Fleet Prison

"Pray remember ye poor debtors": inmates of the Fleet Prison beg passers by for alms.

Fleet Prison was a notorious London prison. It was built in 1197 and situated off what is now Farringdon Street, on the eastern bank of the Fleet River after which it was named. It came into particular prominence from being used as a place of reception for persons committed by the Star Chamber, and, afterwards, for debtors and persons imprisoned for contempt of court by the Court of Chancery. In 1381, during the Peasants' Revolt, it was destroyed, and in 1666, during the Great Fire of London, it was burned down, but was rebuilt both times.

During the 18th century, Fleet Prison was mainly used for debtors and bankrupts. It usually contained about 300 prisoners and their families. Some inmates were forced to beg from their cells that overlooked the street, in order to pay for their keep. At that time prisons were profit-making enterprises. Prisoners had to pay for food and lodging. There were fees for turning keys or for taking irons off, and Fleet Prison had the highest fees in England. There was even a grille built into the Farringdon Street prison wall, so that prisoners might beg alms from passers-by. But prisoners did not necessarily have to live within Fleet Prison itself; as long as they paid the keeper to compensate him for loss of earnings, they could take lodgings within a particular area outside the prison walls called the "Liberty of the Fleet" or the "Rules of the Fleet". From 1613 on, there were also many clandestine Fleet Marriages.

The Raquet Ground of the Fleet Prison circa 1808.

The head of the prison was termed the warden, who was appointed by Letters patent. It became a frequent practice of the holder of the patent to farm out the prison to the highest bidder. This custom made the prison long notorious for the cruelties inflicted on prisoners. One purchaser of the office, Thomas Bambridge, who became warden in 1728, was of particularly evil repute. He was guilty of the greatest extortions upon prisoners, and, according to a committee of the House of Commons appointed to inquire into the state of English gaols, arbitrarily and unlawfully loaded with irons, put into dungeons, and destroyed prisoners for debt, treating them in the most barbarous and cruel manner, in high violation and contempt of the laws. He was committed to Newgate Prison, and an act was passed to prevent his enjoying the office of warden.

During the Gordon Riots in 1780 Fleet Prison was again destroyed and rebuilt in 1781-1782. In 1842, in pursuance of an act of parliament, by which inmates of the Marshalsea, Fleet and Queen's Bench Prisons were relocated to the Queen's Prison (as the Queen's Bench Prison was renamed), it was finally closed, and in 1844 sold to the corporation of the City of London, by whom it was pulled down in 1846.

Notable Inmates

• John Donne - a notable Elizabethan poet, imprisoned along with the priest who married him and the man who witnessed the match until it was proven that his wedding to Anne Donne was legal and valid.
• Edmund Dummer (1651–1713) Surveyor of the Navy, founder of the Royal Navy docks at Devonport, Plymouth, Member of Parliament for Arundel and founder of the first packet service between Falmouth, Cornwall and the West Indies, died a bankrupt in Fleet debtors' prison.^[1]
• Moses Pitt - publisher who, in 1691, published The Cry of the Oppressed, a moving appeal on behalf of himself and all prisoners for debt across the nation.^[2]
• John Cleland - 18th century fighter for the freedom of speech in Great Britain
• Charles Clerke - 18th century Captain in the Royal Navy who sailed on four voyages of exploration. The last three of these voyages were all under the command of Captain James Cook.
• William "Strata" Smith - who in 1815 created his famous geological map of England, Wales and Southern Scotland.
• Charles Hall - a notable economic thinker, and early socialist.
• Mr. Samuel Pickwick - protagonist of Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers, who is imprisoned in the Fleet for refusing to pay fines stemming from a breach of promise suit brought against him by Mrs. Bardell.

Notes

References

• The London Encyclopaedia, Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert, Macmillan, 1995, ISBN 0-333-57688-8

External links

Media related to Fleet Prison at Wikimedia Commons Coordinates: 51°30′58″N 0°6′18″W / 51.51611°N 0.105°W / 51.51611; -0.105