Victorian Montgomery - the County Gaol

Montgomery and district
Crime and punishment

More about..	Montgomeryshire County Gaol
	The records for the County Gaol in Montgomery list the people who worked at the gaol in 1849. Below is the actual list of officers and their salaries for the quarter of the year.

It reads:
"Salaries of Officers -
John Lloyd, Governor, Quarter salary due at these Sessions...£32 10s [£32.50]
Richard Jones, 1st Turnkey, nine weeks and 5 days salary...£7 5s 10d [£7.29]
Arthur Blakeway, 2nd turnkey, Quarter salary due at these Sessions...£9 2s [£39.20]
Messrs. Towns and Wilding, surgeons, the like....£7 10s [£7.50]
R.D. Harrison, clerk to visiting Justices, the like....£2 2s [£2.20]

The first turnkey, Richard Jones, was only paid for nine weeks and five days because he had been sacked ! The gaol papers record the events leading up to this.
It would seem that Richard Jones had been bullying a prisoner to try to persuade him to claim that the prison governor had beaten him. The governor would have been sacked and Richard Jones hoped to be made Governor himself.
Luckily the prisoner reported Richard Jones to the Governor and after proper enquiries the turnkey was sacked.
A fine new gateway to the gaol was built in 1866 (right), and it is thought that a new wing was added.

In 1878 though, the gaol was closed after a life of less than 50 years. In the later Victorian period prisoners were sent outside the county.

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