The Central Criminal Court was set up in 1834 in the Old Bailey, which stands on the site of old Newgate Prison. Here serious criminal cases from London and the surrounding areas are heard. Research Central Criminal Court
In March 1542, George Ferrar, a member of parliament, while in attendance on the house was taken in execution by a sheriff's officer for debt, and committed to the Compter prison. The house despatched their sergeant to require his release, which was resisted, and an affray taking place, his mace was broken. The house in a body repaired to the lords to complain, when the contempt was adjudged to be very great, and the punishment of the offenders was referred to the lower house. On another messenger being sent to the sheriff's by the commons, they delivered up the senator, and the civil magistrates and the creditor were committed to the Tower, the inferior officers to Newgate, and an act was passed releasing Ferrar from liability for the debt. The king, Henry VIII, approved of these proceedings and the transaction became the basis of the rule of parliament which exempts members from arrest. Research Ferrar's Arrest
Daniel Defoe was an English novelist and political writer. He was born in 1660 or 1661 in London and died in 1731. His father, James Foe, carried on the trade of a butcher. In 1686 He joined the insurrection of the Duke of Monmouth, and had the good fortune to escape; after which he made several unsuccessful attempts at business, and at last turned bis attention to literature.
In 1701 appeared his satire in verse, The True-born Englishman, in favour of William III. As a zealousWhig and Dissenter he was frequently in trouble. For publishing The Shortest Way with the Dissenters in 1702, the drift of which was misunderstood by both Churchmen and Dissenters, he was pilloried and imprisoned in Newgate, obtaining bis liberty through the influence of Harley, who employed him in several important missions, particularly in the negotiations for the union with Scotland, of which he wrote the history. While in Newgate, in 1704, he commenced the Review, a literary and political periodical which lasted for nine years. In 1705 he wrote a short account of the Apparition of Mrs Veal, a fictitious narrative accompanying a translation of Drelincourt on Death. In 1706 he published his largest poem, entitled Jure Divino, a satire on the doctrine of divine right.
In 1707 he was in Scotland, which he also visited several times subsequently in connection with political affairs, and as an agent of those in power. In 1719 appeared the most popular of all his performances: The Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, the favourable reception of which was immediate and universal. The success of Daniel Defoe in this performance induced him to write a number of other lives and adventures in character; as Moll Flanders, Captain Singleton, Roxana, Duncan Campbell, The Memoirs of a Cavalier, Journal of the Plague, etc.
After the accession of George I he was employed by government in some underhand work connected with the obnoxious Jacobite press, and was a prolific contributor to periodical and ephemeral literature. Research Daniel Defoe
Edward Fitzgerald was an Irish soldier and patriot. He was born in 1763 and died in 1798. He served in America and explored part of Canada in 1789. In 1796 he joined the United Irishmen, and was arrested for conspiring with the French for a Dublin uprising and following being shot and wounded during his arrest - in which he stabbed two of the arresting officers - he died in Newgate prison before he could be brought to trial. Research Edward Fitzgerald
Elizabeth Fry (born Elizabeth Gurney) was a British prison reformer. She was born in 1780 and died in 1845. The third daughter of John Gurney, of Earlham Hall, near Norwich, when she was eighteen, a sermon preached by William Savery, an American Quaker, at Norwich, had the effect of turning her attention to serious things, and making her adopt decided views on religious matters. About this time also she made the acquaintance of Joseph Fry, a London merchant and a strict Quaker, to whom she was married in 1800. In 1810 she became a preacher among the Friends. In 1811 she was ordained as a Quaker preacher and in 1813 visited Newgate prison, where, so horrified by the conditions she saw she started to campaign for prison reform. In 1817 she formed an association for female prisoners and subsequently visited gaols in northern England and Scotland with he brother Joseph, publishing her findings in an influential report in 1819. She then went on to campaign across Europe for better conditions for prisoners and those in mental institutions. Research Elizabeth Fry More information about Elizabeth Fry
Jack Sheppard (real name John Sheppard) was an English highwayman. He was born in 1702 at Stepney, London and hanged in 1724 at Tyburn. He was a workhouse child who abandoned his apprenticeship with Owen Wood, carpenter in the Strand, and took up robbery. He escaped from prison many times, most notably escaping from the condemned cell in Newgate in 1724 where he was chained to the floor. Research Jack Sheppard
Lord George Gordon was a British politician. He was born in 1750 and died in 1793. The son of Cosmo George, duke of Gordon, he entered the navy when he was young, but left the service during the American War. He then became a member of the House of Commons. His parliamentary conduct was marked by a certain degree of eccentricity, and by his opposition to the ministry. A bill having been introduced into the house for the relief of Roman Catholics from certain penalties and disabilities, in June, 1780, Lord George headed an excited mob of about 100,000 persons, who went in procession to the House of Commons to present a petition against the measure. The dreadful riot which ensued led to his arrest and trial on the charge of high treason; but, no evidence being adduced of treasonable design, he was acquitted. In the beginning of 1788, having been twice convicted of libelling the French ambassador, the queen of France, and the criminal justice of his country, he retired to Holland, but he was arrested, sent home, and committed to Newgate, where he passed the remainder of his life. Research Lord George Gordon
Richard Brothers was an English prophet. He was born about 1760 and died in 1824. He served as a lieutenant in the army, which he quit in 1789, refusing from conscientious scruples to take the oath necessary to entitle him to his half-pay. He announced himself in 1793 as the apostle of a new religion, dating his call from 1790. He styled himself the Nephew of the Almighty, and Prince of the Hebrews, appointed to lead them to the land of Canaan. In 1794 he published A Revealed Knowledge of the Prophecies and Times, in two books. He was committed to Newgate for prophesying the death of the king, and subsequently to Bedlam as a dangerous lunatic, but was released in 1806. Research Richard Brothers
Richard Whittington (popularly known as Dick Whittington) was an English coalmerchant and lord mayor of London. He was born in 1358 and died in 1423. The son of a Gloucestershireknight, in 1380 he was a substantial city mercer, and records exist of him having lent large sums of money to Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V. He was lord mayor in 1397 and again in 1406. His benefactions aided St Bartholomew's Hospital, Greyfriars library and the Guildhall. He rebuilt Newgate, and founded a small hospital and college (which was suppressed in 1548) near his parishchurch of St Michael de Paternoster. Details of his life were recorded in the book 'The Model Merchant of the Middle Ages' by Samuel Lysons, published in 1860. In the popular legend, Dick whittington was accompanied by a cat. It is very likely that the term cat refers not to a feline animal, but rather to a type of ship used for transporting coal, the coaltrade being how Dick Whittington made his fortune. Research Richard Whittington
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