The Fleet: Its Rivers, Prison, and MarriagesAshton, John
History
The Fleet: Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages
Ashton, John
Fleet Prison (London, England); Fleet, River (England)
According to the Committee's report, Jacob Mendez Solas, a Portuguese,
was, as far as they knew, the first prisoner that was ever loaded
with irons in the Fleet. He was thrown into a noisome dungeon, which
is described as a place "wherein the bodies of persons dying in the
said prison are usually deposited, till the coroner's inquest hath
passed upon them; it has no chimney, nor fireplace, nor any light but
what comes over the door, or through a hole of about eight inches
square. It is neither paved nor boarded, and the rough bricks appear
both on the sides and top, being neither wainscotted, nor plastered;
what adds to the dampness and stench of the place is, its being built
over the common sewer, and adjoining to the sink and dunghill where
all the nastiness of the prison is cast. In this miserable place the
poor wretch was kept by the said Bambridge, manacled and shackled for
near two months. At length, on receiving five guineas from Mr. Kemp,
a friend of Solas Bambridge released the prisoner from his cruel
confinement. But, though his chains were taken off, his terror still
remained, and the unhappy man was prevailed upon by that terror, not
only to labour _gratis_ for the said Bambridge, but to swear also at
random all that he hath required of him: and the Committee themselves
saw an instance of the deep impression his sufferings had made upon
him; for on his surmising, from something said, that Bambridge was to
return again, as Warden of the Fleet, he fainted, and the blood started
out of his mouth and nose."
The upshot of this Committee was that the House petitioned the King
to prosecute Huggins, Bambridge, and their satellites, who were all
ordered to be committed to Newgate for trial. Huggins was tried, or
rather the preliminaries of his trial were arranged on the 20th of May,
1729; but his trial for the murder of Edward Arne, a prisoner in the
Fleet prison, by immuring him in the dungeon above described, from the
effect of which confinement he subsequently died, did not take place
until next day. After a long and patient trial, he was acquitted; and
he managed, not only to survive his disgrace, but live to the age of 90.
[Illustration: BAMBRIDGE.]
Bambridge was also tried, at the Old Bailey, for the murder of Robert
Castell, as before described, but he was acquitted by the Jury. Upon
this acquittal, Castell's widow brought an appeal against Thomas
Bambridge, and Richard Corbett, for the murder of her husband; but here
their luck still stood them in stead, for they were both acquitted.
Bambridge, some twenty years after, committed suicide by cutting his
throat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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