Castle Rushen Gaol Papers

Date(s): 1836-1891

Scope & Content: The Castle Rushen Gaol Papers consist primarily of records deposited in the Manx Museum Library and Archives after the care of Castle Rushen was transferred to the Manx National Trust from the Department of Highways, Ports and Properties in 1989. From the outset it should be remembered that various records relating to the Castle gaol have been amassed in the Library and Archives from 1925 onwards. This list and introduction have been arranged so that the extent of these sources is made evident and series of records can be identified without destroying the original numbering sequence of these earlier accessions.

The papers in accession MS 09783 span the period 1836-1891 during which time the inner keep of the Castle was functioning, along with an adjoining cell block built in 1845, as the Island's main gaol. In 1891 purpose built premises opened on Victoria Road, Douglas and prisoners were transferred from Castletown to Douglas, thus ending the Castle's long-standing function as a place of incarceration.

The collection has many assets: a detailed commentary on the daily routine of the prison regime is provided by the gaolers' journals whilst registers release useful factual information such as the number of men, women and children held within the castle walls for these decades and the causes of their confinement. Insight into the relationships between prisoners and 'turnkeys' can be gained and opinions as to the adequacy of facilities gleaned. The records also divulge local economic colour by revealing which traders and companies made use of prison goods and labour. However the MS 09783 records should not be treated in isolation since they are neither complete nor comprehensive in scope. The two major complimentary sources in the Library and Archives are the indexed Government Office Papers and the Athol Papers both of which cover a wider span of years than the MS 09783 collection. Taken as a whole, the Library and Archives gaol records combine to provide an enticing body of material that will reward the researcher of nineteenth century Manx prison history.

Administration / Biographical History: The development of gaol facilities and eventual move to Douglas
The Library and Archvies holds a useful array of plans and reports compiled by official visitors to the gaol. These help to chart the extent of facilities, the progress of building work and contemporary opinions as to the suitability of the site for a prison. (For plans see especially AP M.17.S, AP 106 (2nd) 18, CN.4.L, CN.11.M and CN.12.M).

'Arch'd, Suppos'd to be a prison' is the rather dismissive description by architect George Steuart of the two ground floor rooms in the inner keep reserved for convicted felons on his 1788 plan (AP M.17.S). Steuart's plan also shows an area measuring 12' by 11' allocated as a prison for debtors on the outer wall next to the guardroom. A detailed report submitted to the Commissioners for the Affairs of Barracks in September 1811 by the Inspector General J. Stapleton confirms the existence of cramped conditions. Debtors, criminals and small offenders were confined in three ground floor apartments in the outer gatehouse, the latter 'having scarcely any bedding and no straw to lie upon, appeared in the most abject state of wretchedness.'

Certain debtors were also lodged in two small turrets on the walls (AP 138-21).

In the 1810s the decision was taken to adapt the inner keep as a gaol and improve the dilapidated fabric of the buildings. New rooves and floors were erected. Women, criminals and debtors came to occupy various wings of the keep. Separate exercise yards were established and circa 1824 a soup kitchen, chapel and hospital were added (AP 45-28, 30). In 1845 a new cell block was built between the Clock Tower and curtain wall and in 1849 premises for the Gaoler were constructed between the gatehouse and inner drawbridge.

The suitability of the site as a gaol was dismissed by critics in the 1870s and 1880s, using very stern language. Philip E. Murphy stated at the outset of his 1878 draft report on the accommodation of Castle Rushen Gaol his '... decided opinion that Castle Rushen is quite unadapted for the purposes of a gaol, and that no alterations or additions which could be made at a reasonable outlay would make it suitable for such a purpose - for among others, the following reasons ...' (CN.17.L; P 3635)

Sir Edward Du Cane, Chairman of the Commissioners of Prisoners for England and Wales when called upon to inspect the gaol in May 1885 and report on the suitability of the building and the organisation and discipline of the establishment, declared the site to be 'incurably defective' in its inability to segregate prisoners and insure adequate supervision (MD 119-42). The work of a committee established shortly thereafter to consider the siting and establishment of a new prison is documented in a section of the Drinkwater Papers (MD 119, 42-68).

Regulations Security and Discipline
In a letter of January 1823, Robert Kelly, Visiting Magistrate to the Gaol, and High Bailiff of Castletown mentions the existence of an October 1816 issue of Rules and Regulations, copies of which ‘...have long since been disposed of in terms of the Rules and the prisoners now appear ignorant of the Regulations of the Gaol'. (AP 120 - 49)

Kelly requests the Duke to order more copies to be printed. The Duke's response is recorded in an April 1823 letter in which he commends Kelly for his work associated with the Gaol and states, 'I am now placing that Gaol, the Regulations respecting it, the feeding of the Prisoners and all other matters thereto appertaining...in fit and becoming order...' (AP X6S-37).

The 1816 and 1823 Regulations do not survive but a copy of the 1863 issue of the Rules and Regulations is held in the Library and Archives (Manx Ref. D66/3) and is vital reading in order to gain an overview of gaol procedure and staff duties and to put much of the content and format of the MS 09783 records in context.

The fact that these 1863 Rules did not receive an entirely smooth reception may be surmised from the gaoler's journal for 1863 which was required under section 2 of the gaoler's regulations (D66/3 p.13). The second entry records that copies of the new rules and regulations were handed out to the turnkeys, taskmaster and matron, the new regulations read out to them and copies displayed in various locations (9 November 1863, MS 09783/7/3). The first entry reveals that a female prisoner, 'committed to give bail to keep the peace', had thrown two copies of the Rules and Regulations out of the window (8 November 1863).

The 1863 Rules stated that the Gaoler should reside within the walls of Castle Rushen and hold no other office. These two conditions were stipulated as a necessity as early as 1816 in a letter from Attorney General James Clarke to the Collector and Comptroller in Douglas when commenting on the escape of two prisoners and the lack of security in the gaol. Clarke pointed out that, 'the Gaoler does not reside in the Gaol and his duties are imperfectly performed by Turnkeys. In the daytime he is frequently engaged in other occupations, and the greatest irregularity prevail (sic) in consequence of his absence'.

Clarke also reveals that the gaoler is, 'a Licensed Publican in the town, a circumstance which in my judgement altogether disqualifies him for the Office of Gaoler'. (Ap 108 2nd 28).

An incident in March 1823 containing the same dual elements of a breach of security and the call of a Castletown hostelry is documented by a letter from Visiting Magistrate Robert Kelly who informs the Governor, '... that I have sent to your Secretary a petition and complaint against William Corrin of this town one of His Majesty's Constables for having when on guard at the Gaol taken one of the prisoners there out to a Public House to drink ale' (AP 120-55).

Audacity and initiative on a par with this are revealed within a short copy letter in the rear of MS 09783/1/1, written by the Taskmaster to the High Bailiff of Douglas and noting that a prisoner, James Kermode, was released from gaol the day before. It had now come to his attention that Kermode had been making base shillings and sixpences whilst in the Debtors' Ward. The Taskmaster offers by way of explanation, 'The Debtors have opportunities of obtaining materials which the Crown prisoners have not'.

Punishment: Corporal, Capital and the Results of Hard Labour
The Gaol Papers provide lists of sentences imposed for a wide spectrum of offences including sheep stealing, rioting, manslaughter, neglect to cause one's child to attend school (MS 09783/5/3) and abusive language (see admission registers and AP 146, parts 1-6). Some sentences combined imprisonment with the use of the birch rod. The Visiting Magistrate's minute book (MS 09783/8) and Gaoler's journal for July-August 1872 (MS 09783/7/4) document the final days and execution of the last person to be hung on the Isle of Man, John Kewish. The latter volume also records Kewish's account of the events that resulted in the death of his father.

Convicted prisoners were set to work within the prison compound. The account books (MS 09783/10-14) record the breaking of stones, and production of oakum, a loose fibre used especially for caulking - making ships' seams watertight. Coir yarn, the fibre from the outer husks of coconuts, was teased to produce oakum and other forms of matting. Advertisements were taken out in trade directories notifying potential purchasers of the goods available. Such goods had to be retrieved direct from the gaol, delivery being out of the question.

A note about the work output expected in 1874 is found on the inside cover of journal MS 09783/7/5. Male prisoners were to tease 2 and a half lbs of oakum per day for their first week, 3lbs per day during the second and 4lbs for the remainder of their sentence. Female prisoners were to tease 1 and a half lbs oakum per day for their first week, then 2lb and 2 and a half lb respectively. The consequence of solitary confinement on bread and water for up to fourteen days is laid out in the 1863 Regulations (point 26) for any convicted prisoner found to have neglected or refused to perform the labour allotted to him or to have counterfeited fits or other ailments to obtain the surgeon's sanction to be excused labour. How the system operated in practice was assessed by Sir Edward Du Cane after his inspection of the Gaol: 'The elements of penal treatment are said to be "hard labour, hard fare and hard bed" and it should be added in separation. None of these are enforced at Castle Rushen. I have already observed that the prisoners pass day and night in association. They work from the first principally at industrial labour, which is in England reserved as a reward. The hard fare which is provided by the rules is neutralised by a power exercised virtually by the Governor though...by the medical officer, of giving prisoners extra diet when on industrial labour. The hard bed, ie bed without mattress, is unknown'.

A little later he writes: 'Punishments in this prison appear to be very few, the last entry at the time of my visit was in November. I conceive that, as it is found impossible to maintain any particular order or discipline, little or not attempt is made to do so. Certainly the prisoners are allowed to talk without any or much restraint at work and at all other times.' (MD 119-42; D 151/13x).

Debtors, Lunatics and the Treatment of the Ill
Along with convicted prisoners and people awaiting trial, the Castletown Gaol housed those imprisoned for debt and, for a period until the mid 1860s, those classified as lunatics. An entry on 12 December 1864 in the Gaolers Journal MS 09783/7/3 reads: 'Removed this day seven male and five female Lunatics...to the temporary Lunatic asylum at Oatland in the Parish of Santon...'.

The various mid century journals provide a short lived record of the routine care of such individuals. Indeed the Surgeon's Journal MS 2051B carries astute entries noting the depressed condition of certain non lunatic prisoners. However the visiting physician's concern for the welfare of patients under his charge is coupled with a wry ability to weigh up the evidence before him as seen in the entry for 10 September 1864 for a prisoner complaining of dyspepsia: '...as he presents no symptom of that disease and is fatter than upon admission I suspect him to be pretending illness to avoid work or obtain other diet. I therefore informed him as I doubted his illness that if he really was ill he should say so and I would have him removed to the Infirmary at the top of the Castle where every attention would be given him but he must remain above there; he did not accept my offer.'

The work of Dr John Clague (1842-1908) as Gaol Surgeon merits mention given his posthumous reputation in the areas of Manx linguistics and the preservation of Manx traditional music. His obituary in the Manx Quarterly of November 1908 touches on his medical as well as cultural contributions to Manx society.

A useful start to the study of the effects of debt is to follow the development of Manx statute law concerning insolvent debtors, for instance the legislation of 1777, 1820, 1824, 1845 and 1892. The Athol Papers document the lobbying of the Duke of Atholl for legislation comparable to England and contemporary newspapers show debtors giving notice that they intend to take advantage of the Insolvent Debtors' Act, 1820. A 'Debtors' execution book' in the Bridge House Papers (MS 502c) covers the period 1825-1837 and is a useful foil to the 'accounts of prisoners' series for these years (see MS 09783/1/1-2 and MS 762-764C).

Maintenance of the Prisoners and Premises: The Fines Fund
Account books showing Fines and Amercements in account with the Gaoler date from 1850 (MS 09783/10/1-2) but the process of channelling income from these fines for building maintenance and gaol supplies predates the Gaoler's supervision of the fund by many decades. Problems in the management and balancing of the Fund in the 1820s are raised in correspondence to the Duke (see Athol Papers: Legal, Fines Fund). A November 1804 letter by Thomas Stowell after the death of the Clerk of the Rolls, shows that the system of collecting and distributing fine money was even then in some state of disarray: 'the fines have been applied from time to time (as I understand) to the repairs of Court-houses and jails and other such like public purposes but I have not been able to find out any particular account of the application of them'.

Stowell writes that a considerable part of the fines due for the year ending October 1804 'yet remain unascertained'. Those unlevied on the previous year remain: 'to be accounted for by whom I have not been able to ascertain as it is but very lately that I have been able to find out the papers respecting them...I am sorry to say that the Books and papers which I now have afford me no better prospect than an Infinity of trouble in making them up. With respect to the expenditures I cannot find any Account whatever of them, nor at present any mode of ascertaining what Balance of this fund remained in the hands of the late Clerk of the Rolls excepting a Box found in the Rolls Office marked 'Fines' containing £23.5.5 which would seem to be the balance in his hands'.

Thankfully MS 5607C bridges the gap somewhat and brings us up to MS 09783/10/1-2.

Castle Rushen was used as a place of incarceration for centuries prior to its role in the nineteenth century. Fifteenth century ordinances approved by the ruling Stanley family have passing references to imprisonment for debt and the treatment of felons. The Castle Rushen Gaol Papers (MS 09783) provide insight into the last chapter of the Castletown gaol's history.

Language: See catalogue

Collection: Manuscript Archive

Level: FONDS

ID number: MS 09783

Access conditions: No regulations or restrictions are implemented on this material. Advance notification of a research visit is advisable by emailing library@mnh.gov.im

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