John Howard, the Man

In 1781, Edmund Burke, in paying tribute said:

"He dived into the depth of dungeons, plunged into the infection of hospitals, surveyed the mansions of sorrow and pain, took the gauge and dimensions of misery, depression and contempt, remembered the forgotten, attended the neglected, visited the forsaken, and compared and collated the distressed of men in all countries.”

John Howard was born in London, England in 1726 to a wealthy English merchant father.

His contemporaries were the likes of Reynolds, Galnsborough, Hogarth as well as Handel and Dr. Johnson. It was an age of aristocracy, pre-dating both the American and French Revolutions.

While traveling in 1755, the ship he was on was captured by privateers. Consequently, he spent the next several months in a series of prisons along the French coast. This experience left a lasting impression on him.

When he was appointed High Sheriff or Bedfordshire, Howard embarked on an inspection of prisons. He was committed to the task, traveling thousands of miles by horse and carriage not only throughout Great Britain but including seven trips to the continent, even to Moscow and Constantinople.

In 1777, he published his breakthrough book, 'The State of Prisons in England and Wales‘. Three editions were completed in his lifetime. Each had an appendix with the updated statistics. His reputation grew because he provided this information meticulously, in factual and simple terms.

It was in the Crimea that he died in 1790, having contracted typhus in visiting Russian military hospitals. His grave is there at Kherson.

A realist, John Howard derived satisfaction from the modest improvements he was able to achieve and he appreciated that change would come, but slowly. He had given his personal fortune, his health and his safety to the cause of prison reform.