The Tower of London - a Regency History guide

The Tower of London from Ackermann's Microcosm of London (1808-10)

History

The oldest part of the Tower of London dates back to the time of William the Conqueror. William was crowned king of England in London on Christmas Day 1066 following his decisive victory at the Battle of Hastings a few months earlier. Keen to ensure control of his capital city, he commissioned the construction of a fortress—what is now known as the White Tower. It was begun in the 1070s and completed after his death, by about 1100.

Subsequent monarchs added more buildings and extended the Tower’s fortifications, turning it into the imposing military stronghold that it is today.

The Tower of London from Old and New London by W Thornbury (1873)

A London guidebook of 1809 described the Tower:

The Tower of London is situated on the north bank of the Thames, at the extremity of the city. Its extent within the wall is twelve acres and five roods. The exterior circuit of the ditch which entirely surrounds it, is 3,156 feet. The ditch, on the side of Tower-hill, is broad and deep; on the side next to the river it is narrower. A broad and handsome wharf runs along the banks of the river, parallel with the Tower, from which it is divided by the ditch. On the wharf is a platform, mounted with sixty-one pieces of cannon, nine-pounders. These are fired on state holidays; and in time of war, on all victories gained by the army or navy. At each end of the wharf is a wooden gate, which divides it from the streets, and is open only during the day.

From the wharf into the Tower, is an entrance by a draw-bridge. Near this is a cut, connecting the river with the ditch, having a water-gate, called Traitor's Gate, state prisoners being formerly conveyed by this passage from the Tower to Westminster, for trial. Over Traitor's Gate is a building containing the water-works that supply the fortress with water.

The principal entrance to the Tower is on the west, and is wide enough to admit a carriage. It consists of two gates on the outside of the ditch; a stone bridge built over the ditch, and a gate within the ditch.

The white tower is a large square building, situated in the centre of the fortress. On the top are four watch towers, one of which, at present, is used as an observatory. Neither the sides of this building, nor the small towers, are uniform. The walls are not covered with plaister, but white-washed, as will be supposed from its name. 1

The moat of the Tower of London c1800
from Old and New London by W Thornbury (1873)

What was the Tower used for?

Although used occasionally as a royal residence, this was never the Tower’s chief purpose. It was originally designed to advertise the king’s dominance and to protect London against potential uprisings. The security of the buildings within the outer walls led to the Tower of London being used to house the Crown Jewels, the Royal Mint, the Board of Ordnance, Ordnance Survey, the Records Office and, of course, state prisoners.

The Tower as a prison

Those held captive in the Tower of London were no ordinary prisoners. They were enemies of the state, imprisoned on grounds of treason. Despite its somewhat gruesome reputation, only 22 executions have taken place within the Tower walls, including those of two of Henry VIII’s wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, and the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey. Another queen, the young Elizabeth I, was imprisoned in the Tower by her half-sister Mary.

Many of the towers have been used to house prisoners over the years, notably the Beauchamp Tower and the Salt Tower, which both contain 16th and 17th century graffiti giving witness to their history as prison cells.

In 1483, the 12-year-old Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York, were residing in the Tower of London when they disappeared. It was widely believed that they had been murdered by their uncle, Richard III, giving rise to the legend of ‘The Princes in the Tower’. The tower traditionally associated with their disappearance was nicknamed the Bloody Tower.

The Tower of London (2016)

Georgian prisoners

The Tower was still being used as a prison during the Georgian period.

The Tower is used as a state prison, and in general the prisoners are confined in the warders' houses, but by application to the privy-council, they are usually permitted to walk on the inner platform, during part of the day, in company of a warder.

• The Jacobite Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, was imprisoned in the Tower following the Battle of Culloden in 1746. He was the last person to be executed on Tower Hill, on 9 April 1747.

• Lord George Gordon was imprisoned in the Tower for six months for his role in instigating the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots of 1780.

• Radical English reformist politician Sir Francis Burdett was imprisoned in the Tower from April to June 1810, accused of breach of privilege by the House of Commons.

The Curiosities of the Tower

Although the Tower of London was a working prison and the base for various government departments, it was also a Regency-era tourist attraction, open to the public, who could see inside many of the buildings on payment of the required fees.

•  The Lions, and other Wild Beasts – one shilling.

• The Spanish Armory – 'the trophies of the famous victory of Queen Elizabeth over the Spanish Armada'. 

• The Small Armory – 'contains complete stands of arms for no less than 100,000 men'.

• The Volunteer Armory (in the White Tower) – 'contains arms piled in beautiful order for 30,000 men, with pikes, swords, &c. in immense numbers, arranged in stars and other devices'.

• The Sea Armory (also in the White Tower) – 'contains arms for nearly 50,000 sailors and marines'.

• Royal Train of Artillery (part of this is kept on the ground floor, under the small armory) – 'The artillery is ranged on each side, a passage ten feet in breadth being left in the centre'.

• Horse Armory – 'The kings of England, on horseback, are shewn in the following order: George II … George I … William III…'  

For the Spanish Armory, Small Armory, Train of Artillery, and Horse Armory, the price is one shilling only.

The Horse Armour at the Tower of London
from Ackermann's Microcosm of London (1808-10)

• The Jewel-office - one shilling per person in company or one shilling and sixpence for a single person. The Crown Jewels that could be seen included the Imperial Crown 'with which the kings of England are crowned', the Golden Globe, the Golden Sceptre and 'the Crown of State, that his majesty wears in parliament'.

Independently of several of the jewels, which are inestimable, the value of the precious stones and plate contained in this office, is not less than two millions sterling.

The Jewel Tower at the Tower of London
from Old and New London by W Thornbury (1873)

• The Mint – 'Visitors are not permitted to see any part of the Mint.'

• The Chapel – 'contains a few ancient monuments' and 'may be seen by applying to the pew-opener, at any time, for a small fee'.

The Tower of London today

The Tower of London (2016)

The Tower of London is largely the same fortress as it was in Georgian times, with its imposing walls and familiar skyline of towers, but there have been some changes to the structures within and the uses of the Tower.

The Grand Storehouse was destroyed by fire in 1841, along with around 60,000 objects which were on display, and was replaced by the Waterloo Barracks.

In 1845, whilst the Duke of Wellington was Constable of the Tower, the moat, which had become smelly and unhealthy, was drained.

During the 19th century, the institutions of the Tower moved out. The Royal Mint was transferred to a new purpose-built facility on Tower Hill in 1812 and the Ordnance Survey relocated to Southampton after the fire of 1841. The functions of the Office of the Ordnance were transferred to the War Office in the 1850s; the Tower Records Office was closed in 1858 after handing over its records to the Public Records Office.

The Crown Jewels

One function of the Tower of London remains—the Crown Jewels are still stored within its walls. Since 1967, the Crown Jewels have been on display in the Jewel House in the Waterloo Barracks.

Entrance to the Jewel House
at the Tower of London (2016)

The White Tower

The White Tower, Tower of London (2016)

The White Tower houses the Royal Armouries' collections, including the Line of Kings which was reconstructed and put back on display in 2013.

Part of the Royal Armouries' collection on display in the White Tower (2016)

The Line of Kings exhibition in the White Tower (2016)

Coins and Kings

There is an exhibition about the history of the Royal Mint at the Tower.

Mint Street, Tower of London (2016)

The Royal Menagerie

Raven at the Tower of London (2016)

The only creatures kept at the Tower of London today are the famous ravens. The Royal Menagerie closed in 1830 and William IV donated the royal beasts to the newly formed London Zoo. The keeper, Alfred Cops, continued to display his own large collection of animals until 1835 when he was forced to close the menagerie after several unfortunate accidents. The Lion Tower was demolished soon afterwards. There is an exhibition about the Royal Menagerie in the Brick Tower.

I've written a separate blog post about the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London here.

Elephant model at the Tower of London (2016)

The Yeoman Warders

The Warders give informative tours of the Tower to visitors, dressed in their distinctive uniform.

Yeoman Warder giving a tour of the Tower
with the scaffold site in the foreground (2016)

Walk the walls

A wall walk at the Tower of London with Tower Bridge in the background (2016)

Traitors' Gate

Traitors' Gate at the Tower of London (2016)

The Tower of London is in the care of Historic Royal Palaces.

Rachel Knowles writes clean/Christian Regency era romance and historical non-fiction. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew.

Find out more about Rachel's books and sign up for her newsletter here.

If you have enjoyed this blog and want to encourage me and help me to keep making my research freely available, please buy me a virtual cup of coffee by clicking the button below.

 

 

Notes

1. All quotes from John Feltham’s The Picture of London for 1809 (1809).

Sources used include:

Ackermann, Rudolph and Combe, William, The Microcosm of London or London in miniature Volume 3 (Rudolph Ackermann 1808-1810, reprinted 1904)

Feltham, John, The Picture of London for 1809 (1809)

Humphrys, Julian, The private life of palaces (Historic Royal Palaces, 2006)

Thornbury, Walter, Old and New London: A narrative of its history, its people, and its places (Cassell, Petter & Galpin, 1873, London)

Spartacus Educational website - Sir Francis Burdett in Tower

Tower of London website

All photographs © RegencyHistory.net 

Elizabeth Fry - prison reformer (1780-1845)

Elizabeth Fry from Elizabeth Fry, the angel of the prisons
by LE Richards (1916)

Profile

Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney) (21 May 1780 – 13 October 1845) was a Quaker minister famous for her pioneering work in prison reform. She was featured on the British £5 note from 2001-2016.

An unhappy childhood

Elizabeth Gurney was born in Norwich, Norfolk, on 21 May 1780, one of the 12 children of John Gurney and Catherine Bell. Both her parents were from families that belonged to the Religious Society of Friends, more commonly referred to as the Quakers. John Gurney was a wealthy businessman operating in the woollen cloth and banking industries.

Elizabeth, known as Betsy, was moody, often unwell and tormented by numerous fears. She was dubbed stupid by her siblings for being slow to learn, but was most probably dyslexic. In 1792, Betsy was devastated when her mother died.

Conversion

Betsy’s family were ‘gay’ Quakers as opposed to ‘plain’ Quakers. Though they attended the weekly Quaker meetings, they did not abstain from worldly pleasures like the theatre and dancing or wear simple clothes as ‘plain’ Quakers did.

In 1798, an American Quaker named William Savery visited the Friends’ Meeting House in Goat Lane where the Gurneys worshipped. Betsy had a spiritual experience which was strengthened later that year when she met Deborah Darby, a Quaker minister, who prophesied that Betsy would become “a light to the blind, speech to the dumb and feet to the lame.”1
 

Betsy gradually adopted the ways of a plain Quaker, wearing the simple dress and Quaker cap in which she is depicted on the British £5 note.

In 1811, Betsy became a minister for the Religious Society of Friends and started to travel around the country to talk at Quaker meetings.

Elizabeth Gurney from Elizabeth Fry, the angel of the
prisons by LE Richards (1916)

Marriage and family

On 19 August 1800, Betsy married Joseph Fry, a plain Quaker whose business was tea and banking. They went to live in Mildred’s Court in Poultry, Cheapside, London, which was also the headquarters for Joseph’s business. In 1808, Joseph inherited the family estate at Plashet in East Ham, further out of London.

It was a fruitful marriage though not always a harmonious one. Joseph and Betsy had 11 children: Katherine (1801), Rachel (1803), John (1804), William (1806), Richenda (1808), Joseph (1809), Elizabeth (1811), who died young, Hannah (1812), Louisa (1814), Samuel Gurney (1816) and Daniel Henry (1822).

Betsy’s prison ministry

Throughout her life, Betsy was active in helping others. At Plashet, she established a school for poor girls, ran a soup kitchen for the poor in cold weather and was the driving force behind the programme for smallpox inoculation in the parish.

In 1813, while living at Mildred's Court, she visited the women’s wing of nearby Newgate Prison for the first time. Betsy was filled with compassion for the awful state of the women and took flannel clothes with her to dress their naked children.

The front of Newgate Prison
from Old and New London Vol II by Walter Thornbury (1872)

Over the next few years, Betsy’s life was absorbed by family issues, but in 1816, she resumed her visits to the women in Newgate Prison. With the support of the female prisoners, she set up the first ever school inside an English prison and appointed a schoolmistress from among the inmates.

Encouraged by her success, Betsy set out to help the women themselves. She read the bible to them and set up a workroom where the women could make stockings. All the female prisoners agreed to abide by Betsy’s rules. Against all odds, the scheme was successful. The women became more manageable and the atmosphere of the prison was transformed.

Elizabeth Fry in Newgate Prison from Elizabeth Fry, the angel of the
prisons by LE Richards (1916)

Fame and influence

News of Betsy’s success spread and she was inundated with requests for advice from prison authorities and ladies who wanted to set up prison visiting.

Over the years that followed, Betsy visited prisons up and down the country, in Scotland, Ireland and on the continent. She became one of the foremost authorities on prison conditions and twice spoke as an expert witness on the subject to Parliamentary Select Committees – in 1818 and again in 1835.

Many of Betsy’s recommendations were included in the Prison Act of 1823 and in 1827 she published Observations on the Visiting, Superintendence and Government of Female Prisoners which became a manual for good management of prisons and prison visiting.

Family problems

Betsy found it hard to balance family life with her extensive ministry. She was plagued continuously with ill health and oscillated between periods of intense activity and times of nervous exhaustion and depression. She often had to delegate her domestic responsibilities to her husband and other family members whilst she devoted herself to good works. Although Joseph always supported his wife, he sometimes complained that she neglected him.

The Frys were often forced to economise because of financial problems with Joseph’s business. Betsy’s brothers repeatedly came to their rescue, but in 1828, Joseph was declared bankrupt. They had to move permanently to a much smaller house in Upton Lane, Essex, and Joseph was expelled from the Society of Friends in disgrace.

Other areas of ministry

As well as her prison work, Betsy was able to improve the lot of women being transported to Australia for their crimes, providing them with a bundle of belongings to help each woman make a fresh start after their long voyage.

She instigated a project to provide libraries of books for the coastguards whose chief role of preventing smuggling made them isolated and unpopular. This was so successful that the government took over the project and extended it to the navy.

Betsy also set up the first nursing academy, to train nurses who could go into private homes and provide care for those who could not normally afford it.

A fitting end

Betsy died on 13 October 1845 whilst on a holiday in Ramsgate. Her funeral was held at the Friends’ Meeting House in Barking on 20 October. The funeral procession from her house to Barking was over half a mile long. Even more mourners waited in Barking to celebrate the life of this remarkable woman.

In 1914, a marble statue of Elizabeth Fry was erected inside the Old Bailey in London, on the site of the Newgate Prison where her prison ministry had begun.

Rachel Knowles writes clean/Christian Regency era romance and historical non-fiction. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew.

Find out more about Rachel's books and sign up for her newsletter here.

If you have enjoyed this blog and want to encourage me and help me to keep making my research freely available, please buy me a virtual cup of coffee by clicking the button below.

Notes

(1) From the journal of Elizabeth Fry, 4 September 1798, as recorded in Life of Elizabeth Fry: compiled from her journal, as edited by her daughters, and from various other sources by Susanna Corder (1853).

(2) Corder, De Haan, Hatton and Isba all record Elizabeth Fry's death as the 13 October 1845, but some sources state the 12th.

Sources used include:

Corder, Susanna, Life of Elizabeth Fry: compiled from her journal, as edited by her daughters, and from various other sources (1853)

De Haan, Franciscas, Fry (née Gurney) Elizabeth (1780-1845), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn May 2007, accessed 24 Aug 2015)

Hatton, Jean, Betsy - the dramatic biography of prison reformer Elizabeth Fry (2005)

Isba, Anne, The Excellent Mrs Fry - unlikely heroine (2010)