page_title: Statue of John Howard, Bedford
section_title: Subject
hierarchical_section_title: Statue of John Howard, Bedford / Subject
caption_attribution_description: Bronze statue of John Howard, the prison reformer, in Bedford, England. It is at the other end of the High Street to the statue of John Bunyan. It was erected in 1894, the sculptor was Alfred Gilbert (1854 - 1934).
context_page_description: The statue of John Howard, in St Pauls's Square, Bedford, is a bronze of John Howard, erected in 1890, the centenary of Howard's death. The statue is "clothed ... in the travelling dress of the time to denote he was a great traveller."
  It stands on an ornate plinth inscribed with his date of birth and death, and the date of the statue's erection. The plinth in turn sits on five octagonal stone steps, raising the total height of the monument to about 20 feet.
context_section_description: John Howard (1726–1790), born in North London (either Hackney or Enfield), was brought up in Cardington, Bedfordshire, where his father's property was.  In 1773 he became High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and, upon discovering the state of the prisons, began a lifelong work of reform, spending a large part of his wealth and a great deal of time travelling over 50,000 miles investigating and reporting on the conditions of prisons across Britain and later Europe.
  The House of Commons heard his evidence on several occasions.  In 1777 he published State of the Prisons in England and Wales, and an Account of some Foreign Prisons.  He died in 1790, camp fever while travelling in southern Russia.
  Howard was active in the non-conformist movement in Bedford and is also commemorated locally in Howard House, where he stayed, and in the Howard Chapel which, in 1772, he helped to found.
  The Howard League for Penal Reform is named after him.
caption: The statue more recently
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