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John Howard FRS (2 September 1726 – 20 January 1790) was a philanthropist and early English
prison reform Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, improve the effectiveness of a penal system, or implement alternatives to incarceration. It also focuses on ensuring the reinstatement of those whose lives are impacted by crimes ...
er.


Birth and early life

Howard was born in North London, either in Hackney or Enfield. His father, also John, was a wealthy upholsterer at
Smithfield Market Smithfield, properly known as West Smithfield, is a district located in Central London, part of Farringdon Without, the most westerly ward of the City of London, England. Smithfield is home to a number of City institutions, such as St Barth ...
in the city. His mother Ann Pettitt, or Cholmley, died when he was five years old, and, described as a "sickly child", he was sent to live at
Cardington, Bedfordshire Cardington is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. Part of the ancient hundred of Wixamtree, the settlement is best known in connection with the Cardington airship works founded by Short Brothers durin ...
, some fifty miles from London, where his father owned property. His father, a strict disciplinarian with strong religious beliefs, sent the young John to a school in
Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, n ...
run by John Worsley. He went on from there to a dissenting academy run in London by John Eames. After school, John was apprenticed to a wholesale grocer to learn business methods, but he was unhappy. When his father died in 1742, he was left with a sizeable inheritance but no true vocation, a
Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John C ...
faith and a quiet, serious disposition.


Early travels

In 1748, Howard left England for a
grand tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tut ...
of the continent. On his return, he lived in lodgings in
Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area occupying the north-west part of the London Borough of Hackney in north-east London, England. It is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington the ancient parish. The ...
, where he again became seriously ill. He was nursed back to health by his landlady, Sarah Loidore, whom he then married despite her being 30 years older than he was. She died within three years. Howard then set out for
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
following the
1755 Lisbon earthquake The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with ...
, travelling on the ''Hanover'', which was captured by French privateers. He was imprisoned in Brest for six days before being transferred to another prison on the French coast. He was later exchanged for a French officer held by the British, and went to the Commissioners of Sick and Wounded Seamen in London to seek help on behalf of his fellow captives. It is widely believed that this personal experience generated Howard's interest in prisons.


At Cardington

Having returned from France, he settled again at Cardington, Bedfordshire to live on a estate which was formerly two farms, the larger of which he had inherited from his grandparents. His grandmother, Martha Howard, was a relation of the Whitbread family, and he became a neighbour and close friend of his cousin, Samuel Whitbread. He spent the next two years building properties and trying to improve the lives of the tenants living on his land. Later, a survey of Cardington in 1782 found that he was paying for the teaching of 23 children. He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...
in May 1756.


Prison visitor

John Howard was appointed
High Sheriff of Bedfordshire This is a list of High Sheriffs of Bedfordshire. Pre-Conquest pre-1042: Aelfstan 1042-1066; Godric, Ralph Talgebose Bondi the staller 1066–1125 *1066-c.1084: Ansculf de Picquigny * Ralph Taillebois *c. 1080 Hugh de Beauchamp *1124 Ri ...
in 1773, initially for a one-year period. Rather than delegating his duties to the under-sheriff as was customary, Howard inspected the county prison himself. He was shocked by what he found, and spurred into action to inspect prisons throughout England. Of particular concern to Howard were those prisoners who were held because they could not pay the jailer's fee – an amount paid to the owner or keeper of the prison for upkeep. He took this issue to parliament, and in 1774 was called to give evidence on prison conditions to a
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system) A select committee is a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues originating in the Westminster system o ...
. Unusually, Howard was called to the bar of the House of Commons and publicly thanked for his "humanity and zeal". Having visited several hundred prisons across England,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
,
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
and wider Europe, Howard published the first edition of ''The State of the Prisons'' in 1777. It included very detailed accounts of the prisons he had visited, including plans and maps, together with detailed instructions on the necessary improvements, especially regarding hygiene and cleanliness, the lack of which was causing many deaths. It is this work that has been credited as establishing the practice of single-celling in the United Kingdom and, by extension, in the United States. Howard's views on keeping prisoners in isolation were later unavailingly opposed by Elizabeth Fry, who believed in the value of association. The following account, of the
Bridewell Bridewell Palace in London was built as a residence of King Henry VIII and was one of his homes early in his reign for eight years. Given to the City of London Corporation by his son King Edward VI for use as an orphanage and place of cor ...
at
Abingdon, Oxfordshire Abingdon-on-Thames ( ), commonly known as Abingdon, is a historic market town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England, on the River Thames. Historically the county town of Berkshire, since 1974 Abingdon has been admin ...
, is typical:
Two dirty day-rooms; and three offensive night-rooms: That for men eight feet square: one of the women's, nine by eight; the other four and a half feet square: the straw, worn to dust, swarmed with vermin: no court: no water accessible to prisoners. The petty offenders were in irons: at my last visit, eight were women.
Howard viewed his work as humanitarian. Terry Carlson, in his 1990 biographical tract on Howard, remarks:
Howard's detailed proposals for improvements were designed to enhance the physical and mental health of the prisoners and the security and order of the prison. His recommendations pertaining to such matters as the prison location, plan and furnishings, the provision of adequate water supply, and prisoner's diet promoted hygiene and physical health. Recommendations concerning the quality of prison personnel, rules related to the maintenance of standards of health and order and an independent system of inspection, reflect the need for prison personnel to set a moral example.
In April 1777, Howard's sister died, leaving him £15,000 and her house. He used this inheritance and the revenue from the sale of her house to further his work on prisons. In 1778, he was again examined by the House of Commons, who were this time inquiring into "hulks", or
prison ship A prison ship, often more accurately described as a prison hulk, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoners of war or civilian internees. While many nat ...
s. Two days after giving evidence, he was again travelling Europe, beginning in the
Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands ( Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiograph ...
. By 1784, Howard calculated that he had travelled over visiting prisons. He had been awarded an honorary
LLD Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...
by the
University of Dublin The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dub ...
and had been given the Freedom of the City of London. His fourth and final tour of English prisons began in March 1787 and two years later he published ''The State of the Prisons in England, and An Account of the Principal Lazarettos of Europe''.


Death

Howard's final journey took him into Eastern Europe, and to
Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...
. Whilst at
Kherson Kherson (, ) is a port city of Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located on the Black Sea and on the Dnieper River, Kherson is the home of a major ship-building industry and is a regional economic centre. I ...
, he contracted
typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...
on a prison visit, and died, aged 63. He was buried in a walled field at Dophinovka (Stepanovka), to the north. Despite his request for a quiet funeral, the event was elaborate and attended by
Emanuel Giani Ruset Emanuel or Manolache Giani Ruset (1715 – 8 March 1794) was a Prince of Wallachia (May 1770 – October 1771), and Prince of Moldavia (May 11, 1788 – October 1788). He was a Phanariote and member of the Rosetti family. Life Emanuel Giani R ...
, the Prince of Moldovia, Nikolay Mordvinov, and Admiral John Priestman in the Russian service. When news of his death reached England in February 1790, a commemorative series of John Howard halfpenny Conder Tokens were struck, including one that circulated in
Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...
, on the reverse showing "Go forth" and "Remember the Debtors in Gaol". John Howard was considered eccentric by many of his contemporaries. It has been advanced by psychiatrist Philip Lucas and by mathematician Ioan Mackenzie James that Howard might have had Asperger's Syndrome.


Family

In 1758, Howard married as his second wife Henrietta Leeds, daughter of Edward Leeds (died 1758), a barrister. She died in 1765, a week after giving birth to a son, also named John, who was sent to boarding school at a very young age. The younger John was sent down from
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
for homosexual offences, was judged insane at the age of 21, and died in 1799 having spent thirteen years in an asylum.


Awards and honours

Howard became the first civilian to be honoured with a statue in
St. Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Gra ...
, London. A statue was also erected in
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...
, and a further one in a John Haviland-designed monument in Kherson. His bust features in the architecture of a number of Victorian prisons across the UK, such as at
Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
in 1790.


Legacy


Organisations

Almost eighty years after his death, the Howard Association was formed in London, with the aim of "promotion of the most efficient means of penal treatment and crime prevention" and to promote "a reformatory and radically preventive treatment of offenders". In its first annual report in 1867, the Association stated that its efforts had been focused on "the promotion of reformatory and remunerative prison labour, and the abolition of capital punishment." The Association merged with the Penal Reform League in 1921 to become the Howard League for Penal Reform. Today, the Howard League is Britain's biggest penal reform organisation. John Howard's name was adopted by non-profit organizations in Canada which call themselves the John Howard Society of their given geographic area and each society seeks to develop effective, just and humane responses to crime and its consequences. There are currently over 60 John Howard societies spread across every province of Canada and the Northwest Territories. The Howard Association, a benevolent organisation founded in 1855 in
Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia B ...
, United States, was also named after him. There is also a Howard League for Penal Reform in
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
. The John Howard Association of Illinois, formed in 1901, independently monitors correctional facilities, policies and practices, and advances reforms needed to achieve a fair, humane and effective criminal justice system in Illinois.
Samford University Samford University is a private Christian university in Homewood, Alabama. In 1841, the university was founded as Howard College by Baptists. Samford University describes itself as the 87th oldest institution of higher learning in the United St ...
, located in the US state of
Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...
, was founded by Baptists as Howard College in 1841. Samford's Howard College of Arts and Sciences remains part of the university.


Other

* A statue to Howard is in
St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...
, the first to a civilian, and a large bronze statue at Bedford was erected in 1890, the centenary of his death. * A terracotta bust of John Howard is incorporated in the gatehouse of
HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs (nicknamed "The Scrubs") is a Category B men's local prison, located opposite Hammersmith Hospital and W12 Conferences on Du Cane Road in the White City in West London, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty' ...
, and another bust over the entrance to
Shrewsbury Prison HM Prison Shrewsbury was a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B/C men's prison in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It was decommissioned in March 2013, and is now open to the public. The Victorian prison as seen today ...
. * The John Howard Pavilion at
St. Elizabeths Hospital St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Southeast, Washington, D.C. operated by the District of Columbia Department of Behavioral Health. It opened in 1855 under the name Government Hospital for the Insane, the first federally ope ...
in Washington, D.C., is the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital for the
District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle (Washington, D.C.), Logan Circle, Jefferson Memoria ...
. Its most notorious inmate was John Hinckley, Jr., failed
assassin Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...
of then US president Ronald Wilson Reagan in 1981. * The John Howard School in
Clapton, London Clapton is a district of East London, England, in the London Borough of Hackney. Clapton is divided into Upper Clapton, in the north, and Lower Clapton to the south. Clapton railway station lies north-east of Charing Cross. Geography and origi ...
(now
Clapton Girls' Academy Clapton Girls' Academy (formerly Clapton Girls Technology College) is a secondary school with academy status located in Lower Clapton, in the London Borough of Hackney, London, England. The school is situated north of Hackney Central on the ...
), was named after him.


Vegetarianism

Howard was a
teetotaller Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or is ...
and
vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...
. He became a vegetarian many years before his death. He once commented that in his London house there were "not a dozen joints of meat in seven years." He lived on a diet of milk, fruit, vegetables, butter, tea and water. As a strict vegetarian Howard had distaste for the luxuries of life. He was fond of tea and carried a kettle on his travels. Whilst visiting
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
, Howard found that living on a vegetarian diet was very difficult. This was because few vegetables were eaten in the winter months, and they were almost impossible to obtain. His diet was limited to coarse bread. He attributed his immunity from gaol fever found in filthy prisons that he had visited to his vegetarian diet.


See also

*
Morrin Centre The Morrin Centre is a cultural centre in the Old Quebec neighbourhood of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It is designed to educate the public about the historic contribution and present-day culture of local English-speakers. The centre contains th ...
* Penitentiary Act * Sir Robert Peel


Notes


References


John Howard
– by the Howard League for Penal Reform


Further reading

* Philip Lucas, "John Howard and Asperger's Syndrome: Psychopathology and philanthropy" in: History of Psychiatry 12(45) March 2001, pp. 73–101.
Farrar, Mrs. John. ''John Howard'', (1833)

Aikin, John. ''A view of the life, travels, and philanthropic labors of the late John Howard'', (1794).
From the Digital Collections of the
National Library of Medicine The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. Its ...
* Peter Bayne, 1890, ''Men Worthy to Lead; Being Lives of John Howard,
William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...
,
Thomas Chalmers Thomas Chalmers (17 March 178031 May 1847), was a Scottish minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland. He has been called "Scotland's greatest nine ...
,
Thomas Arnold Thomas Arnold (13 June 1795 – 12 June 1842) was an English educator and historian. He was an early supporter of the Broad Church Anglican movement. As headmaster of Rugby School from 1828 to 1841, he introduced several reforms that were wide ...
,
Samuel Budgett Samuel Budgett (27 July 1794 – 29 April 1851) was an English merchant. Rising from humble origins, Budgett built up a wholesale grocery business called H.H. & S. Budgett, based in Kingswood Bristol, covering a large area of Southern and We ...
, John Foster'', London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. Ltd, Reprinted: Bibliolife, .


External links


Howard League for Penal Reform (England & Wales)

Howard League for Penal Reform (Scotland)

Howard League for Penal Reform (New Zealand)

John Howard Society of Canada



An account of the principal lazarettos in Europe
of 1789, in the
National Library of Portugal The (Portuguese for ''National Library of Portugal'') is the Portuguese national library, fulfilling the function of legal deposit and copyright. History The library was created by Decree of 29 February 1796, under the name of Royal Public L ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, John 1726 births 1790 deaths 18th-century philanthropists British social reformers British vegetarianism activists English reformers English Calvinist and Reformed Christians English philanthropists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the Royal Society High Sheriffs of Bedfordshire People from Cardington, Bedfordshire People from Lower Clapton Penal system in the United Kingdom Penologists Prison reformers