CHAPTER VI.
NEWGATE HORRORS AND NEWGATE WORKERS.
About Christmas 1816, or January 1817, Mrs. Fry commenced her leviathan task in good earnest. The world had been full of startling events since her first two or three tentative visits to Newgate; so startling were they, that even in the refined and sedate quietude of Quakerism there must have existed intense interest, excitement, and possibly fear. We know from Isaac Taylor's prolific pen, how absorbing was the idea of invasion by the French, how real a terror was Buonaparte, and how full of menace the political horizon appeared. Empires were rising and falling, wars and tumults were the normal condition of society; the Continent was in a state of agitation and warfare. Napoleon, the prisoner of Elba, had returned to Europe, collected an army, and, contesting at Waterloo the strength of England and Prussia, had fallen. He was now watched and guarded at St. Helena, while the civilised world began to breathe freely. The mushroom kingdoms which he had set up were fast tottering, or had fallen, while the older dynasties of Europe were feeling once more secure, because the man who hesitated not to sacrifice vast myriads of human lives to accomplish his own aggrandisement, was now bound, and, like a tiger in chains, could do nought save growl impotently.
Meanwhile the tide of prison-life went on without much variation. Newgate horrors still continued; the gallows-crop never failed; and the few Acts of Parliament designed to ameliorate the condition of the prisoners in the gaols had almost become dead letters. In 1815 a deputation of the Gaol Committee of the Corporation of London visited several gaols in order to examine into their condition, and to introduce a little improvement, if possible, into those under their care. This step led to some alterations; the sexes were separated, and the women were provided with mats to sleep upon. Visitors were restrained from having much communication with the prisoners, a double row of gratings being placed between the criminals and those who came to see them. Across the space between the gratings it was a common practice for the prisoners to push wooden spoons, fastened to long sticks, in order to receive the contributions of friends. Disgusting in its ways, vicious in act and speech, the social scum which crowded Newgate was repulsive, dangerous, and vile in the extreme.
It is evident that the circle to which Mrs. Fry belonged was still interested in philanthropic labours on behalf of the criminal classes, because we find that Sir Thomas F. Buxton, Mr. Hoare, and several other friends were busy, in the interval between 1813 and 1816, in establishing a society for the reformation of juvenile thieves. This matter of prison discipline was therefore engaging the attention of her immediate circle. Doubtless, while listening to them, she remembered most anxiously the miserable women whom she had visited some three years previously.
It seems that Mrs. Fry succeeded with the women by means of her care for the children. Low as they were in sin, every spark of maternal affection had not fled, and they craved for their little ones a better chance than they had possessed themselves. To a suggestion by Mrs. Fry that a school should be formed for the benefit of their little ones, they eagerly acceded. This suggestion she left with them for consideration, engaging to come to a decision at the next visit.
At the next visit she found that the tears of joy with which they had welcomed the proposition were not feigned. The women had already chosen a schoolmistress from among themselves. A young woman, named Mary Cormor, who had, although fairly educated, found her way to prison for stealing a watch, was the person chosen. It is recorded of this young woman that she became reformed during her stay in Newgate, and so exemplary did she behave in the character of teacher, that Government granted her a free pardon; which, however, she did not long live to enjoy.
It is pleasant to record that the officials aided and furthered this good work. An empty cell was granted for the school-room, and was quickly crammed with the youngest of the criminals. After this step had been taken, a young Friend named Mary Sanderson made her appearance at Newgate to assist, if it were possible, in the work, but was almost terrified away again. She informed Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton of her experiences and terrors at her first encounter with the women: "The railing was crowded with half-naked women, struggling together for the front situations with the most boisterous violence, and begging with the utmost vociferation." She felt as if she were going into a den of wild beasts, and she well recollects quite shuddering when the door was closed upon her, and she was locked in with such a herd of novel and desperate companions.
Could lasting good be effected there? It seemed hopeless. Indeed, at first it was scarcely dreamt of; but, the stone once set rolling, none knew where it would stop. Marvellous to say, some of the prisoners themselves asked for ministrations of this sort. Feeling that they were as low down in the mire as they could be, they craved a helping hand; indeed, entreated not to be left out from the benevolent operations which Mrs. Fry now commenced. The officers of Newgate despaired of any good result; the people who associated with Mrs. Fry, charitable as they were, viewed her plans as utopian and visionary, while she herself almost quailed at their very contemplation. It also placed a great strain upon her nervous system to attend women condemned to death. She wrote: "I have suffered much about the hanging of criminals." And again: "I have just returned from a melancholy visit to Newgate, where I have been at the request of Elizabeth Fricker, previous to her execution to-morrow at 8 o'clock. I found her much hurried, distressed, and tormented in mind. Her hands were cold, and covered with something like the perspiration which precedes death, and in an universal tremor. The women who were with her said she had been so outrageous before our going, that they thought a man must be sent for to manage her. However, after a serious time with her, her troubled soul became calmed." Another entry in the same journal casts a lurid light upon the interior of Newgate. "Besides this poor young woman, there are also six men to be hanged, one of whom has a wife near her confinement, also condemned, and seven young children. Since the awful report came down he has become quite mad from horror of mind. A strait-waistcoat could not keep him within bounds; he had just bitten the turnkey; I saw the man come out with his hand bleeding as I passed the cell. I hear that another who has been tolerably educated and brought up, was doing all he could to harden himself through unbelief, trying to convince himself that religious truths were idle tales." Contemporary light is cast upon this matter by a letter which the Hon. G. H. Bennett addressed to the Corporation of London, relative to the condition of the prison. In it this writer observed:—
A man by the name of Kelly, who was executed some weeks back for robbing a house, counteracted, by his conversation and by the jests he made of all religious subjects, the labours of Dr. Cotton to produce repentance and remorse among the prisoners in the cells; and he died as he lived, hardened and unrepenting. He sent to me the day before his execution, and when I saw him he maintained the innocence of the woman convicted with him (Fricker, before mentioned), asserting that not her, but a boy concealed, opened the door and let him into the house. When I pressed him to tell me the names of the parties concerned, whereby to save the woman’s life, he declined complying without promise of a pardon. I urged as strongly as I could the crime of suffering an innocent woman to be executed to screen criminal accomplices; but it was all to no effect, and he suffered, maintaining to the last the same story. With him was executed a lad of nineteen or twenty years of age, whose fears and remorse Kelly was constantly ridiculing.
About this time, Mrs Fry noted in her journal the encouragement she had received from those who were in authority, as well as the eager and thankful attitude of the poor women themselves. Kindred spirits were being drawn around her, ready to participate in her labours of love. In one place she wrote almost deprecatingly of the publicity which those labours had won; she feared notoriety, and would, had it been possible, have worked on alone and unheralded. But perhaps it was as well that others should learn to co-operate; the task was far too mighty for one frail pair of hands, while the increased knowledge and interest among the upper classes of society assisted in procuring the "sinews of war." For this was a work which could not be successfully carried on without pounds, shillings, and pence. Clothing, books, teachers, and even officers had to be paid for out of benevolent funds, for not an idea of the necessity for such funds had ever crossed the civic mind.
A very cheering item, in April 1817, was the formation of a ladies' society under the title of "An Association for the Improvement of the Female Prisoners in Newgate." Eleven Quakeresses and one clergyman's wife were then banded together. We cannot find the names of these good women recorded anywhere in Mrs. Fry’s journal. The object of this Association was: "To provide for the clothing, instruction, and employment of the women; to introduce them to a knowledge of the Scriptures, and to form in them, as much as possible, those habits of sobriety, order, and industry, which may render them docile and peaceable whilst in prison, and respectable when they leave it." Thus, stone by stone the edifice was being reared, step by step was gained, and everything was steadily advancing towards success. The magistrates and corporation of the city were favourable, and even hopeful; the gaol officials were not unwilling to co-operate, and ladies were anxious to take up the work. The last thing which remained was to get the assent and willing submission of the prisoners themselves to the rules which must be enforced, were any lasting benefit to be conferred; and to this last step Mrs. Fry was equal.
On a Sunday afternoon, quickly following the formation of the Association, a new and strange meeting was convened inside the old prison walls. There were present the sheriffs, the ordinary, the governor, the ladies, and the women. Doubtless they looked at each other with a mixture of wonder, incredulity, and surprise. The gloomy precincts of Newgate had never witnessed such a spectacle before; the Samaritans of the great city no longer "passed by on the other side," but, at last, had come to grapple with its vice and degradation.
Mrs. Fry read out several rules by which she desired the women to abide; explaining to them the necessity for their adherence to these rules, and the extent to which she invited co-operation and assistance in their enforcement. Unanimously and willingly the prisoners engaged to be bound by them, as well as to assist each other in obedience. It will interest the reader to know what these rules were. They were:—
1. That a woman be appointed for the general supervision of the women.
2. That the women be engaged in needlework, knitting, or any other suitable employment.
3. That there be no begging, swearing, gaming, card-playing, quarrelling, or universal conversation. That all novels, plays, and other improper books be excluded; that all bad words be avoided, and any default in these particulars be reported to the matron.
4. That there be a good yard-keeper, chosen from among the women, to inform them when their friends come; to see that they leave their work with a monitor when they go to the grating, and that they do not spend anytime there except with their friends. If any woman be found disobedient in these respects, the yard-keeper is to report the case to the matron.
5. That the women be divided into classes of not more than twelve, and that a monitor be appointed to each class.
6. That the monitors be chosen from among the most orderly of the women that can read, to superintend the work and conduct of the others.
7. That the monitors not only overlook the women in their own classes, but, if they observe any others disobeying the rules, that they inform the monitor of the class to which such persons may belong, who is immediately to report to the matron, and the deviations be set down on a slate.
8. That any monitor breaking the rules shall be dismissed from her office, and the most suitable in the class selected to take her place.
9. That the monitors be particularly careful to see that women come with clean hands and faces to their work, and that they are quiet during their employment.
10. That at the ringing of the bell at 9 o'clock in the morning, the women collect in the work-room to hear a portion of Scripture read by one of the visitors, or the matron; and that the monitors afterwards conduct the classes thence to their respective wards in an orderly manner.
11. That the women be again collected for reading at 6 o'clock in the evening, when the work shall be given in charge to the matron by the monitors.
12. That the matron keep an exact account of the work done by the women, and of their conduct.
As these rules were read out, the women were requested to raise their hands in token of assent. Not a hand but was held up. In just the same manner the names of the monitors were received, and the appointments ratified. After this business had been concluded, one of the visitors read the twenty-first chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, and then ensued a period of solemn silence, according to the custom of the Society of Friends. After that, the newly-elected monitors, at the heads of their classes, withdrew to their wards.
The work-room was an old disused laundry, now granted by the sheriffs, and fitted up for the purpose. Repaired and whitewashed, it proved a capital vantage-ground whereon to give battle to the old giants of Ignorance, Crime, and Vice, and ultimately to conquer them.
The next thing was to obtain a sufficiency of work, and at the same time funds to purchase materials. At first, the most imperative necessity existed for clothing. For a long time the most ample help came from Mrs. Fry’s own family circle, although many others contributed various sums. Indeed, the Sheriffs of London on one occasion made a grant of £80 towards these objects, showing thus that, although punitive measures were more in their way, they were really glad to uphold the hands of anybody who would deal with the vexed problems which such hordes of criminals presented.
After the criminals themselves were clothed, their work went to provide garments for the convicts at Botany Bay. Some tradesmen to whom Mrs. Fry applied, willingly resigned these branches of their trade, in order to afford the opportunity of turning the women's industry to account. This was a decided step gained, as the Corporation then learnt how to make the prisoners' labours profitable, and at the same time to avert the mischiefs of vicious idleness.
The ladies tried the school for a month quietly, and found it so successful that they determined to lay a representation before the Sheriffs, asking that this newly-formed agency should be taken under the wing of the Corporation. They wisely considered that the efficiency and continuance of this part of their scheme would be better ensured if it were made part and parcel of the City prison system, than by leaving it to the fluctuating support and management of private benevolence.
In reply to this petition and representation, an answer was received appointing a meeting with the ladies at Newgate. The meeting took place, and a session was held according to the usual rules. The visiting officials were struck with surprise at the altered demeanour of the inhabitants of this hitherto styled "hell upon earth," and were ready to grant what Mrs. Fry chose to ask. The whole plan, both school and manufactory, was adopted as part of the prison system; a cell was granted to the ladies for punishment of refractory prisoners, together with power to confine them therein for short intervals; part of the matron’s salary was promised out of the City funds, and benedictions and praises were lavished on the ladies. This assistance in the matter of a matron was a decided help, as, prior to her appointment, some of the ladies spent much of each day in the wards personally superintending operations. So determined were they to win success, that they even remained during meal times, eating a little refreshment which they brought with them. After this appointment, one or two ladies visited the prison for some time, daily, spending more or less time there in order to superintend and direct. Some months after this a system of work was devised for the "untried side," but for various reasons, the success in that department of Newgate was not as marked. It was found that as long as prisoners indulged any hope of discharge, they were more careless about learning industrious and orderly habits.
At this meeting with the civic authorities, Mrs. Fry offered several suggestions calculated to promote the well-being of the prisoners, sedately and gently explaining the reasons for the necessity of each. They ran thus:—
"1. Newgate in great want of room. Women to be under the care of women, matron, turnkeys, and inspecting committee.
"2. As little communication with their friends as possible; only at stated times, except in any very particular cases.
"3. They must depend on their friends for neither food nor clothing, but have a sufficiency allowed them of both.
"4. That employment should be a part of their punishment, and be provided for them by Government. The earnings of work to be partly laid by, partly laid out in small extra indulgences, and, if enough, part to go towards their support.
"5. To work and have their meals together, but sleep separate at night, being classed, with monitors at the head of each class.
"Religious instruction. The kind attention we have had paid us.
"Great disadvantages arise from dependence upon the uncertainty and fluctuations of the Sheriffs' funds; neither soap nor clothing being allowed without its aid, and the occasional help of charitable people."
Two extracts from the civic records prove how warmly the authorities received these suggestions, and in what esteem they held Mrs. Fry and her coadjutors.
Committee of Aldermen to consider all matters relating to the gaols of this city.
Present—The Right Hon the Lord Mayor, the Sheriffs, and several Aldermen.
The Committee met agreeably to the resolutions of the 29th ult. at the Keeper's House, Newgate, and proceeded from thence, attended by the Sheriffs, to take a view of the gaol of Newgate.
The Committee, on viewing that part of it appropriated to the female prisoners, were attended by Mrs. Elizabeth Fry and several other ladies, who explained to the Committee the steps they had adopted to induce the female prisoners to work and to behave themselves in a becoming and orderly manner, and several specimens of their work being inspected, the Committee were highly gratified
At another place is the following entry. After giving date of meeting, and names of committee present, the minute goes on to say:—
The Committee met at the Mansion House, and were attended by Mrs. Elizabeth Fry and two other ladies, who were heard in respect of their suggestions for the better government of the female prisoners in Newgate.
Resolved unanimously: "That the thanks of this Committee be given to Mrs. Fry and the other ladies who have so kindly exerted themselves with a view to bettering the condition of the women confined in the gaol in Newgate, and that they be requested to continue their exertions, which have hitherto been attended with good effect."
Mrs. Fry's journals contain very few particulars relating to her work at this precise time. It seemed most agreeable to her to work quietly and unknown as far as the outside public was concerned. But a lady-worker who was in the Association has left on record a manuscript journal from which some extracts may fitly be given here, as they cast valuable light on both the work and workers.
We proceeded to the felons' door, the steps of which were covered with their friends, who were waiting for admission, laden with the various provisions and other articles which they required, either as gifts, or to be purchased, as the prisoners might be able to afford. We entered with this crowd of persons into an anteroom, the walls of which were covered with the chains and fetters suspended in readiness for the criminals. A block and hammer were placed in the centre of it, on which chains were riveted. The room was guarded with blunderbusses mounted on moveable carriages. I trembled, and was sick, and my heart sunk within me, when a prisoner was brought forward to have his chain lightened, because he had an inflammation in the ankle. I spoke to him, for he looked dejected and by no means ferocious. The turnkey soon opened the first gate of entrance, through which we were permitted to pass without being searched, in consequence of orders issued by the Sheriffs. The crowd waited until the men had been searched by the turnkeys, and the women by a woman stationed for that purpose in the little room by the door of entrance. These searchers are allowed, if they suspect spirits, or ropes, or instruments of escape to be concealed about the person, to strip them to ascertain the fact. A melancholy detection took place a few days ago. A poor woman had a rope found upon her, concealed for the purpose of liberating her husband, who was then sentenced to death for highway robbery, which sentence was to be put into execution in a few days. She was, of course, taken before a magistrate, and ordered into Newgate to await her trial. She was a young and pretty little Irish woman, with an infant in her arms. After passing the first floor into a passage, we arrived at the place where the prisoners' friends communicate with them. It may justly be termed a sort of iron cage. A considerable space remains between the gratings, too wide to admit of their shaking hands. They pass into this from the airing-yard, which occupies the centre of the quadrangle round which the building runs, and into which no persons but the visiting ladies, or the persons they introduce, attended by a turnkey, are allowed to enter. A little lodge, in which an under-turnkey sleeps, is also considered necessary to render the entrance secure. This yard was clean, and up and down it paraded an emaciated woman, who gave notice to the women of the arrival of their friends. Most of the prisoners were collected in a room newly appropriated for the purpose of hearing a portion of the Sacred Scriptures read to them, either by the matron or by one of the Ladies' Committee—which last is far preferable. They assemble when the bell rings, as near nine o’clock as possible, following their monitors or wardswomen to the forms which are placed in order to receive them. I think I can never forget the impression made upon my feelings at this sight. Women from every part of Great Britain, of every age and condition below the lower middle rank, were assembled in mute silence, except when the interrupted breathing of their sucking infants informed us of the unhealthy state of these innocent partakers in their parents' punishments. The matron read; I could not refrain from tears. The women wept also, several were under the sentence of death. Swain, who had just received her respite, sat next me, and on my left hand sat Lawrence, alias Woodman, surrounded by her four children, and only waiting the birth of another, which she hourly expects, to pay the forfeit of her life, as her husband has done for the same crime a short time before.
Such various, such acute, and such new feelings passed through my mind that I could hardly support the reflection that what I saw was only to be compared to an atom in the abyss of vice, and consequently misery, of this vast metropolis. The hope of doing the least lasting good seemed to vanish, and to leave me in fearful apathy. The prisoners left the room in order. Each monitor took charge of the work in her class on returning. We proceeded to other wards, some containing forgers, coiners, and thieves: and almost all these vices were engrafted on the most deplorable root of sinful dissipation. Many of the women are married, their families are in some instances permitted to be with them, if very young, their husbands, the partners of their crimes, are often found to be on the men’s side of the prison, or on their way to Botany Bay. . . .
They appear to be aware of the true value of character, to know what is right, and to forsake it in action. Binding this feeling yet alive, if properly purified and directed it may become a foundation on which a degree of reformation can be built. Thus they conduct themselves more calmly and decently to each other, they are more orderly and quiet, refrain from bad language, chew tobacco more cautiously, surrender the use of the fire-place, permit doors and windows to he opened and shut to air or warm the person, reprove their children with less violence, borrow and lend useful articles to each other kindly, put on their attire with modesty, and abstain from slanderous and reproachful words.
None among them was so shocking as an old woman, a clipper of the coin of the realm, whose daughter was by her side, with her infant in her arms, which infant had been born in Bridewell, the grandfather was already transported with several branches of his family, as being coiners. The old woman's face was full of depravity. We next crossed the airing-yard, where many persons were industriously engaged at slop-work, for which they are paid, and, after receiving what they require, the rest is kept for them by the Committee, who have a receipt-book, where their earning and their expenditure may be seen at any time, by the day or week. On entering the untried wards we found the women very different from those we had just left. They were quarrelling and very disorderly, neither knowing their future fate, nor anything like subordination among one another. It resembles the state of the women on the tried side before the formation of the Visitors’ Association. Not a hand was employed, except in mischief. One bold creature was ushered in for committing highway robbery. Many convicts were arriving, just remanded from the Sessions House, and then dark associates received them with applause—such is the unhallowed friendship of sin. We left this revolting scene and proceeded to the school-room, situated on the untried side of the prison for want of room on the tried. The quiet decency of this apartment was quite a relief, for about twenty young women arose on our entrance, and stood with their eyes cast on the ground.
Another extract from the diary of this lady will be found to describe, in graphic terms, the visit to the prison recorded in the Corporation minutes. As one reads the simple and truth-like story, the scene rises before the mind's eye:—the party of gentlemen upon their semi-official visit; the awe-stricken prisoners, scarcely comprehending whether this visit boded ill or well to them; and the little company of quiet, godly, unfashionable Quaker ladies, who were thus laying hands upon the lost of their sex, in order to reclaim them. Such a picture might well be transferred to canvas.
Rose early and visited Newgate, where most of the Committee met to receive the Lord Mayor, the Sheriffs, several Alderman, and some of the Gaol Committee. Even the irritable state of City politics does not interfere with this attempt at improvement. The women were assembled as usual, looking particularly clean, and Elizabeth Fry had commenced reading a Psalm, when the whole of this party entered this already crowded room. Her reading was thus interrupted for a short time. She looked calmly on the approaching gentlemen, who, soon perceiving the solemnity of her occupation, stood still midst the multitude, whilst Elizabeth Fry resumed her office and the women their quietude. In an impressive tone she told them she never permitted any trifling circumstance to interrupt this very solemn and important engagement of reading the Holy Scriptures; but in this instance it appeared unavoidable from the unexpected entrance of so many persons, beside which, when opportunity offers, we should pay respect to those in authority over us, to those who administer justice. She thus, with a Christian prudence peculiar to herself, controlled the whole assembly, and subdued the feelings of the prisoners, many of whom were but too well acquainted with the faces of the magistrates, who were themselves touched and astonished at being thus introduced to a state of decorum so new within these walls, and could not help acknowledging how admirably this mode of treatment was adapted to overcome the evil spirit which had so long triumphed there. The usual silence ensued after the reading, then the women withdrew. We could not help feeling particularly glad that the gentlemen were present at the reading. The prisoners crowded around the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs to beg little favours. We had a long conference with these gentlemen relative to this prison and its objects, and to the wisest regulations for prison discipline, and the causes of crime. Indeed, we could not have received more kind and devoted attention to what was suggested. Elizabeth Fry’s manner seemed to awaken new trains of reflection, and to place the individual value of these poor creatures before them in a fresh point of view. The Sheriffs came to our committee-room. They ordered a cell to ho given up to the Committee for the temporary confinement of delinquents; it was to be made appear as formidable as possible, and we hope never to require it.
The soldiers who guarded Newgate were, at our own request, dismissed. They overlooked the women’s wards, and rendered them very disorderly. . . . I found poor Woodman lying-in in the common ward, where she had been suddenly taken ill; herself and little girl were each doing very well. She was awaiting her execution at the end of the month. What can be said of such sights as these? . . . I read to Woodman, who is not in the state of mind we could wish for her; indeed, so unnatural is her situation that one can hardly tell how, or in what manner, to meet her case. She seems afraid to love her baby, and the very health which is being restored to her produces irritation of mind.
This last entry furnishes, incidentally, proof of the barbarity of the laws of Christian England at that time. Human life was of no account compared with the robbery of a few shillings, or the cutting down of a tree. This matter of capital punishment, in its turn, attracted the attention of the Quaker community, together with other philanthropic individuals, and the Statute Book was in time freed from many of the sanguinary enactments which had, prior to that period, disgraced it.
By this time notoriety began to attend Mrs. Fry's labours, and she was complimented and stared at according to the world's most approved fashion. The newspapers noticed her work; the people at Court talked about it; and London citizens began to realise that in this quiet Quakeress there dwelt a power for good. Given an unusual method of doing good, noticed by the high in place or power, together with praise or criticism by the papers, and, like Lord Byron, the worker wakes some morning to find himself or herself famous. But growing fame did pot agree with Elizabeth Fry's moral or spiritual nature. She possessed far too noble a soul to be pleased with it; her responsibility and her success, except so far as they affected the waits she desired to bless, were matters for her own conscience, and her God. She mentioned in her journal her fears whether or not this publicity, and the evident respect paid her by the people in power in the City, might not develop worldly pride or self-exaltation in her. Highly-toned and pure as her spirit was, it shrank from any strain of self-seeking or pride. Only such a spirit could have conceived such a work of usefulness; only such an one could endure the inevitable repulsion which attends such work among the degraded, and conquer.