Dover Town and Cinque Ports Gaol

Overview

Details

Records

Overview

Alternative Names   Dover Common Gaol and House of Correction, Dover Borough Gaol, Dover Town Gaol

Prison Type   Local Prison -  Common Gaol & House of Correction/Bridewell

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   1835

Date closed   1878

Location   town hall, at the entrance to Dover on the London road, formerly the hospital of a priory called the Maison Dieu   Dover

Map location   exact or closely approximate

County   Kent

Prison Info

Alternative Names   Dover Common Gaol and House of Correction, Dover Borough Gaol, Dover Town Gaol

Prison Type   Local Prison

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   1835

Date closed   1878

Location   town hall, at the entrance to Dover on the London road, formerly the hospital of a priory called the Maison Dieu   Dover

Map location   exact or closely approximate
Lat.   51.128  Long.   1.3089

County   Kent

Prisoner Statistics

 

Year 1838

Annual Confined   -   204

Daily Census   -   32

 

Year 1843

Annual Confined   -   388

Daily Census   -   27

 

Year 1848

Annual Confined   -   357

Daily Daily average   -   37

 

Year 1853

Annual Confined   -   398

Daily Daily average   -   40

 

Year 1858

Annual Committed   -   450

Daily Daily average   -   40

 

Year 1863

Annual Committed   -   448

Daily Greatest number   -   71

 

Year 1868

Annual Committed   -   175

Daily Daily average   -   6

 

Year 1873

Annual Committed   -   297

Daily Daily average   -   40

 

Year 1878

Annual Committed   -   19

Daily Daily average   -   0

Principal Primary Sources

  • Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1844, XXXIX.403), p.246; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1845, XXXVII.417), p.283; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1846, XXXIV.187), p.293; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1847, XLVII.297), p.298; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1847-48, LII.465), p.301
  • Abstract Return of Establishment and Expenditure of Gaols and Houses of Correction in England and Wales (Parl. Papers, 1840, XXXVIII.241), p.20
  • Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Second Report (Parl. Papers, 1837 XXXII.1), p.400; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Third Report, Supplement (Parl. Papers, 1837-38, XXX.367), p.20; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Fourth Report (Parl. Papers, 1839, XXI.1), p.236; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Fifth Report (Parl. Papers, 1840, XXV.1), p.314; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Sixth Report (Parl. Papers, 1841 Session 2, IV.1), p.216; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Tenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1845, XXIII.1), p.314; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Fourteenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1850, XXVIII.1), p.74; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Fifteenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1851, XXVII.1), p.104; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Twenty-fourth Report (Parl. Papers, 1859, Session 1, XI.169), p.36; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Twenty-sixth Report (Parl. Papers, 1861, XXIX.1), p.40; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Twenty-eighth Report (Parl. Papers, 1863, XXIII.1), p.51; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Thirtieth Report (Parl. Papers, 1865, XXIII.1), p.129; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Thirty-first Report (Parl. Papers, 1866, XXXVII.1), p.115; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Thirty-second Report (Parl. Papers, 1867-68, XXXIV.203), p.157; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Thirty-third Report (Parl. Papers, 1868-69, XXIX.1), p.106; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Thirty-fourth Report (Parl. Papers, 1870, XXXVII.1), p.118; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Thirty-fifth Report (Parl. Papers, 1871, XXIX.241), p.150; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Thirty-sixth Report (Parl. Papers, 1872, XXXI.1), p.89; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Thirty-seventh Report (Parl. Papers, 1873, XXXII.1), p.174; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Thirty-eighth Report (Parl. Papers, 1874, XXIX.1), p.191; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Thirty-ninth Report (Parl. Papers, 1875, XXXVII.1), p.209; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Fortieth Report (Parl. Papers, 1876, XXXV.1), p.210; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Forty-first Report (Parl. Papers, 1877, XLIII.1), p.213; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Forty-second Report (Parl. Papers, 1878, XLI.1), p.213

Additional Primary Sources

  • Samuel Bagshaw, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Kent, Volume II (1847), p. 399.

Secondary Sources

  • http://www.dovermuseum.co.uk/Dover-History/Medieval-Dover/Maison-Dieu.aspx

Management

Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Do/Amc15/1

Collection: Dover Borough

Description: Miscellaneous Committee minutes, including Committee to consider Gaoler's salary (1859), Reformatory school for borough offenders (1861), Gaol Committee (1864), Prison Visitors' Committee (1869), General Purposes Committee (appointed in 1870 to exercise powers under the Municipal Corporation, Prison).

Dates: 1848-1872


Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Do/ACr3

Collection: Dover Borough

Description: Copies of quarterly Gaol and Sessions orders (authorised by Gaol Committee and confirmed by Council) 

Dates: 1840-1847


Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Do/ACr9/2

Collection: Dover Borough

Description: Copies of Gaol and Sessions orders. Including orders to pay unpaid bills to tradesmen for supplies to the new Gaol (1836) 

Dates: 1836-1843


Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Do/JQc19

Collection: Dover Borough

Description: Miscellaneous correspondence, including disposal of prisoners during alterations to Gaol, goods of convicted felons. 

Dates: 1867-1869


Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Do/JQp4

Collection: Dover Borough

Description: Poor Law matters. Vagrancy problem at Margate. Suggests vagrants be committed to Sandwich Gaol instead of Dover. 

Dates: 1844


Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: EK/U1453/O46/79

Collection: Cobb Family of Margate

Description: Letters regarding supply of matting for Dover Gaol

Dates: 1850


Finance

Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Do/TL145

Collection: Dover Borough

Description: Mortgages of borough rates (security for sums lent for repairing Court House and Prison)

Dates: 1860


Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Do/JSf3

Collection: Dover Borough

Description: Rough accounts of Sessions fees (1833). List of unpaid bills due to tradesmen for work on new Gaol. 

Dates: 1827-1836


Staff

Archive name: Canterbury Cathedral Archives

Catalogue ref: DCb/F/F/Do/15

Collection: Diocese of Canterbury

Description: Licences for chaplains - Dover, The Borough Gaol

Dates: 1857


Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: U442/O33

Collection: Gordon Ward Collection

Description: Copy of duties of Chaplain at Dover Gaol 

Dates: 1836


Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Do/Ao5

Collection: Dover Borough

Description: Appointment of John George Coulthard as Deputy Water Bailiff and Keeper of the Prison

Dates: 1855


Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Do/Ap5

Collection: Dover Borough

Description: Memorials of John George Coulthard, town gaoler, and assistants, for increased salary

Dates: 1851-1860


Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Do/TA15

Collection: Dover Borough

Description: Agreement with Hannah Simmons, Matron of Dover Prison, regarding pension payable to her following the closure of the Prison under the terms of the Prison Act (1877)

Dates: 1883


Prisoners

Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Do/JQg2-3, 5-9, 11

Collection: Dover Borough

Description: Lists and descriptions of convicts and/ or prisoners in gaol

Dates: 1836-1871


Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Do/JQg10

Collection: Dover Borough

Description: Correspondence regarding individual prisoners

Dates: 1857-1859


Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Do/JQg4

Collection: Dover Borough

Description: Correspondence of HM Treasury and others with clerk of the peace regarding restitution of stolen jewellery found in possession of convicted felon

Dates: 1851


Land & Buildings

Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Do/TA26

Collection: Dover Borough

Description: Contract and specification to construct public baths, boiler house and laundry, lay out the old Prison yard

Dates: 1894


Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: EK/U150

Collection: Maison Dieu, Dover: Plans

Description: Plans of the Maison Dieu, Dover. Most are annotated with the name and address of the Architect W. Burges, 15 Buckingham Street, London.

Dates: 1859-1881