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London Lives 1690 to 1800
Crime, Poverty and Social Policy in the Metropolis
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London Lives Book
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E.D.
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THE
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CASE
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OF
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The
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County of MIDDLESEX
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,
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WITH RESPECT TO
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THE GAOL of NEWGATE.
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THE Gaol of
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Newgate
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is, and for upwards of 600 Years hath been, a Common Prison, and
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Place of Security, for Felons, and other Offenders; and, so far as it tends to secure, and
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bring to Punishment, those who by Acts of Rapine and Violence, endanger the Persons
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the Properties of Mankind, it seems to be of public Use and Benefit: Notwithstanding
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which, the Citizens of
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London
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, and several Tradesmen, inhabiting near the said Gaol, have
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of late laboured to represent it as a most dangerous Nusance.
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In Order of induce a general Acquiescence in this Opinion, they suggest that the said Gaol is ill-
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constructed, close, and incommodious, and unfit for the Reception o Prisoners.That a great
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Number of Prisoners have been usually crowded into the said Gaol at the Opening of every Sessions.
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That the Prisoners have frequently been visited with a malignant Disease, called the Gaol Distem-
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per, wereby the Health of all persons resorting to the Sessions-House must be endangered.That
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the said Gaol cannot be rendered healthy and commodious, without being built on a more extended
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Plan.
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They suggest further, That the Proportion of
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Middlesex
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Prisoners, to London Prisoners, is as Two
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is to One, and from thence contend that the Expence of rebuilding the said Gaol (which, according
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to their own Estimates, will amount to 40,000l.) should be borne by the City ad County in those
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Proportions.
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In Order to avert so heavy a Charge, and to prevent the entailing on themselves and Posterity, the
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heavy Burthen now attempted to be laid on them, the Inhabitants of the County of Midlesex think
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it incumbent on them to state the following Facts, submitting the Arguments deduced therefrom to
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the Judgment of candid and impartial Men.
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They say, that the Gaol of
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Newgate
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is supposed to have been originally built in the Reign of King
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HEN.I. or of K. STEPHEN, that is to say, between the Years 1100 and 1154, and that the same hath
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been under the sole Government of, and hath from Time to Time, sometimes by express Mandate
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from the King, as in the 6th Year of EDW. II. been rebuilt, repaired, altered and enlarged, by the
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Citizens of
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London
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; the Consequence whereof is, that they are bound Perpetually to repair it, and
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would be punishable at Law if they did not.
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That, supposing the Number of Prisoner yearly committed to the Gaol to be as great as is
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alledged, the County say, the Number is not greater now than it hath been for a Series of Years
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past, during which no Application to charge the County with any Expence attending Newgate hath
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ever been made: That County Prisoners are secured in that Prison is admitted, but that more than
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a few, compared with those who are confined in the Prisons of the County, and tried at the Hicks-
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Hall Sessions, are sent thither by the Justices, is absolutely denied. And how fallacious that Method
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of Estimation must be, which represents the Prisoners sent to Newgate by the County, as Two to
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One of the London Prisoners, will appear by the following State of Facts. The County have several
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Gaols, for the Delivery where of they hold, eight Times a Year Sessions, of their own; at those Ses-
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sions Petty Larcenies and Misdemeanors of all Kinds are tried, but the more atrocious Offences are
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tried at the
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Old Bailey
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; sometimes indeed Offenders of this latter Kind are committed, in the first
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Instance, to
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Newgate
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, where they remain till the
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Old Bailey
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Sessions begin, which likewise are held
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eight Times a Year; but these are not One in Fifty, and much oftener are they sent to
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New Prison
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,
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Bridewell
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, and the other Prisons of the County, and there they remain, till, in Pursuance of an Or-
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der of the
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Old Bailey
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Session, made in May 1726, doubtless for the Ease of the Court, they are from
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Time to Time removed Six Days before the Session begins, to be ready for Trial; and, after Trial,
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very few remain for any Length of Time in Newgate; Hence it appears that the City have the
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Custody of
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Middlesex
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prisoners, triable at the
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Old Bailey
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, for Six Days before, and during every
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Sessions, which very seldom hold a Week: Suppose then we estimate their Time of keeping County
<
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>
Prisoners at a Fortnight for each Sessions, it will follow that Four Months in the Year is the utmost
<
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</
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>
Time for which, with Truth, the City may be said to have the Custody of County Prisoners, unless
<
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>
sometimes, by Accident, a few may wait for Transportation. The Allegation of a Proportion of
<
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>
Two to One against the City, would lead a Stranger to the Belief that the County had no Gaols of
<
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</
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>
their own, and that, all the Year through, and without any Intermission, the Justices were sending
<
lb
>
</
lb
>
in Prisoners to
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Newgate
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, in the Proportion above-mentioned, and that the City keep them as long
<
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</
lb
>
as they do their own Prisoners: The Facts above stated are the Truth of the Case, and the Fallacy
<
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</
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>
of the City's Allegation is apparent.
</
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>
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Here
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"190"
>
(Lee ne 2nd. side person
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>
Note
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>
wh: is to be put here)
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