Alternative Names St Mary's Prison (includes Chattenden Prison, 1876-86)
Prison Type Convict Prison
Date opened 1856
Date closed 1892
Location St Mary's Island Chatham
Map location exact or closely approximate
County Kent
Opened September 1856 on the break up of the Warrior (ID 2017) and Defence (ID 2022) prison hulks at Woolwich as a public works prison for male convicts. Notorious for riots which broke out at the prison in early 1861. Between 1876 and 1886 served as the administrative authority for the small ‘branch’ prison at Chattenden Barracks. In 1880, Chatham was selected for the receipt of “star class” convicts: men with no previous convictions sent here for public works but kept separate from other classes of prisoners. In 1892, closed and transfered to the Admiralty.
Alternative Names St Mary's Prison (includes Chattenden Prison, 1876-86)
Prison Type Convict Prison
Date opened 1856
Date closed 1892
Location St Mary's Island Chatham
Map location exact or closely approximate
Lat. 51.397222 Long. 0.527778
County Kent
Opened September 1856 on the break up of the Warrior (ID 2017) and Defence (ID 2022) prison hulks at Woolwich as a public works prison for male convicts. Notorious for riots which broke out at the prison in early 1861. Between 1876 and 1886 served as the administrative authority for the small ‘branch’ prison at Chattenden Barracks. In 1880, Chatham was selected for the receipt of “star class” convicts: men with no previous convictions sent here for public works but kept separate from other classes of prisoners. In 1892, closed and transfered to the Admiralty.
Year 1858
Annual Confined - 1731
Daily Census - 1063
Year 1863
Annual Confined - 2068
Daily Census - 1096
Year 1868
Annual Confined - 1734
Daily Census - 1375
Year 1873
Annual Confined - 2173
Daily Census - 1706
Year 1878
Annual Confined - 1787
Daily Census - 1313
Year 1883
Annual Confined - 1758
Daily Census - 1263
Year 1888
Annual Confined - 1315
Daily Census - 973
Archive name: The National Archives
Catalogue ref: PCOM 7/224
Collection: Prison Commission
Description: Warrants constituting and appointing Convict Prisons etc. Chatham Convict Prison
Dates: 1856-1885
Archive name: The National Archives
Catalogue ref: PCOM 2/426-429
Collection: Prison Commission
Description: Chatham Prison, Kent, Governor's journal
Dates: 1857-1859
Archive name: The National Archives
Catalogue ref: PCOM 2/367
Collection: Prison Commission
Description: Chatham Prison, Kent, register of prison staff
Dates: 1847-1869
Archive name: Medway Archives Centre
Catalogue ref: 06a_DE_SERIES_1001_1200/DE1049
Collection: None
Description: Miss Hilda Jacobs of 113 Richmond Road, Gillingham. Records of career of Charles Edwin Jacobs (1858-1949) including as Assistant Warder, HM Convict Prisons Service, serving firstly at HM Convict Prison, Chatham (from 1884), and then at HM prison, Borstal (until 1899). Includes photographs of HM Convict Prison, Chatham (c.1884), head and shoulders studio photograph of subject in Prison Warder's uniform (c.1884).
Dates: c.1884
Archive name: The National Archives
Catalogue ref: PCOM 2/1-6
Collection: Prison Commission
Description: Chatham Prison, Kent, register of prisoners
Dates: 1856-1892
Archive name: The National Archives
Catalogue ref: PCOM 2/7-9
Collection: Prison Commission
Description: Chatham Prison, Kent, index to registers of prisoners
Dates: 1863, 1881-1892
Archive name: The National Archives
Catalogue ref: HO 8/130-207
Collection: Home Office
Description: Quarterly returns of prisoners in Hulks and Convict Prisons, Chatham, Kent
Dates: 1856-1876