Hi Samp. The copyright of the photograph is certainly yours - but the right to reproduce photos of the sculptures lies with the sculptors. Because the Garden Festival was private land - the artworks were not in the public domain. A complicated legal position but correct (as I found to my cost - I withdrew two postcards rather than pay the rather silly amounts they were requesting as reproduction fees).Originally Posted by Samp
House of Correction (Gaol) Mount Pleasant.
This was on part of the site now occupied by Paddy's Wigwam.
It was built in 1776 (10 years before Great Howard Street).
From 1811 it was used as an asylum for pauper lunatics.
It was demolished in 1852 as the site was needed for an expansion of the Workhouse.
From my source and it's not HP.
The Sorrowful Lamentation was written in 1788 explaining why two Irishmen turned to crime and how they wish they hadn't. Written by themselves in Gaol.
The Sorrowful Lamentation - Their Execution
Here's the eye witness account of the two Irishmen's [poem above] execution outside the Tower, Water Street when it was the Borough Gaol:
"I recollect an execution taking place in front of the Tower, which created an immense sensation throughout the country. In March 1789, two men named Burns and Dowling, suffered the extreme penalty of the law for robbing the house of Mrs. Graham, which stood on Rose Hill. They broke into the lady’s dwelling, and acted with great ferocity. It was on the 23rd December previous; they entered the house, with two others, about seven o’clock in the morning. One stayed below, while the others went into the different rooms armed with pistols and knives, threatening the various members of the family with death if they made any alarm. They robbed some guests in the house of nineteen guineas, and some silver; and from Mrs. Graham they took bills to a large amount.
On the 7th January, following, Burns and Dowling were arrested at Bristol, in consequence of an anonymous letter sent to the mayor of that city, giving information of their being in the neighbourhood. They were on the point of embarking for Dublin, having several packages containing Mrs. Graham’s property on board the vessel, besides £1000 in Bills of Exchange. Dowling made a fierce resistance, and would have escaped, but was held by the leg by a dog belonging to one of the constables. Rose Hill at that time was quite in the suburbs, and was a very fashionable locality. The town was crowded with strangers from all parts to witness the execution of these villains. Men of the present day would be horror-struck at the number of executions that took place at that time in England. I recollect once when in London (I was only three days going there) seeing three men hanging at Newgate, while the coal waggoners were letting off their waggons as stages for spectators at twopence per head."
From Recollections of Old Liverpool which is free on the Gutenberg Press.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."... ... ... Mark Twain.
This is a wonderful little insight into how the Great Howard Street gaol worked.
From: Notes on a visit made to some of the prisons in Scotland and the north of England 1819
By Joseph John Gurney in company with Elizabeth Fry
"Liverpool Jail
The jail at Liverpool is very extensive, and was originally built for the use of the borough. At the breaking out of the war with France, it was hired by Government, as a depot for French prisoners, and continued to be so occupied until the peace of Amiens. About eight years ago it was again opened as a borough jail; but in the summer of 1817 one half of it was let to the county, as a house of correction. The prison may therefore now be considered as consisting of two departments:—the one, the county house of correction ; the other, the jail for Liverpool. Both are under the care of the same governor;
* Visited ninth month (Sept.) 23d, in company with Edward Falkner, Esq., John Moss, Esq., and James Hamer, clerk, who are all magistrates of the county, besides other gentlemen and ladies. ' ,
an individual truly zealous to promote, by every means in his power, the wellbeing of his prisoners. This prison was built upon the plan recommended by Howard ; and consists of the governor's house, and six other distinct and uniform buildings, diverging from that house as from a centre. In each of these six compartments there is the usual provision of day-rooms, sleeping-cells, and airing-grounds.
The sleeping-cells are too much crowded. In some of them, indeed, the prisoners sleep singly; but others are fitted up with barrack-bedsteads, which extend from wall to wall, and accommodate three persons. A straw mattress, a blanket, and two rugs are allowed for each bed.
There are in this prison a good infirmary and a commodious chapel, and both medical and clerical attendance is regularly given.
The diet of the prisoners is very similar to that in the house of correction at Preston; bread and gruel for breakfast and supper, and for dinner broth, and occasionally a small portion of beef with potatoes. A jail dress is allowed, and pains are taken to ensure the cleanliness both of the prison and its inmates.
Great efforts have been made by the magistrates for the improvement of that part of the prison, which is a house of correction for the county ; and these efforts have been directed chiefly to the two great points of instruction and employment. To promote the former of these objects, Dr. Bell's system has been adopted.—A schoolmaster attends the prison twice in the week, and the prisoners read the Scriptures every morning in classes. Each class is under the care of a monitor selected from amongst themselves. With regard to employment, notwithstanding the unaccommodating nature of the building, much has already been effected. Several workshops have been erected, and fitted up with looms. The women are occupied in picking cotton, washing, or mending; the boys in winding cotton; the men in weaving, carpentering, shoe-making, &c. Every prisoner is encouraged to pursue the handicraft to which he has been accustomed; and sharp tools, when necessary, are suffered to be used, without any evil results. When prisoners are treated with kindness and closely occupied, such instruments will seldom be found dangerous. The prisoners here are allowed one-fourth of their earnings, half of which proportion is paid to them weekly, and half laid up for them against the period of their discharge* The efforts which I have now described have produced very encouraging consequences; a great improvement has already taken place in the prisoners; and the governor assured us, that the management of them does not now entail upon him half the trouble, which it did before they were employed.
In the Borough jail, the old system of prison discipline is pursued without alteration or amendment. The prisoners are indeed tolerably well classified, the women being separated from the men, the tried from the untried, the misdemeanants from the felons; but all of them, with but little exception, are in a state of complete idleness ; nor has any plan been adopted for the instruction of the ignorant.
It is singular that two opposite systems should be thus pursued under the same superintendanee and in absolute contact with each other.
We were sorry to learn that there are some circumstances connected with a legal question between the borough and the county, which have hitherto prevented the employment of prisoners in this jail. But it may be hoped that the obstruction will soon be removed, and that the governor will be encouraged to introduce into the jail, those plans which have been found to produce so excellent an effect in the house of correction.
During our stay at Liverpool the magistrates kindly permitted us to form aCommittee of Ladies, who are now engaged in visiting and superintending the numerous females in this large prison. It was highly interesting to observe how much these unhappy women rejoiced in the prospect of being thus watched and protected; and with what ready eagerness they gave their voices in favour of all the regulations proposed to them by the Committee. I have since heard that the alteration for the better, which has already taken place amongst them, is very conspicuous.
A new county house of correction is about to be erected, on an excellent site, within two miles of Liverpool. The assiduity and enlightened views of the magistrates, to whom we were introduced, afford fair ground for the expectation, that great good will result from this important undertaking."
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