Colchester House of Correction

Overview

Details

Records

Overview

Prison Type   Local Prison -  House of Correction/Bridewell

Jurisdiction   County

Date opened   1835

Date closed   1850

Location   Ipswich Road   Colchester

Map location   in the vicinity

County   Essex

Prison Info

Prison Type   Local Prison

Jurisdiction   County

Date opened   1835

Date closed   1850

Location   Ipswich Road   Colchester

Map location   in the vicinity
Lat.   51.888024  Long.   0.8903295

County   Essex

Prisoner Statistics

 

Year 1838

Annual Confined   -   183

Daily Census   -   193

 

Year 1843

Annual Confined   -   341

Daily Census   -   49

 

Year 1848

Annual Confined   -   269

Daily Daily average   -   28

Principal Primary Sources

  • Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1837, XLV.1), p.52; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1837-8, XLIII.227), p.50; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1839, XXXVIII.17), p.48; Reports Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1840, XXXVIII.1), p.49; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1841, XVIII.1), p.50; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1842, XXXII.1), p.50; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1843, XLIII.1), p.55; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1844, XXXIX.403), p.53; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1845, XXXVII.417), p.59; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1846, XXXIV.187), p.58; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1847, XLVII.297), p.66; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1847-48, LII.465), p.60
  • Abstract Return of Establishment and Expenditure of Gaols and Houses of Correction in England and Wales (Parl. Papers, 1840, XXXVIII.241), p.14
  • Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Second Report (Parl. Papers, 1837 XXXII.1), p.341; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Third Report (Parl. Papers, 1837-38, XXX.1), p.216; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Fourth Report (Parl. Papers, 1839, XXI.1), p.134; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Fifth Report (Parl. Papers, 1840, XXV.1), p.148; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Sixth Report (Parl. Papers, 1841 Session 2, IV.1), p.115; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Seventh Report (Parl. Papers, 1842, XX.1), p.101; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Tenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1845, XXIII.1), p.167; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Fourteenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1850, XXVIII.1), p.96; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain IV. Scotland, Fifteenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1850, XXVIII.793), p.71

Secondary Sources

  • http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol9/pp241-248

Management

Archive name: Essex Record Office

Catalogue ref: Q/ACM 1-9

Collection: Essex Quarter Sessions

Description: General Committee minutes. Include reports of the Gaol Committee and much relevant material on the administration of the county gaols and houses of correction (including improvements, staffing, labour)

Dates: 1796-1897


Archive name: Essex Record Office

Catalogue ref: Q/AGp 15

Collection: Essex Quarter Sessions

Description: Examinations on prison discipline by Quarter Sessions gaol committee. Including evidence of Officers of Gaols and Houses of Correction on such matters as staffing, salaries, living conditions, cost, feeding arrangements, employment of prisoners, exercise, and effect of sentences, with analysis and statistics.

Dates: 1841-1844


Archive name: Essex Record Office

Catalogue ref: Q/CR 4/1-3

Collection: Essex Quarter Sessions

Description: Returns. Of expenses of prisons and houses of correction (1815-1838); of the number of prisoners in the gaols and houses of correction (1830-1849)

Dates: 1815-1849


Archive name: Essex Record Office

Catalogue ref: Q/CR 4/4

Collection: Essex Quarter Sessions

Description: Annual returns required by 1823 Gaol Act submitted by each county prison on printed forms giving particulars under 34 heads. Colchester House of Correction

Dates: 1844-1850


Archive name: Essex Record Office

Catalogue ref: Q/SBb 378 onwards

Collection: Essex Quarter Sessions

Description: Quarter Sessions bundles include individually catalogued reports of the Keepers, Chaplains, Surgeons and Visiting Justices of the County's Gaols, including Colchester and Newport Houses of Correction, the Gaol, House of Correction and Convict Gaol at Chelmsford, Ilford House of Correction, and Springfield Gaol. The records also include accounts, staff appointments and dismissals, dietaries and labour accounts, and correspondence on prison conditions and prisoners. Up to mid 1840s, contents described in great detail.

Dates: 1800 onwards


Finance

Archive name: Essex Record Office

Catalogue ref: Q/FAC 5/1-15

Collection: Essex Quarter Sessions

Description: County Treasurers' Special Accounts: Gaols and Houses of Correction

Dates: 1767-1849


Land & Buildings

Archive name: Essex Record Office

Catalogue ref: Q/AGb 4/1-2

Collection: Essex Quarter Sessions

Description: Colchester House of Correction, building contracts, specifications and plans, County Gaols and Houses of Correction

Dates: 1831-1832