Millbank Prison - Millbank, London, UK - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com you are not logged in. [log in] Millbank Prison - Millbank, London, UK - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com Welcome to Waymarking.com! We hope you've been able to find what you are looking for. We would also like to encourage you to take some time to browse some of the other aspects of our site. We recommend viewing our featured waymarks , or perhaps the newest waymarks . You can also create a free membership to track your progress online and share your locations with others. Click here to view the complete waymark directory N 51° 29.371 W 000° 07.644 30U E 699422 N 5708176 Quick Description: This bollard, on the sout east side of Millbank at Riverside Gardens, marks all that remains of Millbank Prison that was active from 1816 to 1890 and was used in the transportation of prisoners to Australia.

Location: London, United Kingdom Date Posted: 2/5/2015 2:18:30 AM Waymark Code: WMNB72 The plaque, attached to the bollard, tells us: London County Council Near this site stood Millbank prison which was opened in 1818 and closed in 1890. This buttress stood at the head of the river steps from which until 1867 prisoners sentenced to transportation embarked on their journey to Australia. The Open Buildings website tells us about Millbank Prison: Millbank Prison was a prison in Millbank, Pimlico, London that was used largely as a holding facility for people convicted of a crime who were being transported to Australia, a practice that ended in 1868. It was opened in 1816, designed according to principles laid down by the philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, and closed in 1890. In the prison's early years, sentences of five to ten years were offered as an alternative to transportation to those thought most likely to reform.

Later, it ceased to have a penitentiary function and became a holding centre for those awaiting transportation, or in the case of sick prisoners, removal to one of the " hulks," ships sitting offshore that were used to house prisoners. Every person sentenced to transportation was sent to Millbank first, where they were held for three months before it was decided where to send them. Around 4,000 people convicted of crimes were being transported annually from the UK as of 1850. Prisoners awaiting transportation were kept in solitary confinement and restricted to silence for the first half of their sentence. The National Gallery of British Art was built on the prison site in 1897, now called the Tate. A single buttress remains by the river with the inscription, "Near this site stood Millbank Prison which was opened in 1816 and closed in 1890. This buttress stood at the head of the river steps from which, until 1867, prisoners sentenced to transportation embarked on their journey to Australia." Design and population It was designed by William Williams in 1812 in accordance with the utilitarian principles laid down by Jeremy Bentham.

The Williams design was subsequently adapted by Thomas Hardwick who began the construction in the same year. Hardwick resigned soon after and John Harvey took up the role. He was dismissed in 1815 and Robert Smirke took over and completed the project in 1821, at a cost of â‚¤500,000. The first prisoners, all women, were admitted on 26 June 1816, the first men arriving in January 1817. By the end of 1817, the prison held 103 men and 109 women, and 452 men and 326 women by late 1822. Description In the Handbook of London in 1850 it was described as MILLBANK PRISON. A mass of brickwork equal to a fortress, on the left bank of the Thames, close to Vauxhall Bridge; erected on ground bought in 1799 of the Marquis of Salisbury, and established pursuant to 52 Geo. III., c.44, passed Aug 20th, 1812.

It was designed by Jeremy Bentham, to whom the fee-simple of the ground was conveyed, and is said to have cost the enormous sum of half a million sterling. The external walls form an irregular octagon, and enclose upwards of sixteen acres of land. Its ground-plan resembles a wheel, the governor's house occupying a circle in the centre, from which radiate six piles of building, terminating externally in towers. The ground on which it stands is raised but little above the river, and was at one time considered unhealthy. It was first named "The Penitentiary," or "Penitentiary House for London and Middlesex," and was called "The Millbank Prison" pursuant to 6 & 7 of Victoria, c.26. It is the largest prison in London. Every male and female convict sentenced to transportation in Great Britain is sent to Millbank previous to the sentence being executed. Here they remain about three months under the close inspection of the three inspectors of the prison, at the end of which time the inspectors report to the Home Secretary, and recommend the place of transportation. The number of persons in Great Britain and Ireland condemned to transportation every year amounts to about 4000.

So far the accommodation of the prison permits, the separate system is adopted. Admission to inspect - order from the Secretary for the Home Department, or the Inspector of Prisons. It was used for convicts until 1886 and demolished in 1890. On the site was built the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) in 1897; an army hospital which in 2006 was repurposed as the Chelsea College of Art & Design, and - using the original bricks of the former prison - a housing estate commissioned by the London County Council (LCC) between 1897 and 1902. Millbank Estate is now a TMO (tenant management organisation) and the 17 buildings, each named after one of Britain's best known painters, are Grade II listed. In Henry James's realist novel The Princess Casamassima (1886) the prison is the 'primal scene' of Hyacinth Robinson's life: the visit to his mother, dying in the infirmary, is described in chapter 3. James visited Millbank on 12 December 1884 to gain material.

The prison is also evocatively described in Sarah Waters' 1999 novel Affinity . Other remains The granite gate piers at the entrance of Purbeck House, High Street, Swanage in Dorset, and a granite bollard next to the gate, are believed by English Heritage to be from Millbank prison. Type of Historic Marker: Plaque on a bollard Historical Marker Issuing Authority: London County Council Millbank Prison | OpenBuildings Millbank Prison Our community will hail you amongst all others. Ontotext edited this building last References Wikipedia , licensed under the GFDL Suggestions View original size Report Millbank Prison was a prison in Millbank, Pimlico, London that was used largely as a holding facility for people convicted of a crime who were being transported to Australia, a practice that ended in 1868. It was opened in 1816, designed according to principles laid down by the philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, and closed in 1890. In the prison's early years, sentences of five to ten years were offered as an alternative to transportation to those thought most likely to reform.

Later, it ceased to have a penitentiary function and became a holding centre for those awaiting transportation, or in the case of sick prisoners, removal to one of the " hulks," ships sitting offshore that were used to house prisoners. Every person sentenced to transportation was sent to Millbank first, where they were held for three months before it was decided where to send them. Around 4,000 people convicted of crimes were being transported annually from the UK as of 1850. Prisoners awaiting transportation were kept in solitary confinement and restricted to silence for the first half of their sentence. The National Gallery of British Art was built on the prison site in 1897, now called the Tate. A single buttress remains by the river with the inscription, "Near this site stood Millbank Prison which was opened in 1816 and closed in 1890. This buttress stood at the head of the river steps from which, until 1867, prisoners sentenced to transportation embarked on their journey to Australia." Design and population It was designed by William Williams in 1812 in accordance with the utilitarian principles laid down by Jeremy Bentham.

The Williams design was subsequently adapted by Thomas Hardwick who began the construction in the same year. Hardwick resigned soon after and John Harvey took up the role. He was dismissed in 1815 and Robert Smirke took over and completed the project in 1821, at a cost of â‚¤500,000. The first prisoners, all women, were admitted on 26 June 1816, the first men arriving in January 1817. By the end of 1817, the prison held 103 men and 109 women, and 452 men and 326 women by late 1822. Description In the Handbook of London in 1850 it was described as MILLBANK PRISON. A mass of brickwork equal to a fortress, on the left bank of the Thames, close to Vauxhall Bridge; erected on ground bought in 1799 of the Marquis of Salisbury, and established pursuant to 52 Geo. III., c.44, passed Aug 20th, 1812.

It was designed by Jeremy Bentham, to whom the fee-simple of the ground was conveyed, and is said to have cost the enormous sum of half a million sterling. The external walls form an irregular octagon, and enclose upwards of sixteen acres of land. Its ground-plan resembles a wheel, the governor's house occupying a circle in the centre, from which radiate six piles of building, terminating externally in towers. The ground on which it stands is raised but little above the river, and was at one time considered unhealthy. It was first named "The Penitentiary," or "Penitentiary House for London and Middlesex," and was called "The Millbank Prison" pursuant to 6 & 7 of Victoria, c.26. It is the largest prison in London. Every male and female convict sentenced to transportation in Great Britain is sent to Millbank previous to the sentence being executed. Here they remain about three months under the close inspection of the three inspectors of the prison, at the end of which time the inspectors report to the Home Secretary, and recommend the place of transportation. The number of persons in Great Britain and Ireland condemned to transportation every year amounts to about 4000.

So far the accommodation of the prison permits, the separate system is adopted. Admission to inspect - order from the Secretary for the Home Department, or the Inspector of Prisons. It was used for convicts until 1886 and demolished in 1890. On the site was built the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) in 1897; an army hospital which in 2006 was repurposed as the Chelsea College of Art & Design, and - using the original bricks of the former prison - a housing estate commissioned by the London County Council (LCC) between 1897 and 1902. Millbank Estate is now a TMO (tenant management organisation) and the 17 buildings, each named after one of Britain's best known painters, are Grade II listed. In Henry James's realist novel The Princess Casamassima (1886) the prison is the 'primal scene' of Hyacinth Robinson's life: the visit to his mother, dying in the infirmary, is described in chapter 3. James visited Millbank on 12 December 1884 to gain material.

The prison is also evocatively described in Sarah Waters' 1999 novel Affinity . Other remains The granite gate piers at the entrance of Purbeck House, High Street, Swanage in Dorset, and a granite bollard next to the gate, are believed by English Heritage to be from Millbank prison. Long Lost Dread: The Millbank Penitentiary | View from the Mirror View from the Mirror March 26, 2015 Overlooking the river Thames on Millbank, the Tate Britain gallery enjoys a pleasant and relatively tranquil location. Tate Britain in 2015 It may come as some surprise therefore to learn that the site was once occupied by an altogether different building; a place of dread and great suffering known as the Millbank Penitentiary. Millbank Penitentiary in the 19th century By the 18th century, long term incarceration, hard labour and transportation to Australia were becoming increasingly popular punishments (as opposed to more traditional forms such as the stocks and public beatings).

The gaols and hulks (prison ships) however were ill equipped to deal with the increasing numbers of convicts and found themselves plagued by bad-management, overcrowding and brutality, the dire consequences of which led campaigners to push for reform. Overcrowding in Newgate Prison, 1735 Once such proponent of change was Jeremy Bentham, a forward thinking philosopher and social reformer who played a key role in founding London University, the institution which would go on to become today’s University College London. Jeremy Bentham by Henry Pickersgill Rather bizarrely, Bentham’s preserved body is kept on public display in the university to this day… click here to see a rather unsettling 360-degree view! Believing prisoners should be held in a safe, clean- albeit tough- environment, Jeremy Bentham drew up plans for a new type of gaol- the Panopticon; a circular prison in which cells are arranged around a single watch tower.

Plan of Bentham’s Panopticon, 1791 Taking its name from the Greek for ‘all seeing’ and described by Bentham as “a mill for grinding rogues honest,” the theory behind the Panopticon was that the constant surveillance of inmates would condition them to behave. How a prisoner’s cell would have looked out upon the Panopticon’s watchtower Looking to put his proposal into practice as Britain’s first national penitentiary, Bentham purchased a marshy patch of land by the Thames in 1799. The area was named ‘Millbank’- after a mill which once belonged to Westminster Abbey and stood on the site. Millbank c. 1800 (image: British History website) After numerous obstacles however Bentham’s scheme was abandoned and in 1812 a competition was held to find a new design. This was won by William Williams, a military man based at Sandhurst, whose idea was taken on by architect, Thomas Hardwick… who resigned in 1813. Hardwick was replaced by John Harvey… who was sacked in 1815.

Finally, the increasingly troublesome project was handed over to Robert Smirke, the architect who would later go onto design the British Museum. Robert Smirke, 1814 Being marshy, the prison’s chosen site presented many problems for builders when it came to setting foundations. Smirke tackled this by laying a large concrete raft into the sodden ground. Unsurprisingly, costs began to run high, finally totalling half a million pounds (approximately £17 million in today’s money). When it finally opened in June 1816 the Millbank Penitentiary was the largest prison in Britain. Forged from Scottish Collalo stone, the penitentiary was set out in a hexagonal shape encompassing six petal shaped wings, each three stories high and each containing five courtyards, all of which surrounded a single chapel in the centre. Contemporary plan of the Millbank Penitentiary If this layout sounds confusing, then that’s because it was- even the guards struggled to navigate their way around the grim labyrinth.

A revealing description of the penitentiary was printed in the Penny Illustrated Paper in October 1865: “If the ground-plan of the building at Millbank is a geometrical puzzle, the interior is assuredly an eccentric maze. Long, dark and narrow corridors and twisting passages, in which the visitor unaccustomed to the dubious twilight has to feel his way; double-locked doors opening at all sorts of queer angles, and leading sometimes into blind entries and frequently to the stone staircases… so steep and narrow are not unlike the devious steps by which the traveller reaches the towers of Strasbourg and some other cathedrals, except that they are even more gloomy.” Steps inside Strasbourg Cathedral, which were said to resemble those within the Millbank Penitentiary (image: Midnight Cafe) The first group of prisoners to enter the Millbank Penitentiary were all female, the first male contingent arriving seven months later in January 1817. Although sentenced to transportation, these convicts were considered capable of redemption and had therefore been offered jail sentences of 5 to 10 years in lieu of banishment to Australia’s Botany Bay.

Millbank Penitentiary in the 1820s In hindsight however those sent to Millbank may have wished they’d been shipped to Oz after all. Conditions in the newly built complex were atrocious, with minimal rations of bread and water, a mere five minutes of exercise per day and the formation of “jealous cabals” amongst the wardens which encouraged a “system of malicious tale bearing.” A prisoner in his cell… Worse was to come though, with regular outbreaks of cholera, malaria, dysentery and scurvy thriving within the poorly sanitised gaol. The Morning Chronicle gave a damming report of conditions in July 1823: “The two chief sources of disease, incident to man, are marsh-miasmata and human effluvia. In the Penitentiary these sources are not only combined but concentrated. It is seated in a marsh, beneath the bed of the river, through which the vapours from stagnant water are constantly exhaling. The effluvia from the mass of human beings confined within its walls cannot dissipate from deficient ventilation.

These causes operating upon a crown of persons, whose minds are depressed by the prospect of lingering confinement, cannot fail to produce all the disease which take place in the Lazar-house; scrophula, scurvy, prostration of strength, and fever of the worse description. To these sources of disease must be added the malaria from the muddy banks of the river, which renders the whole vicinity unhealthy… There is but one remedy- to place as much gun powder under the foundation as may suffice to blow the whole fabric into the air. Whether it would be an act of humanity, previously to the removal of the prisoners, may be a fit subject for discussion by those sapient persons who first sanctioned the erection of such a structure on such a site.” Others dubbed the prison “an English Bastille” and noted that Jeremy Bentham would have been horrified by the monstrous design which had replaced his original, forward thinking vision. ‘Convict Life at Millbank Penitentiary’ , 1865 (image: Penny Illustrated News) The awful conditions within the Millbank Penitentiary are illustrated by the death of an inmate called Henry Harror, a 24 year old who’d been imprisoned for stealing a horse.

In a report, Henry’s body was described as “a skeleton presenting nothing but skin and bone.” Millbank Penitentiary’s allotment and burial ground, 1860s * As well as disease, stench and hunger, prisoners were expected to remain silent at all times, and those breaking the rules could expect solitary confinement, shackling or whipping- although this fierce reprimand was reserved for those committing offences of “exceptional violence and brutality.” The ‘Chain Room’ at Millbank… (image: Victorian London.org) Considering these conditions it’s perhaps no surprise that numerous escape attempts were made – such as two “notorious fellows”, Meggs and Carey who succeeded in fleeing after leaving dummies- complete with nightcaps- tucked in their beds. Dummy head… this one was used in the 1962 breakout from Alcatraz in the USA. Clearly a vital tool for inmates looking to escape! After crawling through a ventilation hatch, scaling the wall and donning soldier’s uniforms, the pair managed to flag down a hansom cab which whisked them away. Despite their efforts however the two fugitives were quickly recaptured the following day on Britannia Street near King’s Cross.

* By May 1843 the prison had sunk into such degradation that Parliament decided the facility was no longer fit for holding inmates long-term. The ‘model prison’ role was taken over by Pentonville which had opened on Caledonian Road in 1842, leaving the Millbank Penitentiary to be demoted to a “general depot for all convicts”; a holding facility in which those sentenced to transportation were held (usually for three months) until a place became available on one of the dreaded prison ships bound for the Australian penal colony. Caged convicts on a ship bound for Australia. The average journey time to the penal colony was 102 days One of the first send-offs in early 1844 was described in the London Illustrated News: “A large number of convicts, under sentence of transportation were removed from the Millbank prison and placed on board the Blundell and the London transport ships… the London (a fine vessel of 700 tons burden) takes out 250 of the lighter class of offenders, and is bound for Hobart Town.

The Blundell carries 210 of the worse class, her destination being the penal settlement of Norfolk Island.” * Two years after the prison’s switchover to transportation duties, the nearby Morpeth Arms pub opened next door, mainly for the refreshment of the prison’s wardens. The Morpeth Arms (image: Google) The pub survives today and legend has it that a network of vaults beneath the building are the remains of an old service tunnel (haunted by a former inmate, naturally), used to escort prisoners from the gaol to the riverbank for their departure. Tunnel beneath the Morpeth Arms (image: Morpeth Arms website) Some believe prisoners nicknamed this procedure “going down under” which in turn led to the popular colloquial term for Australia. Although other sources suggest prisoners were marched above ground via the prison’s main gate, thus making Millbank the last piece of British soil convicts would be in contact with.

It is also said another Aussie slang term; ‘pom’ is an abbreviation of ‘Prisoner of Millbank’… P.O.M ‘Prisoner of Millbank…’ The uniform worn by those held in the Millbank Penitentiary was “rust brown” in colour with a purple stripe * Transportation continued until the late 1860s by which point around 162,000 men and women had been sent to Australia. Convicts bound for Botany Bay, 1794 Today, a bollard used to moor boats which would transfer convicts downstream to the awaiting, larger prison ships at Woolwich Arsenal can still be spotted beside the Thames, just across from Tate Britain. The Millbank bollard, a small reminder of the former prison * Once transportation ceased in 1867 the Millbank Penitentiary reverted to being a regular gaol and then, in 1870 a military prison. During this period, one of the inmates was Michael Davitt, an Irish Republican prisoner who wound up in Millbank as a young man.

He described hearing the chimes at Westminster; the Houses of Parliament being a short distance away: “Westminster Clock is not far distant from the penitentiary, so that its every stroke is as distinctly heard in each cell as if it were situated in one of the prison yards… day and night it chimes…and those solemn tones stroke on the ears of the lonely listeners like the voice of some monster spirit singing the funeral dirge of Time…” Contemporary sketch of the Thames showing the proximity of Millbank Penitentiary to the Houses of Parliament * The Millbank Penitentiary finally closed in 1890 and the lengthy demolition process commenced two years later. In 1899 whilst the prison was still being flattened, sugar magnate, Sir Henry Tate donated his collection of 65 paintings to the government along with a donation of £80,000 for the construction of a gallery in which to house them.

Sir Henry Tate by Sir Hubert von Herkomer, 1897 (image: Tate Britian) Despite “not being near South Kensington” and understandable fears about the dampness which had plagued the prison, the large, vacant Millbank site was chosen for the construction of the National Gallery of British Art– which we now know as Tate Britain. The Tate Gallery in the 1950s (image: London Illustrated News) The gallery opened in 1897 and the remaining vacant land became home to a housing estate, the Chelsea College of Art and Design and the former Royal Army Medical School. * Today, the angled street layout surrounding Tate Britain gives some idea as to where the Millbank Penitentiary once stood. Site of the former prison today (image: Google) A perimeter trench which once surrounded the prison (and which would’ve been filled with stagnant water) can still be seen alongside Willkie House on Cureton Street– it is now used for drying laundry and growing vegetables. The Cureton Street trench, leftover from the prison Over the years, excavations have also turned up other remnants.

In 1959 a metal object was located 14ft down, although engineers were not sure whether it was an unexploded bomb or a heavy prison door… it may indeed still be buried down there. Bomb detection equipment at Millbank, 1959 (image: London Illustrated News) In the 1980s when the gallery’s Clore wing was being built, remains of underground cells were found. Further building works in the late 1990s discovered old wall foundations and evidence of the concrete raft originally laid down by Smirke to combat the marshy land. A rare photograph of the now vanished Millbank Penitentiary, taken from a balloon in the late 19th century *** MILLBANK PRISON : definition of MILLBANK PRISON and synonyms of MILLBANK PRISON (English) Design and construction Plan of Millbank Prison. The site at Millbank was originally purchased in 1799 on behalf of the Crown by the philosopher Jeremy Bentham , for the erection of his Panopticon prison as Britain's new National Penitentiary. After various vicissitudes, the Panopticon plan was abandoned in 1812.

An architectural competition was then held for a new Penitentiary design. It attracted 43 entrants, the winner being William Williams, drawing master at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst . Williams' basic design was adapted by a practising architect, Thomas Hardwick , who began construction in the same year. Hardwick resigned in 1813, and John Harvey took over the role. Harvey was dismissed in turn in 1815, and replaced by Robert Smirke , who brought the project to completion in 1821. [1] The marshy site on which the prison stood meant that the builders experienced problems of subsidence from the outset (and explains the succession of architects). Smirke finally resolved the difficulty by introducing a highly innovative concrete raft to provide a secure foundation. However, this added considerably to the construction costs, which eventually totalled £500,000, more than twice the original estimate. History The first prisoners, all women, were admitted on 26 June 1816, the first men arriving in January 1817.

The prison held 103 men and 109 women by the end of 1817, and 452 men and 326 women by late 1822. Sentences of five to ten years in the National Penitentiary were offered as an alternative to transportation to those thought most likely to reform. In addition to the problems of construction, the marshy site fostered disease, to which the prisoners had little immunity owing to their extremely poor diet. In 1822-3 an epidemic swept through the prison, which seems to have comprised a mixture of dysentery, scurvy, depression and other disorders. The decision was eventually taken to evacuate the buildings for several months: the female prisoners were released, and the male prisoners temporarily transferred to the prison hulks at Woolwich (where their health improved). The design also turned out to be unsatisfactory. The network of corridors was so labyrinthine that even the warders got lost; and the ventilation system allowed sound to carry, so that prisoners could communicate between cells. The annual running costs turned out to be an unsupportable £16,000.

In view of these problems, the decision was eventually taken to build a new 'model prison' at Pentonville , which opened in 1842 and took over Millbank's role as the National Penitentiary. By an Act of Parliament of 1843, Millbank's status was downgraded, and it became a holding depot for convicts prior to transportation. Every person sentenced to transportation was sent to Millbank first, where they were held for three months before their final destination was decided. By 1850, around 4,000 people convicted of crimes were being transported annually from the UK. [1] Prisoners awaiting transportation were kept in solitary confinement and restricted to silence for the first half of their sentence. Large-scale transportation ended in 1853 (although the practice continued on a reduced scale until 1867); and Millbank then became an ordinary local prison, and from 1870 a military prison. By 1886 it had ceased to hold inmates, and it closed in 1890. [2] Demolition began in 1892, and continued sporadically until 1903.

Description This 1867 map shows the form and location of the prison. The plan of the prison comprised a circular chapel at the centre of the site, surrounded by a three-storey hexagon made up of the governor's quarters, administrative offices and laundries, surrounded in turn by six pentagons of cell blocks. The buildings of each pentagon were set around a cluster of five courtyards (with a watchtower at the centre) used as airing-yards, and in which prisoners undertook labour. [3] The three outer angles of each pentagon were distinguished by tall circular towers, described in 1862 as " Martello -like", and which served in part as watchtowers , but the primary purpose of which was to contain staircases and water-closets . [4] [5] The third and fourth pentagons (those to the north-west, furthest from the entrance) were used to house female prisoners, and the remaining four for male prisoners. In the Handbook of London in 1850 the prison was described as follows: MILLBANK PRISON.

A mass of brickwork equal to a fortress, on the left bank of the Thames , close to Vauxhall Bridge ; erected on ground bought in 1799 of the Marquis of Salisbury, and established pursuant to 52 Geo. III., c.44, passed Aug 20th, 1812. It was designed by Jeremy Bentham [factually incorrect], to whom the fee-simple of the ground was conveyed, and is said to have cost the enormous sum of half a million sterling. The external walls form an irregular octagon, and enclose upwards of sixteen acres of land. Its ground-plan resembles a wheel, the governor's house occupying a circle in the centre, from which radiate six piles of building, terminating externally in towers. The ground on which it stands is raised but little above the river, and was at one time considered unhealthy. It was first named "The Penitentiary," or "Penitentiary House for London and Middlesex," and was called "The Millbank Prison" pursuant to 6 & 7 of Victoria, c.26. It is the largest prison in London.

Every male and female convict sentenced to transportation in Great Britain is sent to Millbank previous to the sentence being executed. Here they remain about three months under the close inspection of the three inspectors of the prison, at the end of which time the inspectors report to the Home Secretary, and recommend the place of transportation. The number of persons in Great Britain and Ireland condemned to transportation every year amounts to about 4000. So far the accommodation of the prison permits, the separate system is adopted. Admission to inspect – order from the Secretary for the Home Department, or the Inspector of Prisons. Each cell had a single window (looking into the pentagon courtyard), and was equipped with a washing tub, a wooden stool, a hammock and bedding, and books including a Bible, a prayer-book, a hymn-book, an arithmetic-book, a work entitled Home and Common Things, and publications of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge . [4] 'Westminster Clock is not far distant from the penitentiary , so that its every stroke is as distinctly heard in each cell as if it were situated in one of the prison yards.

At each quarter of an hour, day and night it chimes a bar of the "Old Hundredth" and those solemn tones strike on the ears of the lonely listeners like the voice of some monster spirit singing the funeral dirge of Time.' [6] Later development of the site As the prison was progressively demolished its site was redeveloped. The principal new buildings erected were the National Gallery of British Art (now Tate Britain ), which opened in 1897; the Royal Army Medical School, the buildings of which were adapted in 2005 to become the Chelsea College of Art & Design ; and – using the original bricks of the prison – a housing estate built by the London County Council (LCC) between 1897 and 1902. Millbank Estate is now a TMO (tenant management organisation) and the 17 buildings, each named after one of Britain's best known painters, are Grade II listed. Remaining bollard. Remains of the prison A large circular bollard stands by the river with the inscription: "Near this site stood Millbank Prison which was opened in 1816 and closed in 1890.

This buttress stood at the head of the river steps from which, until 1867, prisoners sentenced to transportation embarked on their journey to Australia." Surviving perimeter ditch. Part of the perimeter ditch of the prison survives running between Cureton Street and John Islip Street: it is now used as a clothes-drying area for residents of Wilkie House. The granite gate piers at the entrance of Purbeck House, High Street, Swanage in Dorset, and a granite bollard next to the gate, are believed by English Heritage to be from Millbank prison. [7] Archaeological investigations in the late 1990s and early 2000s on the sites of Chelsea College of Art and Design and Tate Britain recorded significant remains of the foundations of the external pentagon walls of the prison, of parts of the inner hexagon, of two of the courtyard watchtowers, of drainage culverts , and of Smirke's concrete raft.

[8] [9] Cultural references In Henry James 's realist novel The Princess Casamassima (1886) the prison is the "primal scene" of Hyacinth Robinson's life: the visit to his mother, dying in the infirmary, is described in chapter 3. James visited Millbank on 12 December 1884 to gain material. [10] The prison is also evocatively described in Sarah Waters ' 1999 novel Affinity . Charles Dickens describes the prison in Chapter 52 (Obstinacy) of his novel Bleak House. One of the characters is put into custody there and several other characters go there to visit him. One of the two narrators of the book - Esther - who is narrating the chapter gives a brief description of the layout. See also ^ National Monuments Record , English Heritage, accessed September 22, 2009. ^ Edwards 2007. ^ Edwards 2010. ^ Henry James letters, edited by Leon Edel, Vol.

3: 1883-1895, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; London: Macmillan, 1980, page 61. Bibliography Brodie, Allan; Croom, Jane; Davies, James O. (2002). English Prisons: an architectural history. Swindon: English Heritage. ISBN 1-873592-53-1 . Edwards, Catherine (2007). "The Millbank Penitentiary: excavations at the The Chelsea School of Art and Design". London Archaeologist 11.7: 177–83. Edwards, Catherine (2010). "The Millbank Penitentiary: excavations at the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain), City of Westminster". Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society 61: 157–74. Griffiths, Arthur George Frederick (1875). Memorials of Millbank, and Chapters in Prison History. 2 vols,. London: Beccles. (2 vols.) Holford, George Peter (1828).

An Account of the General Penitentiary at Millbank. London. Mayhew, Henry ; Binny, John (1862). The Criminal Prisons of London and Scenes of Prison Life. London. (Chapter 5). Thurley, Simon (2004). Lost Buildings of Britain. London: Viking. ISBN 0-670-91521-1 . External links Millbank Penitentiary | View from the Mirror View from the Mirror Overlooking the river Thames on Millbank, the Tate Britain gallery enjoys a pleasant and relatively tranquil location. Tate Britain in 2015 It may come as some surprise therefore to learn that the site was once occupied by an altogether different building; a place of dread and great suffering known as the Millbank Penitentiary. Millbank Penitentiary in the 19th century By the 18th century, long term incarceration, hard labour and transportation to Australia were becoming increasingly popular punishments (as opposed to more traditional forms such as the stocks and public beatings).

The gaols and hulks (prison ships) however were ill equipped to deal with the increasing numbers of convicts and found themselves plagued by bad-management, overcrowding and brutality, the dire consequences of which led campaigners to push for reform. Overcrowding in Newgate Prison, 1735 Once such proponent of change was Jeremy Bentham, a forward thinking philosopher and social reformer who played a key role in founding London University, the institution which would go on to become today’s University College London. Jeremy Bentham by Henry Pickersgill Rather bizarrely, Bentham’s preserved body is kept on public display in the university to this day… click here to see a rather unsettling 360-degree view! Believing prisoners should be held in a safe, clean- albeit tough- environment, Jeremy Bentham drew up plans for a new type of gaol- the Panopticon; a circular prison in which cells are arranged around a single watch tower.

Plan of Bentham’s Panopticon, 1791 Taking its name from the Greek for ‘all seeing’ and described by Bentham as “a mill for grinding rogues honest,” the theory behind the Panopticon was that the constant surveillance of inmates would condition them to behave. How a prisoner’s cell would have looked out upon the Panopticon’s watchtower Looking to put his proposal into practice as Britain’s first national penitentiary, Bentham purchased a marshy patch of land by the Thames in 1799. The area was named ‘Millbank’- after a mill which once belonged to Westminster Abbey and stood on the site. Millbank c. 1800 (image: British History website) After numerous obstacles however Bentham’s scheme was abandoned and in 1812 a competition was held to find a new design. This was won by William Williams, a military man based at Sandhurst, whose idea was taken on by architect, Thomas Hardwick… who resigned in 1813. Hardwick was replaced by John Harvey… who was sacked in 1815.

Finally, the increasingly troublesome project was handed over to Robert Smirke, the architect who would later go onto design the British Museum. Robert Smirke, 1814 Being marshy, the prison’s chosen site presented many problems for builders when it came to setting foundations. Smirke tackled this by laying a large concrete raft into the sodden ground. Unsurprisingly, costs began to run high, finally totalling half a million pounds (approximately £17 million in today’s money). When it finally opened in June 1816 the Millbank Penitentiary was the largest prison in Britain. Forged from Scottish Collalo stone, the penitentiary was set out in a hexagonal shape encompassing six petal shaped wings, each three stories high and each containing five courtyards, all of which surrounded a single chapel in the centre. Contemporary plan of the Millbank Penitentiary If this layout sounds confusing, then that’s because it was- even the guards struggled to navigate their way around the grim labyrinth.

A revealing description of the penitentiary was printed in the Penny Illustrated Paper in October 1865: “If the ground-plan of the building at Millbank is a geometrical puzzle, the interior is assuredly an eccentric maze. Long, dark and narrow corridors and twisting passages, in which the visitor unaccustomed to the dubious twilight has to feel his way; double-locked doors opening at all sorts of queer angles, and leading sometimes into blind entries and frequently to the stone staircases… so steep and narrow are not unlike the devious steps by which the traveller reaches the towers of Strasbourg and some other cathedrals, except that they are even more gloomy.” Steps inside Strasbourg Cathedral, which were said to resemble those within the Millbank Penitentiary (image: Midnight Cafe) The first group of prisoners to enter the Millbank Penitentiary were all female, the first male contingent arriving seven months later in January 1817. Although sentenced to transportation, these convicts were considered capable of redemption and had therefore been offered jail sentences of 5 to 10 years in lieu of banishment to Australia’s Botany Bay.

Millbank Penitentiary in the 1820s In hindsight however those sent to Millbank may have wished they’d been shipped to Oz after all. Conditions in the newly built complex were atrocious, with minimal rations of bread and water, a mere five minutes of exercise per day and the formation of “jealous cabals” amongst the wardens which encouraged a “system of malicious tale bearing.” A prisoner in his cell… Worse was to come though, with regular outbreaks of cholera, malaria, dysentery and scurvy thriving within the poorly sanitised gaol. The Morning Chronicle gave a damming report of conditions in July 1823: “The two chief sources of disease, incident to man, are marsh-miasmata and human effluvia. In the Penitentiary these sources are not only combined but concentrated. It is seated in a marsh, beneath the bed of the river, through which the vapours from stagnant water are constantly exhaling. The effluvia from the mass of human beings confined within its walls cannot dissipate from deficient ventilation.

These causes operating upon a crown of persons, whose minds are depressed by the prospect of lingering confinement, cannot fail to produce all the disease which take place in the Lazar-house; scrophula, scurvy, prostration of strength, and fever of the worse description. To these sources of disease must be added the malaria from the muddy banks of the river, which renders the whole vicinity unhealthy… There is but one remedy- to place as much gun powder under the foundation as may suffice to blow the whole fabric into the air. Whether it would be an act of humanity, previously to the removal of the prisoners, may be a fit subject for discussion by those sapient persons who first sanctioned the erection of such a structure on such a site.” Others dubbed the prison “an English Bastille” and noted that Jeremy Bentham would have been horrified by the monstrous design which had replaced his original, forward thinking vision. ‘Convict Life at Millbank Penitentiary’ , 1865 (image: Penny Illustrated News) The awful conditions within the Millbank Penitentiary are illustrated by the death of an inmate called Henry Harror, a 24 year old who’d been imprisoned for stealing a horse.

In a report, Henry’s body was described as “a skeleton presenting nothing but skin and bone.” Millbank Penitentiary’s allotment and burial ground, 1860s * As well as disease, stench and hunger, prisoners were expected to remain silent at all times, and those breaking the rules could expect solitary confinement, shackling or whipping- although this fierce reprimand was reserved for those committing offences of “exceptional violence and brutality.” The ‘Chain Room’ at Millbank… (image: Victorian London.org) Considering these conditions it’s perhaps no surprise that numerous escape attempts were made – such as two “notorious fellows”, Meggs and Carey who succeeded in fleeing after leaving dummies- complete with nightcaps- tucked in their beds. Dummy head… this one was used in the 1962 breakout from Alcatraz in the USA. Clearly a vital tool for inmates looking to escape! After crawling through a ventilation hatch, scaling the wall and donning soldier’s uniforms, the pair managed to flag down a hansom cab which whisked them away. Despite their efforts however the two fugitives were quickly recaptured the following day on Britannia Street near King’s Cross.

* By May 1843 the prison had sunk into such degradation that Parliament decided the facility was no longer fit for holding inmates long-term. The ‘model prison’ role was taken over by Pentonville which had opened on Caledonian Road in 1842, leaving the Millbank Penitentiary to be demoted to a “general depot for all convicts”; a holding facility in which those sentenced to transportation were held (usually for three months) until a place became available on one of the dreaded prison ships bound for the Australian penal colony. Caged convicts on a ship bound for Australia. The average journey time to the penal colony was 102 days One of the first send-offs in early 1844 was described in the London Illustrated News: “A large number of convicts, under sentence of transportation were removed from the Millbank prison and placed on board the Blundell and the London transport ships… the London (a fine vessel of 700 tons burden) takes out 250 of the lighter class of offenders, and is bound for Hobart Town.

The Blundell carries 210 of the worse class, her destination being the penal settlement of Norfolk Island.” * Two years after the prison’s switchover to transportation duties, the nearby Morpeth Arms pub opened next door, mainly for the refreshment of the prison’s wardens. The Morpeth Arms (image: Google) The pub survives today and legend has it that a network of vaults beneath the building are the remains of an old service tunnel (haunted by a former inmate, naturally), used to escort prisoners from the gaol to the riverbank for their departure. Tunnel beneath the Morpeth Arms (image: Morpeth Arms website) Some believe prisoners nicknamed this procedure “going down under” which in turn led to the popular colloquial term for Australia. Although other sources suggest prisoners were marched above ground via the prison’s main gate, thus making Millbank the last piece of British soil convicts would be in contact with.

It is also said another Aussie slang term; ‘pom’ is an abbreviation of ‘Prisoner of Millbank’… P.O.M ‘Prisoner of Millbank…’ The uniform worn by those held in the Millbank Penitentiary was “rust brown” in colour with a purple stripe * Transportation continued until the late 1860s by which point around 162,000 men and women had been sent to Australia. Convicts bound for Botany Bay, 1794 Today, a bollard used to moor boats which would transfer convicts downstream to the awaiting, larger prison ships at Woolwich Arsenal can still be spotted beside the Thames, just across from Tate Britain. The Millbank bollard, a small reminder of the former prison * Once transportation ceased in 1867 the Millbank Penitentiary reverted to being a regular gaol and then, in 1870 a military prison. During this period, one of the inmates was Michael Davitt, an Irish Republican prisoner who wound up in Millbank as a young man.

He described hearing the chimes at Westminster; the Houses of Parliament being a short distance away: “Westminster Clock is not far distant from the penitentiary, so that its every stroke is as distinctly heard in each cell as if it were situated in one of the prison yards… day and night it chimes…and those solemn tones stroke on the ears of the lonely listeners like the voice of some monster spirit singing the funeral dirge of Time…” Contemporary sketch of the Thames showing the proximity of Millbank Penitentiary to the Houses of Parliament * The Millbank Penitentiary finally closed in 1890 and the lengthy demolition process commenced two years later. In 1899 whilst the prison was still being flattened, sugar magnate, Sir Henry Tate donated his collection of 65 paintings to the government along with a donation of £80,000 for the construction of a gallery in which to house them.

Sir Henry Tate by Sir Hubert von Herkomer, 1897 (image: Tate Britian) Despite “not being near South Kensington” and understandable fears about the dampness which had plagued the prison, the large, vacant Millbank site was chosen for the construction of the National Gallery of British Art– which we now know as Tate Britain. The Tate Gallery in the 1950s (image: London Illustrated News) The gallery opened in 1897 and the remaining vacant land became home to a housing estate, the Chelsea College of Art and Design and the former Royal Army Medical School. * Today, the angled street layout surrounding Tate Britain gives some idea as to where the Millbank Penitentiary once stood. Site of the former prison today (image: Google) A perimeter trench which once surrounded the prison (and which would’ve been filled with stagnant water) can still be seen alongside Willkie House on Cureton Street– it is now used for drying laundry and growing vegetables. The Cureton Street trench, leftover from the prison Over the years, excavations have also turned up other remnants.

In 1959 a metal object was located 14ft down, although engineers were not sure whether it was an unexploded bomb or a heavy prison door… it may indeed still be buried down there. Bomb detection equipment at Millbank, 1959 (image: London Illustrated News) In the 1980s when the gallery’s Clore wing was being built, remains of underground cells were found. Further building works in the late 1990s discovered old wall foundations and evidence of the concrete raft originally laid down by Smirke to combat the marshy land. A rare photograph of the now vanished Millbank Penitentiary, taken from a balloon in the late 19th century *** Sentencing to Departure - Prison Hulks & Convict Gaols - Victorian Crime and Punishment from E2BN Sentencing to Departure - Prison Hulks & Convict Gaols Sentencing to Departure - Prison Hulks & Convict Gaols Prison Hulk The sentence of transportation was usually carried out in three parts. Prisoners started their sentence in the local gaol, followed by a period in a convict gaol or on the prison hulks before finally being transported.

After Sentencing It was normal for prisoners under sentence of transportation to spend the first part of their sentence in the prison where they had awaited trial, usually in solitary confinement. They stayed there until the secretary of state ordered their removal to a convict facility. Prisoners arrived at the convict facility with their 'caption papers' (Which stated the offence, the date of conviction and length of sentence). In the early 19th century, most prisoners awaiting transportation were sent to the ' hulks' in London before being assigned to a convict ship and leaving England. The hulks The hulks were old navy ships, anchored along the banks of the Thames and at ports such as Portsmouth and Plymouth. As the prison population increased, it was decided to use them as gaols. Parliament authorised their use for a two year period in 1776; they continued to house prisoners for 82 years! The conditions on the ships were terrible, especially in the early days, and far worse than in the prisons. The standards of hygiene were so poor that outbreaks of disease spread quickly. Typhoid and cholera were common and there was a high death rate amongst the prisoners.

In the day time the Convicts were put to hard labour on the docks or dredging the Thames. At night the prisoners were chained to their bunks to prevent them escaping ashore. Convicts could be punished for crimes on board by being placed in heavy irons or flogging. Even though conditions slowly improved, they were still worse than in the prisons. In later years some prisoners carried out their whole sentences on the hulks in England, instead of being transported. Convict Gaols Lobbying over the poor conditions on convict hulks continued long after transportation to Australia began and, as a result, Millbank prison was eventually built in 1816 next to the Thames River in London. The prison was run using the 'separate system' where prisoners were kept in isolation. The building layout was in the form of a six pointed star round a central core which made it the appear that the prisoners were under constant surveillance. At this time it was the largest gaol in England and could confine 1200 convicts in separate cells. Many convicts (male and female) spent part of their sentence here before being transported. Every prisoner had religious instruction.

They would be put to work, turning the crank, picking oakum (picking apart old tarred rope), making shoes or stitching mail bags. Although clean and ventilated, it was still very damp and unhealthy due to its locality. Fatal outbreaks of cholera occurred. Unfortunately, due to its management regime and architectural design (3 miles of passageways!), it was thought to be unsuccessful and was closed in 1890. Reformist pressure and objections by colonists to transported convicts continued and led to the development of further 'model' penitentiaries, including Pentonville, Portland (1848), Dartmoor (1850) they adopted colonial type labour regimes (Pointless hard work in order to earn food).

Question: Millbank Prison, which closed in 1890, was located near which English river?
Answer: River Thames