The case came to trial on 15 October 1913. Ethel Moorhead was released on bail and Dorothea Smith was released under the Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act 1913, better known as the Cat and Mouse Act, on 29 July 1913 with a return date of 5 August 1913, but she did not return by that date. Moorhead wrote a letter to the prison commissioners, claiming that she and other suffragette prisoners were not being treated as political prisoners, and both women went on hunger strike. Moorhead used her shoe to smash three cell windows and knocked the prison governor's hat off his head when he refused to remove it despite being in the presence of a lady. Moorhead, who used a number of aliases, gave her name as 'Margaret Morrison'. On July 24, 1913, suffragettes Ethel Moorhead and Dorothea Chalmers Smith were arrested during an attempt to set fire to an unoccupied mansion house at 6 Park Gardens, Glasgow, and were taken to Duke Street Prison. Following her incarceration there, Wood became an active campaigner for prison reform and she lobbied authorities until the closure of the prison in 1955. Activist Wendy Wood, an early campaigner for Scottish independence, was imprisoned at Duke Street for 60 days for refusing to pay National Insurance. Ham an' eggs they never see, dirty watter fur yer tea there they live in misery God Save the Queen! Suffragettes and political activists Īs Duke Street prison held women prisoners from around Scotland, many suffragettes and political activists were imprisoned here, and their protests at the living conditions contributed towards the move to close the prison in 1955. There is a happy land, doon Duke Street Jail, Where a' the prisoners stand, tied tae a nail. Living conditions within the prison became the subject of a Glasgow street song, sung to the tune of ' There Is a Happy Land'. The only remaining structure of Duke Street Prison is some of the boundary wall. The building was demolished in 1958 to eventually make way for the Ladywell housing scheme which was built on the site from 1961–1964 and stands till this day. Duke Street Prison then operated as a women's prison until 1955. After 1882, male prisoners from Duke Street were moved to the newly built prison HM Prison Barlinnie in the Eastern suburbs of Glasgow. Further legislation in 18 brought the management of Scottish prisons under the control of the state and led to the building of larger prison complexes. Between 18, seven of Glasgow's prisons were closed, leaving only the Duke Street Prison. The passing in 1839 of An Act to Improve Prisons and Prison Discipline started the creation of a centralised prison system which resulted in the closure of many of Scotland's smaller prisons. ĭuke Street Prison received its first inmates in 1798. An early example of the ' separate system', it was noted in 1841 that Duke Street Prison was Scotland's only 'well managed prison'. Coordinates: 55★1′29″N 4☁3′08″W / 55.858°N 4.219°W / 55.858 -4.219 Duke Street Prison (also known as Bridewell or the Northern or North Prison) was one of eight prisons which served Glasgow and its surrounding area prior to the mid nineteenth century.
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