Millbank Penitentiary
Temple Bar
A famous gateway which stood before the Temple in Londonbuilt by the noted architect, Christopher Wren, in 1670.According to ancient custom when the sovereign wishes tovisit the City of London, he asks permission of the lordmayor to pass through this gateway into the city.
EDITION NATIONALE
Limited to one thousand registered and numbered sets.
NUMBER 307
INTRODUCTION
Millbank Prison stood for nearly a centuryupon the banks of the Thames between Westminsterand Vauxhall, a well-known gloomy pile by theriver side, with its dull exterior, black portals, andcurious towers. This once famous prison no longerattracts the wide attention of former days but thevery name contains in itself almost an epitome ofBritish penal legislation. With it one intimatelyassociates such men as John Howard and JeremyBentham; an architect of eminence superintendedits erection; while statesmen and high dignitaries,dukes, bishops, and members of Parliament were tobe found upon its committee of management, exercisinga control that was far from nominal or perfunctory,not disdaining a close consideration of theminutest details, and coming into intimate personalcommunion with the criminal inmates, whom, bypraise or admonition, they sought to reward or reprove.Its origin and the causes that brought itinto being; its object, and the success or failure ofthose who ruled it; its annals, and the curious incidentswith which they are filled,—these aretopics of much interest to the general reader.
At this distant time it is indeed interesting toobserve how thoroughly John Howard understoodthe subject to which he had devoted his life. In hisprepared plan for the erection of the prison he anticipatesexactly the method we are pursuing to-day,after more than a century of experience. “ThePenitentiary Houses,” he says, “I would have builtin a great measure by the convicts. I will supposethat a power is obtained from Parliament to employsuch of them as are now at work on the Thames,or some of those who are in the county gaols, undersentence of transportation, as may be thought mostexpedient. In the first place, let the surroundingwall, intended for full security against escapes, becompleted, and proper lodges for the gatekeepers.Let temporary buildings of the nature of barracksbe erected in some part of this enclosure which willbe wanted the least, till the whole is finished. Letone or two hundred men, with their proper keepers,and under the direction of the builder, be employedin levelling the ground, digging out the foundation,serving the masons, sawing the timber and ston