John Howard
JOHN HOWARD
1726-1790
Pioneer prison reformer
Author of ‘The State of Prisons’ 1777
Was born in his father’s house
near this site
(157-9 Lower Clapton Road)
John Howard was born in 1726 in Clapton, the son of a successful businessman. His childhood was stark and restrictive, he received little quality time from his father and his mother dies when he was only 5. Perhaps as a result he showed no academic prowess, sports were of no interest to him, and he suffered severe bronchial attacks. In short, not much was expected of John Howard. At the age of 16 he was apprenticed to a green grocer, but the death of his father shortly afterwards left John Howard the master of his own life.
He travelled abroad and it was on a trip to Portugal in 1756 that he was captured by a French privateer and taken prisoner. Eventually he was exchanged for a French officer and released, after which her immediately went to the Commissioner of Sick and Wounded Seamen and succeeded in getting action on behalf of English seamen.
At the age of 32 Howard was to enter what was possible the happiest period of his life. He married for the second time (his first wife died after two years of marriage), adopted a strict vegetarian diet and enjoyed being a country gentleman on the estate that he had inherited at Cardington. Howard was known as a landowner that provided good estate housing for the estate workers at a time where conditions were often notoriously bad.
In 1765 Howard’s life was struck by tragedy, although he had been blessed by the birth of his son, his wife collapsed and died a week after the birth. John Howard remained single for the rest of his life.
In 1773 at the age of 47 John Howard was appointed Sheriff of Bedfordshire, a post intended to ensure the safety of the judge, but as no judge had been kidnapped for 500 years the position was of little consequence. However, it was to be the catalyst that would transform Howard’s life from the obscure to the heroic.
When Howard was present in court he noticed that even when there was no case against prisoners they were still returned to jail. When he enquired as to why this happened he was told that even though the prisoner is innocent he must still pay a gaoler fee because the gaoler receives no salary and relies on the fees for food and lodgings paid for by the prisoners. Howard travelled to other jails and soon discovered that this practice was similar in other gaols. Howard made MP’s aware of the situation and within the year two bills were passed, one setting free all the prisoners that were in jail for non-payment of fees and authorised gaolers to receive a salary from the county; the second dealt with health in prisons. Howard did not stop there. Throughout 1775 and 1776 he toured the prisons of Europe and meticulously recorded his observations of conditions in these prisons.
Howard realised that the passing of a law does not mean changes will be made quickly. He continued to tour prisons to monitor the progress of reforms. in 1789 he once more set off for Eastern Europe and he contracted typhus after tending to a prisoner and died on the 20th January, 1790, at the age of 64. There were many tributes including a statue of him in St Paul’s Cathedral, the first time a commoner had been so honoured.
In 1866 the Howard Association was formed to continue his work, followed by the League for Penal Reform. These two organisations merged in 1921 to form the Howard League for Penal Reform.
Page updated: 28 Feb 2007