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Graham Smith
Jan Thompson
Graham Mumby-Croft


Brendan O'Friel
PRISON PERSONALITIES AT KNUTSFORD PRISON

I am indebted to the Knutsford Historical and Archaeological Association for permission to reproduce parts of an article by G Nulty; first published in Volume II, Number II of their magazine from autumn 1984: "The proper title of Knutsford Gaol was the House of Correction, its aim being the reform of petty criminals.

It was built in 1817 with the impressive sessions house to the design of Thomas Harrison, who also designed the Grosvenor Bridge at Chester and who, incidentally, encouraged Lord Elgin to buy the Greek works of art known as the Elgin Marbles.

The new gaol at Knutsford was necessary because of the big increase in crime following the Napoleonic wars, which left Chester Prison overcrowded. In the first 20 or so years of the gaol's existence the number of inmates varied between 200 and 300 and about 1/5 of those were women. People actually convicted of crimes formed only about 2/3 of the total and the others were awaiting trial at either Knutsford, Macclesfield, Congleton or Chester.

The prisoners at Knutsford were guilty of only minor offences - begging, assault, petty larceny, poaching or drunkenness. The penalty for more serious crimes was hanging or transportation. In the early 1840s more than 3,500 convicts were sent to Van Dieman's Land and although transportation ended officially in 1853 it was 1865 when the last shipment of 1,000 convicts left these shores for western Australia, which had already received 10,000 in all.

At the census of 1841 the youngest prisoners at Knutsford were 2 children aged 10 and the oldest was a man of 67. There were 64 teenagers but most prisoners were between 20 and 30 years of age.

It was after 1853, and the official ending of transportation, that Knutsford House of Correction was enlarged to take 700 prisoners, some for long sentences, and about that time too the "House of Correction" began to give way to the term "prison".

The gaol, with its 40' high wall soon occupied the whole of the triangle of land between Toft Road, Stanley Road and Sexton Road. The pressure on the establishment increased when, in 1866, it was stated that nationally 1/15 of the population lived by crime.

At first the head of the prison staff was the Gaoler or Keeper and in the early days he was a Mr Christmas. There was a Matron, named Sarah Gaskill, for the women and 3 female Warders. There were 8 male Warders, or Turnkeys, with a Task Master for men another for women, also a Clerk Schoolmaster, a male Nurse (who had a sick bay) and a Night Watchman.

The diet laid down for well behaved prisoners was adequate, if monotonous.

  • Breakfast: one pint cocoa, 6oz bread.
  • Dinner: one pint soup, 1lb potatoes, 3oz meat.
  • Supper: 6oz bread, lpt gruel.

Punishment for breaches of prison discipline meant so many days on bread and water.

Fractious prisoners were put in special dark cells in solitary confinement which (Mr Christmas reported) made them more tractable and produced a favourable impression on their minds.

There were 22 of these cells.

Well behaved prisoners were given various jobs, particularly hand weaving or, if given hard labour, one task was working the treadmills which supplied the prison water from a well situated behind the present sessions house. The roof, mainly of glass in the newer part of the building, gave endless trouble and there was much other building work, alterations, painting and repairs to keep the men busy. The women were employed in spinning, needlework and laundry and got 9d (4p today) for making a shirt and 1 shilling (5p) a week for laundry.

For about 30 years, until 1880, the Governor was a Mr Gallop, an able and conscientious man who was actively getting the prison to pay for itself. So wide was the scope of his operations that the prison became known as 'Gallop's Farm'.

The Governor and his 2 pretty daughters were well liked in Knutsford and attended most of the social functions. The prison Chaplain, Rev WN Truss, joined the prison staff in 1869 and stayed until 1906, dying in 1921 at the age of 87. He helped the local clergy by taking their church services during sickness or holidays. He would occasionally enliven his sermons with a tale, either humorous or moral. He once recounted the story of 2 brothers who had been in prison for stealing strawberries and on their release, they wrote to thank him for his kindness to them. With the letter was a basket of excellent strawberries. Soon afterwards, however, back in Gallop's Farm he met the brothers again doing another stint for stealing strawberries.

In 1906, towards the end of the prison's history, the Governor was Major JO Nelson who, in his annual reports, spoke highly of the state of discipline of the prison.

Earnings of the prisoners had increased by nearly £400.

There had only been one case of corporal punishment in the year, no escapes or attempted escapes.

The daily average number of prisoners was 563 (though there were cells for 718 - 638 men and 80 women) and their earnings were valued at £3,256.

A breakdown showed that 4 book binders earned £135; one carpenter £10; 161 cotton pickers £46; 65 cotton sorters £19; 10 hat makers £19; 8 hammock makers £30; 8 knitters £80; 3 labourers £48; 54 mail bag makers £462; 5 needleworkers £74; 59 Oakham pickers £27; 8 rope (untarred) teasers £4; 21 sack makers and menders £220; 6 shoemakers £109; 1 smith £10; 25 tailors £471.

Those employed in the ordinary service of the prison were 3 bakers earning £90; 3 cooks £80; 38 cleaners and jobbers £609; 1 hospital orderly £23; 4 stokers £73; 16 washers (laundry workers) £347.

In addition, 57 prisoners were not effective for employment.

The Chaplain (who had succeeded Mr Truss) was the Rev H Drury Baker and he reported that services were held daily in the prison with a communion class every month.

The School Master and a School Mistress carried out daily instruction with 40 males a week being eligible.

He did not think that men over 30 profited by, or took kindly to, schoolwork.

Very few women were eligible in the year and sometimes weeks went by without a single case.

The number of juvenile - adults (presumably teenage) prisoners at Knutsford was undoubtedly decreasing no doubt because of the new probationary system.

Every care and attention was paid to this class of prisoner, he said, and the results were more or less satisfactory.

He had found that physical drill was of most service and did more good than many lectures. Outdoor schemes would also be of great benefit. Personal and frequent visits would help far better than lectures and talks. "Many of these cases should never have seen the inside of a prison" he stated.

It was· partly because of the probationary system that the rundown of Knutsford Gaol occurred. In November of 1911 the Prison Commission wrote to the Home Office raising the matter of closing that part of Knutsford Gaol set apart for the occupation.

 It said that most women prisoners were from Chester, Runcorn and Stockport, places "very favourably situated for committals for Manchester and Liverpool. Nothing further was heard until August 1915 when the visiting Committee again wrote to the Prison Commission to draw attention to the decrease in the number of women prisoners stating that the 80 cells in the women's prison had not been occupied for a long time.

A number of Warders had been removed leaving a staff of only 10. There were 36 quarters belonging to the prison and there were to be 26 vacant. These were the houses known as County Terrace and those on Sexton Road, opposite the coach station.

In September the same year the Under Secretary of State ruled, at the request of the Army Council, HM Prison Knutsford will be placed at the Army's disposal for temporary use as detention barracks.

The present population of the prison was very low and the military authorities were having great difficulty in finding accommodation for soldiers sentenced for military offences.

The next month, October 1915, the remaining civil prisoners were removed, and the military took over.

At the end of the war conscientious objectors were housed there and later it became the Knutsford Ordination Test School, which trained young men, most of them ex-servicemen, in the Church of England ministry.

The Rev Tubby Clayton of Toc H fame was there, as was the Archdeacon Burn of Chester Cathedral.

The prison Governor's house was the building on Toft Road, opposite the entrance to the Railway Station, better remembered today as the offices of the former Urban District Council.

The last Governor to occupy the house was the Governor of Strangeways Gaol in Manchester, Major Fitzclarence. He was related to the Earls of Munster and to the royalty for the family descended (not as Knutsford people widely thought, from Charles I and Nell Gwynn) but from George Augustus Frederick (1794 - 1842) whose father was William IV and his mother, Mrs Jordan the actress.

The Major had a tragic end. He was in a car driven by his son Geoffrey, then a bank clerk in Manchester, which failed to take the corner at the crossroads by the Three Greyhounds, Allostock. The Major was killed. There were at that time 2 other sudden deaths in the family and the young bank clerk succeeded to the title. He died in 1970. The Governor's house was therefore vacant from the late 1920s.

The Urban District Council vacated offices in the King's Copy House and took over the house. Shortage of houses was, at that time, the Urban District Council's biggest problem and it was agreed that accommodation could be found, with minor improvements and alterations, in the prison and about 20 families soon moved into their temporary homes.

A new entrance was made into the thick walls at the junction of Bexton Road and Stanley Road. Knutsford House of Correction was finally demolished in 1934.

 A study of the records leaves the impression that the administration was more compassionate than some pictures of the period would have us believe. "Those of you who know Knutsford will recall that the facade of the prison still stands.

The main area of the old prison is occupied by Knutsford Bus Station.

Have any of our members heard of Major Fitzclarence before? 

Brendan O’Friel