Catalogue description Prison Commission and Home Office Prison Department: Records of Prison Graves
Reference: | HO 324 |
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Title: | Prison Commission and Home Office Prison Department: Records of Prison Graves |
Description: |
This series contains a register of graves of criminals executed in prisons in England and Wales, arranged alphabetically by name of prison and recording the number of the grave, name of the criminal and date of interment. There is also a portfolio of plans of prison burial grounds, identifying the numbered plots. |
Date: | 1922-1969 |
Held by: | The National Archives, Kew |
Legal status: | Public Record(s) |
Language: | English |
Physical description: | 2 files and volumes |
Access conditions: | Open |
Administrative / biographical background: |
The Prison Commission issued a circular to all local prisons dated 29 December 1922 stating that the graves of persons executed in prisons were to be no longer distinguished by names, initials, or any other marks because they perpetuated the memory of the crime, caused unnecessary pain to relatives and roused a morbid interest in the prisoners. It was decided to obliterate all marks once records of existing graves and burials together with plans of the burial grounds had been compiled. The Register of Graves is arranged alphabetically by prison and provides for each grave its number, the name of the prisoner and the date of internment. The Register has entries dating from 1834 for Stafford, although some of the earlier entries give initials only and not full names. The latest date is 1969, for Bedford, and some of the later entries are for reburials. The series also contains plans of each burial ground, compiled between 1922 and 1964. |
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