Key collections relating to crime and prison reform are held at the Modern Records Centre. Some of the earlier records have been digitised and are available to explore through our online catalogue.

Howard Association and Howard League for Penal Reform

The Howard Association was formed in 1866, taking its name from the philanthropist and penal reformer John Howard (1726-1790). The organisation adopted its current title in 1921, following an amalgamation with the Penal Reform League (PRL). The Howard League exists to work for an improvement in prison conditions and rehabilitation of offenders.

Annual reports, pamphlets and leaflets (volumes)

The Modern Records Centre has a series of bound volumes which contain early reports and publications produced and collected by the Howard Association. The following volumes have been digitised in full:

Annual reports of the Howard Association, 1867-71, with associated publications, 1834-c1881Link opens in a new window

The volume includes annual reports for 1867-71 (including the inaugural report of the Association). The reports include lists of subscriptions and donations.

Sixty other pamphlets, leaflets and circulars from 1834 and c.1866-c.1881 have also been bound in the volume. They include proceedings of a General Meeting of the Howard Society held in Dublin on 20 January 1834; and publications on a range of themes including poverty, capital punishment, education, the reformatory system, prison labour, "prison occupations" in Liverpool gaol, imprisonment of children, Christianity and convicts, Millbank prison, John Howard, agricultural workers, prostitution, corporal punishment and prison discipline.

Annual reports of the Howard Association, etc., 1872-1901Link opens in a new window

The volume includes a complete run of annual reports dating from 1872-1901. Subjects covered in the reports include prison systems in Britain and abroad, capital and corporal punishment, prison labour, preventative measures, treatment of children, temperance / intemperance, the press, separation of prisoners, education, pauperism and vagrancy. The 1897 annual reportLink opens in a new window includes a Jubilee retrospective on treatment and prevention of crime during the Victorian era.

Two pamphlets have been bound at the end of the volume - 'Reparation to the injured; and the rights of the victims of crime to compensation' by William Tallack, 1901; and 'Juvenile offenders: A report based on an inquiry instituted by the Committee of the Howard Association', 1898. A portrait of William Tallack is also included at the front of the volume.

Annual reports of the Howard Association, 1897-1901, with pamphlets of the Howard Association, c.1865-1901Link opens in a new window

The annual reports bound in this volume date from 1897-1901 and duplicate material included in the volume described above.

The volume also includes 14 pamphlets, dating from c.1865-1900, on subjects including juvenile offenders, sentencing, Irish prisons and crime, "considerations for those who have the control, or management, of the criminal classes", capital punishment, "criminal lunacy", "vagrancy and mendicancy", humanitarianism in the US and British prison systems, and the rights of victims of crime.

Annual reports of the Howard Association, 1905-1912, with pamphlets, 1906-[1910?]Link opens in a new window

The volume contains a full run of annual reports for 1905-1912. Subjects covered include prison systems in Britain and abroad, juvenile crime and treatment of children (including Borstal and Children's Courts), delegations to the Home Secretary, crime statistics, "inebriates", epilepsy, and lynching in the United States.

Five pamphlets, dating from 1906-[1910?], have also been bound in with the reports. They cover prison discipline "for the unfit", lectures in prisons, parole officers and indeterminate sentences, the probation system, and "prisons and prisoners".

Howard Association Selected Papers, 1867-1901Link opens in a new window

Bound volume containing 66 articles and published papers. Subjects include: conditions in Britain and the United States of America, the role of religion (Christianity and Judaism), anarchism, probation officers, poverty and pauperism (including with regard to children), housing and overcrowding, United States convict chain gangs and brutality against African-Americans, prostitution, reformatories and industrial education, corporal punishment, prisons in India and Morocco, prisons in the works of Charles Dickens, and fundraising and publicity material for the Howard Association.

Notebooks and associated records compiled by secretaries of the Howard Association. (c1876)-1906

The notebooks were compiled by William Tallack and his successor Edward Grubb, and contain rough manuscript notes made by the Howard Association secretaries whilst on tour or conducting interviews. The handwriting can be a challenge to read but the notes, as working documents, help to give an insight into the activities of the Association at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

William Tallack: notebook recording visit to Ireland and inspections of Irish prisons, 1895Link opens in a new window

General notes on Irish prisons with descriptions of individual prisons visited, interspersed with further general notes on the Irish penal situation and notes on Ireland generally. Also contains press cuttings reporting on Tallack's visit.

William Tallack: notebook recording visits to English and Welsh prisons and reformatories, 1897-1899Link opens in a new window

Includes reports on Warwick Prison and Court House Cells, and Birmingham. The volume also contains a lecture by William Liddell on prisons, 1897; and notes of an interview with Booker T. Washington on the situation of black people in the United States of America, 1899.

William Tallack: notebook recording visit to Scotland and inspection of Scottish prisons, 1900Link opens in a new window

The volume also contains notes on Sir Edwin Fry's 'Studies by the way'. A loose sheet of notes made by Tallack for his Scottish visit, including names of officials and topics, is enclosed.

William Tallack: notebook recording visit to Belgium and Paris, 1900Link opens in a new window

Tallack's notes include information about his visit to Fresnes prison, constructed south of Paris in the 1890s, and also contain a rough report of a discussion with Romanian prison officials.

Edward Grubb: notebook recording inspections of prisons, including Borstal, Ireland, Paris, Scotland, 1903-1905Link opens in a new window

The volume also includes an interview with the secretary of the Reformatory and Refuge Union; an interview with Miss [Lucy] Bartlett of Hampstead and Signor Bozzelli on Italian prisons; notes on a lecture by Sydney Ollivier on the "negro question" in Jamaica; notes on a conference on Children's Courts held at London County Council Education Offices, 1904; notes on an interview with the Home Secretary, Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1905; and notes on a National Union of Women Workers Conference at Birmingham on juvenile offenders, 1905.

Edward Grubb: notebook recording visit to United States of America, 1904Link opens in a new window

Visits to prisons are described. the volume also contains interviews with individuals including: Dr Josiah Strong (Institute for Social Service), President Theodore Roosevelt, Mrs C.O. Keeler, Professor George W. Cook ("colour question"), Dr W.E.B Du Bois ("colour question"), Alice Cary; Warren Reese, attorney (peonage trials); E. Gardner Murphy, Secretary of Southern Education Board; and Jane Addams, at Hull House.

"Howard Association ACTA 1900-1901", 1900-1904Link opens in a new window

Compiled by William Tallack to the end of 1901, then by Edward Grubb.

The volume records correspondence, interviews, lectures, some visits to prisons, the issuing of Howard Association annual reports and circularising generally.
Letters from the following are transcribed in full: Thomas Blashill, ex-architect of London County Council on dwellings of the poor; Major W.J. Buchanan MD, Superintendent of Central Jail, Bhagalpur, Bengal; Dr D. Minkoff, Secretary to the Ministry of Justice for Bulgaria; Miss Mellett of the mission at Fez, also British Vice-Consol Sir Arthur Nicholson to H. Gurney about prison reform in Morocco; Captain Neitenstein, Department of Prisons, New South Wales.
In addition to these letters given in full, there are references to or extracts from many others; also press-cuttings. Topics dealt with in several entries include: housing of the poor, Sloyd (manual training) system, Licensing Bill 1902, and lynching enquiry.

"Howard Association ACTA November 1904 to", Nov 1904-Dec 1905, Mar 1906Link opens in a new window

Compiled by Edward Grubb.

The volume records similar details to the volume summarised above but contains no transcripts. It also includes pasted in cuttings and a number of loose cuttings from March 1906 of published letters, etc., of Thomas Holmes, who succeeded Grubb as secretary.

"Howard Association Capital Punishment III", undatedLink opens in a new window

Manuscript notes and statistics on murder, suicide, divorce, etc., apparently compiled by William Tallack.

The volume also includes transcripts of letters as follows: Oswald Crawfurd, HM Consul at Oporto, Portugal (2 letters), 7 & 9 Jul 1880; George Brackenbury, HM Consul at Lisbon, Portugal, 13 Aug 1880; J. Barlow, Government Prisons Office, Dublin Castle, Ireland, 10 Feb 1877; Z.R. Brockway, General Superintendent, Elmira, New York, 6 Mar 1879; Charles F. Coffin, Richmond, Indiana, United States of America, 13 Dec 1876; British Consulate General, Christiania, Norway, 22 Feb 1877; Richard Petersen, Governor of Norway Convict Prison, 20 Feb 1877; Baron von Holzendorff, Professor of Law, Munich, Germany, 10 Mar 1877; J.A. Jolles, ex-Minister of Justice, Netherlands, 13 Mar 1877; and Lolli Onofico, Bologna, Italy, 24 Oct 1880.

Photographs and other illustrations

The Howard League archive includes photographs, engravings and other illustrations which show aspects of prison life during the late 19th century and early-mid 20th century.

A small number of the photographs have been scanned and are available elsewhere on the Modern Records Centre website.Link opens in a new window These include early 20th century photos of the first Borstal in Kent, British prisons at Holloway, Wormwood Scrubs, Dartmoor and Wakefield, and US prisons in Indiana and New York.

Research material

These sources are included within the archives of the Howard League for Penal Reform and were collected as research material by the organisation.

"Bow Street Police Office 1788-1815", 1788-1835Link opens in a new window

Large volume of press cuttings. It contains press reports of cases heard at the Public Office, Bow Street, and criminal cases in other jurisdictions in the London area. Most of the cuttings date from around 1788-1805.

Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment

Annual report for 1907/8Link opens in a new window

Includes reports of the Executive Committee, Indian and Colonial Committee, Lecture Sub-Committee and Literature Sub-Committee, report of the annual meeting, list of members and subscribers, and balance sheet.

Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, Indian and Colonial Committee: information sheet, undatedLink opens in a new window

One page information sheet.

Leaflet on the aims of the Society, [c.1907]Link opens in a new window

SACP leaflet no.1.

'A statement of the reasons for opposing the death penalty' by Alfred Russel Wallace, [c.1907]Link opens in a new window

SACP leaflet no.2.

'Infanticide and the death penalty' by Carl Heath, [1907]Link opens in a new window

SACP leaflet no.3.

'Sentenced to death at sixteen!' by Carl Heath, [1907]Link opens in a new window

SACP leaflet no.4.

'Results of abolition' by Carl Heath, [1907]Link opens in a new window

SACP leaflet no.5.

'A Bill to graduate the crime of murder', [c.1907]Link opens in a new window

SACP leaflet no.6.

'Is hanging more humane than penal servitude?' by W J Roberts, [c.1908]Link opens in a new window

SACP leaflet no.7.

'The electric chair' by William Archer, 1908Link opens in a new window

SACP leaflet no.8.

Sheffield Borstal Club, Button Lane: First annual report, 1909Link opens in a new window

The published report includes a summary of the work of the organisation, a statement of accounts and a list of subscribers.

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National Council for the Abolition of the Death Penalty

The National Council for the Abolition of the Death Penalty was formed in 1925 and merged with the Howard League for Penal Reform in 1948.

Annual reports, 1925-1948

The Modern Records Centre has copies of all but one of the annual reports published by the NCADP between 1925/6-1947/8 (we lack the report for 1937/8). No reports were published between 1941-1944, but the NCADP's work over this period was covered in a summary report in 1945. All of our NCADP annual reports have been digitised.Link opens in a new window

The relatively short annual reports name the organisation's President, Vice-Presidents and members of the Executive Committee, include balance sheets, and provide summary information about meetings, literature, press coverage and parliamentary activity. Some references to capital sentences and campaigns for abolition of the death penalty abroad can also be included.

Leaflets and circulars, 1928-1945

We have twelve leaflets / circulars produced by the NCADP between 1928-1945. Eleven have been digitised and are listed below, the twelfth ('A substitute for capital punishment' by Laurence Housman) is still in copyright and hasn't been made available online.

'Capital punishment and criminal responsibility'Link opens in a new window by B Hollander MD, (Jul 1928)

'Sentence of death'Link opens in a new window by 'B.2.15', (Oct 1928)

'News of the Campaign'Link opens in a new window: occasional bulletin no.2, 27 Jun 1929

'The Select Committee of the House of Commons on Capital Punishment: its origin, the purpose and conduct of its investigation and the nature of its report'Link opens in a new window, [1931]

'Capital punishment in the United States of America'Link opens in a new window, (1931)

Memorandum on future work of National Council for the Abolition of the Death PenaltyLink opens in a new window, "in the light of past experience and the present political and economic situation", undated [early 1930s]

'The petition against the death penalty: its aim and purpose'Link opens in a new window, undated

Circular to membershipLink opens in a new window, Nov 1945

'Why not abolish the death penalty now?'Link opens in a new window, Jan 1948

'Alternatives to capital punishment'Link opens in a new window, Feb 1948

'The armed criminal and capital punishment'Link opens in a new window, Mar 1948