Project Team

Principal Investigator and Project Lead

Rosalind Crone (The Open University)

Research Assistants

Lesley Hoskins and Rebecca Preston: worked on the 19th Century Prisons database. They harvested the bulk of the data on institutional records from local archives and The National Archives.

Ellie Pridgeon: transformed the lists of documents for the 19th Century Prisons database into an appropriate format for publication.

Elaine Saunders: assisted with the conceptual development of the Local Lock-Ups database, and developed links with key stakeholders.

Database Development

BurningRed: developers of the Prison History website.

James Adams: transformed the original 19th Century Prisons database into the e-book, ‘Guide to the Criminal Prisons of 19th Century England (2018).

Acknowledgements

For a list of the repositories which were searched for surviving archives of all the prisons listed in this database, click here. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the staff at all these repositories for their help with, patience for and enthusiasm about this project.

Moreover, the members of a number of local history associations and staff (including volunteers) at several local and prison museums were exceptionally generous with their time and own research when contacted about often obscure penal institutions within their locality. In particular, we would like to thank the following individuals:

  • Barry Wall (Sudbury History Society)
  • Shirley Levon (Wakefield Historical Society)
  • Eleanor Williams (Falmouth History Archive)
  • Alan Taylor (Folkestone & District Local History Society)
  • David Anderson (Folkestone Heritage Team, Folkestone Library)
  • Dawn Walker (Penwith Local History Group)
  • Adrian Hall (Battle Museum of Local History)
  • Emily Hicks (Bridport Museum)
  • Sophie Wallace (Daventry Museum)
  • Edward Marshall (Bridgenorth & District Historical Society)
  • Veronica Johnston (South Molton & District Archive Local History Society/ South Molton Museum)
  • Pam & Bernard (Tiverton Museum)
  • Robert Bacon (Beccles Museum)
  • Jacqueline Cooper (Saffron and Walden Historical Society)
  • Judy Martin & Mark Camp (East Looe Old Guidhall Museum & Gaol)
  • Peter Harrison (Pevensey Court House Museum and Gaol)
  • Colin Boyes & Ken Wells (Thames Valley Police Museum)
  • Adrian Hoare & Mary Garner (Wymondham Heritage (Bridewell) Museum & Wymondham Town Archive)
  • Pip Baker (Dartmoor Prison Museum)