The Fleet. Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages

CHAPTER XXII

THINGS got so bad that Parliament ordered a Committee to inquire into it, and they began their sitting in Feb. 25, 1729. But, previously, the prisoners had petitioned the Lord Chief Justice and other justices without effect, and those petitions with Huggins' (who was the Warden) replies were published in a folio pamphlet, which contains much information.110 The first petition was in 1723, and it was mainly addressed to the extortions of the Master, the sixth Article alledging that the fees exacted by the Warden were in excess of those settled by Law, Nov. 14, 1693 – instanced as follows:

The eleventh prayer of this Petition was, "And lastly, that for the better suppressing Prophaneness and Immorality among us, and that the Misery of Imprisonment may in some measure be alleviated by the Observance of good Manners, Cleanliness, and Quietude, we humbly pray your Lordships would enable us to regulate our selves in such Manner as the Prisoners in the King's Bench are empowered to do by a Rule of that Court, 20 die post festim Sanctæ Trinitatis. 11 Anne."

Huggins replied to all the petition, but his answer to No. 6 was "The Warden saith, That so soon as the Fees were settled by this Honourable Court, he caused a Copy thereof to be framed and hung up in the Common Hall of the House, signed by Sir George Cook; also a Copy of the Rules and Orders of the House, which said copies the Prisoners were pleased to burn, tear to Pieces, and obliterate; and the Warden denies that he has taken or receiv'd, or any for him, to his knowledge, more, or greater, Fees than were contained in the said Copy of Fees hung up in the said Prison."

And as to the Eleventh prayer of the Petitioners "The Warden saith, that the Prisoners in general, are so very ungovernable, that they have tore up the Trees around the Bowling Green, and cut down several of the Trees in the back part of the Prison, set by the Warden some years since, for the better Accommodation of the Prisoners; also broke down the Stocks in the said Prison, and the Houses of Easement were fitted up lately by the Warden, they have torn it almost to Pieces, and committed other Outrages, and most of them, altho' two Years in Arrears of Rent to the Warden, refuse to pay him any Part thereof, and will by Force, and in defiance of the Warden and his Officers, keep in Possession of the Rooms and Furnitures, Swearing to stand by each other."

Petition after petition was sent from the Prisoners to the Lord Chief Justice about the oppressions of Huggins and his myrmidons, and duly answered in some shape by the Warden, but there was one, in which the fourteenth Charge is as follows. "That the Warden, on the Death of any Prisoner detains the Body from his Friends and Relations untill they will pay him, what Chamber Rent was due from the Deceased; and in the mean Time his cruel and unchristian like Practice, is to make the best Bargain he can with the poor Family of the Deceased, for the Purchase of the Dead Body, in order to give it Christian Burial, at their own Expence, by which means he often extorts large Sums of Money, for granting the Relations the Liberty of taking away and burying the Dead Body; which tho' a very natural and reasonable Desire, is nevertheless often frustrated by their Inability to purchase it at his Price, and, rather than accept what may be in their Power to give him, he often suffers the Dead Body to lye above Ground seven or eight Days, and often Times eleven or twelve Days, to the great endangering of the Health of the whole Prison, by the nauseous Stench, which being often times the Case, is very offensive all over the House; and when he has refused what he thought not worth his Acceptance, he buries them in the common Burying place for Prisoners, when the Body is often taken up by their Friends to be bury'd their own Way, and the Warden seizes to his own Use the Cloaths, Furniture, and what ever else there is for Fees and Chamber Rent, which he pretends to be due from the said deceased Prisoner."

Huggins' reply to this was diabolically insolent. "For Answer thereto, My Lords, the Deputy Warden saith, That scarcely a Prisoner hath died on the Masters-Side, that was not largely indebted to him; and therefore, possibly, he might have used endeavours to get what part of the Money was due to him, as he could fairly from the Deceased's Relations."

But the Cup of his iniquities was rapidly filling. He made one Thomas Bambridge "A Newgate Sollicitor, and a Person of abandon'd Credit" (as the petition in the case of Mr. Mackphreadris describes him) his deputy warden, and then, things came to a climax. As we have seen, Parliament took cognizance of the scandal, and issued a Commission to inquire into the matter, and their first sitting was on Feb. 25, 1729. Their report was presented to Parliament on March 20th of the same year – so that no time was lost in looking into the evils complained of.

It recites that Huggins by a gift of £5,000 to Lord Clarendon "did by his interest, obtain a grant of the said office (i. e., Warden of the Fleet) for his own and his son's life.

"That it appeared to the Committee, That in the Year 1725, one Mr. Arne, an Upholder, was carried into a Stable, which stood where the strong room on the Master's side now is, and was there confined (being a place of cold restraint) till he died, and that he was in good state of health before he was confined to that room."

Huggins growing old, sold his interest in the Wardenship of the Fleet, and his Son's reversion therein, to Bambridge and Cuthbert, for the sum he had originally given for the place; and then Bambridge, being his own master, went somewhat ahead, and the Committee found that he connived at escapes, sent his prisoners to Spunging-houses, or private prisons, not so long ago done away with, where they were well, or badly treated, according to the money at their disposal.

And we read of one shocking case, which can best be given in the very words of the Report. "That these houses were further used by the said Bambridge, as a terror for extorting money from the prisoners, who, on security given, have the liberty of the rules; of which Mr. Robert Castell was an unhappy instance, a man born to a competent estate, but being unfortunately plunged into debt, was thrown into prison: he was first sent (according to custom) to Corbett's, 111 from whence he, by presents to Bambridge, redeemed himself, and, giving security obtained the liberty of the rules; notwithstanding which he had frequently presents, as they are called, exacted from him by Bambridge, and was menaced, on refusal, to be sent back to Corbett's again.

"The said Bambridge having thus unlawfully extorted large sums of money from him in a very short time, Castell grew weary of being made such a wretched property, and, resolving not to injure further his family or his creditors for the sake of so small a liberty, he refused to submit to further exactions; upon which the said Bambridge ordered him to be re-committed to Corbett's, where the smallpox then raged, though Castell acquainted him with his not having had that distemper, and that he dreaded it so much, that the putting him into a house where it was, would occasion his death, which, if it happened before he could settle his affairs, would be a great prejudice to his creditors, and would expose his family to destitution; and therefore he earnestly desired that he might either be sent to another house, or even into the gaol itself, as a favor. The melancholy case of this poor gentleman moved the very agents of the said Bambridge to compassion, so that they used their utmost endeavours to dissuade him from sending this unhappy prisoner to that infected house; but Bambridge forced him thither, where he (as he feared he should) caught the smallpox, and, in a few days, died thereof, justly charging the said Bambridge with his death; and unhappily leaving all his affairs in the greatest confusion, and a numerous family of small children in the utmost distress."

He squeezed everybody, made what rules he liked, and introduced new and pernicious customs, for, says the Report, "It appeared to the Committee, that the letting out of the Fleet tenements to Victuallers, for the reception of Prisoners, hath been but of late practised, and that the first of them let for this purpose was to Mary Whitwood, who still continues tenant of the same, and that her rent has, from 32 l. per. ann. been increased to 60 l. and a certain number of prisoners stipulated to be made a prey of, to enable her to pay so great a rent; and that she, to procure the benefit of having such a number of prisoners sent to her house, hath, over and above the increased rent, been obliged to make a present to the said Bambridge of forty guineas, as also of a toy (as it is called), being the model of a Chinese ship, made of amber, set in silver, for which fourscore broad pieces had been offered her…

"And, notwithstanding the payment of such large fees, in order to extort further sums from the unfortunate prisoners, the said Bambridge unjustly pretends he has a right, as warden, to exercise an unlimited power of changing prisoners from room to room; of turning them into the common side, though they have paid the master's side fee; and inflicting arbitrary punishments by locking them down in unwholesome dungeons, and loading them with torturing irons."

According to the Committee's report, Jacob Mendez Solas, a Portuguese, was, as far as they knew, the first prisoner that was ever loaded with irons in the Fleet. He was thrown into a noisome dungeon, which is described as a place "wherein the bodies of persons dying in the said prison are usually deposited, till the coroner's inquest hath passed upon them; it has no chimney, nor fireplace, nor any light but what comes over the door, or through a hole of about eight inches square. It is neither paved nor boarded, and the rough bricks appear both on the sides and top, being neither wainscotted, nor plastered; what adds to the dampness and stench of the place is, its being built over the common sewer, and adjoining to the sink and dunghill where all the nastiness of the prison is cast. In this miserable place the poor wretch was kept by the said Bambridge, manacled and shackled for near two months. At length, on receiving five guineas from Mr. Kemp, a friend of Solas Bambridge released the prisoner from his cruel confinement. But, though his chains were taken off, his terror still remained, and the unhappy man was prevailed upon by that terror, not only to labour gratis for the said Bambridge, but to swear also at random all that he hath required of him: and the Committee themselves saw an instance of the deep impression his sufferings had made upon him; for on his surmising, from something said, that Bambridge was to return again, as Warden of the Fleet, he fainted, and the blood started out of his mouth and nose."

The upshot of this Committee was that the House petitioned the King to prosecute Huggins, Bambridge, and their satellites, who were all ordered to be committed to Newgate for trial. Huggins was tried, or rather the preliminaries of his trial were arranged on the 20th of May, 1729; but his trial for the murder of Edward Arne, a prisoner in the Fleet prison, by immuring him in the dungeon above described, from the effect of which confinement he subsequently died, did not take place until next day. After a long and patient trial, he was acquitted; and he managed, not only to survive his disgrace, but live to the age of 90.

Bambridge was also tried, at the Old Bailey, for the murder of Robert Castell, as before described, but he was acquitted by the Jury. Upon this acquittal, Castell's widow brought an appeal against Thomas Bambridge, and Richard Corbett, for the murder of her husband; but here their luck still stood them in stead, for they were both acquitted. Bambridge, some twenty years after, committed suicide by cutting his throat.

Hogarth, in 1729, received a Commission from Sir Archibald Grant of Monnymusk, Bart., who was one of the Committee, to paint a portrait picture of his brother Commissioners with Bambridge, and the irons used by him in the Fleet. Bambridge is decidedly nervous – and a poor prisoner is introduced into the picture, though I cannot find, from the Report, that he really was before the Committee of the House.

These prosecutions somewhat purified the atmosphere of the Fleet, but still there were grumbles, as there naturally will be when men are restrained in their liberty, and are left to brood upon their miseries, and incarceration; but the little pamphlet,112 which airs these grievances, deals principally with the hardships of fees, and the dilapidated state of the Common Side. The title-page prepares one for a not over cheerful ten minutes' reading.

The writer says that after the reign of Huggins and Bambridge, the Chapel was adorned – and the great Hall adjoining, formerly for the Use of the Prisoners, "is now made into a commodious new Coffee House, and thought to be as Compleat a one, as any in Town (wherein one of the Warden's Servants is put, to be useful upon Occasion). Part of the Pews in the Chapel being taken into it to make it compleat, 113 and serves for a Bar and Bedchamber.