London Metropolitan Archives - Item Details

Diary of Newgate Gaol by Carleton Smith, Keeper of Newgate

Date of Creation:

1717 Apr 5 - Jul 18

Reference Code:

CLA/035/02/001

From Collection:

NEWGATE PRISON

File
Scope and Content:
  • Smith was appointed by the Court of Aldermen to take charge of the state prisoners in Newgate & to assist the keeper. The diary contains his remarks + observations. It was used by an anonymous journalist for a pamphlet 'The Secret History of the Rebels in Newgate, giving an Account of their daily Behaviour from their Commitment to their Goal Delivery (Taken from a Diary kept by a Gentleman in the same prison) London n.d. (?1717). This was in reply to 'History of the Press Yard' London 1717 which criticised the diarist.
    The diary now only exists in photocopy, the original Ms being destroyed. It was obtained from Sir Charles Peers C.B.E., F.S.A., Chiselhampton House, Stachampton, Oxford, by the agency of Mr. Wilfred S. Sammel.
Extent: 74 pages
Classification: CITY OF LONDON
Site Location: London Metropolitan Archives
Level of Description:
  • Document

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Related Material: Typed transcript of the same [c.1950s?] 74 pp. [ACCN/1995/097] P.D. 290.4