The City Marshalsea was a

debtor's prison A debtors' prison is a prison for Natural person, people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, L ...

in Dublin, Ireland. Debtors were imprisoned there by order of the Court of Conscience and

Lord Mayor Lord mayor is a title of a mayor of what is usually a major city in a Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. However, the title or an equivalent is present in other countries, including forms such as "high mayor". A ...

's Court of the county of the city of Dublin. The maximum debt was £10 in the Lord Mayor's Court, and 40''s.'' (£2) in the Court of Conscience.

Name

Other debtor's prisons in Dublin which shared the name were the Four Courts Marshalsea, and the Marshalseas of Saint Sepulchre (abolished 1856) and of Thomas Court and Donore (abolished 1826). The original Marshalsea prison from which these were named was built in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

south of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, for prisoners from the

Marshalsea Court The Marshalsea Court (or Court of the Marshalsea, also known as the Court of the Verge or the Court of the Marshal and Steward) was a court associated with the Royal Household in England. Associated with, but distinct from, the Marshalsea Court ...

presided over by the

Knight Marshal The Knight Marshal is a former office in the British Royal Household established by Henry III in 1236. The position later became a Deputy to the Earl Marshal from the reign of Henry VIII until the office was abolished in 1846. The Knight Marsha ...

Conditions

After the closure of The Black Dog prison in 1794 the City Marshalsea was considered the worst prison in the city.Report on the State of Prisons in Ireland, 1818, p. 9 (Report of Rev. P. Gamble, Local Inspector) It was run privately for profit;

John Thomas Gilbert Sir John Thomas Gilbert, LLD, FSA, RIA (23 January 1829 – 23 May 1898) was an Irish archivist, antiquarian and historian. Early life and education John Thomas Gilbert was born on 23 January 1829, the second son of John Gilbert, an English Pro ...

wrote that "the passers-by were incessantly assailed by the cries of the inmates soliciting charity for their maintenance, or the discharge of their fees". Families of prisoners could also reside there, to protect them from their creditors. In 1823 the inspectors of prisons report improvement from the previous year. In 1836 the Royal Commission on the Poorer Classes in Ireland said the common hall was "a disgrace to the city".

History

The first City Marshalsea was built in 1704 on Merchants' Quay, between Skipper's Lane and Swan Alley.Gilbert 1854 p.373 Until 1796, the Dublin City Marshal was Keeper of the Dublin City Marshalsea. In 1802 a report from the Committee on City Leases stated that the City Marshalsea had become so ruinous and insecure that a new one was absolutely necessary. In 1803

Robert Emmet Robert Emmet (4 March 177820 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Prote ...

used it as an arsenal during his abortive rebellion. In 1805 it was relocated, to a brick building attached to the Sheriffs' Prison in Green Street, beside the sessions house (later

Green Street Court House Green Street Courthouse () is a courthouse between Green Street and Halston Street in the Smithfield area of Dublin, Ireland. It was the site of many widely discussed criminal trials from 1797 until 2010, when the Criminal Courts of Justice b ...

Suppression

The

Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 The Municipal Corporations Act (Ireland) 1840 ( 3 & 4 Vict. c. 108), ''An Act for the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in Ireland'', was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 10 August 1840. It was one of the Municipal Corporat ...

abolished the

power of arrest The power of arrest is a mandate given by a central authority that allows an individual to remove a criminal's (or suspected criminal's) liberty. The power of arrest can also be used to protect a person, or persons from harm or to protect damage t ...

from the Court of Conscience and Lord Mayor's Court, so that no new prisoners were committed to the City Marshalsea. Remaining prisoners were transferred to the Four Courts Marshalsea.

References

Sources

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshalsea, Dublin Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) Defunct prisons in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures demolished in 1975 Debtors' prisons Demolished buildings and structures in Dublin