The depot for prisoners of war at Norman Cross Huntingdonshire, 1796 to 1816 / [Thomas James Walker].

  • Walker, Thomas James, 1835-1916.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The depot for prisoners of war at Norman Cross Huntingdonshire, 1796 to 1816 / [Thomas James Walker]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THE DEPOT FOR PRISONERS OF WAR AT NORMAN CROSS HUNTINGDONSHIRE. 1796 to 1816 CHAPTER I URGENT NEED FOR PRISON ACCOMMODATION, NORMAN CROSS, HUNTS, SELECTED AS THE SITE, AND THE PRISON BUILT I watched where against the blue The builders built on the height: And ever the great wall grew As their brown arms shone in the light. Trowel and mallet and brick Made a wedding of sounds in the air : And the dead clay took life from the quick As their strong arms girdled it there. Latjbenoe Housman: The Housebuilders. The Depot for Prisoners of War, at Norman Cross in Huntingdonshire, was the first, and during twelve years the only prison specially constructed for the custody of the prisoners taken captive in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars between 1793 and 1815. The Norman Cross Depot received its first inmates on the 7th April 1797; while of the other great prisons built for the same purpose, Dartmoor (since 1850 the Convict Prison) was not occupied until 24th May 1809, and Perth (converted into the general Prison for Scotland in