The Covent Garden Ladies: The Extraordinary Story of Harris's List by Rubenhold Hallie

Author:Rubenhold, Hallie [Rubenhold, Hallie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781448153916
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2012-11-08T00:00:00+00:00

12

The Fleet AND O’KELLY

WITH THE EXCEPTION of Newgate, there were few places in London with a worse reputation than the Fleet Prison. What made it marginally more bearable than the stinking, disease-bathed sink of Newgate were the comparative freedoms granted to those committed to its confines. Surrounded by a twenty-five-foot wall and a moat dug into the side of the now paved-over Fleet river, the prison existed like a small hamlet within a city. This, however, did not make the environs any more cheerful. The Fleet might be defined today as an open or minimum-security prison, although a dungeon did exist for those particularly unrepentant few who had to be locked into shackles. For the most part, the majority of the prison population were free to roam within the boundaries of its walls, and for the even fewer fortunate souls who could produce the bribes necessary, the possibility of lodging outside of the enclosed area within the ‘rule of the Fleet’ also existed. The prison itself contained around 100 cells in addition to an alehouse, a coffee house, a chapel, a common kitchen and an outdoor area where those interred were allowed to socialise, and even play games of ninepins. Ironically, gaming, the vice that bore the responsibility for landing many of the prisoners within the Fleet’s precincts in the first place, was not prohibited. Some played cards in their cells or tried their luck at billiards. Similarly, the prison’s two drinking establishments gave inmates the opportunity to continue enjoying the same pleasures they had so heartily indulged in on the opposite side of the wall. But however much these few privileges succeeded in lightening the miseries of existence, they could have never eradicated them entirely. That which wound the mechanism of this microcosm was a brutal tradition of extortion and exploitation. There was nothing about life in the Fleet that could lull an inmate into believing that they were anywhere other than in a prison.

Order in the Fleet emulated the two-tiered system of hierarchy that prevailed within society: those with money could buy comfort, those without suffered doubly. In theory, everyone inside the Fleet was there because they owed money to someone whom they couldn’t repay. This, however, did not mean that every prisoner was without some form of assets. The unofficial objective of the warden and his staff was to shake these last pennies, shillings or guineas from the debtor’s tight fists, and to make as much from a prisoner’s misfortune as was possible. Everything at the Fleet had to be purchased. The first fee that fell due was one of £1 6s 8d, payable to the prison for hosting the debtor’s stay. Beyond this, prisoners soon learned that further sums were required to secure virtually every other item or necessity, from food to bedding to writing implements, chairs or medicines. What one ate or how one slept was then determined by the amount of money or possessions a prisoner was willing to exchange for these pleasures. To

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