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Mutineers, Radicals and Murder in Coldbath Fields House of Correction
‘London’s Bastille is both fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable.’ - Fiona Rule, author of The Worst Street in London
In 1794, Britain’s newest and much-heralded prison opened its gates in Clerkenwell, north London. Built on the principles laid down by John Howard, the most vocal and committed prison reformer of the eighteenth century, the new Coldbath Fields House of Correction was intended to be a flagship for the humane improvements that Howard championed. And yet, within just a few years, it had become notorious for its cruelty and injustice.
The burgeoning of British radicalism following the French Revolution, the repressive measures introduced in response by Prime Minister William Pitt, and the appointment of the barbaric Thomas Aris as prison governor all coincided to ensure that this ‘state-of-the-art’ facility would become not merely the foremost political prison of its age, but also the most infamous because of the abuses practised within its walls – abuses to which the government and the magistracy systematically turned a blind eye.
In London’s Bastille, Stephen Haddelsey expertly explores the history of the prison and the stories of its inmates, from thieves and prostitutes to political reformers and naval mutineers, to provide an extraordinary new insight into the forces of radical change that shook Britain to its core in the final years of the eighteenth century.
‘A deep dive into the history of London’s most notorious gaol to discover whether the punishment really did fit the crime in late Georgian England, London’s Bastille is both fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable.’
Fiona Rule, author of The Worst Street in London,
‘Brilliantly researched and eminently readable, Stephen Haddelsey’s magnificent account of one of London’s most notorious prisons will stand as a benchmark for anyone interested in the history of crime, punishment and state oppression in Britain at the turn of the nineteenth century: a remarkable achievement.’
Professor Jerry White, author of Mansions of Misery: A Biography of the Marshalsea Debtors’ Prison,
‘I admired London’s Bastille a great deal: a feat of patient and forensic scholarship, it is also vividly written and driven by a propulsive historical narrative, full of fascinating biographical anecdotes as well as intriguing details about London in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. At a time when Britain’s prison system is once again in crisis, London’s Bastille is also all too relevant.’
Professor Matthew Beaumont, author of "Night Walking: A Nocturnal History of London",
‘In this remarkable book, Stephen Haddelsey… paints a wonderfully compelling portrait of the great, centuries-long struggle in British public life between reformers and reactionaries, between the desire for social progress and a concomitant drive to protect the present.’
Lord Ken Macdonald Kt., KC, President of The Howard League for Penal Reform,
