William Blackburn (17501790) was the leading

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

architect of the

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

Era. Following the principles of

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...

, his designs aimed to provide

inmates The Inmates are a British pub rock band, which formed after the split of The Flying Tigers in 1977. In 1982, they had a medium-sized international hit with a cover of The Standells' " Dirty Water", and a UK Top 40 hit with their cover of Jimmy ...

with dry and airy cells. Blackburn was born in Southwark, London, the son of a tradesman and his wife, who may have been Spanish. He was apprenticed to a surveyor, but "derived very little advantage" from his master. When only nineteen he competed for the design of the Royal Exchange, Dublin; four years later he entered the

Royal Academy Schools The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

, where he won the Silver Medal in 1773 for a drawing of the interior of Christopher Wren's St Stephen Walbrook. In 1776 he was named surveyor to the

Watermen A waterman is a river worker who transfers passengers across and along city centre rivers and estuaries in the United Kingdom and its colonies. Most notable are those on the River Thames and River Medway in England, but other rivers such as th ...

's Guild, and he may have designed their Hall near

St Mary-at-Hill St Mary-at-Hill is an Anglican parish church in the Ward of Billingsgate, City of London. It is situated on Lovat Lane, a cobbled street off Eastcheap. It was founded in the 12th century as "St. Mary de Hull" or "St. Mary de la Hulle". It was se ...

Eastcheap Eastcheap is a street in central London that is a western continuation of Great Tower Street towards Monument junction. Its name derives from ''cheap'', the Old English word for market, with the prefix 'East' distinguishing it from Westcheap, ...

. He was also surveyor for St Thomas' Hospital and

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

; he also designed a private home in Denmark Hill. The passage of the

Penitentiary Act The Penitentiary Act (19 Geo. III, c.74) was a British Act of Parliament passed in 1779 which introduced a policy of state prisons for the first time. The Act was drafted by the prison reformer John Howard and the jurist William Blackstone and rec ...

in 1779 dictated the course of his career. In 1782 he won first prize for prison design in a contest sponsored by the Commissioners for Penitentiary Houses. While those designs were never realized, his entry led him to friendship with Howard and to extensive work as an architect of prisons. In England, his jails include the old City Gaol in

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(demolished 1870), the New Borough Gaol in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, county gaols in Gloucester and

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, the County Gaol in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

, and Salop Prison in Shrewsbury. He also altered the Newgate Gaol in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

and designed the

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

and Monmouth County Gaol.Goal, Hereford Street
Royal Comminssion on Ancient and Histrorc Monuments in Wales, accessed January 2012 Blackburn is also credited with the design of Lewin's Mead Unitarian meeting house, a Unitarian chapel in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. He married Lydia Hobson, a Quaker, in 1783. He died unexpectedly at

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding distri ...

in November 1790, while travelling to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

to consult on plans for a prison there. He is buried at Bunhill Fields.

References

Bibliography

*Colvin, H. M. (1954). ''A Biographical Dictionary of English Architects, 1660–1840''. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. *Jewkes, Yvonne (2007). ''Handbook of Prisons''. Portland: Willans. *Morris, Norval and David Rothman (1995). ''The Oxford History of the Prison''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1750 births 1790 deaths Architects from London Burials at Bunhill Fields {{England-architect-stub