QGR3/11

Gaol and House of Correction General Annual Report to the General Quarter Sessions, including the reports of the Keeper of the Gaol & House of Correction; the Surgeon of the prisons and the Chaplain of the prisons. Includes the following:

Michaelmas 1849

From: 1848 To: 1849

Michaelmas Quarter Sessions 1849: The late Gaoler [John Tregenza]has died since the last Annual Report and the Sheriff appointed the Keeper of the House of Correction [James Banfield] to succeed him in order to meet the wish of the Justices that the Prison might be placed under one Superintending Officer. The Chaplain reported an extract from his private 'character book': W.S.[William Smith] aged 15 read pretty well, said the Holy Ghost was the soul. J W [Joseph Wrench] aged 32 - school 5 years, baptised and confirmed, not been to any place of worship for seven years - ignorant of veriest elements of Scripture - read Tom Payne's Age of Reason and Rights of Man, habitual drunkard. CC [Charles Crouch] age 22 fearfully ignorant, school never, could repeat neither the Lord's Prayer, Creed, nor Commandments. When asked to say the Lord's Prayer, he said 'Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, bless the bed that I lie on'. W F [William Fletcher]aged 12 in prison for stealing gooseberries - lamentably ignorant - Father transported, says he went a little to Sunday School, but not for the last 12 months, during the last year he has been employed by [-] to keep sheep on the roadside on the Sunday. Mark here, my Lords and Gentleman, the sore moral injustice inflicted upon this poor boy - morally an orphan from his cradle (for his father was transported shortly after he was born) The Individual for whom he toiled during six days of the week not only exposed him to the temptations of the roadside, at those hours when most people were attending Divine Worship, but cruelly robbed him of the only opportunity his poverty had left him of learning to read those scriptures. Table 3: Shewing the state of education of the prisoners committed during the year: 156 males and 17 females could neither read nor write. 161 males and 14 females could read only, and that very imperfectly. 42 males and 10 females could read only tolerably well. 271 males and 14 females could read and write imperfectly. 3 males could read and write well. Of these 328 had not been to Day School, 286 not been to Sunday School, 162 ignorant of the Lord's Prayer, 378 ignorant of the Creed, 510 ignorant of the Commandments. The Justices have to report the death of Mrs [Sarah] Banfield, the late Matron which occured shortly after the last Sessions. Miss [Louisa] Banfield, the daughter of the Governor has performed the duties since her mothers decease. The Visiting Justices rcommend Miss Banfield to the favourable consideration of the Court and suggest that £20 should be awarded to her in respect of these services and for the assistance she has uniformly afforded on the female side of the prison for some years past.

item

Tregenza, John,
Banfield, James,
Banfield, Luisa,
Banfield, Sarah,
Smith, William,
Crouch, Charles,
Wrench, Joseph,
Fletcher, William,
Maclear, George

BEDFORD, Bedford Prison, County Gaol, House of Correction, magistrate, general justices of the peace, chaplain, surgeon, imprisonment, crime, punishment, health, illness, disease, DEATH, gaoler, Keeper of the Gaol, EDUCATION, schoolmaster, general learning & literature, matron