Information request
Picture postcard sent by Bray to The Chief of Staff, The Prison, Exeter on 1st August 1906 asking for information to be supplied.
The current Exeter prison was built in 1853, and is of a typical Victorian design, by local architect John Hayward. The prison was based on the plan of the model prison at Pentonville, with four residential wings.
The prison has been the setting for many executions. Of particular note is the attempted execution of John Babbacombe Lee in February 1885. Three attempts were made to carry out his execution. All ended in failure as the trap door of the scaffold failed to open. This was despite the fact it had been carefully tested by James Berry, the executioner, beforehand. As a result, Home Secretary Sir William Harcourt commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. Lee continued to petition successive Home Secretaries and was finally released from Exeter prison in 1907.
