Difference between revisions of "John Howard (prison reformer)" - New World Encyclopedia
(→Death) |
|||
| Line 5: | Line 5: | ||
[[Category:Law]] | [[Category:Law]] | ||
| − | '''John Howard''' (September 2, 1726 | + | '''John Howard''' (born September 2, 1726 – dead January 20, 1790) was a [[Great Britain|British]] [[philanthropist]] and [[prison reform|prison reformer]]. |
| − | == | + | ==Life and work== |
| − | + | ===Birth and early life=== | |
| + | '''John Howard''' was born in Lower Clapton, [[London]], [[England]]. His father was a wealthy upholsterer at Smithfield Market in the city. His mother died when he was five, and, described as a "sickly child," he was sent to live at Cardington, Bedfordshire, some forty miles from London, where his father owned property. His father, a strict disciplinarian with strong religious beliefs, sent the young John to a school in Hertford and then to John Eames' Dissenting Academy in London. | ||
| − | After school, John | + | After school, John worked as an apprentice to a wholesale grocer to learn business methods, but he was unhappy. When his father died in 1742, he was left with a sizeable inheritance but no true vocation. His [[Calvinist]] faith and quiet, serious disposition meant he had little desire for the fashionable endeavors of an English aristocratic lifestyle. In 1748, he left [[England]] to tour [[France]] and [[Italy]]. |
| − | Upon his return, he lived in lodgings in | + | Upon his return, he lived in lodgings in Stoke Newington, where he again became seriously ill. He was nursed back to health by his landlady, Sarah Loidore, whom he then married despite her being thirty years older than him. She died within three years, and he distributed her meagre belongings amongst her remaining family and poor neighbors. |
| − | ==Howard as a prisoner== | + | ===Howard as a prisoner=== |
| + | He then set out for [[Portugal]] following the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, traveling on the ship Hanover, which was captured by French privateers. He was imprisoned in Brest, [[France]] for six days before being transferred to another prison on the French coast. He was later exchanged for a French officer held by the British, and he quickly traveled to the Commissioners of Sick and Wounded Seamen in London to seek help on behalf of his fellow captives. It is widely regarded that this personal experience generated Howard's interest in [[prison]]s. | ||
| − | + | ===Howard at Cardington=== | |
| + | Having returned from [[France]], he settled again at Cardington, Bedfordshire, to live on a 200 acre estate which was formerly two farms, the larger of which he had inherited from his grandparents. His grandmother, Martha Howard, was a relation of the Whitbread family, and he became a neighbor and close friend of his cousin, [[Samuel Whitbread]]. He spent the next two years building properties and trying to improve the lives of the tenants living on his land. Later, a survey of Cardington in 1782 found that he was paying for the teaching of 23 children. | ||
| − | + | In 1758, Howard married Henrietta Leeds who died in 1765, a week after giving birth to a son, also named John, who was sent to boarding school at a very young age. The younger John was expelled from [[Cambridge University]] for [[homosexual]] offences, was judged insane at the age of 21, and died in 1799 having spent thirteen years in an asylum. | |
| − | + | ===High Sheriff of Bedfordshire=== | |
| + | John Howard was appointed High Sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1773, initially for a one-year period. Such was his dedication, rather than delegating his duties to the under-sheriff as was customary, Howard inspected the county prison himself. He was shocked by what he found, and spurred into action to inspect prisons throughout [[England]]. Of particular concern to Howard were those prisoners who were held because they could not pay the jailer's fee - an amount paid to the owner or keeper of the prison for upkeep. He took this issue to parliament, and in 1774 Howard was called to give evidence on prison conditions to a [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] select committee. Members of that committee were so impressed that, unusually, Howard was called to the bar of the House of Commons and publicly thanked for his 'humanity and zeal'. | ||
| − | + | Having visited several hundred prisons across [[England]], [[Scotland]], [[Wales]] and wider [[Europe]], Howard published the first edition of ''The State of the Prisons'' in 1777. It included very detailed accounts of the prisons he had visited, including plans and maps, together with detailed instructions on the necessary improvements. The following account, of the Bridewell at Abingdon, Oxfordshire, is typical: | |
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | Having visited several hundred prisons across England, [[Scotland]], [[Wales]] and wider [[Europe]], Howard published the first edition of ''The State of the Prisons'' in 1777. It included very detailed accounts of the prisons he had visited, including plans and maps, together with detailed instructions on the necessary improvements. The following account, of the | ||
''Two dirty day-rooms; and three offensive night-rooms: That for men eight feet square: one of the women's, nine by eight; the other four and a half feet square: the straw, worn to dust, swarmed with vermin: no court: no water accessible to prisoners. The petty offenders were in irons: at my last visit, eight were women.'' | ''Two dirty day-rooms; and three offensive night-rooms: That for men eight feet square: one of the women's, nine by eight; the other four and a half feet square: the straw, worn to dust, swarmed with vermin: no court: no water accessible to prisoners. The petty offenders were in irons: at my last visit, eight were women.'' | ||
| Line 37: | Line 35: | ||
''Howard's detailed proposals for improvements were designed to enhance the physical and mental health of the prisoners and the security and order of the prison. His recommendations pertaining to such matters as the prison location, plan and furnishings, the provision of adequate water supply, and prisoner's diet promoted hygiene and physical health. Recommendations concerning the quality of prison personnel, rules related to the maintenance of standards of health and order and an independent system of inspection, reflect the need for prison personnel to set a moral example.'' | ''Howard's detailed proposals for improvements were designed to enhance the physical and mental health of the prisoners and the security and order of the prison. His recommendations pertaining to such matters as the prison location, plan and furnishings, the provision of adequate water supply, and prisoner's diet promoted hygiene and physical health. Recommendations concerning the quality of prison personnel, rules related to the maintenance of standards of health and order and an independent system of inspection, reflect the need for prison personnel to set a moral example.'' | ||
| − | In April 1777, Howard's sister died leaving him £15,000 and her house. He used this inheritance and the revenue from the sale of her house to further his work on prisons. In 1778 he was again examined by the House of Commons, who were this time inquiring into 'hulks', or | + | In April 1777, Howard's sister died leaving him £15,000 and her house. He used this inheritance and the revenue from the sale of her house to further his work on prisons. In 1778 he was again examined by the House of Commons, who were this time inquiring into 'hulks', or prison ships. Two days after giving evidence, he was again traveling [[Europe]], beginning in [[Holland]]. |
| + | |||
| + | By 1784, Howard calculated that he had traveled over 42,000 miles visiting prisons. He had been awarded an honorary LLD by the [[University of Dublin]] and had been given the Freedom of the City of London. His fourth and final tour of English prisons began in March 1787 and two years later he published ''The State of the Prisons in England, and An Account of the Principal Lazarettos of Europe''. | ||
| − | + | ===Death=== | |
| + | His final journey took him into [[Eastern Europe]], and into the Crimea. Whilst at Kherson, in what is now [[Ukraine]], Howard contracted [[typhus]] and died. He was buried on the shores of the [[Black Sea]]. Despite requesting a quiet funeral without pomp and ceremony, the event was elaborate and attended by the Prince of Moldovia. When news of his death reached [[England]], in February 1790, several John Howard halfpennies were struck, including one with the engraving "Go forth, Remember the Debtors in Gaol." | ||
| − | == | + | ==Legacy== |
| − | + | Howard became the first civilian to be honored with a statue in St. Paul's Cathedral, [[London]]. A statue was also erected in Bedford, and a further one in Kherson. His bust features in the architecture of a number of [[Victorian era|Victorian]] prisons across the UK, such as at Shrewsbury. | |
| − | Howard | + | Almost eighty years after his death, the Howard Association was formed in London, with the aim of ""promotion of the most efficient means of penal treatment and crime prevention" and to promote "a reformatory and radically preventive treatment of offenders." In its first annual report in 1867, the Association stated that its efforts had been focused on "the promotion of reformatory and remunerative prison labour, and the abolition of capital punishment." The Association merged with the Penal Reform League in 1921 to become the Howard League for Penal Reform. Today, the Howard League is Britain's biggest [[penal reform]] organisation. |
| − | + | John Howard is also the namesake of the John Howard Society, a [[Canada|Canadian]] [[non-profit organization]] that seeks to develop understanding and effective responses to the problem of [[crime]]. The Howard Association, a benevolent organisation, was also named after him. There is also a Howard League for Penal Reform in [[New Zealand]]. The John Howard Association of Illinois formed in 1901, works for corrections reform in [[Illinois]] prisons and jails. | |
| − | + | ==Publications== | |
| − | + | * Howard, John. 1973. ''Prisons and Lazarettos''. Patterson Smith. ISBN 0875851355 | |
| + | * Howard, John. 1977 (original published in 1777). ''The State of the Prisons''. Abingdon: Professional Books. | ||
| + | * Howard, John. 2000 (original published in 1787). ''The state of the prisons in England and Wales, with preliminary observations, and an account of some foreign prisons''. State of the prisons in Britain, 1775-1905, v.1. London: Routledge/Thoemmes Press. | ||
| + | ==References== | ||
| + | |||
| + | * Aikin, John. 1994. ''A View of the Life, Travels, and Philanthropic Labours of the Late John Howard''. Fred B Rothman & Co. ISBN 0837719127 | ||
| + | * Howard, Derek L. 1963. ''John Howard: Prison reformer''. Archer House | ||
| + | * Dixon, William H. 1869. ''John Howard, and the prison-world of Europe''. Robert Carter & Brothers | ||
| + | * ''John Howard''. [http://www.howardleague.org/ The Howard League for Penal Reform]. Retrieved on March 31, 2007, <http://www.howardleague.org/johnhoward> | ||
| + | * Southwood, Martin. 1958. ''John Howard, prison reformer: An account of his life and travels''. Independent Press Ltd | ||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | *[http://www. | + | * [http://www.johnhoward.ca/bio.htm Biography of John Howard] – Biography on the John Howard Society of Canada website |
| + | * [http://www.howardleague.org Howard League for Penal Reform] – Official website of the Howard League | ||
| + | * [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/howard_john.shtml John Howard] – Biographical information from the BBC history website | ||
| + | * [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REhoward.htm John Howard] – Biography on Spartacus Schoolnet | ||
| + | * [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan.pibworth/howard/ Photos] – Some photos of John Howard, the house he grew up, and some links | ||
{{Credit1|John_Howard|94131582|}} | {{Credit1|John_Howard|94131582|}} | ||
Revision as of 04:40, 1 April 2007
John Howard (born September 2, 1726 – dead January 20, 1790) was a British philanthropist and prison reformer.
Life and work
Birth and early life
John Howard was born in Lower Clapton, London, England. His father was a wealthy upholsterer at Smithfield Market in the city. His mother died when he was five, and, described as a "sickly child," he was sent to live at Cardington, Bedfordshire, some forty miles from London, where his father owned property. His father, a strict disciplinarian with strong religious beliefs, sent the young John to a school in Hertford and then to John Eames' Dissenting Academy in London.
After school, John worked as an apprentice to a wholesale grocer to learn business methods, but he was unhappy. When his father died in 1742, he was left with a sizeable inheritance but no true vocation. His Calvinist faith and quiet, serious disposition meant he had little desire for the fashionable endeavors of an English aristocratic lifestyle. In 1748, he left England to tour France and Italy.
Upon his return, he lived in lodgings in Stoke Newington, where he again became seriously ill. He was nursed back to health by his landlady, Sarah Loidore, whom he then married despite her being thirty years older than him. She died within three years, and he distributed her meagre belongings amongst her remaining family and poor neighbors.
Howard as a prisoner
He then set out for Portugal following the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, traveling on the ship Hanover, which was captured by French privateers. He was imprisoned in Brest, France for six days before being transferred to another prison on the French coast. He was later exchanged for a French officer held by the British, and he quickly traveled to the Commissioners of Sick and Wounded Seamen in London to seek help on behalf of his fellow captives. It is widely regarded that this personal experience generated Howard's interest in prisons.
Howard at Cardington
Having returned from France, he settled again at Cardington, Bedfordshire, to live on a 200 acre estate which was formerly two farms, the larger of which he had inherited from his grandparents. His grandmother, Martha Howard, was a relation of the Whitbread family, and he became a neighbor and close friend of his cousin, Samuel Whitbread. He spent the next two years building properties and trying to improve the lives of the tenants living on his land. Later, a survey of Cardington in 1782 found that he was paying for the teaching of 23 children.
In 1758, Howard married Henrietta Leeds who died in 1765, a week after giving birth to a son, also named John, who was sent to boarding school at a very young age. The younger John was expelled from Cambridge University for homosexual offences, was judged insane at the age of 21, and died in 1799 having spent thirteen years in an asylum.
High Sheriff of Bedfordshire
John Howard was appointed High Sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1773, initially for a one-year period. Such was his dedication, rather than delegating his duties to the under-sheriff as was customary, Howard inspected the county prison himself. He was shocked by what he found, and spurred into action to inspect prisons throughout England. Of particular concern to Howard were those prisoners who were held because they could not pay the jailer's fee - an amount paid to the owner or keeper of the prison for upkeep. He took this issue to parliament, and in 1774 Howard was called to give evidence on prison conditions to a House of Commons select committee. Members of that committee were so impressed that, unusually, Howard was called to the bar of the House of Commons and publicly thanked for his 'humanity and zeal'.
Having visited several hundred prisons across England, Scotland, Wales and wider Europe, Howard published the first edition of The State of the Prisons in 1777. It included very detailed accounts of the prisons he had visited, including plans and maps, together with detailed instructions on the necessary improvements. The following account, of the Bridewell at Abingdon, Oxfordshire, is typical:
Two dirty day-rooms; and three offensive night-rooms: That for men eight feet square: one of the women's, nine by eight; the other four and a half feet square: the straw, worn to dust, swarmed with vermin: no court: no water accessible to prisoners. The petty offenders were in irons: at my last visit, eight were women.
Howard viewed his work as humanitarian. Terry Carlson, in his 1990 biographical tract on Howard, remarks:
Howard's detailed proposals for improvements were designed to enhance the physical and mental health of the prisoners and the security and order of the prison. His recommendations pertaining to such matters as the prison location, plan and furnishings, the provision of adequate water supply, and prisoner's diet promoted hygiene and physical health. Recommendations concerning the quality of prison personnel, rules related to the maintenance of standards of health and order and an independent system of inspection, reflect the need for prison personnel to set a moral example.
In April 1777, Howard's sister died leaving him £15,000 and her house. He used this inheritance and the revenue from the sale of her house to further his work on prisons. In 1778 he was again examined by the House of Commons, who were this time inquiring into 'hulks', or prison ships. Two days after giving evidence, he was again traveling Europe, beginning in Holland.
By 1784, Howard calculated that he had traveled over 42,000 miles visiting prisons. He had been awarded an honorary LLD by the University of Dublin and had been given the Freedom of the City of London. His fourth and final tour of English prisons began in March 1787 and two years later he published The State of the Prisons in England, and An Account of the Principal Lazarettos of Europe.
Death
His final journey took him into Eastern Europe, and into the Crimea. Whilst at Kherson, in what is now Ukraine, Howard contracted typhus and died. He was buried on the shores of the Black Sea. Despite requesting a quiet funeral without pomp and ceremony, the event was elaborate and attended by the Prince of Moldovia. When news of his death reached England, in February 1790, several John Howard halfpennies were struck, including one with the engraving "Go forth, Remember the Debtors in Gaol."
Legacy
Howard became the first civilian to be honored with a statue in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. A statue was also erected in Bedford, and a further one in Kherson. His bust features in the architecture of a number of Victorian prisons across the UK, such as at Shrewsbury.
Almost eighty years after his death, the Howard Association was formed in London, with the aim of ""promotion of the most efficient means of penal treatment and crime prevention" and to promote "a reformatory and radically preventive treatment of offenders." In its first annual report in 1867, the Association stated that its efforts had been focused on "the promotion of reformatory and remunerative prison labour, and the abolition of capital punishment." The Association merged with the Penal Reform League in 1921 to become the Howard League for Penal Reform. Today, the Howard League is Britain's biggest penal reform organisation.
John Howard is also the namesake of the John Howard Society, a Canadian non-profit organization that seeks to develop understanding and effective responses to the problem of crime. The Howard Association, a benevolent organisation, was also named after him. There is also a Howard League for Penal Reform in New Zealand. The John Howard Association of Illinois formed in 1901, works for corrections reform in Illinois prisons and jails.
Publications
- Howard, John. 1973. Prisons and Lazarettos. Patterson Smith. ISBN 0875851355
- Howard, John. 1977 (original published in 1777). The State of the Prisons. Abingdon: Professional Books.
- Howard, John. 2000 (original published in 1787). The state of the prisons in England and Wales, with preliminary observations, and an account of some foreign prisons. State of the prisons in Britain, 1775-1905, v.1. London: Routledge/Thoemmes Press.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Aikin, John. 1994. A View of the Life, Travels, and Philanthropic Labours of the Late John Howard. Fred B Rothman & Co. ISBN 0837719127
- Howard, Derek L. 1963. John Howard: Prison reformer. Archer House
- Dixon, William H. 1869. John Howard, and the prison-world of Europe. Robert Carter & Brothers
- John Howard. The Howard League for Penal Reform. Retrieved on March 31, 2007, <http://www.howardleague.org/johnhoward>
- Southwood, Martin. 1958. John Howard, prison reformer: An account of his life and travels. Independent Press Ltd
External links
- Biography of John Howard – Biography on the John Howard Society of Canada website
- Howard League for Penal Reform – Official website of the Howard League
- John Howard – Biographical information from the BBC history website
- John Howard – Biography on Spartacus Schoolnet
- Photos – Some photos of John Howard, the house he grew up, and some links
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:
The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:
Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.
