Perth General Prison Part C

“Taking the whole circumstances into consideration, he [The Sheriff] would pronounce a sentence of twelve months imprisonment in the General Prison at Perth. The culprit seemed rather taken aback at the severity of the sentence which was evidently totally unexpected”.

Mr Nimmo had also mentioned that Esther Townsley had a previous conviction against her for the trifling offence of obtaining a shilling by spaeing a fortune. Records show that in 1857 she had been imprisoned in the Selkirk prison for an unknown length of time, for what was described as Wilful Imposition and Intimidation.

Perth General Prison

While I have not been able to locate the Perth General Prison records of Esther's time there, the Scotland’s Prisons Research Report 2015 of the Historic Environment Scotland is very informative about the conditions at the time. 

Perth prison

 

Perth General prison, built on a former military camp on the banks of the river Tay between 1842 and 1857, was seen as a model prison. Initially there were two wings with about 160 separate cells and some punishments cells on the lower ground floor.

Every aspect of the prison was designed to prevent communication and to facilitate discipline. Floors were of heavy Caithness stone and the officers had to wear slippers so the prisoner could not hear them approaching. Tiny windows were high up so the prisoner could not see out. The doors of the cells were placed as far apart as possible so prisoners could not see each other. There was a one-way viewing device installed in the cell door. Food was delivered through a small service door.

Some of the rules were:

• Strict prevention of communication except by the warder or chaplain

• Religious and moral instruction by the chaplain

• Routine work in the cell such as weaving and boot making

• One hour of exercise a day wearing masks to avoid recognition outside the cell

• By the 1850 there was disillusion with the prison’s ability to reform the prisoners, so by 1851 hard labour was introduced at Perth with crank machines installed alongside the practice of dry oakum picking.

Oakum-Picking was the teasing out or picking of fibres from old ropes and was very hard on the fingers. The loose fibres were often sold to ship-builders for mixing with tar to seal the lining of wooden craft. They could also be used to make matting or bandaging.

 

Oakum-Picking

The Crank was a piece of machinery for punishment. It served no other purpose than to exhaust and punish a prisoner who had been misbehaving in gaol or was sentenced to hard labour. The prisoners would have to turn the handle up to 15,000 times a day.

The Crank

Perth prison

Perth prison is now the oldest Scottish prison still in use. The oldest wings have been demolished but the wings constructed in the 1850s are still used. 

It is hard to fathom how a woman who had lived in an open air environment, surrounded by her extended family and friends, free to come and go as she pleased or spend time sitting, telling stories and family legends, around the camp-fire, could survive such cruel treatment.

 

It has been said that Travellers would rather die on the road than wither inside four walls.

But Esther Townsley was a hard nut to crack and she survived as will be seen.

To be continued: