IT might seem surprising today, that when John Howard, the legendary prison reformer published his iconic book “The State of the Prisons in England and Wales” in 1777, he should have chosen a printer from Warrington.
But in fact, at that time, Eyres’ Press – publishers of the first newspaper in Lancashire, The Warrington Advertiser – were renowned as quality printers.
Major London publishers chose to have their books printed by William Eyres.
So Warrington was an ideal place for Howard to settle and he lived in lodgings in Bridge Street while the book was being prepared.
The story is told in a new book, “The Curious Mr Howard” by Tessa West (Waterside Press).
John Howard was indeed “curious.” He became a self-appointed inspector of prisons, travelling the country, mostly alone, and arriving unannounced at prisons and making notes of the conditions he found.
His period in Warrington probably offered him some respite from his frequently dangerous travels which were often completed on foot.
He was able to mix with the circle of intellectuals centred on Warrington Academy, which at that time had become known as “the Athens of the North.” His friends included the writers John Aikin and his sister Anna Laetitia Barbauld – both who were later honoured by having Warrington streets named after them.
The book details how Howard would spend long days at Eyres’ printing room, “with the exception of the dinner hour when he took his usual daily walk into the suburbs of the town, eating as he walked his frugal dinner of bread and dried fruit.”
William Eyres chose one of his staff, Daniel Grimshaw, as Howard’s compositor and the two became friends, so much so that later, when the prison reformer was compiling a second edition of “The State of the Prisons” Grimshaw, having left Eyres’ employment, was called back from London to do the work.
Howard, of course, gave his name to the UK’s oldest penal reform charity, The Howard League. Tessa West’s book paints a fascinating picture of his life, in Warrington and elsewhere, and as a former head of a prison education department who has worked for the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Department, she brings a wealth of knowledge to the subject.
