The Fleet. Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages 30

The Fleet. Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages 30

And the amount of the debt and costs for which each party was so

charged varied from £2 to £18,017.

 

I look in vain in the _Times_ for the paragraph to which the Warden

alludes in the following letter:

 

"The Warden presents his compliments to the Editor of the

_Times_, and begs to state, that a paragraph having appeared in

the paper of this morning, stating that the Fleet Prison is very

full, and that a guinea and a half a week is paid for a single

room, and that four, five, and six persons are obliged to live

in a small apartment.

 

"The Warden, not being aware of this, should it in any case

exist, and which is contrary to the established regulations

against any person so offending, the prison not being so full as

in former years, there being considerably less, on an average,

than two prisoners to each Room, and being also exceedingly

healthy.

 

"The Warden has also to add, that the rest of the paragraph

relating to the Fleet is totally without foundation.

 

"Fleet Prison, March 7, 1836."

 

In the outside sheet of the _Times_, February 21, 1838, occurs the

following advertisement: "ONE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.--Escape.--ESCAPED

from the Fleet Prison, on the evening of Wednesday the 14th day of

February instant. ALFRED MORRIS, late of 22 Dean Street, Tooley Street,

Southwark. The said Alfred Morris is about 30 years of Age, about 5

feet 6 inches high, dark complexion, and of a Jewish Caste, prominent

Nose, somewhat flat pointed, dark, irregular whiskers, stout figure,

and rather bow legged," &c., &c.

 

Anent this escape, the _Times_ of February 16th has a paragraph such

as we can hardly imagine ever could have appeared in a paper so steady

and sober, as the _Times_ now is: "THE WARDEN OF THE FLEET--(From a

Correspondent). Yesterday a gentleman of some misfortune and of great

appearance, for he wore a wig, moustaches, and a Spanish Cloak, was

introduced as an inmate of Brown's Hotel, so called from the Warden

having a license to sell wines, beer, and ale to his prisoners,

through the 'patent never ending always improving Juddery spigot and

fawcet tap,' &c. In about half an hour the said bewhiskered gentleman

leaves cloak, wig, and moustaches in the room of a Mister Abrahams,

a prisoner, and walks quietly out, very politely bidding the turnkey

'good morning.' At night the excellent crier of the Prison, Mr. Ellis,

made the galleries echo, and the rooms re-echo, with his sometimes very

cheering voice (when he announces to those who wish such things as a

discharge, for it is not all who do), in calling, _altissimo voce_,

'Mr. Alfred Morrison! Mr. Alfred Morrison! Mr. Alfred Morrison!' but as

no Mr. Alfred Morrison answered to the interesting call, every room was

searched in the due performance of the crier's duty, but no Mr. Alfred

Morrison was to be found. And the Worthy and excellent warder, the

keeper of so many others in, is himself let in to the tune of £2,600;

some say more, none say less.

 

'Go it, ye cripples! crutches are cheap!

W. Brown is no longer asleep!'"

 

In a leading article in the _Times_ of November 13, 1838, upon juvenile

crime, and the incitors thereto, we read the following: "The Traders in

crime do not wholly confine their seductions to the young; they often

find apt scholars among the unfortunates of riper years, especially

in the _debtor's prison_. Mr. Wakefield[152] says he knows many such

victims; and he particularizes one 'Who was not indeed executed,

because he took poison the night before he was to have been executed,

who told me he had been, (and who I firmly believe was) first incited

to crime when a Prisoner in the _Fleet_ for debt. The crime into which

he was seduced was that of passing forged Bank of England Notes. He

was a Man of very showy appearance, and he had been a Captain in the

Army; a man of good family. He said this crime was first suggested

to him by persons who were Prisoners in the Fleet; but he afterwards

discovered, having been a Prisoner there more than once, that one of a

gang of Utterers of forged Notes lived constantly in the _Fleet_, and

for no other purpose but that of inducing reckless young men of good

appearance, who could easily pass notes, to take Notes from them, and

to dispose of them in transactions. I could hardly believe that that

was true, and I got some inquiries to be made for the person whom he

had pointed out to me as one of a Gang, and I found that that person

was constantly in the _Fleet_. The Gang committed a robbery upon a

Bank in Cornwall, and they were entirely broken up, and from that time

forth the Person who had resided in the _Fleet_ disappeared, though he

was not one of the persons convicted, or suspected of that particular

Crime. I never heard of him since, but the inquiries which I then made,

convinced me that it was a fact that one of the Gang of what are termed

'family men,' that is, rich thieves and receivers of stolen goods, did

reside continually in the _Fleet_, for the purpose of seducing young

men into the commission of Crime. He was in and out of the Prison, but

a Prisoner on a friendly arrest."

 

The time was coming, when imprisonment for debt was to be abolished.

An Act of 1 & 2 Vict. cap. 110 had already abolished Arrest on Mesne

Process in Civil Actions, so that no prisoners could be committed to

the Fleet from the Courts of Chancery, Exchequer, and Common Pleas,

and the Debtors and Bankrupts might as well be in the Queen's Bench.

The Demolition of the Fleet was therefore confidently anticipated, as

we find by the following paragraph from the _Times_, March 3, 1841.

"REMOVAL OF PRISONERS. On Saturday a deputation from the Woods and

Forests, attended by the Marshal, visited the Queen's Bench Prison,

preparatory to moving over the Debtors from the Fleet, which prison

is about to be pulled down. By this arrangement the Country will save

about £15,000 per annum, besides getting rid of an ugly object, and

room being made for other contemplated improvements. It is supposed the

Judges will find some difficulty in removing the Prisoners from the

Fleet by Habeas Corpus, and that a short Bill will be necessary for

that purpose. The expenses of the Queen's Bench Prison in its present

profitless employment, is about £30,000 per annum to the Country."

 

This announcement was slightly premature, for the Act for its

demolition (5 & 6 Victoriæ, cap. 22) was not passed until May 31,

1842. The Prisoners objected to the Transfer to the Queen's Bench,

preferring their comparative liberty as they were, to the more

stringent rules of the other prison: one clause in the new Act being:

"And be it enacted, That after the passing of this Act, no Prisoner

in the Queen's Prison shall be allowed to send for, or to have any

Beer, Ale, Victuals or other Food, or to send for, have or use any

Bedding, Linen, or other Things, except such as shall be allowed to be

brought by them respectively under such Rules, to be made in the Manner

directed by this Act, as may be reasonable and expedient to prevent

Extravagance and Luxury, and for enforcing due Order and Discipline

within the Prison."

 

I have before me the Original Subscription list of a scheme of

 

"Resistance

 

to

 

The Abolition of the Fleet Prison.

 

April 9th, 1842."

 

The author of the Letter of "Fleta to the Lords, calling upon them

individually to Oppose the Bill _for transferring the Debtors in the

Fleet_ to the Queen's Prison, respectfully calls upon all Parties

interested in an _Opposition to the said Bill_, to render him such

pecuniary assistance in forwarding his Object, as may be consistent

with their Views or Convenience." A list of Subscriptions follows, but

although 25/-was promised, only 15/-appears to be paid. They held

meetings, a notice calling one of which is facsimiled; but it was of

no avail, and they had to go.

 

[Illustration:

 

_Notice_

The _Memorial_ to the Lord

High Chancellor, and to the

Judges of the Supreme

Courts of Law, will lie for

_Signatures_ at the Tap

from 12 till 2 o'Clock.

Fleet.

Wed. May. 4. 1842.]

 

One Philip Ball, a Chancery Prisoner, composed

 

"THE LAST DAYS OF THE FLEET!"

 

A melancholy Chaunt,

 

_Written by a_ COLLEGIAN, _on the occasion of the Queen's

Prison Bill receiving the Royal Assent._

 

Air. 'The Fine Old English Gentleman.'

 

1

 

I'll sing to you a bran new song

Made by my simple pate,

About the end of the good old Fleet,

Which on us now shuts its gate.

It has kept confin'd the choicest lads

That e'er together met--

Of merry, jolly, rattling dogs,

A regular slap up set.

Of jovial Fleet prisoners,

All of the present day.

 

2

 

This good old pris'n in every room

Contains a merry soul,

Who for his doings out of doors

Is now drop't 'in the hole.'

But surely this is better far

Than your simple plodding way,

Get deep in debt, go through the Court,

And whitewash it all away.

Like a jovial Fleet prisoner,

All of the present day.

 

3

 

Such right good hearts are rarely found,

As round me now I see;

With such, I'm 'most inclined to say,

Hang liberty for me.

For T----y, S----y, V----h,

In spirits who excel?

How could we better live than here,

Where friendship weaves her spell?

'Mongst jovial Fleet prisoners,

All of the present day.