Dartmoor Prison

[Charmaine]

Looking for any information on the working conditions in Dartmoor Prison around 1871, my gg-grandfather was an Infirmary Nurse there, and then a Warder.
Any info would be appreciated.

[Chris in 1066Land]

Hi Charmaine

Write direct to Dartmoor Prison - they do have a warder there who responds to all Family and local History enquiries

I wrote to them about a convict ancestor of mine, (resident in 1852) but unfortunately his records were destroyed in the riots of 1922 (I think it was that date)

My ancestor was buried in the nearby town of Princetown.

You will get a nice letter back from them I assure you.

Chris in 1066Land

[Jane Masri]

Hi Charmaine,
Strangely enough I had just read an interesting article about Dartmoor Prison in the September issue of Family History Monthly. some good pictures too.
For further information they suggest the following,
Ron Joy, 'Dartmoor Prison, A Complete Illustrated History' (Halsgrove, 2002)
James Trevor, 'A Glimpse of Dartmoor Prison' (Peninsular Press Lts, 1995)
Justin Atholl, 'A Prisoner on the Moor, The Story of Dartmoor' (John Long Ltd 1953)
H.U. Tristan, 'Men in cages' (The Book Club, London 1938)
A.J. Rhodes, 'Dartmoor Prison 1806-1932' (John Lane 1932)
I would think a search on Amazon might be worth doing.
Also, a few files, mainly on policy, are with the National Archives at Kew, in the HO & PCOM series.  Other records are with the Devon Record Office, which is closed to the public until January 2005.
They say that there is an excellent small museum dedicated to the prison in Princetown with numerous displays about the prisoners and the lives they led.  Tel (01822 892130)
Hope this helps,
jane

[Charmaine]

Thank you for your help, I will certainly  follow up some of your suggestions.

[gladtobegrey]

My Great-grandfather, John James, was a Warder at Dartmoor Prison, Princetown from 1870 to about 1890/5-ish.   

See http://www.flickr.com/photos/13225589@N02/1406998731/in/set-72157601970682222/ for a picture.


I've made extensive enquiries about his time with the Prison Service to little avail; the riot notwithstanding it seems that the service had, and has, a policy of destroying staff records on the 75th anniversary of their birth date.  Ironically, you can find out far more if your ancestor was on the wrong side of the bars!

The curator at Dartmoor Prison Museum is Tina Pomerey.

[Chris in 1066Land]

Hi Gladtobegrey

First of all welcome to Rootschat and we wish you well in your search for ancestors.

It has been some 3 years since anyone posted on this thread, and it was quite a shock to receive notification of a posting - for which I thank you.

Signing on to your web site and seeing those gates to the prison somehow brought to reality the time my ancestor spent there - thankyou for that.

My ancestor got consumption whilst in Dartmoor awaiting transportation (10 years) and is buried in nearby Princetown.  We intend to visit there one day

Chris in 1066

[Christopher]

Welcome to RootsChat gladtobegrey,

There's an interesting article about Dartmoor on the BBC website.

Christopher