Prison Warders uniform issue document (V.R)

[Bantam]

Good to see you are back in the fray HMPbadges.
Totally agree with you you James and we don't even know what the GoJ have in they possession be it items or historical documentation and not making it accessible to interested parties.
Bantam

[HMPbadges]

They have loaned things out in the past to where I work, but maybe we could all help them identify stuff together?

[Bantam]

Hi HMPbadges,
Sound OK in theory but speaking from my experiences with them I don't know if they would be as forthcoming with providing info.My past dealings with them was very much the same as James''s.
Bantam.

[Jamesb853]

I have been doing some research into the relevant legal structure of that time which has proved most enlightening.
Every County, Riding, Division or Liberty had to maintain a prison. Boroughs having their own Quarter Sessions had to have separate prisons, to which they had to commit.

The Prisons Act 1865 introduced standardised procedures and officer grades throughout the locally administered prison system, and abolished the distinction between gaols, houses of correction, and bridewells. It would therefore seem that the 1869 book resulted from that statute. The Act also closed a number of small local prisons, which are listed in one of the Schedules. It also refers to a class of prisoner whom we never see today - debtors; the proportion of civil, as opposed to criminal, prisoners was quite high in those days. In addition the Act required the Gaoler to prepare the calendar of prisoners for the courts.

The Prisons Act 1877 transferred all local prisons to the Prison Commissioners, who remained separate from the Convict Department. Another crop of small local prisons were closed as well, also listed in the Act.

The QVC "Prisons Department" buttons therefore must date from 1878, but standard rank insignia probably came in 10 years earlier.

I hope this information is of some help.

[Jamesb853]

I notice from re-reading the document that the tunic description refers to a "staff pocket, left skirt". Presumably that was for a small tipstaff. The "Inspector HM Prisons" tipstaff referred to elsewhere must date from post 1878, so that the common assumption that tipstaves had generally fallen out of use by 1870 must be incorrect.

[HMPbadges]

Hi Jamesb853,

In the Prison Service when we used to carry truncheons, they were always known as "Staves" and there was a long pocket in the uniform trousers to carry one (some even had that days rolled up newspaper in there to read later), I personally believe this is the modern probably altered over time version of the term "Staff" as in Staff Pocket. But you are probably right about Tip Staffs etc.