PHILANTHROPIC EFFORTS
Absence of religious and moral instruction in Newgate a
hundred years ago—Chaplains not always zealous—Amateur
enthusiasts minister to the prisoners—Silas Told, his life and
work—Wesley leads him to prison visitation—Goes to Newgate
regularly—Attends the condemned to the gallows—Alexander
Cruden of the "Concordance" also visits Newgate—A neglectful
Chaplain—Private philanthropy active—Various societies
formed—Prison schools—The female side the most disgraceful
part of the prison—Elizabeth Fry's first visit—The
School—The Matron—Work obtained—Rules framed—Female prison
reformed—Newgate on exhibition.
Among the many drawbacks from which the inmates of Newgate suffered
through the eighteenth and the early part of the nineteenth centuries,
was the absence of proper religious and moral instruction. The value
of the ministrations of the ordinary, who was the official ghostly
adviser, entirely depended upon his personal qualities. Now and
again he was an earnest and devoted man, to whom the prisoners might
fully open their hearts. More often he was careless and indifferent,
satisfied to earn his salary by the slightest and most perfunctory
discharge of his sacred duties. There were ordinaries whose fame
rested rather upon their powers of digestion than polemics or pulpit
oratory. The Newgate chaplain had to say grace at city banquets, and
was sometimes called upon to eat three consecutive dinners without
rising from the table. One in particular was noted for his skill in
compounding a salad, another for his jovial companionship. But the
ordinary took life easy, and beyond conducting the services, did little
work. Only when executions were imminent was he especially busy. It
behooved him then to collect matter for his account of the previous
life and misdeeds of the condemned, and their demeanour at Tyburn;
and this, according to contemporary records, led him to get all the
information he could from the malefactors who passed through his hands.
But while the official chaplain lacked zeal or religious fervour, there
were not wanting others more earnest and enthusiastic to add their
unprofessional but devoted efforts to the half-hearted ministrations of
the ordinary of Newgate. A prominent figure in the philanthropic annals
of Newgate is that of Silas Told, who devoted many years of his life to
the spiritual needs of the prisoners. Told's career is full of peculiar
interest. He was a pious child; both father and mother were religious
folk, and brought him up carefully. According to his own memoirs,
when quite an infant he and his sister Dulcibella were wont to wander
into the woods and fields to converse about "God and happiness." Told
passed through many trials and vicissitudes in his early years. At
thirteen he went to sea as an apprentice, and suffered much ill-usage.
He made many voyages to the West Indies and to the Guinea coast, being
a horrified and unwilling witness of some of the worst phases of the
slave trade. He fell into the hands of piratical Spaniards, was cast
away on a reef, saved almost by a miracle, last of all was pressed on
board a man-of-war. Here, on board H. M. S. _Phœnix_ his religious
tendencies were strengthened by a pious captain, and presently he
married and left the sea for ever. After this he became a schoolmaster
in Essex, then a clerk and book-keeper in London. Here he came under
the influence of John Wesley, and although predisposed against the
Methodists, he was profoundly impressed by their leader's preaching.
While listening to a sermon by John Wesley on the suddenness of
conversion, Told heard another voice say to him, "This is the truth,"
and from that time forth he became a zealous Methodist.
It was Wesley who led him to prison visitation. He was at that time
schoolmaster of the Foundry school, and his call to his long and
devoted labours in Newgate were brought about in this wise. "In the
year 1744," to quote his own words, "I attended the children one
morning at the five o'clock preaching, when Mr. Wesley took his text
out of the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew. When he read 'I was
sick and in prison, and ye visited me not,' I was sensible of my
negligence in never visiting the prisoners during the course of my
life, and was filled with horror of mind beyond expression. This threw
me well-nigh into a state of despondency, as I was totally unacquainted
with the measures requisite to be pursued for that purpose. However,
the gracious God, two or three days after, sent a messenger to me in
the school, who informed me of the malefactors that were under sentence
of death, and would be glad of any of our friends who could go and pray
with them. . . . In consequence, I committed my school to my trusty
usher, and went to Newgate."
After this first visit he went there regularly. He described the place
twenty-one years later, but still remembered it vividly, as "such
an emblem of the infernal pit as he never saw before." However, he
struggled bravely on, having a constant pressure upon his mind "to
stand up for God in the midst of them," and praying much for wisdom and
fortitude. He preached as often as he was permitted to both felons and
debtors. But for the first few years, when attending the malefactors,
he met with so many repulses from the keeper and ordinary, as well as
from the prisoners themselves, that he was often greatly discouraged.
"But notwithstanding I more vehemently pressed through all, becoming
the more resolute and taking no denial."
He continued his labours for many years, and in 1767 he visited the
notorious Mrs. Brownrigg, who was sentenced to be hanged for whipping
her servant-maid to death, and whom he accompanied to the gallows. His
death occurred in 1779. He lived to hear of Howard's philanthropic
exertions, and to see the introduction of some small measure of prison
reform.
While Silas Told was thus engaged, another but a more erratic and
eccentric philanthropist paid constant visits to Newgate. This
was Alexander Cruden, the well-known, painstaking compiler of the
"Concordance." For a long time he came daily to the gaol, to preach
and instruct the prisoners in the gospel, rewarding the most diligent
and attentive with money, till he found that the cash thus disbursed
was often spent in drink the moment his back was turned. Through Mr.
Cruden's solicitations a sentence of death upon a forger, Richard
Potter, was commuted to one of transportation.
More precise details of the manner in which a Newgate ordinary
interpreted his trust will be found in the evidence of the Rev.
Brownlow Forde, LL. D., before the committee of 1814. Dr. Forde took
life pretty easy. Had a prisoner sent for him, he told the committee,
he might have gone, but as they did not send, unless they were sick
and thought themselves at death's door, he confined his ministrations
to the condemned, whom he visited twice a week in the day room of
the press-yard, or daily after the order for execution had arrived.
He repudiated the notion that he had anything to do with the state
of morals of the gaol. He felt no obligation to instruct youthful
prisoners, or attend to the spiritual needs of the little children so
often thrown into Newgate. He never went to the infirmary unless sent
for, and did not consider it his duty to visit the sick, and often knew
nothing of a prisoner's illness unless he was warned to attend the
funeral. Among other reasons, he said that as the turnkeys were always
busy, there was no one to attend him. While the chaplain was thus
careless and apathetic, the services he conducted were little likely
to be edifying or decorous. The most disgraceful scenes were common
in the prison chapel. As the prisoners trooped into the galleries
they shouted and halloed to their friends in the body of the church.
Friends interchanged greetings, and "How d'ye do, Sall?" was answered
by "Gallows well, Conkey Beau," as the men recognized their female
acquaintances, and were recognized in turn. The congregation might
be pretty quiet after the chaplain had made his appearance, but more
often it was disorderly from first to last. Any disposed to behave
well were teased and laughed at by others. Unrestricted conversation
went on, accompanied by such loud yawning, laughing, or coughing as
almost impeded the service. No one in authority attempted to preserve
order; the gatesmen, themselves prisoners, might expostulate, but the
turnkeys who were present ignored any disturbance until reminded of
their duty by the chaplain. The keeper never attended service. It was
suggested to him that he might have a pew in the chapel with a private
entrance to it from his own house, but nothing came of the proposal.
It was not incumbent upon the prisoners, except those condemned to
death, to attend chapel. Sometimes it was crowded, sometimes there was
hardly a soul. In severe weather the place, in which there was no fire,
was nearly empty. It was very lofty, very cold, and the prisoners,
ill clad, did not care to shiver through the service. On "curiosity
days," those of the condemned sermon, more came, including debtors
and visitors from outside, who thronged to see the demeanour of the
wretched convicts under the painful circumstances already described.
The service must have been conducted in a very slovenly and irreverent
manner. Dr. Forde had no clerk, unless it chanced that some one in
the condemned pew knew how to read. If not, there were sometimes no
responses, and the whole service was apt to be thrown into confusion.
Dr. Forde seems to have been more in his element when taking the chair
at a public-house "free-and-easy." In the "Book for a Rainy Day," Mr.
Smith gives us an account of a visit which was paid to Dr. Forde at a
public-house in Hatton Garden. "Upon entering the club-room, we found
the Doctor most pompously seated in a superb masonic chair, under
a stately crimson canopy placed between the windows. The room was
clouded with smoke, whiffed to the ceiling, which gave me a better idea
of what I had heard of the 'Black Hole of Calcutta' than any place I
had seen. There were present at least a hundred associates of every
denomination."
It is consoling to find that while officials slumbered, private
philanthropy was active, and had been in some cases for years. Various
societies and institutions had been set on foot to assist and often
replace public justice in dealing with criminals. The Marine Society
grew out of a subscription started by Justices Fielding and Welch,
in 1756, for the purpose of clothing vagrant and friendless lads and
sending them on board the fleet. The Philanthropic Society had been
established in 1789 by certain benevolent persons to supply a home for
destitute boys and girls, and this admirable institution steadily grew
and prospered. In 1794 it moved to larger premises, and in 1817 it had
an income of £6000 a year, partly from subscriptions and legacies,
partly from the profit on labour executed by its inmates.[135:1]
In 1816 another body of well-meaning people, moved by the alarming
increase of juvenile delinquency in the metropolis, formed a society
to investigate its causes, inquire into the individual cases of boys
actually under sentence, and afford such relief upon release as might
appear deserved or likely to prevent a relapse into crime. The members
of this society drew up a list containing seven hundred names of the
friends and associates of boys in Newgate, all of whom they visited
and sought to reform. They went further, and seriously discussed the
propriety of establishing a special penitentiary for juveniles, a
scheme which was not completely carried out. Another institution was
the Refuge for the Destitute, which took in boys and girls on their
discharge from prison, to teach them trades and give them a fair
start in life. There were also the Magdalen Hospital and the Female
Penitentiary, both of which did good work amongst depraved women.
Matters had improved somewhat in Newgate after the report of the
committee in 1814, at least as regards the juveniles. A school had
been established, over which the new ordinary, Mr. Cotton, who about
this time succeeded Dr. Forde, presided, and in which he took a great
interest. The chaplain was in communication with the Philanthropic
and other institutions, and promising cases were removed to them. The
boys were kept as far as possible apart from the men, but not at first
from one another. Hence in the one long room they occupied and used
for all purposes, eating, drinking, and sleeping, the elder and more
vitiated boys were still able to exercise a baneful influence over the
young and innocent. More space became available by the removal of the
debtors to Whitecross Street, and then the boys were lodged according
to classes in four different rooms. Mr. Cotton believed that the boys
benefitted morally from the instruction and care they received. This
juvenile school was the one bright spot in the prevailing darkness of
Newgate at that particular time. Another and a still more remarkable
amelioration in the condition of the prisoners was soon to attract
universal attention. The great and good work accomplished by that noble
woman Mrs. Fry on the female side of Newgate forms an epoch in prison
history, and merits a particular description.
Bad as were the other various courts and so called "sides" in Newgate
prison, the quadrangle appropriated to the females was far worse. Its
foul and degraded condition had attracted the sympathies of Elizabeth
Fry as early as 1813. The winter had been unusually severe, and Mrs.
Fry had been induced by several Friends, particularly by William
Forster, to visit Newgate and endeavour to alleviate the sufferings
of the female prisoners. The space allotted to the women was at that
time still curtailed by the portion given over to the state side. They
were limited to two wards and two cells, an area of about one hundred
and ninety-two superficial yards in all, into which, at the time of
Mrs. Fry's visit, some three hundred women with their children were
crowded, all classes together, felon and misdemeanant, tried and
untried; the whole under the superintendence of an old man and his
son. They slept on the floor, without so much as a mat for bedding.
Many were very nearly naked, others were in rags; some desperate from
want of food, some savage from drink, foul in language, still more
recklessly depraved in their habits and behaviour. Everything was
filthy beyond description. The smell of the place was quite disgusting.
The keeper himself, Mr. Newman, was reluctant to go amongst them. He
strove hard to dissuade Mrs. Fry from entering the wards, and failing
in that, begged her at least to leave her watch in his office, assuring
her that not even his presence would prevent its being torn from her.
Mrs. Fry's own account fully endorses all this. "All I tell thee is a
faint picture of the reality; the filth, the closeness of the rooms,
the ferocious manners and expressions of the women towards each other,
and the abandoned wickedness which everything bespoke, are quite
indescribable." "One act, the account of which I received from another
quarter, marks the degree of wretchedness to which they were reduced at
that time. Two women were seen in the act of stripping a dead child for
the purpose of clothing a living one."
Mrs. Fry made other visits, for she wrote under date Feb. 16th,
1813: "Yesterday we were some hours in Newgate with the poor female
felons, attending to their outward necessities; we had been twice
previously. Before we went away dear Anna Buxton uttered a few words
in supplication, and very unexpectedly to myself I did also. I heard
weeping, and I thought they appeared much tendered. A very solemn quiet
was observed; it was a striking scene, with the poor people around in
their deplorable condition." Mrs. Fry's charity extended to the gift
of clothing, for it is recorded in her memoirs that many members of
her domestic circle had long a vivid recollection of the "green baize
garments," and their pleasure in assisting to prepare them.
Nearly four years elapsed before Elizabeth Fry resumed her visits.
Newgate and what she had seen there had no doubt made a deep impression
on her mind, but a long illness and family afflictions had prevented
her from giving her philanthropic yearnings full play. She appears to
have recommenced her visits about Christmas, 1816, and on Feb. 16th,
1817, there is an entry in her journal to the effect that she had been
"lately much occupied in forming a school in Newgate for the children
of the poor prisoners, as well as the young criminals." It was in this
way that she struck at the hearts of these poor degraded wretches,
who were only too eager to save their children from a life of crime.
"The proposal was received even by the most abandoned with tears of
joy," says Mrs. Fry. The three intervening years between 1813 and
1816 had brought no improvement in the female side. Its inmates—the
very scum of the town—were filthy in their habits and disgusting in
their persons. Mrs. Fry tells us she found the railings in the inner
yard crowded with half-naked women, struggling together for the front
situations with the most boisterous violence, and begging with the
utmost vociferation. As double gratings had now been fixed at some
distance apart to prevent close communication between prisoners and
their visitors, the women had fastened wooden spoons to the end of
long sticks, which they thrust across the space as they clamoured for
alms. Mrs. Fry says that she felt as if she were going into a den of
wild beasts, and that she well recollects quite shuddering when the
door closed upon her, and she was locked in with such a herd of novel
and desperate companions. The women, according to another eyewitness,
sat about the yard on the stones, squalid in attire, ferocious in
aspect. On this occasion a woman rushed out from the ward yelling like
a wild beast; she made the circuit of the yard, brandishing her arms
and tearing the caps or coverings from the heads of the other women.
In spite of these terrible scenes, the ladies—several Friends having
joined with Mrs. Fry—continued to give their attention to the school.
"It was in our visits to the school," she afterwards observed, when
giving evidence before the Parliamentary committee of 1818, "where
some of us attended every day, that we were witnesses of the dreadful
proceedings that went forward on the female side of the prison; the
begging, swearing, gaming, fighting, singing, dancing, dressing up in
men's clothes; the scenes are too bad to be described, so that we did
not think it suitable to admit young persons with us."
It is not strange that these miserable women should be absolutely
unsexed. They were often subjected to brutal ill-treatment even
before their arrival at Newgate. Many were brought to the prison
almost without clothes. If coming from a distance, as in the case
of transports lodged in Newgate until embarkation, they were almost
invariably ironed, and often cruelly so. One lady saw the female
prisoners from Lancaster Castle arrive, not merely handcuffed, but with
heavy irons on their legs, which had caused swelling and inflammation.
Others wore iron-hoops round their legs and arms, and were chained to
each other. On the journey these poor souls could not get up or down
from the coach without the whole of them being dragged together. A
woman travelled from Cardigan with an iron hoop round her ankle, and
fainted when it was removed. This woman's story was, that during a long
imprisonment she had worn an iron hoop round her waist, a second round
her leg above the knee, a third at the ankle, and all these connected
by chains. In the waist hoop were two bolts or fastenings, in which her
hands were confined at night when she went to bed. Her bed was only
of straw. These wretched and ill-used creatures might be forgiven if
they at times broke out into rebellion. For a long time it was the
practice with the female transports to riot previous to their departure
from Newgate, breaking windows, furniture, or whatever came in their
reach. Their outrageous conduct continued all the way from the gaol to
the water-side, whither they were conveyed in open wagons, noisy and
disorderly to the last, amidst the jeers and shouts of the assembled
crowds.
Mrs. Fry, as I have said, endeavoured first to form a school. For
this purpose an unoccupied room was set apart by the authorities.
Although looking upon her experiment as hopeless, she received cordial
support from the sheriffs, the governor, Mr. Newman, and the ordinary
of Newgate, Mr. Cotton. The prisoners selected from among themselves
a schoolmistress, Mary Connor by name, who had been committed for
stealing a watch, and "who proved eminently qualified for her task."
The school, which was for children only and young persons under
twenty-five, prospered, and by degrees the heroic band of ladies were
encouraged to greater efforts. The conduct of the prisoners, their
entreaties not to be excluded from the benefits of the school, inspired
Mrs. Fry with confidence, and she resolved to attempt the introduction
of order, industry, and religious feeling into Newgate. In April, 1817,
eleven members of the Society of Friends and another lady, the wife of
a clergyman, formed themselves into an association for the improvement
of the female prisoners in Newgate.[143:1] These devoted persons gave
themselves up entirely to their self-imposed task. With no interval of
relaxation, and with but few intermissions from the call of other and
more imperious duties, they lived among the prisoners. They arrived, in
fact, at the hour of unlocking, and spent the whole day in the prison.
The more crying needs of the Newgate female prison at that date are
indicated in a memorandum found among Mrs. Fry's papers. It was greatly
in need of room, she said. The women should be under the control and
supervision of female, and not, as heretofore, of male officers. The
number of visitors should be greatly curtailed, and all communications
between prisoners and their friends should take place at stated times,
under special rules. The prisoners should not be dependent on their
friends for food or clothing, but should have a sufficiency of both
from the authorities. Employment should be a part of their punishment,
and be provided for them by Government. They might work together in
company, but should be separated at night according to classes, under
a monitor. Religious instruction should be more closely considered.
It was to supply these needs that the committee devoted its efforts,
the ladies boldly promising that if a matron could be found who
would engage never to leave the prison day or night, they would find
employment for the prisoners and the necessary funds until the city
could be induced to meet the expense.
The matron was found, and the first prison matron appointed, an
elderly respectable woman, who proved competent, and discharged her
duties with fidelity. Mrs. Fry next sought the countenance and support
of the governor and chaplain, both of whom met her at her husband's
house to listen to her views and proposals. Mr. Cotton, the ordinary,
was not encouraging; he frankly told her that this, like many other
useful and benevolent designs for the improvement of Newgate, would
inevitably fail. Mr. Newman, however, bade her not despair; but he
afterward confessed that when he came to reflect on the subject,
and especially upon the character of the prisoners, he could not
see even the possibility of success. Both, however, promised their
warmest coöperation. Mrs. Fry next saw one of the sheriffs, asking
him to obtain a salary for the matron, and a room in the prison for
the Ladies' Committee. This sheriff, Mr. Bridges, was willing to help
her if his colleagues and the Corporation agreed, but told her that
his concurrence or that of the city would avail her but little—the
concurrence of the women themselves was indispensable; and that it was
in vain to expect such untamed and turbulent spirits would submit to
the regulations of a woman armed with no legal authority, and unable
to inflict any punishment. Nevertheless, the two sheriffs met Mrs.
Fry at Newgate one Sunday afternoon. The women, seventy in number,
were assembled, and asked whether they were prepared to submit to
the new rules. All fully and unanimously agreed to abide by them, to
the surprise of the sheriffs, who doubted their submitting to such
restraints. Upon this the sheriffs addressed the prisoners, telling
them that the scheme had official support; then turning to Mrs. Fry,
one of the two magistrates said, "Well, ladies, you see your materials."
The evidence of a gentleman who visited Newgate within a fortnight of
the adoption of the new rules may fitly be added here. He went one day
to call on Mrs. Fry at the prison, and was conducted to the women's
side. "On my approach," he says, "no loud or dissonant sounds or angry
voices indicated that I was about to enter a place which I was credibly
assured had long had for one of its titles that of 'Hell above ground.'
The court-yard into which I was admitted, instead of being peopled with
beings scarcely human, blaspheming, fighting, tearing each other's
hair, or gaming with a filthy pack of cards for the very clothes
they wore, which often did not suffice even for decency, presented
a scene where stillness and propriety reigned. I was conducted by a
decently-dressed person, the newly-appointed yards-woman, to the door
of a ward where at the head of a long table sat a lady belonging to
the Society of Friends. She was reading aloud to about sixteen women
prisoners, who were engaged in needlework around it. Each wore a
clean-looking blue apron and bib, with a ticket having a number on it
suspended from her neck by a red tape. They all rose on my entrance,
curtsied respectfully, and then at a signal given resumed their seats
and employments. Instead of a scowl, leer, or ill-suppressed laugh, I
observed upon their countenances an air of self-respect and gravity,
a sort of consciousness of their improved character, and the altered
position in which they were placed. I afterwards visited the other
wards, which were the counterparts of the first."
The efforts of the ladies, which had been at first concentrated upon
the convicted, were soon directed also upon the untried. These still
continued in a deplorable state, quarrelling and disorderly, bolder
and more reckless because they were in doubt as to their future fate.
Unhappily the same measure of success did not wait upon the attempt
on this side. Many of these women counted upon an early release, and
would not take heartily to work, although when they did they were
really and essentially improved. Nor could it be expected that the
new régime could be established without occasional insubordination
and some backsliding. The rules were sometimes broken. Spirits had
been introduced more than once; six or seven cases of drunkenness
had occurred. But the women were careful not to break out before the
ladies; if they swore, it was out of their hearing, and although they
still played cards, it was when the ladies' backs were turned. Mrs. Fry
told the Parliamentary committee how she expostulated with the women
when she found they still gambled, and how she impressed upon them,
if it were true that there were cards in the prison, that she should
consider it a proof of their regard if they would have the candour and
kindness to bring her their packs. By and by a gentle tap came at her
door as she sat alone with the matron, and a trembling woman entered
to surrender her forbidden cards; another and another followed, till
Mrs. Fry had soon five packs of cards in her possession. The culprits
fully expected reproof but Mrs. Fry assured them that their fault
was fully condoned, and, much to their surprise, rewarded them for
their spontaneous good feeling. This reform seems to have been in
the ascendant on the whole, and at the end of the first year it was
satisfactorily proved to competent judges, the past and present Lord
Mayor, the sheriffs, gaolers, and various grand juries, the ordinary,
and others, that an extraordinary change for the better had shown
itself in the conduct of the females.
The work done in Newgate soon obtained much publicity, to the undoubted
and manifest distaste of those who had accomplished it. It was first
noticed in the newspapers by the well-known Robert Owen, who adduced
it as a proof of the effects of kindness and regular habits. Prison
discipline was at this time attracting attention, and Mrs. Fry's
labours were very remarkable in this line. Very soon the female side
at Newgate became quite a show. Every one of any status in society,
every distinguished traveller, all people with high aims or deep
feelings, were constrained to visit the prison. Royalty for the first
time took an interest in the gaol. The Duke of Gloucester was among the
visitors, and was escorted round by Mrs. Fry in person. Another day she
was engaged with the Chancellor of the Exchequer; on a third with the
Home Secretary and the Speaker of the House of Commons. Still higher
and more public honour was done to this noble woman by the Marquis of
Lansdowne in the House of Lords, who in 1818, in a moving address on
the state of the English prisons, spoke in terms of the highest eulogy
of what had been effected by Mrs. Fry and other benevolent persons in
Newgate. After this, admission to view the interior of Newgate was
eagerly sought by numbers of persons whose applications could not well
be refused, in spite of the inconvenience occasioned by thus turning
a place of durance into a sentimental lounge. A more desirable and
useful result of these ministrations was the eagerness they bred in
others to imitate this noble example. Numbers of persons wrote to Mrs.
Fry from all parts of the country, seeking advice and encouragement
as to the formation of similar societies. Even magistrates appealed
to her regarding the management of their prisons. In consequence of
the numerous communications received by the Newgate Association, a
"corresponding committee" was formed to give information and send
replies. Letters came from various capitals of Europe, including St.
Petersburgh, Turin, and Amsterdam, which announced the formation of
Ladies' Societies for prison visiting.
During many years following its inauguration, the "Ladies' Association"
continued their benevolent exertions with marked and well-deserved
success. They did not confine their labours to Newgate, but were
equally active in the other metropolitan prisons. They also made the
female transports their peculiar charge, and obtained many reforms
and ameliorations in the arrangement of the convict ships, and the
provision for the women on landing at the Antipodes. That the first
brilliant successes should be long and continuously maintained could
hardly be expected. As time passed and improvements were introduced,
there was not the same room for active intervention, and it was
difficult to keep alive the early fire. The energy of the Ladies'
Committee, although undiminished, came later on to be occasionally
misapplied.
FOOTNOTES:
[135:1] The Philanthropic Society is identical with the Farm School
at Redhill, in Surrey, one of the most prosperous and best-managed
reformatory schools at the present date. Mr. William Crawfurd,
afterwards one of the first inspectors of prisons, was long an active
member of the committee during the early days of the Society.
[143:1] This was the germ of the Ladies' Committee, which existed down
to 1878.