A history of English philanthropy : from the dissolution of the monasteries to the taking of the first census / by B. Kirkman Gray.

  • Gray, B. Kirkman (Benjamin Kirkman), 1862-1907.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A history of English philanthropy : from the dissolution of the monasteries to the taking of the first census / by B. Kirkman Gray. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the matter before the House of Commons. A committee of enquiry was appointed of which Oglethorpe was chairman.1 In the course of the investigation, and on the occasion of a visit to the Fleet, the attention of the committee was called to another prisoner, Sir William Rich, whom they found in irons ; they ordered the irons to be taken off. Immediately on their departure he was chained up again. In this state he was discovered by Oglethorpe who paid a surprise visit the next day. This outrage was reported to the House, and the gaoler was committed to the custody of the Serjeant-at- arms. The enquiry into the state of the Fleet, the Marshalsea and the King’s Bench revealed a great many abuses. Per- haps the greatest of all, and what is in a sense the origin of the rest, was the condition on which the keeper of the prison held his post. Some years earlier John Huggins had obtained the keepership of the Fleet by a bribe of £5,000 to Lord Clarendon. Huggins grew old and tired of the business, and sold it for the same sum to Bambridge. The post was supposed to be worth £5,000 a year, and this sum had in one way or another to be squeezed out of the prisoners. From some instances given in the report much may be inferred. In one of the rooms a woman was con- fined who had the small-pox : in this same room two other healthy women were placed and paid the keeper 2s. 10d. a week for the accommodation. Money had also to be paid on admission, and these fees for the loss of his liberty amounted, in the case of Lieutenant Leyson, to over £5.2 If the dues were not forthcoming the reluctance of the prisoner was overcome by threats of irons, or dungeon, or of being sent to the sponging house.3 The first result of these revelations was a Bill, introduced by Oglethorpe,4 by which Bambridge was removed from his 1 For the Reports of the Commission see “Journals,” xxi., 274, 376, 5i3- 2 “Journals,” xxi., 274 f. 3 “Journals,” xxi., 376. 4 2 Geo. II., c. 32. E.P. N