Bath City Gaol

Overview

Details

Records

Overview

Alternative Names   Bath City Gaol, Bath Prison

Prison Type   Local Prison -  Common Gaol

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   1774

Date closed   1842

Location   Bathwick, Grove Street   Bath

Map location   exact or closely approximate

County   Somersetshire

Prison Info

Alternative Names   Bath City Gaol, Bath Prison

Prison Type   Local Prison

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   1774

Date closed   1842

Location   Bathwick, Grove Street   Bath

Map location   exact or closely approximate
Lat.   51.384239  Long.   -2.3589124

County   Somersetshire

Prisoner Statistics

 

Year 1818

Annual Committed   -   601

Daily Greatest number   -   72

 

Year 1832

Annual Committed   -   192

Daily Greatest number   -   28

 

Year 1838

Annual Confined   -   991

Daily Census   -   13

Principal Primary Sources

  • James Neild, The State of the Prisons of England, Scotland and Wales (London, 1812), p.28
  • Account of Gaols, Houses of Correction or Penitentiaries in the United Kingdom, 1818 (Parl. Papers, 1819, XVII.371), p.42
  • [Second] Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline and for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders (London, 1820), p.39; Seventh Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline and for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders (London, 1827), Appendix, p.130; Eighth Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline and for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders (London, 1832), Appendix, p.39
  • Return of Places of Confinement Outside Gaol Acts in England and Wales (Parl. Papers, 1833, XXVIII.425), p.8
  • Royal Commission of Inquiry into Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, First Report, Appendices: Part 2 (Parl. Papers, 1835, XXIII.133), p.1117
  • Abstract Return of Establishment and Expenditure of Gaols and Houses of Correction in England and Wales (Parl. Papers, 1840, XXXVIII.241), p.50
  • Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Second Report (Parl. Papers, 1837, XXXII.1), p.44; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Second Report (Parl. Papers, 1837, XXXII.659), p.46; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Fourth Report (Parl. Papers, 1839, XXII.217), p.60; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Fifth Report (Parl. Papers, 1840, XXV.721), p.127; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Sixth Report (Parl. Papers, 1841 Session 2, V.177), p.123; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Seventh Report (Parl. Papers, 1842, XXI.193), p.26

Secondary Sources

  • Chris Noble, 'The new gaol in Bathwick, 1772-1842' Bath History, 9 (2002), pp. 64-86 (http://historyofbath.org/images/BathHistory/Vol%2009%20-%2003.%20Noble%20-%20The%20New%20Gaol%20in%20Bathwick,%201772-1842.pdf); 'Grove Street Gaol', History of Bath Research Group Newsletter, 38 (January 1999), pp. 5-7 (http://historyofbath.org/images/documents/d3021c46-4fd0-43a7-ab71-1bb7b7039c50.pdf)

Management

Archive name: Bath Record Office

Catalogue ref: BC/11

Collection: Bath City Council

Description: Gaol Committee minutes (1837-1878), including minutes of the Gaol Building Committee

Dates: 1839-1845


Finance

Archive name: Bath Record Office

Catalogue ref: BC/11

Collection: Bath City Council

Description: Gaol cash book

Dates: 1840-1867


Staff

Archive name: Bath Record Office

Catalogue ref: BC 134/179

Collection: Bath Town Clerk

Description: Includes draft bond of indemnification on Ideneage Ginder being appointed under Bailiff and Keeper of the Gaol

Dates: 1820


Archive name: Bath Record Office

Catalogue ref: BC 134/53

Collection: Bath Town Clerk

Description: Miscellaneous draft documents, including appointment of Heneage Ginder under Bailiff and Keeper of the Gaol (14 July 1819).

Dates: 1819


Archive name: Bath Record Office

Catalogue ref: BC 134/198

Collection: Bath Town Clerk

Description: Bond for the execution of duties as Gaoler John Bourn to John Jr. Gumming and Sir John dd. Cooper

Dates: 1828


Archive name: Bath Record Office

Catalogue ref: BC/11

Collection: Bath City Council

Description: Bonds for the office of Gaoler

Dates: 1782-1818


Prisoners

Archive name: Bath Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS/6

Collection: Bath Quarter Sessions

Description: Commitments in Felony. These volumes contain warrants signed by the Justices ordering the detention in the House of Correction of those accused of felonies, while they awaited trial at Quarter Sessions or Assizes.

Dates: 1799-1860


Archive name: Bath Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS/7

Collection: Bath Quarter Sessions

Description: Commitments to the House of Correction

Dates: 1836-1859