Millbank Prison

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Millbank Prison in the 1820s.

This 1867 map shows the form and location of the prison.

Millbank Prison was a large prison built in Millbank, Pimlico, London. Work started in 1812 and it opened in 1821.

It was designed by William Williams in 1812 in accordance with the principles laid down by Jeremy Bentham. The Williams design was subsequently adapted by Thomas Hardwick who began the construction. Hardwick resigned soon after and John Harvey took up the role. He was dismissed in 1815 and Robert Smirke took over and completed the project. Although the prison had been expecting its first intake of prisoners since 1816 it was only opened in 1821.

In the Handbook of London in 1850 it was described as

MILLBANK PRISON. A mass of brickwork equal to a fortress, on the left bank of the Thames, close to Vauxhall Bridge; erected on ground bought in 1799 of the Marquis of Salisbury, and established pursuant to 52 Geo. III., c.44, passed Aug 20th, 1812. It was designed by Jeremy Bentham, to whom the fee-simple of the ground was conveyed, and is said to have cost the enormous sum of half a million sterling. The external walls form an irregular octagon, and enclose upwards of sixteen acres of land. Its ground-plan resembles a wheel, the governor's house occupying a circle in the centre, from which radiate six piles of building, terminating externally in towers. The ground on which it stands is raised but little above the river, and was at one time considered unhealthy. It was first named "The Penitentiary," or "Penitentiary House for London and Middlesex," and was called "The Millbank Prison" pursuant to 6 & 7 of Victoria, c.26. It is the largest prison in London. Every male and female convict sentenced to transportation in Great Britain is sent to Millbank previous to the sentence being executed. Here they remain about three months under the close inspection of the three inspectors of the prison, at the end of which time the inspectors report to the Home Secretary, and recommend the place of transportation. The number of persons in Great Britain and Ireland condemned to transportation every year amounts to about 4000. So far the accommodation of the prison permits, the separate system is adopted. Admission to inspect - order from the Secretary for the Home Department, or the Inspector of Prisons.

Remaining buttress

It was used for convicts until 1886 and demolished in 1890. The Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) was built on part of the site that it occupied, opening in 1897.

A single buttress remains by the river with the inscription Near this site stood Millbank Prison which was opened in 1816 and closed in 1890. This buttress stood at the head of the river steps from which, until 1867, prisoners sentenced to transportation embarked on their journey to Australia.

The prison is evocatively described in Sarah Waters' 1999 novel 'Affinity'.