Day 57 - John Howard

Bedford High Street runs between two statues of famous people. At one end is John Bunyan, once held prisoner in Bedford Gaol for his faith. The other, right in the heart of the market place, is John Howard, prison reformer. Both were members of the church now known as Bunyan Meeting, part of the Congregational Federation.

Howard’s name appears all over the town, though I guess only a few people know why. He was a staunch Christian, committed to the cause of justice for the most needy in society, those who ended up incarcerated in eighteenth century prisons, in Bedford, throughout Britain and on through the whole of Europe – but more of that in a moment . . .

Prison life at that time was brutal. Prisoners, including those whose ‘crime’ was simply to be among the ‘disorderly poor’, were kept in unsanitary conditions in dank and crowded cells. Gaolers were not paid a proper wage, so inmates had to pay for their keep, often relying on relatives and friends to supply food for subsistence. Overcrowding led to high levels of infectious diseases, including ‘prison fever’ from which many died.

John Howard was appointed to a role which included the normally nominal position of Keeper of the County Gaol. To everyone’s astonishment, he took his duties seriously, visiting the three prisons in Bedford, where, he wrote, ‘I beheld scenes of calamity which I grew daily more and more anxious to alleviate,’ and so, ‘In order therefore to gain a more perfect knowledge of the particulars and extent of it, by various and accurate observation, I visited most of the County Gaols in England.’

This became his life’s work. He visited gaols throughout Britain, and eventually toured Europe as well. As a follower of the then new scientific methods, he produced a huge report, an original copy of which is held at Bunyan Meeting, containing a detailed study on each prison, with engravings showing the worst excesses of suffering. Using this, he energetically drove legislation through the British parliament, and campaigned tirelessly for a whole host of reforms, many of which are still a concern today. Travel, of course, was difficult and dangerous, particularly in parts of Europe, and prison visiting put him at risk of violence, as well as disease.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, because his last heroic journey, undertaken against the anxious advice of his friends, took him to Kherson in Crimea. There, he contracted a fever, and died. Kherson is tragically in the news again now, as one of the places to face terrible Russian attacks early in the present crisis in Ukraine.

John Howard lived out his Christian faith in arduous investigations of suffering and strenuous campaigning for justice for the poorest and most ignored in the society of his day. The magnificent memorial to him in Kherson shows the high regard in which he was, and still is, held there. And we, of course, commemorate him in his home town of Bedford – and pray for Ukraine.

God of justice and peace

We thank you for people like John Howard

who hold their Christian faith earnestly

and put it into practice at the service of others.

We pray for peace, and for justice, for the people of Ukraine,

and for all who face captivity, violence or disease.

Amen

Janet Wootton