Building    From 1813  To 1870

Whitecross Debtors' Prison

Categories: Law

This was on the southern most section of Whitecross Street, immediately north of St Giles Cripplegate, considerably further south than the plaque location. Designed by William Montague and built in 1813 to take the debtors who had previously been mixed with the criminal population in Newgate Prison. Whitecross was built to hold 500 prisoners. The Debtors' Act of 1869 stopped people being imprisoned for debt so by 1870 all the prisoners were transferred to the new Holloway Prison and the Whitecross Prison was closed. In 1876 the Midland Railway built a goods yard on the site.  Destroyed in WW2 and redeveloped as part of the Barbican.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Whitecross Debtors' Prison

Commemorated ati

Whitecross Debtors' Prison

Whitecross Debtors' Prison, 1813 - 1870 Warm-hearted Nell Gwynne, in her will...

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Other Subjects

C. F. Pritchard

C. F. Pritchard

Clive Fleetwood Pritchard was born in 1864 in Canonbury, the eldest of the eight children of Andrew Goring Pritchard (1834-1928) and Marianne Pritchard née Titford (1839-1920). His birth was regist...

Person, Armed Forces, Law, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Sir William Addison

Sir William Addison

Historian and author. Born William Wilkinson Addison at Mitton, Lancashire. He moved to Buckhurst Hill on the edge of Epping Forest, Essex, and began a lifelong association with the area, which res...

Person, Law, Literature

1 memorial
Hackney parish watch house

Hackney parish watch house

A watch house was an early form of police station and prison. Criminals were held here temporarily.

Place, Law

1 memorial
Sir Tasker Watkins

Sir Tasker Watkins

Soldier and judge. Born at 9 Station Terrace, Nelson, Glamorgan. In Normandy, he led an assault on a German machine-gun post. After all the other officers were killed in the approach, he continued ...

Person, Armed Forces, Law, France, Wales

1 memorial
Ruy Barbosa

Ruy Barbosa

Born Ruy Barbosa D'Oliveira in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. A defender of civil liberties, he fought for the abolition of slavery in Brazil. He fled to London after being accused of being a conspirat...

Person, Journalism / Publishing, Law, Politics & Administration, Race Issues, Brazil

1 memorial