowing what he had already done, it might be thought that he could immediately get on with composing the manuscript. After all, he already knew far more about prisons than anyone else. But no. He had other plans, as shown in the first paragraph of Section IV of the book he eventually wrote: I designed to publish the account of our prisons in the spring 1775, after I returned

from Scotland and Ireland. But conjecturing that something useful to my purpose

might be collected abroad; I laid aside my papers, and travelled into France, Flanders, Holland and Germany.2

So, probably in April, before he had published anything at all, Howard turned his back on Great Britain and Ireland and made his first tour of the prisons on the continent. While he could already be counted an accomplished 1. Bedford and Luton Archives and Records Service, W/SH, 119/1. 2. Howard J, The State of the Prisons,Warrington, 1777, p.44.

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The Curious Mr Howard observer and commentator, these new experiences added wide and different dimensions to his enterprise for he was in turns appalled, intrigued and made enthusiastic by what he saw. So, as Captain Cook was making his way home across the Pacific from the Southern Seas, Howard was crossing what was then called the German Ocean en route to France, French Flanders, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany. About French gaols he commented Their great care and attention to their prisons is worthy of commendation, all fresh and Clean, no Gaol Distemper, no Prisoners Ironed, the Bread allowance far exceeds that of any of our Gaols.3

In Holland he found more prisons whose cleanliness, industry, religious observance and management pleased him. However, as he proceeded he found no country in which prisons were uniformly good. In many places they were uniformly bad. From Bonn, on June 20th 1775, Howard wrote to the Reverend Symonds I have carefully visited some Prussian, Austrian, Hessian, and many other gaols.

With the utmost difficulty did I get access to many dismal abodes; and, through the good hand of God, I have been preserved in health and safety.4

On July 25th 1775, with his memorandum books and his head full of new material, he arrived back home. By now England would have heard of the first shots of the American Revolution on April 18th, but it is doubtful whether even that news would have eclipsed his own urgent prison concerns. Back in Cardington the potatoes would have been flowering, the onions ready for thinning and the savoys waiting to be planted, and it might be supposed that he would have been keen to get there as soon as possible, but, as usual, business came first. On landing at Dover, rather than go home at once, he took the opportunity to visit gaols there and at Maidstone. He often liked to spring a surprise by turning up unexpectedly, secure in the 3. Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard, The Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London, 1818, p.164. 4. Field J, Correspondence of John Howard, Not Before Published, London, 1855, p.20.

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The State of the Prisons knowledge that nothing could have been specially prepared for his visit and enabling him to see things as they really were. Howard next spent a few quiet months at home. Perhaps he was reviewing the material for his book. He must have been thinking about Jack, who was by now about eleven years old, and sometime around the autumn he moved him from the girls’ school mentioned in Chapter 4. … to the care of a Mr Magick, who kept a school for Dissenting youths at Pinner, in order that he might be qualified for the ministry, notwithstanding an impediment in his speech gave little prospect of his success in that vocation.5

During the holidays Jack stayed at Croxton with the Leeds (his deceased mother’s family), or in Great Ormond Street, London, with his aunt Anna, or in Cardington. Perhaps in 1775 he saw more of his father than usual, for it seems that Howard remained at home for a couple of months until the early autumn. He undertook no prison visits except one until November, but in that month and December he exceeded himself by making an extraordinary 50 prison visits in places as far afield as Derby, Hereford and Truro … exposing himself the while to the cold that would strike through his frame from

the dampness of their [the prisoners’] miserable abodes, and to the burning fever which might commence its destructive ravages in his veins the moment he had inhaled but a particle of their infected breath …6

Seeing English prisons with eyes fresh from the continent must have given him new insights, but, astonishingly, he still did not consider he was ready to commence writing, for he set off abroad again in May 1776 to revisit some gaols and to see others for the first time. He was travelling in France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland and The Netherlands at around the time that James Watt’s first engines were being used to pump water out of Cornish mines.

5. John Howard’s obituary, Gentleman’s Magazine, 1790, p.276. 6. Baldwin Brown J, op.cit., p.182.

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The Curious Mr Howard Did he really need yet more material? Surely not. Surely he travelled for the reasons discussed above, but also with the hope that he might come across something else useful. It was obviously very hard for him to cease doing that which enabled him to be at peace with himself. Being on the road was a very specific activity for him, and he knew how to arrange every element of it to suit himself exactly. When renting a room in some German or Dutch inn, or waiting for his horse to be shod by a Swiss blacksmith he would have been communicating with a wide range of people, but were there ever times when he would have enjoyed the company of other interesting travellers? Perhaps not. He did not get into conversation easily, and few people would have made social demands on him if he seemed to signal that he preferred to eat and sit alone. Certainly, he did not seem to have been a particularly approachable man except to those who knew him. It was not until January 1777 that Howard called a halt to his travels and focused on his as yet unwritten book. Though his journeys abroad had furnished him with a large amount of information, the best of what he learned was not necessarily capable of being imported and the worst was irrelevant and undesirable. The culture and politics in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland were different from those in the places he had seen abroad, and while some of the reasons which kept him on the road are known, it is frustrating for those who applauded his aims to think that he could have concentrated earlier on improving things instead of collecting yet more probably unnecessary data. Surely, after the first 50 visits, or even after the first 20 or so, he had the measure of what was wrong? There was no need to visit dozens and dozens more gaols, nor to keep re-visiting them. Indeed, he knew from the outset that one of the most important things that would bring about immediate improvement was for existing prison rules to be observed. Of course he wanted new changes to be implemented too, but he would have counted it great progress if what was supposed to happen in prisons actually happened. In March 1777, four years after he started, having made well over 200 visits to prisons in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland and many more abroad and after reflecting on what he saw, John Howard published The State of the Prisons in England with Preliminary Observations and an Account of some Foreign Prisons. 172

The State of the Prisons At this point in the story the priority is to focus on the contents of this, the first of his two seminal books which described his extraordinary experiences, outlined his reflections on these and explained his conclusions in terms of practical recommendations for improving prisons. The arrangements he put in place for his texts to be turned from notes into proper books are dealt with in Chapter 12, for writing, editing, printing and publishing the 520-page book was a far from straightforward matter.

Contents The simple and powerful Introduction begins: The distress of prisoners, of which there are few who have not some imperfect idea, came more immediately under my notice when I was Sheriff of the county of

Bedford; and in the circumstance which excited me to activity in their behalf was, the seeing some, who by verdict of the juries were declared not guilty; some, on whom the grand jury did not find such an appearance of guilt as subjected them to

trial; and some, whose prosecutors did not appear against them; after having been confined for months, dragged back to gaol, and locked up again till they should pay sundry fees to the gaoler, the clerk of the assize etc.

In order to redress this hardship, I applied to the justices of the county for a salary

to the gaoler in lieu of his fees. The bench was properly affected with the grievance, and willing to grant the relief desired: but they wanted a precedent for charging the county with the expence. I therefore rode into several neighbouring counties in search of a precedent; but I soon learned that the same injustice was practised in them; and looking into the prisons, I beheld scenes of calamity, which I grew

daily more and more anxious to alleviate. In order therefore to gain a more perfect

knowledge of the particulars and extent of it, by various and accurate observation, I visited most of the County-gaols in England.7

7. Howard J, op.cit., p.1.

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The Curious Mr Howard The State of the Prisons allows readers to see what Howard saw where and when he saw it. Over the years from 1773-1783 he calculated that he travelled a total of 42,033 miles — quite a hoofprint for one man, or sometimes one man and a servant, and many of his routes were ridden more than once — even four or five times — as he criss-crossed counties and countries at speed, driven increasingly hard by his double need to be on the move come what may and to seek out and catalogue “scenes of calamity”. Furthermore, between 1783 and his death he travelled many more thousands of miles. The State of the Prisons made an immediate impact. It focused on prisons in England and Wales and on some in other European countries, and readers come first to the straightforward Introduction, which spells out clearly Howard’s purpose and intention: that is, the correction of what really is amiss. The journies were not undertaken for the traveller’s amusement; and the collections are not published for general entertainment; but for the perusal of those who have it in their power to give redress to the sufferers.

The subsequent sections are headed: I.

II.

III. IV. V.

VI.

VII.

General View of Distress in Prisons Bad Customs in Prisons

Proposed Improvements in the Structure and Management of Prisons An Account of Foreign Prisons and Hospitals Prisoners-of-War in England Scotch and Irish prisons

A Particular Account of English Prisons.

Section VII is a solid chapter consisting of 260 pages (comprising nearly half of the book). It contains the core of Howard’s work: descriptive accounts of about 300 prisons, ranging from big city or county gaols to tiny lock-ups with only a couple of prisoners, arranged according to the Assize circuits. Anyone dipping into this section is immediately enabled to picture — or at least to picture details of — individual gaols. These accounts of prisons collected over a decade and a half are what Howard is best known for. He 174

The State of the Prisons presents his material in a matter-of-fact way, deliberately avoiding details of torture, for that might have brought him the wrong readers. While he intended people to sit up in shock, his underlying purpose was too serious to risk compromising. Although the long and substantial Section VII (see above) is presented in a formulaic way, it is quite accessible. Any reflective person who spends even 15 minutes with it cannot fail to appreciate that things were indeed amiss in almost every prison (though not all) and that many things needed to be corrected. The numerous reports read en bloc can be exhausting, indigestible and depressing, and all of Howard’s biographers have been faced with the question of how — or whether — to summarise his findings, a task at which the great man himself was none too skilled. This chapter contains representative extracts from sections of the fourth edition which relate mostly to prisons in England and Wales. All references are to page numbers in the re-printed fourth edition published by Patterson Smith. By the time the first edition went to press Howard had had time to reflect and reflect again on all he had seen up until 1777, and his book was, quite literally, a heavy one. By the time the fourth edition was published (in 1792, two years after his death) it was even heavier: a compendium consisting of nearly 550 pages packed with information, comment and illustrations.

Examples from ‘A Particular Account of English Prisons’ In this overview, Section VII is discussed first because its contents are the essence of the book. The extracts are not presented in any particular order. County Gaol at Maidstone: Without great attention to cleanliness and the separation of the sick, here will be great danger of the gaol-fever, from the offensiveness of the wards and even the court of the men-felons.8

8. Ibid, p.265.

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The Curious Mr Howard

Kingston Bridewell: There is a door from the men’s court into that of the women’s, and one of the men keeps the key, and can let any of the prisoners into the women’s apartments.9

Fleet: I mentioned the billiard table. They also play in the court-yard at skittles, mississippi, fives, tennis &c. And not only the prisoners: I saw amongst them several

butchers and others from the market; who are admitted here as at another public house. The same may be seen in many other prisons where the gaoler keeps or lets

the tap. Besides the inconvenience of this to prisoners, the frequenting of a prison

lessens the dread of being confined in one. On Monday night there was a wine club:

on Thursday night a beer club: each lasting usually till one or two in the morning. I

need not say how much riot these occasion; and how sober prisoners, and those that

are sick, are annoyed by them.

Seeing the prison crowded with women and children, I procured an accurate list of them; and found that on or about the 6th April 1776, when there were on the

masters’-side 213 prisoners, on the common side 30, total 243; their wives (including women of an appellation not so honourable) and children were 475.10

Marshalsea: I was credibly informed, that one Sunday in the summer 1775, about 600 pots of beer were brought in from a public house in the neighbourhood (Ashmore’s) the prisoners not then liking the tapster’s beer.11

Horsham: The situation is judiciously chosen; and the plan is such as appears to me

particularly well-suited for the purpose. It does credit to those who superintended the work, being every way substantial and strong. Each felon has a separate room

10 feet by 7, and 9 feet high to the crown of the arch. They are all arched with brick, to prevent danger and confusion in case of fire. … every room has a shutter for the window, a bedstead, a canvas straw bed, and two blankets: and the county is so

considerate as to allow a bushel of coal to the debtors and the same to the felons, every day during the six winter months.12 9. 10. 11. 12.

Ibid, p.278. Ibid, p.219. Ibid, p.251. Ibid, pp.270-1.

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Coventry City and County Gaol: It has eight lodging rooms for master’s-side

debtors; and the common ward. Women-felons have only one room, and that without a fireplace. The men have a day-room. To their dungeons there is a descent

of 12 steps to a passage only 4 feet wide: the four dungeons are about 9 feet by 6: at the upper corner of each, a little window, 11 inches by 7. All are very damp, dirty and

offensive: we went down with torches. Only one court for all prisoners. No straw: no infirmary: no bath.13

Chesterfield Gaol: Only one room with a cellar under it; to which the prisoners

occasionally descend through a hole in the floor. The cellar had not been cleaned for many months. The prison door had not been opened for several weeks, when I

was there first. There were four prisoners, who told me they were almost starved: one of them said, with tears in his eyes, “he had not eaten a morsel that day”; it was afternoon. Their meagre sickly countenances confirmed what they said.14

Folkingham, Lincs: In this prison under the keeper’s house are five damp rooms.

Two of which were used for a lunatic, who was confined here some years.15

Reading, Berkshire: I observed that the women were not only chained together by

their hands, but had heavy irons also on their legs, as they were conducted to the sessions house.16

Windsor Castle Prison for Debtors, Berkshire: I need not observe that his Majesty

is proprietor. … At my last visit I found that the old keeper had been murdered in

the tap-room by a soldier who also killed another, and was then shot himself. This is not the first instance I have known of persons being murdered in the tap-room of

gaols. Such are the bad effects of selling liquors in prisons.17

Worcester Castle, Oxford: … the men-felons dungeon, which is 26 steps under the ground, and circular, 18 feet diameter, with barrack-bedsteads. Over it is an aperture 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

Ibid, p.310. Ibid, p.320. Ibid, p.329. Ibid, p.338. Ibid, p.340.

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The Curious Mr Howard

in the court, 3 feet diameter, with iron grates. The felons work the ventilator cheer-

fully about quarter of an hour before they go down, and as long when they come up; for it freshens and cools the dungeon amazingly: we could hardly keep one candle

burning below while it was working … The uneasy situation of the prisoners at night

in the horrid dungeon, has, I doubt not, been one cause of their illness; for even in this strong and deep dungeon, prisoners (as in too many gaols) are all night chained

together, by a heavy chain through the links in their fetters and iron rings fastened to the floor.18

County gaol, Glocester Castle: There is no separation of the women, or of the

bridewell prisoners. The licentious intercourse of the sexes is shocking to decency

and humanity. Many children have been born in this gaol. There is a small chapel,

but all the endeavours of the chaplain to promote reformation among the prisoners must necessarily be defeated, by the inattention of the magistrates, and their neglect

of framing and enforcing good regulations. Perhaps this is the reason the chaplain seldom attends.19

John Howard, nearly always (but not always) keen to see his country in a good light, ended his reports on individual prisons thus: I know not how to close this account without making the following observation. In

all my journies, by night and day, through all the different counties of England (for ten years past) I have never once been stopped or even known myself in any great

danger from robbers. I mention this (with a devout acknowledgement of a Kind

Providence!) because foreigners in this country generally travel in terror, and often give dismal accounts of the dangers they have encountered.20

Few people can read comments like those just quoted without getting a feel of Howard’s character. He is humane. He is practical. He has plenty of common sense.

18. Ibid, pp.345-6. 19. Ibid. p.363. 20. Ibid. p.464.

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Extracts from ‘Distress in Prisons’ The Introduction to The State of the Prisons is followed by text which certainly lives up to its heading, “General View of Distress in Prisons”: There are prisons, into whoever looks will, at first sight of the people confined, be convinced that there is some great error in the management of them; their meagre

countenances declare, without words, that they are very miserable. Many who went in healthy, are in a few months changed to emaciated dejected objects … The cause

of this distress is, that many prisons are scantily supplied, and some almost totally destitute of the necessaries of life.

… It will perhaps be asked, does not their work maintain them? For everyone knows

that those offenders are committed to hard labour. The answer to that question,

though true, will hardly be believed. There are few bridewells in which any work is

done, or can be done. The prisoners have neither tools, nor materials of any kind: but

spend their life in sloth, profaneness and debauchery, to a degree which, in some of those houses that I have seen, is extremely shocking.

… The want of food is to be found in many county gaols. … Many prisons have no Water. … And as to Air, which is no less necessary that either of the two preceding articles

and given us by Providence quite gratis without any care or labour of our own; yet, as if the bounteous goodness of Heaven excited our envy, methods are contrived to rob prisoners of this genuine cordial of life … I mean by preventing that circulation and change of the salutiferous fluid, without which animals cannot live and thrive.

… Air which has been breathed is made poisonous to a more intense degree by the

effluvia of the sick and what else in prison is offensive. My reader will judge of its

malignity when I assure him that my clothes were in my first journies so offensive

that in a post chaise I could not bear the windows drawn up and was therefore obliged to travel commonly on horseback. The leaves of my memorandum book

were often so tainted that I could not use it until after spreading it an hour or two

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The Curious Mr Howard

before the fire and even my antidote, a phial of vinegar, has, after using it in a few

prisons, become intolerably disagreeable. I did not wonder, that in those journies many gaolers made excuses and did not go with me into the felons wards.

… Some gaols have no Sewers or vaults; and those that have, if they be not properly attended to, they are, even to a visitant, offensive beyond expression; how noxious then to people constantly confined in those prisons!

… In some few gaols are confined idiots and Lunatics. These serve for the sport of

idle visitants and other times of general resort … No care is taken of them, although it is probable that by medicines and proper regimen some of them might be restored to their senses, and to usefulness in life.21

Extracts from ‘Bad Customs’ Again, Howard’s words could not describe the situation more clearly: A cruel custom obtains in most of our gaols, which is that of the prisoners demanding

of a newcomer Garnish … “Pay or strip” are the fatal words. I say fatal, for they are so

to some, who having no money, are obliged to give up part of their scanty apparel, and then if they have no bedding or straw to sleep on, contract diseases, which I have known to prove mortal.

Gaming in various forms is very frequent … There is scarce a county gaol but is

furnished with them (games), and one can seldom go in without seeing prisoners at play.22

Such behaviour was nothing new. In 1757 a bookseller named Jacob Ilive served a term for libel in the Clerkenwell House of Correction where he found 21. Ibid, pp.4-8. 22. Ibid, pp.12-13.

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men and women associating freely, drinking together in the prison taproom, and

whiling away their hours in the prison yards playing at chuck farthing, tossing up, leapfrog, and a “very merry but abominably obscene game” called “rowly powly”, (which Ilive unfortunately was too delicate to describe).23

Howard also had strong opinions about the use of irons and concerning gaol delivery: Loading prisoners with heavy Irons, which make their walking, and even lying

down to sleep, difficult and painful, is another custom which I cannot but condemn.

The practice must be mere tyranny; unless it proceed from avarice; which I rather

suspect, because county gaolers do sometimes grant dispensations, and indulge their prisoners, men as well as women, with what they call “the choice of irons” if they will pay for it.24

Gaol delivery [i.e. to court] is in some counties but once a year. What reparation can be made to a poor creature for the misery he has suffered, by confinement in a prison near twelve months before a trial, in which, perhaps he is at last declared by his country not guilty?25

At the end of this section Howard includes several tables about different types of prisoners in prison in the spring of 1776. There were 2,437 debtors, 994 felons and 653 petty offenders, making a total of 4,084.26

Examples from ‘Proposed Improvements’ Howard wrote: In order to redress these various evils (viz. the wrongness of imprisoning debtors, and the fact that prisons make people ill and render them unfit for work) the first

23. 24. 25. 26.

Ignatieff M, A Just Measure of Pain, Pantheon Books, New York, 1978, pp.32-33. Howard J, op. cit., p.13. Ibid, p.15. Ibid, p.17.

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The Curious Mr Howard

thing to be taken into consideration is the prison itself. Many county gaols are so decayed and ruinous, or, for other reasons, so totally unfit for the purpose, that new ones must be built in their stead.27

A County Gaol, and indeed every prison, should be built on a spot that is airy, and if possible near a river or brook.28

I wish to have so many small rooms or cabins that each criminal may sleep alone … Solitude and silence are favourable to reflection, and may possibly lead

them to repentance.29 The separation I am pleading for, especially at night, would prevent escapes, or make them very difficult.

The women-felons’ ward should be quite distinct from that of the men, and the young

criminals from the old and hardened. Each of these three classes should also have their day-room or kitchen with a fire-place, and their court and offices all separate.30

Debtors and felons should have wards totally separate; the peace, the cleanliness, the health and the morals of debtors cannot be secured otherwise.31

A Chapel is necessary in a gaol … Bible and prayer books should be chained at convenient distances on each side: those who tear or otherwise damage them should be punished.32

Section III also contains several pages about regulations. Without a due attention to the oeconomy and government of a prison, it is evident

that no contrivance or structure can secure it from being the abode of wickedness, disease and misery.33

27. Ibid, p.20. 28. Ibid, p.21. 29. Solitude and silence were to become core elements of Howard’s proposals which would outlive him and be adopted far more rigorously than he intended. 30. Ibid, p.22. 31. Ibid, p.24. 32. Ibid, p.25. 33. Ibid, p.25.

182

Howard’s Plan for a County Gaol. Note the separated accommodation for different types of prisoners, the garden and the chapel, the gaoler’s house in the middle, and the gateway for a cart — the forerunner of today’s prison gate. This engraving shows a simple, spacious building with clean lines which bears no resemblance to the prisons he described, but is a clear statement of the sort of prisons Howard wanted to see built. Although Whitbread’s document stated that he offered Howard the services of Sparrow, one of his employees who had a natural talent for drawing, there is no certainty concerning who drew it, but Howard always had an eye for detail and never failed to find good illustrators.

The State of the Prisons

183

The Curious Mr Howard Howard knew that if there were to be improvements those gaolers who were greedy, lazy or cruel would or might resist change. That is why his first, wise comments in his notes on regulations are about gaolers: The first care must be to find a good man for a gaoler; one that is honest, active and

humane. … This officer must be sober himself, that he may, by example as well as authority, restrain drunkenness and other vices in his prison. … To remove a strong temptation to the contrary, it is highly requisite that no gaoler, turnkey, or other servant be suffered to hold the Tap or to have any connexion, concern or interest whatever in the sale of liquors of any kind.34

Other rules he thought necessary were: No prisoner should be a turnkey. It is the gaoler’s duty to inspect the wards himself

every day, that he may see they are clean, and not to leave this to servants … He

must encourage and promote cleanliness.35

He then moves onto chaplains: They [i.e. magistrates] should choose one who is in principle a Christian: who will

not content himself with officiating in public; but will converse with the prisoners; admonish the profligate; exhort the thoughtless; comfort the sick; and make known to the condemned that mercy which is revealed in the Gospel.36

And as to surgeons Howard notes: The late act for preserving the health of prisoners [the one Howard had helped Mr Popham MP push through Parliament] requires that an experienced Surgeon

or Apothecary be appointed to every gaol: a man of repute in his profession. His

business is … to order the immediate removal of the sick to the infirmary, and see that they have proper bedding and attendance. Their irons should be taken off and

they should have, not only medicines, but also diet suitable to their condition. He 34. Ibid, p.25. 35. Ibid, p.27. 36. Ibid, p.28.

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must diligently and daily visit them himself; not leaving them to journeymen and apprentices.37

Next, Howard discusses the issue of fees, one of the key wrongs he noted at the very outset of his prison work when he realised how prisons run for profit, with little, if any supervision by the proper authorities, are usually dirty, unhealthy and cruel places. This example of a Tables of Fees is from the entry for Stamford Town Gaol: £

s

d

0

10

0

Bail fees to the gaol

6

0

For diet each day, if not find themselves

1

0

For every arrest upon bail For waiting for bail one shilling per hour

For lodging each night, if not find themselves If they find themselves bedding, then for cleaning the room each week

4 1

0

For felons &c. and those that lie on the common side For Gaoler’s fees for the gaol

10

0

To the smith ironing and taking off

2

0

Lodging for each night

0

2

To the person who executes sentence of pillory, burning in hand or whipping

1

0

To the keeper of the house of correction for every person committed for the first night

0

6

Every day that person continues in custody for attendance

0

1

37. Ibid, p.29.

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The Curious Mr Howard Howard wrote: No prisoner should be subject to any demand of Fees. The gaoler should have a salary

in lieu of them: and so should the turnkeys; their wages should not be included in the gaoler’s salary and not only their pay, but the number of them necessary for each

prison should be determined by the magistrates. Neither of those articles should be left to the interested appointment of a gaoler. If fees be not abolished, I am sure they should be reduced; and so should the chamber rents for master-side debtors … For

common side debtors there should be a ward entirely free. … These prisoners should either be alimented by their creditors.. or have from the county the same allowance of every kind as felons: food, bedding and medicine.38

And so to cleanliness, about which Howard was particularly passionate: In order to Cleanliness, than which scarce any thing in the whole oeconomy of a gaol is of more importance, the ceiling and walls of every ward and rooms should

be well scraped; and then washed with the best stone-lime taken hot from the kiln, and slaked in boiling water and size, and used during the strong effervescence; at least twice a year;

Every prisoner who comes to gaol dirty, should be washed in the cold or warm bath; and his clothes should be put into the oven, in a sack or on a pair of iron dogs. He

should be provided with coarse washing clothes to wear while his own are thus purifying …39

Prisoners should not remain in the day time in the rooms in which they sleep …

They should also be made to get up early, and be called over — to their bread — and

prayers. This would prevent them from sleeping immoderately, and be conducive to health … Those who drink only water, and have no nutritious liquor, ought to have at least a pound and a half of good household bread every day.40

Howard had opinions on still more issues: 38. Ibid, pp.29-30. 39. Ibid, pp.30-31. 40. Ibid. p.33.

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The reader will plainly see, that I am not an advocate for an extravagant and profuse allowance to prisoners. I plead only for necessaries, in such a moderate quantity, as may support health and strength for labour.

No fighting should be suffered in a gaol: no quarreling, or abusive language, nor the frequent occasion of them, gaming.

In (a) conspicuous manner should ..be hung up, in every gaol, an authentic Table of

Fees, till they are all abolished.41

An Alarm bell would be extremely proper in every prison, in order to summon

assistance in case of any insurrection or general escape. The very idea of such a thing would greatly contribute to prevent the projecting of such schemes.42

Finally, the care of a prison is too important to be left wholly to a gaoler; paid

indeed for his attendance, but often tempted by his passions, or interest, to fail

in his duty. To every prison there should be an Inspector appointed; either by his colleagues in the magistracy or by parliament.

… The Inspector should make his visit once in a week, changing his days … He

should speak to every prisoner … (He) should have no salary.

If magistrates continue thus negligent of their duty (i.e. as negligent as they are now) a general thorough reformation of our prisons must be despaired of.43

It was clear during John Howard’s lifetime — and since then — that he was much, much more than a collector of prison data and a commentator on prisons. He was the first real independent prison inspector and must have thought of himself in those terms. He carried out the task because he cared about it, and he took no payment. He spoke to prisoners and gaolers. He tried to right what was wrong. He looked into every room. He checked what he saw against each prison’s Memorandum of Rules. He returned for repeat 41. Ibid, p.34. 42. Ibid, p.35. 43. Ibid, pp.36-7.

187

The Curious Mr Howard visits to check on what changes had occurred. Whatever else was going on in his head and in his heart, it is certain that one of his reasons for engaging in it was unquestionably “the noble motive of doing justice to prisoners and service to his country”. The last part of Section III is devoted to bridewells, which were supposed to contain those sentenced to hard labour and correction but were often more like poorhouses. Indeed, outside the town gaol and bridewell in Shrewsbury was the inscription In this house the poor of the town are set to work. He that will not labour, let him not eat. An Dom. 1636

One-hundred-and-fifty years later Howard was in agreement with this, though he was well aware of the problems which usually stall attempts to provide prisoners with work which is worth doing and earns something for them or for the prison. In work they [the prisoners] ought, most certainly, to be employed. This is indis-

pensably requisite. Not one should be idle, that is not sick … The keeper should be a master of some manufacture; a man of activity, prudence and temper. And he should keep his prisoners at work ten hours a day; meal-times included.44

… For women, especially those that have children with them, and sometimes at the breast, there should be a chimney in one or two rooms; and in winter they should be allowed firing. I have known infants starved to death for want of this.45

Contrary to the perception some people have of John Howard as a totally soft and prisoner-friendly soul, his pragmatism was such that he recommended bad behaviour be dealt with by way of sanctions:

44. Ibid, p.38. 45. Ibid, p.38.

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Gentle discipline is commonly more efficacious than severity; which should not be exercised but on such as will not be amended by lenity. These should be punished

by solitary confinement on bread and water, for a time proportioned to their fault.46

He found prisons where the gaoler went home every night, leaving the place and its occupants to itself. He therefore stated that The keeper should … reside in the house.47

One piece of his advice seems obvious to most people today, but many would have regarded it as a novel idea in the 18th century: To reform prisoners, or make them better as to their morals, should always be the leading view in every house of correction, and their earnings should only be a secondary object.48

Howard concludes Section III with his thoughts about who should be condemned to capital punishment and who to life sentences: I could wish that no persons might suffer capitally but for murder — for setting

houses on fire — for house-breaking, attended with acts of cruelty. The high-

wayman — the footpad — the habitual thief and people of this clan; should end their days in a penitentiary house, rather than on the gallows.49

He ends the Section with a word to those he expects to criticise his proposals. It may be said, that from the many conveniences suggested in the structure of prisons, and the removal of those hardships which rendered them so terrible, the

dread of being confined in them will in a great measure be taken off, and the lower classes of people will find them more comfortable places of residence than their own 46. 47. 48. 49.

Ibid, p.39. Ibid. p.40. Ibid, p.40. Ibid, p.42.

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The Curious Mr Howard

houses. But let it be considered in the first place that though I have indeed recommended such attention in the construction and management as may free them from the diseases and hardships under which they have laboured, I have proposed nothing to give them an air of elegance or pleasantness.50

50. Ibid, p.43.

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Chapter 10

Foreign Prisons and Hospitals In the brief introduction to Section IV of The State of the Prisons (fourth edition), John Howard explained how he made repeated journeys abroad over a period of some years and stated, “The substance of all these travels is now thrown into one narrative”—a strategy which is replicated here. This means that his travels are not arranged in chronological order but country by country. The 150 pages of Section IV (the second longest section in the book) contain information about Howard’s foreign visits, about prisoners-of-war and about what he found in Scotland and Ireland. Unlike his accounts of individual English prisons, few of which take up more than a page or two of statistics and comments, many of his descriptions of prisons on the continent are highly detailed. Some of them were the result of several visits carried out at some time between 1775 and 1789 when he published his second big book, Lazarettos. The dense text provides plenty of information about Howard as well as details of prisons. In discussing it, several other anecdotes, letters, journals and comments relevant to the various countries he was visiting have been included below in order to give a sense of his life abroad. When he published the first edition of The State of the Prisons Howard had visited prisons in a limited number of countries on the continent. In 1778, a year later, he visited each of those countries at least once again, and Switzerland for the first time. His aim was clear and simple: to find good prison practice which could be adopted to improve prisons in England so as to reduce the suffering of prisoners and, ambitiously, the likelihood of their re-offending. As Howard became more well-known and respected abroad as well as at home, he also hoped his comments would encourage the authorities in other countries to improve their prisons. Gradually his interest in medical issues and the plague increased, and his attention began to embrace institutions such as hospitals, poorhouses, schools and places where prisoners-of-war were confined. When re-visiting establishments he was looking to see, just as 191

The Curious Mr Howard he did in England, whether any of the bad practices he had seen had ceased, and whether the improvements he had recommended had been carried out. It is intriguing that there is virtually no record of any gaoler, in any of those countries, actually refusing him entry, except to The Bastille. In England it seems that he started by just turning up unannounced at the prison gate in a matter-of-fact way and asking to be let in and shown round. He relied on the fact that gaolers would acquiesce to the wishes of a gentleman. This might too be how he began when he first travelled abroad, but once he became well-known, his access to foreign gaols was eased by ambassadors and others with political influence and local knowledge. While this must have speeded things up, the disadvantage was that when he was expected or accompanied some gaolers tried to impress him by concealing things or lying to him.

Holland The first country discussed in Section IV is Holland, and it opens with a few sentences designed to arrest the reader: Prisons in the United Provinces are so quiet and most of them so clean, that a visitor can hardly believe he is in a gaol. They are commonly… white-washed once or twice a year, and prisoners observed to me how refreshing it was to come into the rooms

after they had been so thoroughly cleaned. A physician and surgeon is appointed to every prison and prisoners are in general healthy.1

Howard goes on to state some more positive findings: most prisoners had their own room; there were few debtors in gaol; there was no transportation; gaolers received salaries; there was a system of parole for good behaviour. However, he found other things too, such as the fact that although prisoners worked, the profit gained by this did not cover the cost of running the prison. And there were executions.

1. Howard J, The State of the Prisons, Warrington, 1777, pp.44-5.

192

Foreign Prisons and Hospitals Most of the prisons were stadt-hauses (town gaols), rasp-hauses (where male prisoners rasped timber to a powder used in the making of paint) and spin-hauses (where women span and wove). Howard had plans of three prisons printed, each of them seemingly (but not) engraved by the same hand. Although measurements and room layouts are given, it is not always easy for a reader to people the drawing with imagined prisoners. Nevertheless, the plans propose models of openness and space and take the reader’s mind away from the reality of current squalid conditions to the concept of potentially good ones. Howard particularly liked the maxim that underpinned imprisonment in Holland: Make them diligent and they will be honest. It revealed a far more positive attitude than that which existed in England. He was no passive onlooker, for in Rotterdam he had himself shut into a dark room to see what it was like, and in Amsterdam he weighed the bread several times because he suspected the gaoler of providing short weight — which he was in fact doing — in order to make a profit. Howard tested the weight of bread almost everywhere he went, a fact which did not escape his admiring critic Thomas Carlyle, writing nearly a century later: A practical, and solid man, if a dull and even dreary; “carries his weighing scales in

his pocket”: when your jailer answers, “The prisoner’s allowance of food is so and

so; and we observe it sacredly; here, for example, is a ration”. “Hey! A ration this?” and solid John suddenly produces his weighing scales; weighs it, marks down in his tablets what the actual quantity of it is. That is the art and manner of the man.2

“Solid John” presented a list of the entire diet in the Rotterdam Rasphouses, of which this is Thursday’s menu: Each man one-third of a pound of meat, or one eighth of a pound of pork without bone; two slices of rye bread, weighing together half a pound, with a bowl of barley broth.

2. Carlyle T, Latter-Day Pamphlets, Chapman and Hall, London, 1894, Ch 2 (originally issued in 1850).

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Boys, or men who only do half-task, one fourth of meat, or one twelfth of a pound

of meat without bone; two slices of rye bread, weighing together three eighths of a pound, with each a bowl of barley broth.

The women no meat or pork; each a bowl of barley broth, with three eighths of a pound of rye bread with butter or cheese.3

In Rotterdam he heard about the foiled escape attempt of an Englishman who obtained from an apothecary a substance, ostensibly for toothache, which he mixed with pewter obtained by melting spoons. The man managed to form the mixture he had made into keys strong enough to open doors, but he was reported to the gaolers by another prisoner who was subsequently awarded his release for doing so. Howard was fully aware of the need to prevent escapes, unlike his biographer Hepworth Dixon who recorded the same story but revealed his prejudice by describing the man who had alerted the gaoler as “a rascally Jew”. Howard was very keen to see for himself what happened in prisons on Sundays, so made a point of being in one then. He was not disappointed. Having witnessed a dignified service and the way the chaplain concerned himself with the prisoners after the service, he wrote: I cannot forbear closing this account without mentioning the ardent wishes it inspired in me, that our prisons also, instead of echoing with profaneness and blasphemy, might hereafter resound with the offices of religious worship and prove, like

these, the happy means of awakening many to a sense of their duty to God and man.4

At the orphanage in Amsterdam, where he found 1,300 children, he was, as usual, prepared to point out what was wrong: … the children (were) miserably nasty, and most of them troubled with scorbutic

and cutaneous disorders to a great degree. On observing this to some of the direc-

tors, they replied in words that gave me pain and excited my imagination, “It is the 3. Howard J, op.cit., p.49. 4. Ibid, p.50.

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house disorder, all our children must have a seasoning”.  Thus do the physicians excuse the abuse of their trust.5

In his visit of November 1781, Howard saw On the gallows a criminal was hanging who had been executed a year before. In this

country malefactors are often thus left to hang after an execution, till they drop into

a well (or deep pit) underneath, which is designed for the reception of their bones.6

He ends his substantial section on Holland as he began it, on a note of high praise: I leave this country with regret, as it affords a large field for information on the important subject I have in view. I know not which to admire most, the neatness and cleanliness appearing in the prisons, the industry and the regular conduct of the prisoners, or the humanity and attention of the magistrates and regents.7

Germany Howard found some of the German prisons almost as industrious and as clean as those in Holland, but their regimes were fiercer and less humane. A quirky feature which he noticed in Holland and Germany (and elsewhere) was the use of prison accommodation to confine the refractory children of private families. He thought it “a shocking practice!” to see … the doors of sundry rooms marked Ethiopia, India, Italy, France, England &c. In those rooms, parents, by the authority of the magistrates, confine for a certain

time dissolute children, and if they are enquired after, the answer is, they are gone to Italy, England &c.8

5. 6. 7. 8.

Ibid, p.62. Ibid, p.63. Ibid, p.66. Ibid, p.66.

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The Curious Mr Howard As usual, he questioned all that he was presented with, and was not to be deceived. For example I enquired of the keeper concerning several particulars in the diet &c. but the

misery expressed in the countenances of the prisoners made me totally disregard the information given me by words.9

Similarly, in the House of Correction in Brunswick, he saw through an attempt to make him believe that it was only because the chapel was full that some prisoners were working on a Sunday. But “I was … admitted after the service, and concluded from the sand on the floor at the prisoners’ benches, that few or none had attended”.10 In Osnabrug, Howard found a particularly appalling method of torture still in use, of which he declined to give a description. He took every opportunity to encourage good practice, as he did in this case, for in a footnote he wrote, “I doubt not but the humanity and good sense of his royal highness, will abolish it when he comes of age”.11 Unfortunately, although Prince Frederick of Germany promised to abolish torture, he did not. A short digression about torture is useful here, given Howard’s hatred of it and the evidence he found of its ubiquity. Hepworth Dixon explained his attitude to it. On the subject of … torture the Philanthropist was loth to speak; he feared to

pander to the morbid love of horror. He one day told a friend that, had he pleased, he could have filled a volume with an account of the infinite varieties of torture then practised in Europe. Such recitals, he was told, would sell his book. “Yes.. and they

would make many persons who know nothing of torture but the name acquainted with the devilish details, and might excite some ferocious natures to introduce them where they were previously unknown”.12 9. 10. 11. 12.

Ibid, p.67. Ibid, p.71. Ibid, p.67. Hepworth Dixon W, John Howard and the Prison World of Europe, Jackson and Walford, London, 1849, p.186.

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Foreign Prisons and Hospitals Howard’s abhorrence of torture was evident in his following observation of Hamburg prison: I perceived by the countenance of the gaoler and his unwillingness to shew me again the torture room, that he had seen my publication. For among the various engines of torture … one of the most excruciating is kept and used in a deep cellar of this prison. It ought to be buried ten thousand fathom deeper.13

He often gave insights into the practical issues inherent in prison life. For example, where prisoners worked outside the prison at Harburg he noted, they are guarded by soldiers, who have orders to fire on them if they attempt to

escape. But, notwithstanding this, when the Elbe was frozen over (1780) five escaped to Hamburg.14

In Nurenburg The gaoler makes use of a low trick to prevent the escape of his prisoners, by terrifying them with the apprehensions of falling under the power of witches … I hope increasing light and good sense will soon entirely banish the fears of witches and consequently the witches themselves.15

As he travelled from country to country, from prison to prison, reflecting on the similar sorts of bad practice he kept coming across, one can easily imagine him thinking, “I have a book of regulations, but of what advantage are the best rules when not enforced?”

Denmark and Sweden The section on Denmark begins bleakly 13. Howard J, op. cit., p.72. 14. Ibid, p.72. 15. Ibid, p.130. Nurenburg is nowadays better known as Nuremberg.

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At the entrance to many towns in Denmark, a whipping post stands conspicuous; on the top of which a man is placed, with a sword by his side, and a whip in his right hand.16

And Howard’s footnote was bleak too, in that he indicated that he thought this could be useful in England. He also included an illustration of a punishment known as the Spanish Mantle, in which the criminal was paraded in a sort of heavy barrel in order to deter others, though he was not recommending that England adopt the custom. The ultimate penalty was never far way: “The place of execution is out of the City. Decollation is reckoned more honourable by the sword than by the axe”.17 At a prison chapel service he noted, “They sat together on benches, and soldiers were properly placed at different parts of the chapel, and two with bayonets fixed, stood at the door”.18 In Sweden he was concerned once again about torture. He noted that “the present King has humanely abolished all torture and ordered a dark cellar applied to this purpose to be bricked up” but added the footnote “The gaoler told me that, agreeable to the King’s order, the door-way had been bricked up. On my insisting to see the wall that I might be assured of this fact, I found the cellar still open”.19 Noticing two men imprisoned in particularly punitive conditions, probably for breaking a prison rule, “I said to the gaoler, ‘a sentence of twenty-eight days must be very severe’. He replied, ‘It is good for their health’”.20 Howard occasionally came across a system of inspection in place, but things were rarely managed in the way he thought they should be. In the spin-house in Stockholm he found A person in the office of inspector has a convenient house here, with a salary of £50

per Annum, which is large for this country and four times more than the salary of 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Ibid, p.75. Ibid, p.76. Ibid, p.78. Ibid, p.82. Ibid, p.83.

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the keeper. I am persuaded of the impropriety of trusting such establishments to the care of interested men. Neither the condition of the wards, nor the appearance of the prisoners, did this inspector any credit.21

Russia Howard’s reports about Russia showed it was a desperate place not just for prisoners but for peasants, servants and debtors. All such as these were virtually slaves. Soldiers staffed the prisons and Howard, unusually, gave some detail of the various methods of punishment. Polite as ever (but see the anecdote about Catherine the Great, below) he wrote, “The governor of the police at Petersburg was so kind as to fix a time for shewing me all the instruments commonly used for punishment”.22 It was in Russia, where capital punishment had supposedly been abolished, that he determined to investigate the use of the knoot or knout, a particularly vicious type of whip. In particular, he wanted to know if it could inflict death, for if it could and did, Russia’s claim to be execution-free would be invalid. The story goes that he visited the home of the man who carried out knoutings, questioned him in detail, and then watched a knouting. It became clear that knouting could and at times was intended to cause death. Other biographers have noted Howard’s comment on giving alms to the victims of this ferocious punishment: “both seemed but just alive … and they had barely strength left to evince signs of gratitude on my giving them a small donation”. Very surprisingly, despite the ordeal the victims had just experienced, he expected thanks. Relevant to this section is an anecdote concerning Howard and the Empress Catherine the Great. Catherine had heard of him and invited him to court. He was becoming a sought-after guest everywhere he went, but prisons remained his priority. Not wishing to go to the Empress, he could have declined politely, but he is supposed to have said rather curtly that he 21. Ibid, p.84. 22. Ibid, p.86.

199

The Curious Mr Howard had come to visit prisons, not palaces. In the re-telling, this sounds unnecessarily rude, but of course no-one knows what his actual words were or how they were spoken. Nevertheless, Howard visited the House of Education which she founded in St Petersburg. It educated the children of both the nobility and commoners. He included an engraving of it and a minute description of the varied and healthy life the pupils lived within it. Howard acknowledged that his attention to this could be considered “somewhat of a digression”, and it is indeed difficult to see how it furthered his aims, but it was evidence of his widening interest in institutions of all sorts. He wrote to his Dissenter friend Mr Smith, in Bedford, on September 7th 1781 I am persuaded a line will not be unacceptable even from such a Vagrant, I have unremittedly pursued the object of my journey, and have lookt into no palaces or

seen any Curiosities–so my letters can afford little entertainmt. to my friends. I staid

above three weeks at Petersburg. I declined every honour that was offered me, and when pressed to have a soldier accompany me, I declined that allso. Yet I fought my way pritty well, 500 miles, and bad roads in less than five days; I have a strong yet light and easy Carriage which I happily bought for 50 Ruble … I had a fit of the ague before I sett out from Petersburg but I travelled it off, the nights last week

being warm. I thot. I could live anywhere where any Men did live, but this Northern

Journey, especially in Sweden, I have been pincht; no fruit no garden-stuff, sour bread, sour milk, but in this City every luxury, even pineapples and potatoes.23

This letter reveals some of Howard’s key characteristics. He positively liked being “a Vagrant”; he was determined to be independent; he was proud of not being diverted from his grand plan; he was a completely extraordinary traveller; he did not let poor health get in the way; he was a stickler when it came to diet and he covered great distances at high speeds — though 500 miles in five days seems almost like boasting. There is another letter (to Whitbread) dated August 16th 1784 (i.e. on a subsequent trip) which

23. Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard, The Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London, 1818, pp.331-2.

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Foreign Prisons and Hospitals includes a rare acknowledgment that what he is doing is, and is regarded as being, remarkable It perhaps would be vanity in me to mention the attention that is paid me in those towns in which I stay a few days. I think I shall be at Petersburg the end of next week, as neither the scorching winds nor midnight dews affect me.24

All in all, he seemed to be revelling in what he was doing, even though many prisons had little to distinguish themselves from others. But every now and again he painted an arresting image: In a room up stairs (in one of the Moscow prisons) I saw eight criminals with irons

round their necks, chained to a heavy chain to a log. In each of the rooms a soldier stood with a drawn sword in his hand.25

Italy In Italy Howard found plenty of unhappy scenes. He sometimes referred to “slaves” but the difference between a slave and a prisoner was not always clear. However, in Italy it appeared that the lives of the Pope’s galley-slaves were restricted to working almost constantly for little more than their keep. Few had any expectation of freedom. However, in the fortress at Leghorn there was a glimpse of humane treatment: “Every year (the prisoners) have a coat of gray cloth, a waistcoat of red cloth, and a red cap; every year a pair of shoes; and every six months a shirt, and a pair of drawers or breeches. Their drawers are shifted once a month, and their shirts every week”.26 Despite the political furore surrounding the campaign to abolish slavery at the time (the first petition, brought by Quakers, would be presented to 24. Field J, Correspondence of John Howard, Not Before Published, Longman Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 1855, p.69. 25. Howard J, op. cit., p.93. 26. Ibid. p.109.

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The Curious Mr Howard Parliament in 1783), and having seen the following scene, Howard did not record his opinion of slavery. … in the other galleys which were dirty and crowded, the slaves were in chains of about twenty-seven pounds weight. I saw a slave dead on the shore who I supposed

destroyed himself in despair, as he could have no hope of swimming, because of his heavy irons.27

He had his own watery adventures too. On one occasion, setting off from Civita Vecchia on the coast some 50 miles north west of Rome, he boarded a ship heading north for Livorno (then known as Leghorn) but there was a tremendous storm and the ship was driven onto an island where the captain was refused permission to land because it was feared the ship carried the plague. They were then swept to the African coast and again not allowed to land. At last they reached the island of Gorgona and safety. Checking the likely route on a map makes one appreciate the distances and dangers of sea voyaging. The ship had been blown down to Africa (over three hundred miles away) and then back up level with the north of Corsica, passing Corsica and Sardinia twice. This was certainly possible, for on another occasion Howard was pleased that a certain sea journey only took six and a half days, whereas other travellers had spent months at sea between the same ports. Howard was helped in Florence by the ambassador Sir Horace Mann, who was reputed for his geniality and hospitality. He invited guests to Casa Ambrogi by the Arno, and he held conversazione at his residence the Palazzo Manetti. Sometime between 1739 and 1741, Thomas Gray, the poet, stayed in Florence with Horace Walpole. From there Gray wrote, We are lodged here with Mr Mann in an enchanting apartment; beneath the windows flows the Arno, from which we can fish. The sky is so clear and the weather

so mild that one can stay outdoors in a light dressing gown all night without the least danger; everybody runs to the marble bridge to listen to music, eat iced fruit and dine in the moonlight.

27. Ibid. p.106.

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Foreign Prisons and Hospitals It is difficult to imagine Howard joining in the conversazione or dining in the moonlight, but one can perhaps hope that he did, for these foreign pleasures were just the sort of things that English travellers loved. Along with looking at paintings, or churches or magnificent views, it was all part of the experience. But for Howard everything apart from travelling, eating and sleeping got in the way of his work. He once accepted an invitation “to hear some extraordinary fine music; but, finding his thoughts too much occupied by it, he would never repeat the indulgence”. He had several drawings of Italian prisons engraved, including the one at Rome of which he wrote, “The elegance and simplicity of the front of this prison occasioned me to give a plate of it”. It is intriguing, not that he should notice and laud the architecture of a prison, but that he should simultaneously ignore (or at least fail to comment on) the many other spectacular buildings he must have passed by. In 1781, back in England, Edmund Burke, the Anglo-Irish statesman, orator and philosopher had given a speech in Bristol about Howard. Though Howard was less than halfway through his work, the eulogy rang true for the following decade until his death, and for long after, for it summed up the essence of his work: John Howard has visited all Europe — not to survey the sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateliness of temples; or to make accurate measurements of the remains of ancient grandeur, to form a scale of the curiosity of modern art; not to collect

medals or collate manuscripts — but to dive into the depths of dungeons and plunge into the infection of hospitals; to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain; to take the gauge and measure of misery, depression and contempt; to remember the

forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the forsaken, and compare and collate

the miseries of all men in all countries. His plan is original; and it is as full of genius as it is of humanity.

Switzerland, Austrian Netherlands and Spain In Switzerland Howard found that 203

The Curious Mr Howard

Most of the men are employed in cleaning and watering the streets and public

walks, removing the rubbish of buildings and the snow and ice in winter. The city is

one of the cleanest I have seen. Four or five are chained to a small waggon and draw; others, more at liberty, sweep, load &c. …

In respect of women prisoners who did the same sort of work, he commented I detest the custom of daily exposing that sex to such ignominy and severity, unless, when they are totally abandoned, and have lost all the softer feelings of their sex.28

Howard heard another escape story in Switzerland. A man in a particularly strong cell sharpened his spoon so it could cut wood. He then synchronised his striking of the spoon onto his solid timber door whenever the clock chimed. He finally managed to get out of his cell and let himself down the outside of the building on a rope, but he fell and injured himself badly. However, he recovered and was pardoned. He rated Swiss prisons as some of the best, and stated again his belief that there should be unpaid prison inspectors: … in our own country, as well as abroad, men might readily be found, who merely from a sense of duty, and love to humanity and their country, would faithfully and

diligently execute such an office with no other reward than the approbation of their fellow-citizens and of their own consciences.29

This statement identifies most of Howard’s own motives, though the specific mention of approbation is a little surprising given his own reluctance to accept praise. Still, he knew that praise motivated many philanthropists. And he wrote in a letter, “His (God’s) approbation will be an abundant recompense for all the little pleasures I may have given up”. Clearly, he was a man who was prepared to wait for the things that he believed mattered most.

28. Ibid. p.125. 29. Ibid, p.128.

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Foreign Prisons and Hospitals In the Austrian Netherlands30 he found still more places which caused him distress: There were three rooms for the ungovernable. One of them (the penitentiary room) had a floor made of pieces of wood laid edgeways four inches asunder. The prisoner was chained in the middle of this floor so he could move but a few steps, and being

allowed no shoes or stockings, whether he stood or lay down, he must have been in a very uneasy posture. This room was dreaded by the prisoners. The other rooms were abodes so dark and solitary as to be almost equally dreadful.31

And as well there were ones which pleased him: I shall beg leave … to digress from my subject by taking notice of a nunnery in this place. The hospitable mansion is not inhabited solely by nuns; here is a foundation for the reception of twelve men who are insane, and sick, aged women: the insane

have assistance from their own sex; and the tenderness with which both these and the poor women are treated by the sisters, gave me no little pleasure.32

It was in the hospital in Bruges where Howard was asked by the sisters if he was a Catholic. He answered “I love good people of all religions” and they then said, “We hope you will die a Catholic”. In Spain, on being told that a magistrate visited a prison each week to hear complaints, Howard asked if the keeper went with him, for he knew full well that few prisoners complain unless they can do so in confidence. One can imagine his thoughts (although he was rarely rude in such situations) when he was told that the keeper accompanied the magistrate. Howard was in Pamplona in 1783, and he found that the worst Spanish criminals were sent to Carthagena, and others to the African settlements. Though the journey across land was long, at least the sea voyage was comparatively short and thus less likely to kill the criminals than those ones transported from England to America. Howard had not yet learned how bad 30. In 1713, at the end of the Spanish Succession War, the Spanish Netherlands became the Austrian Netherlands, and remained so until conquest by France in 1795. 31. Ibid, p.140. 32. Ibid, p.145.

205

The Curious Mr Howard things would become only five years later in 1788 when England decided to exile prisoners to Botany Bay. Nor did he yet know that 746 prisoners would be sent as an experiment to the Gambia, where 334 died, 271 deserted and probably died, and the rest were unaccounted for. It was from Pamplona that he wrote to Mr Smith in Bedford: I am still in Spain, the manner of travelling by mules is very slow, I was 14 days

betwixt Lisbon and Madrid (400 miles). You carry all yr. provision; the luxury of

milk with my Tea I very seldom could get, I one morning robbed a Kid of two Cups of its mother’s milk... but I bless God I am pure well calm spirits … The Spaniards

are very sober and honest, and if he can live sparingly and lay on the floor, the traveller may pass tolerably well through their country. I have come into many an Inn

and paid only 5 pence for the Noise (as they term it) I made in the house; as no bread, eggs, milk or wine do they sell.33

It was clear that, in respect of material things, John Howard, even in his late fifties, was as uncomplaining and frugal as he had ever been. It seemed there were certainly times when he wanted to be at Cardington, but his increasing age did not mean that he wanted to stay there more. It is possible that, though he never admitted as much in any surviving journal or letter, he felt uncomfortable at home, even believing himself unwanted. Despite having known the village for so long and having done so much work for it, perhaps he felt he no longer belonged there. Whatever the reason, the case was that as the years passed he spent less and less time there, and must have been regarded as an absent master of the household. Instead, he carried his own little world with him — his tea and kettle, his trunk, his servant and his Bible. With these he could make his home in any inn in any land, or even in a carriage on the move.

33. Baldwin Brown J, op.cit., pp.375-6.

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France France was the one place where, at least on certain visits, John Howard was definitely not wanted. In the British Isles there must have been town and county burgesses as well as gaolers reluctant to let him inside the gates of their prisons (though neither Howard nor any biographer makes mention of this) but it was only in France that he was actually refused entry. Determined not to be beaten, he discovered an old legal ruling which stipulated that anyone wanting to give alms to prisoners should be allowed to do so personally. So, by bringing alms, he was able to get into most parts of most prisons. However, he had to resort to brazenness to get inside The Bastille. I was desirous of examining it myself; and for that purpose knocked hard at the outer gate and immediately went forward through the guard to the drawbridge

before the entrance of the castle. But while I was contemplating this gloomy

mansion an officer came out much surprised; and I was forced to retreat through the mute guard, and thus regained that freedom, which for one locked up within those walls it is next to impossible to obtain.34

He managed to smuggle out of France a leaflet about The Bastille, which he published in The State of the Prisons along with a detailed and labelled diagram. This was one of the reasons why he was so disliked by the French. But he found things to praise in France: “I seldom or ever found in any French prison that offensive smell which I had often perceived in English gaols. I sometimes thought these courts were the cleanest places in Paris”.35 Howard found the Conciergie, in Paris, to be well-disciplined, until he visited the dungeons: I was sorry to find the humanity (expressed in the regulations and discipline) … so deficient as to continue the use of those subterraneous abodes which are totally dark

and beyond imagination horrid and dreadful. Poor creatures are confined in them night and day for weeks, for months together.36 34. Howard J, op. cit., p.176. 35. Ibid, p.166. 36. Ibid, p.169.

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..there is scarce a prison in the city (Paris) that has not a patroness; a lady of char-

acter, who voluntarily takes care that those in the infirmaries be properly attended; supplies them with fuel, and linen; does many kind offices to the prisoners in general; and by soliciting the charity of others, procures not only the relief and comforts mentioned already, but soup twice a week, and meat once a fortnight.37

As the best regulations are liable to be abused, prisoners are not thought sufficiently

provided for by enacting good laws: the execution of them is carefully attended to.

The substitutes of the attorney-general (should) visit the prisons once a week, to inquire if the rules be observed; to hear complaints of prisoners; to see if the sick be properly attended; and the like.38

When abroad, Howard was always impressed when he saw ways of doing things that were clearly better than the way in which they were done in England. For example, numerous prisoners in England wore irons constantly. This was sometimes, but certainly not always, because it was easier to have a man ironed than to make the prison walls secure. He often asked questions about the practice of ironing, and noted the following in Paris: I was surprised at seeing that none of the prisoners in the courts (i.e. courtyards) were in irons. No gaoler may put them on a prisoner, without an express order from the judge. And yet in some of the prisons there were more criminals than in any of our London gaols. When I was first there, the number had been recently increased

by an insurrection on account of the scarcity of corn. My reader will perhaps presently see reason to conclude, the manner in which prisons are conducted makes the

confinement more tolerable, and chains less needful. Indeed, it was evident from the very appearance of the prisoners … that humane attention was paid to them.39

Howard was almost always met with politeness and pleasure, but not necessarily with agreement:

37. Ibid, p.168. 38. Ibid, p.169. 39. Ibid, p.166.

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Madame Necker’s hospital is a notable example of private charity. It has beds for seventy men and sixty women, who are attended by fourteen of the sisters. The

medical and chirurgical patients are separated. I advised washing the men’s ward; but my advice has not been taken.40

What Howard Learned Abroad When reflecting on these numerous and varied experiences Howard must have found himself reaching conclusions he could not have anticipated. He was forced to examine all the evidence he found and consider what of benefit could be imported. In so doing he was — unlike some investigators — quite willing to abandon previously held attitudes. These extracts are some of the passages which express his feelings most lucidly. When I formerly made the tour of Europe for the benefit of my health … I seldom

had reason to envy foreigners anything, either as it respected their situation, religion, manners, or government. In my late journeys to view their prisons, I was some-

times put to the blush for my native country. The reader will scarcely feel from my

narration, the same emotions of shame and regret as the comparisons excited in me on beholding the difference with my own eyes; but, from the account I have given him of foreign prisons, he may judge whether a desire of reforming our own

be visionary; whether idleness, debauchery, disease, and famine be the necessary, unavoidable attendants of a prison, or only connected with it in our ideas for want of a more perfect knowledge and more enlarged views.41

In La Maison de Force in Ghent, Howard observed dinner time where he much admired the regularity, decency, and order, with which the whole was

conducted. Every thing was done at a word given by a director; no noise or confusion appeared; and this company of near one hundred and ninety stout criminals 40. Ibid, p.178. 41. Baldwin Brown J, op.cit., p.200.

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was governed with as much apparent ease as the most sober and well-disposed assembly in civil society.42

I have been very particular in my accounts of foreign houses of correction, … to

counteract a notion prevailing among us, that compelling prisoners to work, especially in public, was inconsistent with the principles of English liberty; at the same

time that taking away the lives of such numbers, either by executions or the diseases

in our prisons, seems to make little impression upon us. Of such force is custom and prejudice in silencing the voice of good sense and humanity!43

The notion, that convicts are ungovernable, is certainly erroneous. There is a mode of managing some of the most desperate, with ease to yourself, and advantage to them. Many of them are shrewd and sensible: manage them with calmness, yet with

steadiness: shew them that you have humanity and that you aim to make them useful members of society …44

But What About Language? A digression is necessary here, in respect of language. In the two key biographies, Aikin and Baldwin Brown give numerous examples both of direct quotes of what John Howard, or of any other person who conversed with him, was supposed to have said, and also of reported speech. Clearly none of these is verbatim. His true voice, or as close to that as is possible (bearing in mind the posthumous editing that others carried out), can only be heard in his journals and letters. Obviously, the so-called quotes enrich this story, but they cannot but be approximations of the words he and others spoke. Moreover, because they have been copied by subsequent biographers, what was essentially made up around an incident seems, in some places, to have gained authenticity by repetition, while in others to have changed the original story substantially. 42. Howard J, op. cit., p.146. 43. Ibid, p.147. 44. Ibid, p.39.

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Engraving of La Maison de Force, Ghent

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The Curious Mr Howard If this is the case in respect of Howard’s conversations with fellow Englishmen and women, one ought to be even more cautious about what he is supposed to have said and heard in other languages. He did not do well at school, but it seems that his previous journeys to France and Italy enabled him to communicate reasonably well in French and perhaps Italian even before he became sheriff. He also learned some Dutch. However, his knowledge of Latin was very limited compared to that of most educated people (such as Willam Coxe, a traveller whose work is referred to below), so that language could not have been a lingua franca for him. Over the years his French improved to a point where he could pass as a Frenchman, and while he was in Venice in 1786 he translated at least one document from Italian into English. But as well as travelling in France, Italy, Holland and Flanders he went to Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Silesia, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Greece, Spain, Switzerland and Malta. Given this wide range of countries, how did he manage? Even if all the people of rank he met at embassies and in formal interviews spoke English, French or Italian, he must have had numerous detailed conversations with gaolers, prisoners, inn-keepers, postillions, serving men, shop-keepers and so on. There are only two references to him using an interpreter (once in Turkey, the other in Salonica). This paucity seems strange. Even though he was clearly a man who would have done his best to understand and be understood, that might well have worked when he needed to have a trunk carried or a dungeon door opened. But it does not explain either how he asked more sophisticated and complex questions about legal affairs, or diseases, or prison rules, or how he understood what he was told. For example, the conversation he had with the Russian wielder of the knoot was reported as being detailed, and it is difficult to imagine it taking place without an interpreter. It may be that, being very well connected, he was provided with unmentioned interpreters, but because he gives so much detail in respect of so many things, this absence of information about how he coped remains rather a mystery. Was he a natural linguist? Or did he develop a particular vocabulary relevant to his needs? And if he had interpreters, why did he not mention them? And why have other biographers not discussed this important issue of interpretation? 212

Foreign Prisons and Hospitals It should be noted here that Howard omitted the names of others who contributed to his books, such as the artists and engravers whose work illustrated his text to such advantage.45 Furthermore, he also omitted, as is discussed in more detail later, to acknowledge in his prefaces the men who helped him prepare his books for publication, though some are thanked in personal letters. Having said that, he does not forget certain consuls, ambassadors, medics, and those bodies which awarded him honours.

45. Some of their names may be found at the foot of the engravings.

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Chapter 11

Prisoners-of-War; Scottish and Irish Prisons; Hulks; Gaol-Fever, etc. Prisoners-of-War in England Section V of The State of the Prisons deals first with prisoners-of-war in England. Howard knew that French prisoners-of-war held in England had made strong complaints about their conditions, so he approached the Sick and Hurt Board (the same organization that he had made contact with after his imprisonment in Brittany many years earlier) who furnished him with letters to their agents at several prisons. He visited many places where foreign prisoners were held: Plymouth, Bristol, Winchester, Forton (near Gosport), Deal, Carlisle, Pembroke, Chester, Liverpool, Hull, Lincoln, Shrewsbury, Yarmouth, Falmouth and still others in Ireland and Scotland. He found French, Spanish, Dutch and American prisoners,1 some in dirty conditions. As usual, as he made his way round, he listened to what he was told: On the prisoners complaining that the bread was too light and the meat bad, I referred them to the ninth article of the regulations, by which they are directed to

apply to the agent and, (if not redressed), to the regent. One of them pertinently replied, “How is that possible when every letter is examined by the agent?” 2

The government had contracted out the management and operation of the premises where prisoners-of-war were kept and some seemed to do the job better than others, for he wrote this about the arrangements at Deal:

1. Unfortunately, Howard did not identify the particular wars in which these prisoners were captured. 2. Howard J, The State of the Prisons, Warrington, 1777, p.187.

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The Curious Mr Howard “I made my first visit (as I always did) without the agents or contractors, and I had the pleasure of hearing the prisoners express their satisfaction”.3 In many of the places the numbers of prisoners confined were much greater than in most town and county gaols. Indeed, it was imprisonment on a large scale. For example, Deal prison received over 3,000 prisonersof-war between November 1778 and December 1782, and the situation at Liverpool was as follows:4 Received into the Prison at Liverpool

From September 3, 1778 to September 5, 1782, French 1283, Died 14

September 5, 1779 February 23, 1781, Spanish 69 February 2, 1781 October 8, 1782, Dutch 84 Total 1436

…… 3 …… 1

18

Howard’s object in noting lists of the numbers of prisoners-of-war who had been received and had died in prison was to refute a prevailing opinion of our severity and inattention to such prisoners.

These lists, which I procured from the agents were afterwards checked by the books

of the Commissioners of Sick and Wounded Seamen in London, who readily granted me that favour.5

Though he was very prepared to criticise his country when he thought what it was doing was wrong, this interest was another example of his wish to see justice done to it when it was due. One of the ways countries tried to increase their armies and navies was to get their captured prisoners to agree to change their allegiance. Howard, proud and glad to be English, was appalled by this. He believed that no-one should be disloyal to the country of their birth, even if they gained their freedom by doing so. One visit he made was to a prison in Shrewsbury, where he had heard Dutch prisoners were being kept in very poor conditions. He had been told a local gentleman had made a collection from English people and 3. Ibid, pp.187-8. 4. Ibid, p.190. 5. Ibid, p.191.

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Prisoners-of-War; Scottish and Irish Prisons; Hulks; Gaol-Fever, etc. bought clothes for the Dutchmen, but someone with some sort of authority refused to allow these clothes to be distributed. Howard, who had the right to enter, went in, issued the clothes and addressed the Dutchmen. He told them that on no account should they agree to change their allegiance, for they should be loyal to Holland. He even said that, should any of them do so, he would report them to the Dutch authorities who would punish them severely. It seems that Howard made himself felt at the Commission of Sick and Wounded Seamen. Making improvements to places where prisoners-of-war were held was easier than making improvements to ordinary prisons, for there was only one authority to deal with, and, because English prisoners were being held abroad, there was some reciprocity about conditions and treatment.

Scottish and Irish Prisons Howard visited prisons in Scotland and Ireland in 1775, 1779, 1782 and 1783. He noted, “There are in Scotland but few prisoners” which he attributed to three causes: the shame and disgrace which accompany criminal actions, the solemnity accorded to oaths, trials and executions, and the fact that ministers and parents bring children up well. In Ireland he found the opposite of the situation in Scotland: “The criminals in the gaols of Ireland are very numerous”. He noticed that attempts were made by army officers to recruit newly-released prisoners, and was appalled by it, while acknowledging that this happened in England too. He also visited charter-schools, where he found sickly, naked and half-starved children, concluding, “In short, these schools demand a thorough parliamentary inquiry”. However, he praised many of the hospitals in Dublin for their cleanliness. As usual, there was no consistency. Some places were reasonable while others were terrible.

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Hulks on the Thames Howard was very interested in the hulks which were situated downriver near Woolwich and Deptford. Essentially, they were unseaworthy hulks of ships, often used for storage. In the mid 18th century they began to be used to hold prisoners who were sentenced to transportation. When he first visited them in 1775 or 1776 he found hundreds of convicts confined in them in appalling conditions, a situation which he thoroughly condemned. Some men were there for months, waiting for a ship to take them to America once the turbulent relations between England and America settled down. Howard’s inclusion of them in the first edition of The State of the Prisons led to him giving evidence to a Parliamentary Enquiry headed by Sir Charles Bunbury6 which resulted in the Hulks Bill in 1776. This was intended to regulate the housing of convicts on the hulks and to allow for the employment of convicts on projects such as clearing the River Thames. The Penitentiary Act was made law in 1779, and below it can be seen how Howard became closely involved with its aftermath.

Remarks on the Gaol-Fever In a brief section under this heading Howard listed what seemed to him to be the main causes of gaol-fever: lack of fresh air and cleanliness, poor conditions, inactivity, being “immersed in the noxious effluvia of one’s own body”, poor diet and, in winter, no heating. He described it, quite rightly, as “a national concern of no small importance”, particularly because the Army and Navy took on men released from prison and, if they were diseased, the disease went with them and infected ships and barracks. Happily, he noted that the incidence of the fever amongst prisoners, sailors and soldiers declined substantially in the course of his years of visiting English prisons.

6. Bunbury was MP for Suffolk but better known as Steward of the Jockey Club and co-founder of the Oaks and the Derby.

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Prisoners-of-War; Scottish and Irish Prisons; Hulks; Gaol-Fever, etc.

Howard’s Conclusions Under the heading ‘Conclusions’ Howard reminded readers that his object in writing The State of the Prisons was not to gain fame, but because, “Hearing the cry of the MISERABLE, I devoted my time to their relief ”. He listed the wrongs that he hoped his efforts would put right, ending … if any of these beneficial consequences shall accrue, the writer will be happy in the pleasing reflection that he has not lived without doing some good to his fellow

creature; and will think himself abundantly repaid for all the efforts he has taken, the time he has spent and the hazards he has encountered.7

A year or so after the publication of The State of the Prisons Jeremy Bentham, another man with a passion for prisons, met Howard. In a letter he wrote about him he noted that: He is, I believe, take him for all in all, one of the most extraordinary men this age

can show … He is no crack-brained enthusiast: the qualities of his head are scarcely inferior to those of his heart. His book is a model for method.8

In short, The State of the Prisons was a great book, packed with information, thoughtful comment and practical suggestions. While it dealt with such bad practices in so many bad places, it did not result in people turning their backs on prisons and prisoners. Though the initial reaction of most readers must have been disgust, they admired Howard’s bravery, were impressed by his steady handling of the subject and supported his aims. Intriguingly, there appears to be virtually no evidence of opposition, dismissal or marginalisation of Howard’s findings. While there must, surely, have been some detractors, it would have been impossible for anyone to argue with the facts Howard presented, even if they disliked his proposals. In sum, it is hard to imagine any book treating the same topic more successfully or having more impact.

7. Ibid, p.469. 8. Spriggs T L S (ed.), The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, London, 1968, Vol. 2, p.106.

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Chapter 12

The Writer, Editor, Publisher and Penitentiary Superintendent Writing and Editing the Great Book Early in 1777, after completing exhaustive visits to prisons at home and abroad, John Howard was finally ready to stop travelling and get down to writing his first book — that already quoted from so much in this work. If his extensive travels were a solo and extended piece of research, the process of writing, editing and publishing was a burst of intense activity achieved by a team. As already mentioned and evidenced by correspondence reproduced in earlier chapters, Howard’s ability to write coherently and to spell properly was somewhat limited, requiring several of his biographers to improve what he wrote by re-writing and re-structuring the original. Howard was well aware he needed help. In a letter to George Whately (who enters this narrative as Howard’s colleague in a particular project in 1778) he wrote You now know … the difficulty I have in expressing my ideas clearly: you will then

conjecture the pain, fatigue, and labour I have in writing for the press. Some little

assistance I have, but my work is heavy upon me and my whole time I devote to it.1

Howard took detailed notes wherever he went. His notebooks2 are conventional, lined exercise books containing devotional notes and thoughts as well as information about what he was seeing. He had a neat hand, but some entries were written over others, and reading them requires a degree of effort. The few notebooks which remain are still in a good, clean condition and do not look as if they have been in a prison, jammed into a pocket or 1. Field J, Correspondence of John Howard, Not Before Published, Longman Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 1855, p.27. 2. Some of these are held by the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

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The Curious Mr Howard a trunk, or fumigated. It seems that Howard made fair copies of his notes and was as careful with his books as with his luggage (he made inventories of what his cases contained) and possibly had some sort of cataloguing system which helped his editing team. Whatever the situation was, he certainly created masses of legible material — too much for any one person to cope with — and Howard’s friend Aikin, who became his editor and literary executor as well as his biographer, gave a first-hand account of how he went about turning these into the first edition of The State of the Prisons: On his (Howard’s) return from his tours he took all his memorandum books to an

old retired friend of his, who assisted him in methodizing them and copied out the whole matter in correct language.3

According to Baldwin Brown this first reader was the Reverend Mr Densham.4 The papers were then passed from Densham to Dr Richard Price, Howard’s former school friend who had become a philosopher, author, political radical and pastor at two Dissident London meetings. Price made further improvements to the manuscript, which Howard thanked him for profusely in a letter. The third and crucial stage of editing was carried out by Aikin himself. Aikin’s account does not mention Whitbread’s role in the preparation of the book, but details in Whitbread’s Account of the Rise and Progress of Mr Howard’s Attention to Gaols indicate both that he was involved at the very outset and that Howard was less organized than has been suggested above. And when he [Howard] got his materials together they were very confused indeed for himself had no natural or acquired Idea at all of arranging them for he never

was in a habit of anything that required methodical arrangement. Therefore as

his Materials were collected I had them & employed my Self and my Clerks, Mr 3. Aikin J, A View of the Character and Public Services of the late John Howard, Esq., LL.D, F.R.S, J Johnson, London, 1792, p.43. 4. There is a record of a Joseph Densham who was assistant tutor at Moorfields in 1734-44, and “Tutor of John Howard in whose later publications he took some part”. The Surman Index Online, Dr Williams’s Centre for Dissenting Studies, http://surman.english.qmul.ac.uk.

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Delafield5 and Mr Catherwood especially to arrange them and form them into a

Regular Plann. & Methodize & after to transcribe them into this very Book and when finish’d it was shown by me to Lord North, the Speaker & by him to the Judges who very much commended & approved the same. So was his labours first introduced to Publick inspection.6

How can one tell what actually happened? Both Aikin and Whitbread are highly reliable sources. Each was a personal friend of Howard’s and each of them claimed — surely truthfully — to have worked on The State of the Prisons. Ralph England wrote several thoughtful and detailed papers about specific features of Howard’s life. This is part of the abstract of his paper, “Who Wrote John Howard’s Text?”: John Howard’s tireless travels … resulted in the publication in several editions of two massive books … Neither book credits the work of three men (and possibly more)

who gave Howard extensive editorial assistance. An effort to explain this curious omission produced the conclusion that Howards’s inadequate literacy disqualified

him from more than a nominal role in writing his books, and that certain political concerns arising from his helpers’ status as active Dissenters … cautioned them against letting their work for him become known. … 7

England (who did not know of Whitbread’s Account) may well have been right, but it is unlikely that Howard’s reasons for referring to his friends as providing merely “some little help”, will ever be explained. However, at least we know the names of some of those who helped him.

5. Delafield is described as a gentleman of Chiswell Street, London. His name appears in various Whitbread papers, often as a witness to a property sale. 6. Bedford and Luton Archives and Records Service, W/SH.119/1. 7. England R W, “Who Wrote John Howard’s Text?”, British Journal of Criminology, Vol. 33, Issue 2, Spring 1993, pp.203-215.

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Warrington and Eyres’ Press Warrington was the ideal place for the printing of Howard’s books. Not only did Aikin live there (in Dial Street), but the Eyres’ Press was there. William Eyres was famous because the quality of his printing was rated extremely highly — as good as that of Baskerville in Birmingham and of the Foulis Brothers in Scotland. Both Aikin and his sister Anna had their work printed by him, and there was a business arrangement between Eyres’ and the Warrington Dissenting Academy where Aikin was a tutor. Arthur Hawkes, a local historian, sang the press’s praises: Warrington stands out in the early history of Lancashire printing in many ways.

Many books were printed in Warrington for London publishers, as well as for booksellers and private individuals in other Lancashire towns. Notwithstanding that at the same time printers were numerous both in Liverpool and Manchester, many

persons in these towns sent their works to Warrington to be printed… Considering

the inconvenience of even twenty miles of road travel in the 18th century there

must have been some unusual inducement that would send so many strangers to the press of William Eyres. The main reason, quite obviously, is that no printer in

Lancashire approached him for artistic excellence of productions, and few, if any, outside Lancashire excelled him. His paper was good, his type was beautiful, his display pages were tasteful and his press work was beyond reproach.8

During the first few months of 1777, Howard lived in Warrington in lodgings in Bridge Street, in a shop belonging to Mr Butterfield and occupied by Mr (or perhaps Mrs) Wild (or Wilde), a silversmith. He attended the Cairo Street Chapel, as did other Dissenters, including Anna Aikin. An article by James Kendrick in the Warrington Guardian, in 1881, was reprinted in a local magazine, The Dawn in 1905: The house of Mrs Wilde was not far from the place of business of William Eyres, and in his printing-room Mr Howard usually spent the working days of the week, 8. Hawkes A, Lancashire Printed Books — A Bibliography, Wigan Public Libraries Committee, 1925, pp.xxii-xxiv.

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commencing at an early hour and staying until the latest, with the exception of the dinner hour when he took his usual daily walk into the suburbs of the town, eating as he walked his frugal dinner of bread and dried fruit. Daniel Grimshaw, a native of Warrington, was chosen by Mr Eyres to devote his whole time to Mr Howard as

his compositor, and a friendly association lasted between the two until the completion of the work. So much so, indeed, that Grimshaw having left Mr Eyres’ employ before Mr Howard came a second time to Warrington to print “An Appendix to The State of the Prisons”, he was sent for from London … to execute the work.9

He might not have been easy to work with, for Aikin wrote As new facts and observations were continually suggesting themselves to his mind, he put the matter of them upon paper as they occurred, and then requested me to clothe them in such expressions as I thought proper.10

Howard must have read over some text, then had further thoughts about it, and then wanted to add to or delete or change the text — perhaps more than once — in his determination to make it as good as he could. Moreover, he also put everything into the project in terms of hours per day: During a very severe winter he made it his practice to rise at three or four in the morning for the purpose of collating every word and figure of his daily proof sheet with the original.11

In short, Howard was in this task as he was in all of his public life: a perfectionist as well as a workaholic. He was working in the small hours in Warrington in the same way as he had gone outside to take the temperature in his garden at night nearly 20 years earlier — with regularity, diligence and some satisfaction. The compositors could rarely have had so attentive and fussy a customer who perhaps, in the opinion of some of them, spent 9. Kendrick J, Article in The Warrington Guardian, 1881. Later reprinted in a local magazine,The Dawn, Vol. 5, No. 6, June 1905, p.66. 10. Aikin J, A View of the Character and Public Services of the Late John Howard, Esq., LL.D, F.R.S., J Johnson, London, 1792, p.44. 11. Ibid, p.43.

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The Curious Mr Howard too much time in the press unnecessarily checking things they had already checked and getting in the way. At least Howard used to leave the premises at mid-day and, as always, he tipped well.

Publication and Fame Out of his own pocket he paid for the entire printing costs which would have been considerable for so long a text and so many plates, although the books would have been sold unbound.12 Interestingly, the title pages of some of the publications do not mention William Eyres at all. The fourth edition of The State of the Prisons, for example, states merely ‘Printed for J. Johnson. C. Dilly and T. Cadell’. These names are those of men who would today be called publishers, but their main role was bookselling. Because Howard wanted as many people as possible to read his work he kept the price low and gave many copies away, so the whole exercise did not make more than a nominal profit, if any. He was like almost every writer at the time in that he was a true self-publisher, but unlike them in that he sought no subscribers. He was adamant about not accepting the money of others (except in legitimate sales of his book), for he believed accepting money could turn impartiality into partiality, which could compromise and contradict all he was doing. However, there were times when he was aware he was spending more than his income and he even considered selling his house at Cardington. He therefore decided to borrow from his friend Samuel Whitbread who, by 1777, was already exceptionally wealthy. Whitbread had bought his partner out and his brewery was on its way to becoming the biggest in London. Unfortunately, his relationship with Howard had started to deteriorate and it soured further around 1777 because of differences of opinion and a lack of any acknowledgement from Howard in respect of the help (in kind and cash) Whitbread provided. Though he clearly felt sore about this, Whitbread continued to fund John Howard when money began to run out. He

12. At this time most books were unbound when sold, just as today paintings and prints may be bought unframed.

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The Writer, Editor, Publisher and Penitentiary Superintendent summed up his feelings in the two penultimate paragraphs of the account from Southill Muniment Room: Thus it often happens in human life, that mortals become conceited if they find

their labours prosper. Pride possesses their souls & if a good pursuit often spiritual pride the worse of all. They forget their original Friends and advisers & doe all they can to depress any merit of theirs to exalt their own.

And thus it happened to my old Friend, who has shewed me a hate instead of regard

ever since. This is a true narrative of Mr Howard’s Goal business as it related to me fro the commencement of 1773 to the Publication 1777 & is true.13

This is the strongest indication in Howard’s story which suggests he was unfair and ungrateful to someone who was entirely fair and generous to him, but of course without any information from Howard there may be more to the relationship than can ever be known. While one cannot be sure of the truth of Whitbread’s account, he was certainly reckoned by numerous others in many walks of life to be a good man, and his memorial in the church at Cardington (he did not die until 1796) includes the following: By the indefatigable exertions of honest Industry, he acquired an ample Fortune which his large but discriminating Generosity rendered serviceable to the encouragement of Virtue, the diffusion of Knowledge and the relief of the Afflicted.

So, The State of the Prisons was sent out to the world. Copies must have found their way into libraries and drawing rooms, courts and coffee houses. the book was clear, informative, thought-provoking, well-illustrated, properly indexed and altogether well worth reading. Although Section VII (the details of English prisons) is rather indigestible, the whole point of Howard’s careful recording was to present readers with facts they did not know. And it worked, for the tome had an immediate impact and won readers over to his point of view. No one criticised him for invention or exaggeration, and

13. Bedford and Luton Archives and Records Service, W/SH.119/1.

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The Curious Mr Howard only one or two voices suggested that he attributed too much value to what was told him by uneducated men. But of course it was partly the information about and from uneducated gaolers and prisoners that helped make The State of the Prisons the book it was, and almost all readers recognised its uniqueness and were full of admiration for its author. In fact, their feelings were much stronger than that. They were impressed not only by what Howard had achieved, but by his energy and his humanity. He became a celebrity in the sense that he was celebrated for spending years working in appalling, dangerous places in the company of — according to most of the population — appalling, dangerous people. Howard’s response to this approbation was to recoil from the public eye and get on with his next task. This would not have surprised those who knew him, for without work, as has become so evident, he was restless and discontented.

Anna Howard’s Death However, later in 1777, an unexpected personal event occurred when John Howard’s sister Anna died. Little is known of her other than that she lived to the age of 53, lived at 23 Great Ormond Street, London,14 and was unmarried. Although Howard expressed grief at her death in a letter to Cardington to his servant Thomasson, written on August 13th, the day after she died, there is no evidence that they were close. Apparently Howard tried to reach her before she died, and he wrote a letter from Lamb’s Conduit Street (right next to Great Ormond Street) asking for things to be sent to him. Anna had named her brother as her executor, but for some reason it was William Tatnall and a George Rutt “who made oath that they well knew and were acquainted with Anna Howard … and were sworn to the truth of this Affidavit” on August 15th 1777. There is no information about what Howard was doing on that date or where he was, but whatever he did took precedence over identifying Anna.

14. The house was re-numbered 29 at some later point in time.

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The Writer, Editor, Publisher and Penitentiary Superintendent Anna left some money to Martha Channing, whom Anna stated was her cousin, married to William Channing. Was she the Martha Hamilton mentioned in her grandfather’s will? Perhaps not. She also left money to her servant, to the Governors of the London Hospital and to the Governors of the Protestant Dissenting Orphan Working School. Most of her wealth went to Howard but none to her nephew Jack. Howard, while genuinely regretting her death, must have been thankful that he would be able to use her handsome legacy of £15,000 (he also inherited her house which would be let, and later sold for £315 at auction a year after his death) to continue his travels, for he was becoming increasingly conscious that his own wealth would not stretch as far as he needed it to.

The Penitentiary Superintendent15 In the run-up to the book’s publication Howard had been working with two other particularly able, influential and well-qualified penal reformers, the High Court judge Sir William Blackstone and William Eden MP.16 After completing his ‘great book’, he hardly took time to get his breath back before joining them again and trying to get laws onto the Statute Book. Things were becoming difficult because of the outbreak of the American War of Independence. Hepworth Dixon wrote: What were ministers to do? America was not yet pacified, indeed, it was going

rather ill with us in that country. Old convict markets were therefore still closed … A committee of the House of Commons was appointed to inquire into the practical working of the Hulk-system, with a view to its provisional continuance …

… On 15th April 1778, Howard was examined before this committee … His

opinion being asked for … he declared that he thought the Hulk-system, with good

management, capable of being made very much preferable to transportation. On 15. Occasionally referred to in earlier works as ‘supervisor’. 16. Blackstone was famous for his Commentaries on the Laws of England, and Eden for his Principles of Penal Law.

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this report being made to the House, a bill was brought in and sanctioned, continuing this method of punishment.17

Against all expectation, Howard had changed his mind about the Hulks. Earlier he had condemned them but now he recommended they be used. It is difficult to account for his altered opinion because although the Hulks had had some attention, they needed considerable further improvements. But, immediately after giving evidence, he went abroad again, travelling through Holland, Flanders, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France. It must have been in some town on the continent that he heard of Captain Cook’s death in Hawaii on 14th February 1779. Soon he was back in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and, as he toured, the Government was moving things forward by passing the Penitentiary Act which aimed “to explain and amend the Laws relating to the Transportation, Imprisonment and other Punishment of certain offenders”. Importantly, as an alternative to transportation, the Act provided for the building of two new prisons, one for each sex, where … solitary Imprisonment, accompanied by well regulated labour, and religious Instruction … might be the means, under Providence, not only of deterring others from the Commission of like Crimes, but also of reforming the Individuals and inuring them to Habits of Industry.18

At around this time a further spur to the provision of better prisons was provided by events caused by the country’s growing anti-Catholic feeling. Lootings and marches were taking place, culminating in riots which took the name of Lord George Gordon who was head of the Protestant Association. He was aiming at the repeal of the Papists Act of 1778 which allowed Catholics to join the army without taking a religious oath. In June 1780 thousands of people marched on Parliament and assembled at an open air meeting at Moorfields, and in the rampage which followed nearly 300 people were shot by the army and well over 400 arrested (some of whom would eventually be 17. Hepworth Dixon W, John Howard and the Prison World of Europe, Jackson and Walford, London, 1859, p.150. 18. London Metropolitan Archives, Penitentiary Act Ref. ACC/3648.

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The Writer, Editor, Publisher and Penitentiary Superintendent executed). Newgate Prison was attacked and destroyed, as was The Clink in Southwark, resulting in the escape of many prisoners. Three superintendents were appointed to choose the sites and design and build the proposed new gaols. John Howard was the key superintendent, and he was able to name one of the other two. He chose his Quaker friend Dr John Fothergill, physician, botanist and founder of Ackworth School in Yorkshire. The third superintendent was a ministerial appointment, and the post went to George Whatley, treasurer of the Foundling Hospital. But before Howard involved himself in that, he prepared an Appendix to The State of the Prisons, and a new edition of the original book. The former added new material gathered since the first edition, and the latter consisted of the original book and the extra incorporated information. Following a similar procedure as before, he worked in Warrington with his colleagues and published both in 1780, a considerable feat. Clearly, he wanted to fill every minute with work. He did not, however, want to spend any more time on politics though he had another opportunity to stand as a candidate for Bedford. He wrote to Whately stating, “It is too late for me to enter into the political world”. Also published in 1780 was an Ode inscribed to John Howard. The poet William Hayley, who would be offered — and refuse — the Poet Laureateship in 1790, was its author. He sets the scene with the arresting opening words “Fav’rite of Heaven, and friend of earth!” Part way through its 32 ten-line stanzas comes the verse Hail! Generous Howard! tho’ thou bear A name which glory’s hand sublime Has blazon’d oft, with guardian care, In characters that fear not time; For thee she fondly spreads her wings; For thee from Paradise she brings, More verdant than the laurel bough, Such wreaths of sacred palm, as ne’er till now The smiling Seraph twin’d around a mortal brow.

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The Curious Mr Howard Sometime before the ode’s re-publication in 1794 (when it was included in Aikin’s biography) Hayley added to it and inserted an explanatory footnote. It refers to the lines Woman! Thy darling! ‘tis his pride to save From evils, that surpass the horrors of the grave.

The footnote read Mr Howard has been the happy instrument of preserving female prisoners from an infamous and indecent outrage. It was formerly a custom in our gaols to load their

legs and thighs with irons, for the detestable purpose of extorting money from these

injured sufferers. This circumstance, unknown to me when the Ode was written, has tempted me to introduce the few additional stanzas, as it is my ardent wish to render this tribute to an exalted character as little unworthy as I can of the very extensive and sublime merit which it aspires to celebrate.

Fav’rite of heaven or not, where the designing and building of new prisons was concerned, Howard was an ineffectual superintendent. Other than when working on his book, he had never worked in a team. He was used to making every decision himself. No-one managed him, and apart from the servants, farmworkers and various builders he employed, he managed noone. He chose what to do and how and when to do it. He was an entirely free agent. Now, apparently as the result of considerable persuasion by Blackstone, he was put in a position where he was obliged to work closely with two other men, albeit capable and intelligent men who shared his interest in creating better prisons. Not only was it difficult for him to share responsibility, but the task was outside his experience. Howard had shown himself to be a statistician within the field of what is now called social science. He made practical recommendations, certainly, but it was one thing to comment on where a prison should be built and another to find such a place that was available and yet another to discuss alternative sites and reach agreement with Whatley and Fothergill. In short, Howard had little idea about the operational organisation of a business project, or, it has to be said, about 232

The Writer, Editor, Publisher and Penitentiary Superintendent co-operation. Indeed he described himself slightingly as “the plodder who goes about to collect materials for men of genius to make use of ”. But now he was expected to deliver. It is not surprising to learn that money soon emerged as a stumbling block, but the difficulty was not about what could or could not be afforded. Rather, it was because Howard declined to be paid. All along he had stated that people with responsibility for prisons (except gaolers) should work without payment so there could be no suggestion of self-interest. His insistence must have caused inconvenience for the ministers he was responsible to, and, presumably, his two colleagues who must have expected and wanted salaries. The disagreement was an indicator of what was to come. Once the finances had been sorted out Howard and Fothergill identified a place they thought suitable for a prison, in Islington. Whately, however, identified one in Limehouse. He may well not have known that Howard could be extremely stubborn. The three men ended up taking their proposals to 12 judges, and apparently there was no end of running to and fro, of weighing and comparing evidence, of agitation and diplomacy, until the Philanthropist, seeing that no progress could

be made in the work, and that his own time was being wasted in disputes which

promised to end in nothing, grew tired of it altogether and threatened to give up

his post. While this controversy was at its height, his friend and chief supporter Sir William Blackstone died.19

Failure It appears that Howard hung on to Blackstone’s last words about the affair: “Be firm in you own opinion”, and did just that. Neither he nor Whately would budge from their positions, and then, to make matters worse, Fothergill died too. This led Howard writing to Earl Bathurst in January 19. Hepworth Dixon W, op. cit., p.170.

233

The Curious Mr Howard 1781, asking him to ask the king to accept his resignation. He also wrote to Whately (Howard was good at maintaining relationships even if there had been disagreements) and his letter ended “We both have this satisfaction, that we acted for the best; and this we know, we have got rid of a deal of trouble, which would have ended only with our lives”. Hepworth Dixon wrote: So ended Howard’s official career. With his retirement, the project, which had

probably never been seriously entertained by the ministry20, was abandoned. In its

stead, the Botany Bay transportation scheme was adopted, and another of the fairest portions of the earth was given up to be defiled.21

An exceptional opportunity had been lost. Two decent prisons could have been built, and they were not. It is hard not to conclude that, had Howard been willing or able to co-operate and compromise, the benefits of all his recording and measuring would have been put to use in the 1780s rather than a century later. D L Howard spelled his opinion out without mincing his words: Throughout his life, Howard could not co-operate. He was not a friendly man, given to discussion and personal persuasion, but one who … liked to dominate in debate …… he loved to feel superior and to be admired for his superiority … he

did not encourage any band of associates to join him in his work. His publica-

tions aroused sympathy … but he could not let himself draw upon this goodwill to turn his reforming zeal into a movement. In a gathering of people bent on the

same achievement, he would not stand out so clearly as a benefactor. He jeal-

ously guarded his own status as the sole expert in penal matters, and resented any

attempt, however well-meaning, and self-effacing, to join in the work of inspection.

A colleague would have developed ideas of his own, and might also have enjoyed

some of Howard’s glory. On the single occasion when John Howard was invited to share responsibility for new prisons, he withdrew rather than compromise with his

20. Hepworth Dixon’s opinion does not seem to be based on any evidence at all. It seems very unlikely that the Penitentiary Act would have been passed if ministers were not interested in it. 21. Ibid, p.172.

234

The Writer, Editor, Publisher and Penitentiary Superintendent

partners’ views. For the sake of independence, he sacrificed a rare opportunity to have new, well-planned prisons built in his own life-time.22

John Howard’s modus operandi could not have been more different than that of Samuel Whitbread, the success of whose business rested on his four key clerks (senior assistants) Delafield, Yallowly, Maysey and Broughton. Samuel Whitbread was clearly a highly competent manager who knew how to get the best from his employees whether stable lads, brewers or engineers. Howard, however, was not comfortable if he had to rely on anyone but himself — a fact which not only vexed Whitbread, but his fellow superintendents. The failed superintendent incident reveals another side of Howard which should be added to what is known of his personality, and D L Howard’s interpretation is a valid one. John Howard’s refusal to give one iota in respect of a suitable site certainly raises questions. Why would or could he not cooperate? Was he really a proud man who wanted personal glory? Was he, as Lucas and Frith suggest, subject in some degree to the development disorders inherent in Asperger’s Syndrome? Or was there some other explanation? DL Howard attempted to interpret Howard as one of a type. The social reformer whose personal relationships were disastrous is not an uncommon figure. To be successful, he must have an obsession with his cause; a blinding engrossment in it which keeps him from giving his family and friends the

understanding companionship they expect … Complete absorption in a major social

problem must take the reformer out of the intricate and delicate web of obligations … spun by friendship round the life of an ordinary individual … He had never

been a man of warmth … He knew the pleasure of minds in argument, but not the linked arms of true comradeship.23

Whatever it was that caused him to be as he was, the fact is that Howard let the moment pass when he could have achieved the goal of that which all his work to date had pointed towards. It is interesting to note that he believed the disappointing and unsatisfactory end result was not his fault 22. Howard, D L, John Howard: Prison Reformer, Christopher Johnson, London, 1958, p.166-7. 23. Ibid. p.117.

235

The Curious Mr Howard but that of the “gentlemen whose continued opposition defeated the design, and adopted the expensive, dangerous and destructive scheme of transportation to Botany Bay”.

236

Chapter 13

More about Jack, More prisons and More Anecdotes Father and Son Freed from responsibility, John Howard was off abroad again in May 1781 (to Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Germany and Holland), and his tour of English, Irish and Scottish prisons lasted the whole of 1782. While in Ireland he gave evidence before the Irish House of Commons, much as he had done to the English one in 1774, and he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law by Trinity College, Dublin, as the Rt Hon Sir Thomas Molony, Bart. later reported in an address given in 1949: The reform of prisons has long been a subject of interest in Ireland and when John

Howard came to Ireland and found many abuses to contend with and many scan-

dals to expose, he met with a cordial and sympathetic hearing in Trinity College, and the Provost and senior fellows by a private Grace of the House conferred on

him the honorary degree of doctor of laws (LLD) on May 31st, 1782, and so Trinity can claim to have been foremost in the fight for prison reform more than a century and a half ago.1

Howard returned home briefly and then went back to Ireland. But instead of (or perhaps as well as) taking one of his servants, he took Jack, who was then about 17 or 18-years-of-age. A year or so earlier Jack had left the school at Pinner to go to the Dissenting Academy in Daventry, but in 1781 the Reverend Robins, the tutor under whose care he was placed, retired. This may be the reason why Howard moved Jack yet again, this time to Nottingham, where the Reverand Walker was instrumental in setting up the well-respected 1. Molony T, “Prison Life in Eire and the English Criminal Justice Act, 1848”, Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland, Dublin, 1949, Vol. XXVIII, Part II pp.133-142.

237

The Curious Mr Howard High Pavement School, but where Jack remained only for a year or so. All in all, Jack’s experiences of school could not be said to be very satisfactory, and things did not improve. It is not known whether Jack accompanied his father on his various visits into Irish prisons, or whether he was left to his own devices. The latter seems more likely. Nor is it known what he made of the experience. Howard might well have taken him for educational reasons for by now he must have been perplexed and disappointed by his son’s lack of motivation, and travel or visiting prisons might have had some beneficial effect. He may too have hoped it would heal what seems to have been a virtual estrangement, though one cannot assume that closeness was what either father or son wanted. Or perhaps, knowing that all was not well with Jack, he took him to Ireland because it was better — even safer — than leaving him at home with nothing particular to do. Jack showed no interest or ability in anything academic. Indeed, he seems to have been totally disaffected, and it was at about this time that he was coming under the negative influence of Thomasson, one of his father’s most trusted servants. Baldwin Brown stated that before Jack had reached the age of 17, “after his father had retired to rest at his usual early hour, wearied with his labours of philanthropy during the day, he (Thomasson) had the unparalleled baseness to take him out to places of the worst resort”. The two of them went to brothels, they drank, they took drugs and they ridiculed Howard in his absence. They must also have got through Howard’s money. Thomasson must have juggled his dealings with his master, ensuring that Howard did not find out what he was up to with Jack while maintaining his status as favourite servant. Howard’s trust in the man was so absolute that even if anyone had dared to tell him what was going on (and possibly someone tried to), he would not have believed it. Howard, so straight and true in his personal and professional life, could not have comprehended such dissimulation from someone he knew so well. Perhaps this was a good thing, for had he found it out, his grief about Jack would have escalated and made his life even more unbearable. By any measure Thomasson’s conduct was quite appalling, especially given Howard’s generosity to him and the fact that their long relationship was closer than in the usual master-servant situation. 238

More about Jack, More prisons and More Anecdotes If one could have seen father and son together on their Irish trip there would have been little conversation and few smiles between them, underscored by concern and sadness on Howard’s part and boredom on Jack’s. Two other stories from when they were on the ferry to or from Ireland were published in the Gentlemen’s Magazine by someone who did not know his fellow traveller was the famous John Howard until the end of the journey. Jack, wrote the correspondent, expressed annoyance towards a child who had pulled or moved his coat. Howard apparently spoke to Jack about this, telling him not to be so harsh. (This from the father who had so often demanded obedience from Jack when he was a small boy). The other incident on the crossing was when, finding out that a maidservant had no berth to sleep in, Howard gave up his own for her and slept on the floor. It is doubtful he would have suggested that Jack should give up his bed up and, if he had, it is unlikely that Jack would have done so in a generous spirit. It is tempting to think Howard would have welcomed this opportunity to show Jack what courtesy meant and be influenced by it, but from what is known of Jack at this time, he probably hardly noticed. Nevertheless, another anecdote from around the same time made clear that Jack recognised the extent of his father’s achievements, for he is supposed to have said, “What good could I possibly do, compared to that which has been effected by my parent?” Jack was also conscious that Howard, who allowed him to live much as he wished at Cardington, regarded his son’s failings as a cause for sadness, not anger. Howard was not alone in fretting about a son and their relationship. For quite different reasons, Whitbread was having to recognise that his own son Samuel had no interest in the brewing business at all. Samuel junior had been sent to Eton and Oxford, and on a Grand Tour, but these experiences separated him from his father and brought about an uneasiness between them.

Events in Edinburgh It was at around this time that Howard was made Burgess and Guild-brother of Edinburgh. 239

The Curious Mr Howard

Robert Allan first merchant Councillor moved that as John Howard Esquire who

has been at uncommon pains about the intended Bridewell is to be in this City in a few weeks, he should be presented with the freedom of the City, which being

considered by the Magistrates and Council They did and hereby do admit and

receive the said John Howard Esquire of Cardington a Burges (sic) and Gildbrother of this City for the good services done by him as mentioned in the foresaid motion.2

The newly created Burgess, unsure of what to do with his son, decided to set him to study in Edinburgh, and, in 1782 or 1783 (around the time when the Montgolfier brothers were beginning to have success with their air balloons) took him to the residence of Dr Blacklock. This blind poet, who was to entertain Samuel Johnson to breakfast and become a friend of Robert Burns, was well-known in Edinburgh. A number of young gentlemen students from the university and the College of Physicians lodged in his home at Pear Tree House, and he also tutored some of them. It is not certain whether Jack actually matriculated at Edinburgh although it was a university where many Dissenters studied. But he cannot have made much progress nor been an easy person to have in the household for his lifestyle was already irregular, and he was showing symptoms of what he was having to admit to himself was syphilis. Baldwin Brown noted that it was “a very respectable physician, who, whilst pursuing his medical studies, lodged in the same house as him [i.e. Jack]” who was concerned about Jack’s symptoms, and this “respectable physician” was Robert Waring Darwin, who was studying medicine at Edinburgh. He was the son of Erasmus Darwin and would, in 1809, father Charles Darwin the naturalist. A letter to the Monthly Magazine provides more details: I have been authorized, and indeed requested, to transmit the following particulars

by Dr. R. Darwin, who pursued his medical studies in the University of Edinburgh,

at the same time that Mr. John Howard was placed there, and lived with him in the

house of the eminent Dr. Blacklock. This unfortunate young man was very nervous

and hypochondriac, and, occasionally discovered symptoms of that mental derange2. Edinburgh Town Council Minutes, 31.7.1782 (ref.SL1/1/102).

240

This representation of Howard appeared as the frontispiece of The Story of John Howard, published by Nelson in 1886.

Henrietta Leeds was

Howard’s second wife.

The couple were close companions and

worked together to

improve their village. Henrietta died

within a few days of giving birth to

a son.

Sea view of the lazaretto at Genoa, from The State of the Prisons.

Howard House, Cardington, near Bedford, still looks much as it did when occupied by John and Henrietta Howard.

The Root House stood at the far end of John Howard’s garden, and was where he

found privacy and peace. Drawing by ‘ERB’ 1869. Courtesy of the Bodleian Library.

Page from The State of Prisons.

This vase and plinth were erected in the garden of Howard House in 1812 by Samuel Whitbread.

The inscription pays tribute to the work done by both John Howard

and his gardener Joshua Crockford in establishing the garden.

Tea was very important to John

Howard, so this kettle (now in the Mayor’s Parlour in Bedford) was an essential part of his luggage.

Statue of John Howard in St Paul’s Square, Bedford. Courtesy Bedford Borough Council.

John Howard’s statue, by the

John Howard spent two substantial

sculptor John Bacon, was the

periods in Warrington while his works

Cathedral. © Graham Lacdao /

Image courtesy of Warrington Museum

first admitted to St Paul’s St Paul’s Cathedral.

were being printed by William Eyres. & Art Gallery.

Plaque of John Howard, now in Kherson museum.

Tablet on the wall in the church at Cardington.

Howard’s grave has been renovated more than once.

This present granite stone bears an inscription in Latin which translates as: Whoever thou art, thou standest at the tomb of thy friend.

Howard’s modest house in Kherson (left) no longer exists,

but a handsome obelisk (right) has been erected in his memory.

Original painting of

www.dmgcoyle.com

David Coyle

Photographed by

his family.

chains, surrounded by

visiting a soldier in

they depict Howard

R Wilkinson in 1788

Published by

of Benevolence’.

title ‘The Triumph

this scene go by the

or elsewhere depicting

in the National Gallery

engravings by Gillray

white or coloured

Similar black and

Louis Blom-Cooper.

by kind permission of

1815) photographed

James Gillray (1756-

ally thought to be by

John Howard, gener-

More about Jack, More prisons and More Anecdotes

ment, which afterwards became an unremitting and incurable disease. These natural causes probably operated in disposing young Howard, though he often manifested

a good heart, to employ himself in discovering and playing upon the foibles of those about him, to a degree that rendered his society very unpleasant.3

This letter, already cited in respect of Howard’s grief over Henrietta’s death (as the reason for his unceasing work) and in respect of his help to Dutch prisoners-of-war in Shrewsbury, also suggests that Darwin and Jack were friends. This friendship, however, may well have foundered on Jack’s illness. A further Darwinian connection would be made in 1791, when Erasmus Darwin published his The Botanic Garden. He included several lines about Howard: “Thus, when an Angel-form, in light array’d, Like HOWARD pierced the prison’s noisome shade” and “Locks, bolts and chains his potent touch obey”. In 1794, Erasmus Darwin would have his Zoonomia, Laws of Organic Life printed by William Eyres. Jack lasted a year in Scotland. Howard was hugely upset and anxious when he surfaced from his work and thought about Jack, attributing his son’s disturbed conduct and ill-health to bad company he met in Edinburgh, but it is almost certain that his emotional, intellectual and physical condition had started to deteriorate before then. All in all, Jack was a troubled young man for whom life must have been very problematical. It was physically painful too, not only because of the progress of the disease, but because the treatment he decided to administer to himself made things even worse. It was reported too that he was homosexual, a fact which would have made things even more difficult.

Still More Prisons In 1783 Howard visited Portugal, Spain, France, Holland, Scotland, Ireland and some English prisons. At Valladolid he tried to find out what he could about the workings of the Spanish Inquisition. Not satisfied with seeing the tribunal room, the painted cap and “the vestments for the unhappy victims” 3. Mr Wood, Monthly Magazine, Vol. 4, 1977, pp.339-40.

241

The Curious Mr Howard he asked to be let in to one of the cells. When his request was refused, he answered, “I would be confined for a month to satisfy my curiosity”. The curious Mr Howard, indeed, wanting to explore what must have been one of the worst places of confinement in the world. In 1784, back in England, he headed for Warrington where he prepared a second Appendix to The State of the Prisons and a new edition of the entire book: another mammoth undertaking. Baldwin Brown wrote of these “in both of which the important information obtained during his lengthened journeys, at home and abroad, in the years 1781, 1782, 1783, was carefully interwoven with the original text”.4 While Howard was in Warrington, the lively young French count named François de La Rochefoucauld was travelling around Suffolk with his brother and their bear-leader noting down things of interest. His diary turned into an account of an entire year, covering everything from cock-fighting and the climate to elections and enclosures. From somewhere he gained this domestic image of prisons: Prisons are very healthy in England. Generally, the principle is that they should serve only to secure the persons detained, and not provide their first stage of punish-

ment. So the prisoners there do well, may read and write, work to provide some

amelioration of the austerity of their regime, and see their relatives and friends.

Most of them live together, with a fire in winter, and are as happy as one can be after losing one’s freedom.5

De La Rochefoucauld was at that time in the company of Arthur Young, the East Anglian agriculturalist who had visited Howard in Cardington. Their tour must have taken them close to Lavenham, where the young count might have been surprised if he had known that only two years earlier Howard had “… found the magistrates had sent to the keeper a number of thumbscrews for securing prisoners”. Surely Howard had done enough? He had visited and re-visited and rere-visited again prisons abroad as well as those closer to home in England, 4. Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard, The Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London, 1818, p.388. 5. Scarfe N (Translation and ed.), A Frenchman’s Year in Suffolk, Suffolk, 1988, p.81.

242

More about Jack, More prisons and More Anecdotes Ireland, Scotland and Wales, making up to eight or nine visits to some gaols. Having made recommendations, his repeated visits developed increasingly into tours of inspection. Though Howard had neither a remit from anyone other than himself nor any authoritative standards he could cite, he was checking what he saw on his initial visit against his own ideas on what a prison should and should not be, and, on subsequent visits, against what had been done or not done since his last visit. However, unlike most inspectors, he rarely expressed disappointment if things had stayed the same or become worse. He merely noted the fact, and only occasionally spelt out what he thought to the point of rudeness.

Howard in Blunt Mode Howard’s brusqueness with Empress Catherine (mentioned later in this chapter) was one example of him in blunt mode. Another was when a new governor of Upper Austria and his wife, a countess, called on him in Vienna. Like all such visitors, they were astonished by the simplicity of the lodgings that the famous Englishman was occupying, but they made conversation, and the governor asked about the state of the local prisons. Howard is supposed to have said they were the worst in all Germany, particularly the women’s ones. He recommended that the countess visit those and use her influence to improve them. The lady, shocked and offended, hurried out of the room saying something like, “I? I go into prisons?” It is said that Howard called after her, “Remember, Madam, that you yourself are but a woman and must soon, like the most miserable female prisoner in a dungeon, inhabit only a small space of that earth from which you are equally sprung”. On another occasion, when dining at the residence of Sir Robert Murray Keith, the English ambassador in Vienna, he contradicted a nobleman who was claiming that Joseph II had abolished torture. Howard pointed out that though one sort of physical torture might no longer be practised, it was hardly an improvement to confine people to hideous dungeons, force them to confess and then execute them. Keith tried to stop him speaking for he feared other guests would report Howard to the Emperor, but Howard 243

The Curious Mr Howard refused to be silenced, and stated that no king or emperor would prevent him from speaking the truth. John Howard did not confine his criticism to his own specialist field, where no-one could deny that he knew what he was talking about. An incident occurred in Prague, when he was invited to the main monastery of the Capuchin order of monks. He cannot have known much about what went on in such a place, but he clearly had expectations of dignity, simplicity and godliness. It happened to be a fast-day, yet when he arrived he was taken to a hall where a vast, rich and bibulous feast was set out. His immediate response was to criticise his hosts for being self-indulgent and extravagant, especially on such a day, and he went so far as to threaten to report them to the Pope. The monks knew that Howard was someone whose voice was influential, and the next day a delegation from the monastery arrived at his lodgings requesting him not to report them. He answered that he would make no promise, but that if he heard of such extravagance happening again he would not hesitate to do so. It is intriguing and indicative of his status in a Catholic country that he, an English Dissenter, should be so feared. But in respect of improvements he was quick to praise, and, despite his own speed of travel and work, he accepted that it would take years for things to shift, for he knew he was up against numerous authorities as well as custom and practice. This fact made his failure to create two good prisons in London when he had the chance all the more frustrating.

Yet More Prisons He carried on his visits abroad, gradually going further afield in Holland, France, Italy, Malta, Turkey and Germany. When reading his books and the biographies about these later years it becomes increasingly hard to understand how he took in and retained so many details. Any reader can be forgiven for getting prisons and their descriptions muddled. Which prison was it that had poor bread but no irons? Or good beds but no work? Or debtors mixed in with felons but services each Sunday? It is hard too to keep a track of his journeys as he took various boats, coaches and mounts to different destinations. Was the prison where the women were in irons in Italy or Inverness, 244

More about Jack, More prisons and More Anecdotes Marseilles or Mannheim? Though he always kept exact records in respect of dates when he visited English and Welsh prisons, he did not (or, at least, if he did they no longer exist) when it came to other countries. Fortunately some of his letters help in tracing his itinerary, but it is one thing to write a list of countries against a list of years and another to appreciate exactly what he was doing. His quite extraordinary energetic travel rate should not be underestimated. He often rode a hectic forty miles a day. At times he slept in coaches and hardly stopped to eat. (In fact, being a stickler for cleanliness, he must have spent more time in washing than in eating). But there is absolutely no suggestion that he was trying to impress anyone or create any sort of record. However, true to his mania for recording details, he kept a tally of the miles he covered on each tour: An Account of the Number of Miles travelled on the Reform of Prisons In Great Britain & Ireland, 1773, ’74, ’75, ’76

10,318

First Foreign journey, 1775

1,400

Second ditto, 1776

1,700

Third ditto, 1778

4,636

In Great Britain & Ireland, 1779

6,490

Fourth Foreign journey, 1781

4,465

Great Britain & Ireland, 1782

8,165

Fifth Foreign journey, 1783

3,304

To Ireland

715

To Worcester

238

To Hertford, Chelmsford and Warrington

602

Total

42,033

245

The Curious Mr Howard

To God alone be praise! I do not regret the loss of the many conveniences of life, but bless God who inclined my mind to such a scheme.6

These impressive statistics (and the religious comment beneath them) were written shortly before this point in the narrative, when Howard did not know he was to embark on yet more significant journeys. He certainly deserved the epithets “intrepid” and “seasoned”.

More Anecdotes It is useful at this stage to describe more incidents of note that indicate aspects of Howard’s character. John Howard met Sir Joseph Yorke, the British Ambassador, in The Hague. It seems that Yorke was marooned in the United Provinces for personal as well as political reasons. Despite the fact that “His Table, splendid and hospitable, was open to Strangers of every Country” he was, apparently, difficult to get on with and the writer Wraxhall said of him that “his manners and address had in them something formal and ceremonious”. As Howard hated any pomposity it is hard to imagine that they got on together, but they clearly did. In 1778, after being thrown to the ground on a street in Holland in an accident with a horse and dray, Howard had to stay put for some weeks with a fever and in severe pain, and on May 14th he wrote in his journal: This Night my fever abaited, my Pains less; I thank God I had 2 hours sleep prior

to which for 16 days & nights not 4 hours sleep — Righteous art Thou in all thy ways and holy in all thy works — sanctify this affliction and shew me wherefore Thou contendest with me, bring me out of the Furnace as Silver purified seven times. J.H.7

During this difficult time Yorke attended to him, causing Howard to add in a footnote to The State of the Prisons 6. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., p.651. 7. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., p.236.

246

More about Jack, More prisons and More Anecdotes

I should accuse myself of ingratitude did I not take this occasion again to express my acknowledgements to Sir Joseph Yorke who not only exerted himself with ardour

to promote the success of my enquiries, but while I was confined at The Hague in consequence of an accident, favoured me with instances of kindness and friendship that I can never forget.8

In 1781, when Howard visited Russia for the first time, he tried to keep his travels quiet but was by then so famous that everyone knew where he was and what he was doing. Although he had risked offending Catherine the Great she does not seem to have minded his response to her invitation.9 People — even Empresses — seemed to make an exception for this exceptional man. At any rate, he was welcomed and helped by the mercurial and powerful Prince Potemkin who said he would have Howard’s book translated into Russian, but never did so. Russia was a country of tremendous poverty where serfs were bought and sold as slaves. Howard, a gentle soul unless roused or in spiritual or emotional pain, witnessed their fear. Once, after a journey, he tried to pay his drivers more than they expected, but they were too scared to accept the gratuity. The story runs that he told them he valued what they had done and that they deserved extra recompense. It is not known whether his Russian would have been good enough for him to do this, but perhaps someone else did the talking. It was another of those conversations which it is hard to imagine taking place without an interpreter. It may have been the case, though, that he could have conveyed what he meant through gestures and smiles. Finally, the men took the money. There is another story about him giving tips. After any journey where the postillion took no notice of his instructions (for example in respect of speed), Howard would ask the landlord of the inn to which he had been driven to find a poor widow and bring her to him. When this was done, Howard would call the postillion over, pay him the correct fare, and give the woman the amount he had intended to give as a tip. He pointed out to the postillion that he did not withhold the tip out of meanness, but because 8. Howard J, The State of the Prisons, Warrington, 1777, p.67. 9. It seems a little strange that Howard declined to meet the Empress but accepted an invitation from Maria Teresa, Empress of Hungary.

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The Curious Mr Howard he did not like his instructions to be ignored. Supposedly, that story was soon passed round, and from then on he had better service on roads where he travelled frequently. In contrast to this, however, were his opinions about his own servants at home receiving tips. As he became more famous people began to turn up at Howard House in Cardington wanting to see the house, grounds and village. Some of them offered tips to Howard’s employees in an attempt to look round or get more information, but he forbade them from accepting money from such sightseers. However, their wages and working conditions are likely to have been more than fair.

Yet More About Jack Back in Cardington in 1784, Howard did not take the opportunity to enjoy a rest. With several editions of his book successfully published, and a reputation for doing good that he cannot but have been pleased with, even if he disliked the publicity it attracted, he was not going to be idle. One pressing piece of business was to decide what to do with Jack who would turn twenty the following year, and it was agreed that he should matriculate in the 1784 Michaelmas Term at the University of Cambridge. He was to be a pensioner — an ordinary fee-paying student. Though it was quite possible for Dissenters to gain admission to Oxford and Cambridge, they faced difficulties. Most importantly, before being awarded a degree, each student had to swear an oath to uphold Anglican doctrines. Howard, who would presumably not have let Jack do this, must have had serious doubts. But what else could the low-achieving and aimless son of a gentleman do next if he was not to study? Howard may have sought the opinions of those other friends and relations who, over the years, had followed and sometimes become involved in Jack’s problematical boyhood and youth. He was probably sent to Cambridge because no-one knew what to do with him, it was better than him just loitering around at home, and it was a last chance worth trying. On September 23rd 1784 he was installed at St John’s, Cambridge, with tutors Messrs. Pearce and Kipling, his first day of residence being 13th October. Howard had sought out the Reverand Robert Robinson, a Dissenting 248

More about Jack, More prisons and More Anecdotes tutor at the Stone Yard Academy, to keep an eye on him. He must have returned to Cardington praying that Jack would settle down, and wondering what he himself was going to do.

Yet More Anecdotes Though John Howard’s books were sought out, valued and discussed in detail by those concerned about social issues, plenty of people would never have heard of them, let alone seen them. However, his name and field of activity were very well known, and there are several anecdotes about him that would have been appreciated by those who preferred a proper story with a hero and villains to heavy books filled with heavy facts. One of these concerned a notorious prisoner called Ryland who was an accomplished forger and womaniser. He was reputed to have several mistresses living in expensive houses which he paid for, and his capture, imprisonment, trial and death sentence were live news in 1783. A feature of the case was that a young serving girl had gone missing. Ryland had apparently hidden her somewhere, but refused to reveal her whereabouts. Her family became distraught, fearing that if he were to be hanged without telling them they would never see her again. One of them approached Howard and asked if he would help. Howard agreed, went to Newgate Prison, spoke with Ryland and returned with the address of where the girl was. She was subsequently found, quite safe. Such a story added to Howard’s reputation as a man who feared nothing and could get prisoners to do what he wanted, even one who was about to be executed. It turned out that Ryland was the last man to be hanged at Tyburn. Another incident was when there was a riot at the Savoy Military Prison. It is said that a large assembly of men refused to return to their cells when ordered to do so. Having killed two gaolers, they were angry and defiant. Howard offered to speak to them in person, and though he was advised not to, he did so. Before long, they agreed to go to where they were supposed to be. Baldwin Brown wrote:

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 … in he went amongst two hundred ruffians, when such was the effect of his mild

and benign manner, that they soon listened to his remonstrances, represented their grievances and at last allowed themselves to be reconducted to their cells.10

Though what Howard said to the assembled rioters (or to Ryland) will never be known, he is almost bound to have addressed them as the ordinary men most of them must have been, perfectly capable of rational thought and action. He would have listened to their side of things, and appealed to them in a personal way. He would not have pulled rank — and, other than being a gentleman, he had no rank to pull — and would have counted them almost as his equals. Addressed by this small, slight, quietly-spoken man, the prisoners must have reconsidered their reasons for disobeying orders, seen that there were more advantageous ways of acting, and agreed to return to their cells. Moreover, Howard would have enabled this to happen without any prisoner, gaoler or turnkey losing face. In fact, he would probably have made as good a gaoler as he made an inspector, though his determination that prisoners should participate in regular religious services might not have brought about the improvement in morals he hoped for. And there is a third story which gives yet another, different image of John Howard. One day at Cardington, a servant announced that an unknown lady had arrived and wanted to meet the famous man. Howard agreed and the servant brought her to him: [The lady’s] appearance was so little prepossessing that the mind of Mr Howard

could not divest itself of a dread of assassination. Her amazing height, her tout ensemble indeed, was so extremely masculine, that the idea of a man dressed in

women’s clothes instantly occurred to his imagination, and he hastily rang his bell, and by a look gave his servant to understand that he wished him to wait. His fears

were, however groundless, for the good woman, after having sufficiently wearied his patience with a bombastic display of the vast veneration in which she held his labours, very quietly took her leave — declaring that she could now die in peace.11

10. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., p.393. 11. Baldwin Brown J, op.cit., p.394.

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More about Jack, More prisons and More Anecdotes It is interesting to read of Howard fearing for his life in his own home. He had faced death before and would do so again, for he had a range of encounters with mad and bad men, storms, injury, disease and poor roads, ships and carriages. Perhaps this meeting with the tall lady — if it is true — took place after one of his journeys to France when he was a wanted man and had good reason to be alarmed by and suspicious of something out of the ordinary.

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Chapter 14

Lazarettos and the Plague Adventure Hepworth Dixon provided a vivid account of a particular adventure Howard experienced in 1778. He described the various events in such a filmic way that it is worth quoting almost in its entirety. It is not difficult to imagine close-ups and long views, and hear music rising to crescendos and sinking to diminuendos. It is also a reminder of how difficult and dangerous travel could be in the 18th century. John Howard was on a ship en route from Civita Vecchia (just north of Naples) towards Leghorn (Livorno). As they were running pleasantly along the Tuscan shore, on the evening of the second day of their voyage, the captain put into a small creek as was the custom

in those days of leisurely travelling; and, the night being fine, he pitched a tent on the land for his voyager, who was only too grateful for the opportunity of quietly

enjoying the beauty of the summer night on shore. In the midst of one of the most beautiful scenes in nature — at his feet the blue waters of the Tuscan Sea — above

him the balmy and delicious air of the sweet South — he lay down to sleep in his

little tent, lulled by the music of winds and waters. On awaking in the morning all

was changed. The delicious beauty of the scene had vanished. The air was hot, the sky clouded, the water angry. They put to sea, however, in their little boat, but had

scarcely got under sail when a sudden squall arose. The thunders rolled and crashed

above their heads, and the lightnings burst and blazed before their eyes, and wind and water raged with a fierceness only known in southern countries. Every hour the

excitement of the elements increased. The sea ran high and the frail bark was dashed in the tempest like a piece of wreck. The boat was at the mercy of the storm. For

that whole day the mariners were tossed hither and thither, the sport of every wave and gust of wind, with no power to help themselves, and dreading the approach of darkness as of almost certain death. To their infinite joy, however, just as night was

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falling, they found that the storm had carried them into a harbour of one of the small islands lying off the Tuscan coast. Soaking wet, and exhausted with their life

and death struggle, they were anxiously preparing to land, when a fresh difficulty

beset them. The inhabitants refused them permission to go on shore! A report had spread through the island that the plague had made its appearance at the port from which this vessel had sailed before it put into Civita Vecchia, and, so great was their

terror of the pest, that notwithstanding prayers and supplications, neither sailors nor passengers could obtain leave to quit the boat. Refusal on such a ground must have been doubly trying to Howard, to whom it revealed a new and to him unknown danger.

Whether the ship was infected or not infected, he was obliged to remain in her with

the rest; so, making the best of their misfortunes, they anchored for the night in a sheltered nook under the walls of the town, and next morning put out again into the storm.

No change of fortune came that day. The violence of the storm went on increasing

hour by hour. Finding it useless to contend any longer against a force so overwhelming, the bark was at length given up to the wind, and drifted on before it at a tremendous pace, till it was thrown on the African coast,1 where they were again

doomed to be cast off. Even the piratical Algerines, more afraid of infection than fond of booty, refused them permission to enter their harbour. So, resting at a short

distance from the shore for the night, they again departed at daybreak, and were

soon out on the wide waste of waters once more. For three more dreadful days and

nights they were now at sea. The toils, and perils, and privations then undergone, were never afterwards forgotten. Never before had Howard suspected the terrible

influence of that word — PLAGUE. By merely raising a doubt, it had caused them

to be twice rejected by their fellow-creatures in their need; they had been cast out in Europe and in Africa, by Christian and by Moslem. When, hereafter, we find

him undertaking a special mission to the East, in order to discover the causes of the Plague, we shall do well to trace its first suggestion to the personal suffering

now endured. After three days of sleepless anxiety and exhausting suffering, they 1. Though unlikely, it is extremely tempting to think that Howard might have set foot in Africa on this occasion.

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sighted the small island of Gorgona, lying off Leghorn to the north west; but, on

account of the strength of the current, they did not succeed in making port that night and were obliged to cast out the anchor until dawn. The weather had now calmed a little, but the sea was still too rough for the exhausted sailors to manage their craft. As soon as it was light, however, the governor of the island, apprised of

their danger, sent his long-boat with four-and-twenty men, who took Howard and his servant Thomasson on shore, and with their assistance the vessel was got round

in the course of the day to a good and convenient anchorage in front of the island.

In this hospitable place, the guests of the governor, the voyagers remained about a

week, reposing after their severe toils, and recovering their worn-out strength. As

soon as it was prudent, our countryman took leave of his courteous host and sailed for Leghorn, which he reached in safety and without further peril.2

Hepworth Dixon may well have been right in believing that this incident made Howard think about the plague, and, according to Baldwin Brown, he must have been thinking about it when he was at home again in Cardington. The domestic scene, though calmer when Jack was not there, had lost much of its attraction for him. He would have talked to John Prole about cattle and crops, fences and fields. He must have visited the poorhouse and thought about the school he hoped to build. He would have called on Whitbread and Smith and other friends and attended his chapel in Bedford. Reflecting on all he had done in the previous decade and a half had the effect not of slowing him down but rather of causing him to re-engage. Now over 50, he found he wanted to continue doing what he liked doing best: travelling and working. His state of mind was perhaps so bad that he could not bear to be in his own home. He was not yet finished with prisons, but his attention had shifted. Any reader of The State of the Prisons cannot but be aware of his interest in medicine and in gaol-fever. The book mentions several illnesses and plenty of hospitals, but the word plague is used only a few times. One of the first clues as to where his new interest lay was in the text on Leghorn in Italy, where a footnote reads: 2. Hepworth Dixon W, John Howard and the Prison World of Europe, Jackson and Walford London, 1859, pp.161-4.

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I wish some future traveller would give us plans of this Lazaretto, and that at Ancona and other places, as they might suggest some useful alterations in the construction of our hospitals and other public buildings.3

Howard also attributed his new subject of enquiry thus Having been led by the similarity of the subject to extend my views from prisons and hospitals to lazarettos, my chief intention ..was to collect the regulations and plans of the lazarettos in Europe.

Lazarettos were hospitals where those who were or who might be infected with the plague were housed. The origin of the word lazaretto is lazar, a contraction of Lazarus, and it refers to the beggar in St Luke’s gospel. Interestingly, Howard’s new concern was about more than institutions. It is already clear that his attention was focused more on prisons than on crime or courts, and on prisoner-of-war establishments more than on conflict or combatants. However, in the case of lazarettos, he was certainly interested in the plague and its causes, prevention and treatment. The doom-laden word “plague” opened up a whole new field of enquiry about disease. The bubonic plague, though still active, had not killed large numbers of people for over a century. There had been Great Plagues in Seville (1649), London (1665), and Vienna (1679). But in the late 18th century people were still fearful of it with good reason, for it had not been eradicated. England was free of it, but, should it re-appear, it could cause havoc again. Howard resolved to find out what he could about it, and particularly about arrangements for quarantine. Later, he would open the Introduction to his second book with the words: In my latest tours, I had with pain observed that, notwithstanding the regulations which had been made in our own country, and elsewhere, for preserving the health

in prisons and hospitals, yet that infectious diseases continued occasionally to

arise and spread in them. I had also been led … to consider how much all trading nations are exposed to that dreadful scourge of mankind which those structures are 3. Howard J, The State of the Prisons, Warrington, 1777, p.109.

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intended to prevent, and to reflect how very rude and imperfect our own police4 was with respect to this object.

Firstly to France Having sold the house in Clapton which had belonged to his father (to free up some funds) John Howard set off for Holland. Baldwin Brown believed he was in England until November 1785, his mind occupied with thoughts of the plague and lazarettos, but a letter from the ambassador in The Hague, Sir Joseph Yorke to Robert Murray Keith, diplomat in Vienna, is evidence that he was already in Holland by April 21st. Dear Sir, Give me leave to recommend to your obliging countenance and protection the

bearer thereof. My old schoolfellow, Mr. John Howard, of Cardington, Bedfordshire, one of the most singular and humane characters of the age … The parliament, and

indeed the voice of the nation, speak his merit and he has the right to the assistance of everyone of us … He is certainly no spy, but a worthy man of great family;5 and

his only view is to be of some service in the cause of humanity.

A footnote adds: The visit to Keith took place at the end of the year. A young Englishman describes it thus: “Sir Robert has lately been much taken up by a countryman of a very different

description from those who would usually frequent this place. It is the celebrated

Mr. Howard … He is at present in good health, but much attenuated. He takes no

food but dry bread and tea … 6

4. In the 18th century the word ‘police’ was used to mean civil organization and ‘policing’ administration in general, rather than the more limited business of law enforcement. 5. This rare mention of Howard coming from a great family is hard to explain. Also, there is no evidence that Yorke went to school with Howard, but perhaps both statements were ways of assuring Keith that Howard was a good man. 6. Smyth G (ed.), Memoirs and Correspondence of Sir Robert Murray Keith KB, Colburn, London, 1949, p.185.

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The Curious Mr Howard Meanwhile, back in England Whitbread was introducing steam power to his brewery. The Scottish engineer John Rennie, aged only 23 or 24 (who would later build London, Southwark and Waterloo bridges) supervised the erection of Boulton and Watt’s engine which became renowned as one of the wonders of contemporary London. But on October 26th 1785 Howard wrote to Whitbread about quite a different matter: For several months past I have thought on a scheme of a new publication, of an 8vo

size,7 for the use of those who will give sincere attendance on prisons, hospitals and

poor-houses … 8

He was armed with a list of questions suggested by two medical friends, Dr Aikin and Dr Jebb. His main destination was the lazaretto at Marseilles. However, despite the support of the secretary of state for foreign affairs, Lord Camarthen, he was refused permission to enter France. Moreover, he was warned that should he do so he would run the risk of being sent to The Bastille. The reasons must have been partly to do with the Anglo-French political situation, partly to the fact that Howard had published, in English, a description of The Bastille which the French wanted kept secret and partly to his dissuading English prisoners-of-war held in France from signing up with the French navy. He travelled alone on this particular expedition because he deemed it too risky for any servant or companion. Howard knew exactly what imprisonment in The Bastille would mean, but, against all advice, he insisted on entering France as planned. What was he thinking of? Could not the information he wanted have been secured by other means? Was he prepared not to see Jack again? Whatever the reason, he set off to Brussels and took a stage-coach for Paris. The journey took a couple of days, and when he reached Paris he sought lodgings a little off the beaten track, just to be on the safe side. 7. This is an abbreviation of Octavo. It describes the format of a book consisting of one or more full sheets of paper on which 16 pages of text are printed. These are folded three times to produce eight leaves, meaning that each leaf of an octavo book is one eighth of the size of the original sheet. 8. Gibson E, John Howard, Methuen, London, 1901, p.135.

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Lazarettos and the Plague In the middle of the night he was woken by a loud knocking at the door. A chambermaid entered the room with a man dressed in a black coat, wearing a sword. The unexpected visitor asked Howard to confirm his name, which he did. Howard was asked if he had noticed a man in a black wig in the Brussels diligence, and he dismissed the question, implying that it was irrelevant. The man then made his exit, leaving Howard concluding that he would do well to get on his way immediately. Having already settled his bill, he dressed, packed, carried his trunk downstairs, and took the first coach to Lyons. He soon discovered the man in the black wig was a spy and that he had escaped arrest only by good luck. By now Howard could pass as a Frenchman if necessary, but at this point he assumed the role of an English doctor. His disguise was tested — and proven to be convincing — when, on the journey, he successfully treated a lady traveller who became ill. He reached Lyons with no difficulty and managed to get into gaols and hospitals before setting off for Marseilles. Dressed in French clothes and using a false name he succeeded in being ignored and was thus able to go where he wanted, but his friends still renewed their warnings and urged him to leave France. He had strong views about the French, describing them as “ … a perfidious, jealous and unjust nation. Some individuals among them I esteem. Their government I dislike. Their national character I detest”. But he was determined not to leave France until he had done what he came for, as this letter to the Reverand Smith in Bedford shows. Jan 30 1786 Nice9 Sir, I persuade myself that a line to acquaint you that I am safe and well out of France will give you pleasure. I had a nice part to act; I traveled as an English doctor and

perhaps among the number of Empirics I did as little mischief as most of them.

I never dined or supped in publick; the secret was only entrusted to the french

Protestant ministers. I was 5 days at Marseilles and 4 at Toulon, it was thought I

9. At the time Nice was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

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could not get out of France by land, so I forced out a Genoese ship and have been

many days striving against Wind and tide — three days in an almost desolate Island, overgrown with Myrtle, Rosemary and Tyme.10

This reference to the natural world is unusual, as are the sentences quoted below: I know, Sir, you will not treat any new attempt as wild or chimerical, yet I must say it

requires a steadiness of resolution not to be shaken, to pursue it. … I write this with

my windows open in full view of an Orange Grove, tho’ the Mountains at a great distance I see covered with Snow.

It seems that in this letter which Howard must have written with a smile on his face, he is quietly boasting. With the double dangers of arrest and tempest over, he sounds content and relaxed. A rare state of affairs.

Across Southern Europe in Search of the Plague From Nice he went to Genoa, then to Leghorn (where he saw the lazarettos he considered the best), Pisa, Florence and so to Rome and Naples, visiting prisons and lazarettos as he went. As he proceeded, he was made increasingly aware of how goods are affected by the regulations surrounding quarantine, with all the implications that had for trade. Over the last few years his three main foci had been plague-related contagion, illness and death, but his writings revealed his interest in a range of complex systems and accommodation designed to keep clean and infectious goods apart. The English ambassador in Naples was Sir William Hamilton, whose new mistress Emma would soon become his (Hamilton’s) wife, and then Nelson’s mistress. Howard was a year too early to watch Emma performing her famous “Attitudes”, in which she combined postures, dance, and acting, but if he had he might well have found them too frivolous. 10. Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard, The Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London, 1818, pp.420-1.

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Lazarettos and the Plague Hamilton enabled him to visit Malta, where he spent three weeks. This was much longer than his usual visits, especially in such a small place, so perhaps he had begun to slow down somewhat. He was by then exactly 60-years-old. On April 9th 1786 he wrote to Mr Tatnall from Malta At Genoa and Leghorn I was received in the most generous manner; was allowed

to visit the Lazarettos, the plans sent to my lodgings to copy, &c. I visited Florence,

Rome and Naples, about a fortnight in each place, to review the places in my line. I then took shipping for this Island. We lay, by contrary winds several days close

to Messina, Catania, Syracuse &c. and saw the dreadful effects of the earthquake

which happened about 2 years ago in Sicily. Soon after, we met a sad storm; but happy for us it only lasted four hours, and we arrived here about 10 days ago. I

have paid two visits to the Grand Master (of the Order of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem). Every place is flung open to me. He has sent me, what is thought a

great present, a pound of nice butter, as we are all burnt up here; yet peas and beans

in plenty, melons ripe, roses and flowers in abundance; but at night tormented with millions of fleas, gnats &c.

I am bound for Zante, Smyrna and Constantinople … the accounts from thence are

not favourable. A ship arrived today from Tripoli: the plague now ravishes that city.

The crew &c. went into strict quarantine.

One effect I find during my visits to the Lazarettos, viz. a heavy headach — a pain

across my forehead; but has always quite left me about an hour after I have come from these places. As I am quite alone,11 I have need to summon all my courage and

resolution. You will say it is a great design and so liable to a fatal miscarriage. I must adopt the motto of a Maltese Baron, “Non nisi per ardua”.12

The island of Zante was next, then Smyrna (Izmir) and Constantinople where Howard appreciated the help he received from Sir Robert Ainslie, the British ambassador, whose role was to further British trading interests and to maintain peace in the region. 11. When abroad, it seems that Howard sometimes wished to meet English people, but at other times not. At this point in time, it sounds as if he would have welcomed some company.. 12. Ibid, p.429.

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The Curious Mr Howard Howard wrote I am sorry to say some die of the plague about us; one is just carried before my

window, yet I visit where none of my conductors will accompany me. In some hospi-

tals, as in the lazarettos, and yesterday among the sick slaves, I have a constant headach but in about an hour after it always leaves me. Sir Robert Ainslie is very

kind, but for the above and other reasons I could not lodge in his house, I am at a physician’s and I keep some of my visits a secret.13

So, he was not only risking becoming infected himself by visiting places which housed plague victims, but he was also well aware that doing so put others at risk — a fact he did not want to become known. This was an odd situation for him. Out of character, it might be said, or at least out of that part of his character which seems to be his true one. It was exceptional for him not to be entirely honest with others. Did he justify his actions by presuming that they would or might lead to improvements? Or was he confident that God was looking after him and anyone else whom his risktaking might harm? Howard’s reputation as a physician preceded his arrival in Constantinople, where a nobleman sought his help in respect of his ailing daughter. After her recovery Howard was urged to accept “a purse containing 2,000 sequins”, but he declined it, saying that he would be delighted if he could have some of the grapes from the palace’s garden. These were promised him for the length of his stay there. Howard was so familiar with everything from torture to tyrants that it is rare to find him expressing pure surprise, but somewhere in Turkey he saw something completely different: “In the midst of this neglect of human beings, I saw an instance of attention to cats, which astonished me; I mean an asylum, which has been provided for them”. Despite all his investigations about the plague and attempts to control it, he was not satisfied and came to the conclusion that the only sure way to understand the reality of quarantine was to submit himself to the process. He therefore planned to return to Smyrna, find a ship with a bill of 13. Ibid, pp.436-7.

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Lazarettos and the Plague ill-health, and — to use the term then in use — to “perform” 40 days and nights of quarantine in the Venetian Lazaretto. To put himself in direct contact with the plague was extraordinary. It was a more extreme action than anything else he had done. He had only once, for example, asked to be imprisoned (in the Spanish Inquisition cells), and that request was refused. He had not asked to be incarcerated in any gaol before then, and there is nothing to suggest that he did so afterwards. Nor did he volunteer to have irons attached to his neck or legs, or be paraded in a Spanish mantle. So far, he had been a spectator and recorder of hideous conditions in hideous places, and despite his determination to discover what lay at the bottom of dungeons, he had probably spent no more than a couple of consecutive hours in any one of them, and he had certainly not undergone anything similar to that which prisoners had to undergo. Hepworth Dixon wrote of his decision to experience a lazaretto at first hand It was a dread experiment. On every side it presented a front of danger. There

was the plague city; there was the foul ship; there was the quarantine; everywhere death looked him in the face. In the lazaretto itself, the mortality was frightful. An

English ambassador coming home from Constantinople, Mr Murray, had just died in it of putrid fever.14

Why did he decide to do this? Why put himself in clear danger of illness which he knew might lead to death? Did he really think that he would learn something about controlling and treating the plague? Did he actually want to look death in the face? In a letter to Whitbread he wrote I bless God I am quite well, with calm, steady spirits, but I hope my young friend15

will never think of visiting this country. With all the conveniences and precautions

14. Hepworth Dixon W, op. cit., p.218. 15. Howard often addressed Whitbread as his “young friend”, although Whitbread was his senior by about six years. Letters such as this one are evidence of Howard’s continuing relationship with Whitbread, even if there had been periods of difficulty.

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of other British travellers, the risk is too great for the small acquisition of knowledge or pleasure in such a tour.16

So, Howard considered that although it was all right (just) for him to make such a journey for such a purpose, it was not for others.

Towards the Lazaretto at Venice He did exactly as he resolved. He took a Venetian boat to Salonica, visited the gaols there, thus incurring the anger of his interpreter (this is one of the few mentions of an interpreter), before going to Smyrna, and so on to Venice. Or, at least, towards Venice, for it was this journey which turned into the sea-battle described in Howard’s letter to Thomasson in the Introduction of this book. Readers may recall that soon after sailing out from Modon (now called Methoni) in the Morea (the Peloponnese) his ship was attacked by pirates from the Barbary coast — the coast of North Africa. The Venetian crew had a large gun and they fired nails and spikes at their enemy, finally managing to damage the enemy ship and scare the Africans off. Baldwin Brown wrote, “during the whole engagement, our intrepid countryman found himself supported … in the most surprising manner, by the Almighty Being …”. Baldwin Brown was not the only biographer who chose to elaborate Howard’s role in this battle, attributing to him heroism, the benefit of divine assistance and a natural, unschooled ability with artillery. On their arrival at Venice, Howard went with the captain to witness the completion of a report, but was not able to proceed to the island on which the “infectious lazaretto” stood. He had to be put with his luggage into a gondola attached to another gondola by a rope, thus ensuring that the six oarsmen who rowed the leading boat stayed well away from him. It must have been a strange sight. The sailors from the ship he had been on for two months must have wondered about the small, slight Englishman sitting alone in his towed gondola and approaching the island on which the lazaretto 16. Field J, Correspondence of John Howard, Not Before Published, Longman Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 1855, p.47.

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Lazarettos and the Plague stood, oar-stroke by steady oar-stroke. Surely no-one but a madman would deliberately have himself taken to an infectious lazaretto?

In the Lazaretto D L Howard gave a bleak picture of what happened next: Now began the long confinement in the lazaretto, in a dirty, verminous room, without table, chair or bed, with Turks, soldiers and sailors, all infected with plague, as his companions.17

It was not what he expected, for Howard had been confident that the Venetian ambassador would continue to “have everything flung open” for him, but he found himself in a small, Spartan, stinking cell. He was able to pay someone to clean his room but the smell and his headache persisted. He managed to be assigned a different cell, but the floor of this was “almost swimming in water”, so he was moved again, to yet another filthy room. He washed the walls repeatedly, but it made no difference. Wanting to whitewash the walls he managed to get hold of brushes and lime but had to bribe an attendant to help him. At last the stench disappeared and he was able to make himself comfortable for the remainder of the 40 days he was required to be there. This seems to have been one of those times when he felt lonely, for in the last-mentioned letter (which, like all documents, would be fumigated), he had written It may be some time before I can write again, as there are no posts in these islands, and August calms in these seas. I have not been so lucky as to fall in with any

English ship, or as to have travelled one mile with any of my countrymen, or with any servant since I left England.18

17. Howard D L, John Howard: Prison Reformer,Christopher Johnson, London, 1958, p.132. 18. Field J, op.cit., p.47.

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Unwelcome News Somehow Howard managed to receive letters, two of which carried important and distressing news from England. The first informed him that in May 1786 a correspondent of the Gentleman’s Magazine pen-named Angulas had embarked on raising funds for a statue to be built in his honour, an idea which Howard absolutely hated. He was (almost always) the most modest of men who never sought to promote himself above his work. Nevertheless, people had already begun subscribing to the fund. Baldwin Brown gave an idea of what was going on: … the pages of the journal in which this design was first announced were filled with

projects and counter-projects; with arguments for and against columns, statues, chapels, alms-houses; discussions on the superiority as a site for whatever description of edifice might be fixed upon, of St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, St

George’s Fields, or Shooter’s Hill, and proposal after proposal for the most appropriate inscription upon it, in Latin and in English, in prose and in rhyme … 19

Howard was horrified. He wrote a long letter to Mr Smith in Bedford objecting to the project. It can be argued he protested too much. After all, he was very famous, had addressed senior statesmen and published a highly unusual book which caused a real impact, and was well-regarded by a range of influential, intelligent people at home and abroad. Moreover, portraits and statuary were in fashion. Why was he so opposed to the idea? His opposition must have caused some of his friends impatience or even annoyance, especially those who had to unpick the progress which had been made. They had to publicise his objection and decide what to do with the money. Not surprisingly, the incident served to heighten the esteem in which he was held. The other news he had from home was worse and of a quite different order. Jack, whether he was at home or at Cambridge, was behaving in an alarming way and causing great concern to those around him. At this stage Howard was not told that the servants at Howard House had complained to Mr Smith that they could not live with Jack because he was so wild, 19. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., p.446.

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Lazarettos and the Plague dangerous and unpredictable. Amongst other offences, Jack and his friends were said to have interrupted and wrecked a Dissenters’ meeting. Though within a year or two he would be assessed as a lunatic, at this stage no-one suggested to Howard (though they probably did to each other) that Jack was going mad. Everyone must have been hoping that he would stop being as he was, and there would have been an obvious (if misplaced) reluctance to tell Howard the whole truth. But he knew something was seriously wrong with Jack, and it hurt him grievously. In a letter attributed by Baldwin Brown to Mr Tatnall one can imagine him struggling to accept the news, for he wrote, “I must say with Job, ‘Shall I receive good at the hand of God, and shall I not receive evil?’ All hearts are in his hands, there I must leave it”.20 So, the very man who went — and indeed was still going — to such extraordinary lengths in the service of complete strangers, including people who had committed terrible crimes, decided to leave his son to God. That is not to say that he did not love Jack or had not done what he thought was best, but it does give pause for reflection. Well aware that all had not been right with his son for at least two years, he had chosen to leave him at Cambridge while continuing his travels and having himself unnecessarily and against all advice imprisoned in a lazaretto in Venice. On hearing from home that things were going even more amiss with Jack, he was struck with immense emotional pain, but somehow managed to find a way of not being completely overcome by the news and all that it must have brought up for him. Perhaps his psychological make-up meant he found ways to dissociate himself from Jack, but it is difficult to believe that he could completely forget or dismiss all that had gone before: his determination that Jack should obey him, his growing alienation from the boy, his huge disappointment that Jack was not becoming anything like the man he hoped he would become, and Henrietta. In the letter he wrote to Mr Tatnall, which is almost 60 lines long, the only mention of Jack was in those brief lines quoted above. He wrote mostly about his trip, his quarantine, his dislike of the statue idea and what should

20. Ibid, p.452.

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The Curious Mr Howard happen in the event of his death. He wanted to be buried simply wherever he was, and a simple stone to be added to Henrietta’s in Cardington Church. In another letter, to his estate manager John Prole, he wrote It is with great concern that I hear the account of my son’s behaviour. I fear he gives

you, as well as others, a great deal of trouble. A great loss to children is their mother, who would check and form their minds, curbing the corrupt passions of pride and

self-will, which are seen very early in children. I must leave it to Him, in whom are all hearts; trusting that the blessing of such an excellent mother is laid up in store for him.21

Given all that had happened to Jack, John Howard was still thinking about curbing passions rather than about nurturing love. Unsurprisingly, it was too painful for him to think or write about Jack. Unable to do anything himself, he turned to God, saying “I must leave it to Him”. Leaving someone to God is tantamount, in many people’s eyes, to either abandoning them completely, which Howard certainly did not do, or leaving them to someone else. Howard took the latter course. It proved impossible for Jack to continue living at home, so others were found to help with or look after him. Luckily, money was no object. Even if Howard had been able to race instantly from Venice to England his preference would have been to stay where he was. Being at home and seeing Jack in his deteriorating condition would have been unbearable. And it must have been very difficult for the Reverend Smith too, for it seems as if at least at this stage it was he (rather than Whitbread or Jack’s uncle Edward Leeds) who was the person appealed to when Jack presented problems. Perhaps, to his increasing concern and dismay, he found himself virtually in loco parentis of a young man over whom it was almost impossible to have any influence.

21. Hepworth Dixon W, op.cit., p.222.

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More About the Plague Meanwhile, even if he felt impotent in respect of Jack and the proposal for a statue, Howard was at least making some improvements to his accommodation in Venice. Confined to the lazaretto, he found he was forced to be still, or at least to be more still than he usually was. He had been restricted on the ship for six weeks, and now he was again atypically sleeping in the same bed in the same place each night. What did he do all day? Perhaps he was very busy, for he worked on a translation of rules for lazarettos, and he would have read, made notes, fretted, counted the days and prayed. But he was also casting his mind back to other things in Cardington for his letter to John Prole included the lines I hope everything goes smoothly on, and the cottagers do not get behind in their rent … I wish (you) to give a look on my garden, the hedge in Close Lane, and Clumps, I hope the sheep are prevented from jumping over. Walkers Close and my

Closes I hope are neat, the latter were very indifferent when I last returned; there were many nettles and weeds; take in for a month John Nottingham or William Wiltshire to keep them down …

… Some fine currants I hope will soon come as I was about six weeks ago at Zante22… They are for my tenants; widows and poor families at Cardington — about 3 pounds each. At Christmas, give Mrs Thompson and Beccles each £1. 1. 0., Rayner what

I usually give him, 10s. 6d., then £1.1/0, Dolly Bassett £1.1s.0. , the blind man’s widow 10s., five guineas to ten poor widows … You will accept of coat, waistcoat

and breeches.23

By this point Howard had already achieved the initial aim of this European tour: he had visited or gained details of the lazarettos at Marseilles, Genoa, Spezia, Leghorn, Malta, Messina, Trieste, Zante, Corfu, Castel Nuovo and Venice. But in a postscript, in a comment about lazarettos, he is una22. From Zante Howard resolved to send a barrel of currants home “to make the poor at Cardington a Christmas pudding”. 23. Howard D L, op.cit., pp.142-3.

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The Curious Mr Howard ble to hide his personal anguish for he wrote, “Venice is the mother of all Lazarettos, but O! my Son, my Son”. One of the things he acknowledged he had not thought much about prior to travelling was the impact of quarantine on goods. His investigations and observations soon showed him how fear of the plague affected trade and economics. All goods coming from Turkey and further east had to be stored, checked and fumigated before they entered Europe. Howard also found answers to the questions Dr Aikin and Dr Jebb had prepared for him, soon to be published in Lazarettos. The questions included “What are the first Symptoms of the Plague — are they not frequently a swelling of the Glands of the Groin and Armpit? and “What is the Method of Treatment in the first stage — what in the more advanced periods — what is known concerning Bark, Snakeroot, Wine, Opium, pure Air, the application of cold Water?” He had asked the eleven set questions of eight men. Seven were named doctors attached to particular lazarettos, while one was a prior (i.e. a director of a lazaretto). Finally, there was a man whom Howard merely calls “A Jew Physician of Smyrna”. Many of their answers varied in length and detail as well as in opinion, and they raised questions too about why some people do not become infected in circumstances where others do. One of the answers to the question about treatment gave a list of the actions that different groups of people take to cure themselves. For example a Christian “eats caviare, garlic and pork, drinks brandy, vinegar and the like to raise the buboes. Upon these he applies greasy wool, caviare, honey of roses, dried figs &c”. while in Egypt the Cairenes “take opium and cover themselves with mattresses in order to excite sweat, and though parched with heat and thirst they drink nothing. They open the immature buboes with a red-hot iron”.24 Later, in his book Lazarettos for which he was collecting material, Howard noted the agreement of the varied experts as to the contagiousness of the plague and its communication through contact or near-contact with infected persons or things. He stated that no one would now call this into question, but then went on to record his astonishment at and criticism of a certain Dr Stoll, in Germany, who believed that no precautions were necessary to 24. Howard, J, Lazarettos, Warrington, 1789, p.38.

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Lazarettos and the Plague prevent the plague spreading. There are not many examples of Howard in exasperated mode, but this is one of them. One should remember that while he was studying his various papers he was living in a plague-ridden place. Did he check himself for swollen glands or buboes? Did he fear that if he vomited or had diarrhoea it might be because he had become infected? Or did he just take each day as it came, confident that God would either see him through, or bring about his death — either eventuality being equally acceptable? It seems that, although he often thanks God or Providence for his survival, there were times when he did not hold life precious and he anticipated his death with equanimity. In one letter he urged Whitbread to “open a vein or two to see that I am dead” if he should die in Venice. Howard completed his quarantine and, with the aid of information from the British consul, noted details about the Venice lazaretto and life within it. Provisions, for example, were supplied by sutlers (retailers) who were of course not allowed entry. The sutlers have baskets fastened to poles of seven or eight feet long in which they reach every thing to those within, and in presence of the prior … who cause the money to be dipped in vinegar or salt water, before the sutlers take it.25

He provided a detailed account of how different goods are expurgated. Wool is entirely taken out of the bags or bales and ranged in heaps, not above four

feet high, these are all moved twice every day, turned, and the heaps mixed by the

porters with their hands and arms, during forty days successively, and every five days are besides the usual labour, moved out of the places they were in.26

Just as when he was in the prisons, no item was too small to be subject to Howard’s examination, but despite this his Proposed Regulations for a New Lazaretto did not seem to encompass the whole institution. The book focused on the best model of the layout of the necessary buildings needed to keep 25. Ibid. p.15. 26. Ibid, p.20.

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The Curious Mr Howard apart clean and infected ships, goods and people, but they did not go much beyond that. For example, they had little description of what people did or might do all day, or what medical treatment they received, and he did not mention individuals, as he did in The State of the Prisons. Routines and customs must have become as established in the closed community of lazarettos as they were in prisons, and information about these would have interested readers, but Howard was doing a different job in Lazarettos to that which he was doing in The State of the Prisons. In the former he was driven by his wish to improve prisons in order to reduce suffering and prevent people from re-offending, but in the latter his wish was to improve lazarettos in order to reduce the disease per se and — equally importantly — to improve Britain’s trade. Interestingly, the suffering experienced by people infected with the plague is not mentioned.

Progress? For years Howard had sought to shift prisons from being desperate hells to places where people would not suffer unnecessarily, and where they would be encouraged to think, pray and desist from re-offending. Though he did not attempt to grapple with bigger issues around punishment or the causes of crime, there was no-one who was a greater authority on incarceration than he. Entirely self-taught through observation and enquiry, he noted what he saw, described it in detail, reflected on it, gave his opinions, had his opinions confirmed again and again, made specific recommendations for existing prisons and planned better ones. John Howard was the acknowledged master of the prison world, and he trusted his own judgement entirely. He wrote: “My observations are more swayed by what I myself think is right than by what is likely to be thought right by others”. Nevertheless, others came to agree with his concept of what was right and prisons were built according to his proposals. For example, in 1791, when a new prison was opened in Gloucester, Sir George Onesiphorous the High Sheriff and magistrate, said: “It is impossible to enter on this subject without paying a tribute in respect to the indefatigable Mr Howard, the presiding genius of reform of these melancholy mansions of oppression and distress”. 272

Lazarettos and the Plague But in respect of lazarettos, Howard was most definitely a student, albeit a diligent one. He noted what he saw, described it (in fairly general terms), reflected, asked for the opinions of others, and planned a purpose-built lazaretto. In short, despite his huge energy and courage in putting himself through quarantine he was never acclaimed as the master of the world of lazarettos and his plan for one was never used. This note in one of his memorandum books is perhaps the most he could claim: Though I have never said that I knew the cause of the Plague Yet I do see that when the infection has by any means entered and the dreadful consequences are thought not to be avoided that Infection may be mitigated and these consequences not so dreadful.27

In sum, the information set out in Lazarettos has, for most readers, less immediacy and human interest than that in The State of the Prisons.

27. The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS.Eng. Misc., e.401(43).

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Chapter 15

Back to Cardington Freedom At last, after his 40 days, John Howard’s quarantine was over and he was at liberty to leave the lazaretto. Feeling the ill-effects of having been close to infection, he remained briefly in Venice to recover. Society there had already accorded him lion status, but he wrote to Whitbread on November 26th 1786: My friends must consider my close confinement, after a long and dangerous

voyage — even had I nothing to distress my mind — must weaken my constitution, yet I hope the pure mountain air will revive me. I wish to return as fast as possible on my own account as on that of my friends; to take off the weight they have on their minds relative to my son, who not a waking hour is out of my thoughts.1

By December Howard was en route home going north from Trieste through the foothills of the Austrian alps, but he stopped in Vienna, where Mozart’s still-new “The Marriage of Figaro” was enjoying a highly successful run. Audiences were demanding so many encores that Joseph II, who was in charge of the Burgtheater, had to limit them to prevent performances lasting too long. But the Emperor had plenty of things to think about other than opera, and he had a arranged a particularly interesting appointment with Howard, whom he invited to attend him on Christmas Day 1786. Despite the anxiety he had been expressing about Jack a month earlier, Howard did not seem to be in a hurry to reach home. In the memoranda of the Reverand Dr Brown, a friend of Howard’s, is an account of how Emperor Joseph 11 twice requested an interview. Howard 1. Field J, Correspondence of John Howard, Not Before Published, Longman Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 1855, p.53.

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The Curious Mr Howard accepted but was not prepared to kneel, which was what those being received by the Emperor were supposed to do. Joseph, knowing this, received him standing up, and the two men remained standing during their almost twohour long conversation about “the Military Hospital, then the great Hospital, also the Lunatic Hospital, the defects of which I told him. On prisons I fully opened my mind, it pleased God to give me full recollection, and freedom of Speech”.2 He was free in his criticism. Apparently the Emperor listened with interest before pointing out that in England there was capital punishment, to which Howard replied that execution was preferable to the terrible conditions convicts had to endure in Vienna. They then had a serious yet lively conversation which each of them valued. For once, Howard sounded pleased with the positive impact he believed he had had on this powerful personage, the Emperor. He stayed in Vienna a while, visiting and re-visiting prisons and hospitals where he had been before, and on January 18th wrote to Mr Smith: Dear Sir, I thank you for your kind Letter which I have just received as I came here last

night, The first 500 miles I never stopped but to change Horses for being alone my Tea once a day and some bread and apples in my Chaise did not detain me; in the

remaining Three hundred miles I stopped a night or two as they were so very cold, and perhaps I was more sensible of it, as we had a hott summer in Turkey. In ten

days after my arrival at Vienna my fever left me, and my usual Calm, steady and permit me to say resolute spirits flowed in their usual Channel.3

Jack But thoughts about Jack were worrying Howard, for he went on “I propose being in London abt. The 7th Feby I have a melancholy Letter from Jn. 2. Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard the Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London, 1818, p.466. 3. Ibid, p. 477.

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Back to Cardington Prole relative to my unhappy young man, it is indeed a bitter Affliction, a Son, an only Son!” In terms of what might bring about an improvement in Jack’s condition he wrote, “Nothing but calm and solitary confinement can recover him” and “By my Accounts, he has lost his Senses; if so, calm restraint and confinement, with proper Medical assistance is necessary”. He was thus recommending for his own son precisely that which he recommended for prisoners. Although he had been — and would again be — accused of hypocrisy in respect of his treatment of the young Jack in comparison with his suggested treatment of prisoners no-one could have criticised him at this stage. And in another letter he wrote I have the dreadful account that my son is distracted. A heavy and bitter affliction

to us all! I have written that I fully consent to whatever steps he (Mr. T.) and Mr. Leeds take. My presence will have little effect on him. I soon lost my power, as he grew foolish and wicked at Edinburgh.4

Much was still being kept from him about Jack, and this entry in J A Venn’s Alumni Cantabrigienses summed up what had been happening and what was going wrong: HOWARD, John. Adm. pens. (age 19) at ST JOHN’S, Sept. 23, 1784. [Only] s. of John, Esq., of Cardington, Beds. [the philanthropist] (by his 2nd wife Henrietta, dau. of

Edward Leeds, Sergeant-at-law, of Croxton, Cambs.). B. [Mar. 27, 1765]. Schools, Daventry and Nottingham. Matric. Michs. 1784. Kept five terms by residence. His

mother died a few days after his birth, and his father spent so much time travelling and inspecting prisons, both at home and abroad, that the son was left to the care of

bad servants, one of whom, named Thomasson, exercised a deplorable influence over

the boy: ‘even when living with the father in London, the two companions joined in riotous Saturnalia, visiting cyder cellars, gaming places, and night resorts of the most infamous kind.’ The son contracted habits of vice which ruined his health and

affected his brain. In 1783 or 1784 he was put under the care of a Dr Blacklock in Edinburgh. When he entered St John’s he was practically insane, and had delu4. Field J, op. cit. p.54.

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sions; he accused more than one person of attempting to poison him, and he also conceived a ferocious hatred for his old companion, Thomasson.

Another document provides more details, including the following Whether the master seduced man or man the master seems doubtful, but the result was deplorable.

The father spent his days in errands of mercy, and retired early to bed, when the two roysterers set out to see what they thought to be life …

 … he had contracted venereal disease and attempted to conceal it; finding that it got worse he took large doses of powerful medicines which affected his brain and nervous system …5

So Jack lasted at Cambridge for only five terms, i.e. from Michaelmas 1784, right through 1785 and until the end of the Hilary term in 1786. His name was formally taken off on 25th February 1787. Towards the end of 1786 he suddenly left Cardington and went to Daventry, the home of the Reverand Thomas Belsham, a long-standing friend of Howard’s and the head of Daventry Academy. Baldwin Brown states that Jack visited this household but was an eccentric, difficult guest who would not return home. Mr Belsham advised Whitbread to employ two keepers from a private lunatic asylum in London, which he did. They escorted him to Cardington where his unpredictable behaviour–which included throwing a poker at Thomasson — could be at least controlled, if not prevented. All this must have been happening as Howard was making his mid-winter journey westwards. The journey was not accomplished easily and Howard clearly had to face the fact that, despite his earlier intention to get back to Jack as soon as possible, he now seemed to have little desire to do so. This deliberate delay in returning is perhaps the only time when Howard could be said to have given in to temptation. Although he knew he should 5. (Ed.) Scott, Sir RF: Admissions to the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge 1931 Part IV July 1767-July 1802.

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Back to Cardington go to Cardington, he slowed his pace and knowingly failed to head straight home. In short, he preferred to be working abroad than coping with Jack at home, and for the first time in his life for many, many years he did what he wanted to do instead of what he ought to do. People’s desires often cause them to compromise their stated principles, but Howard never seems to have been tempted by any of those things that men and women are often prey to. The one personal thing which could have made a difference — an improvement in Jack’s condition — was unobtainable. Failing that, he wanted peace, and he knew he would not find peace at home. He was right, for when he finally arrived he found Jack, according to Baldwin Brown, to be “a raving maniac” who terrorised the household to such a point that Howard could not stay there. A doctor gave his opinion that “his disorder was the worst sort of insanity brought on in the worst way”. While it is thought that Jack had contracted syphilis, a number of commentators (as in the quotation above from Venn) blamed Howard for what they believed to be his fierce parenting practices. Baldwin Brown attributed his decline to “an hereditary tendency”, but no evidence of this has come to light. Unfortunately, there seem to be no father-to-son letters, though there are several references to them. Amongst all the extant or reported letters written by Howard, there is not a single instance when he refers to his son by his Christian name John or his familiar name Jack. He always writes “my son” or “my boy”. Perhaps it is wrong to attach any significance to this, but it is interesting and suggests a definite distance.

Problems of Popularity Once Jack was in the hands of the hired professionals, Howard went to London to bring the statue saga to its end. On February 16th 1787 he wrote a letter To the Subscribers for erecting a Statue &c. to Mr Howard, which was sent to all the principal papers. It began My Lords and Gentlemen,

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You are entitled to all the gratitude I can express for the testimony of approbation you have intended me, and I am truly sensible of the honour done me; but at the same time you must permit me to inform you that I cannot, without violating all my feelings, consent to it, and that the execution of your design would be a cruel punishment to me: It is therefore my earnest request that those friends who wish

my happiness and future comfort in life would withdraw their names from the subscription and that the execution of your design may be laid aside for ever … 6

Although he was adamant that that project should not go ahead, he had apparently told Prince Kaunitz in Vienna he would not object to a statue being erected in a prison there, since it would be invisible. Perhaps that comment was one of his few jokes. So the Howardian Fund which totalled £1,533 13s 6d was disposed of in various ways. Some went back to donors, some to a fund for prisoners, some to another fund in the hope that it would become possible to build a memorial at a later date; and some for medals for every subscriber. A very different type of expression of public interest in Howard and his work occurred the following year in May 1788. This was the first night of a new play at Covent Garden called “Such Things Are” whose author was Elizabeth Inchbald, a well-established actress and dramatist. Having already written a farce about one topical subject (hot air balloons), she took Howard’s story as her inspiration. Howard would never have attended it or any other play — let alone a comedy — but perhaps he heard about it, or about the sentimental and highly ornamented monody read at its conclusion by a Mr Merry. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography notes that it features Howard as Haswell, “a benevolent Englishman visiting Sumatra, freeing prisoners — one of them the beloved wife of the very sultan who incarcerated her by mistake — and generally sorting life out for the English expatriates”. ‘Such Things Are’ is said to have made Mrs Inchbald £900 and enabled her to stop acting and concentrate on writing. It was further proof that Howard’s unsought popularity stretched from Covent Garden to Constantinople. Nevertheless, back in Cardington he seemed as restless as ever. But what next? 6. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., pp.479-480.

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The advertisement for Mrs Inchbald’s play “Such Things Are”

Gaols, Charter Schools and Honours Unsurprisingly, Howard reverted to his habitual practice and embarked, on March 18th 1787, on another round of prison inspections starting in London. He also went to the hulks again, but it was at around this time that Baldwin Brown noticed that his visits were becoming less regular and sustained than they used to be and that they proceeded only “by fits and starts”. He attributed this to the anxieties Howard had recently experienced in respect of Jack. 281

The Curious Mr Howard But Howard did not forget that the Cardington estate needed attention and on May 15th 1787 he wrote to John Prole from London, in his usual rather confused way, about his blind chaise horse and his plans to go to Ireland, and asking for “some butter and a good Loaf of Bread with some rye in it, as I live upon it all the Week”. At about the same time in May 1787, Whitbread’s Brewery had prepared itself for a royal visit. King George III and Queen Charlotte arrived with three princesses, a duke, a duchess, two lords and a lady. They were received at the door by Samuel Whitbread and his daughter and were given a twohour tour, half an hour of which was spent on the new steam engine. The king saw the 400 men who worked there, and 80 horses, and by the time the little procession reached the cooperage, a crowd had gathered outside and “gave breath to their loyalty and repeatedly huzzaed”, causing the Queen to take her daughters to the window to acknowledge their applause. By the end of May Howard was inspecting Irish prisons, followed by the charter-schools and nurseries, most of which were absolutely appalling. Charter schools (operated by The Incorporated Society in Dublin for Promoting English Protestant Schools in Ireland) admitted only Catholics, with the condition that the children be educated as Protestants. These schools were intended, in the words of their programme, “to rescue the souls of thousands of poor children from the dangers of Popish superstition and idolatry, and their bodies from the miseries of idleness and beggary”. Howard found numerous sick, unhappy and neglected children under the control of staff who abused their position or were not capable of carrying out their duties. His work found particular favour in Cork where the Council Book of the Corporation recorded the following resolution on 22 June 1787: That John Howard, Esq., be presented with his freedom7 in a silver box, a token

of the very high respect they entertain for and consider as due to his distinguished

character, which has been so eminently conspicuous of acts of the most uncommon benevolence and diffusive operation.

7. The freedom, presumably, was a document.

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Back to Cardington Though he did not know exactly when it occurred, Baldwin Brown recounts an idiosyncratic incident when Howard was on one of his tours of Ireland, and it could have been this one. When invited out to dinner, he usually declined. However, on one occasion he accepted on condition that the meal should consist only of potatoes. To his astonishment and probably embarrassment, he found the entire meal consisted of potatoes cooked in different ways. On July 28th 1787, in Dublin he met John Wesley, the preacher and founder of Methodism, who wrote in his journal, “I had the pleasure of a conversation with Mr Howard, I think one of the greatest men in Europe. Nothing but the mighty power of God can enable him to go through his difficult and dangerous employments”. Howard was equally impressed by Wesley and regarded him as a man he could emulate, stating, “I determined I would pursue my work with more alacrity than ever”. A few days later he was in Scotland where he received a further honour, for a short entry in the Paisley Burgess Book 1782-1822 stated Paisley 3 August 1787

In presence of all the Baillies

John Howard Esquire was made Burgess gratis.

He recorded his thanks in Lazarettos as follows: I would not forget the favour the magistrates did me in presenting me with the

freedom of the city, and so politely accompanying me to the poor-house; and in

their readiness to make any alteration for the benefit of their fellow-creatures. Yet, as several of the girls here, and at the poor-house in Glasgow, were employed in

tambour work;8 I shall beg leave to observe that the employment of poor children in ornamental work ought never to be the general mode; since if they are afterwards

to come out into the world as common servants, or the wives of the labouring poor, it will be found that a readiness in the ordinary and coarser kinds of female work,

8. A type of embroidery.

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would have been of much greater service than the acquirement of arts which they have no time or occasion to practice.9

After Scotland he travelled south again, still inspecting prisons, and still finding in London gaols men who had been waiting to be transported for several years. The regions he covered included his home territory, and Howard added a very personal comment in Lazarettos without revealing the identity of and his relationship to its subject, his deceased wife Henrietta: I shall here beg leave to make a short digression, in order to recommend to notice

and imitation a Work-house in the adjacent parish of Cardington. This is a neat

building, with lofty rooms ventilated by opposite windows, having detached, an infirmary and various offices as wash-house, bake-house, cow-house &c. together

with a good garden and drying ground. The poor in it are neatly clad, and their diet,

employment and treatment in sickness and health are all regulated with strict order and humane attention. The children are always kept clean, and made cheerful and

happy, in constant employment, yet not to the neglect of their instruction in what regards their best interest. It is to the unbating zeal and assiduity of a young lady

that this parish is indebted for the exemplary management of its poor.10

There were many other 18th century gentlemen and ladies who took it on themselves to act in what they considered to be the best interests of the poor, ill, young and old, but few of their efforts came near equalling those expended by John and Henrietta Howard, and also by Samuel Whitbread. Interestingly, it is only at this point, twenty-three years after her death, that Howard mentions Henrietta in his writing. He could have done so, but did not, in The State of the Prisons. In a book entitled Some Account of the Shrewsbury House of Industry, in which the author, Mr Isaac Wood gives advice to those who might think of setting up similar institutions, there is an example of Howard in practical mode:

9. Howard J, Lazarettos,Warrington, 1789, p.75. 10. Ibid, p.150.

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The scene I have been describing never fails to interest the intelligent spectator. I

have seen the tear of benevolent sensibility trembling in the eye of a Howard, and

several other exalted characters, as I have accompanied them through the working rooms.11

In Manchester Howard visited a new prison, on the foundation stone of which was carved That there may remain to Posterity a Monument of the Affection and Gratitude of this county, to that most excellent Person who hath so fully proved the Wisdom

and Humanity of the separate and solitary confinement of Offenders, This Prison is inscribed with the name of John Howard.

Because one of Howard’s legacies was his belief in “separate and solitary confinement” one should examine it more closely. He expressed his proposal simply: I wish all prisoners to have separate rooms; for hours of thoughtfulness and reflec-

tion are necessary. … The intention of this, I mean by day as well as by night, is either to reclaim the most atrocious and daring criminals; to punish the refactory

for crimes committed in prison; or to make a strong impression in a short time, upon thoughtless and irregular young persons, as faulty apprentices and the like.

However, he went on to consider the dangers of such a practice: It should be considered, by those who are ready to commit, for a long term, petty

offenders to absolute solitude, that such a state is more than human nature can bear, … that it is repugnant to the Act which orders all persons in houses of correction to

11. The account continued: “The House had the honour of a visit from this justly celebrated Man, in his last excursion through this part of the Kingdom. Not only the apartments, but also the paupers themselves, particularly the children, underwent a very critical inspection. He obliged many of the latter to take off their shoes and stockings, and show him the soles of their feet. At the time, he expressed much pleasure and satisfaction; and he afterwards made a very handsome report of it in one of his publications”.

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work; and that for the want of some employment … health is injured and a habit of idleness or inability to labour in future, is in danger of being acquired.12

In short, while advocating the benefits of solitary confinement, he was cautious about its overuse (and about the dangers inherent in the lack of work). This fact may not have been fully understood by Charles Lamb, the essayist. Believing Howard an advocate for Christ’s Hospital’s school’s practice of punishing boys by locking them up on their own (he may too have heard the story of Jack being shut in the Root House), he famously wrote “I could spit on his [Howard’s] statue”. Lamb was one of the surprisingly few people who criticised Howard. Unfortunately, many people came after Howard whose opinion of what human nature could bear was cavalier, and over the next century — unaware of Howard’s reservations — they caused thousands of prisoners to be deprived of human contact for long periods.

In Ireland Then Howard made his way to Ireland again, calling in at schools and prisons en route. In a letter to Dr Aikin he wrote I have, since my visits to these schools in 1782, been endeavouring to excite the

attention of Parliament; and some circumstance being in my favour, a good Lord

Lieutenant, a worthy Secretary, … and the First Secretary of State, the Provost, a steady friend, I must still pursue it; so I next week set out for Connaught and other remote parts of this kingdom, which, indeed, are more barbarous than Russia.13

More barbarous than Russia. Strong language indeed. On March 13th 1785, a committee of the Irish House of Commons had made a report on the condition of the charter schools. Howard’s evidence had formed a substantial part of this: 12. Ibid, p.169. 13. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., p.503.

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I cannot forbear expressing a wish that the benefits of education were more generally extended over Ireland than they are by these schools. If free schools were instituted in every parish for instructing the lower parts of learning and the principles of morality, children of each sex and of all persuasions, it would, perhaps more than

any thing, tend to soften the manners of the Irish poor and enable their youth to resist the various temptations to vice to which they are inevitably exposed in their crowded huts and cabins.14

Many of his opinions were based on his earlier rounds of inspections of individual schools, but the following one was written on May 8th 1788, about a month after the report was heard. Innishannon School … thirty-three boys; one an idiot. The house out of repair: the children very dirty, and their clothes in rags. Several had the itch, and some, scald heads … The instruc-

tion of the children is much neglected, though the school is provided with an usher.

By order of the local committee the children had not been at church for several months.

On the 8th of May I found the following report made but two days before by a

physician who was one of the local committee. “All the boys are now healthy”. On

seeing him, I expressed to him my surprise at such a report and shewed him the

state of several of the children. — his reply was, “We do not call the itch and scald head sickness”.15

The Book About Lazarettos Howard then returned to England and toured more prisons, poor houses and hospitals. As usual, things had improved in some places but not in others. A 14. Corcoran, State Policy in Irish Education, AD 1536-1816, Exemplified in Documents Collected for Lectures to Postgraduate Classes Dublin, 1916, p.118. 15. Howard J, op.cit., p.113.

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The Curious Mr Howard few years later, after Howard’s death, the traveller Clarke visited Haverford, where he came upon a sight which affected him greatly I discovered … something like a place of confinement, but so barricaded, and so miserable in its aspect, that I conceived it to be a receptacle for wild beasts. Upon

further inspection I discovered through a small window, double grated, a man in

a melancholy attitude, with a book in his hand. He was clothed in the tattered

remnants of a naval uniform, and, as we obstructed the light which glimmered through the grate upon the pages of his book, he started and saw us. We were going to withdraw, when, finding how much we were struck with his appearance, he

addressed us, “Gentlemen,” said he, “you see here an unfortunate officer of the navy who, for a trifling debt, has suffered five months imprisonment in this abominable dungeon, without any support but from the benevolence of strangers and the uncer-

tain charity of a few among the inhabitants, denied even water to gratify his thirst, unless he can raise a halfpenny to pay for it, and condemned to linger here without a prospect of release.16

It made Clarke exclaim, “Peace be to the ashes of the benevolent HOWARD! What a scope for his philanthropy would have been offered, had he visited the dungeon at Haverford. He is gone to receive the reward of his virtues, but his name shall be immortal”.17 In fact Howard had been to Haverford. He had been to both the County Gaol and the Town and Country Gaol in 1774, 1779, 1782 and 1788, making a total of eight visits. In October 1788, he started on his next major project: the writing, editing and publishing of his second great book, Lazarettos, for which he needed to go back to Eyres’ Press at Warrington. As before, he benefited greatly from the help of Dr Aikin and other literary friends (notably, on this occasion, Dr Enfield, the minister at the Cairo Street Chapel), and he followed his old routine of rising early, going to the printing office and seeing that the various tasks were carried out properly. Though there was less material in the book than there was in The State of the Prisons, it was a major task. 16. Clarke E D, A Tour Through the South of England, Wales and Part of Ireland Made During the Summer of 1791, Minerva Press, London, 1793, p.235-6. 17. Ibid, p.243.

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Back to Cardington There is a nice anecdote from this period. John Howard, while visiting the house of Samuel Eaton, a Quaker friend and respectable draper, was enjoying a conversation with Miss Eaton, the young lady of the house, when another visitor arrived. This man was the clerk of the local Friends’ Meeting. Baldwin Brown described what happened: He (the visitor) at once made a very singular mistake by taking Mr Howard for a dancing master, though, in truth, the frequency of his visits to the Continent

had given him much the air and appearance of a foreigner … We may be assured, however, that it was with no small pleasure, that, instead of reproving his young

female acquaintance for the unseemly company she kept, and the vain amusement

to which she appeared to addict herself, he shook by the hand the benefactor of the world, as she introduced her companion to him as John Howard, a name then held

in higher honour, and more general esteem, that that of any other being the universe could produce.18

Whether dancing master or benefactor of the world, Howard’s journal showed that he was not at peace with himself or God, for he often struggled to be better than he believed himself to be. But he surely gained some satisfaction at the end of February 1789 when his new book was completed. The full title was An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe; with Various Papers Relative to the Plague; Together with Some Further Observations on Some Foreign Prisons and Hospitals; and Additional Remarks on the Present State of those in Great Britain and Ireland. The book consists of: Section I: An account of the lazarettos in Europe

Section II: Proposed regulations and a new plan for a lazaretto

Section III: Papers relative to the plague

Section IV: An account of foreign prisons and hospitals Section V: Scotch prisons and hospitals

Section VI: Irish prisons and hospitals

Section VII: Charter schools in Ireland 18. The Dawn, Vol. 5, No. 6, June 1905, p.67.

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Section VIII: English prisons and hospitals, Hulks on the Thames, Remarks on Penitentiary Houses, Remarks on gaol-fever, Conclusion, Tables and Index.

The whole is enhanced by more than 20 engravings of lazarettos, most of which are plans. Some are so elegant that it is difficult to associate them with the plague. The quotation on the second of the title pages is “O let the sorrowful sighing of the Prisoners come before thee”, a sentiment which suggests that Howard’s priority was still prisoners rather than plague victims. This is confirmed by the fact that, despite the book’s title, the number of pages dealing with lazarettos totals less than 30, whereas nearly 100 are about English prisons, and another 80 or so about foreign, Irish and Scottish prisons. Howard’s descriptions of lazarettos in Section 1 are informative and business-like, but they are not imbued with the enthusiasm and energy which characterise his work in and about prisons. His attention is principally on the location and architecture of each lazaretto, and on the use and arrangement of the accommodation. His foci are the procedures surrounding the reception, storage, separation, infection-control and quarantine of goods. His description of the lazaretto in Venice is extremely detailed. Section II includes ‘Observations on the Importance of a Lazaretto in England’, in which two long letters from merchants are quoted, arguing for a lazaretto in England both for reasons of preserving health and also for becoming more competitive vis-à-vis Holland, in respect of trade. Howard fully endorses their views. Section III contains the questions (referred to above) which Howard put to doctors about the plague, and their answers. In Sections IV, V, VI and VII, his comments about prisons abroad and in Scotland are written as narratives rather than notes, just as in they were in The State of the Prisons, though there are more details about individual Irish prisons and hospitals. In Section VIII, the text about prisons is unlike that in his first book. It is not set out under headings in the same way, it has far less detail and his focus is on whether things have improved or not. He makes little comment on what he finds, other than to say that he wishes there were, for example, a bath, or bigger rooms, or a supply of fresh water, although occasionally 290

Back to Cardington he writes that the magistrates have “improperly” allowed something which should not be allowed.

Howard Contradicted From The State of the Prisons it can be seen that Howard visited Salisbury Gaol in 1773, 1774, 1775 (twice), 1776, 1779 and 1782. From Lazarettos one learns that he went there again in 1787 and 1788. The last visit is interesting because, after the book was published, Howard’s criticism led to a negative reaction from W. Bowles, the Governor of the Infirmary, which Howard also looked at. The Earl of Radnor must have had a position of responsibility in respect of the gaol, for it is he to whom Mr Bowles addressed his letter:19 My Lord, I have considered the passage in Mr Howard’s late publication inspecting our County Gaol and Infirmary, which your Lordship pointed out to me. May I take the liberty to trouble your Lordship with my remarks on what I find there advanced?

The solitary rooms for felons were contrived of such dimensions as appeared to the

Magistrates assembled at the Qr. Sessions, to be most proper: when the prison was improved and put in its present state a large number of gentlemen attended. The

matter was pretty well discussed and I am sure we did our best. The narrow passages

which Mr Howard seems to censure are intended for safety, that in the case of escapes, two men may not advance abreast.

Mr Howard censures so as I apprehend for allowing those Prisoners in solitary

confinement only one hour’s walk in the day, but how are the advantages of solitude to be possessed if the Felons are frequently let out into the Court amongst the other Prisoners?

19. The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Eng. Misc., c. 332 (20).

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The charge against us for not whitewashing the Prison after the Distemper, your Lordship, finds on enquiry not to be founded. The Disorder raged in June 1785 the cells were whitewashed and cleaned the November following, The fever originated

from infected persons removed to us at the Assizes from other Prisons and was not therefore owing to any want of room or any mismanagement in our Jail, but to misfortune.

As a governor of the Infirmary and occasionally a House Visitor I feel much hurt at Mr Howard’s censures on that subject.

Should Mr Howard come this way again he would much oblige the Magistrates if

he would allow any of them to walk over to the Jail with him. I should be happy if he would allow me the honour of receiving him here, when I should be glad to

attend him to the jail and the Infirmary where a few years ago I had the pleasure of attending Mr Hanway.20

Bowles clearly felt stung both by the fact that the Earl drew his attention to the criticism, and by the criticism itself. This is understandable. He wanted the Earl to think well of him and his fellow magistrates, and it was probably the case that there were restrictions and conflicting priorities when the alterations were made. How much land was available? What was the budget? How should the needs of one group be weighed against those of another? Bowles’ letter is unusual in that he dared to contradict Howard. Though people must have voiced their opinion of Howard’s failure to carry out the building of two penitentiaries in London, there is virtually no evidence of disagreement or disapproval about the body of his work. Bowles is one of the few people known to have resented what Howard said, and his words are hardly harsh. Howard, and many others, would not have defined Bowles’ words as reasons, but as excuses, especially as it was the case that he ran a dirty infirmary.

20. Jonas Hanway (1712-1786), originally a merchant, travelled extensively throughout Europe, including Russia. Halfway through his life he returned to England and began to devote himself wholly to philanthropic concerns. (Hanway is also said to have been the first man to carry an umbrella in London).

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Back to Cardington One tongue-in-cheek example of criticism levelled at Howard was published in the Critical Review: “His (Howard’s) idea of a perfect hospital contains much (we suspect, very useless) refinement, but as it is the refinement of Mr Howard, we shall subscribe to it”.

More About Howard’s Book on Lazarettos Following the bulky part about English Prisons, Section VIII continues with short chapters about the Hulks, Penitentiary Houses and Gaol Fever. In his ‘Conclusion’ Howard stated he was pleased to note that prisons were now far healthier than they had been and that people were more aware of debtors and keen to alleviate their distress. However, he counted it a source of regret that the reformation of morals had still to be addressed, something which he thought ought first to begin in the over-crowded London prisons. He considered the vice of drunkenness the worst of all and as time passed he became more and more adamant in his opinion that there should be no alcohol at all in prisons. No effectual reform will be made in our prisons till the root of these evils be cut off; which, from the closest observation, I am convinced is THE VICE OF DRUNKENNESS.

He urged magistrates to be assiduous and zealous in their attention to prisons, because Abuses, though ever so studiously guarded against, will creep in, and it requires the utmost vigilance to detect and resolution to reform them.21

Next, in Lazarettos, Howard gives the highly detailed draught of a Bill whose main purpose is to prevent drunkenness and rioting in gaols through the prohibiting of alcohol within them. It also addresses other aspects of prison life, such as separation of types of prisoner, acquittals and visitors.

21. Howard J, op. cit., p.234.

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The Curious Mr Howard The final pages are devoted to “Tables of Regulations of Prisoners-of-War” (in both France and England) and detailed statistics about prisoners, such as the number of felons delivered from Newgate Prison to be transported in 1773-55 (1179), and the number of convicts executed in London and Middlesex from December 1783 to December 1788 (467). Some of the tables are derived from the large folded sheet Howard had inserted in a pocket at the end of the book. These highly detailed statistics were complied by Sir Stephen Theodore Janssen who had been, variously, a magistrate, mayor, Sheriff of London and Chamberlain in the City of London. At the same time (1778-1779) as Howard was concentrating on working on Lazarettos, his interior religious life was very active. He was not suffering the same sort of agonies that he had experienced earlier, but his journal expressed extreme humility and piety. God will accept I trust my sincere intentions, tho’ I effect nothing. Employ the time of every Sunday in sacred Study and in Books, in which the spirit of Christianity, Piety and Morality prevail.

It has been said ‘that the Torch of Philanthropy has been conveyed by Howard’ — May

he not hope … in God … that he will spread it to the Eastern nations. He worketh by the weakest of all Instruments, to Him, to him alone, be all the Glory. God forbid

that I should glory, save in the Cross of Christ.22

Tuscan Laws Lazarettos was a huge achievement, but, astonishingly, Howard published something else at virtually the same time. Earlier, he had translated and edited an Italian pamphlet from 1786 entitled Edict of the Grand Duke of Tuscany: For the Reform of Criminal Law In His Dominions. He was probably working on this when in quarantine in Venice, but whether he completed the work entirely on his own is questionable, though certainly perfectly possible, for 22. Baldwin Brown J, op.cit., pp.517-8.

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Back to Cardington his knowledge of Italian might well have been good enough by then. The author of the Edict was Peter Leopold, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, and Holy Roman Emperor. He was a highly literate man whose use of language was sophisticated. Even if the Prince Royal had not actually written it himself, whoever had done so would have been very well educated. But Howard’s name did not appear on the English version at all; he merely added an introduction at the beginning, referring to himself in the third person, as “Editor of this Pamphlet”. In the book which became known as Tuscan Laws, he explained his wish to publish it because he thought there were many things in it that were “well deserving of notice and imitation”. And there were. Importantly and primarily the publication spelled out that former laws and punishments in Tuscany were too severe and that capital punishment and torture were now abolished. Most of its pages detailed the precise punishments that should, henceforward, be inflicted for certain crimes. It is easy to imagine Howard agreeing with what was said about blasphemy, which he hated: Blasphemies, which experience daily shews to proceed from ignorance and from a mind disordered, either by a sudden gust of passion, or by excess of wine, and in short from a mind very far from designing an injury to the divinity or to religion … shall be simply punished by imprisonment, or by any other punishment not repugnant to the laws of the police.23

Those who took the trouble to look at the small print at the foot of the frontispiece would have seen the following: Warrington.

Printed by W Eyres. MDCCLXXXIX.

A few copies to be had gratis of Messrs.Cadell, Johnson, Dilly and Taylor. [This pamphlet not to be sold.]

23. (Ed.) Howard J, Tuscan Laws, Warrington, 1789, p.35.

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The Curious Mr Howard Having taken the trouble to translate the original (or at least to do much of the work), and have it printed by a high quality press at his own cost, Howard gave copies away. Admittedly, such a book would attract a very limited number of readers and so be unlikely to make money, but it was and is rare to find a private individual preparing and printing a well-produced book and giving it away. It might be thought that early in 1789, with the two publications completed and out in the world, and with Jack as settled as he could be, John Howard might have retired. However, in the final paragraph of his “Conclusion” to Lazarettos, Howard writes: To my country I commit my past labours. It is my intention again to quit it for the purpose of re-visiting Russia, Turkey, and some other countries, and expanding

on my tour in the East. I am not insensible of the dangers that must attend such

a journey. Trusting, however, in the protection of that kind Providence which has

hitherto preserved me, I calmly and cheerfully commit myself to the disposal of unerring wisdom.24

He was driven by all the same reasons as before — a desire to relieve suffering and to serve God and people, his solitary status, an inability to be still, malaise at home, a wish for the relief that travelling seemed to bring, a desire to see things operating as they ought to operate and possibly a slight personality disorder. All these and the recent mental and emotional turmoil caused by Jack’s situation meant that, just before Lazarettos was printed, he must have begun planning his next journey early in 1789. It was to be his last.

24. Howard J, op. cit. p.235.

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Chapter 16

The Last Journey Preparation While preparing for his travels east, John Howard seemed to hold two expectations in mind. On the one hand he thought he would be away for two or three years, by which time he hoped that Jack’s condition might be resolved and he would be able to arrange the remainder of his life knowing how things stood. On the other hand he knew that he might die abroad. Either way he had to make preparations for a journey of unknown length. Three years’ absence was a substantial period for a traveller to undertake, but even if his proposed journey ended with his death later rather than sooner, there was still plenty to be done before he left Cardington. Aikin sensed that things were different this time for Howard did not have firm ideas about where he was going or exactly what he wanted to study. He noted: I found rather a wish to have objects of enquiry pointed out to him by others, than

any specific views present to his own mind. As, indeed, his purpose was to explore

regions entirely new to him … (for the Turkish dominions in Asia, Egypt, and the

Barbary coast [the modern Algeria, Tunisia and Libya] were in his plan of travels) he could not doubt that important subjects for observation would offer them selves unsought.1

It becomes clear later (in Aikin’s Appendix to Lazarettos, written after Howard’s death) that Dr Haygarth, a highly respected physician whose research into the prevention and treatment of smallpox and fever had impressed Howard, questioned at least one of the proposed destinations: 1. Aikin J, A View of the Life,Travels and Philanthropic Labors of the Late John Howard, Esq., Philadelphia, 1794, p.118.

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I cannot understand from what motive you have resolved to undertake a journey

into Barbary. So ignorant a people can probably afford you neither information, nor are they sufficiently intelligent to profit by your instruction.2

Whatever his precise purpose and state of mind, Howard began to take his leave of friends. He is supposed to have said to some that the way to heaven from Grand Cairo was as near as from London and to all that he was quite resigned to the will of God. Indeed, he sometimes spoke as if he was looking forward to death. He also destroyed numerous letters and papers, not wanting any but close friends to know his personal affairs. He had already made a detailed will in 1787 at which time he had — as he continued to have — some small hope that Jack might recover and be able to administer his estate and benefit from it. He discussed with The Reverand Smith (the friend and minister who would give the funeral sermon) his preferred sermon and text, which was the last verse of Psalm 17. This ends “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness”. Howard visited all his tenants, and arranged unfinished business with Whitbread, his friend with whom he had had so much in common for so long, even though one cannot be certain how close they were. He walked in his garden with Joshua Crockford and assured him that he would remain as gardener at Howard House. He took his leave of John Prole, his other longstanding and loyal servant. He gave out small presents, such as a packet of tea, a miniature of Henrietta’s likeness, to those he cared for particularly. He did not say goodbye to Thomas Thomasson, because after a great deal of thought on his part and requests from the servant, he had decided to take him with him. While Howard was beginning to plan this next journey, a neighbour named John Byng rode through Cardington. Byng’s father, Admiral Byng, had been executed pour encourager des autres because he was said not to have done his “utmost” in a war with France, and his family seat at Southill would later be bought by Whitbread. Byng kept a detailed, lively and multi-volumed account of his travels through the Midlands in 1789. This 2. Howard J, Lazarettos, Warrington, 1789, p.31 of the Appendix.

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The Last Journey extract from The Torrington Diaries gave an outsider’s view of Howard (and Whitbread) at this time: June 1st A new Month; and may it prove a Happy one. — There is plenty of Employ upon my Thoughts; and if there is good Weather, I shall hope to find about me a

sufficiency of Health, and Strength, to undergo a little bustling. — I was early up, after a good Night, to a fine morning, and to a Bowl of Buttermilk …

— In another Mile I came to Cardington a Village of much Neatness, with all

the Houses so smart, and the Green so nicely planted: To add to which there was (today) a little Fair, and a Stall, and a Turnabout to make the children sick after their Gingerbread. This Church and Church yard … are in the best conservation; for

Messrs. W. and H. being at variance (luckily for the Village) strive which shall most

benefit, and adorn it: consequently the Cottages are neat, and comfortable; For what cannot the Riches of the one, and the Charity of the other, accomplish, or point out?

Mr Howard is now at home: Why won’t He Stay there? He has done enough for his Honor, and for the advantage of mankind: But That a man should like to pass all his

life in Prisons, and Pest-Houses, becomes a stark-staring Madness! and unless some Benefit had not arisen from it, would be universally thought so.3

Something else Howard had to attend to was paying his bills. Just as he wanted to take his leave of his friends, servants and tenants in the best way possible, so he wanted to leave his affairs in good order. From receipts with dates in June and the first week or so of July 1789 it can be seen that he settled up with Eyres for the printing costs for batches of Lazarettos and Tuscan Laws. On June 19th he paid Thomas Cadell (the bookseller, later a governor of the Foundling Hospital and a sheriff) a total of £123.19.0 for various quantities of Lazarettos and Tuscan Laws either in boards or in quires.

3. Byng J, The Torrington Diaries A Tour in the Midlands, 1789.

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The Curious Mr Howard Howard also went shopping. At Nairne and Blunt, Optical and Mathematical Instrument Makers to His Majesty,4 he had his tortoiseshell reading glass and three foot mahogany telescope repaired. He also bought a pocket mahogany chromatic telescope for £2.12.6. Howard bought a man’s hat (£1.6.0), two servant’s hats (£2.2.0), a black silk waistcoat, a velvet cape and some silk lining. He had a cloak repaired, a pair of breeches lined and a stand up collar sewn onto a green waistcoat. He chose blue velvet breeches, a superfine grey coat, a black silk waistcoat, another coat, 24 plated buttons, a blue lapelled coat, 24 gilt buttons, a waistcoat, more breeches and two pairs of shoes. His intention to treat people infected with the plague must have meant that he also stocked up with copious supplies of Dr James’ Powders. Other purchases included a travelling case which was lined with baize, divided for a tea equipage, covered with the best leather, and finished with brass furniture, patent lock, oilcloth cover and a pair of leather straps. He also decided on a tea kettle, candles, nine foot of chain, a packing case, cord, screws, tea and loaf sugar. From Charles le Grave, Scale Maker to His Majesty, he bought “a box and steel beam, with apothecary weights in a neat [fishskin?] case with silver hinges, £3/10”. He paid William Jeffreys’ bill which was “for dressing your wigge and shaving” on numerous occasions between March and July 1789, and he paid Thomas Thomasson “£17.10s in full for wages to Midsummer”. These details of Howard’s expenditure enhance the picture of him as a veteran traveller. Though renowned for modesty and frugality (although he was not averse to good inns) and described as having a rather old-fashioned appearance, here he was buying the best from prestigious businesses that supplied the crown. One might have guessed that he would want high quality instruments and equipment, but it appears he cared about his wardrobe too. Had he learned that if he dressed well he was more likely to have more influence on the people he met who had the power to change things? Thinking back to Arthur Young’s description, it is hard not to think that his image 4. Nairne became one of the most famous English instrument makers, supplying Harvard University in 1764 with drawing and magnetic instruments on Franklin’s recommendation, and winning royal patronage in 1785. Moreover, in 1772, his mechanisms for navigation were taken on Cook’s second voyage to the Pacific.

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The Last Journey changed once he moved out of England and came under the influence of continental customs. Slightly earlier, in May, he had paid four and a half guineas for “taking down monument in Cardington and re-erecting it with additions”. Baldwin Brown stated that Howard had decided what he wanted on his memorial so instructed a stonemason to take down Henrietta’s memorial tablet from Cardington church and inscribe below it the words “John Howard”, and “Christ is my Hope”. The place and date of his death were to be added when they were known, as would be his then age. When thinking ahead both to his proposed journey and to his death, he also altered his will. In his first will he left the bulk of his estate to a relation named Howard Channing,5 but in 1789 he changed it so that the Whitbread family would benefit directly in the case of Howard Channing not having heirs. The cause of this change of heart is not known, but it was significant in respect of Howard’s wishes concerning Channing and the Whitbreads. It may have been something to do with the Channing family (rather than with Howard himself or Whitbread), or perhaps it was because at this time (1789) Howard also appointed Whitbread to be Jack’s guardian about whom Baldwin Brown was later to note, “he discharged the duties of so painful and delicate an office with exemplary tenderness, prudence and fidelity”. It is ironical that neither Howard nor Whitbread would ever know that the young Samuel’s life would, like Jack’s (albeit in completely different circumstances), end unhappily and prematurely. When only about 50-yearsold Samuel Whitbread committed suicide as a result of depression and his perception that his career as a politician was over. Having completed his business, equipped himself to his satisfaction and sent Thomasson on ahead, Howard left home and went to London. Here he said one more important goodbye, this time to his former schoolfriend Richard Price,6 by then the minister at Newington Green. 5. A report of Howard’s will in the Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 60, Pt. 2, notes that in respect of Howard Channing “no place of residence nor any relationship is mentioned in the will”. He seems to have been Howard’s cousin, i.e. the son of his father’s sister Alice who was married to Joshua Channing. 6. For his work as a political writer, Price received two unusual honours. He was elected a freeman of the City of London in 1776 and in 1778 received an invitation from Congress to go to America to advise them on financial matters, an invitation conveyed to him by Benjamin Franklin.

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Jack Admitted to an Asylum But did Howard say goodbye to Jack? It is known that after his conduct at Cardington became too difficult to manage Jack was taken to Dr Arnold’s Lunatic Asylum in Leicester, and in a letter Howard wrote to Whitbread on February 7th 1789 he says that Prole was to visit Jack there and take him “some fruit and sweetmeats”. Perhaps he had said goodbye already? Or did he do so sometime closer to his date of his departure? The two guineas a week Howard would be paying for Dr Arnold’s treatment (whatever that consisted of ) and accommodation probably appeared to Howard to be both well spent and absolutely necessary, for he must have hoped it would bring Jack and others, including himself, some relief and a greater degree of safety. Or did he not say goodbye at all? A writ de lunatico inquirendo was conducted in respect of Jack on “the 28th day of May in the thirtieth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George”. George III became king on October 1760, so the thirtieth year of his reign could be interpreted as either 1790 or 1791. The enquiry was held by Henry Boulton and Thomas Pares the elder and Thomas Pares the younger. The Pares were a well-known Leicestershire family who owned property and had civic, professional and business responsibilities. The writ stated: An Inquisition taken at the house of Barbara Allamand in the Town of Leicester

in the County of Leicestershire and commonly called or known by the name of the

three cranes the 28th day of May in the thirtieth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George.

The conclusions, to which Henry and Thomas Pares and other “good, honest and lawful men” swore oaths, were that: John Howard is a lunatic and doth enjoy lucid intervals but that so he is not suffi-

cient of the Government of himself, his manor, Messuages, Lands, Tenements, Goods and Chattels and that he hath been in the same state of lunacy from the

month of November in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven but

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how or by what means the said John Howard so became a lunatic the jurors aforesaid know not unless by the Visitation of God.7

What would Howard have made of “Visitation of God”? Interestingly, his thoughts as to why Jack became mentally-ill seem to have been connected to human issues rather than divine ones. At one stage he attributed Jack’s troubles to the lack of a mother, and at another to his life at Edinburgh. He also asked his sister about the history of illness in their father’s family, but she said she knew nothing of it. Though in later life Howard seemed to consider that he had made a mistake in bringing his son up severely, it is almost certain that he did not take the view that some others did — that he himself had caused Jack’s mental ill-health. And, unlike the assembled group at the Three Cranes, there was no indication that Howard ever considered Jack’s illness was caused by “a Visitation of God”. On July 7th Howard was already in Amsterdam, and back into the, for him, familiar and almost comfortable territory of hospitals and prisons. Jack, though surely not out of his thoughts, was behind him. Over the following years Whitbread was to receive regular reports about Jack from Dr Arnold, and in 1795 William Guy, the statistician and physician quoted him as writing to a correspondent: My nephew continues in the same hopeless way — sometimes better, sometimes

worse. His bodily health is generally good, unless when reduced by his fits of frenzy, during the continuance of which he, with invincible obstinacy, refuses either to move or eat, subsisting for days together on spoon-meats which are forced down his throat.8

John Howard and Jack did not meet again.

7. The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Eng. Misc., b.69 (fol.195). 8. Guy W, John Howard’s Winter’s Journey, T de la Rue, London, 188, p.74.

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The Curious Mr Howard

En Route East At Utrecht Howard stayed with his friend Dr Brown who introduced him to Dr Loten (the former Dutch Governor of Ceylon) who wrote in his memorandum book: His object was to acquire the most accurate information possible relative to the plague, the nature of the disease, the best mode of treating it, and the means most effectual for its cure, or its prevention.9

Meanwhile, Howard was busy writing in his own memorandum book: It is very probable that the Plague flies about from one Country to another as

accident or negligence give it opportunity, so that disease rises spontaneously, that is without our being able to trace its imported Infection, tho’ it must have originally

taken its rise in some particular Place, as perhaps Egypt or the Coast of Barbary …

But as to the Nature or Cause of this Malady I do not entertain much hope of

seeing that investigated and ascertained with precision … and I would look to the

Moral Source from whence evil and suffering have been derived, and would at least endeavour to diminish their bitterness — And Oh! How I should bless God

if such a Worm is made the Instrument of alleviating the Miseries of my fellow Creatures — and to connect more strongly the social Bond by mutual exertions for mutual relief. If one Person has received good, spiritual good by my Labours, it is an

Honour for which I cannot be too thankful — Let us bless the Lord for all things.10

Despite these positive longings, Howard was still not free from more negative emotions, for at around the same time (late July 1789) he wrote I now fly to Thee to deliver me from the wrath to come — I come to Thee as my last refuge to save me from the Hell and Damnation which I have justly deserved

9. Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard, The Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London, 1818, p.564. 10. Ibid, p.565.

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throwing myself at thy feet resolving if I perish to perish there; Save me O Lord or I perish.11

After Holland he went to Germany, where he found the horrific Osnabruck torture he had come across before still not abolished, as he had recommended. This caused him to note, “Have I not often reason, with a sigh, to say, ‘I labour in vain and spend my strength for naught?’ But I have resolved, with the help of God, to give myself wholly to this work”. He continued to Berlin and through Courland12 inspecting hospitals, poorhouses and prisons, and so to Russia. Howard wrote almost nothing about his actual journeys, but fortunately another traveller to Russia did. William Coxe was a minister before he tutored Lord Blandford, the eldest son of the third Duke of Marlborough. From 1775 to 1779 he accompanied Blandford on a European tour and subsequently published Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark in three volumes, in which the descriptions about Russia help one to imagine what travellers sometimes came across.

Russia Coxe gave vivid accounts of peasants, personages, farming, entertainment, food, inns, towns and cities. He also gave details of various incidents he and his companions met with en route, and Howard must have experienced the same sorts of things as he made his way east. Coxe was hoping to see the governor in Smolensko: We presented ourselves to the governor, who, to our surprize, received us with such an air of coldness, which made such an impression on our interpreter that he could

not utter a single word. At length a gentleman in the governor’s train accosted us in French and inquired our business. Informing him that we were English gentlemen who desired a passport and an order for horses, he told us with a smile that the 11. The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Eng. Misc., c.332(61). 12. An historical and cultural region of Latvia.

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The Curious Mr Howard

plainness of our dresses had raised a suspicion of our being tradesmen; but he was not ignorant of the fact that English gentleman seldom wore lace or swords on a journey.13

While Howard had a new velvet jacket and new gilt buttons, it is very doubtful that he would have worn lace or a sword in Russian villages any more that he did in Bedfordshire, but by now his reputation was such that he would hardly have been able to conceal himself. He would have been identified quite clearly as John Howard, gentleman, and philanthropist of the world. This is Coxe’s account of a river crossing near Slovoda: We again crossed the Dnieper on a raft formed of the trunks of trees tied together

with cords, and scarcely large enough to receive the carriage which sunk it some four inches under water; this machine was then pushed from the banks until it

met another of the same kind, to which the horses stepped with difficulty; and the

distance of the two rafts from each other was so considerable that the carriage could scarcely be prevented from slipping between them into the river.14

In 1784 he went on to travel with Howard’s friend Whitbread, and at some point his path had crossed Howard’s: During my continuance in Warsaw I inquired into the nature of the various tribunals and the different modes of punishment for criminal offences: the occasion of

turning my observation to these objects was principally owing to a casual meeting at Vienna with the benevolent Mr Howard whose humane attention to the outcasts

of society has reflected so much honour on himself and his country. Informing him

that I was proceeding to the northern kingdoms I intimated an intention to examine the state of the prisons and penal laws, and professed a readiness to lay before him

the result of my observations. Mr Howard approved my design, suggested useful hints and even dictated specific questions tending to facilitate my inquiries.15

13. Coxe W, Travels in Poland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark, Cadell and Davies, London, 1802, Vol.1, p.261. 14. Ibid, p.266. 15. Ibid, p.210.

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The Last Journey In Riga Howard went to the military hospital where four or five hundred recruits had died. It was here, while writing about his devotions and renewing the Covenant he had made in Naples almost exactly 20 years earlier, that he wrote definitive notes about his diet. I am firmly perswaded as to the Health of our Bodies, Herbs and Fruits will sustain

Nature in every respect, far beyond the best flesh meat, is there any comparison to be made between an Herb Market and a flesh Market? The Lord planted a Garden for Mankind in the beginning and replenished it with all Manner of Fruits and

Herbs. — this was the place ordained for Man, if these had still been the Food of

Man he would not have contracted so many diseases in his Body, nor cruel Vices

in his Soul. — The taste of most sorts of flesh is disagreeable to those who for any time abstain from it, and none can be competent judges of what I say but those who have made tryal of it.16

From Riga to St Petersburg to Cronstadt to Tver to Moscow to Cremuntshuck. Seventy thousand soldiers and sailors had died in hospitals in Russia in the previous year and though there were some definite improvements since Howard’s last visits, most of what he saw was appalling. Amongst other institutions, he visited a marine hospital, a hospital for deserters and even a hospital for recruits who fell sick on their march to join the army. On September 8th 1789, Howard wrote to Sir Robert Keith in Vienna, thanking him for providing a courier pass “by which I go smoothly on, with out stopping for horses” and asking for papers for him and his servant to “pass with more security and comfort through the Emperor’s country”. It is not known whether he received this before he set off towards his next port of call, Kherson, a town established only about ten years earlier and situated where the River Dneiper, more than half a mile wide, enters the Black Sea. It was on this journey that John Howard — “the prisoners’ friend!” — became the victim of a crime. He described the incident in a letter to Whitbread, headed “Cherson in Tartary, November 14th 1789”:

16. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., p. 572.

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I … wrote to you … informing you of my intention to visit the army and navy

hospitals towards the Black Sea. I was somewhat sensible of the dangers I had to

encounter and the hardships I had to endure in a journey 1,300 or 1,400 miles, with only my servant. I went on pretty well till on the borders of Tartary, when, as I depended on my patent chain, my great trunk and hat box were cut off from behind

my chaise. It was midnight, and both of us, having travelled four nights, were fast

asleep. However, we soon discovered it, and having soon recovered from the shock, I went back directly to the suspected house, and ran in among ten or twelve of the banditti. At break of day I had some secured and search made. My hat-box was found, but my great trunk I almost despaired of, though I stayed before the door in

my chaise two days. Providentially, the fourth day, it was found by a peasant. The

brass nails glistened in a part where the oilskin was worn. His oxen would not go

on; he beat them, but they would not go on; he then saw something, but durst not approach till another peasant came up, when, after signing themselves with the

cross, they went up to it and carried it directly to the magistrate of the village. He

sent after me to a town about 80 miles off, where I was to stay two or three days, and

I returned. I found by my inventory that not a single handkerchief was lost, and they

missed about 100 guineas in a paper, in the middle of the trunk. My return stunned them. All would have been moved off before light …

The wild Cossacks who live under ground in the Crimea must look sharp if they rob me, as I will not go to sleep any night on the road, and I am well armed. I am

persuaded no hurry or fear will be on my mind. My journey, I think, will engage me for three years; and, as I have a year’s work in England, I think little of Cardington.17

Would he have ever used the weapons he carried? It sounds as if he would. Baldwin Brown noted that the magistrate ordered seven of the men to be exiled immediately to Siberia — the Russian equivalent of transportation. By this time he must have heard about and quietly given prayers of thanks for the fall of The Bastille, but, as usual, nothing diverted him from his work, and he headed to the hospital at Kherson. He was absolutely horrified at

17. Field J, Correspondence of John Howard, Not Before Published, Longman Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 1855, pp.75-76.

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The Last Journey what he saw. Aikin, Howard’s literary executor, wrote up the notes from this time when he worked on Lazarettos. These are some of his comments: Bedsteads, beds, and coverlets very dirty: wards and passages never washed, nor beds changed when the patients die.

The sick were very dirty in their persons and linen: the rooms close and offensive:

all disorders mingled together, except those with the itch and last stage of the flux18. The attendants are men sent from the regiments on account of their being useless from stupidity or drunkenness.

The prevalent diseases are scurvy and intermittent fever. These disorders, from the

closeness and dirtiness of the wards, scanty linen and bedding, improper diet and bad attendance, soon turn to a putrid fever with flux, which carries off the patients in a few days.

The primary objects in all hospitals seem here neglected, viz. cleanliness, air, diet,

separation and attention. These are such essentials that humanity and good policy equally demand, that no expence should be spared to procure them. Care, in this

respect, I am persuaded, would save many more lives than the parade of medicines in the adjoining apothecary’s shop.19

He then left Kherson to visit Witowka, further up the Dnieper. He visited a hospital for soldiers and recruits, and it was as bad as at Kherson, causing him to write, “When I saw so many brave fellows, who had fought so well for their country … suffered to perish here with filth, neglect and vermin, how did my heart melt within me!” Such a strong comment tells one so clearly that despite the fact that Howard had spent years seeing hurt and distressed people in desperate situations, he could still be moved by the sight. In 1784 a physician named Danilo Samoilovich was engaged in fighting the plague in southern Russia and developing anti-epidemiological systems. Later, in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society 18. Flux is now known as dysentery. 19. Howard J, op.cit., p.18 of the Appendix.

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The Curious Mr Howard in London, he wrote of his meeting with Howard, which must have taken place in December 1789 or January 1790. He noted that while supervising the General Military Hospital at Witowka it was one of the greatest pleasures in his life when Howard, who had read two of his volumes on the plague and had come specially to discuss the subject with him, presented him with an inscribed copy of his newly published Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe. Apparently, Howard even promised to wait for three years till Samoilovich could accompany him to Constantinople, but that was not to be. Howard went next to St Nicholas, another young town. He visited yet another hospital where attempts were made to trick him into thinking the place was better than it was. In particular, he was told five hundred men were housed there. As he believed he had seen far fewer than that, he asked where the others were. On receiving an unsatisfactory answer he tried to find the missing men. When he found them, he discovered that they were all in an abominable state. I turned to the officers, and requested them to look on their fellow-creatures, who

were thus inhumanely treated, adding “that in none of the countries I had visited, had I found so little attention paid to the military as in Russia. I knew what I said

would have no other effect but to make them despise me, but I should assuredly

relate what I had with so much concern and indignation beheld”. These gentlemen, as I expected, soon left me.20

This is John Howard at his strongest. It is perhaps his most censorious single statement. He studied no other single administration in which he found only things to condemn and nothing at all to praise, and his feelings must have been such that he decided he should stay in Kherson and make a difference to the squalor and mis-management. It was not his habit to stay in any place for more than a few days or weeks at the most (except when ill, or when he was in the Venetian lazaretto). He usually pushed on fast once he had seen what he wanted to see, but it was mid-winter, and there was a war on between Russia, where he was, and Turkey, which was where he wanted to go. 20. Howard J, op. cit., p.20 of the Appendix.

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The Last Journey In early January he made another visit to Kherson Military hospital. Though only about two months after his first visit, he noticed marked improvements, but this observation was marred by the fact that some of the staff were drunk. Moreover, he found out that , “to my great surprize … the physician had ordered it (alcohol) as a treat to the patients!” This incident was written up from Howard’s last memorandum book. Amongst its final pages are these lines: I am a stranger and pilgrim here; but I trust, through grace, going to a land peopled with my fathers and my kindred, and the friends of my youth. And I trust my spirit will mingle with those pious dead, and be forever with the Lord.21

Life in Kherson The facts that, firstly, John Howard stayed in Kherson for nearly three months (from the end of October or early November 1789 to January 20th 1790) and secondly that he was already well known meant he was almost bound to meet the town’s influential and international elite. One of these was likely to have been Prince Grigory Potemkin, nobleman, politician and most famously the favourite of Empress Catherine 11.22 Of particular importance was the fact that she admired Howard’s work enormously and told Potemkin to follow all the advice that Howard offered in respect of prisons and hospitals. Howard also met Rear Admiral Nikolai Mordvinov (a Russian Naval minister married to an English woman), Nikolai Korsakov (a military engineer), Emanuel Ruset (Prince of Moldova), Admiral Priestman and General Fanshawe (both Englishmen in Catherine’s service) and other local dignitaries, including the Swiss civil governor of Kherson, Count Komstadius. There were also others from England, France and Holland who had made Kherson their home, if only on a temporary basis, possibly including Sam-

21. Howard J, op. cit., p.21 of the Appendix. 22. Catherine had instructed Potemkin to found Kherson.

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The Curious Mr Howard uel Bentham,23 though his stay there might have been over by the time of Howard’s arrival. The combination of Catherine’s approval and Howard’s fame meant that he was quickly feted by Kherson society. Though a new town, Kherson already had a population of about 40,000. A merchant named Albrandt arranged for Howard to live in a house belonging to Dauphigny, a Frenchman. Number 13 Suarova Street was modest, and situated not far from the fortress, the arsenal, Potemkin’s imposing house, the beautiful brand new cathedral, and the shipyard. Howard worked as he usually worked, making several visits to one or other of the hospitals every day, and he ate as he usually ate, keeping to his simple and mainly liquid daily diet: two cups of tea in the morning, two in the evening, two cups of milk, a little bread and a glass of barley broth. Russia had just gained military advantage in its war with Turkey and that fact, combined with the onset of winter, temporarily prevented more warfare. Because of this, many officers were given leave, and in October 1789 Kherson was full of masques and balls. 23. Samuel Bentham was working for the Russians and trying to perfect a system whereby unskilled workers could be easily supervised. A couple of decades later his brother Jeremy was still promoting their novel ideas. Ultimately, these did not work, but the title page of J. Bentham’s The Panopticon Writings (published in 1787) announced: PANOPTICON; OR THE INSPECTION-HOUSE: CONTAINING THE IDEA OF A NEW PRINCIPLE OF CONSTRUCTION APPLICABLE TO ANY SORT OF ESTABLISHMENT, IN WHICH PERSONS OF ANY DESCRIPTION ARE TO BE KEPT UNDER INSPECTION; AND IN PARTICULAR TO PENITENTIARY-HOUSES, PRISONS, HOUSES OF INDUSTRY, WORK-HOUSES, POOR-HOUSES, LAZARETTOS, MANUFACTORIES, HOSPITALS, MAD-HOUSES, AND SCHOOLS

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The Last Journey But it was full of typhus too. Some of those who attended the entertainments became ill at once, and it was Howard’s belief that officers fresh from the crowded and dirty conditions at the front had brought the sickness with them. In December, Howard’s reputation as a physician (albeit unqualified) led to his receiving a request from Count Komstadius to visit a young lady in his household who was suffering from a fever. He declined, saying as always in such circumstances, that his work was to treat the poor, not the rich. However, he was finally persuaded to visit the patient. The Komstadius family lived well over 20 versts (a verst was rather less than a mile) to the east of Kherson in an elegant house set amongst trees and overlooking a tributary of the Dneiper. It would have taken at least half a day to ride or drive out to the village of Sadove where the house was situated, and Howard went there on December 27th. He found the woman, a relative of Komstadius, in a very poor state. He did what he could, which was probably to treat her with bark or Dr James’ Powders, and returned home. She did not improve and he went again a second time, and then on Sunday January 3rd 1790 he received a letter asking for him to come at once. Unfortunately its delivery had been delayed, so he set off to Sadove yet again. The weather was extremely tempestuous, and very cold, it being late in the year; and

the rain fell in torrents. In his impatience to set out, a conveyance not being immediately ready, he mounted an old dray-horse, used in Admiral Mordvinov’s family to convey water, and thus proceeded to visit his patient.24

On that day he found her sweating very profusely; and being unwilling to check this by uncovering her arm, he passed his under the bedclothes to feel her pulse. While

he was doing this the effluvia from her body were very offensive to him, and it was always his own opinion that he then caught the fever …

Several days later 24. Clarke E D, Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia and Africa, Cadell and Davies, London, 1817, p.40.

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… he went to dine with Admiral Montgwinoff (Mordvinov), who lived about a

mile and a half from his lodgings. He staid later than usual; and when he returned, found himself unwell, and thought he had something of the gout flying about him.

He immediately took some Sal Volatile in a little tea, and thought himself better till two or three on Saturday morning. When feeling not so well, he repeated the Sal

Volatile. He got up in the morning and walked out; but, finding himself worse, soon returned and took an emetic.25

Illness and Death The lady died on the following day, and the news reached Howard when he himself was ailing.26 Her death, therefore, must have had a particular impact on him. There is quite a detailed picture of what happened next, thanks to two sources, one of which is the biography Aikin wrote: From the faithful and intelligent servant who accompanied him (Mr Thomas

Thomason), I have been favoured with an account of various particulars relative to his last illness, which I shall give to the reader in the form in which I received it.27

Thomasson kept a journal during some of his travels with Howard, and Aikin was likely to have had the opportunity to talk to him at some length. The other source of information about Howard’s death is Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia and Africa, written by Edward Clarke, a traveller and mineralogist who went to the Crimea. It must have been in 1800 that he heard first-hand from Admirals Priestman and Mordvinov “both of whom bore testimony to his (Howard’s) last moments”. Clarke’s book was not published until 1816, but its account of the death and burial is extremely vivid. As Howard’s condition worsened, Thomasson was attending to him at 13 Suarova Street entirely on his own. He wrote a brief note to Whitbread, 25. Aikin J, op. cit., pp.122-3. 26. Southwood is the only biographer who did not attribute Howard’s illness to attending the young woman. He stated this quite definitely, on the grounds that the fever in Howard’s case did not follow the usual pattern. He believed death was caused by severe physical and mental strain bringing on apoplexy. 27. Ibid, p.121.

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The Last Journey telling him what was happening, and asking him to pass the news on to Howard’s brother-in-law, Mr Leeds. The letter would have taken weeks to reach Chiswell Street in London. Carson tartary Honored sir this comes to inform you that my worthy and good master has caut a

very Bad fever and in the state he is in he canot Live many Days I hope for the Best But am mutch a Larmed you shall hear a gain in too Days how he is He has received your Letter dated November the 27 I remain your humble servant Thos Tomson Pleas to send to Mr Leeds to Let him know January the eight: 1790.28

While the letter was being written Howard must have been hunched up near the fire feeling ill and dosing himself with products which were powerless to restore his health. He knew he was going to die and did not want a doctor called. But perhaps he was pleased that he had, after all, brought Thomasson with him. Whatever else this servant had done he was certainly competent when it came to looking after his master’s physical welfare. Fortunately, Clarke tells us, Admiral Priestman arrived. It had been almost his (Howard’s) daily custom, at a certain hour, to visit Admiral Priestman; when, with his usual attention to regularity, he would place his watch

upon the table, and pass exactly an hour with him in conversation. The Admiral, observing that he failed in his usual visits, went to see him and found him weak

and ill, sitting before a stove in his bedroom. Having inquired after his health, Mr

Howard replied that his end was approaching very fast; that he had several things to say to his friend; and thanked him for having called. The Admiral, finding him 28. Bedford and Luton Archives and Records Service, W1/2367.

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in such a melancholy mood, endeavoured to turn the conversation, imagining the whole might be the effect of his low spirits; but Mr Howard soon assured him

it was otherwise; and added, “Priestman, you style this a very dull conversation, and endeavour to divert my mind from dwelling upon death: but I entertain very different sentiments. Death has no terrors for me; it is an event I always look to

with cheerfulness, if not with pleasure; and be assured, the subject of it is to me

more grateful than any other. I am well aware that I have but a short time to live; my mode of life has rendered it impossible that I should recover from this fever. If

I had lived as you do, eating heartily of animal food, and drinking wine, I might, perhaps, by altering my diet, be able to subdue it. But how can such an invalid as I

am lower his diet?29 I have been accustomed, for years, to exist upon vegetables and

water; a little bread, and a little tea. I have no method of lowering my nourishment,

and consequently I must die. It is such jolly fellows as you, Priestman, who get over these fevers!”

Turning the subject, he spoke of his funeral; and cheerfully gave directions

concerning the manner of his burial. “There is a spot,” said he, “near the village of Dauphigny; this would suit me nicely: you know it well for I have often said I would

like to be buried there; and let me beg of you, as you value your old friend, not to suffer any pomp to be used at my funeral nor any monument, nor monumental

inscription whatsoever, to mark where I am laid: but lay me quietly in the earth, place a sun-dial over my grave, and let me be forgotten”.30

During these days of sickness Howard had continued to make entries in his memorandum book. Many of these are expressions of worship, but some are less optimistic than his conversation with Priestman suggested, such as “Lord, leave me not to my own Wisdom which is folly, nor to my own strength which is weakness” and “I think I never look into myself but I find some corruption and sin in my heart; oh, God, do thou sanctify and cleanse the thots. of my depraved heart”.31 29. It must have been the belief at that time, as it is now, that (some) conditions might be cured by abstention from certain foods. However, given Howard’s lifetime of abstemiousness, the treatment today might be rather to supplement his diet. However, by this time Howard, it was clear, was ready to die. 30. Clarke E D, op. cit., p.341. 31. Baldwin Brown J, op. cit., p.587.

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The Last Journey When things were obviously extremely serious, Howard finally agreed for a physician to be sent for. But it was too late. On the following night he had a violent attack of fever, when he had recourse to his

favourite remedy, James’ powder, which he regularly took every two of four hours …

For though Prince Potemkin sent his own physician to him, immediately on being

acquainted with his illness, yet his own prescriptions were never interfered with … On the 12th he had a kind of fit, in which he suddenly fell down, his face became black, his breathing difficult, and he remained insensible for half an hour. On the

17th he had another similar fit. On the 18th he was seized with hiccuping, which

continued on the next day, when he took some musk draughts by direction of the physician.32

Except when he lost consciousness during the fit, Howard was quite compos mentis during his last days. In Howard’s last addenda to his will, he charged Thomasson with the task of taking his possessions home to England: In the name of God. Amen. I John Howard of Bedfordshire in England being very sick in Body but of sound will and understanding do order and appoint my servant Thomas Tomson to take

upon him the entire execution and administration of all my Goods, Estates and Chattles at Cherson in proof of which I here to set my own hand and seal, in pres-

ence of the underwritten witnesses. This 2nd day of January33 in the year of our

Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety. John Howard.34

A late request was in respect of his determination not to be buried in the style of the Greek church nor have Russian priests officiating, and he made Admiral Priestman promise to read the service of the Church of England over his grave.

32. Aikin J, op. cit., pp.123-4. 33. It is difficult to explain this date, for all other evidence suggests that Howard did not become ill until after his visit to the Komstadius household on January 3rd. 34. The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Eng. Misc. b.69(3).

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The Curious Mr Howard Another incident was when he listened to Thomasson reading aloud a letter to him which brought better news of Jack in Leicester, causing Howard’s spirits to rise and say,“Is this not comfort for a dying father?” Finally, “About seven o’clock on Wednesday morning, the 20th of January, he had another fit and died in about an hour after”.

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Howard’s Funeral and Beyond Howard had often said that, should he die abroad, he wanted to be buried very simply in whichever country he was in. He also requested that his body should be left untouched for five days after his death. The first request was not complied with, but there is no information about the second. Before he died Admiral Priestman assured him that, as Howard had specifically requested, he had secured a plot of land in a village known as Dauphigny (because it belonged to Dauphigny). It was about five versts from Kherson, on the road towards Nicolaev, in a village now called Stepankova. Howard’s funeral was a stately, indeed, an almost regal occasion. Clarke described the cortege as follows: 1.

The Body,

on a Bier, drawn by Six Horses with trappings. 2.

The Prince of Moldavia,

in a sumptuous Carriage, drawn by Six Horses covered with scarlet cloth. 3.

Admirals MORDVINOF and PRIESTMAN, in a carriage drawn by Six Horses. 4.

The GENERALS and STAFF-OFFICERS of the Garrison, in their respective Carriages. 5.

The MAGISTRATES and MERCHANTS of CHERSON, in

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The Curious Mr Howard

their respective Carriages. 6.

A large Party of Cavalry. 7.

Other Persons on Horseback. 8.

An immense Concourse of Spectators on Foot, amounting to Two or Three Thousand1

Because Catherine II wanted to use Howard’s ideas to contribute to the progress she was making throughout her territories, it seems likely that her personal endorsement would have ensured the funeral had a high profile. People with civic, naval and military responsibilities could not deny that Howard’s experience, practical action and selflessness had made a difference to the Russian hospitals in a matter of weeks, and would continue to do so. Patients, soldiers and their families and friends would have known of Howard’s generosity, medical knowledge and attention to the conditions they experienced, and he would have brought them hope. All these circumstances combined to ensure that Howard’s funeral would be attended by huge crowds. His death in Kherson sealed his identity as a legendary hero, even if not all that was believed about him was entirely true.

The Grave The cortege would have made its slow way to the bare and bleak site where Howard had chosen to be buried on Dauphigny’s estate.2 Later, as he had 1. Clarke E D, Travels In Various Countries Of Europe Asia And Africa … Part The First Russia Tartary And Turkey, Cadell and Davies, London, 1817, p.346. 2. Clarke refers to Heber’s Journal, in which the writer states that Howard had already built a small hut on this part of the steppe, where he passed much of his time, as the most healthy spot in the neighbourhood. No other references have been found to such a hut. It seems odd that Howard would have had one built in mid-winter when he was expecting to move on

320

Howard’s Funeral and Beyond requested, a sundial (now in Kherson museum, but absent for many years) was placed on the grave. Also, a monument in the form of a small obelisk was erected, despite his express wish that this should not be done. This was later described by the traveller Sir Robert Ker Porter as being “of whitish stone, sufficiently high to be conspicuous at several miles’ distance”. Since then several changes have been made because of the damage caused variously by time, weather, war and well-wishers. Some parts of the monument may have been removed to safety, some may have been used for building. At present, a solid and simple engraved stone marks the grave. A medal, also currently displayed in Kherson Museum, used to be fixed to this. Before long several other Protestant foreigners were buried nearby, and today numerous graves surround Howard’s which bears, in Latin, his name and a brief, poignant inscription. Translated, it says Whoever thou art, thou standest at the tomb of thy friend 1790

John Howard, who had spent most of his life without intimate and nourishing friendships, had died far from his homeland and close only to a servant (some of whose actions had, unknown to him, been so destructive) and to men he had only known for a few weeks. Years later another more striking obelisk was erected in Kherson near the prison. It is decorated with a small sundial and short inscriptions. On its south face it says, Alios salvos fecit (He saved others), on the north it says Vixit propter alios (He lived for others) and it also says (in Russian) Rest in peace, People’s friend, added by the writer and traveller V V Izmailov.

from Kherson, yet it would have been an eminently sensible move because the town was full of typhus. If it existed, it sounds as though it was the Russian version of the Root House at Howard House in Cardington.

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The Curious Mr Howard

Thomasson Heads Home It is said Potemkin directed that two casts of Howard’s face should be made. Supposedly, he kept one and the other was given to Thomasson who sold it to the Whitbread family. After the funeral, Thomasson assembled Howard’s possessions and, accompanied by a soldier to the Russian border, set off on the long midwinter journey back to England. It would have taken about a month. On his arrival he appears to have had one particularly interesting document written out neatly (it is not known by whom) before he submitted it to Leeds or Whitbread. Unmentioned and probably unseen by previous biographers, it raises important questions. Money laid out by Tomas Tomson from the time of Mr Howard’s decease at Cherson ’till his arrival in England.34

Funeral expenses of which Mr Leeds has the

56R

£81.18

W Chassaigneur’s Bill which Mr Leeds also has4

30R

£4.12.11 ¼

Expences at Cherson during Mr Howard’s illness

30 R

£4.10

A guard travelling with me from Cherson

60 R

£9

Horses and expences from Cherson to Nimroofe 800

91R

£13.13

particulars

in Sweetmeats and provisions for myself and a man

98 c

attending

miles

2c

3. The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Ms. Eng. Misc, b. 69 (173). 4. Chassaigneur could have been the doctor whom Potemkin sent to treat Howard.

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Howard’s Funeral and Beyond

Horses from Nimroofe to Dobnow 800 miles

25 D

£12.10

Post horses from Dobnow to Warsaw 900 miles

50 D

£25

3D

£1.10s

Horses from Warsaw to Berlin 800 miles

32 D

£16

""

from Berlin to Hanover 500 miles

26 D

£13

""

from Hanover to Amsterdam 600 miles

26 D

£13

4D

£2

5D

£2 10s

5D

15/6d

Expences at Warsaw 1 day 2 nights

Expences at Amsterdam 4 days ""

from Amsterdam to Helvoetsluys

Passport paid at Helvoetsluys Dinner at Helvoetsluys and provisions brought away

7/6d

Passage myself and luggage from Helvoetsluys to

£1.12.6

Expences at Harwich including Custom House

£3.1.6

Harwich

and all expences to London

£205.1

(total)

This claim for expenses — if that is what this is — is very worrying. For a start, there is an error in the calculation. Because the paper includes the exchange rate of roubles to sterling, viz: Roubles at three shillings each, Copeks at 100 to a rouble, Ducats at ten shillings it can be seen that there 323

The Curious Mr Howard was an error in respect of the cost of the funeral. It should be £8 instead of £81.18. Was this ever noticed? If so, by whom? More significantly, given the esteem in which Howard was held, would Potemkin or even Empress Catherine not have paid the bills for the doctor and for the funeral and the military escort? Surely they would not have been charged to the deceased Howard? This paper also provides a picture of Thomasson’s east-west journey in a coach he later sold for six ducats. From Kherson he went to Nimroofe (now Nemyriv), then to Dobnow (Dubno) and so to Warsaw, and back across western Europe into increasingly familiar territory. However, all the mileages are incorrect. The distance of every route is given as much longer than it really is. To take two examples, firstly, the distance from Kherson to Nimroofe. This is about 200 miles, and even if the actual route taken by Thomasson meant travelling twice that distance, the 800 miles quoted is far in excess of the reality. In the same way the distance from Berlin to Hanover is about 150 miles — nothing like the 500 miles quoted. So, why are the distances so wrong? Did Thomasson (and the person who wrote them out) genuinely not know how far he travelled, and make a guess? Or did Thomasson exaggerate his claim to gain more money? Given what is known of the man, the latter seems much more likely. He must have reached London in the last week of February or during the first days of March, and he incurred further expenses there. Money laid out by Thomas Tomson since his arrival in England to 10th August 17905

Clearing the trunks at the Custom House A suit of mourning and a hat Washing since I came to London

5. The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Eng, Misc, b69 (173).

324

£1.3.2 £7 £1.6.6

Howard’s Funeral and Beyond

My board I have had wholly at Mr Whitbread’s and at my lodging

£9.9.8 (Total)

After this, Thomasson was taken into service by Whitbread, but is said to have been sacked by him for an (unnamed) criminal offence. Later, he was reported to have left the area and run an alehouse in Warrington. He ended up in a poorhouse in Liverpool.

News of Howard’s Death Letters with the news reached England a few days before Thomasson did. On March 23rd 1790 The London Gazette announced Warsaw, March 6. Yesterday arrived in this city a person from Cherson who brings an account of the death of Mr Howard, so well known from his travels and plans

of reform for the different prisons and hospitals in Europe. This gentleman fell a victim to his humanity; for, having visited a young lady at Cherson, sick of an

epidemic fever. For the purpose of administering some medical assistance he caught

the fever himself, and was carried off in twelve days. Prince Potemkin, on hearing of his illness, sent his physician to his relief from Jaffy.

The London Gazette was a publication which reported on royalty and the aristocracy. Its information about Howard was therefore not only both unexpected but also evidence of the esteem in which he was held. Baldwin Brown noted that at least five sermons were preached in commemoration of Howard by ministers who knew him well: Mr Palmer’s and Dr Stennett’s were published, and Mr Smith in Bedford was determined to comply with Howard’s wish not to disclose personal details. Nevertheless, on March 7th 1790, at the New Meeting, Bedford: An immense concourse of people was … collected from the town of Bedford and its vicinity, in the expectation of hearing something which should have an immediate

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The Curious Mr Howard

relation to the conduct, character and death of a man who had for so long a period been an ornament and a blessing to their neighbourhood.

Poets — and others — were inspired to write verse. Aikin produced a poem beginning Howard, thy task is done! Thy master calls, And summons thee from Cherson’s distant walls: Come, well approv’d! my faithful servant! come No more a wanderer, seek thy destin’d home. Long have I marked thee with o’er-ruling eye, And sent admiring angels from on high, To walk the paths of danger by thy side, From death to shield thee, and through snares to guide.

In its February edition (1790) the Gentleman’s Magazine published a detailed and straightforward obituary of John Howard. It praised him highly but was not adulatory. Its first sentence was, “Advice was received of the not unexpected, yet certainly untimely, death of the eccentric but truly worthy John Howard Esq". The obituary writer also described him as “extraordinary”. The only criticism he made of Howard concerned Jack, about whom he wrote, “All prospects were blasted by paternal severity … which reduced the young man to such an unhappy situation his being placed where he is now, or lately was …” The obituary ended with the expectation and hope that “many a mushroom life of Mr H. will spring up around us".—a sentiment which Howard himself had voiced to Aikin, “When I am dead somebody else will take up the matter and carry it through”.

The Last Memoranda Amongst the baggage brought home were Howard’s last memorandum books and a journal of Thomasson’s. All the items were been handed over to Whitbread. In the Appendix to Lazarettos (i.e. the “Appendix Containing 326

Howard’s Funeral and Beyond Observations Concerning Foreign Prisons and Hospitals”), published in 1791, there is an advertisement which includes the following memorandum If these rough Notes should ever be thought to be printed; they should be corrected and revised by my friend Dr. Price, or Dr Aikin; and the latter to correct the press. John Howard In consequence of this direction, the Papers were sent to Dr. Price, at the time when he was unfortunately incapacitated, by the illness of which he died, from attending

to them. At his desire, they were forwarded to me; and I lost no time in performing

the task committed to me; of fitting them for the press. Dr. Haygarth’s excellent Letters to Mr Howard on Lazarettos were, with his concurrence, subjoined, at my request, by the publishers.

Great Yarmouth Dec 1 1791 John Aikin

Aikin must have begun this task soon after receiving the papers, but before that, the will had to be dealt with.

The Will In the first will Howard made in 1787 he had named his two brothers-in-law, Edward and Joseph Leeds, as his executors. If one of the trustees should die, William Tatnall of Ironmonger Lane was to be the substitute. He left his estate to his son (and any wife or heirs his son might have) if he “be sufficiently recovered from his present disorder or infirmity so as to be competent for the management of his estate or property”.6 In the event of Jack not recovering, it was Howard Channing, his nearest relative (but not someone he seems to have had anything to do with), 6. Suffolk Records Office, Bury St Edmunds 613/762/7, 1787, 1789.

327

The Curious Mr Howard who was to be the main beneficiary. However, it will be recalled that on 2nd July 1789, Howard altered his will, and it was the Whitbread family who inherited the estate. Howard made numerous bequests. After his family, he gave 20 pounds each to Edward and Joseph Leeds, and to Tatnall. He also wanted the executors to give to twenty poor widows of the Parish of Cardington such as they shall think proper objects two Guineas each and I also will and direct that my said Executors do pay apply or distribute to or for the benefit of such poor prisoners as they shall think

proper objects the sum of one hundred pounds one moiety thereof to be given to

or applied for the benefit of prisoners confined for debt the other moiety to or for

persons confined in houses of correction for providing linen and othere necessaries.

He gave five pounds to ten cottagers who had not been in an alehouse for the previous year, and five pounds to families who had been the most constant attenders at any place of public worship but were not in receipt of other financial help, and fifty pounds to the poor of the parish “where I married my last invaluable wife”. He thought of his servants: fifty pounds to John Prole; twenty toThomasson plus an annuity of ten pounds; twenty to Joshua Crockford; and ten to the under gardener. He then left one hundred pounds to three sisters; and he left “to Thomas Walker son of Mistress Walker my sons Nurse ten pounds”; and he left “to each of my cottage Tenants at Cardington five pounds”. Howard remembered various Reverends, including Mr Townsend of Stoke Newington, Mr Smith of Bedford and Dr Stennett of Windmill Hill (and the poor in their congregations and those of the meetings at Bedford, Cotton End and Cardington); he also thought of Dr Aikin, Dr Cole and Dr Densham. He also gave money to Mrs Hayward of Luton in the County of Bedford twenty pounds and whereas it is intended to form a Society for the purpose of alleviating the miseries of the public prisons … Now … I do hereby direct that if any such society shall have been

formed at the time of my death … the sum of five hundred pounds shall be paid by

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Howard’s Funeral and Beyond

my Executors to the Treasurer or Trustees for the time being of the said intended Society.

Receipts for many of these bequests still exist. Some are signed, while others — those for the smaller legacies of five pounds — are marked with a cross. Towards the end of the will are the words My Immortal Spirit I cast on the Sovereign Mercy of God through Jesus Christ who is the Lord my Strength and my Song and I trust is become my Salvation.

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The Curious Mr Howard

330

Chapter 18

Tributes As praise poured from press and pulpit, discussions got underway about what sort of memorials should be made for the man who had been so adamant that he wanted nothing more than a brief inscription on a small slab of marble in his village church, and a sundial on his grave in Russia.

Streets and Buildings Streets were named after him in Bedford, Liverpool, Glasgow, Shrewsbury, Kherson and Stepankova, and in perhaps even more towns. Two schools were named after him but have since changed their names. One was in Bedfordshire, the other in Clapton, London. The Clapton Girls’ Technical College is on a site close to Howard’s family’s home, and a song entitled “The Howard Commemoration” was sung by the school choir at the celebrations for the bi-centenary of Howard’s birth in 1926. In Alabama in the USA, Howard College was founded by Baptists in 1841 “in honor of the distinguished philanthropist, John Howard” despite the fact that he was not American, nor an educator, nor a Baptist. The college became Samford University in 1965 but the largest of its eight schools, dedicated to Arts and Sciences, is still named Howard College. Also in the USA, Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington DC has a long history of providing mental health services to individuals involved with the courts and criminal justice system and contributing to forensic psychiatry and forensic case law. In 1887 Howard Hall was built within it for the care and treatment of the criminal insane and mentally-ill offenders. Named after Howard, it was in 1959 replaced by the John Howard Pavilion. Prior to its closure in 2010 this second forensic facility provided inpatient evaluation and treatment primarily to individuals awaiting trial and those adjudicated “not guilty by reason of insanity”. 331

The Curious Mr Howard But, as well as closures, there are also new initiatives. In 1992 a John Howard Diagnostic Centre was established in Kherson, and as recently as 2001 a new centre for Clinical Psychology in Homerton, East London was named after Howard. Perhaps there will be more.

Statues Despite Howard’s determination that he did not want an ornamental permanent memorial, his death freed people to make suggestions. It would have been impossible to prevent the national and international hero from being honoured as other heroes were honoured. His own memorial in Cardington Church is a plain slab of marble, simply inscribed John Howard

Died at Cherson, in Russian Tartary January 21st. 1790 Aged 64. Christ is my Hope.

An error seems to have occurred here because all other sources give the date of death as January 20th. In London, discussions were going on in the House of Commons as to what form the national memorial should take and where it should be situated. The residue of the original Howardian Fund was added to and a Committee of Academicians, headed by Sir Joshua Reynolds, was appointed to superintend the erection of a statue in St Paul’s Cathedral. The Committee resolved that the Monument consist of a Figure (7 feet 8 inches high) of Mr Howard relieving a Prisoner to be placed upon a Pedestal (7 feet high) with proper Emblems and

Inscriptions so that the Expence do not exceed Eighteen-Hundred Guineas & that the work be executed with all convenient dispatch this being the first Monument

which the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s have ever permitted to be placed in that Cathedral.

332

Tributes It was decided that it should be sculpted by the acclaimed John Bacon, who may have had access to the death mask. The original design was for two figures, but a statue of Dr Johnson was already being proposed, and there was correspondence between Reynolds and Whitbread about the number of figures and precise location. Finally, a full-length figure in marble, wearing a Greek tunic and holding a key and a scroll was put in position to the right of the pulpit and choir screen. Dean Milman, in his Annals of St Paul’s, noted The first statue admitted to St Paul’s was not that of a statesman, warrior, or even of

sovereign; it was that of John Howard, the pilgrim, not to gorgeous shrines of saints and martyrs, not even to holy lands, but to the loathsome depths and darkness of the prisons throughout what is called the civilised world.1

There was discussion too about the inscription on the pedestal. One member of the committee suggested it should state merely John Howard The

Visitor of Prisons

but the rest of the committee decided something more substantial was necessary, and Whitbread composed a text which managed to name the main events in Howard’s life, recount his achievements, indicate his character and explain why he was held in such esteem. The full text can be seen overleaf. Bedford, Howard’s home town, did not have a statue for another hundred years. It was not until 1889 that a Howard Memorial Committee was formed and a decision made by its members to commission the sculptor Albert Gilbert. Gilbert had created the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, which features Anteros (better known as Eros) in Piccadilly Circus. He created Howard as a tall figure in the travelling dress of his time, with a tricorn hat, standing on a large and unusual pedestal. The statue was erected in the Market Square and unveiled on March 28th 1894 by the Duke of Bedford. 1. Milman H, Annals of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, 1868, p.480.

333

The Curious Mr Howard

This extraordinary Man had the Fortune to be honoured whilst living, In the manner which his Virtues deserved; He received the Thanks

Of both Houses of the British and Irish Parliaments,

For his eminent Services rendered to his Country and to Mankind. Our national Prisons and Hospitals

Improved upon the Suggestions of his Wisdom,

Bear Testimony to the Solidity of his Judgement, And to the Estimation in which he was held. In every Part of the Civilised World,

Which he traversed to reduce the Sum of Human Misery;

From the Throne to the Dungeon his Name was mentioned With Respect, Gratitude and Admiration, His Modesty alone

Defeated various Efforts that were made during his Life, To erect this Statue,

Which the Publick has now consecrated to his Memory. He was born at Hackney, in the County of Middlesex Sept. IId., MDCCXXVI.

The early Part of his life he spent in Retirement, Residing principally upon his paternal Estate, At Cardington in Bedfordshire;

For which County he served the Office of Sheriff in the Year MDCCLXXIII.

He expired at Cherson in Russian Tartary, on the XXth.of Jan. MDCCXC.

A Victim to the perilous and benevolent Attempt

To ascertain the Cause of and find an efficacious Remedy For the Plague.

He trod an open but unfrequented Path to Immortality

In the ardent and unintermitted Exercise of Christian Charity; May this Tribute to his Fame

Excite an Emulation of his truly glorious Achievements.

334

Tributes The crowds must have enjoyed the occasion which was enhanced by the presence of the Rifle Volunteers and the Volunteer Fire Brigade complete with its steam fire engine.

Paintings In respect of likenesses, Howard had not allowed people to paint or sketch him, and there are several stories about this. In one account he was looking in the shop window of Carington Bowles in St Paul’s Churchyard when he suddenly realised someone was drawing him. He therefore immediately began to make faces so the artist was unable to continue. Another story was that when recognised in the street he would jump into a cab and pull the blinds down so he could not be seen. This unwillingness to sit for a portrait, however, did not prevent people who had never seen him, or had only seen him occasionally, from producing paintings and drawings. There are various pictures of him in cells, looking remarkably clean in the circumstances, with beseeching prisoners at his feet, such as Francis Wheatley’s ‘John Howard Visiting and Relieving the Miseries of Prison’ and ‘John Howard Visiting a Prisoner who is Chained to the Wall’, after Armitage. Thomas Holloway drew a portrait in chalk of Howard in about 1788, and Baldwin Brown’s book has Freeman’s engraving of this portrait. The artist who drew the coloured frontispiece of The Story of John Howard (published by Thomas Nelson in 1886) which shows Howard knocking at a prison door is anonymous, as is the book’s author. The Wellcome Library has several line drawings, engravings, stipple engravings and etchings, including one by George Romney who made a range of drawings each entitled ‘Howard Visiting the Lazaretto’. In every one of them the scene is far more like a prison than a lazaretto. The bestknown portrait, by Mather Brown, is in the National Portrait Gallery in London, but it is not known how like Howard this or any of the images are, or whether there was a demand for reproductions of them after his death. In 1999 Richard Ireland, an academic, commented in his paper entitled “Howard and the Paparazzi: Prison Reform in the Eighteenth Century” on the fact that Howard had no relationship with the artistic circles of his own 335

The Curious Mr Howard day. He also noted the imagery that was employed in the representation of his work and suggested that some of the paintings were religious iconography. In particular he discussed the role of light in the paintings by Romney and others: Light can suggest both science and religion, and both of these forces may also be mingled in the vocabulary of purification, which Howard, with his bible in one hand and bucket of lime in the other, might be seen to exemplify.2

Coins Another instance of the ways in which Howard’s life was celebrated was the production of promissory halfpennies bearing his name. Struck in at least Bath, Birmingham and Glasgow these could be used as local if not national currency. The Somerset Bath Halfpenny tokens3 had on the obverse a female instructing a boy with a key to unlock the prison doors, circled by the words “Go Forth Remember the Debtors in Goal” (sic). On the reverse was a bust of Howard circled by the words “John Howard F.R.S. Halfpenny”. Written on the edge was “Payable in Lancaster”. The halfpennies sound a nice idea but this extract from an article by Joseph Moser commented on what could happen to such coins: I could have wished that the effigies of a man so eminent for his philosophical

researches, so arduous in the pursuit of knowledge and such a benefactor to mankind

in general and to this nation in particular, had been transmitted to posterity in a manner more respectable. This medal, considered abstractly, is not ill-executed, but if we reflect that it is already degraded to the state of a bad halfpenny, that it is

looked upon only as a counter, that it will be little noticed among the multifarious productions of the Birmingham mint, one is sorry to see the portrait of a man so 2. Ireland R, ‘Howard and the Paparazzi: Prison Reform in the Eighteenth Century’, Art, Antiquities and Law, Vol. 4, Issue 1, March 1999, pp.55-62. 3. The 18th Century Provincial Tokens, also known as Condor tokens, were made of copper. They were minted at a time when there was insufficient small change, and widely used as currency. Their manufacturers used them to celebrate great men, important events or their own businesses.

336

Tributes

respectable battered about among the dross with which the tills of the retail shops in the country are now filled.4

Competitions Another memorial of Howard’s that he could not have anticipated, but which might have pleased him more than the various plaques and coins, was the establishment of competitions which served both to keep his name alive and to develop the work he had started. Notably, the Royal Statistical Society awarded an annual prize for an essay. The Howard Medal was founded in 1873, the centenary of the appointment of

John Howard as High Sheriff, and is intended to reward the most meritorious essay on some selected subject of social statistics … The matters to be investigated were originally confined to those illustrated in the life and work of Howard, but as this

was found to narrow and restrict the field of inquiry injuriously, it was determined

to extend the subjects to all branches of sanitary and scientific research tending to the safety of life and promotion of health generally.

The winner’s medal was made of bronze and had Howard’s portrait on one side and a wheatsheaf on the other. The competition was run almost annually until 1914. Re-introduced in 1929 for a year, it then ceased. Had he been alive, Howard would have read many of the prize-winning essays with interest. On October 25th 1889 a different competition was advertised in the New York Times. The Fourth International Prison Congress was to meet the following year in St Petersburg on the one 100th anniversary of Howard’s death. It was reported that the Russian Government wished to render homage to Howard, and therefore offered a prize to authors of all nations for the best essay on “The Part Taken by John Howard in the History of Prison Reform”.

4. Moser J, ‘Thoughts on the Provincial Copper’, Coin European Magazine, Vol.33, April 1798.

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The Curious Mr Howard

Anniversaries Anniversaries have also prompted eulogies and articles, dinners and lunches. A particularly engaging example was in Warrington in 1906, after the unveiling of the Howard Tablet commemorating Howard’s time in the town. The menu at lunch included Dessert á la Howard: This consisted of raisins and prunes, as a reminder of the fact that, during his resi-

dence amongst us, Howard usually lunched on bread and raisins and other dried

fruit. We doubt if his attendant shade (we like to think that it was present) would approve of such a sumptuous repast, but, as Major Griffiths5 jocularly said to us, we

are not bound to imitate our hero in everything.6

In 1991 (for the 200th anniversary of Howard’s death) a group of people from Bedford participated in a cultural exchange with people from Kherson.

Literature Mrs Inchbald was not the only writer who brought Howard onto the stage and sited him in foreign places he had never been to, for in 1799 the German playwright August von Kotzebue wrote The Force of Calumny in which, in the English translation, the character Edward Smith speaks these lines: … Fortunately for me I became acquainted with John Howard, who taught me to be a man — Peace to his ashes! — many an infirmiary, many a prison have we exam-

ined together, and, by this intercourse, my mind was gradually strengthened and

enlightened — When he quitted England for the laudable purpose of extending his benevolence to the whole of mankind, I attached myself to his company. With him I have explored the interior of Africa, and visited Abyssinia …

5. Major Griffiths who gave the speech was the winner of the gold medal in the abovementioned competition organized by Russia. 6. The Dawn, Vol. 7, No. 5, May 10 1907, p.58.

338

Tributes Howard continues to inspire writers. In 2005 the poet Sinead Morrisey published a collection whose title was The State of the Prisons. The book includes a poem of the same name, subtitled “A History of John Howard, Prison Reformer, 1726-1790”. Written in Howard’s voice, it catalogues his life.

339

The Curious Mr Howard

340

Chapter 19

The Legacy Howard’s Legacy in Respect of the Plague There is no evidence that Howard’s work on the plague had any direct impact on practice, though the energy of a man such as he must have encouraged and stimulated eminent physicians like Drs Haygarth and Samiliovich and others, at home and abroad, to research the plague. The fact that Howard was made an honorary member of the London Medical Society is proof that his work was regarded highly in the fields of epidemics and public health. However, it remains the case that his hopes of having a lazaretto built in England came to nothing.

His Legacy in Respect of Prisons In discussing this one must take into account that Howard was one of several 18th century activists who wanted to make prisons more humane places. Although Howard was by far the most notable of them he was neither carrying his “torch of philanthropy” into untrodden territory, nor carrying it on his own. For a start, Howard himself had noted that numerous people had left legacies to prisons and prisoners, and he even recorded many of their names in The State of the Prisons. Their bequests ranged from small, gifts of money or clothes to weekly allowances of substantial quantities of bread or meat or fuel. Howard recognised their importance, for in some prisons men and women would have died without them, and his determination that the benefactors’ names be displayed was to make it less likely that their bequests would be forgotten and ultimately not received by those they were intended for.

341

The Curious Mr Howard As early as 1730, James Oglethorpe had proposed that the new colony he intended to create in America (Georgia) be populated with English debtors.1 Sir Stephen Janssen had concerned himself with gaol-fever, and in the 1750s Jonas Hanway,2 as enterprising a traveller as Howard, had followed his career in trade with solid attempts to improve the lives of various groups of disadvantaged people. Readers will recall too that the unsung Mr Popham had been trying to get two prison-related Acts through Parliament even before Howard became sheriff. Thomas Coram was the controversial businessman responsible for the Foundling Hospital, and Sir William Blackstone, Samuel Fothergill and George Whately were interested in the same ideas as Howard, as of course was Whitbread, at the same time. But Howard preferred to operate alone. He talked to others, it is true, and he read what others had written, but there are hardly any instances when he invited anyone else to join him in his visits to prisons or lazarettos. As discussed above, it was only when he needed help with his publications that he could be said to have co-operated. Howard’s unquestionable influence was due at least as much to his own quiet charisma and subsequent fame as to his ever-increasing knowledge of prisons. Charismatic individuals are always hard to follow, and Howard was no exception. When he was with people — whether turnkeys or tyrants — he usually made a positive difference to how they thought, felt and behaved. When he moved on from them the impact of his personality usually ebbed. Those whom he impressed the most made some of the changes he recommended, but it was hard for individuals or even groups of people to find the money, energy, commitment and support required to shift things permanently. Without him championing his causes in person, enthusiasm waned. The lack of any central organization meant that progress could occur only in piecemeal fashion. This made what he missed achieving (the creation of two modern gaols) intensely regrettable, but it did not alter the fact that what he actually achieved was quite remarkable. Even before his death new prisons were being built along the lines he recommended. As well as the one mentioned above in Gloucester there was one in Petworth in Sussex, 1. Georgia was founded in 1732, but those who went there were tradespeople and artisans from Scotland and various European countries rather than released debtors. 2. However, Hanway’s attitude toward prisons was quite different to Howard’s in that he raised public alarm about the uncontrollable growth of crime and criminals.

342

The Legacy and in 1793 another was finished in Shrewsbury, complete with Howard’s bust above the gatehouse. Those responsible for new prisons were, it seems, taking account of what they read in The State of the Prisons. The fact that the incidence of gaol-fever was reducing and in some places eliminated towards the end of Howard’s life was another achievement which would not have occurred without his raising awareness of the necessity of cleanliness and attention to the sick. Although it certainly could not and still cannot be said that typhus has been eliminated, it was Howard’s influence which meant that contracting the disease ceased to be a very possible corollary of a prison sentence.

Progress It took decades for some of the things Howard counted the most important to be addressed, but a crucial step was taken in 1815, when gaolers began to receive salaries. Next, the Gaol Act 1823 made a real attempt to standardise conditions nationally. In 1835 The Prisons Act provided for the appointment of five inspectors of prisons, putting, at last, inspection on the agenda. In 1839 the first establishment for young people was opened in Parkhurst. An Act in 1844 provided for the appointment of a Surveyor General of Prisons and introduced controls over the building of new prisons. In 1869 the Debtors Act sought to abolish imprisonment for debt. In 1877 another Statute was passed to ensure that prisons met the standards which had been laid down. Despite the fact that all this took a long time, Howard would have counted much of it as progress. However, 19th century prisoners were subjected to the solitary confinement and silent system that was often imposed in his name. Prisoners were not allowed to speak and had only limited access to letters and visitors. However, an observation from the Reverand Maclear, the chaplain at Bedford prison in 1832 makes clear what the prohibition of silence often led prisoners to do: They have recourse to the most subtle artifices, evasions and contrivances, so as to baffle the utmost vigilance on the part of the officers … When going out of chapel

343

The Curious Mr Howard

they take advantage of the noise caused by the wooden soled shoes to mutter to

each other. When in chapel, whilst some are making the responses, others I can see from their looks and the motion of thir lips are conversing. They can interchange thoughts by signs, winks, groans and looks.3

The prisoners slept on plank beds, and worked at tedious and unconstructive work. Many were put to work on treadwheels, and in some prisons the energy created from these was not used for any useful purpose, such as milling grain. It was merely “grinding the wind”. Howard would have been dismayed by some of this, for he could never have imagined that his ideas would be interpreted so negatively. Though he believed that prisoners kept apart from one another would be unable to teach criminal ways to each other and would be bound to reflect on their lives and resolve to live them better, he had always advocated shared periods of exercise and of work. Ultimately, it proved impossible as well as damaging to separate prisoners and keep them silent. Nevertheless, almost all prisoners are safer in single cells, especially at night, and even today the one-person one-cell principle is a cornerstone of a good prison. However, it still cannot be found everywhere in the UK, let alone globally. A less palatable legacy of Howard was his endorsement of the hulks in 1778. Despite his extreme disapproval of the transportation to Botany Bay that commenced in 1787, the practice did not cease until the mid-late 19th century. By then the total number of people transported had exceeded 160,000. Although Howard believed that only the most serious crimes should be punishable by death, he was not involved in any action to reduce the frequency of the imposition of the death penalty, and it was others who pushed this forward. In 1866 a Royal Commission on Capital Punishment was set up in response to increasing unease about the numbers of people being executed because of the “Bloody Code”.4 The commission, chaired 3. Quoted by Stockdale, E, Bedford Prison 1660-1877, Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, 1777, p.147. 4. The Bloody Code was the name given to the collection of over 200 crimes punishable by the death penalty. They had been introduced to protect the property of the wealthy classes that emerged during the first half of the 18th century, most notably the Black Act of 1723 (aka the Waltham Black Act), which created 50 capital offences for various types of theft or poaching.

344

The Legacy by Sir Edmund Du Cane, concluded that there was not a case for abolition but recommended an end to public executions. This proposal was included in the Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868, and from then on executions were carried out in prison rather than in public. One of the Royal Commissioners on Capital Punishment was William Tallack. A Quaker, he was the secretary of the Society for the Abolition of the Death Penalty. The failure of the commission to bring about the abolishment of the death penalty acted as a trigger for further action, for in the same year, 1866, the society re-formed and renamed itself the Howard Association. It had therefore taken three-quarters of a century for Howard’s hope for such a society to come into being. In 1921 it merged with the Penal Reform League to form the Howard League for Penal Reform.

The Purpose of Prisons When considering John Howard’s legacy it should be remembered that his convictions as to the purpose of imprisonment were: “To reform prisoners, or to make them better as to their morals, should always be the leading view in every house of correction, and their earnings should only be a secondary object”. While many of the public, whether of the 18th century or today, might prefer punishment or deterrence to be “the leading view in every house of correction” neither those ideas nor income-generation (whether for prisoners to earn money either for themselves or for the costs of their imprisonment) are mentioned in the current HM Prison Service Statement of Purpose: Her Majesty’s Prison Service serves the public by keeping in custody those committed by the courts. Our duty is to look after them with humanity and help them lead law-abiding and useful lives in custody and after release.

The roots of this simple statement could not be more firmly established in Howardian principles. So, in the UK and in many other countries, Howard’s influence continues to make itself felt. It is surprising to find that neither 345

The Curious Mr Howard of Howard’s books seems to have been translated into any other languages than French and German.5 Nevertheless, as this admirer was hoping when he wrote to Howard on January 14th 1788, the message spread: Sir, The Society of Alleviating the Miseries of Publick Prisons in the city of Philadelphia begs leave to forward to you a copy of their Constitution and the request at the same

time such communications from you upon the subject of this Institution as may favour their designs,

William White, President With sincere thanks that your Usefull Life may be prolonged and that you may

enjoy the pleasure of seeing the success of your labours in the Cause of Humanity in every part of the Globe.6

More Progress Fast-forwarding through the 19th and 20th centuries more measures were introduced to improve prisons in the UK, with the result that they are now undeniably better than they were. Many of the changes originated in successive Parliaments and were gradually implemented in individual prisons by prison staff. In particular, HM Prisons Inspectorate plays a vital role in raising standards, just as Howard was confident such a body would. Its aim is “To ensure independent inspection of places of detention to report on conditions and treatment, and promote positive outcomes for those detained and the public”. 5. Etat des prisons, des hospitaux et des maisons de force, Paris, 1788, 2v., 2nd edition, 1791. And, Nachrichten von den vorzuglichsten Krankenhausern und Pesthausern in Europe, Leipzig, 1791. 6. The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS Eng Misc., c.332(15).

346

The Legacy Other initiatives came from highly effective Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and charities. However, only a few individuals have come close to having all three of Howard’s key attributes: complete independence; a willingness to devote a decade and a half to an important and difficult task; an insistence on working entirely without pay for carrying out research, for travel and for accommodation, for writing time and for the publication costs for two well-illustrated books.7 Indeed, it is hard to think of anyone nowadays who has done or is doing so much in a similar field of enterprise and is at the same time as universally esteemed as Howard was. And, if statues of eminent people were still being put in St Paul’s, who would earn a place by Howard’s side? It is also interesting to note another difference, which is that fewer and fewer of those involved in prison reform work today, whether members of the prison staff or from other organizations, are motivated primarily by Christian or other religious beliefs. What they share with Howard is a desire to improve things for their fellow human beings. It should be taken into account that there have been setbacks and controversy over what counts as progress, such as the contracting-out of prisons to the private sector, and the four-year suspension of capital punishment in certain American states that was followed by the enactment, in some places, of new death penalty statutes. There are also different challenges for prison administrators; for example, while Howard fought to keep prisons alcoholfree, major concerns now are to keep drugs out and to address drug misuse. Another difference today is that while, for health reasons, Howard wanted no prison to be in the middle of a town, a priority nowadays is for prisons to be accessible to legal advisers and families. There has also been complacency. In 1892 Robert Evans Roberts8 wrote to The Times in respect of the 100th anniversary of Howard’s death. If Howard were living today he would see the science of which he had laid the foundation, brought as near perfection as the changefulness of human opinion allows us

7. Though it must be remembered that Howard had a modest private income and was sometimes funded by Samuel Whitbread. 8. Roberts was the competent and humane gaoler (governor) of Bedford Prison at that time. He was the first governor to photograph each of his prisoners for identification purposes.

347

The Curious Mr Howard

to admit. He would see in our prison system one of the few social institutions out of which the most jaundiced politician can make no capital.

It certainly remains the case that politicians, jaundiced or otherwise, make capital out of the prison system in their attempts to outbid each other on being “tough” on crime and criminals. This cynical manipulation of the public mood would have been deprecated by Howard. However, he would surely applaud all attempts aimed at preventing prisoners from suffering and at gaining remedy and redress for those who have suffered, though he might have hoped that what he wanted could have been accomplished faster. If one looks world-wide, it is easy to find countries whose prisons are corrupt, where prisoners live in appalling conditions and where torture and executions take place. Nevertheless, there is, almost everywhere, at least a will to be seen to be improving prisons and the justice system. In short, countries care about their image even if they do not care about the human rights of prisoners. This sometimes leads to an amelioration of conditions — albeit for the wrong reasons. As well as local and national arrangements, many initiatives derive from international action, and if Howard were to see what was happening now, he might be impressed both with the following examples and with the fact that the remit and reports of the organizations that established them are available to anyone on-line. At the end of World War 11 international standards were adopted for the protection of human rights generally and of detainees in particular. They were expressed in legally binding treaties and in sets of rules and guidelines establishing good practice. Furthermore, procedures were introduced to secure compliance with the standards. For example, in 1955, the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners9 were adopted. In 1987 the Convention against 9. Howard would welcome the pragmatic simplicity of some of these rules. For example, adequate bathing and shower installations shall be provided so that every prisoner may be enabled and required to have a bath or shower, at a temperature suitable to the climate, as frequently as necessary for general hygiene according to season and geographical region, but at least once a week in a temperate climate.

348

The Legacy Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment came into force, and a Committee against Torture was set up to deal with that Convention’s implementation. There are also regional measures, such as the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Howard would be particularly interested to learn of the work carried out by the Howard League for Penal Reform10 and by the national and international non-governmental organisations whose work includes helping prisoners. The International Committee of the Red Cross is an outstanding example, and others include the Prison Reform Trust, Prison Reform International, Reprieve, Liberty and Amnesty International. What would John Howard see if he called in to a dozen or so British prisons today? Though he might well find some distress and some bad customs, the prisons would, overall, be far, far better than those of the 18th century. But he would be concerned to learn that Britain imprisons more people per head of the population than almost every other country in Europe (over 87,000 people in custody in May 2011), and he would be bound to ask questions. Why so many? Are British people more criminal than others? Is alcohol still a problem? Why are children locked up? Do prisoners work? Why not? What is a detention centre? Why are mentally-ill people in prison? Why can people still profit from prisons? And if we showed him the notorious photographs of detainees in Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, or told him that there are some countries in which people are executed according to the law by being injected with lethal chemicals, or by being stoned, what would he say? He might well remember his own words: The best laws will fail in their effect, unless the assiduous and zealous endeavours of magistrates be exerted in a strict attention to their execution. Abuses, though ever so studiously guarded against, will creep in; and it requires the utmost vigilance to detect, and resolution to reform them.

10. Howard Leagues or Howard Societies flourish today in Canada, New Zealand and several American states as well, of course, as in the UK.

349

The Curious Mr Howard Finally, though John Howard is certainly celebrated and well-known in Bedford and his handsome statue is there, he shares fame with the town’s other special son, John Bunyan. In Kherson, however, he has unique and legendary status. Strangely, his reputation in what is now Ukraine seems to have been enhanced partly because of a story for which there is no evidence. When he was there he is said to have recommended that those citizens in Kherson who were infected with typhus should be sent to what is still known as Quarantine Island, a low, flat island in the Dnieper estuary. This strategy is supposed to have saved the healthy population and so ensured the survival of the town. Though it is acknowledged today that this story may not be true Howard’s reputation was such, both in his lifetime and since, that good things — possibly exaggerated or even imaginary — were attributed to him by thousands of people, most of whom had heard of him but had not met him. It remains the case that Howard lived and worked in Kherson — albeit briefly — and then died there. With good reason he is remembered and celebrated in both Ukraine and in England as one of the best of men.

350

Chapter 20

A Last Look This narrative ends with a brief glance backwards to some of the places which were significant in John Howard’s life, and considers what he might see were he to visit them at the beginning of the 21st century. Starting where he ended, in what is now Ukraine, he would recognise the wide Dnieper flowing into the Black Sea at Kherson. He could walk up Suarova Street, but would not find number 13. Further on, in the centre of town, he would be shocked to come across the John Howard pub with its wide screen TV showing football matches. Another surprise would be finding that his gravestone at Dauphigny no longer stands exposed on an open plain, but is closely surrounded by numerous other graves. In Kherson, he would see the obelisk erected in his memory, contrary to his wishes. The former arsenal still stands opposite the cathedral but is now a prison. And if he made the journey to Sadove, he would find little left of Komstadius’ house except its vast stone cellars. Going backwards into the heart of his life, it is doubtful, given the huge number of places he visited, whether he would recall more than a few individual buildings. It seems very likely that the numerous towns and country scenes he saw would merge together, especially those he saw when on the road. From inside a car he would see the changing views rush past the window, perhaps causing him to yearn to be mounted on a comfortable saddle. Some buildings remain of the lazaretto where Howard was quarantined for 40 days, but the island they stand on in the Venetian lagoon is now being developed. Warrington was one of the few places where he spent any length of time, and he would soon find the house where he lodged (now known as the Howard Building) and the Academy (now the offices of a newspaper). Stretching still further back, he would find that Watcombe House, his Hampshire home for two years, has been demolished. If he wandered into the churchyard at St Nicholas he might puzzle over the World War I graves of New Zealanders who died at the nearby hospital. 351

The Curious Mr Howard In Bedford, the arched bridge over the Ouse is not the one he knew. But St Paul’s Church is there and each year a special service is held in it for the sheriff’s installation, just as it was for him. The chapel he was instrumental in building still exists, but it has been re-fronted and its headstones have been pushed out of the way. It is now a nightclub called Elements. Perhaps Howard would not want to visit his statue in the Market Square, but he might be interested in the fact that there is now also one of Bunyan. He would find too that the Old Meeting House he used to attend in Mill Street has been replaced by another, and that the prison he visited (where, on his last visit in 1788, there were 13 prisoners) has gone. He might stare at the high walls of the present one and wonder about the 500 prisoners it holds. It would be when approaching Cardington that his pace might quicken. Depending on which way he came he might marvel at the huge Cardington Sheds, built in 1915 to develop airships for the Admiralty, and he might pass Whitbread’s home, The Barns. But as he entered the village he would certainly recognise the green, divided in half by the road he and Whitbread had worked on, and some of the cottages he had renovated with Henrietta. He would see too St Mary’s, the church he had attended so often, and would be eager to walk along Church Lane behind it. Within a minute, his heart would surely beat a little faster as he found himself facing Howard House. It looks very much as it did when it was his. Its lattice work is still in place, its four diagonally positioned chimneys rise from its roof, its symmetrical front announces solidity. Inside, things would not be quite as he knew them, for doorways, windows and rooms have been altered. But he would recognise the garden at once. Even though he might be disappointed to find his Root House gone, the trees he planted are magnificent, the lawns well-groomed, the views as lovely as he planned. He would find too a stone plinth erected and inscribed by Whitbread in 1812 commemorating the creation of the garden, the care taken by Joshua Crockford in maintaining it and the pleasure it gave Howard. Then, he would want to go to St Mary’s. In the churchyard he would struggle to read the names on the worn headstones. Inside, he would pause by the Whitbread family’s ornate memorials before turning and looking up to where Henrietta’s name is carved in stone above his own. And, if he lifted 352

A Last Look his eyes a little higher, he would see a plaque with an inscription stating that Jack had died on April 26th 1799, aged 34 years. Going even further back, if he were to brave central London, he would be hard put to find either the site of his father’s workshop or the premises of the grocery firm to which he was apprenticed. Having spent so much time in foreign countries, he would be astonished to find such a diverse population and to hear so many languages being spoken. If he called into St Paul’s he might not guess that the statue of the bareheaded and barefooted man, holding a key, was himself. In Stoke Newington he would identify the area where he and his wife lived in Church Street, though Sarah’s tomb in St Mary’s is no longer there, and nor is the church itself. Instead, the land is now the Ali Altab Park. He might find the place in Clapton where one of his father’s houses was situated, before heading back to the beginning in Carterhatch Lane, Enfield, where he would search in vain for any trace of his other childhood home. This last look has its limitations, for it consists mostly of exteriors, and John Howard became less interested in the external and more interested in the internal as his life progressed. As a young man, he enjoyed planting potatoes and climbing Vesuvius and the physical, practical business of constructing roads and cottages, but these activities diminished as his obsession with prisons took hold. From then on his insistence on having one gaol door opened, then another and then yet more resulted in him being led repeatedly to the enclosed dark interiors which were — and in some places still are — the essence of much of the prison world. John Howard’s journals are evidence of his determination to look inside himself, too. Although he sometimes writes of joy and hope, he writes at least as often about his extreme pain and guilt. It is hard to read his words without concluding that despite his strong faith his innermost being was at times completely overwhelmed by unlit despair. But this curious man, driven partly by personal distress and by duty, chose for his grave something which had meaning only when exposed to the light: a sundial.

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The Curious Mr Howard

354

Bibliography1 Aikin J, A View of the Character and Public Services of the late John Howard, Esq., LLD, FRS, J Johnson, London, 1792 A View of the Life,Travels and Philanthropic Labors of the late John Howard, Esq., Philadelphia, 1794 Anon., The High Sheriff, Times Publishing Co., London, 1961 Anon.,The Story of John Howard, Nelson, London, 1886 Anon., The Story of Whitbread’s, Whitbread and Co. Ltd., London, 1947 Baldwin Brown J, Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Howard, The Philanthropist, Rest Fenner, London, 1818 Baumgartner L, John Howard (1726-1790) Hospital and Prison Reformer, John Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1939 Beccaria C, On Crimes and Punishments, Italy, 1764 Betham-Edwards M (ed), The Autobiography of Arthur Young with Selections from his Correspondence, Smith Elder, London, 1898 Carpenter P, ‘The Private Lunatic Asylums of Leicestershire’, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaelogical and Historical Society, Vol. LXI, 1987, pp.34–42 Clarke E D, Travels In Various Countries of Europe Asia and Africa; Part The First Russia Tartary And Turkey, Cadell and Davies, London, 1817 Clarke D, A Tour Through the South of England, Wales and Part of Ireland Made During the Summer of 1791, Minerva Press, London 1793 Coxe W, Travels in Poland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark, Cadell and Davies, London, 1802 Defoe D, A Tour Thro’ the whole Island of Great Britain, Divided into Circuits or Journies, Giving a Particular and Diverting Account of Whatever is Curious and Worth Observation, Strahan, London, 1724-1726 England R W, ‘Who Wrote John Howard’s Text?’, British Journal of Criminology, Vol. 33, Issue 2, Spring 1993, pp.203-215

1. Where a book runs into two or more editions references given in the Bibliography are to the first edition. Where it was necessary to consult antiquarian books, then in some cases modern reprints were used and other works were accessed on-line, including the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography which was particularly useful. See also the footnotes within the Bibliography concerning John Howard’s own works.

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The Curious Mr Howard

England R W Jr, ‘John Howard, Road Expert’, Bedfordshire Magazine, Vol. 22, No 174 (Autumn 1990), pp.246-53 ‘John Howard, Scientific Farmer’, Bedfordshire Magazine, Vol. 21, No 166 (Autumn 1988) pp.256-60 ‘Philanthropist Landlord’, Bedfordshire Magazine, Vol. 24, No 192 (Spring 1995), pp.328-33 ‘The Cluster Potato: John Howard’s Achievement in Scientific Farming’, Agricultural History Review, Vol. 24, No. 2 (1976), pp.144-148 Farrar J, John Howard, Brown, Shattuck & Co., Massachusetts, 1833 Field J, The Life of John Howard: With Comments on his Character and Philanthropic Labours, Longman Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 1850 Correspondence of John Howard, Not Before Published, Longman Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 1855 Ford B (ed), Eighteenth-Century Britain, Cambridge University Press, 1991 Freeman J (ed), Prisons Past and Future, Heinemann, London, 1978 Frith U, Autism: Explaining the Enigma, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2003 Gay J, The Beggar’s Opera, 1728 Gibson E, John Howard, Methuen, London, 1901 Gladwin I, The Sheriff and His Office, Victor Gollancz, London, 1974 Godber J, John Howard the Philanthropist, Bedfordshire County Council, 1977 Guy W, John Howard’s Winter’s Journey, Thomas de la Rue, London, 1882 Hall Williams J E, Changing Prisons, Peter Owen, London, 1975 Hostettler, J, Cesare Beccaria: The Genius of “On Crimes and Punishments”, Hook, Waterside Press, 2011 Hepworth Dixon W, John Howard and the Prison World of Europe, Jackson and Walford, London, 1849 Howard, D L, John Howard: Prison Reformer, Christopher Johnson, London, 1958 Howard J, The State of the Prisons in England and Wales, With Preliminary Observations, and an Account of some Foreign Prisons, Warrington, 1777 2

2. The State of the Prisons appeared in a revised (i.e. second) edition in 1780, and a third edition in 1784. An appendix was published first in 1780, and then in 1784. A fourth edition, considered by many observers to be the definitive edition, was published in 1792 (i.e. after Howard’s death) under the editorship of Dr Aikin.

356

Bibliography

An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe, and Various Papers Relative to the Plague, Warrington, 17893 (ed) Edict of the Grand Duke of Tuscany: For the Reform of Criminal Law in his Dominions, Eyres Press, Warrington, 1789 Inchbald E, Such Things Are, G G and J Robinson, London, 1788 Ignatieff M, A Just Measure of Pain, Pantheon Books, New York, 1978 Ireland R, ‘Howard and the Paparazzi: Prison Reform in the Eighteenth Century’ Art, Antiquities and Law, Vol. 4, Issue 1, March 1999, pp.55-62 Khalin M,  ‘John Howard in Kherson’, Bedfordshire Magazine, Vol. 23, No. 178 (Autumn 1991), pp.56-58 Lucas P, ‘John Howard and Asperger’s Syndrome: Psychopathology and Philanthropy’, History of Psychiatry, 2001, Vol. 12, No. 45, pp.73-101 Nugent T, The Grand Tour (3rd edn.), Birt, Browne, Miller and Hawkins, London, 1778 O’Brien P, Eyres’ Press Warrington 1756-1803, Owl Press, Wigan, 1993 Orman Cooper L, John Howard: The Prisoner’s Friend, National Sunday School Union London, 1904 Patoun W, Advice on Travel in Italy, 1766, Brinsley Ford Archive Pawlyn T, The Falmouth Packet, Truran, Cornwall, 2003 Ramsbotham D, Prisongate: The Shocking State of Britain’s Prisons and the Need for Visionary Change, Free Press, London, 2003 Ritchie B, An Uncommon Brewer, James and James, London, 1992 Scarfe N (Translation and ed.), A Frenchman’s Year in Suffolk, Suffolk, 1988 Southwood M, John Howard, Prison Reformer, Independent Press, London, 1958 Stockdale E, Bedford Prison 1660-1977, Phillimore and Co., Chichester, 1977 Stoughton J, Howard, the Philanthropist; and His Friends, Hodder and Stoughton London, 1884 The Christian Philanthropist: A Memorial of John Howard, Jackson and Walford, London, 1858 Summerson J, Georgian London, Yale University Press New York and London, 1945

3. In 1791 Dr Aikin (see footnote 1 above) also edited a second edition of Lazarettos and an Appendix containing Observations Concerning Foreign Prisons and Hospitals.

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Sweeting R D R, Essay on the Experiences and Opinions of John Howard: On the Preservation and Improvement of the Inmates of Schools, Prisons, Workhouses, etc., Balliere, Tindall and Cox, London, 1884 Taylor T, Memoirs of John Howard, Hatchard, London, 1836 Thicknesse P, A Year’s Journey Through France and Part of Spain, London, 1777 Tibutt H G, ‘Masters and Servants’, Bedfordshire Magazine, Vol. X, No. 73 (Summer 1965), pp.35-37 Turnor L, History of the Ancient Town and Borough of Hertford, London, 1830 Vickery A, Behind Closed Doors, Yale University Press, Newhaven and London, 2009 West T, Prisons of Promise, Waterside Press, Winchester, 1997

358

Index

An Account of the Principal Lazarettos, etc. xxi, xxv Ancona 107, 256

A

anecdotes 48, 246, 249, 289 Annals of St Paul’s 333

Abney family 55

Antibes 106

Above Bar Congregationalist Church 115

approbation 204, 228, 280

absorption 235

Asia 297

abstemiousness 316

Asperger’s Syndrome 150

Abu Ghraib 349

Assizes 126, 146, 174, 292

abuse 237, 282, 293, 349

Austria 243

abusive language 187

Austrian Netherlands 203, 205

accommodation 138, 162

autism 151

Account of the Rise and Progress of Mr

avarice 181

Howard’s Attention to Gaols 222

Avignon 106

Ackworth School, Yorkshire 231 Act for Preserving the Health of Prisoners 160 adventures 253

B

affection 40

Bacon, John 333

ague (‘the ague’) 117

bad customs 174, 180

Aikin 222, 224, 258, 270, 288, 297

bad practice 192, 197

Aikin, Anna 224

Banks, Sir Joseph 309

Ainslie, Sir Robert 261

Baptists 37, 331

Aix 106, 111

Barbary Coast 264, 297, 298

Alabama 331

Barns (The Barns) 72

alarm bell 187

Bastille (The Bastille) 192, 207, 258, 308

alcohol 115, 162, 176, 177, 181, 184, 293,

Bath 93, 336

347, 349 as ‘treatment’ 311

baths 290 Bathurst, Earl 233

Ali Altab Park 353

Beccaria, Cesare 74

Allan, Robert 240

Bedford 126, 160, 173, 231, 255, 266, 325,

American War of Independence 137, 229 Amnesty International 349 Amsterdam 193, 194, 303

331, 333, 343, 352 Old Meeting 36 Bedford Gaol 128, 146, 352

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The Curious Mr Howard

Bedford County Gaol 66 first visit by John Howard 127

Norwich City Bridewell 156 bringing up children well 217

Bedfordshire Magazine 147

Bristol 111, 115, 215

Bedwell Park 83, 124

Brockenhurst 92

beer club 176

Brockenhust Park 70

being on the road 172

brothels 238

Belsham, Reverend Thomas 278

Brown, Baldwin J 68, 75, 87, 106, 120,

benefactor of the world 289 benevolence 86 benevolent sensibility 285

238, 249, 255, 267, 279, 289, 325 Brown, Mather 335 Brown, Reverend Dr 275, 304

Bentham, Jeremy 219

Bruges 205

Bentham, Samuel 312

Brunswick 196

bereavement 83, 92

brutality 138

Berlin 305

Bunbury, Sir Charles 218

Bethlem Royal Hospital 41

Bunhill Fields 41

Birmingham 336

Bunyan, John 65, 350, 352

Blacklock, Dr 240 Blackstone, Sir William 229, 232, 233, 332, 342

Bunyan faction 120 Bunyan Meeting 36 Burgess, etc. of Edinburgh 239

Blandford, Lord 305

Burke, Edmund 203

blasphemy 295

business before pleasure 170

“Bloody Code” 344

Byng, Admiral John 298

Bologna 107, 111 Bonn 170 Bonnie Prince Charlie 110 Boswell, James 52

C

Botanic Garden, The 241

Cadell, Thomas 299

Botany Bay 206, 234, 236, 344

Cairo Street Chapel, Warrington 224,

branding 134 bread 186

288 Calais 102

bread and water diet 189

Calvinism 92

short weight 193

Camarthen, Lord 258

Bridewell 155

Cambridge 146, 266

bridewells 188

Cambridge Castle 128, 133

Kingston Bridewell 176

Cambridge University 133, 248, 278

360

Index

Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868 345 Cardington, Bedfordshire xxviii, 32, 36, 65, 71, 83, 91, 93, 96, 101, 113, 117, 137, 170, 206, 226, 242, 275, 278, 299, 302, 328, 352 King of Cardington 125 Carhaix 63

Clapton Girls’ Technical College 331 Clarke, Edward 114, 314 Clavering, Sir Thomas, MP 159 cleanliness 49, 118, 162, 170, 175, 185, 186, 218, 245, 309, 343 Clerkenwell Clerkenwell Bridewell 138 Clerkenwell House of Correction 180

Carington Bowles 145

Clifton, Bristol 54, 119

Carlisle 215

Clink, The 231

Carlisle County Gaol 140

closed communities 272

Carlyle, Thomas 193

clothing 300

Carthagena 205

coercion 85

Catherine the Great 199, 247, 320

coins 336

Catholics/Catholicism 41, 102, 230, 282

cold xxiii, 218

cats asylum 262

Commissioners of Sick and Wounded

celebrity 228 cells 129, 162, 242, 250, 263, 335 single cells 344

Seamen 216 common sense. 178 ‘common side’ 134

chains 177

competitions 337

Channing, Howard 301, 327

conceit 227

chapels 182

Conciergie 207

chaplains 129, 132, 162, 178, 184, 194, 343

confessions

charity 208, 209, 347 charter schools 286 Cheshunt 99

forced confessions 243 Congregationalists 37 Congregational Fund Academy 41

Chester 215

Constantinople 261, 262, 263

Chesterfield Gaol 177

control 85

children 178

Coram, Thomas 342

locking up children 349

Cork 282

Cholmleys 99

corruption 348

Christianity 92

Cossacks 308

civil liberties/rights 41, 104

Courland 305

Civita Vecchia 253

courtesy 239

Clapton 92, 257, 331, 353

courts 256

361

The Curious Mr Howard

covenant 107 Coventry City and County Gaol 177

Debtors Debtors Act 1869 343

Coxe, William 305

decay 182

Cremuntshuck 307

decency 178, 209

crime 256

Defoe, Daniel 157, 160

crime prevention xv

de La Rochefoucauld, François 49, 242

Crimea 308, 314

Denmark 197, 237

Crockford, Joshua 102, 298, 328, 352

Densham, Reverend 222

Cronstadt 307

Department of Corrections (USA) xv

Croxton 171

Deptford 218

Croxton estate 67

Derby 171

cruelty 85, 90, 184, 185, 189

desistence 272

curiosity 242

despair xxiii destruction of papers, etc. 298 detention centres 349

D

deterrence 230, 345 diet 155, 156, 196, 218

danger xv, 140, 178

fees for prison diet 185

dark cellars 198

diligence 193, 225

Darwin, Robert 240

disadvantaged people 342

Dauphigny 316, 319, 320, 351

discipline 189

Daventry 237, 278

discontent 228

Daventry Academy 278

disease xxiii, 140, 182, 209, 218, 256

Davy, Reverend Charles 60

disgrace 217

Deal 215

Dissenters 37, 40, 55, 58, 70, 107, 119, 141,

death

165, 223, 240, 248

preparations for 298 death penalty xxi, 137, 189, 199, 249, 276, 344 Society for the Abolition of the Death Penalty 345

Dissenting Academy 237 distemper 292 distress 174, 179 Divine Providence 140 Dixon, Hepworth 155, 194, 196, 229, 234,

debauchery 179, 209 debtors 127, 134, 162, 164, 176, 181, 182, 192, 199, 244 Windsor Castle Prison for Debtors 177

362

253, 255 doctor Howard posing as in France 259 Doctor of Civil Law 237

Index

doing good 219 reputation for doing good 248 domesticity 65, 146, 255 domestic disagreements 69

England, Ralph 72, 77, 223 entertainment 55 escape 182, 197, 204, 291 preventing escape 194

Dover 170

Ethiopia, India, etc. (euphemism) 195

Dr Arnold’s Lunatic Asylum 302

Europe 260

dread experiment 263

evidence 209

Dr James’ Powders 141, 300, 313

executions 126, 133, 134, 138, 164, 192,

drugs 238, 347 drunkenness xxiii, 138, 293, 309 staff 311

198, 217, 231, 243, 276, 294, 348 Admiral Byng, of 298 public executions 345

Dublin 217

extortion 232

Du Cane, Sir Edmund 345

Eyres’ Press 224, 288

dungeons 127, 129, 153, 177, 203, 207,

Eyres, William 224, 226, 241, 299

243, 263 duty 40, 58, 74, 194, 353

F

E

faith 84, 92, 153

Eames, John 41

false name 259

Eaton, Samuel 289

fame 266, 342

Eden, William MP 229

Fanshawe, General 311

Edinburgh 239, 303

fees in prison 138, 185, 186

education ideas on 84

Falmouth 215

Table of Fees 187 felons 134, 176, 244

Egypt, 297

fetters 178

Ely Gaol 139

fever 297, 309, 316

Emperor Joseph II 275 refusal to kneel before 276

gaol-fever 342 Field, Reverend 37, 56

employment 188, 218, 286

fighting 187

Empress Catherine II 311

Flanders 169, 230

energy 228, 245

Fleet Prison 176

Enfield 353

Florence 106, 202, 260

Enfield, Dr 288

Folkingham Prison 177

363

The Curious Mr Howard

food 138

gaolers 127, 129, 130, 133, 138, 162, 176,

want of food 179

184, 189, 207

fortitude 50

gaoler’s duty 184

Forton (near Gosport) 215

honest gaolers 162

Fothergill, Dr John 231

murder of at Windsor 177

Fothergill, Samuel 342

salaried gaolers 186

Foundling Hospital 231, 299, 342

salaries for 192, 343

France 49, 62, 98, 102, 169, 170, 171, 207, 230, 241, 244, 258

garnish money 180 generosity 320

French Flanders 170

Geneva 98, 102

negative views about the French 259

genius 203

fresh air 138, 179, 218

Genoa 106, 260

fresh water 290

Gentleman’s Magazine 85, 239, 266, 326

Frith, Uta 151

Germany 169, 170, 171, 195, 230, 237, 243,

frugality 40, 70, 89, 99, 115, 206, 225, 300 frugal vegetarian diet 51

244, 305 gifts 66

fumigation 222, 265, 270

Gilbert, Albert 333

funeral 319

Glasgow 331, 336 Gloucester Gloucester Castle 178

G

Gloucester Prison 272, 342 good behaviour 192

galley-slaves 127, 201

good practice 191, 196, 348

gallows 132, 134, 137, 189, 195

Gordon Riots 230

games, activities, etc. 176, 180

Gorgona 255

chuck farthing, tossing up, leapfrog 181

Gough, Richard 94, 98 gout 115, 154

gaming 180

Grand Tour 49, 57, 59, 70, 95, 105, 110

“rowly powly” 181

grave xxviii

gaol 174

Great Ormond Street 171, 228

Gaol Act 1823 343

greed 184

gaol delivery 181

Greyhound Inn, Cardington 32

gaol distemper 162, 170

“grinding the wind” 344

gaol-fever 127, 175, 218, 255, 293, 343

Guantánamo Bay 349 guilt 353

364

Index

Guy, William 303

HM Prison Service ‘Statement of Purpose’: 345

H habits of industry 230

Hoare, Sir Richard 34 Holland 94, 95, 103, 105, 169, 170, 171, 192, 230, 237, 241, 244, 246, 257, 290, 305

habitual thieves, etc. 189

Holloway, Thomas 335

hackles xxiii

Homerton, East London 332

Hackney 36, 48

Horsham Prison 176

Hague (The Hague) 106, 246, 257

hospitals xv, 174, 191, 203, 205, 209, 217,

Halifax Prison 156

255, 256, 287, 293, 303

Hamburg 197

Riga Military Hospital 307

Hamilton, Sir William 260

Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital (USA) 331

Hampshire 70 Hanway, Jonas 342 Harburg 197 hardened offenders 182 hard labour 188 Haverford 288 Hawkes, Arthur 224 Haygarth, Dr 297

Hot Wells, Bristol 53, 58, 65, 114 Hotwell House 54 House of Commons 153, 155, 156, 167, 332 houses of correction 147, 156, 180, 196, 285, 345 Howard, Anna 35, 36, 48, 83, 96, 228 invisibility 83

Hayley, William 231

Howard Association 345

Hayton, Harriot 67

Howard Building 351

hazards 219

Howard Church 120

health 184

Howard College, Samford University 331

Heathcote, Gilbert 34

Howard College (USA) 331

Heidelberg 111

Howard, D L 234, 265

Hereford 171

Howard Hall (USA) 331

Hereford County Bridewell 156 hierarchical social structure 118

Howard, Henrietta 78, 284 death of 80

High Pavement School 238

Howard House 96, 248, 266, 298

High Sheriff 64

Howardian Fund 280, 332

highwaymen 189

Howard, Jack 48, 78, 83, 96, 99, 101, 148,

Hillyard, Reverend Samuel 75

229, 237, 255, 266, 276, 297, 302 alarming behaviour 266

365

The Curious Mr Howard

“an hereditary tendency” 279

extraordinary experiences 173

better news 318

extraordinary man 334

church plaque 353

fame 226

confined to a lunatic asylum 85, 278,

Fellow of the Royal Society 59

302

feted by Kherson society 312

going mad 267

fierce parenting practices 279

homosexuality 241

filling time to relieve pain 153

insanity 279

firmness of mind 50

raving maniac 279

free agent 232

troubled young man 241

frugality 104

venereal disease 278

grave and resting place 320

Howard, John

hate of praise 120

ablutions 49

health 35, 58, 117

abstemious 120

Howard and the Paparazzi, etc. 335

anxiety 151

illness 53

apprenticeship 42

imprisonment in France 62

archaic lifestyle 121

indefatigable 272

as a writer xxii

‘in motion all day’ 120

benevolent 306

intense 128

birth 31

inveterate exactness xxiv

bluntness 243

“John Howard and Asperger’s Syn-

bravery 219

drome” 150

celebrated Mr. Howard 257

key attitudes 104

character xxv, xxvii, 152

lack of writing method 222

correspondence xxvii

legacy xxviii

country gentleman 125

“Mad Jack Howard” 152

curiosity 49

mania for recording details 245

death 314

medical knowledge 320

depression 153

mild and benign manner 250

diet 53, 307, 312

obituary 326

difficulty in expressing ideas 221

observer, as 170

dislike of publicity 248

obsession 137, 147, 151

dull and solid man 193

oddness 121, 151

eccentric 326

old-fashioned appearance 300

energetic 50, 148, 341

parsimony 155

366

Index

perfectionist 225

Howard Medal 337

personal identity xxvii

Howard Memorial Committee 333

personality disorder 296

Howard (or Howard’s) House 65, 352

preferred to operate alone 342

Howard Tablet 338

priorities 137

hulks 218, 229, 281, 293, 344

prisoners’ friend 307

Hulks Bill (1776) 218

quiet charisma 342

Hull 215

reflective 57

humane treatment 201

relationship with God xxv

humanity/inhumanity 178, 195, 196, 203,

relish for travel 51

204, 207, 210, 228, 257, 310

routines 151, 155

human rights 348

rule following 151

humility 294

schooling 39

hunger 177

free enquiry stifled 42

Huntingdon 134, 146

Spartan schools 40

hypocrisy 277

self-taught 272 singular nature 121, 151, 257 sins, heineousness, etc. 108 sobriety 104

I

social reformer 235

idiots 180

solitary status 296

idleness 188, 209, 286

statistician 232

Ilive, Jacob 180

“steady spirit” 165

impartiality 226

stern and dominating father 89

imprisonment 230

teamwork, difficulty concerning 232

solitary imprisonment 230

upbringing 146

inactivity 218

victim of crime, as 307

incarceration 272

vigour 50

Inchbald, Elizabeth 280

volatile state of mind 108

indulgence 40, 203

will and purpose 298, 301, 317, 327

industry 170

women and 50, 56

infirmaries 160

workaholic 225

influence 129, 300, 342

writing 221

influential contacts 60

Howard League for Penal Reform xxi, 345, 349

inspection 198, 281 HM Prisons Inspectorate 346

367

The Curious Mr Howard

tours of inspection 243 inspectors 187, 204 inspectors of prisons 343

K Kaunitz, Prince 280

institutions 105, 256

Keith, Sir Robert Murray 243, 257, 307

international action 348

Kherson xxviii, 101, 307, 308, 319, 331, 350, 351

International Committee of the Red Cross 349

Kherson Museum 321

interpreters 212, 247, 264

King’s Bench Prison 139

Inverness 244

Kingsbury, Reverend William 115

Ireland 114, 115, 165, 169, 191, 215, 217,

Knaresborough, 140

230, 237, 241, 243, 282, 286 Ireland, Richard 335

Komstadius, Count 311, 313 Korsakov, Nikolai 311

Irish House of Commons 237, 286 iron grates 178 irons 170, 181, 208, 232, 244, 263 women for 177

L

Islington 233

Labour xv

Italy 49, 102, 111, 201, 230, 244

La Maison de Force 209

itinerary

Lamb, Charles 286

example of 141 Ivelchester Gaol 157

Lardeau (or Loidore), Sarah 55 Lavenham 242 lazarettos xxiii, 105, 256, 351 a lazaretto for England xxv, 290, 341

J

Proposed Regulations for a New Lazaretto 271

Janssen, Sir Stephen 134, 294, 342 Jebb, William 258, 270

Lazarettos 134, 191, 253, 270, 287, 288, 296, 299, 309

Jeffreys, William 300

Leeds, Edward 67, 133, 268, 315, 322, 327

John Howard Diagnostic Centre (Kher-

Leeds family 67, 133, 171

son) 332

Leeds, Henrietta 68

John Howard Pavilion (USA) 331

Leeds, Joseph 94, 95, 327

John Howard public house 351

legacy 341

journals xxv

Leghorn 106, 201, 253, 255, 260

justice 188, 216

Leicester 302 Leopold, Peter 295

368

Index

Liberty 349 Liberty Gaol 139

magistrates 164, 178, 184, 187, 205, 240, 242, 272, 283, 291, 293, 308, 349

licence to sell beer 132

Maidstone 170, 175

licentious intercourse 178

malaria 117, 154

light 138

malpractice 130

lack of xxiii likenesses 335 Lilburne, James 118

Malta 244, 261 management 179 contracting out prisons 215

Limehouse 233

Manchester 285

Lincoln 215

manipulation of the public mood 348

Lisbon 60, 61, 105

Mannheim 245

listening 215

Mann, Sir Horace 202

literature 338

mansions of sorrow and pain 203

Little Wild Street Meeting 118

Marchioness Gray, Jemima 152

Liverpool 145, 215, 216, 331

marriage

lock-ups 174 lodging charges to prisoners for 185 London 137, 155, 157, 301, 353 overcrowding 293

Henrietta to 68 Marseilles 106, 245, 258, 259 Marshalsea Prison 160, 176 ‘master’s side’ 134 material things 206

London Gazette 325

Matlock 111

loneliness 47, 57, 148, 150, 153

memorandum books 170, 179, 326

looking death in the face 263

Memorandum of Rules 187

lootings 230

memorial xxviii, 331

Loretto 107

mental illness 130, 349

Loten, Dr 304

Mentz 111

Lucas, Philip 150

meteorology 74, 95

lunatics 177, 180

Methodism 283

Lyons 106, 259

Midlands 145 Milan 102

M

Milman, Dean 333 minutiaie 271 misery 179, 181, 182, 219

Maclear, Reverend 343

mis-management 310

Magick, Mr 171

modesty 266, 300

369

The Curious Mr Howard

Monaco 106

Non-Governmental Organizations

Monthly Magazine 149, 240

(NGOs) 347

Moorfields 41, 230

nosegays 127

morality 189, 345

Nottingham 237

moral and natural philosophy 41

noxious smells 180

moral corruption 164

Nugent, Thomas 95

moral teaching 40

nurseries 282

Mordinov, Rear Admiral Nikolai 311 Morrisey, Sinead 339 Moscow 108, 201, 307 Moser, Joseph 336

O

motivation xxviii

obedience 84, 87, 89, 239

Mount Vesuvius 109

obelisk 321, 351

Munich 111

Ode inscribed to John Howard 231 Oglethorpe, James 342 Old Bailey 32

N

Old Broadstreet 60 Old Meeting 65, 79, 88, 103, 119

Naples 98, 107, 260, 307

Old Meeting House 352

National Portrait Gallery 335

On Crimes and Punishments 74

natural ability with artillery 264

Onesiphorous, Sir George 272

Nelson 260

order 209

“nervous fever” 53

orphanages 194

Netherlands (The Netherlands) 170, 171

Osnabrug 196

Newbery, John 141

outcasts of society 306

Newgate Prison 32, 138, 231, 249, 294

Oxford and Cambridge 248

Newington Green 58, 301 Newington Green Unitarian Church 58 New Meeting 325

P

new prisons 342

pain 353

Nice 106, 259

paintings 335

Nicolaev 319

Palmer, Reverend Samuel 63

non-conformists 67, 83

Pamplona 205 Papists Act 1778 230

370

Index

pardon 204

pleasure 40

Paris 103, 258

Plymouth 215

prisons cleanest of places 207

Plymouth Town Gaol 139

Parkhurst Prison 343

police 257

Parliament

pomposity

standing for 160 Parliamentary Enquiry (hulks) 218

hate of 246 rejection of 316

parole 192

poorhouses 65, 188, 191, 255, 287, 305, 325

patrons/patronesses 208

Pope Clement XIV 110

Pembroke 215

Pope’s galleys 111

Penal Reform League 345

Popham, Mr 159, 342

penitentiary

poppy tea 117

Penitentiary Act 1779 218, 230

popularity 279

penitentiary houses 293

Portugal 60, 61, 241

penitentiary superintendent 229

potatoes 96, 98, 117, 120, 170, 353

personality disorder 121

Howard potato 121

pest-houses 299

Potemkin, Prince Grigory 247, 311

Petersburg 199

pragmatism 188

Petworth Prison 342

Prague 244

Philadelphia 346

prejudice 117

philanthropy xvi, xxi, xxv, 65, 67, 72, 75,

Preston, Elizabeth 118

125, 196, 238, 288, 331 torch of philanthropy 294, 341

Price, Richard 42, 55, 222, 301 pride 227

Philosophical Transactions 77

Priestman, Admiral 311, 315, 317, 319

physician 262, 313

prison

piety 294 pilgrim 333

prison conditions xxv, 218 appalling conditions 165

Pinner 171

prison food 162

pirates 264

prison reform xxi, xxv, 64

Pisa 106, 260 plague xxiii, xxv, xxvii, 191, 202, 253, 255, 262, 269, 300, 304, 341

prison tap rooms 176 prisoners 127, 129, 130 ability with 249

bubonic plague 256

different types of 181

Great Plagues 256

emaciated dejected objects 179

plank beds 344

employment 192

371

The Curious Mr Howard

prisoners-of-war 64, 127, 174, 191, 256,

quarantine 260, 261, 262, 265, 290, 294,

294 allegiance 258

351 Quarantine Island 350

England, in 215

quarreling 187

reciprocity 217

Quarter Sessions 291

treating as human beings 130

quinine 117

types of prisoners 138 Prison Reform International 349 Prison Reform Trust 349 prisons 105, 256, 287, 299, 303

R

foreign prisons 174

Radnor, Earl of 291

management of prisons 174

Reading Gaol 177

melancholy mansions 272

rectitude 40

Prison Congress 337

reform 293

prisons make people ill 181

offenders, of 147, 230, 345

prison tap rooms 180

penal reform 229

profit for 185

prisoners, of 189

purpose of prisons 164 visiting prisons 137

prison reform xv, 237 refractory children 195

Prisons Act 1835 343

regularity 209

profanity 179

regulations 182

Prole, John 101, 255, 268, 282, 298, 328 Protestants Protestant Association 230 Protestant Dissenting Orphan Working School 229

lack of 178 rehabilitation xv release recruitment of released prisoners 217 religion 34, 83, 92, 153, 170, 230, 294

prudence 50

remedies for defects in prisons 129

Psalm 17 298

re-offending 272

punishment 134

reducing re-offending 191 repentance 182

Q Quakers 34, 201, 231, 289, 345

Reprieve 349 republicanism 42 research 137, 221 resentment 292 resignation 234

372

Index

restlessness 83, 228, 296

scandal 86, 237

Reynolds, Sir Joshua 332

Scarborough 111

Riga 307

“scenes of calamity” 174

riot 249

schools 191, 217, 238, 255, 331

riots 230 rioting in gaol 293

charter-schools 282 Innishannon School 287

risk-taking 262

science 76

River Dnieper 307, 350

Scotland 165, 169, 191, 215, 217, 230, 241,

River Thames 218

243, 283

Roberts, Robert Evans 347

scurvy 309

Robins, Reverend 237

secrecy 262

Rome 103, 106, 110, 203, 260

selflessness 320

Root House 74, 86, 87, 286, 352

separate/solitary confinement 182, 285

Rotterdam 111, 112, 193, 194

serious crime 344

Royal Commission on Capital Punish-

servants 101

ment 344 Royal Society of Antiquaries 95 Royal Society of Arts, etc. 96, 117, 120

Seven Years War 62 sewers lack of 180

Ruset, Emanuel 311

shackling 127

rushing 152, 160

shame 217

Russia 199, 237, 247, 286, 296, 305, 310,

sheriff 128, 133, 173, 272, 294, 299, 342

312

High Sheriff 124, 125, 160, 337

Rutt, George 228

Shewell, Thomas 67

Ryland the forger, etc. 249

Shrewsbury 215, 216, 241, 331 Shrewsbury County Infirmary 149

S Salisbury Gaol 291

Shrewsbury Gaol and Bridewell 188 Shrewsbury Prison 343 Some Account of the Shrewsbury House of Industry 284

Salonica 212, 264

Sick and Hurt Board 215

Samford University 331

Siena 106

Samoilovich, Danilo 309

silence 182

Saunders, Simeon 129, 130

silent system 343

Savoy Military Prison 249

silver box 282

scaffold xxi

simple life 70

373

The Curious Mr Howard

slavery 201, 247

Stepankova 319, 331

sloth 179

St Mary’s, Whitechapel 58

Slovoda 306

St Nicholas 310, 351

smallpox 297

Stockholm 198

Smithfield 34, 36

Stoke Newington 55, 58, 86, 92, 353

Smith, Reverend 83, 148, 268, 298

Stoll, Dr 270

Smith, Thomas 120

Stone Yard Academy 249

Smolensko 305

St Paul’s Cathedral 31, 332, 353

Smyrna 261, 262, 264

St Paul’s Church 352

social conscience 138

St Paul’s Churchyard 59, 67, 92, 145, 335

solitary confinement 189, 343

St Petersburg 200, 307, 337

solitude 182

strangers of fortune 51

Somerset Bath Halfpenny 336

straw to sleep on 134

Southampton 70, 114

Streatfield, George 55

Southill 123, 227, 298

strictness 85

Southwark 231

St Sepulchre’s-without-Newgate 32

Spain 111, 203, 205, 241

Stuttgart 111

Spanish Inquisition 241, 263

‘Such Things Are’ 280

Spanish Mantle 198, 263

suffering xxvii, 33, 64, 134, 147, 191, 272,

Spartan code 88 squalor 310

348 physical suffering, 138

Stamford Town Gaol 185

Suffolk 242

standards 75

summoning jurors, etc. 126

raising standards 346 starvation 188 State of the Prisons, etc., The xxi, xxv, 77,

salaried surgeons 160 surveying 76

85, 124, 129, 131, 140, 172, 191, 215,

surveyor 77

219, 242, 255, 343

Surveyor General of Prisons 343

first edition 175 State of the Prisons, The (Sinead Morrisey) 339 statue 266, 280, 332, 350 Statute Book 229 stench xxiii, 127, 134 Stennett, Dr 118

374

surgeons 129, 132, 162, 184

Sweden 197, 198, 237 Switzerland 170, 171, 191, 203, 230 Sydenham, Dr Thomas 115 Symonds, Reverend Joshua 103, 107, 119, 165, 170

Index

T

travelling from one country to another 105

table of fees 129, 133

treadwheel 344

Tallack, William 345

tributes 331

tall lady 250

Trieste 275

Tartary 308

Trinity College, Dublin 237

Tatnall, William 99, 228, 261, 327

Truro 171

temperance 50

Turin 102

Tenter Alley Academy 41

Turkey 212, 244, 262, 270, 296, 310, 312

Test Act 41, 124

Turkish dominions 297

Theobalds Park 99

turning up unexpectedly 170

Thomasson, Thomas 101, 112, 115, 238,

turnkeys 138, 184, 342

255, 264, 277, 278, 298, 300, 314, 315, 322, 328 thumb-screw 242

no prisoner to be 184 Tuscany 294 Edict of the Grand Duke of Tuscany,

tolerance 87 Torrington Diaries, The 299 torture 175, 196, 198, 243, 262, 348

etc. 294 Tuscan Laws 299 Tver 307

Committee against Torture 349

Tyburn 138, 249

Convention against Torture, etc. 348

typhus 313, 343, 350

European Committee for the Preven-

tyranny 181

tion of Torture, etc. 349

tyrants 262, 342

Osnabruck torture 305 “tough” on crime 348 Toulon 106, 259 Tower School 39, 99

U

Townsend, Reverend Meredith 58, 86, 96

Ukraine 101, 350, 351

transportation xxi, 130, 134, 137, 164,

United Nations Standard Minimum

192, 205, 218, 230, 234, 236, 294, 308, 344

Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners 348

African settlements 205

Universal Magazine 63, 86

Carthagena 205

Utrecht 304

travel xxiv, 94, 137, 191, 229, 237, 255, 296, 297, 305, 314 sometimes dangerous 253

375

The Curious Mr Howard

V

whipping 134, 198

Valladolid 241

Whitbread

knoot (or knout) 199

Venice 107, 111, 264, 275, 290, 294 mother of all lazarettos 270 Venetian Lazaretto 263 ventilation 160, 178

Whitbread, Martha 31 Whitbread relations 32 Whitbread family 36, 66, 83, 92, 301, 322, 328, 352

vermin xxiii, 140

Whitbread, Ive 65

vice 293

Whitbread, Mary 109, 111, 113, 149

Vienna 243, 257, 275, 307 vinegar 180

death 116 Whitbread, Samuel 66, 69, 71, 79, 101,

Visitation of God 303

117, 150, 169, 222, 226, 235, 255,

visiting the forsaken 203

258, 275, 284, 298, 322, 333

Voltaire 104

suicide 301

von Kotzebue, August 338

“young friend” 263 Whitbread, Samuel Howard 123 Whitbread’s Brewery 282

W

Whitechapel 58 “white gold” 43

Wales 115, 243

“Who Wrote John Howard’s Text?” 223

Walker, Mistress 84

wickedness 104, 182

Walker, Reverend 237

widening interest in institutions 200

Warrington 150, 224, 242, 289, 295, 325,

Winchester 215

338, 351

wine club 176

Warrington Dissenting Academy 224

Witowka 309

Warrington Guardian 224

Wollstonecraft, Mary 55

Watcombe House 70, 351

women and children 176

water 138

women prisoners 204, 232

lack of 179

women’s prisons 176, 177, 178, 182, 243

Watling Street 42

Wood, Isaac 149, 284

Watson, William 93

Wood Street Compter 157

Watts, Isaac 55

Woolwich 218

Wesley, John 58, 283

Worcester Castle, Oxford 177

West Country prisons 156

workaholic 255

Whately, George 221, 231, 342

workhouse 284

376

Index

Works of John Bunyan, The 66 writing 77, 119

Y Yarmouth 215 Yorke, Sir Joseph 246, 257 Young, Arthur 151, 242, 300 young criminals 182

Z Zante, 261

377

The Curious Mr Howard

378

‘Every student entering law school should have a copy and read it’: ­ Criminal Law and Justice Weekly

A History of Criminal Justice in England and Wales by John Hostettler

A History of Criminal Justice

criminal justice, from Anglo-Saxon dooms to the Common

The book looks at the Rule of Law, the development of the criminal courts and the people who work in them, police forces, the jury, judges, magistrates, crime and punishment. It deals with all the iconic events of criminal justice history and reform to show how criminal justice evolved.

Law, struggles for political, legislative and judicial ascendency

and the formation of the modern-day Criminal Justice System. Contents include • • • • • • • • • •

The Origins of Criminal Justice Anglo-Saxon Dooms and Early Laws Norman and Angevin Legacies Medieval and Early Modern England The Common Law in Danger The Commonwealth The Whig Supremacy and Adversary Trial The Jury in the Eighteenth Century Punishment and Prisons Nineteenth Century Crime and Policing

• • • • • • • • • •

Victorian Images A Century of Criminal Law Reform Criminal Incapacity A Revolution in Procedure The Early Twentieth Century Improvements After World War II Twenty-First Century Regression? The Advent of Restorative Justice Famous Cases, Inquiries and Reports Select Bibliography

John Hostettler is well-known to readers of Waterside Press books. He is just as at home discussing the Star Chamber or Seven Bishops as he is the impact of the executions of King Charles I, Timothy Evans or Ruth Ellis. From Victorian policing to madness and mayhem, hate crime and miscarriages of justice to radicals, terrorism, human rights or restorative justice, A History of Criminal Justice in England and Wales contains an extensive supply of facts, information and analysis.

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ishments. It locates all the iconic events of criminal justice

in England and Wales

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jury, justices of the peace and individual crimes and pun-

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Among a wealth of topics the book looks at the Rule of

in England and Wales

An ideal introduction to the rich history of criminal justice charting all its main developments from the dooms of Anglo-Saxon times to the rise of the Common Law, struggles for political, legislative and judicial ascendency and the formation of the innovative Criminal Justice System of today.

A History of Criminal Justice

An ideal introduction, charting all the main developments of

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history and law reform within a wider background and context - demonstrating a wealth and depth of knowledge.

‘A captivating book that will have readers, who are interested in the subject matter and/or students studying any element of criminal justice absorbed ... a thoroughly enjoyable read’: Internet Law Book Reviews ‘Highly recommended’: Choice ‘This is a good book from a well-respected publishing house. [It] could helpfully form part of the required reading on the programmes which develop the criminal justice system’s senior managers, as well as occupying a place on the bookshelves of many other people’: Prison Service Journal

ISBN 978-1-904380-51-1 (Paperback) 978-1-906534-79-0 (Ebook) January 2009 | 352 pages

Fifty Year Stretch Prisons and Imprisonment 1980-2030 by Stephen Shaw, Foreword by Martin Narey A remarkable account which goes to the heart of penal policy in England and Wales. Refreshing and insightful, this work will prove to be invaluable to practitioners, students, researchers and those wishing to understand ‘the new democratic mood’, its relationship to crime and punishment and where it is leading.

By one of the UK’s leading experts on prisons and

penal reform, this book charts developments across With a Foreword by Martin Narey

a fifty year time frame beginning in 1980 at the start of a growth in the prison population of England and Wales (and other parts of the world) and ending with a prospective view taking events up to 2030.

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STRETCH Prisons and Imprisonment 1980-2030

Stephen Shaw

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Shaw deals with key events, issues and develop-

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Martin Narey is chief executive of Barnardos having previously worked as Director General of HM Prison Service, Chief Executive of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and as a Permanent Secretary within the Home Office.

FIFTY YEAR STRETCH

Stephen Shaw is the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman for England and Wales—giving him an unusually close view of prisons, Criminal Justice and the preoccupations of prisoners and prison staff. Latterly, he has also investigated and reported on all deaths in custody. He was formerly Director of the UK’s muchrespected Prison Reform Trust (PRT).

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data which can be found in other works in favour of a direct, authoritative and well-informed short history. ‘A masterly account of prison, drawing from his own wealth of experience and reflections, which provides a challenging read for the layman and prison practitioners alike’: Internet Law Book Reviews ISBN 978-1-904380-57-3 (Hardback) 978-1-906534-84-4 (Ebook) June 2010 | 134 pages

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This innovative work—by one of the UK’s leading experts—charts developments across a fifty year time frame. It begins in 1980 at the start of a growth in the prison population of England and Wales (and other parts of the world) and travels across time to 2030. It will be invaluable to anyone wishing to cut through the mass of fine detail and data which can be found in other works in favour of a straightforward, authoritative and well-informed short history. Novel, original and highly accessible, this book is the ideal companion for any student of penal affairs. Touching on the key events which continue to shape penal policy in England and Wales, it looks at ‘seismic shifts’ since 1980, points to ‘a new democratic mood’ and anticipates how things might shape up in coming decades.

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‘One of the greatest men in Europe’: John Wesley

Tessa West has worked in prisons and on prison-related matters for many years. While head of a prison education department she was awarded a Cropwood Fellowship at the Institute of Criminology in Cambridge. She has worked for the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Department in Vienna and was an independent member of the Parole Board. In respect of The Curious Mr Howard she was given the Arthur Welton Award which enabled her to carry out research in Ukraine (where John Howard died). She holds two masters degrees, is the author of Prisons of Promise (Waterside Press, 1997) and has also written three novels.

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Clive Stafford-Smith is best-known for his work as a USA-based (until 2004) British lawyer specialising in civil rights and death penalty cases in particular. He is Legal Director of the UK branch of Reprieve, received the Gandhi International Peace Award in 2005 and is a regular commentator in the media on human rights and associated themes.

In modern times John Howard (17261790) is perhaps best known as the man after whom the UK’s oldest penal reform charity, the Howard League, is named. Tessa West’s book breaks fresh ground by looking at both Howard’s legacy in terms of reform as well as his fascinating character. Based on extensive research in the UK and abroad, it provides a vivid picture of his life’s work which will be invaluable in understanding why prisons and imprisonment demand constant scrutiny.

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‘This book is a timely reminder of the dreams that inspired one man many years ago, and a reminder that we need John Howard as much or more ­today’: Clive Stafford-Smith (from the ­Foreword) ‘A much better picture of penal reformer John Howard than I had believed possible’: Dick Whitfield, trustee and former chair of the Howard League

The Curious MrSpine Howard Tessa West

‘One of the most extraordinary men this age can show’: Jeremy Bentham

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The Curious Mr Howard Legendary Prison Reformer

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John Howard’s curiosity about prisons goes without saying, as his own writings show, including his iconic The State of the Prisons (to use the shortened title). As a self-appointed inspector of prisons — and the first to carry out such a task — Howard would knock on the door of penal establishments, mostly unannounced. Once inside he would observe, listen and make copious records of events and conditions behind prison walls. And he was a curious individual altogether. Amongst the diverse epithets applied to him are: extraordinary, indefatigable, eccentric, benevolent, solid, selfless, charismatic, intense, obsessive, energetic, modest — and above all singular.

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Forever concerned with minutiae, not without friends but lacking close social contacts, the workaholic Howard frequently travelled alone and in dangerous places for months on end. Always restless and forever retracing his steps, he was equally at home in Russia, Germany, Holland and other foreign parts as he was pursuing his carefully planned routines in places such as Bedford, ­Warrington, Cambridge or London.

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Wherever he went the perfectionist John Howard brought his influence, genius and reputation to bear seeking to improve prisons and other institutions — and as this book shows he deserves to be remembered as a far greater figure in social history than many people might suspect.