Millbank Prison was a prison in Millbank, Pimlico, London that was used largely as a holding facility for people convicted of a crime who were being transported to Australia, a practice that ended in 1868. It was opened in 1816, designed according to principles laid down by the philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, and closed in 1890. In the prison's early years, sentences of five to ten years were offered as an alternative to transportation to those thought most likely to reform. Later, it ceased to have a penitentiary function and became a holding centre for those awaiting transportation, or in the case of sick prisoners, removal to one of the " hulks," ships sitting offshore that were used to house prisoners. Every person sentenced to transportation was sent to Millbank first, where they were held for three months before it was decided where to send them. Around 4,000 people convicted of crimes were being transported annually from the UK as of 1850. Prisoners awaiting transportation were kept in solitary confinement and restricted to silence for the first half of their sentence. The National Gallery of British Art was built on the prison site in 1897, now called the Tate. A single buttress remains by the river with the inscription, "Near this site stood Millbank Prison which was opened in 1816 and closed in 1890. This buttress stood at the head of the river steps from which, until 1867, prisoners sentenced to transportation embarked on their journey to Australia."
Design and population
It was designed by William Williams in 1812 in accordance with the utilitarian principles laid down by Jeremy Bentham. The Williams design was subsequently adapted by Thomas Hardwick who began the construction in the same year. Hardwick resigned soon after and John Harvey took up the role. He was dismissed in 1815 and Robert Smirke took over and completed the project in 1821, at a cost of ₤500,000. The first prisoners, all women, were admitted on 26 June 1816, the first men arriving in January 1817. By the end of 1817, the prison held 103 men and 109 women, and 452 men and 326 women by late 1822.
Description
In the Handbook of London in 1850 it was described as MILLBANK PRISON. A mass of brickwork equal to a fortress, on the left bank of the Thames, close to Vauxhall Bridge; erected on ground bought in 1799 of the Marquis of Salisbury, and established pursuant to 52 Geo. III., c.44, passed Aug 20th, 1812. It was designed by Jeremy Bentham, to whom the fee-simple of the ground was conveyed, and is said to have cost the enormous sum of half a million sterling. The external walls form an irregular octagon, and enclose upwards of sixteen acres of land. Its ground-plan resembles a wheel, the governor's house occupying a circle in the centre, from which radiate six piles of building, terminating externally in towers. The ground on which it stands is raised but little above the river, and was at one time considered unhealthy. It was first named "The Penitentiary," or "Penitentiary House for London and Middlesex," and was called "The Millbank Prison" pursuant to 6 & 7 of Victoria, c.26. It is the largest prison in London. Every male and female convict sentenced to transportation in Great Britain is sent to Millbank previous to the sentence being executed. Here they remain about three months under the close inspection of the three inspectors of the prison, at the end of which time the inspectors report to the Home Secretary, and recommend the place of transportation. The number of persons in Great Britain and Ireland condemned to transportation every year amounts to about 4000. So far the accommodation of the prison permits, the separate system is adopted. Admission to inspect - order from the Secretary for the Home Department, or the Inspector of Prisons. It was used for convicts until 1886 and demolished in 1890. On the site was built the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) in 1897; an army hospital which in 2006 was repurposed as the Chelsea College of Art & Design, and - using the original bricks of the former prison - a housing estate commissioned by the London County Council (LCC) between 1897 and 1902. Millbank Estate is now a TMO (tenant management organisation) and the 17 buildings, each named after one of Britain's best known painters, are Grade II listed. In Henry James's realist novel The Princess Casamassima (1886) the prison is the 'primal scene' of Hyacinth Robinson's life: the visit to his mother, dying in the infirmary, is described in chapter 3. James visited Millbank on 12 December 1884 to gain material. The prison is also evocatively described in Sarah Waters' 1999 novel Affinity .
Other remains
The granite gate piers at the entrance of Purbeck House, High Street, Swanage in Dorset, and a granite bollard next to the gate, are believed by English Heritage to be from Millbank prison.