The begging grate was served by poor prisoners who had to swear that they were not worth £5 in the world. He was then entitled to share the contents of the begging box, and also be a partaker of the charities and donations to the Prison, which amounted to the magnificent sum of £39 19s., besides meat, coals, and bread.
Prisoners of all sorts and conditions met here, on one common basis, one of the last of any mark being Richard Oastler, who was the leader of the Ten Hours' Bill Movement, and from this prison he issued a series of "Fleet Papers" about Free Trade, Factories Acts, and the Amalgamation of the Prisons. He died in 1861, and a memorial to him was erected at Leeds.
Footnotes
[152] Evidence of Mr. Wakefield before Parliamentary Committee of 1837.
[153] When the prisoners were removed there were two who had been incarcerated upwards of thirty years, and were in the Queen's prison in 1845.
Fleet Marriages.
