The Brace Tavern
The Brace Tavern was not just any pub; it was situated in the King's Bench Prison in Southwark, south London.
As the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue describes: The Brace Tavern; a room in the S.E corner of the King’s Bench, where, for the convenience of prisoners residing thereabouts, beer purchased at the tap house was retailed at a halfpenny per pot advance. It was kept by two brothers of the name of Partridge, and thence called the Brace.
To a modern observer all of this most likely strikes as odd; a tavern inside of a prison for inmates? That sense of oddness demonstrates the changes the prison system has gone through during the last centuries. In the days of the Brace, the King's Bench Prison was quite different from modern prisons. It was mostly used as a debtor's prison, which meant that the prisoners were free to leave the prison for work, socialize with their friends and relations, and even bring their families to live with them. Life in prison could indeed be quite comfortable - if one was able to afford it.
Thus, the Brace Tavern was not as out of place as one could first assume. Outside visitors were welcome to come and see the "most strange set of characters" it hosted while having a pint, and reportedly, the tavern was also popular among the people from the surrounding neighbourhood.
The King’s Bench Prison was only one of many prisons situated in Southwark, several of them nowadays most well-known from the novels of Charles Dickens. King's Bench operated from medieval times until 1880. During that time, it witnessed events such as being targeted during uprisings since Peasant’s Revolt in 1381, housed victims of religious persecution during the religious bigotry of the 16th century, and in 1624, allegedly 80 of its prisoners died of starvation. It was moved and rebuilt several times, and in 1842, its name was changed to Queen's Bench. It later became a military prison, until it was finally closed in 1880.
None of the original buildings have survived, and when walking down the Borough High Street in Southwark, one would never guess that peculiar chapter of its history the Brace Tavern used to be part of.
Please familiarize yourself with The Debtor's Petition, a poem written by an unknown author describing the hardships experienced by a debt prisoner in the King's Bench Prison:
Prison Poetry
The Debtor's Petition
Pity the sorrows of a poor old Debtor,
Confined by cruel plaintiff in a gaol,
Without a hope t’ escape the law’s strong fetter,
For I can neither pay, nor offer bail!
The County-money I receive each week,
Barely supplies myself and wife with bread;
And many a day when wintry winds blow bleak,
Without meal or fire, I keep my bed!
Yon-Pump erected near the racket ground,
With limped stream did once my carcase drench,
Upon my ears I fancy now the sound,
Of “pull up! pull up!” echoed through the Bench.
Hard was my fate to be so cruel used,
For I at night was taken for my chum,
And by my brother prisoners accused
Of pointing out a man who brought in rum.
Oh take me from this miserable place!
Cold are my limbs as my sad plaintiff’s heart,
Age and infirmity have marked my face,
While from my eyes the tears of woe now start
Law brings misfortunes, aye! and great ones too,
'Twas Law that brought me to this wretched spot;
By rich relations, and by friends untrue,
I’m left unpitied, starving and forgot!
A splendid house was once my blest abode;
Now doom'd by fate to dwell in the back slums.
I live according to the King’s Bench mode,
And chalk off my half chamber from my chum’s!
My mind was once at ease and void of terror,
From those two fiends John Doe and Richard Roe,
Now, what with Judgments, Costs, and Writs of Error,
My hopes are blighted, and my pockets low!
Once I was ignorant of all terms of law,
Of Bills of Middlesex I had no knowledge,
I ne’er was in a wretched Ca.sa’s claw,
Nor heard of Fi.fas till I came to College.
Hunger, Disease and others versus Self,
Is the last cause to which I soon must render,
Sham pleas will not avail, and wanting pelf,
I ne’er can plead my having made a tender!
Stern death may then his caption make, and move
Me hence by wooden habeas from law factions;
For soon I hope to put in bail above,
And there to justify my several actions.
Pity the sorrows of a poor old Debtor,
Confined by cruel plaintiff in a gaol,
Without a hope t’ escape the Law’s strong fetter,
For I can neither pay, nor offer bail.
King’s Bench, December 8, 1828.
Published in King's Bench Gazette, Volume 1, at December 10, 1828.
Below is the location of the pub on Google Maps, whilst a red dot shows it's placement on a historical map in relation to other landmarks.
