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The Legendary John Howard and Prison Reform in the Eighteenth Century
In The Curious Mr Howard (Waterside, 2011), Tessa West takes a fresh look at one of the most revered figures of his day. Indeed, one of the challenges in writing a new biography of John Howard, often known as the father of prison reform, is to separate out the praise of his early admirers from the realities of his life. As a long-time observer of the criminal justice system, West shows keen insight into both Howard's personal life and the conditions of the prisons and lazarettos that were the focus of his humanitarian efforts.
Howard's family history is virtually a case study in the Weberian hypothesis that for many Protestants "the strict earning of more and more money, combined with the strict avoidance of all spontaneous enjoyment of life . . . is thought of . . . purely as an end in itself."1 Howard's father was an "upholder" who made his living catering to the needs of the wealthy for fine furnishings. He was also part of the growing number of Dissenters who wanted their children to receive instruction from those of a similar religious persuasion. Thus, Howard was sent away at an early age to the Tower School in Hertford, which West describes as "dark, cold and comfortless" (40). Having lost his mother and been separated from the rest of his family, it is not surprising that Howard failed to thrive there or at the Congregational Fund Academy in Moorfields, where he was later removed. Perhaps despairing of making his son a scholar, Howard's father apprenticed him to a grocer. But unlike most apprentices, Howard would enjoy some of the benefits of his father's wealth, including private lodgings with his own servant.
His time in the grocer trade was short-lived because Howard's father died in 1742, and the son inherited a considerable fortune-£ 7000 and the family property. With no financial worries, Howard was able to live the life of a gentleman for the rest of his days. Now the question presented itself: What was he to do? Of course, like all young men of means, he took the Grand Tour, which was cut short by contracting a "nervous fever." And surprisingly,...